
© TIM PANNELL PHOTOGRAPHY
How do you take pictures of a snowball fight?
How do you do it without getting snow all over your gear?
In my experience…….you don’t.
I spent the last 5 days working on a stock photography assignment.
The subject was winter family fun.
I had my good friend Pete come in from L.A. to art direct for me.
I just got back from dropping him off at the airport this morning.
It’s so nice to have that extra pair of eyes, especially when we had so many people in most of the shots we did.
Obviously, this shoot was done differently than if I was just out shooting my own kids or creating images of someone’s family for them.
You wont’ have an art director, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have an extra pair of eyes to help you.
Use your spouse, use a friend, use one of your other kids.
Don’t be afraid of biting off more than you can chew.
Give the kids a little encouragement and some guidelines and then jump right in.

© Tim Pannell Photography
Get close to the action and shoot a bunch. Don’t worry if a lot of the shots stink, that’s going to happen no matter what with this much action.
There’s just too much going on to get a great shot every time. Don’t focus on the missed shots, focus on the great ones that you get.
If you always play it safe, you’ll never get anything great. Push yourself, take chances, you’ll be greatly rewarded.
It’s really easy to make excuses to not shoot in the snow, or rain or just plain old winter.
Don’t make that mistake. Take advantage of the winter weather.
If your kids are like my kids, it won’t take any encouragement at all to get them to go play in the snow.
The next time they go out to make a snowman, build a snow fort or have a snowball fight, follow them out and take a bunch of pictures.
Enjoy the cold winter weather, it won’t be around much longer.
We’re still settling in to the new place and getting caught up on some other business obligations so the next Photo Mommies Workshop will be pushed back another couple of weeks more than I wanted.
To all of you who are patiently waiting…..I apologize, but I thank you for your patience.
The workshop is coming and as soon as I can guarantee a start date I will. It should take place within the next month.
In the meantime……….keep shooting!

© Tim Pannell Photography
Well, it’s a brand new year with lots of new potential and possibilities.
Our family just finished moving to Utah from Arizona. We’re still right in the thick of unpacking all of our junk.
We put our home up for sale in September, sold it early in December and moved out on the 28th.
We had to stay with friends and family for a couple of weeks until we were able to move into our new place on the 9th of January.
Thank heavens for all of our friends and family, we couldn’t have pulled this off without any of them.
We loved living in Arizona. We’ll love living in Utah.
I’m just trying to get used to the huge change in temperature. It was 15 degrees when I took our 12 year old to school after he missed the bus.
It is beautiful here, in spite of the temperature. Its nice to have a whole new set of backgrounds and scenery to shoot in.
There’s snow on the ground, no leaves on the trees, mountains and deep blue skies.
Once we get settled in, I’ll start taking advantage of our new surroundings and get some new images.
For those of you who are wondering about the new January workshop…..it’ll begin in early February.
Sorry about the delay, but the last couple of months have been a blur and we’ve got a few more crazy weeks on the horizon.
Keep your eyes open for registration and payment announcements. If you’re already registered but haven’t paid yet, look for an email with instructions on your next step.
In the meantime, take advantage of the winter season and shoot your kids.
Have a blast!






















