Dan Shaw Photography: Blog

Vineman 2010

Dan — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:32:16 +0000

You are in for a treat! For the first time ever, my blog will have the description and viewpoint given from another person. Their words and interpretations on my photography. While each photo usually has special meaning to the photographer taking them, it is always interesting to hear that story from another person.

Oh and if you missed the video I put together on this you can find it here.

Guest Blogger: Alicia DiCello

I hate running. I have a vivid memory of 6th grade gym class when Dr. Keller, the gym teacher, made us run a 200 yard dash on a path behind St. Agatha School. I remember him saying, “Eyes, pockets, eyes, pockets” as he moved his arms in a running motion. He was trying to describe how with bent elbows your hands should pass by your eyes and then your pockets for proper sprinting form.

I was the slowest one in my group of 6th graders who ran the 200 yard dash that day. And I hated every minute of it. I’ll spare you the story, but I can attribute most of my change of heart to my best friend Kathy Krummen. After meeting her in high school sometime during sophomore year, she encouraged me to get into cross country. While attending the same college, she was my triathlon buddah. Without her support and guidance, I would have never been able to do my first triathlon… and certainly not an ironman. Kathy, Dan, and my family were there to cheer me on for my first ironman in Arizona this past November. It was only fitting that Dan and I were there for Kathy’s first this past weekend.

Ironman triathlon = 2.4 mile swim + 112 mile bike + 26.2 mile run. One heck of a day. I think one of the best qualities of Dan’s photography is his ability to capture moments. Split seconds in time. Memories. As you can imagine, Ironman is a day FULL of emotions.

For these athletes, it is still the wee hours of the morning.
Wherever they are in their lives, and however they got to the starting line of an ironman, it’s starting at this moment.

This is just the beginning of the task at hand: to swim, bike and run your body over the course of 140.6 miles.

It’s one chaotic moment right when the gun goes off and everyone starts swimming at once.
It takes a good couple hundred yards for everyone to space out. Before that point, there’s lots of kicking and clobbering.

Among the chaos, there comes a point when you (as a swimmer) settle into a groove and start to enjoy the moment.

Notice the spectators here. You would not believe the amount of support at these races.
Friends and family gather from across the country to cheer on their athletes. As an athlete, knowing you’re going to see them at
certain points helps to push on when you’re miles and miles away questioning why you thought this was a good idea in the first place.

Paul came too fast and we missed him. Sorry, Paul! Maybe if you didn’t ride so fast! Kidding But we caught Kathy.
Love the smile though as she passed us her only words were, “My stomach es no bueno.” That didn’t stop her!

Dan captured some great shots of Kaylyn coming through on lap one. She’s such a stud.

Here, Dan has caught Kathy running finishing loop two of three on the marathon run. In efforts to be green,
the Vineman 2010 race was trying to go without cups. So last minute Kathy decided to run with the Camelback.

Here’s Paul heading to the finish line.
The final steps of dragging his body across 140.6 miles. Imagine all the moments leading up to this one!

It’s amazing to watch one of these races in person. You wouldn’t believe the
athletes and abilities you see. It makes your mind wander and dream big.

For some people, just doing an ironman isn’t enough. We decided the man racing in a maid costume wore it to make him go faster.
Cause if you’re a man in a skirt and corset, you better at least be fast! And as for the woman in the frilly tutu,
she told Kathy during the race that she knew she wasn’t going to win, so she may as well have fun with it!

I love this one. Paul has just lapped Kaylyn on the run. As she goes out for her FINAL lap, Dan and I cheer her on.
She looks over and says, “It hurts, Alicia! It hurts!” Yet she manages to squeak out a smile

Kathy Krummen, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

Kathy with her brother and his family

What do you do when you race an ironman on Saturday in the wine country?
You go wine tasting with all your cheerleaders on Sunday!

Baby on Board! Thomas Maternity Session

Dan — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:04:19 +0000

A few days ago I took some photos of the very pregnant Mary and her husband Scott. They are both great friends of mine from our collage days at Cal Poly: San Luis Obispo. Go Mustangs! It was great seeing them and I can not wait till their son Ben comes into this world. I believe Mary was born to be a mother. Seriously. Scott and her will make some amazing parents. Below are some of my favorite photos of the session. Stay tuned for baby shots in a few months!!

Wright Family Slideshow | With Video!

Dan — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:26:28 +0000

A couple days ago I posted some shots from a family session I did the other day with the Wright family. I got around today to putting together a slide show for them and one of the new features you’ll notice is that video has been added! I love the video because it adds such a nice dynamic along with the still photos that I take. I will be incorporating these video slide shows into my photo packages at an additional cost down the line, but to celebrate this new feature if you book with me soon i’ll include them free of charge. So gather your friends/co-workers and gather around the computer to enjoy the show. I hope you enjoy it!

Wright Family Session

Dan — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:36:12 +0000

For those of you that fell in love with Nora in my last post you will be happy to see a few more shots that I took earlier this week. The Wright’s were so fun to shoot with! We first started out at their house where Jessica had the great idea to take some pajama party photos. After that we headed to a local park to take advantage of the beautiful day that we had. Below are a few of my favorite shots of the day. Enjoy!

Wright Family | Teaser

Dan — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:09:59 +0000

Yesterday I made my way to San Ramon and shot the beautiful Wright family. As I was looking through the photos I came upon this shot of Nora that I just have to show you all! Stay tuned for most highlights!

Lorelei’s Birthday!

Dan — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:29:15 +0000

A couple weeks ago I was working in Arizona getting ready to head out for a week of biking and I get an email in my inbox. It was Mike wanting to know if I was around to take photos of his wife Lorelei’s surprise birthday.

“Where are you going?”, I asked.

“I’m taking her GoKarting.” Mike replied.

“Awesome! I’ll be there!”, I wrote back excitedly.

I couldn’t wait to see how I was going to capture this. Low lights and FAST cars? It would be tricky. But I was up for the challenge! On a dreary Saturday morning Mike surprised Lorelei to the best of his ability. Waiting for her at the GoKArt track were a group of her good friends ready to tear it up on the track. They spent the afternoon going around in adrenaline pumping circles reaching speeds of 30MPH. If the day couldn’t get any better, afterwards the group headed to a local restaurant to celebrate another great Lorelei year. Below are a few of my favorites from the day.

Happy Birthday Lorelei!

Red Red Beets

Dan — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 03:39:39 +0000

On a cold and wet day in Oakland today I headed to the local farmers market and after 30 minutes of viewing fresh organic vegetables and fruits I walked away with some amazing produce. The highlight, apart from the sinful almond torte and hot coffee to go, were the beets! It’s been forever since I’ve cooked with them so tonight I cooked up a simple roasted beet, chicken, and fennel salad. Enjoy!

Arizona Night Sky

Dan — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:37:23 +0000

A day before I headed back to the bay area I took this brief shot of the Tucson night sky. On a clear night the stars shine bright as can be because of the lack of “light pollution” in the city. I snapped this quick shot on the outskirts of town. If you look close you can see two stars as the sun was setting. The first, and largest being Venus. Then 5 minutes later when I got a bit darker you could see Mercury.

Say it, “Sah. WAH. Row”

Dan — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:34:42 +0000

I wish I could call this a photo of the day, but that would mean that i’ve been lacking in that department. So instead i’ll call this the photo of the week! I’m working right now in Tucson Arizona for the week and find myself surrounded by Saguaro Cacti. Hundreds and thousands of these massive cacti blanket the countryside topping out at 150-200 years old. Makes you feel young doesn’t it?

Zach Puccinelli: 4 Months Old!

Dan — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:24:53 +0000

Ready for some more baby awesomeness? A few days ago after getting back from my travels in New Zealand I made a visit to the Puccinelli Household to catch up and see the progress of baby Zach. Zach is a little over 4 months old now and he is so freakin’ adorable! You might remember my photo session with Kelly when she was pregnant with Zach (here) and then I came back and took some photos just after Zach was born (here).

Each time I see the little (big) rugrat his personality and size increase dramatically. Kelly and Zach had a few minutes to pose for some photos while I was there and below are a few of my favorites.