Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Dance, Featured | No Comments
I love living in Cedar City. For being a smaller community, we have a wide variety of arts, sports, entertainment, and outdoor activities available to us. There is always something going on at Southern Utah University, sports, music, art shows, dance, etc. My wife and I have season tickets to all that the College of Performing and Visual Arts has to offer, and we attend most events. Then of course we have the Utah Shakespearean Festival, which is always fantastic. But, in addition to that, we have organizations like the Cedar City Junior Ballet, who annually put on a full-length ballet production. They just finished their production of Cinderella and it was fantastic. If you didn’t see it, you really missed out.
I was able to photograph them during their final dress rehearsal. The full galleries, including studio rehearsals can be found here. I’ve put together a slide show of some of my favorites here on the blog. I have to say the the step sisters are my favorite. Chris and Lise do such a fantastic job, they are a hoot to watch. They cracked me up every time I saw them perform.
Saturday, February 20th, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Dance | 2 Comments
Cinderella wasn’t just a pretty face. She was smart too.
I’ve been shooting photos at the Cedar City Junior Ballet’s rehearsals of Cinderella. The photos were used for promotional material and the program for the ballet. This photo I had to share because it just struck me as funny. In the opening scene, Cinderella starts out sitting on a stool reading a book. The audience just sees the outside cover of the book which appears to be just a pretty book. I was shooting right next to her and glanced over and saw this photo. I chuckled inside. I said to Cinderella, “reading a math book huh?” She replied, “yeah, I opened this book and thought ‘how am I supposed to read this?’”
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Dance | 2 Comments
A few favorites from the Cedar City Junior Ballet’s final studio rehearsal. They moved into the theater on Monday and perform this Friday and Saturday nights. We will have the official photo call at the final dress rehearsal. I can’t wait.
Thursday, February 11th, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Weddings | 1 Comment
My first wedding of 2010 just so happened to be my oldest sister Emilie. She and John were married at the Bountiful temple in January. My wife and I have lived by Emilie for almost ten years. John lives in Spanish Fork, so their marriage meant that Emilie moved away from us. A sad, yet happy occasion. We are very happy for them. I am so glad that Emilie found John. He is a great guy and they are perfect for each other. We already miss having Em around, but we will adjust.
The Reception
Their reception was held at John’s house. It was a nice intimate reception with lots of really good food. John’s friend made the best carne asada I have ever had. And the array of deserts was awesome. Have you ever had cake balls? A ball of cake dipped in chocolate, yum.
Dang, I’m really hungry now, and those are just a few of the items that were available. How about that wedding cake? It was delicious.
And finally, some good advice. “Don’t Panic!”
Monday, February 8th, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Families | 1 Comment
I get lots of requests for extended family photoshoots over the holidays. For some families, it is the only time of the year everyone is together. I can relate to that, although our one time of the year is usually in the summer at our annual family summer party/gathering/vacation. The Olsen family wanted their photos taken over Thanksgiving. In fact, we arranged to take the photos on Thanksgiving day. So once again, this post is a testament to how far behind I get with the blog. Rest assured that my clients get their photos within a week. I just don’t get around to posting them here until later.
Sunday, February 7th, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Kids, Lifestyle | 1 Comment
I haven’t posted any pictures of my own kids on this blog before. Okay, so I have, but it has been a while. I figured I would keep that separate from my official photoshoots. But why? I don’t have a good reason. I take a ton of photos of my own kids so I figured once a month, I would share just a few of my favorites from that month here on this blog.
These are from January. My oldest is four. It is a fun age. He is definitely testing his boundaries and starting to look more like a little boy. He has grown almost 3 inches in the last few months. Still he is a lot of fun. It always takes some coaxing to get him to cooperate for photos. We usually come to a compromise of no more than 2 pictures that I can take at a time. I usually sneak in a few more than that:)
My youngest is almost 18 months old now. He is the cutest kid ever. We are going to have a struggle on our hands when it comes time to dump the binkies. Notice in this first shot he has two, one in the hand and one in the mouth. That is not uncommon for him. He’ll walk around like that and just keep switching every couple of minutes.
I tell people all the time that smiling pictures are over rated. I hear people say things like “oh I wish he was smiling.” Why? Don’t get me wrong. Smiling photos are great and it is always nice to capture kids when they are happy. However, the reality of life is that sometimes kids cry. It doesn’t make them any less cute though.
Now I feel obligated to show you that he does smile.
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Weddings | No Comments
Laura and Clint got married last September. This blog post is better late than never I suppose. The reception was held in Luara’s parent’s back yard. Here are just a few reception details.
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Landscape Adventures, Parowan Gap | 1 Comment
Parowan Gap has become one of my favorite places to go. I like to go there for a number of reasons. First, I am always fascinated with rock art. I’ve spent a lot of time exploring places just in search of it. I grew up in Emery County Utah where you can find a plethora of cool writings.
Second, Parowan Gap intrigues me. Specifically, the theory about the Gap being used as an ancient calendar. Ironically, another place considered to be an ancient calendar system is the Rochester Panel in Emery County, a very unique collection of rock art. I have yet to visit the Gap on any of the solar events, but I plan to. Definitely need photos of the sun right smack in the middle of that gap. I’ve seen some on the interwebs elsewhere and they suck. I can do better:) I have lived in this area for almost 10 years now and I only recently went to Parowan Gap.
Also intriguing to me is that Chief Wakara is said to have referred to Parowan Gap as “God’s own house.” There is definitely something special about this place. It keeps drawing me back to it.
It is also a really great place to take photos. It even makes an awesome setting for portraits. Interestingly enough, there is an art exhibit opening at Southern Utah University soon with works inspired by Parowan Gap. So, I am not the only one drawn to it.
This is a view looking South toward Enoch from the West side of Parowan Gap. The Gap is just out of frame to the left in this photo.
Monday, February 1st, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Bridals | No Comments
I have done this whole wedding backwards. Well I did post their engagements first, but everything else has been out of order. I tend to get way behind on blogging. I’ve got a bunch of photo shoots in the “to be blogged” queue.
Stephanie’s bridals were done on a freezing cold day. We had to seek shelter to warm up several times during the shoot. In spite of that, she doesn’t look that cold. We ended the shoot with Stephanie in pointe shoes (see below). Had it been warmer we would have sought out some more outdoor locations in those pointe shoes too, but sometimes you just have to deal with Mother Nature and sometimes that means staying inside.
Stephanie is a dancer, a really good one to. She is the lead role in an upcoming performance of the full length Cinderella Ballet. That means she is Cinderella in case you were wondering. Dancers are just awesome, I know, I’m married to one.
Stephanie wanted to do some pictures in her pointe shoes. Awesome idea.
Em - February 20, 2010 - 4:08 pm
Love the photos. It was sooo good last night. I always love to watch Jennie dance. Can’t wait to see all your pictures.
Chris Mills - February 20, 2010 - 4:14 pm
Hahaha! The things we know that the audience doesn’t! This is GREAT! -Chris