More Photos

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to photograph the family of one of Brian's best friends.

How cute are they?!




Brooke (the mom) brought along this great black and white chair...



She brought along her mom too.

Toward the end of the shoot the kids were starting to be done. Very done. But I squeezed out one last shot. I think it turned out quite adorable.


Thanks for allowing me to capture your family! What a privilege.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

This last weekend we went to pick out our Christmas tree. My husband decided it was time we cut our own. So, we braved the wild went to our local u cut tree lot in search for the perfect tree to share our holiday season.

Brian wanted this one. And was rather disappointed when we told him it was a little on the big side to fit into our living room . Bummer.

*he so wanted to wear that hat.

But, then we found the perfect tree. A Fraser fir.

Brian offered encouragement....

and advice...



We My husband finally got it cut and hauled back.

The place where we went to get our tree has a totally cute set up. They have a little train that circles the tree farm (8 acres or so), you cut your tree then wait for the train. They put your tree on the back "train car" and you get to ride up to the front of the farm. Lots of fun for a 5 year old.

Here is a good shot of my two boys at the train station...

And one I got of Brian. He is growing up. *sniffle, sniffle*

What I have learned...

Over the last few weeks several of my friends have graciously allowed me to take some photos of them and/or their family. It has been an invaluable experience for me and I have learned a lot. Here are some things I have learned...

#1 and #2...
Check my white balance. It's more important than I thought.

Also, my camera tends to over expose on aperture priority mode. I guess it's time for me to move to all manual settings.


Some creative poses work, others do not...


Maybe for a wedding party, but not for kids. And, I have to be really careful with my background and depth of field with this pose.

When they say "Don't take maternity shots straight on", they mean it.

When I did my research for the maternity shoot, I read over and over - "Take maternity shots from any angle except straight on". What did I do? Yep, took a shot from straight on.

This shot totally didn't work - lesson learned (and Jen, you didn't look like this - I promise!) .



I learned two lessons here as well. #1 notice the details, and because of #1, #2 a little photo editing is okay.

Here is the shot as it was taken...

It's sweet, but not perfect. Here I "removed" the extra fabric on the left and gave it a bit of a tweak with the lighting.

And finally (though I'm sure there is much more for me yet to learn), shooting next to a waterfall is beautiful, but bring something to get the attention of the kids so they look at me.

Maternity Photography

I'm trying new types of photography to see what I like the best and what I am good at. This morning a friend of mine graciously let me take some maternity photos of her. She is due in a few short weeks. I can't wait to meet the little one soon (her third boy)!

Maternity photography is totally new to me - having never been pregnant myself. I feel totally unprepared to take maternity photos, but I jumped in anyway. That's the only way to learn, right?

I'm not sure that I will specialize in maternity photos, but I feel like I learned quite a bit today.

Thanks Jen!

Jen wanted most of her photos in sepia.

She was so easy to work with.

The baby is due right around Christmas, so naturally ...

She had these plantation blinds that gave a great shadow effect...