Photography: Simplicity

I was doing dishes the other morning and this beautiful little creature floated beneath my window...

Now, I'm not much for nature photography.  It takes a certain eye. But this was just too perfect.  A beautiful butterfly sitting in my tiger lilies. 

I love simple things and nature has a simple quality about it.  It's just a butterfly on a flower, but it's so beautiful it makes you stop, smile and think.

I love that.

Photography: Meet the baby

I know I haven't posted much on here concerning photography.  But I promise.  I love it.  Over the weekend, I had the privilege of shooting a wonderful gathering for a little baby boy. 

This is baby C

I got to spend three hours watching guests filter in and give a warm welcome to this 7 week old baby boy.

This shoot was merely to record these special moments.  No posing.

Just sweet seconds in time captured...

Baby C won't always be this small.

Baby's mom had a teacher there from her third grade year, a piano teacher and people who knew her from knee-high to a grasshopper.  But I have to say one of the most touching moments was when the lady pictured below was handed Baby C and started to cry softly to herself.  Enjoying the innocence of him and letting love take over.

After the food

I took them outside to catch a few, slightly organized family photos.

I'm not much for posing, but I do like to get people in the general area and position I'm looking for and then just shoot away.

You don't capture shots like this sitting on your laurels.

The K family was such a delight to shoot.  I love doing things like this.

The End

All around update sewing, photography and running

Been busy.

Understatement.

Not sure how I found myself in this avalanche of activities but I have.  Enjoying it but also looking for a way to balance everything!  My weeks have suddenly become filled with stuffing sock monkeys, making bustle bottom skirts, sewing flags...and running?  Well, that's why I'm getting worried.  I haven't been able to put in any serious mileage in two weeks.  My longest run has been three measly miles. 

Tonight my babies have music prep class and I'm hoping D gets home early enough to take them so I can shoot off for a run.  Saturday I did a speed run and I won't even mention my time.  It was horrible.  Maybe I should try running on a flat route instead of one that has major hills to see what my time could really be.  The weather is slowly, SLOWLY turning warmer and with the little bit of extra daylight I will be able to run outside before the bears come out to play.  My legs really need to hills out here to make them stronger for my distances run.  Love my time at the gym because of those awesome cross-training classes, but that dreadmill gives me all kinds of excuses not to challenge myself.  

Oh speaking of good weather.  My camera has been jumping off my dresser itching to get outside and take cool shots of my kids in action.  For a long time my camera was having insane problems focusing and I couldn't figure out why.  A lot of my shots were coming out soft, a nice way to say a bit blurry, and it was driving me nuts!  Finally, this morning, I figured it out and was able to to nail a few close ups like this to celebrate.

I call this series: Black-eyed Me

Baby boy met up with a chair at church the other night.  Rude chair.  Gave him a black eye!  Now, is that how you make friends for life?  Why, yes.  Because the next service he was running around the sanctuary again doing just the opposite what he was allowed.  Recipe for disaster.  You would think he'd learn his lesson the first time around.  Battle scars from church.  Nice.

Be on the look out for more of me and my photos.

O!  Spring Giveaway ended last night, the winner will be announced shortly!

Snapped: I do more than run and sew

I take pictures, too.  I love, love taking pictures, especially of my children.  When spring FINALLY shows up, I will be doing more of the following...

I love catching my babies in action.  Something so sweet about it.

 

Come on sunny weather.  Kiss me. 

Ponies, snow and babies. OH my!

Today was a breath of fresh air.  Winter has been coming in with harsh gusts and sleet and snow, but today mother nature smiled and rolled back the skies to give us such a pleasant day. 
And I shared it with sassy Ms. S and her cute little bro baby B.

Now, with babies, it's tricky.  They have their "days".  I managed to wiggle around baby B's day and catch a few cute shots.

 

When you get shots like these, it makes living in the middle of nowhere worth it.

Because somewhere beyond the soybeans and corn...there is something to do

Talk to me, sweet pea...

You know, I am not a professional by any stretch of the imagination, but one of the things I have learned through the years of my photography is this:  Let your subjects be themselves.

Big Sis A and little Sis J

Little firecrackers

I had a blast doing this shoot today.  I haven't had one for a while so it felt nice to let my creativity be my guide.

Sometimes I feel like there is more inside of me waiting to come out, but it's stuck.

Today was no exception.  There was this niggling feeling in the back of my mind that I should be doing more, more, more with this beautiful family.  Eventually, I just stopped thinking and let my intuition take over...

What I loved most about this shoot was the fluidity of their family dynamic.  They just moved together and created such perfect shots for me.

There are some things you just couldn't pose, even if you wanted to...

Big Sis A has such a twinkle in her eyes at all times.  She's the ring leader but lil J is definitely the co-pilot.  No back seat for this babe.

But they work together so well.  Like Yin & Yang I tell ya.

And their mom, M...well, she is a tigress but is content to be soft spoken.  She has a sweet air about her and a pleasant voice.

Truth be told -- this didn't feel like a photoshoot at all, but a still recording of special, personal moments between a mother and her babies.

And I would totally do this again.  It's part of what makes me tick.

All smiles...

Because this family was SO cute!  My first shoot in a long time and it felt like I drank four Rockstars.  I was all over the place and loving every minute of it.
This couple was so cute and so full of personality. 

They pretended to be reserved but they were game for just about anything.  I love that.

Their girls were little bursts of sunshine.  Especially, E, the oldest, what a firecracker.  Striped socks and converse.  Love it.

And her little sister, M, was the coma in all of E's run-on sentences.  So sweet with big blue eyes like shiny marbles.

Thank you S Family for giving me my fire back.  My camera was lovin' you guys tonight.  Totally and completely.

The End

Snap!

A passion of mine is photography.  While we lived in CA, I had my own small business and then I hired on as an apprentice to a well known, local, wedding photographer.  I got great experience there.  Loved it.  Hard work, but it was very rewarding.  

Since we moved here, I haven't really done anything with myself and photography.  I did a couple of shoots and they turned out great!  But it didn't do anything for my hopes of starting my business again.  So, I figured that I should just whip out my camera, use the best models around, my children, and start building my portfolio again.  I can do this, right?

If my son were a model...boy would be be a good one.  He set himself up on this swing and let me have it!

And then we decided that making shadows would be fun!  And fun it was.

Thinking about shooting for the stars on this one...here I come sleepy little town of Burg!