Journal

The Living Aquarium in Sandy, Utah

Tom Sparks — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:10:30 +0000

This week I got to take my daughter to a Photowalking Utah photowalk to the Living Aquarium. We had a great time. Here are some of my results.

Spring Has Sprung! Dancer Melissa Freeman Portrait

Tom Sparks — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 22:23:06 +0000

Spring is here and we had fun shooting Melissa outdoors this week. Melissa is a dance student at UVU. Enjoy.

Portraits With Style

Tom Sparks — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 03:23:21 +0000

I love it when a client comes to me wanting more than the normal "smile and look pretty" portraits. People have style and photography is the most fun when my clients want to show that style in their sessions.

This is Rachell. She had a blast and I had fun too. Kristen Packard is the make up artist.

A short series with dancer Ashley French

Tom Sparks — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:56:04 +0000

When we did Ashley's dance portraits, I decided to do a series showing movement and form as well as looking for a range of expression. I worked with her to get some happy, silly, serious, sad and other moods. Hope you enjoy.

A Dance Portrait with Ashley French

Tom Sparks — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 19:50:17 +0000

Ashley is a junior in high school up at Park City, Utah. She has been dancing practically all her life. It was cool to see how well she and her mom got on with each other. Ashley came to my studio to get some updated photos for her dance portfolio. She is still recovering from a major back surgery and can't yet bend down to tie her shoes. Mom is there for that. We had to keep poses kind of simple for now. I hope you can enjoy the beauty of her grace and youth. Oh, and Ashley is on the road to recovery and expects to be dancing at the end of the school year.

During the shoot I had ashley work a series of expressions because she is also intersted in modeling. I think the emotion I asked for for this shot was "ex-boyfriend".

Do you love beauty as much as I do?

Tom Sparks — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:48:34 +0000

My son's violin teacher mentioned Pintrest to me a couple of weeks go. My wife was showing it to me earlier last week. Today Jeremy Cowart mentioned it on Google Plus. So I started a Pintrest. Of course there is the "about me" crap that I have to fill out. Here is what I said

I like to find beauty. I find beauty in ugly things, and I can even find beauty in beautiful things. I want to capture your beauty, both body and soul.

This is true of my musical life and also my photographic life. I love the equisite beauty that comes from all ends of human expression. pain, sorrow, lust, love, kindness, selfishness. To hear the terror of the dies ire in Verdi's requiem or the soft forgiving strains of love from a Mozart duet.

In photography, I find the same joy and passion. If you ever hire a photographer, I hope you hire one who throws their whole soul into finding your beauty, what ever it is.

What follows is some of the beauty I have been fortunate to capture in the couple of months.

Bridal on the Temple Lawn

Tom Sparks — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:05:34 +0000

Brandon and Amber take a moment to enjoy being alone and being just married on the lawn of the Salt Lake City LDS temple in Utah.

Taking a look back...

Tom Sparks — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:34:03 +0000

I shot my first wedding in 2008. So much has changed in the time since then. I appreciate Jessica and Dave trusting me to photograph their wedding. I have found wedding photography to be a supreme challenge that is fun and rewarding and keeps me on my toes. I am looking forward to the 2012 wedding season.

Sugar Bubbles and Wedding Cake

Tom Sparks — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:05:15 +0000

I've seen a lot of wedding cakes, but so far my favorite decorations have been by the cake lady. I loved this simple cake with lemon sugar bubbles. The bubbles are hand blown, like a glass bubble.

Who needs a staged kiss?

Tom Sparks — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:48:34 +0000

David and Andrea were one of my favorite couples. They just seemed to be so in sync with each other. And they were so cute. So in a moment when we were getting the whole extended family together on the steps of the LDS Salt Lake City temple and they had been married for a whole 30 minutes or so, they were enjoying looking at each other while the group got in place. They talked and looked at each other, and naturally, they kissed. I love moments like this at weddings, that just happen and look good.