Tuesday, May 31, 2011

People's Choice Photo Contest

It's that time of the week again!!  I really enjoy these contests and challenges because they have forced me to push myself up to the next level.  The end result is fantastic, and I am very proud of my recent work.

This week is the best face of May.  Even though I snuck this one in on the blog a few weeks back, I HAVE to post it again for this contest.  I love it that much!!

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie!  Oh this little boy is full of love and attitude and frogs and snails and puppy dog tails.  He is so mischievous, and I think I was really able to capture his personality.


To see more great entries, click on the button below:



Sunday, May 29, 2011

Dance

I'm a dancer at heart.  I love it.  I suppose it is because I am an artist, and it is truly an art form.  It is a way of expression and performing, and it takes immense talent, time, and practice to do it.  When I was growing up, I was never allowed to take dance classes, but I had a love for it even then.  There was a giant poster of ballet shoes that hung on the wall in my room all through school.  So it is with great joy that I have been able to watch my children enjoy taking dance, and that I have been able to photograph along the way.  It is also with great joy and addiction that I have been able to participate.  I've gone one whole week without puting on a leather pair of dance shoes, and I can't wait to do it again. 

We just had the end of year recital, and our theme was Grease.  All of the people involved, including the children, parents, instructors, and even our Mommy Dance Crew, worked extremely hard to put this together.  I am proud of everyone for all of their accomplishments.  Thank you Miss Lorna and Miss Jenny for sharing your talents with us. And thank you for allowing me and my camera and my new dance shoes to follow along the way.

The following pictures are my favorites of the bunch.  They show the emotions, excitement, fear, and fun that encompasses dance and the art of performance in front of an audience.







































To see all of the pictures from our Grease Themed Recital, go to

Saturday, May 28, 2011

New Additions to our photography family


I started this post a while back, but got SUPER busy.  Busy in the world of photography is a good thing, and that means I am earning the money to pay for all of these goodies.  I made a huge decision to upgrade everything in the studio and pretty much rebrand ourselves.  For those of you who follow the blog, you've seen my logo change and even the style of shooting change.  I have a vision in my head of where I want to be in this business, and this was the next logical step.

I upgraded my camera gear to a D3 and a few prime lenses (50mm and 85mm), along with a new SB800 speedflash.  I was shooting on a D90 with an SB600 speedflash, and I still love that gear.  I also wanted to get a new bag to house the stuff and keep it protected since all the new equipment is worth more than the blue book value on my car that I currently drive.  I decided to go with an Epiphanie bag.  I got the Clover bag in hot pink (Much to my husband's dismay).  I originally wanted the Paris bag - and I love the purple that it comes in - but the final decision was made based on a zipper.  The Clover zips and the Paris does not.  I spent days, weeks even, researching bags and safety and comfort, and decided that this was the best one for me. 
 I was SO excited when it came in that I took a bunch of pictures of it.  Then I never packed it.  What?  That's right.  I've been busy.  I have just chucked entire cameras with lenses attached and all in there.  So yes I have used it (a lot), but it is so far from organized it's not even funny.  It holds a ton of stuff, and I hope that in the next week or so, I should be able to actually pack it correctly and see how much it can really hold. 





LOVE this quote!!  So inspirational.





Check out the cool camera fob!



They have tucked all these cool photography quotes into all the pockets of the bag.  It's like a fun surprise.  Speaking of Annie Leibovits, have you seen her new Disney pictures?  AMAZING.

So why did I choose this bag?  For several reasons.  First, it's supposed to be super comfortable.  And for anyone who has ever had to carry around a ton of gear and then stand for hours holding it, you know that comfort is essential. It has both a long sholder strap, plus two long handled braided straps to offer a multitude of ways to carry the bricks...err..I mean cameras around.  Plus, it has a place to put a netbook, or laptop, or ipad, and/or contracts (depending on what equip. you use).  I live by and on my laptop, so I thought that this was great.  It also has a zipper, which was super important to me, since I didn't want all my junk falling out because I am 1) super clumsy and 2) super messy.  Plus it is an important safety feature.  ANOTHER reason that I chose and Epiphanie bag over some of the others (like Kelly Moore) is that it is super padded and large enough to house my new camera.  

No I do not represent them in any way  - although if they want to sponsor me or send me more bags, I'm all for it ;)  I just know in my own quest to find information on the bags and how they compared to others, there was really very little.  I really do love this bag.  However, I still want a Shootsac.  I think I am going to attempt to make a homemade version of one b/c they are serious $$, and I don't see the value in them like I do this bag.  The Epiphanie bag is like my storage for all my gear.  The Shootsac is a way to hold an extra lens while I am out on a shoot.  (As opposed to sticking them in my pocket, or making family members hold them, or making family members of the customer hold them.)  I never saw the need for this before until I started shooting prime lenses.  Now it is becoming a necessecity. 


And last but not least, here is a little bit of my camera family - INCLUDING my new D3.  This is one super duper powerful camera, and I am still learning everything there is to learn on it.  It's going to take me quite a while.  I'm in love.  I could rant and rave about this camera, but there is tons of information available on the web about it, and those people do a much better job of explaining why it is such a good camera.  However, if Nikon wants to give me a sponsorship too, I'll be more than happy to get into the specifics ;)  I'm not going to hold my breath on that one though.  

Monday, May 23, 2011

Kisses (are gross)!







Yellow

This week's photo challenge is the idea of yellow.  We adore yellow at our house.  Yes, it is the color of sunshine, lemons, sunflowers, Hello Kitty's nose, and our living room walls.  It is also the color of our slide and thus fun for the kids.

This is from a series of photos in which Drew was being a comedian - as always.  I'll post them in the next entry, since as usual, I couldn't decide which one to enter for the contest.  Just moments before this shot, his sissy gave him a kiss on the cheek.  Of course little girls are gross business!!  And Drew wanted everyone to know. 

For more fabulous yellow images click on the button: