It was truly a pleasure to watch Tricia, William, and their three lovely daughters receive their new home built by ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - and such a beautiful home, too! Here's an excellent walkthrough: Some of you have reached out to say that you're disappointed to have missed the show (or you were watching the Grammys ;) Fear not, you can watch it in its entirety at abc.com - here's a direct link to the full episode. If you haven't seen it, you should. It really is quite beautiful. For those who did watch, here are photographs of the family and some more behind-the-scenes images from working on the set (this time around it was only super cold & rainy, unlike last time when it was crazy freezing cold & rainy ;) So, without further ado, I present The Creasey Family...

I just LOVE Tricia's laugh here :) :) :)

A big thank you to our very own Kaitlin Rogers who headed down with me for the day of the shoot & got some really cute images of how I was shooting the so-so-adorable girls:

After the shoot, we stepped through the images to make selections for the various rooms in the house...

Then, met with more of the design team and the awesome design producers to get everything sorted out and edited - I uploaded several batches of images to Buckeye Color Lab so that they could turn them around immediately (and go on to donate all those prints). A few days later, I got some hilarious shots of Jewel and Ty blow-torching wood to create the gorgeous rustic frames that they used to showcase the photographs - was a really cute skit with the fire getting out of control and the fire marshall stepping in to save the day (but, alas, it didn't make it through final edits :)

Volunteers were backing and framing pieces up until the very last minute in "Art World".

Then it was on to hanging the pieces and getting all the furniture moved in fast!

The lovely finished rooms (ahhhh) .... and the super friendly Tracy & Alex in designer heaven: *Paris*.

Out to greet the cheering crowd, the media - and, of course, the family returning to their brand new home...

Love the extreme "home is done" huddle...

(from both angles)

Finally ... such genuine joy as the family pulls up in their limo. You can see the full episode for the rest of the story! :) Whew.

(And they do this every week, people.)

~~~~~~ ...oh, and gotta love the credits...

The Olympics are officially underway, and it got me to thinking of how much Olympian photography I've had the honor of capturing lately :) I started last year with Cullen Jones, a two-time national swimming champion and a world record holder - and now an Olympian, securing his spot with his 100-meter performance in the Olympic Swim Trials. Here's the cover shoot and some of the editorial from our session last year - Cullen was so into the shoot, which made for some fantastic editorial:

And just recently, I photographed Shalane Flanagan - another American Record Holder going for the gold in Beijing! She secured her spot in the 2008 Summer Olympic Trials held in Eugene, Oregon. She competed in both the 5K and the 10K, and she won the 10K final in a time of 31:34.81, locking in her a spot on Team USA for 2008 Olympic Games. Like most world-class athletes, Shalane is a very mental competitor, and it was pretty interesting to hear her discuss specific visualization techniques in regards to racing...

You think you go through sneakers???

Of course, there was my shoot a few years ago with Olympic Medal-Winner Joan Nesbit and also last month's shoot of Tucker Dupree, also in Beijing. And there was also the fun family session with Baby Jack. His proud papa is Steve Wojociechowski, a Court Coach for the Team USA basketball team. I'm also looking forward to my upcoming shoot with his much-loved boss at the Olympics (and at home), Coach K. Will definitely be excited to watch all the action and root on these great athletes, especially - GO GO GO!

Photographing Senator Barack Obama was a remarkable experience - Tamara wrote about her experience doing so in the June, 2008 issue of Rangefinder Magazine. On the world-changing scale, the Washington Post had this to say: A Run for the Ages? Scholars Say Obama's Campaign Is History in Motion Already, the adjective "historic" seems permanently attached to news media descriptions of Barack Obama's emergence as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. News anchors and pundits deploy the term with abandon, but what do actual historians think? "I think this will be in a class by itself," said John Hope Franklin, who at 93 is the dean of the American historians who think and write about race. Obama's campaign "is the most radical, far-reaching, significant [undertaking] by any individual or group in our history," he said. "This strikes at the very heart of national ideology on race and the political patterns of this country's history." Barack Obama's quest has not gone unnoticed. Many speak to his ability to transcend parties, to heal a nation, with no concern for the historical impacts of his race. Attracting thousands at town hall meetings, rallies, and a myriad of events, a record 75,000 individuals came out to see him speak in Portland, Oregon in May of 2008. Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President Kennedy, endorsed Senator Obama by stating, " I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president - not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."

Charlie Engle lives his life in extremes...and yet in great balance. While acting as a Producer on Extreme Home Makeover, Charlie raced. But he did not just race, he finished and even won some of the most hardcore extreme events in the world, like ultra marathons in the great expanse of Mongolia, through the jungles of Amazon, and in the aptly-named Death Valley. There was also ultra-cycling across America and the Eco Challenge in Borneo. Then Charlie and two other runners decided to take on a goal that they were told was impossible: to run across Africa. Across the Sahara Desert, to be specific - possibly the most unforgiving place on earth, with an ecosystem that is considered extreme at best. Sweltering daytime heat, with highs of 140 degrees, drops to freezing temperatures at night, with lows of 30 degrees. Yet run across Africa they did, at the pace of two marathons a day. They encountered significantly varying terrain and serious obstacles, including a 21-day sandstorm, swarms of locusts the size of small birds, traveling bands of armed rebels, and even active minefields. Every single day, Charlie told himself he just had to run until lunch … he’d decide then if he could actually continue. All in all, Charlie led the trio of runners across 9 ecosystems and 6 countries, covering 4,500 miles in 111 days ... without a single day of rest. They went through a total of 75 pairs of sneakers as they burned 10,000 calories per day each. But the most painful statistic of all, according to Charlie? A whopping total of two showers the entire journey. The point of the run? To raise awareness and promote clean water initiatives across Africa by utilizing the attention they were generating. So Charlie co-founded H20Africa.org, created with the intention of supporting sustainable, integrated water programs. As they discovered first-hand throughout their grueling experience, access to clean water lies at the crux of many challenges facing African people – health and education, of course, but also human rights. The humanitarian expedition, narrated and executive produced by Matt Damon, was filmed and will be released as a feature-length documentary this year, "Running The Sahara". Next up? On September 13th, 2008, Charlie will begin a new epic journey - Running America. He and a fellow runner will need to cover nearly 70 miles a day for 45 day consecutive days, starting in San Francisco and ending in Times Square, New York City. This is also an attempt at a world record, the fastest crossing of the United States on foot. This time around, he has partnered with the United Way. With childhood obesity at an all-time high, Charlie is determined to do everything he can to bring about a systemic change in the way America approaches health and fitness. Why all this effort to generate awareness? “Whenever I get a chance to talk to people, I use the opportunity to say that we all have a social and moral responsibility to use the gifts we have to make life better for other people. I went to the Sahara Desert hoping this would make me a better person, and that’s what happened. My focus is less self-centered, and now that I’ve seen the problem for myself, I have no choice but to do something about it.”