Action

I love lifestyle photography because it catches moments and memories.  A friend of mine once told me that photos are more interesting when the subject is actually doing something.  They could be eating, playing, dancing, cooking, laughing, kissing … even sleeping!

When people are doing activities, you get pure emotions on their faces!

 

Yesterday Ashley was posing in her new birthday outfit.  At the end she started twirling around in her long flowing shirt.  I snapped just a couple as she was doing it, and wouldn’t you know it was one of my favorites because of the genuine emotion on her face.  Yes her hair is wild and you can’t really see her outfit, but that face is Ashley’s face of pure bliss.  LOVE it!

Photography

I have had quite a few shoots over the summer, and usually don’t share them on this blog,

BUT I loved this one from Monday….

“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away!”  Eudora Welty

Reflectors

I have been following Karen Russell’s photography blog for a couple of years now.  She nails lifestyle photography, and those little glimpses into memories.

I have wanted to take her class, since I started following her, BUT with six kids I can never justify spending the money on her class.  Someday I will, and it will probably be the year that she quits teaching.  :(

ANYWAY, this afternoon I was checking out her latest posts.  She documented the cutest series of photos from a football game.  THEN she shared a lesson on reflectors.  I was excited to take a peek into her teaching.  Of course after reading the lesson, I had to try it.  Actually, I kept seeing moments when natural reflectors were highlighting sweet little faces.

Jerrica had my big bedroom window behind her that was shining on her book, illuminating her face and even creating catch lights in her eyes.

Then for some reason all of the kids practice the piano at night with the light off, and only the piano light on top turned on.  The piano light shines straight down illuminating the music books.  As I went in to help Rebecca, once again I noticed the light shining from the music on to her face.  A REFLECTOR…

Anyway, head over to Karen’s site and read about reflectors.  It will have you look at light in a different way - Natural Reflectors.

My Witch

Jerrica wanted me to take a picture of her flying.  She envisioned Stephen holding her high in the air or her broom magically taking flight.  She talked about a flying picture as soon as she decided on her witch costume.

Well, Hollywood uses “green screens” for special effects.  Shauna uses “trampolines”.  Jerrica jumped away as I snapped away.  We ended up with pictures of her flying!

She was THRILLED with our result and wants one in a frame in her room.  :)

I however, loved the silhouettes.  As she jumped her spider necklace would sometimes get in the picture.

 

So just remember when you don’t have a green screen just use a trampoline….

Sure loved my little witch this year…

Photo Shoot

Last week I squeezed in a fun photo shoot of a cute little toddler.  It was actually my TENTH photo shoot of 2012!

Kaylee let me use her to get my locations all scoped out and settings all set.  She never ceases to amaze me with her expressions.  I felt like Big Foot was stomping thru the Brush Oak, stalking ME!  :)

 

Kids’ Photo Books

The kids’ photo books arrived this week.  It was fun to sit and look through each of them with Stephen. 

I can’t wait to give them to the kids, but they will have to wait until Valentines Day dinner….

That has been there little gift each Valentines Day for a few years now.  So excited for them to see the books.  Some of these pictures they have never seen of themselves!

Random Week Post

Fall is a busy time for photo shoots.  I really do enjoy doing them and meeting people.  Two of the families this week had A LOT of boys.  Each session made me sad that my boys are older.  Why do kids have to grow up?!?!

Stephen and I had a couple of dates this week, since we didn’t have the little girls at home.  One of which was to see “Money Ball”.  I’m always a sucker for a sports movie. 

I think it would be sad to be traded and switched around on teams in a blink of an eye.  I would be so sad to leave teammates, and to change cities.  I guess it’s all of that money that makes it easier for them to be traded around.

My parents came up during the week and brought the little girls.  As always they did a ton of little projects around my yard and house that made such a difference.  I always get sad when they leave.  Sure wish they lived even closer.  Thanks for all of the help mom and dad!

 

I’m loving Fall with all of the decor and warm foods.  It’s the time of year that soups are simmering and desserts are baking.  The girls and I tried this recipe this week.  The entire family declared the cookies as divine, and thus we added it to our family recipes.

HERE is the recipe for the cookies.

We also had to bring in all of our harvest because snow fell on Saturday.  It's fun to see how much we have grown in our garden.  We grew five nice pumpkins this year, and my mom brought up a couple more from her garden.

I like planting them around my big rock in the backyard mixed in with my flowers.  Then in the Fall we can see them out our big window, growing and turning orange.  This one was our biggest pumpkin that we grew this year.  It really is a pretty pumpkin.

  

Ash is claiming it, since she “watered and talked to it this summer”. 

And that sums up last week, on to a new week…..

Locker Pictures

My four older kids have lockers that they keep their books and school supplies in.  Every year I stick in a magnetic family picture that they can keep in their locker.  It makes me smile to see them when I’m helping out in the classroom, they tell me that it makes THEM smile when they see it as well.


I was thinking that the boys wouldn’t put them up in their Middle School lockers.  I was WRONG (I’m so glad).  They wanted them for conversation starters with the girls. :)  I guess last year, girls would comment on Jacob’s picture and ask him questions about our family.  Jacob told this to Nathan, and Nathan didn’t hesitate a second about grabbing one for his locker.
We took these last Sunday evening WITH my handy camera remote.  It is awesome!  If you don’t have one you should check them out here -Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote Control for Select Nikon D-SLR and CoolPix Cameras


I’m kinda partial to this one of just the kids.  I think that I’m going to hang a copy on my locker in the kitchen, otherwise known as the “fridge”.  I just love each of these different personalities!

Photography

Years ago if you wanted a black and white photo you had to buy black and white film.  You also had to guess what type of pictures you would be taking so you could buy the right ISO film.  I think my mom always had me buy the indoor film (200) and then I always wondered why none of my outdoor pictures would turn out.

ALSO, if you wanted a close up of something you actually had to get up close when you took the picture.  Soooo much has changed. 

You can take this…

Convert it into a black and white image with just a click of a button…

Then with another drag of a button you can zoom in and crop your picture…

 

Looking at the final picture, its hard to believe that it was taken from a distance in color as she was MOVING and swimming like a fish.  The resolution on these new cameras is unbelievable.  Pictures are so sharp and crisp even AFTER resizing.

In the 1800’s it would take SEVERAL minutes to expose a picture.  It wasn’t a fraction of a second like it is today.  Can you imagine trying to keep your subject super still for the exposure time?!?  I am so grateful to be able to take a picture and then be able to immediately bring it up on my computer and print it, if I desire. 

I really don’t think that I could’ve had the patience for photography in those early years.  Although, I sure do enjoy photography during this day and age! 

Take a look at these shots from today.  They look as though they might have been tweaked in Photoshop…

 

They only required a tighter a crop and a good jump in the air.  Here is Jacob’s original without the crop…

I had to get in just the right spot so that I would get all sky behind them and not houses…

Did I mention it was really fun for everyone to create psycho poses…

OK I will get off my soapbox about photography, but just let it be known that I sure enjoy it!

Photography

I LOVE taking pictures!  This month I have been busy with quite a few shoots.  I always take one of my kids to help me.  When I get home and bring up all of the pictures, I always smile at the first ones.  They are usually of my kids, standing in so that I can get all my settings.  Nathan came with me to one of the shoots up at Fox Run.  I LOVE this sweet smile he has.  I can remember the conversation we were having as he was helping me.  He is just such a sweet boy!

 

Of course he has to have his soccer ball with him at ALL times. 

Speaking of photography, check out this fun list of ideas for each month of things to photograph.  It has GREAT ideas!

10 Can't Miss Photos to take Each Month

I have a little list along with this one for the summer- Stephen at the BBQ, reading with a flashlight on the tramp with the kids, blowing bubbles at sunset.....

Photo Shoots

I did some fun photo shoots last week.  One was this cute little newborn...

Another day I did baptism pictures for this bubbly, little girl....

After each shoot I think, "oh that's my favorite age to do".  But then I remember families and the fun challenge of trying to get EVERYONE looking good, especially with BIG families and decide that I like the challenge...

I just LOVE taking pictures!  I love meeting people and capturing moments of time.

I usually have the little girls come and do a few practice shots before someone comes for pictures (that way I have my settings all set).  The older kids were home for spring break last week and I had Kaylee come be my model for a few test shots.  She's like Ashley and just can't sit still.  Nathan had some rap music blasting and she was getting down.  She told me that my clients would probably pose better if I had music going for them to dance to...

 

I started getting a little frustrated with all of her movement, SO I told her to just hold still AND not to move AND not to breathe AND I actually liked the shot...

 

Oh how I enjoy photography!!!

Photography and Flash

I really try hard not to use my flash if I'm trying to capture the moment.  If the flash fires and makes everything bright you really don't get a "feel" of the time of day or the lighting when the picture was taken.

Kaylee and her friend were watching their movie late at night.  You can see in the catchlights of their eyes that the only light source was the TV off to the side.  They have very small catchlights!  I didn't want a big bright flash in their face because then it would look like mid-day.  SO I turned my ISO up to 1250 and shot away....

To me it reflects exactly how my eyes saw them up in the loft that night.

Same with Rebecca reading by her lamp.  If the flash would have fired you wouldn't have even been able to tell that a lamp was on.  It would also have alerted her that I was taking pictures.

Birthday cakes are another perfect time to turn off the flash and capture the mood of the candles...

Pictures don't always have to be nice and bright.  The shadows and lighting help in portraying the moment.  SO, my photography tip is to turn off your flash and try to achieve the lighting as you see it!

Weights

So I go to this Ultimate Conditioning class twice a week and do all kinds of exercises.  They KILL me and I always come home having Stephen and the kids try different ones that I did.  I get out the paper plates to act as glider discs and the weights come out.  They were on the floor this morning and Jerrica started lifting them.  I glanced over at how cute she looked and thought, "that would be such a cute picture".  Now can I just "THINK that" and keep cleaning.... uh no, the camera has to snap a few.

 

And believe me muscles are built by lifting weights...

 

Then Ash took some of ME lifting the weight.  It was fun for her being behind the camera.  I am just grateful that this is MY blog and Ash can't publish those lovelies of me!

Someone asked why I take so many pictures of the same person doing the same activity.  I think these images above are a good example of how each portray a different expression and feeling.  All together they tell a little story.  The more pictures, the more they can tell.

If you are wanting AWESOME, FREE photo tips you should check out MCPActions Blog.  Just search under photography tips and reap the wealth of knowledge on each of those posts.  I have learned so much there!  HERE is the link to MCPActions.