Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

I just want to wish everyone a super Happy Halloween!  Keep it safe and have fun!

We are soooo not ready for Halloween at our house this year.  We usually go big and decorate it with a million pumpkins and lots of Disney themed stuff.  Last year we did several photoshoots all around the pumpkins and lots of fall festivals.  This year has been spent dealing with extreme heat, shuttling kids back and forth all day long, and getting ready for our wedding season.  It's funny how life changes like that.  We have yet to put out a single pumpkin and my kids are costumeless.  (That will change by the end of the day - hopefully!)

While I am missing out on the typical fall leaves and pumpkin pictures, I have been focusing more on themed ideas.  I want to create these awesome scenes that tell stories.  These generally require great costumes and lots of props, so I don't always get to do them.  It also requires a willing participant and parent to let me take an idea and run with it.  That's why I was super excited when I was contacted about doing a session around a Captain Hook costume.  Being the Disney nuts that we are, I had this great idea to start grabbing all of this stuff that we had in the house (the Tinkerbell from Kenzie's jewelry box, the croc from Drew's bed, the candle latern in the bathroom...) and create this session.  It is one of my favorites to date, and I am especially excited to share it with you on Halloween.  

Have fun believing and playing dress up today.  And if you decide that it's much more fun to stay that way, and not to go back to adult responsibilities, go visit Neverland.  I do believe it is the second star to the right and straight on til morning!
 















Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Let Them Be Little



Little babies are always such a joy to have around!  Certainly, they don't stay little for long.  Father time has a way of going faster when they are near.  That's why I love to capture every little expression - including the smiles and the tears.  I love to catch their silly antics as well, because, well, they are only little once. 

Newborn baby Josie was a doll to have in the studio, but this little smirk tells me she's going to be a handful soon!

For more awesome little faces, click the button below, or check out our webpage:


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Pink

It's October!  That means it is breast cancer awareness month.  As someone whose loved ones have been personally affected by this illness, I want to take the time to remind everyone to get checked!  Please go have a screening and make sure "the girls" are healthy. 

In the spirit of thinking pink, this week's photo challenge over at http://www.iheartfaces.com/ is - you guessed it! - PINK!  What is more perfectly pink than a bunch of tiny ballerinas in pink tutus and pink dance slippers in a pink room?  I love that most of the girls in this picture are in line and listening to the instructor.  They are thankfully oblivious to my camera and me.  However, beautiful little Bella in the center is certainly aware of my camera clicking away, and the fact that she is different from all the other girls makes this picture interesting.  I love capturing little slices of life like this!


For more awesome pink entries and fabulous photography, click the button below.  Feel free to leave me some love, and check us out on facebook!





Saturday, October 15, 2011

Differentiated Photography

Differentiated?  What's that?  Well, it's this fancy word I had to learn while I was earning a fancy degree that I am proud to have but don't use.  It just means different.  Different forms of photography in this case.  I posted a hand picture earlier this week and wanted to post more of them because - 1) They are awesome and 2) They look crazy all put next to one another.  There is everything from landscapes to worship, to teeth, flowers, and brand new babies.  Our hands tell important stories about us and where we have been.  Some of us (ME) even talk with our hands. 

It's an awesome reminder that it is great to focus on the details and the little things in life.  Details are important.  Photography isn't always about the smiles and eyes and faces.  Go out and take the time to look around you and gather in your surroundings.  See the details that make life matter.  And go kiss your loved ones!  









Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Hands

It's time for another I Heart Faces photo challenge.  Only this week, the focus is on the hands and not the face.  It is amazing to me how many images I take that focus on the hands, and they are as varied as can be.  I'll have to share some more in another post because some of them are truly inspirational.  Since I am only allowed one pic in this post (contest rules), I chose my favorite of the bunch. 

This is one from Kim & Danny's engagement session that we did over the summer.  I love the blues and the greens together (and not just because they are our studio colors - but that is a bonus), but it just makes for a super pretty picture.  Another bonus for me is that her really cool non-traditional engagement ring is made of sapphires.  It just makes the entire color palette pop!

So some may wonder why on earth would I photograph a ring on top of a pear.  Well, it looks cool!  Plus, it is super important to capture all of the details when it comes to photoshoots b/c a lot of time, effort, and meaning go into those details.  Take this picture for instance.  There is a little story behind the ring, and the picture, and the pear:  Kim has 2 children born in September, and her fiance has 1 child also born in September.  As a symbol of the blending of their families, they chose this ring with 3 rows of sapphires - one for each child.  Danny's family has a farm that they have worked really hard on all summer long, and it comes complete with chickens, cows, and a small pear orchard.  When it came time to do these pictures, we thought, "How cool would it be to photograph it out there?"  It's a place full of meaning, family, and love.  That pear literally represents the fruits of their labors.  Taking the time to get to know them, to understand this, and represent it in a photograph has made me a better photographer.  Try it some time!

A bit of advice once given to me:  If you are not close enough, your pictures will be void of emotions and sentiments.  Always get closer. 



Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Nancy & Scott
















Monday, October 3, 2011

Evyn












Sunday, October 2, 2011

Kenzie's Tangled Birthday Party

My dear daughter is in love with the movie Tangled.  I'm in love with the movie Tangled.  Who isn't?  So when it was time to pick out a birthday party theme for her, guess what it was??  Tangled!  I think every little girl this year is having a Rapunzel themed birthday.  It's such a fun movie and there are a million different ideas to go along with it.  We started by creating this invite for her:

Yes, it had more info on it, but the world doesn't need to see it.  Then we decided to do her party at dusk.  That way we could have twinkle lights, and floating lanterns.  The lantern scene is one of my favorites from the movie, and it is just breathtakingly beautiful.  Kenzie's favorite scene is where Rapunzel and Flynn go into town and the little girls braid her hair.  So for favors, we made braids of hair (out of yarn) and attached them to rubber bands for all of the girls.  We added bows and silk flowers to them.  For the boys, we had painters pallets of watercolors since Rapunzel loves to paint.  We can't have a party without balloons, so we added lots of those.  Kenzie was so excited that I splurged on a helium tank, that she didn't take her balloons off of her wrist almost the entire night!

We started the day with a little pre-party photo shoot.  My girl only turns 5 once!  I want to capture it and remember it!





On the Disney family website, http://family.go.com/disney/disney-tangled-crafts-recipes-photo-gallery-pg/ they have awesome printables and crafts like this 3D Pascal.  We also made a 3D Rapunzel and Maximus too. They also have craft ideas, and we found a cool one to make Pascal party blowers.  The kids and adults had a blast making these.  We also used lots of yellow streamers to represent Rapunzel's hair, and found some cool flag printables we used to make banners.









All of those animation classes at Disney's Hollywood Studios are paying off!  I drew this for a hit-Flynn-over the-head-with-a-frying-pan-game.



I found cupcake topper printables and punched holes in them to put them on the straws.  This would help us identify each person's drinks from the next.



Our awesome Jello Boats! 
























As it got darker, it just got prettier and prettier!


Can't have a Disney cake without some hidden Mickeys!





It was marshmallow and s'mores time!




And our "grand finale" was the floating lanterns!  They are beautiful and the kids were so excited that it was "just like the movie", so I won't tell you that ours really didn't float.  I think it is because it is so hot down here in FL, and they really need cooler air to take off.  We also tied a string on ours like a kite b/c there is some serious fire in those things.  We think the neighbors would like to keep their houses intact.  Dan and I may or may not have let one go without a string before the party and had to follow it in the car to make sure it landed safely.  They are gorgeous though, and I have a secret wish to go out on the beach and let a bunch go at one time. 






Five years went by way too quickly!  I love you my sweet baby girl!