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Posted on October 30, 2011

Ahhhh… my Barnes Family. I love them. I think this is our third shoot together and they just keep getting cuter each and every time. By now, they are pretty used to me, so their shoots are just relaxing and fun. And I love that Rhonda is “on it” enough to make family photos a priority more than once every 10 years. I can’t tell you haw many people I talk to who regret that they didn’t take more photos together (and I don’t mean just by a professional… I mean like “just grab your point-and-shoot and do it…”) Especially moms… we always seem to be conveniently behind the camera. (Like I should talk.) But I tell ya… in 30 years, your kids aren’t going to care that you still had 10 pounds to lose or that your roots needed a touch-up. When they look back on family photos, the ones that feature the people they love the most are the ones they will treasure. So my challenge to you this season is to find a stranger on the street, learn how to work the timer on your camera, or teach your 4 year old how to shoot… but darn it – get your butt in at least a few shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on October 24, 2011

Meet the Valdez Family… they are warm and welcoming and you just kinda want to move in with them. I don’t seem to shoot a ton of families I’ve never really met before, so it’s always a little nerve-wracking to walk into someone’s home and just start telling them what to do. But they were so sweet, the kids were ADORABLE, their home was gorgeous and comfortable at the same time (not easy to do), and they put me at ease right away. And they’re all to stinkin’ photogenic! (That’s not easy to do, either…) So, thank you, Valdez Family, for a lovely afternoon! You guys were awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now…  I debated on weather or not to post this. I certainly don’t want to destroy the mystery of digital photography, but I just had to share because I was so impressed. Anytime you are trying to get “one good family shot”, there’s always a little pressure, especially when you have little ones in the picture. And inevitably, everyone in the family will look great except one of them. Usually, you have to let it go and realize that the definition of “artistic beauty” doesn’t always mean everyone looks “perfect”. It’s more about capturing where that family is at that stage in their lives… the stage where one kid only had the “cheesy” smile, or the stage where the other one just simply wouldn’t smile at all, or the stage where the other kid thinks it’s fun to cross his eyes every time the camera points in his direction. It’s all part of the process. Luke here (on the left) was awesome, but for the 5 minutes we were getting this shot, he was not feeling the love. But I thought everyone else looked fantastic, so I called my lifeline, Cleve. I met Cleve at a wedding I was second-shooting last summer. He was a guest and as a Certified Photoshop Expert, he ended up talking shop with us photographers. Since I was completely enamored with meeting someone who knows everything there is to know about a program that still baffles me, he was kind enough to give me his info in case I ever got stuck. We did a marathon mentoring session a few months ago and he’s been on my speed dial ever since. So I commissioned him to see what he could do (if anything) to improve this image. (No offense, Luke…) The guy spent an hour and a half on this, and that was just to work on Luke. I can’t even begin to guess what he did. I’ve swapped a face or two in my day, but never a whole person. I guess I need to add that to my “To Do List” of things to learn. So, behold… the before and after. (And keep in mind, these are the raw images…)

 

 

Posted on October 1, 2011

I have been sitting here for 20 minutes trying to think of a catchy title for this… Caroline just asked me, “Mommy, are you trying to think?” (My kids are accustomed to my less than engaging conversations when I’m working at the computer…) “Yes, I am trying to think, but it’s not helping…” What does one say about their oldest and dearest friend, especially when he looks like THAT? Do I reminisce about our days in High School, my memories of the boy I met in Mr. Flocker’s Freshman Algebra on the first day of school who used Sun-In on his hair? Or do I joke about the time I had snuck into the Boys’ Dorm at APU and there conveniently was a FIRE DRILL and I spent the next 45 minutes under his bed while the entire school had been evacuated onto the football field? Do I credit him for teaching me how to smoke a cigarette (the first and last time I ever did that, btw…)? Do I bust out the hundreds of  pics from High School through College that showed we spent WAY too much time together for two people who weren’t dating? Do I mention that he’s always been the most amazing support to me over the last 22 years, yet still finds a way to tell me what I need to hear without hurting my feelings? Do I laugh about how he caught the garter at my wedding, which was quite ironic because I had wanted to marry him for the first several years of our friendship? Do I mock him for when he was in the delivery room when I was having Austin, he was standing as FAR against the back wall as he could possibly get? How does one sum up “that friend” in a blog post…? Or do I just gloss over the huge significance he has played in my life and simply comment on how gorgeous he is and how he wasn’t ripped like that in High School? I don’t know what angle to take here, so you will just get it all. Meet Russ. I’ve known him since I was 13 and somehow, our friendship has lasted forever. When he finally moved back from Seattle, I moved to Michigan. When I finally moved back from Michigan, he moved to New York. We have been there for all of it… the good, the bad and the ugly. But ugly is hardly how you would describe these shots. Once we got past the laughter and uncomfortableness of actually trying to pull this off and act professional, we had fun. (How could you not when your subject looks like that?!?!) So here are just a few… Thank you, Russ, for letting me practice on you (this was a little out of my “norm”, so he did me a HUGE favor). Now I can add “Super Hot Hunky Men” to my client base.