My Son

While I'm in the process of bringing this blog back to life with my recent shoots, updating pricing, and offering prints (yes!), I thought I'd actually take some real photos of my son!  It has been way too long since I picked up my camera to take pictures of him and since the sun was out I went for it!  We also took some photos on film until my shutter release got stuck.  Ugh...1/2 a roll down the drain.

My son loves his toys!  Thomas "B", and Batman.  This is normal play for us, except for the undocumented tackle mom part.  That happens all the time too!  Haha!

P.S. Don't mind the skid marks on his face.  He fell on the cement outside while running away from Shem two nights ago.

An official shoot of Asher!

I don't think I've posted an official shoot of Asher on this blog yet, so here is one we just did about 20 minutes ago in my room!  Love his budding personality and the SUNSHINE! 

No words...just pics

I still love my new lens and I have noticed a BIG difference in editing.  The colors are more true, exposure is almost spot on, some are a bit cold, but hey, it was raining and I live in Seattle, and shadows are easily touched up with my adjustment brush.  It pays to have good gear.  Now I just need some better weather. :)

BTW- her eyes are really that blue!  So gorgeous!

New lens test run~ Cute kids

I. Love. My. Lens!  Seriously, I am so in love with my 24-70mm baby that my real baby is kicking me out of jealously. :)  Poor little guy is going to have to get used to my obsession since he will be the subject of most of my photos for a while after he is born. :)  It feels so good to have gone out and taken some photos despite the rain.  Thanks Wendy!  Your kids are so super cute.

Here is a peak.

Go, Go, Go!

This little girl is fast! Her attention span is about as long as 2 seconds and she has a mind of her own. So, how do you take a cute picture of a little girl that moves? Well, you try to bribe her with raisins and then you give up and take pictures of her doing what she wants to do. I think that this is totally fun too! Why make the wiggle-worm sit still for a picture in misery when you can take pictures of them exploring, running, making funny faces, etc.?! Enjoy!

 One sitting down shot in front of the tree.

 Trying to escape.

 She was fascinated with my batteries, lenses, etc.

 Playing with Dad's blackberry, ear piece, and laptop while looking oh-so-cute!

 Reaching an ornament...notice the lack of decorations below?

 Reading.

 Sucking on my shutter release cable...she loves gadgets!

 She let me take this picture of her shoes!  She's all girl!

 Cooperating for Mom and photographer #1, or is this #2?

One last very cute smile!

Thoughts, goals, and a baby

A baby changes everything. At least that’s what I’ve heard, and not really understood, until now. Expecting my first child in May has completely thrown my goals in a different direction, well, maybe not in a completely different direction; however it makes sense to delay some of them and focus on baby for the time being. Let me explain.

I have this goal of having a photography business. I want to be a natural light photographer and my focus will be in portraits and even weddings in the future. My style is simple, clean, bright, natural, and in a word; you. Over the summer I had a lot of time to put myself out there and I even had a few paid jobs which has given me a lot of confidence in my ability to create a successful business despite the saturation of photographers out there. I feel like with more practice and learning my style will become more evident in my work, my ability to focus and frame photographs will become second nature, and posing my subjects will also become effortless. These are a few of the things that I wish I had time to work on right now, but if I’m honest with myself I know that some of these goals need to be put on hold for a while.

It’s not easy to focus so much on such a big goal of mine for just a few months and then be forced to put it off to the side while I focus on the work I have to do in front of me and the growing boy inside of me. But I’ll do it. I’ve realized that this baby is so very special to me already. I’ve waited a long time to be at this stage in my life and I’m moving forward knowing that things will be different when baby is here. He will be my focus, my life, my one main goal will be to take care of him. Photography will be much lower on my list of priorities.

So, despite my sadness and feelings of being left behind in the world of building my own business while many friends and family members move forward I’ve also realized that there are some advantages to waiting. Here are a few:

• I can still make money with what I do. I just won’t raise my prices or be able to offer fancy print packages. I’m just not ready yet.
• I have this time to practice and perfect my skills. When it’s time to open that business it will open in a big way. I’ll be more than prepared.
• I will finally be able to take pictures of my own baby.
• I have more time to discover and read books and blogs. There is so much to learn just from observing and then figuring out how to get a similar look in your photographs.
• I can focus on my current full-time teaching job, which I happen to enjoy a lot as well.
• I learned how to take photos on film with my canon AE-1 and there are a few amazing photographers out there who use film.  It's possible that I may inherit a medium format film camera, so I want to learn why photogs are turning back to film, what the benefits of film are, is it cheaper, what kinds of film are out there, and just the overall pros and cons of film.  The thought of going film professionally is very intriguing to me...very intriguing.  I'll have time to really think about my options with film and digital.
• I can learn how my friends have built their business. I’m not about to reinvent the wheel with this one. I will beg, borrow, and even steal ideas that seem to work. Seriously, why not?
• Opening the business after the baby is a bit older and we’re adjusted to one another will make it easier to focus on it. Baby will be number one for me.


Anyway, I hate to have to slow down and back away from this business for a while, but in the end it will be more than worth the wait. Besides, I waited a while until I found the right guy and he was completely worth the wait! This baby will be more than worth the wait too.

On another note, here are some cute shots of my friends’ baby. He loves to have his diaper changed so I snapped some shots of him in his moment of pure joy. :)

A bunch of Hams!

My nieces and nephews are a bunch of hams!  They know how to be the star of the show and they love to be funny!  I can't tell you how much fun it was to photograph them, but I can tell you that the kids all had their own ideas for poses and Mom and Dad made them laugh those real-oh-so-cute-smile-laughs during the whole shoot.  Here are my faves.

 And then we had some fun in the leaves...these pictures capture the true personality of the kids and mom and dad.

 I love this picture above even though it's not perfectly focused I think it's awesome!