Vacation Rewind

We left early last week...no baby, no dog, just me and mine. It was the first time I was away from him for more than a day, but I needed this. We needed this. One deployment down and another one approaching way too quickly means long hours for the hubby again and single parent duties for me. Some days he is able to make it home for dinner, and other days, like last night, he asked me to keep Logan up a little later than usual just so he could see him for a few minutes awake. So we decided to go away for a few days, just the two of us. A new roof on the house left us with little fun money, so we did it simple... a rustic cabin for two in the woods, no electricity, no running water, and an outdoor commode that made for some warm snuggling after cold night trips outside. Pure bliss!

Blog Assignment #5...Props

I was so thrilled and honored to have the chance to make Baby E's first portrait! I've been patiently waiting to try out a new prop purchase of mine and Baby E couldn't have been more cooperative for the task. So, this weeks blog assignment is also a teaser post. I've been scouring here and there for props to use that add to a picture instead of distract. I've found Etsy is a wonderful site for all things homemade. Some things I've learned though with props is to always ask yourself if you are adding a distraction to the picture, or is the prop enhancing the story? Another lesson to take from this shoot is to let the lighting be your guide on where to shoot. We ended up shooting in the breakfast nook area of their house because they had these great corner windows that let in beautiful natural light. I knew I wanted a darker background for these pictures to contrast with the cream colored yarn, so we placed a table on its side a few feet back from where Baby E was "swinging" and it made for beautiful blurred darkness.

So without further ado, introducing Miss E!

Blog Assignment #4...Ghosting

This weeks assignment wasn't nearly as fun as I was expecting. I was all geared up for playing with double exposures when I realized DSLR's can't do double exposures! It's the first time I think I've noticed its limitation. Film cameras definitely have the upper hand here! You can still get those ghosted images, but it has to be done in an editing software (unless your camera has a double exposure feature!). Photoshop made it very simple to get that "double exposed" image, but it just didn't have the same amusement factor of trial and error with the camera. So to do this technique in photoshop, I placed one image on top of another, changed the opacity of the top layer and deleted around everything but the hand in the foreground. Simple enough!

18 Months

Where did the time go? He's 18 months already. He loves crashing cars but he's afraid of loud trucks. He can eat more food than I can, throw the granddaddy of tantrums, and give the biggest hugs and open smile kisses. I completely adore him and only wish he could stay little, in my arms.

Too late...

I was about 2 minutes too late on this picture. Driving home the other day I looked out over the marina and the sun was a gorgeous burning red color. It was absolutely stunning and looked like something you'd see only in an African dust storm. By the time I was able to park the car and run back up over the bridge it had ducked down between the clouds. Nevertheless, it was still a beautiful site! I only wish I was in that boat cruising along without a care in the world.

A fav...

This is becoming one of my favorites from my shoot with the K family. I got the crazy photographer look when I told them I was shooting below the waist, but I love the way it turned out!

Rainy Day

Sorry guys! No blog assignment this week. We had a fun holiday weekend stuck inside sick. Logan and I are finally feeling better, but it seems to have finally hit the hubby. Who gets sick in the middle of summer?! Well, instead of a blog assigment, here's some pics of my little man for you to enjoy! I know how much family loves checking out the blog and seeing Logan pop up! :) We had a rainy Labor Day, so we took Logan outside to play in the puddles. He was a little apprehensive at first. I think he was waiting for the "NO!" to come, but once he saw Daddy tapping his toes in the water, it was all fun and games! I need to work on the whole rain boots though. How do they work anyway?! I tried putting the pant leg inside the boots and he had the whole MC Hammer puffer pants going on, so I decided on the "flood" look. Maybe I just need to put different pants on him next time.

K Family Teaser

I had a blast with the K family today! I love the beach at Fort Story, and was thrilled when they picked this beach for their family shoot! Fort Story has it all...dunes, beach, rocks, lighthouse, stairs... and they definitely didn't disappoint with their creativity and fun. Here are just a few teasers for you! The boys really loosened up towards the end and gave me an all out cat walk photo session that had me in stitches laughing. So much fun! Thanks for the laughs guys!



(This one makes me crack up! They really do love each other!)