i missed it again!

My mare was due to have a baby so I've been watching her pretty closely. Last night I stood out in the pasture thinking, maybe tomorrow morning (she's had her last 3 in the morning). I woke up at 5 and grabbed a flashlight, walked out to the pasture and there he is, already dry. Apparently my mare is trying to tell me that she really doesn't need any help when it comes to having her babies. I'm thankful really, that she can deliver w/out any complications. Here are a few pics...

The little neighbor girl from next door had to come out and meet the little guy...she says she'll give me a thousand dollars if we let her keep that baby horse:)

On another note we've been working non stop remodeling a rental house so that's why my blog is being neglected... As long as I keep up w/clients & somewhat keep up on housework in between working on the rental I figure it's ok to let the blog slip. Besides...my business is on facebook now so maybe that makes up for it.

Am I the only one???

Sometimes I think I might be the only one who gets excited over wet spider webs but I just can't help it.

They're just cool! So when I was walking this misty morning that's the first thing I noticed...a whole bunch of spider webs coated in tiny little droplets of water. So of course I had to put my macro lens on and try out my new 7D camera. This is what I got..

Baby, Baby, Baby!

Wow, I haven't been on here for awhile but had such a fun night last night w/3 baby sessions in a row!

Here are a couple of pics from those...

Winter wedding

I love shooting weddings. People ask me all the time if they stress me out but I always answer "no, I love them". I don't get stressed about them, excited yes, stressed, hardly ever.

Winter weddings however, add a whole new angle. Especially when the bride is sick and can't spend much time outside. All of a sudden you've got a truck load of lights & extension cords to add to the already full truck load of stuff to take to the wedding.

My normal spring, summer, fall wedding pile consists of an old piano bench (light weight and perfect for 2), 4 foldable stools of varying heights, 2 small iron stools (really they are decorative plant holders), a tri-pod, a remote, 3 flashes, 2-3 cameras, several different lenses (wide angle, zoom, etc), a million rechargeable batteries for both the cameras & flashes, a towel, baby wipes, water bottles, an unbrella (you never know), a sun/reflective shade, a sheet of clear plastic, bobby pins, safety pins, a light sphere, & a bunch of cf cards. So you can see why adding 2 big studio lights and extension cords can be a big deal...& I'm very glad that I have an expedition that can fit it all in!

So Saturday off we went in my crammed full truck to Goodfield to shoot Megan & Fred's wedding photos. Poor Megan was on antibiotics and just that morning started feeling better. We started at the Fellowship Hall by unloading everything and getting it all set up and plugged in. Kinga and I always show up about 30 minutes early to do some test shots to make sure everything is ready before it's time to start running through the photo list. Just in case there's a problem that gives us the time to get it worked out...just in case. And sure enough there was a problem. My never failing awesome studio lights that I LOVE would not fire. We tried everything. I even googled it & phoned a friend. I was thinking maybe it was a communication problem between my camera's mounted flash and the lights but after messing around w/them and unplugging and replugging and turning everything off then back on they finally started to work about 5 minutes before we were starting. Okay, I'll admit it, at this point I was getting a teeny bit stressed. Turns out they were just so cold they needed a little warm up time:) I'm always so glad for that extra 30 minutes because there's usually something that will not go according to plan and that time is when you either figure it out or go to plan "B" which would have been using my external flashes as slaves to my camera mounted one. Yes, you always need a plan "B".

Anyway we got the shots we needed and then loaded up the lights and stools & headed off to Eureka courthouse which is closed on Saturdays but if you know the right people and are from this tiny friendly town they may just open it up for you:)

To get this cool shot of the wedding party looking over the balcony...


It takes a wide angle lens and being willing to mop the courthouse floor w/my sweater:)



We got some AMAZING shots there! We hauled the lights in to get the formal shots because they are absolutely necessary when it comes to getting the correct exposure.



But the pics I love the most are the ones w/just natural light. Those pics just tend to capture the "feelings" of the day.
I take back everything I've ever said about indoor wedding pics!




These pics are some of my all time favorites, and from a winter wedding no less!

in case you're dying to know...

I did survive the last weekend and WE WON the vball tournament!

Pretty exciting:)

So now the big church lunch is over, the game behind me and nothing to stress over...except Christmas. Just kidding, I'm not really even stressed.

The first of our 3 parties start tomorrow at the Old School Center...where my studio is, which is pretty convenient since I've got 3 sessions scheduled there starting @ 3:30 tomorrow:)

My goal is to be done by 6 so I can enjoy the Meister party. We spent Thankgiving tearing a roof off of our rental house so I did not get to enjoy that day and play vball w/the Meisters so I'm excited to go!

Gotta make a dessert and bring a salad topping and maybe some crackers and cheese but no real cooking/baking. A certain really smart person suggested we just order pizza & have a salad bar instead of us all trying to cook stuff and get it there so it should be a piece of cake.........ok the smart person may have been me:)

Then Saturday is our Christmas, we'll get up and open gifts then I'll make a big breakfast and spend the day relaxing. That night Grandma Meister and 2 of my sisters will come over for supper and maybe play some games.

On Sunday it's stockings then off to church then over to the Sauder's for their Christmas.

This morning there was a frost covering the fields so after walking I grabbed my macro lens and shot a few pics.








God's decorations put mine to shame!

Christmas checklist

Sessions done..........check.
Orders placed..........check.
files backed up........check.
shopping done..........check. (thanks to ebay and walmart.com)
Christmas cards done..check. (even though I used old pics...i know, it's terrible and i'm ashamed of myself but they were from THIS year so that's not too bad)
presents wrapped........nope. They are currently piled in a corner in my office w/a blanket over them. (if any of my kids still believed in Santa they should be getting suspicious by now:)
Over all I'm feeling pretty organized, for the most part.

I ended up running out of cards so if you didn't get one I'm very sorry, just no time to order more. Anyway this is what I sent out....
front:

and back:


This was very last minute because when you've got boys they are just not wild about getting cleaned up and hair cut and taking family pics so this was the best I could come up with but I've had sooo many people come up to me and say they thought it was hilarious. Personally I'm thinking it's a great add for Photoshop:)

The last big thing on my list is that we are in charge of serving lunch at our church this sunday for about 400 people. I've got 63 dozen doughnuts ordered, 900 slices of ham and cheese, 4 gallons of sweet pickles, 10lbs of clementines, and lots and lots of Christmas cookies. After that I have my big volley ball tournament that same night, we are currently in first place......I know we're not supposed to wish any of our days away but I think I may be relieved when this weekend is over!

Fall Sessions

Fall is just plain BUSY! For photographers...really busy. For moms/photographers..CRAZY BUSY. Between senior sessions, and family pics, and a couple of weddings, I'm just trying my best to stay on top of it all. Also throw in the fact that 2 of my kids have birthdays in October, & I'll be lucky to survive the month! So if I forget to call you back...or am late getting your pics uploaded...or mess up an order, at least you know why...I've probably lost my mind and am desperately looking for it...and as soon as I find it, I'll get back to you:))

Anyway, here are my last 2 weeks....
















Now hopefully you can understand why I say CRAZY BUSY.