Kelli & Joe's Engagement Session

Kelli's family is close with my family. Her sister, Melissa, is my best friend. My grew up a block away from one another, and I've known her family for 20 years! So, it was exciting to be asked to do Kelli's engagement photos. I've never done an engagement session, at least on my own and not when working at the Picture People.

We hoped to take photos outside, however it was rainy and dreary so the photos were taken at Kelli's parents' house instead. The lighting, as usual, was tricky. I used my flash on some and natural light on others. Both have their positives.

Adding to the Collection!

Meet the newest member of my camera bag:



This is a Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM lens. I bought it refurbished from Adorama, but am confident that it will work wonderfully. I'm hoping it will be delivered by the end of this week. I'm bringing it with me on my trip to New York next week! I've been given a fantastic opportunity to photograph some of the speakers at the meeting we are organizing. Unfortunately I imagine I will not be able to publicly share any of those pictures, but I'm excited nonetheless. Perhaps I'll have a couple of free moments where I can photograph the city.

Contest at Epiphanie

Do you like winning things? For any photography fans out there, Epiphanie is having a great giveaway contest. Check it out here. They are giving away your choice of either a Canon 5D Mark II or a $2500 Southwest Airlines gift certificate! I think we know which I'd choose ;). Earn points for the contest by blogging about it (ahem), tweeting about it, posting it on Facebook, and several other ways. Each point equals an entry into the contest!

I'd never heard of Epiphanie, but I checked out their site and they sell some very cute camera bags! They looks like purses, which I love.

Keeping my fingers crossed that I win!

Luke on the Bed

Sometimes when I don't have a "project" I start to feel frantic. I love taking photos of Luke, of course, but it does get rather repetitive. There's only so much I can do. Last weekend I was dying for a project of some sorts, so decided to do photos of Luke on our bed. I used it as an opportunity to get in some practice with my new flash! I didn't quite get what I was looking for, so I may try again on some future weekend. I wanted more action shots, and Luke was only interested in trying to climb off the bed. But here are my favorites:






Daddy brought the Alligator from New Orleans, as a gift for Luke. He loves it!




He loves talking on the phone...

Sophie's Cookie Decorating Party

This session was different than any of the sessions I've done yet. I liked it! My colleague Jen, who I did photos for back in November, asked if I would be interested in taking photos at her daughter's cookie decorating party over the weekend. Of course I was interested!

Sophie had 6 of her friends over, and they gathered around the kitchen table to cover cookies in bright colored frosting, sprinkles, and candies. Such a cute idea! I am happy to say I got a lot of cute shots, and had a difficult time picking out the few to share here. Oh, and my watermark is different because I don't have the file I normally use on me right now. I just threw something else together in the meantime.




Sophie, the hostess.






The best part of decorating cookies is eating the cookies, of course!







After the fun with the cookies, the girls bobbed for apples and then played dress up!






They took dress-up time quite seriously.


A princess parade!

In other camera-related news, I purchased an external flash, the Speedlite 430EX II. I was super intimidated by it at first, but now that I've had some practice I can say I LOVE it. I've been experimenting with bounce flash, and am surprised that it is easier than I expected. Who knew you could use a flash and have photos that look like you DIDN'T use a flash?

Brooke

My niece, Brooke, will turn one on February 23rd. She's exactly 5 months younger than Luke. Kinda cool. I took some photos of her last week, and we're going to put a few of them on her birthday invitation! Photographing her presented much of the same difficulties as photographing Colton - what 11 month old wants to sit still and smile for a camera? There are things to explore!

Anywho, it should be fun designing the invitation.

Here are some favs:













In other news, I think I may need to look into getting an external flash. There are too many situtations where the lighting is too low and the subjects too fast (aka speedy children) to go without a flash. I refuse to use the built-in one. Blech.

Madilyn & Colton

Luke's babysitter, Michelle, has two adorable little ones. Madilyn just turned 4, and Colton is 9 months. Over the weekend I did a little photo session for them. It was a cruddy day outside, foggy and rainy, and the kids were both feeling a little under the weather. Despite this, I think I got some nice shots of the two of them! Colton wasn’t quite feeling it (plus, 9-month-olds are more interested in exploring than sitting still for a picture!), but Maddy smiled and posed like a pro.

I was a little concerned about the lighting situation because it was so overcast outside. We did everything in front of a large window, and that gave me the light I needed, although I had my aperture open as wide as it would go. Thus, all these shots have a pretty shallow depth of field. I was pretty satisfied with the end result, however!

Here is a small sampling:


These kids have the most big, beautiful eyes. I love it.