It’s been so nice doing photography only. Not only do I get to spend way more time with my wonderful children, I actually have the time to go out with buddies and take random pictures like I used to. I haven’t had an afternoon to just drive around snapping random photos in well over 3 years, so to hang out with my buddy Drew on Wednesday was wonderful and refreshing! Here are some of my favorite shots from the day (Sorry ahead of time for so many pictures, I had so many images I wanted to share)

First off, we were looking for Levasy, a little town that Drew knew about but hadn’t been to since he was 7. We got lost and ended up in Buckner. The cool thing is that we found this awesome lot with old cars sitting out in the open just begging to be photographed. We met a cool, old dude who told us how to get to Levasy as well.

Drew really wanted to go to Levasy because of this old basketball court/schoolhouse that he played basketball in when he was younger.

Then we found this really old, green firetruck that was being dismantled for parts. Luckily, they had some cool looking gadgets on the side that I liked.

Then we ended up in this old cemetery in Oak Grove right by where Drew grew up. There were tons of tombstones dating back to the 1800′s. I liked the way that the sun cast the shadow of leaves on this tree.

Hope you liked the photos!

We have been trying to get to Powell Gardens for a couple of weeks now to do Rob & Kate’s engagement photos. Finally the rain went away and we made it out to the most beautiful garden in Kansas City. We had fun walking through the garden snapping pics this evening. Rob is a tough one. Kate tried and tried to get some smiles out of him, and he was having none of it. Or so he thought, Rob, I got some pictures to prove that you CAN smile in front of a camera! Seriously, they both did great and I can’t wait until their December 16 wedding at Loose Mansion. Kate, here’s your teaser pics.

Jenny and I decided to decorate a pumpkin for the Annual Fall Festival & Pumpkin Auction hosted by the Raymore Chamber of Commerce. The Pumpkin Auction will benefit the Ray-Pec High School Scholarship Fund. We kept thinking and thinking about how we were going to decorate our pumpkin. We didn’t want any lame pumpkin, it had to be Josh Solar Photo style. After all, this was the first year that we donated one.

We couldn’t think of anything cool, then I had a wonderful idea. What if we had Max decorate the pumpkin however he wanted? Max was up for it. First, he wanted to make a car pumpkin, so we went to Target to find some supplies. We walked around for about half an hour and were striking out on the car idea. Then Jenny found some Mr. Potato Head pumpkin decorating kits. It was perfect! Max decided he would rather make an angel pumpkin than a ninja pumpkin no matter how much I pleaded with him to choose the ninja. Anyway, enough talking, you knew I had to document the event on film. Enjoy!

Where do I put this arm?

Now for the eyes…

still trying…

almost got it…

Momma helped with the nose

Every angel needs some wings

Fin!

What would a personal blog post be without a picture of Ava. Here you see her struggling to put on a shoe!

Location: City Market

Today we met up with Catharine and Richie at City Market for their engagement pics. Catharine said she was a little nervous at first, but they both warmed up to the camera really quickly and we got some great shots! We are really looking forward to their May wedding at Loose Mansion! Here are a few favorites from today…

Location: Alexander Majors Historical House & Museum
Catering: Fiorella’s Jack Stack

We’ve had some really crazy weather this fall, so I know we were all excited when we got a perfect (yet very windy) day yesterday for Danielle and Aaron’s outdoor wedding. They had a beautiful ceremony in the yard and an awesome fall reception in the barn. And I don’t even need to tell you how great the barbecue was…mmm gotta love Jack Stack! We had so much fun with these two, crazy wind and all! I promised to have a sneak preview up for them tonight before they head off to Europe tomorrow for their honeymoon, for which I am totally jealous of them . Here are some favorites from the day…. Check back mid-week for a slideshow! All captions are from Josh.

The Ringbearer and I got along really well!

You guys may remember this shot from Layna & Joel’s wedding. I love it, so if you have a Polaroid camera laying around on your wedding day, I’m gonna get you to do something silly for me!

Yet another wedding where I teared up during the father/daughter dance. I’m such a wuss!