Fashion and beauty shoot with Marie

Yesterday, I had a really fun photo shoot with Marie in Madison. Gerald Mews did Marie's hair and makeup at my studio and we then went to a few industrial locations to shoot. I was thrilled with how the images came out and I hope you enjoy them.

Behind the scenes at my studio

Race report: Crazylegs Classic 2013

It's been a long, extreme winter in the midwest but I've had plenty of swim, bike and run training indoors during the off-season. When my dad mentioned that he was thinking about running in Crazylegs this year-I quickly volunteered to do the race as well. My treadmill training has consisted of mostly long runs, runs immediately off the spin bike (brick sessions), and weekly tempo runs for a total of about 15-20 miles/wk.

My father and I post-race at Camp Randall Stadium.

I've been doing tempo runs at a pace of 8:00/mile and started adding intervals of up to 6% incline to those workouts to build my hill strength. The last tempo run I did was four days before the race and was four miles at an average heart rate (HR) of 162 which is on the low-end of my threshold zone. I must have been crazy, or amped up for the race, or just crazy amped up, because I did a three and a half mile tempo run the next day on the Lakeshore Path. I think that was supposed to be a recovery run but I felt strong and probably just went out too hard. Nevertheless, I was feeling very fresh on race day and after warming up I lined up in my wave. 

It was almost 60ºF and at my wave start I bumped into my friend Spencer from my running group that meets on Tuesday nights at Endurance House in Middleton. It's always nice to know a few people at a race, since I think the sheer number of participants at big events like this (almost 12,000 runners) can be intimating before a race. 

I had gone back and forth about wearing a heart rate monitor during the run. I'd never worn mine except in training and I didn't want it to limit my performance. But I also didn't want to blow out on the first hills, so in the end I decided to wear it (Timex T5J031) and I'm glad I did. The starting gun went off and my pack started strong with a mile one split of 7:02. Which was nice, but was not a sustainable pace over the 8k for me. The next mile had some moderate hills and I raced my numbers so I didn't go too far into my redline zone this early in the race. 

I ran the remainder of the course nice and even keeping my HR at the upper end of my threshold range so I could hang on to my pace. Once I hit the final 500m I still felt like I had a lot left in the gas tank so I really went for it there. Hit my max HR sometime during that sprint finish. I think I've probably done that in several shorter races already but I recover fairly quickly after a much-appreciated bottle of water. 

I finished with a time of 38:02 which equates to a 7:39/mile pace. I'm pleased with my preparation and my run. I maintained decent form and other than a little cramping in my trapezius from mile 2-3 the run was steady state and painless. Since I didn't tip into the upper range of my redline zone I wasn't gasping for air or struggling to keep the legs moving.       

Although security tried to keep the area past the finish line (football field) clear I managed to stay on the field to wait for my dad. He finished strong and we all went out for lunch at Mid Town Pub in Middleton afterwards.   

I'm happy to report I got some faster pace numbers from my race results. I'm hoping that I can shave a minute off my 5k and 10k times by tri season. Oh, but that run will have to come after a quality swim and bike split. : ) 

   

New improved training paces.

Next up, Madison Marathon 13.1 in a month. 

Madison interior photos

I photographed some interiors of this Madison home for the Abode section of a recent issue of Isthmus newspaper. I love photographing architecture!

New product and editorial portrait tear sheets

Be sure to pick up an April, 2013 copy of Madison Magazine. I've got a page of product photos in the City Style feature and an editorial portrait of Terry Bell from Wisconsin Public Radio.

New advertising product photos

Last month I shot these boots and eyeglasses for two separate magazine ads that just came out. I've come to realize how much I enjoy photography with studio strobes. Results are predictable and in a good way. When I snap a shot with my lights, I know it's going to come out as I envisioned!

New architectural interior photo

Had a great time photographing this home in southern Wisconsin. For scale, the table is 9' wide and the TV is 52".

New photos with Mariah

I had a shoot at my studio with Mariah H. on Sunday and enjoyed working with her! She is currently Miss Wisconsin Central. Here are a few of my favorites from the session.

Snowy forest road

Yesterday's assignment was interior, architectural photos of a country estate near Lake Geneva. On the way out of the driveway I stopped the car and snapped this shot of the snow in the forest. I was really in the middle of nowhere!

© 2013 Timothy Hughes. Click to license this winter road photo through Getty Images.

A few summer landscapes

You know... it's 6ºF right now and I was going through some old, unpublished photos and stumbled across some warm summer scenes from the Madison and Middleton area. I hope you enjoy them as much as I liked working on them this evening! Click to enlarge.

Shorewood Hills

Memorial Union Terrace at twilight, 2010.

Middleton, Wisconsin farmland in summer

Emerald City: new product photography

Emerald City: some shiny new product photography in the February, 2013 edition of Madison Magazine.

Winter Snow Day

We had a beautiful snowstorm a few weeks ago and I sort of forgot to post photos until now.

License this snowstorm image at istock