Macro!

I’m doing an infant photo shoot tomorrow, and in preparation, I really wanted to get the macro lens I’ve been drooling over. It will be great for those close-up baby shots.

I’ve only used it once so far, but so far…I LOVE it. Although, I did learn that this thing isn’t so great with a toddler… it’s so close to her that she thinks she should be able to touch it. So, it might just get saved for baby pictures.

Here are a few random shots I took with it the other morning…totally unedited.

Family Christmas Pictures

I recently had the opportunity to take family Christmas pictures…not for me, but for a friend.  I LOVED the lighting in their house. It’s amazing what a difference good light makes!  Also, this was my first photo shoot entirely shot in manual. Go me!  I thought it went great, and I can’t imagine going back.

We did get a few really sweet ones.  Honestly, my very favorite ones were the more candid ones that really how their toddler in all of his toddler glory.  Love it… you just can’t script some of his antics.  Here are absolute favorites:

This next one is sort of an oddball…just a totally candid shot of dad with his sweet girl, but I love, love it.

Me Ra Koh Workshop

This weekend, I had the wonderful priviledge of attending a local Me Ra Koh workshop.  It was WONDERFUL.  On Saturday, we had some moms and babies come in for us to practice on.  It was wonderful and crazy.  We were put in interesting lighting situations, and had to figure it out. We were all stretched, and then we all learned. Frustration often leads to much learning!

These were my four favorite images that I took with our wonderful model, and her daughter Sophia.

I am excited, full of ideas and energy, and confident.  It was a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

3 Generations

The day after the rainy day, I did another photo shoot, and this time it was really sunny.  This was really special because the Grandpa was visiting from out of the country.  It was late afternoon and the lighting was fantastic.  I was really proud of how these turned out.

Photoshoot in the rain!

A little while back, I did a photo shoot for this sweet little guy, and we just could not get it scheduled on a day without rain. We finally decided to go with.  It was a little difficult (for some reason, you give a toddler a trike w/ wheels and he will NOT want to stay under the rain shelter!), but I think we got some cute images.  Here come the Christmas cards…  =)

Newborn pics!

I haven’t been posting, but only because I’ve been so busy shooting and editing. I decided it’s time to catch up. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to photograph a newborn – just four days old!  Baby LJ was super sweet.  This was the youngest baby I’ve photographed.  He did great. The biggest challenge was in taking any sort of bare or diaper shots…little LJ just wanted to be swaddled. But, we worked with it, and I think we got some great shots in the end. Here are some of my favorite shots:

Gavin is 1!

The day after Gavin’s birthday party, I went back to his house to take some one-year-old photos of him…without the crowd.  It was good practice. He is younger than the other toddlers I’ve taken photos of.  Too old for the “baby” shots, but still learning to walk, and still a little wobbly standing up.  I need to come up with some more ideas about how to place/pose kids at that age.

Here were some of my favorites:

What do you think? Any tips for photographing one-year-olds?

Happy Birthday!

Recently, a friend’s son had his first birthday and party. She let me have the privilege of photographing his party. It was so fun! However, I also learned that birthday party photos are a lot harder than I thought and I don’t feel like I really did little Gavin justice. Oh well…it was good practice.

Here were some of my favorites:

In the end, I decided that birthday parties are really hard, and a lot more work than I expected…and I don’t think I’m going to be doing many of them. I much prefer portrait sessions.

Birthday party love

Well, it’s just about taking me forever to edit and process the photos I took from Mr. Gavin’s first birthday party last weekend.  But… here’s a preview.

I love these three photos of Gavin and his Grandpa.  You can just tell that his Grandpa ADORES him.  These two have something special… and what a sweet gift that is for Gavin. Better than any of the presents he received that day – I guarantee it.

Playing along…Fix it Friday

I love Fix It Friday. It’s a bit of a game and a challenge to see how I’d like to alter an already interesting and great image.

Here is this week’s “before” image:

And here is my “after” version. What do you think?