Portraits

Last week I did a quick mini shoot of a young man to give them to his mom. He was so much fun to work with and really had me laughing. We did a few shots out behind our new house (score!) and we went into town and got a few shots there, too.

The best part for me was that I was able to explore and find some new fun places to shoot (love the archway!) and have learned from the experience and found things that I will definitely do differently next time. :)

Wedding Shots

In September I was asked to shoot a small wedding and I lost my mind and said yes. LOL

Truly, it was such a fun experience and such a lovely ceremony that I felt very lucky to have been a part of it. Everyone was just fantastic, and I was so happy to do that for them. :)

Playing catch up!

So, I haven't blogged in awhile. I'm sure you've noticed. Or maybe not. LOL

School started and activities started and I feel like I haven't sat down since August. Today, I thought I do a few short posts to catch up and share a few shots that I've taken since I last posted and try to get myself back on track. :)

First up is a cute/funny shot I took of Mia last month. She participated in our town's Little Miss Fire Prevention contest (if there's a stage, she wants to be on it!) and I put some bendy curlers in her hair to boost her natural curl.

I just love that look on her face! I'm not sure if she was more bothered by me interrupting her computer time, or me taking her pic while she was wearing curlers!

Mia's New Glasses

A couple of weeks ago, Mia had her yearly check-up and of course they did the vision and hearing screening. Well, imagine my shock when Mia tanked the vision screening. I've never seen her be anything other than overconfident so seeing her so unsure was a real eye opener and I couldn't believe that I had no idea there could be an issue.

Of course, over the following week while waiting for her eye exam, I started noticing all the little things like how she'd scoot up to the computer screen or rub her eyes a lot. And maybe that's why she's always running into things! She's not klutzy (or not totally klutzy) she can't see! LOL I felt a measure of guilt and relief the whole time.

So last Tuesday afternoon I took her in to have her eyes examined. The Dr was really great with her and she really did well following his instructions and answering his questions. And it was soon obvious that she did need glasses. The Dr wanted to fine tune her prescription though, so we came in early the next day and he double checked everything and determined that oh, yeah. She does need bifocals, also.

We ordered her glasses and today they were in. Mia picked the frames out all by herself, and she has progressive lenses because the Dr thought they would be easiest for her to adjust to. She wore them all afternoon and evening and seemed to do just great with them and is being very careful. <3

Unfortunately it was a very, very rainy day so I was only able to get a few shots while waiting at the bus stop for Anakin. As you can see, she's still her silly self, but I just can't get over how grown up she looks all of a sudden.

The good news is that the Dr is hopeful that her vision will improve and she may not even need them after awhile. She goes back in six months to see what progress is being made. I just hope she doesn't get upset if she ends up not needing then anymore. She really likes them. :)

White

This week's challenge at I Heart Faces is the color white used in a color photo. I'll have to admit this one stumped me. I certainly never try to dress my kids in white. It'd be filthy in seconds. LOL

I looked and looked and found very little in my previous photos that featured the color white. And with school starting and a hurricane bearing down on us, I really didn't have much time to think of any creative set-ups. So I'm gonna cop out and share this pic.

This was taken the first time I shot a little baby. Luckily, it was for fun and for getting used to working with such a little one. He was the most awake little thing, though, but so sweet and calm. I was lucky to be able to experiment a bit with him, but he had no interest in sleeping--he was much too interested in this new crazy person. LOL I learned a lot about what I want to get and do if I ever have the chance to play with a tiny baby again, so that was cool. Good thing I'm really only in it for the love of photography as I still have lots to learn and experience. :)

Meet My Litle Friend

So this week at I Heart Faces is pet week. We don't really have a pet unless you count the stray cat who has adopted us but isn't into being cute or posing for pictures. Mostly she just wants you to give her food or she'll try to trip you coming down the front steps.

I do however, love animals. I love going to the zoo and shooting. The birds are big favorites of mine. And I love insects. Ladybugs, and grasshoppers, bees and butterflies. I've showcased them all a time or two here. Ooh! Or there's Assateague and the wild ponies! I love those too.

So. You can imagine my difficulty in choosing a picture to share for this week's challenge. I finally decided on a shot from this afternoon. I really couldn't resist. I love the colors and the bokeh. I only wish he wasn't so shy and would have shown his face more. He's a beauty, though.

Enjoy!

Cue the hate mail. ;) (The brave may click for a larger view.)

Oh, and just in case you're wondering. He was in the middle of lunch and was less than thrilled with my taking his picture at such an inopportune moment. He did not eat my face though. And he cleans up after himself, so bonus!!

Planning Mischief

This week's challenge at I Heart Faces is "beautiful eyes" and it was so hard to pick a picture to submit. I'll admit, I may be biased, but I do believe my children have the most beautiful eyes ever. LOL And how do you choose from the gorgeous blues my daughters are sporting or the chocolatey brown my son has?

In the end I chose a shot of my youngest. You'll recognize it from my header. Mia has gorgeous blue eyes but in the end I chose the black and white version of this shot because I think it brings more attention to her eyes. With the color version it is easy to be distracted by her strawberry blond hair and busy plaid dress. Either way, her eyes just sparkle. Possibly with mischief.

She's probably plotting world domination or something.

(Click on image for larger version)