HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

So you can probably see I'm running a special for the month of July! I'm excited about this special. There will be a limited amount of sessions available, so jump on the opportunity soon! But in the meantime, tell your friends, family, strangers, etc.

I'm looking forward to this because there are several types of sessions I'm wanting to capture. As always I love doing newborns! Then there are the growing belly pictures that I need more of for my portfolio. Toddlers are always fun... The list goes on and on...

However, I'm wanting some different sessions... Stuff I haven't done before, so if you're interested contact me. Some of my ideas include: urban family shoot in a funky location (let me know if you've seen some cool places), a little funk at an old barn, maybe even some sass at a grainery. Just something out of the ordinary.

BUT... If you like my stuff the way it is and you want a session, still call or email me to schedule it. I definitely don't mind sticking to my territory, these are just some ideas if you're interested!

Can't wait to hear from you!

Bigger

So I've been working on trying to make my blog posts and images larger... I've read that you can load your pics to an outside source and then copy the HTML code into your post. It kind of stinks because it adds a step to my blogging, but I'm really loving all these blogs where the pictures are BIG! So I'm going to try it...

Hope this works...


ETA... It worked! Pretty neat, huh? Now, I'm going to try to figure out how to do it without using a 3rd party. I've heard that it's possible, but I haven't quite figured it out! Figured out leaving the 3rd party out too! Woo-hoo!

A Collage for Mr. E's Room **UPDATED** Scroll down for revisions!

Here is a collage I created for Mr. E's room... His mom told me that she thought these images would make a cute collage for his room, so once she described his room to me, I whipped this up.

What do you think? Should I make any changes? How about the background color? Which one do you prefer?


Oh and this is sized as a 16x20, but can also be printed as an 8x10. It will be mounted on 2mm styrene and coated for protection. Then you can frame it or just use a plate rack or easel for displaying it!

Okay... After some of the comments confirming that this collage 'might need something', I added a little border and feature that makes the images look even more vintage... It's called TTV - 'through the viewfinder'. It's supposed to give it that look of being taken with an old camera. WDYT??

The Pantry...

Remember my post not too long ago about the boy that wasn't quite 10 months yet? Well, I finally had time to edit some proof of the destruction he creates in our house! I'd taken these pics about a month ago, but have been quite busy with client photos and have just now gotten around to editing them.

So my kids have a bad habit of leaving the pantry open. Which leads to Caleb exploring and pulling everything off the shelf. No biggie... keeps him busy while I do dishes, clean, etc., even grab the camera for pics!

Well, I must have left the kitchen to go to the other room for some reason and when I came back, I found this! Eating chips... Mind you, we didn't start him on solids and it was baby food at that until 6 months. I don't think chips are first foods approved!


Then about a week later, same scenario... Someone left pantry open, I allowed him to play because it keeps him busy so I can do things, I head to the other room to do something and come back to this... Lucky Charms. Lucky for him, huh?! At least these are a little 'safer' than chips!


I thought this pic was funny... My pantry after Caleb...


Caleb after Lucky Charms! ~~Priceless~~


I have to say, this little boy is definitely keeping me on my toes! I cannot fathom what our days will be like once he's walking. If you think about it, go ahead and start praying for me now!

Just a swingin'...

About a month or so ago we bought Caleb a swing... Well, Kevin wasn't home yet, so I just rigged it up so he could try it out until daddy got home. He was loving it! This is one of the many ways we pass the time waiting for him to come home for the day.


So now, Kevin has taken down the red see saw looking swing thing so that all 3 kids can swing together. They love it and we do it quite often! Now if we can just get some grass growing in the backyard we'd be good to go!

Do you hear what I hear?

So the little man had surgery on Friday. He had to had tubes put in and he also had a tongue-tie repair done. The whole thing took less than 20 minutes! I think it took longer for him to wake up and come to recovery than it did for the entire surgery. When we got to recovery to see him, he gave us the biggest smile! The nurse even commented that when he woke up the first thing he did was give her a smile. So we gave him some juice since he hadn't had anything since 2 am and he was a happy camper. It wasn't long and we were on our way. Once we got home, he nursed and then took a 3 hour nap! I even got to sneak in a little nap. He woke up happy and has been good since then. Really only getting fussy when he's tired or hungry!

Here he is before his surgery... Poor thing had no idea what was to come!


Then these were afterwards once we were home and he'd had his nap. Isn't he the happiest thing you'd ever seen that had been through surgery that morning?! Sorry for the picture overload... He was just hamming it up for the camera! Oh and see his two new top teeth?



Disclaimer: These photos aren't portfolio worthy at all! Several were taken in auto, have flashy pinlights, my carpet needed to be vacuumed-darn rug that sheds, etc., but oh well... some days we need a day off, huh?!

More girlies... **UPDATED** with collage (scroll down)

I recently got to photograph some kiddos that, let's see how to explain this... Her kids went to the same daycare as mine did a year ago, but she's also a friend of the session I did titled ~Fiesta~, but she actually was responding to my request for girlies... Make sense? Clear as mud, huh?!

Little 'E' was actually quite shy... She is my Haidyn's age. It wasn't until we were about done that I got her to crack some little smiles and actually look at me.


This was her brother. Mr. 'E'. He had the cutest little smile.

Miss 'E' and Mr. 'E' also brought along their, hopefully I get this right... 2nd cousins. Meet Miss S and her baby sister, Miss K. Don't you love their little outfits? Miss 'E' had one too that matched.

Yep and I know... no eye contact, but I just loved her little expression.




Don't ask me what they're doing... I don't think their moms even knew... I just happened to catch it on the camera and we thought it was quite humorous! Don't you? Maybe it was... 'This little piggy went to market and this little piggy went, wah, wah, wah, all the way home'!


These next two pictures, I actually bumped up my ISO to get that old timey film grain look. I got the effect more on sister's picture. These two might make a cute storyboard... Stay tuned and I'll post it once I make one.



Okay... Here is the collage idea I came up with. It's an 11x14 and will be printed on 2mm styrene and then clear coated for protection. Then you can frame it or display it on a plate rack or easel. Several of my clients are doing the latter. Oh and the black frame on the blog and logo are just for the blog, they won't be there when printed!


Last, but not least... A little canvas idea. Brother's shirt is actually a little wet... He fell in the water feature earlier in the session. He was fine, but we were wondering where he went and next thing we know, he popped up out of the water saying, 'I almost fell in'. Nope, buddy, you did fall in! LOL!


Well, I could edit and post sneak peeks all evening, but I better turn in and get geared up to finish editing the session for the actual proofs. Thanks for letting me share!

Oh and Happy Father's Day (in an hour) to all the dad's out there!

Not even 10 mos. yet...

The boy isn't even 10 months yet (in a week) and he is everywhere! I can't imagine what life with him will be as a toddler... and I thought my girls were active.

Let's just break it down to what he's done today...

• pull all the shoes off the bottom two racks in my closet
• take most the books off the bottom shelf of the bookshelf
• emptied my bathroom cabinets (under the sink)
• pulled everything off my nightstand
• taken the play clothes out of the girls' dresser
• tried to unfold the towels I folded
• gotten under the desk and tried to play with wires
• almost forgot... learned how to flush the toilet
  

Gosh, I we haven't even really been in the kitchen... Normally, in there he empties the pantry (when someone has left it open), empties the cabinet under the sink, and pulled all the pots and pans out.

Whew... I'm tired just posting that and my day isn't over yet! Oh and forgot to mention that he tried to get the cat food while I was doing the laundry...

No pics uploaded yet to document, but I'll try to add some later. As I'm typing this, he's hanging on my leg since he's done destroying the bathroom.

Better go!

The 'B' Twins and Their Brothers!

I had the awesome pleasure of photographing this family this past weekend. They were responding to my request for little girlies. Well, not only did I get one, but TWO! Twins! How fun! They have just begun to walk and at times they didn't want to be tied down for pictures. Watching this family gave me a glimpse of what my sister-in-law has to look forward to (just add one more baby)... Watch out, Amy! These girlies were cuties, but oh so ready to go, go, go!

Here are a few of my favorites from the session...






I thought this picture was just a fun one... It really captures their personality from what I saw during our session... I really enjoyed meeting your family! I've got lots more to edit, so I'll let you know when they're ready for viewing...

Mr. C's Short & Sweet Session

Mr. C's mom is a long time friend of mine and asked me to come duplicate a pose she had of Mr. C's older sister when she was his age. So here is a sneak peek of the images I came up with. I used two different methods for the black and whites so that Mr. C's mom can decide which one is closer to the image she's trying to re-create.





It's probably a little hard to tell, but these are actually 4 different poses using two different methods to create the black and white.

Let me know your favorites!