Rollerskates

First and foremost I am a mother and even though I brought my camera to the roller rink I couldn't really set up and take professional looking pictures while watching my kids. So this is what you get for today's post. Notice how dirty his pant legs are, if you were Sean Spencer you would deduce that this child has been on the ground a lot, and that it was his first time rollerskating.

Last client of the year!

Christmas often brings family home which means,"Family Pictures" for some. Today I took pictures of a lovely family, thankfully there were no little kids because I shot the majority of the pictures outside and it was very, very windy and cold. We tried all sorts of things to stay out of the wind the best we could. This is a picture of the youngest tucked in a corner between two stone silos. The wind can be a bonus and a curse for girls, just the right amount can be great, too much is a mess, that goes for the photographer as well, it is hard to look into the camera with your hair blowing across your face. It was fun and I'm glad they called me.

Christmas Lights

Our third Christmas in Virginia and we finally made it to see the lights at the Washington DC Temple with some friends. We also saw a youth ensemble play at the visitor center. There were 3 year old kids playing the violin, it was amazing!

Sherlock

I convinced him to grow a beard this winter to play a wise man in the Christmas program. He was going to shave it the day after the program but decided to keep it a little longer. Well before church he decided to start to shave. Start being the key word here. He went to church like this. It took the kids hours to notice, I think our oldest got the biggest kick out of it. That evening he proceded to try differnt variations, the kids thought it was funny. He is fairly normal looking now just a little long in the sideburns still. He's a good sport and it's fun to have him home for the winter break and for a the chance to play and laugh with the kids. Sometimes with work and school and schedules life gets too serious, we all need a little laughter and fun. Hope you get a chuckle from this picture.

Bakers Man

Christmas Day, parents are tired, kids are chilling, watching a video their uncle sent and the baby is busy in the kitchen. Actually everyone was in the a joining room except me who was trying to sleep upstairs an guess who gets hollered at? He has played with the flour before but this time he actually got into the flour bucket. He has officially hit the TWO year old stage.

WE NEED YOUR VOTE!

We started a new Christmas tradition this year. We had two teams, two houses but only one team gets bragging rights based off of your votes To vote you need to leave a comment to which is your favorite. The teams were led by a parent and two children drawn randomly out of a hat. Get your votes in by the new year. The first 4 images are the "Elf House" and the last 4 are "Manor House".

"Mom take a picture of Me"

Learning

So today I watched the video I received with my new lights. If I have ever taken a studio picture of you and it looked good it was pure luck because there wasn't much I was doing right. I have a ways to go but I tried things out today with some very unwilling models. Here is one shot I liked. The thing about the instructional videos is that they use professional models that are getting paid to sit there. They look fabulous and are very familiar with the camera. The other thing about the instructional videos is that the composition is very formal, and fake. The backdrops are also very unattractive. However I will be watching it again and again just so I can master what they are teaching. I'll have to do a lot of experimenting and rule bending to come up with some fun, interesting portraits and compositions that will make me happy. I am real happy with the lights and the quality of light, it is very attractive unlike the other lights I have been using.

Lunar Eqlipse

Guess who was up at 2:30 this morning taking pictures of the lunar eclipse on the winter solstice? The last time this happened it was 1638 and the next time will be in 2094. We pulled all the kids from bed as well so they could say they saw it too.

White Rose

You might have thought you would not see flower pictures for a while but you would have been wrong.

Paper Santa

This boy comes up with all sorts of creative ideas all be himself, he loves to paint and color and draw and cut and pretend. You can't see but he cut a paper belt and buckle as well and requested that I spray his hair white, which obviously I didn't do. He went to church like this, which lasted about 2 minuets till he took it off. It is staying on his face with a glue stick, when he said he used glue I panicked for a second thinking he might have use the gorilla glue, that would have been bad. Obviously someone is really excited for Santa to come.

Gifts

Cookies

When I see beautiful cookies I always think to myself, "I want to make beautiful cookies" then I try and am disappointed every time. Mine are okay but not beautiful. Maybe if my kids were not involved in the process, or maybe if I had pleanty of time to sit down and really work on each cookies. I don't know, but one thing is for sure, they taste good and after years of trying to make sugar cookies and going through lots and lots of recipies I finally have one I like.

Growing

Excuse

When I started this project I was determined to actully take a picture every day. Since coming home from our Thanksgiving trip my kids have been sick. I am already a very busy women and with sick kids my work load quadrupled. I haven't been feeling well myself either. That said I haven't had time to take a picture every day or post the pictures I have taken. I feel like a bit of a failure but instead of quitting I am going to pick myself back up and post the pictures I have taken and rededicate myself. I have purchased some new studio equipment I am excited to experiment with. Hopefuly this winter you will see a great improvement in my studio images. The picture below are some I have taken these past few weeks, they are not in order. This first picture is my sick toddler with the glossy eyes and runny nose just after coloring on my wall with a dry erase marker (they don't wash off well) but I was making him try.