More Evening Light

A while back I posted some shots that I took of Sarah at my parents' house. You can see the rest here. I finally got around to editing a couple more. She was really having fun with things, and being a bit silly in some of them.



Can't decide if I like the b/w or the color version best. Any thoughts?




Recently I've been tagged by a few of my fellow photographer friends. I'm supposed to come up with 8 interesting or little known things about me. Renee L., Stephanie, and Julie M., I promise to get working on it! :)

Little Lady Bug

Today Sarah found a lady bug on the way home from the bus stop. She was so excited because it was content to crawl around on her hands and arms. She is just fascinated with lady bugs. She asked me if we could keep it. She wanted to put it in a ladybug house and feed it grass. I told her we needed set it free outside in its own environment. At first this made her sad, but then she decided it was the best thing to do. We took a few pictures first, of course. It was about to rain, and we didn't have much light, which made it hard to get good shutter speeds. In most of the shots the ladybug was a blur ... darned thing just wouldn't cooperate and stay still!! Still, I did manage to get a couple of quick snaps that turned out passable. See, if I had a macro lens .... hee, hee.

Check Out Those Lashes!

I just love shots like this. :) These are some more from a little mini session I did with Anna back at the end of June. I was shocked because she asked me to "takey picher". Needless to say I was happy to give in to her request!! Of course it didn't take long before she was uninterested and took off to do something else. I was just happy I got a few of her looking at me.

I'm trying out some different black and white conversions for fun. These are all the same conversion, but on the first one I warmed it up a little bit. Whatcha think?

Pretty in Pink

I've got that '80s song running through my head now ... "isn't she pretty in pink" ... remember that teen movie with Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy? That was one of my favorites, back in the day. :) But, I digress. Here's one from last month that I'm just getting around to editing. Doesn't she look sweet in pink?

Some Milestones for Anna

This week little Miss Anna had a few milestones of her own. She now has enough hair (kinda) for a little bitty pony tail. I thought it was really cute, Sarah squealed with delight that Anna finally had a pony tail, and even their daddy thought it looked sweet. Anna, on the other hand, didn't seem to care much one way or the other about it! Typical. :) Anna is not a big fan of my camera most of the time. Sadly, the first shot is the best of the bunch. She flat refused to look my way and in fact went into full-out Toddler Meltdown Mode ... crying "No takey pitcher!" and boo-hooing inconsolably. I promise, right after I took the picture I comforted her and calmed her down. :)






Her other milestone this week was the start of Mom's Day Out. She was so excited about it she could barely stand it. All morning she kept saying "lets go schoooooool" and wanting to know if it was time to go yet. She'll be going two days a week, for four hours each. She had so much fun playing with the other kids. It took her half an hour just to wind down after I picked her up.

Cool Cards for a Good Cause

One of my photog buddies' daughter has started a fund raising venture! She has a new etsy store (where you buy/sell homemade things). Emily is an amazing ten year old kid who has made some adorable cards to sell. Her goal is to raise $1000 by the end of the year, with all of the proceeds going to the SPCA. What a sweet and generous heart she has!! Be sure to check out her store and do some shopping.

Tell Me About Your Day

Now that she is in kindergarten, Sarah and I have decided to start a new routine. Every afternoon when we get back from the bus stop, we share a snack and talk about our day. I've always asked her about her day, ever since she was in preschool. We would start our conversation in the car, on the way home. The usual responses to my questions about her day have always been "Good" and "I don't remember." I find it hilarious that she can't remember what she just spent the last four hours doing!! Of course to a complete stranger she will tell them every minute detail of her day!!!

Anyway, apparently the lure of a cold drink and a snack [and my undivided attention] is enough to get her to spill the details. She seems to be enjoying this little bit of our day as much as I am.

My Kindergarten Girl

Today was the big day. My little girl went to kindergarten. She is growing up so quickly these days. She has been so excited about school that she can hardly stand it! For the last couple of weeks she has been asking me every day "How many more days?" ... and then gets all sad that the day is not yet here.

We went to her Open House on Monday afternoon. She was really excited, but a little overwhelmed at how crowded it was (with so many kids, parents, teachers, etc. it was a little chaotic). She was pretty disappointed her friend from the neighborhood is in a different kindergarten class, but was glad to hear they will all be having recess together. And she is so excited about riding the bus with the "big girls" in the neighborhood.

I gave her a choice between riding the bus the first day or having me take her to school. Needless to say, for my independent kid there was no contest!

At her school the kindergartener's are on a split schedule the first week. Group A goes Tuesday/Thursday, Group B goes Wednesday/Friday. Next week the all go the full schedule. Sarah is on the B schedule, so today was her first day (can you believe how early they go back to school here?!). Naturally, her friend is in the Group A!

Most mornings Elliot will probably take her to the bus stop, since that's when he goes to work anyway. Anna and I will meet her in the afternoons. But for her first day, we all went to see her off! Of course I had to take my camera to capture the moment.

The Photo Wall ... IT'S DONE!!!!

At long last I am finished with my photo wall!! I had everything framed while I was in Pensacola, and yesterday my canvas arrived. I am so thrilled with how it has all come together. It still feels a bit weird to see my own work displayed like this ... but weird in a good way! :) I can't believe I didn't do this sooner.

An overall view


Cloe up view of the groupings


Close up of the canvas, which btw, is my hubby's favorite.

Playing with Evening Sunlight

When I went to Pensacola last week to pick up Sarah, naturally I took my camera along. I set up a little mini-shoot with her in my parents' backyard. I got in a bit of practice with that beautiful summer evening light. My mom has this really cute, fun bench in her backyard now ... its lime green with ladybugs on it. Sarah decided her lime green headband was needed for this! Of course she got tired of it after a few shots! Anyway, she was in the mood to cooperate, so we had a lot of fun. :)

Do Ya Think She's Trying to Tell Me Something??

My photographer buddy Renee L. passed on the cutest t-shirt from her daughter to Sarah. She said only another photographer's kid would appreciate it. I'm trying not to be insulted that Sarah loves this shirt so much!! Hey, at least she posed for a couple of shots with it. Thanks again, Renee!! :)

Missing Miss Sarah

It sure is quiet without Miss Sarah here this week. Sarah has been at her grandparents' for the last week. We sure do miss her! Anna keeps asking "Where Sarah?" ... then when I tell her Sarah is at Grandma's she huffs and puffs and says "Get Sarah!" Wednesday Anna and I are off to Pensacola to go get her!!

Here's one of her from back in May, laying on her teddy bear. I think I like the black and white better, with the square crop ... how about you?

Finally ... A Photo Wall for Me ... Well, Almost

I finally did it ... I ordered the photos for my photo wall! Eventually you might realize a photographer actually lives here. This is just a rough idea of how its going to look. I took my mock-up template and plopped it down on a photo I took of the wall, so I can visualize things better. I used the skew tool in Photoshop to try to make it look a little more like realistic (yeah, I know it doesn't). I wanted to take a photo straight-on, but couldn't get a wide enough angle because of the entertainment center behind me. :) Now I just have to get some frames!!

Note: Click on the photo to get a larger view.

My Ballerina

I love the light we get, as the sun comes down, by our front door. I thought it would be the perfect place to take some photos of Sarah in her ballet costume before her recital (back in May).

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes are a Comin'

I'm finally making some long overdue changes to my blog and my web site. In fact, I'm in the process of creating a new one right now. Look for it in another couple of weeks. I know, I know, the banner needs to be redone as well ... I'll get to it, I promise.

I've also got a new logo ... isn't it fun?! It's got a new home on the upper-right hand side of my blog, under the title "My Website". Thanks to Christy from Through These Eyes Creations. I am so thrilled with my new logo ... and Christy was great to work with!!

One New ... One Old

From our recent trip to Perdido Key beach, at sunset.


An oldie from a trip to Pensacola beach, back in January, mid-day.

Here are a couple more from the 4th of July. Sarah thought she was soooo funny. Ok, so she was. :)


And here's one of my honey, too.