A new victim :)

Meet Diesel, our new puppy:



the boy keeps calling him Spencer, lol. (That is a close friend's pet's name) I sure hope he is as mild mannered and sweet as Spencer.

JUMP!

More from my trip to Nashville. I know, yesterday was self portrait Tuesday but it was a *holiday* LOL.



Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas :)

do a dollop

of sour cream, that is. Mom and C making sour cream cookies last weekend.

Self Portrait Tuesday

So, my friend and mentor Wendy does this and I think it's cool so I'm stealing the idea. Besides, there are very few pictures of me and I'm sure my kids will want them someday. We'll see if I manage to get this done once a week (probably not)



So, Renee, where is yours?

I must have done something right

because Santa sent me a 5D! THANK YOU SANTA CLAUSE! I promise, one day, you'll get a bass boat;)

Here she is, just out of the box. I think I'll call her Noel :)


I had to snap a few but my subject just had shots yesterday..and...well...you'll see


Santa, this was taken at 3200 ISO, fyi :)I really didn't do much editing. A little defog and an action from VIBE called Fruit Juice.

Do you think she's trying to tell me something here?

This edit included the moody bnw preset from VIBE


Rumor has it my dear friend Renee Oakenfull of VIBE
is getting ready to launch another part of her business. Rumor has it's AWESOME

Smooch :)

It's hard to believe two close friends have daughters so far apart in age.

[don't blink]

I can't...because when I open my eyes, I know she'll be grown.

Sneak Peek

I spent last w/e in Nashville. It's nice to work with people that hold still for a change!





I really enjoyed my trip. As usual, it wasn't long enough.

TFL

Days End

Shared History

As I was cleaning out hello files tonight, I noticed that the window you use to either delete or view files is named Shared History. Hmmm, interesting. I've only known these friends that I chat with for a little more than a year. Funny how a chat program gives you....shared history. Renee and Stephanie, I just can't imagine life without you. I've had the best time getting to know you. Hopefully, someday we'll meet. Thanks girls :)

For Halloween, C was Thomas and Gramma bought him a lantern to carry. The lantern is a big hit and I think it makes an amazing light source for sleeping pics!



Happy Halloween!

For my dear friend Stephanie

a bnw of Union Station:

Union Station St. Louis, MO

I had the pleasure of staying here a couple weekends ago. It's a gorgeous place. I hope to go back to capture more of it :)

I wonder what she's thinking

I snapped this of her the other day. I wonder what she's thinking while she's looking at grandma.

Ride by?

I was snapping pics of Miss C last week and he had to get in on it, lol. I love the goofy smile he has on his face.

No internet :(

Oh, the joys of living in a small town. I've recently had a lot of trouble with my internet provider. Unfortunately/fortunately the have let me out of my contract early at no charge. I'm in contact with another company and waiting for them to finish up their new tower in my area. I should be up and running again next week. Until then, lol, pray for me :) My house is the cleanest it has been in a very long time. Heck, I might even catch up on editing.

A pink raincoat and a yellow lollie

Would you believe this coat was given to her 9 months ago? We thought it would fit in the spring, lol. Well, she's a tiny thing and it fits now so when it was overcast a couple days ago we headed out for the park.

Is that a lollie or a microphone, the thought of this girls teen years SCARES me.


trying to make her look big, she's the kinda girl you can shoot up on :)




Playing with my wide angle lens :) He's learning to work on things or at least act like it!


TFL!

10 favorite songs

I was tagged by my friend, Sheila, to list 10 of my favorite songs. I'll do a couple at a time and hopefully by the end of the day, I'll have 10. I've always loved music, finding only 10 will be difficult. This reminds me I have got to get an ipod, I rarely listen to my own music these days.

#10: U2-Where the Streets have no Name. I still get chills listening to the baseline :)



#9: Guns n Roses-Paradise City. I remember stalking MTV waiting for the release of this video. I watched it for the first time in a friends living room, we were both so excited we couldn't sit still. Ahhh, to be this young again, I was a senior in high school when this song was released. I still love the black and white footage at the beginning.



#8: Rio-Duran Duran. Really showing my age here. This one's for Gina ;) John Taylor was the hottest, lmao.



#7: Everclear-Santa Monica Although this was released several years before, when my ex and I split up I listened to it a lot. It helped me realize that I really did want out of that relationship. I thank God every day for helping me see that.



#6: Violent Femmes-Blister in the Sun


#5: The White Stripes-Seven Nation Army



#4: R.E.M.-Loosing my Religion



#3: Smashing Pumpkins-Bullet with Butterfly Wings

8 things

I've been tagged by Reneeto list 8 things that you may or may not know about me. I'm not sure I'm that interesting. Here goes:

1. I was baptized Lutheran in my early twenties and while I am spiritual, I do not attend church. I should change that and take my kids.

2. I absolutely despise having hot feet, I wear flip flops most of the time.

3. I usually wear jeans and yes, they almost always have holes in them. I'm an artist, I can dress whatever way I want right?

4. I'm just absolutely tickled today. I belong to an online photography site that has monthly contests. For the month of July, I placed second. Here is the link for the July contest announcement page.

5. I am positively humbled by the fact that I was included with such a talented group of people in the above competition.

6. For a couple of months now I've had trouble with my external flash. I fiddled with it today and read the manual. HA! it was in manual, not ETTL mode. I'll blame that on my dh :)

7. I am going to master my flash by the end of this year. No ifs ands or buts.

8. I hope to have a small studio by summer of next year.

Now I have to tag 8 more people. I'm not sure I can find 8 people that haven't been tagged already! Okay, Meg, Sheila, Lyndsay, Marla, Lauren, Jenny

I think everyone else has been tagged!

In love with the light

and that pretty much sums it up :) TFL...you can leave a message :)

Tomato juice

Weekend before last, Mom and I canned tomato juice so that we will have it for chili this winter. Thank fully, Mom takes care of the tomato chopping part b/c raw tomatoes make me ill.





We had a little help.


Normally, she runs away but not this day she wanted in on the action. I had to take advantage of it :)


Like the little horns that the reflection on the microwave behind her make? She's so deserving of them :)


I love seeing her this happy:


and for the last shot of the day, tomato juice by sunset light.



Thanks Mom, I had a wonderful day :) and a wonderful week. Love you.

E-mail

To anyone who has tried to e-mail me in the last few weeks, please accept my sincere apology. Apparently my ISP's spam filter is blocking nearly everything. This will be fixed soon :) Thank you for your patience.

I've been at my Mother's house all week, so lots of photos but no editing. Will continue when I get back home Sunday ;)

The Laundry Mat?

YESSSS...where else would you go for family portraits? I understand this isn't what most people have in mind for family portraits. One thing I want to do for my clients and myself is to give them something that they can *feel* 20 years from now. I want you to look back on a portrait and say, "remember when we did this? We had so much fun!" It's nice to stretch your wings and try different things every once in a while :)



Special thanks to my sil for letting me do this :)

time...please slow down

He's getting way too big and I want this to last forever. I love watching him sleep.

Blatant Defiance: A Test

"so, Mom, are you actually going to put that camera down and stop me?"

Backlighting practice

We spent last weekend at Gramma's :) The kids always have a blast pottering around in her yard. They also get away with certain things like wearing their pj's outside.

A month????

So, my dear friend Renee says I need to post :) I apologize, Renee. I'm not as organized as you are. There just isn't enough time in the day. So, I'll post at least two times a week. However, posts may not contain words, lol. Does that work?

Okay, catch up time. My month in pictures :)

more from lighting assingment, I call this mechanics gone wild :o


My favorite shot for my composition assignment:


We went for a weekend get away in Chicago with our son. His favorite part was the train ride. I wish I had killer pics of the train station but the particular station we left from was quite *rural* :)


I loved the Shedd Aquarium...




I have more to post but it seems blogger is not my friend this evening...check back tomorrow :)

Summer is here!

and we are busy but having a blast! My dh has two classes this summer. I am in a photography class and both kids are in a swim class. I am also booking sessions which is wonderful, it feels great to be working again. However, my poor blog has suffered. Here are a few recent favorites:

I had to bribe him for this:


I'm soon going to have to bribe her. Funny how my kids know how to get away from a camera ;)



I'm loving my class. Wendy is really stretching me and I'm trying things I wouldn't normally do. Dh looks kinda scary here but he isn't, I promise. He's lit by a computer monitor. Crafty, aren't I, lol.



Finally, last weekend I had my first maternity session with a friend. As you can see, she is nothing short of stunning. Why can't we all be this beautiful while we are pregnant?

Thanks for looking :) and thanks for the sweet comments on my last post :)