sunday afternoon, in the park -- i think it was the 23rd of september ...

Minneapolis has been flirting with autumn for a few days now, and the family wanted to get a little of Mother Nature's color in their shots. There's a very nice path leading down to a stream, so we headed there first.



The boys were rather good models -- patient, willing to try unusual requests from the photographer -- and of course Little Melanie was the star of the show. It's obvious that her brothers adore her ...




As the fickle September sun made forest shots next to impossible, we moved back to the park for some family candids. It was a great combination -- cloudless sky, crisp autumn breeze, and incredibly good looking subjects!

end of summer

end of summer, originally uploaded by pr9000.

Fall is coming on fast here in Minnesota, and our dog, Trotter, is running out of days for swimming. Trotter loves the water -- I have to meet him with the leash in knee-high water, or I'd never catch him when it's time to leave -- and Amina and I try our best to get to the lake when the weather cooperates.

We went to Riley Lake in Eden Prairie around 6:30 p.m., and the first thing that struck me is that sunset happens much earlier than it did just a week ago. Luckily for Trotter, another goldendoodle, Riley, came with his dad not long after we arrived, and the two dogs pretty much wore each other out for the rest of the evening.

To this day, I marvel at how much energy dogs have ... but I guess if my life was spent taking naps all day long, I too could probably muster up enough energy to run around in the sand for an hour or so with a good friend.

trotter and riley, originally uploaded by pr9000.

heading south, originally uploaded by pr9000.

sunset, lake of the ozarks

sunset, lake of the ozarks, originally uploaded by pr9000.

I realize that Rinkes Photography is geared toward child and family photography, but I just could not resist sharing this great shot of a dramatic sunset over Lake of the Ozarks a few weekends ago. Amina and I went to visit friends there who own an amazing boat yacht -- I swear, it was nicer than my house! And their hospitality was top notch as well ...

But the highlight of the weekend (aside from a midnight cruise) was the glorious sunset Friday evening. All afternoon it rained ... it poured ... and somewhere an old man was snoring ... but eventually the clouds broke and we headed out to dinner.

I couldn't miss with Mother Nature showing off like that.

hailey and ryan

, originally uploaded by pr9000.

sleepy, originally uploaded by pr9000.

My first, and my favorite, child to photograph was my niece, Hailey. She'll be three in October, and of course her uncle and aunt will be home to eat some cake with her ...

She has a little brother, Ryan, who was born on Valentine's Day. His mom did a great job -- she had Hailey on our mom's birthday, and had Ryan on a holiday that nobody ever forgets. Uncle Paul won't ever miss a birthday card for these two.

We were home for Easter this year, and captured brother and sister sitting on a window seat. Hailey was very loving with her brother, who just slept a lot (as babies are wont to do). Hailey was eating some of mom's awesome nut roll cookies, and we really couldn't convince her to give them up. So there were some crumbs to Photoshop when I got back to my office.

Here's a shot I took of Hailey when she was no more than four months old -- her mom brought her on her first airplane ride, up to Minneapolis. We posed her all over the place, because at four months she was just very obedient Play Doh ... she could be placed anywhere, dressed any way, and she just sat there and took it in stride.

I'm sure her mom wishes that was an option now. :)

hailey, originally uploaded by pr9000.

hungry hummingbird

hungry hummingbird, originally uploaded by pr9000.

Sometimes, when you're taking pictures, you're so myopically focused on the subject at hand -- in this case, hummingbirds that have found our backyard feeder -- that you fail to see what's actually going on in the frame.

The backstory: Amina had been doing some research earlier on the laptop, because she was intrigued by the hummingbirds' behavior of chasing away other hummingbirds who came around hungry. Turns out they are very territorial, which would explain what I saw a few minutes later ...

As I sat on the deck, trying to blend into the vinyl siding and shoo away the dozens of bees buzzing this time of year, I had one eye in the viewfinder, and the other scanning the horizon, as these little guys are fast -- they come and go with such speed that you can literally blink and miss them.

So I got the shot (the rest of my photostream is here) and came inside to throw them into Aperture. I have a good view of the feeder from my seat; as I was cropping and color-correcting, I noticed something: A bee was eating from the feeder, and as the hummingbird approached, the bee chased off the hummingbird! This happened about three times before the bee left, and the hummingbird was then able to eat.

I wasn't looking, so I didn't see it, but I'm sure it was happening the whole time.

I think nature photographers go through this all the time. Patience and the ability to see with both eyes are critically important. Maybe I'll build a duck blind on the deck, if Amina will let me, and hang out all day tomorrow. :)