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.

Rain=Rescheduling

Had a beautiful week last week w/some beautiful fall sessions...and now rain. Rescheduled yesterday's session for next Monday, rescheduled today's session for next Tuesday, tomorrow's session has been moved to next Thursday which means next week IT BETTER NOT RAIN. I can double up on sessions next week, but there is NO way I can manage tripling (is that even a word?) up sessions the week after that.

So for the rest of this week (especially Friday when I do the students from Lighthouse Academy) and all of next...pray that it only rains at night, after dark, when outdoor sessions are NOT scheduled!

Here's some shots from the weekend sessions....

how cute are these?!!

I don't really have time to blog but just wanted to post a few pics from a couple of sessions last week...





cute huh??!!

Logan's summer project

You know how most boys might build a clubhouse over the summer?

Well Logan decided to build an entire paintball field. Below where our house sits is a beautiful meadow that is usally full of wildflowers and grasses. Last year I even put in a few ornamental grasses and had plans to build a split rail fence to use for family sessions. Wouldn't you know it, that's where he decided to put this paintball field. He started w/a few pallets that his brother brought home and then between him and his cousins.....well, this is what our meadow currently looks like...



If you look closely you can even spot a car bumber in there...


what's a paintball field w/out a "sniper tree"?




He worked so hard dragging stuff home and nailing it together...


they look at everything that's discarded as a potential "shield"



Here's a "turned over jeep"..


So now all the boys his age are wanting to come over for paintball parties. For now I guess I'll give up on holding sessions in the meadow, unless you've got a senior boy that loves paintball...then I've got the perfect backdrop:)

Paige & Princess & Keli

Had so much fun w/Paige and her pony "Princess". I must say that I was a little worried about a session involving a 4 year old AND a pony. I mean, lots of times it's a challenge to just get a 4 year old to cooperate at all much less bringing a pony along. But check out these pics...






I met up w/Keli in downtown Peoria for her senior session. Seniors are so much fun to work with...especially when they've got such great style:)

photography from a different point of view.

No, i wasn't on a really tall hill taking these...cause in IL we pretty much don't have those.

I was in a four seater plane w/the window open and 2 cameras strapped over my neck leaning out the window.

Herman Brother's pond management hired me to take these pics. This is a huge farm in Cuba, IL that's being completely reworked. From what I understand, the plan is to somehow connect a few of the lakes and make a great big lake. I think these are the "before" pics and at a later date we'll do some "after". These people are pretty serious about hunting and fishing.

I've been in little planes plenty of times but never with the window open and $8,000 worth of equipment hanging around my neck....that was "interesting".

I will say that I was thankful for dramamine & good strong camera straps, as it was a little bumpy up there! The pics turned out awesome in spite of the bumps thanks to a super fast shutter speed.

Monday is not the only day of the week!

Every Monday I'm hit w/an overwhelming list of things that need to be done both professionally and personally. Usually it's a bunch of uploading, sorting, & editing from the weekend sessions. The weekends are also when a lot of orders get put in because that's when clients find time to get that done so there are lots of orders to process, package and mail out. Besides the normal Monday work that comes w/having 5 kids & their friends in and out all weekend...like mountains of laundry and no food in the house.

So on Monday morning I hit the ground running and tend to get a little overwhelmed and sometimes I forget that it's okay if I don't get the whole list done...there's always Tuesday, and even Wednesday if things get too crazy.

The problem is that I'm just not good at procrastinating...which would normally be considered a good thing but I think I might have a tendency to take it to the extreme and that probably drives my husband and kids a little crazy:) Also, the times when I am forced to put a few things off because of kids schedules or other commitments, those things usually come back to haunt me, big time. For instance I've got 2 big jobs that need some major organizing to be completed and I knew I was going to need a few days of uninterrupted computer time so I've been trying to put it off till the kids get into school full time. So this past Tuesday night I spent a bunch of time getting ready for the next day...the most wonderful day of the year (for parents) putting names on their stuff and packing up their bookbags w/all their new supplies, lacing up the new tennis shoes and BAM...phone call...teacher's strike...ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!! So here we are the following Monday w/the normal huge list and those 2 big jobs still not done and still no school....and THAT'S why putting things off doesn't work for me!

So anyway, it's Monday & I don't think "blogging" was even on my list but I'm feeling kind of guilty about not finding the time to catch up so I'll try to post a few pics from the last few sessions....besides, if I don't get it all done there is still TUESDAY!

This first pic is of our neighbors.


Stacy...


Rachel...


The Wagenbachs...


Michelle...


My newest little great niece, Emma...


And last but not least the Muellers...this was the 3rd largest group pic that I've done...I think they numbered around 80 people.


And here is where I would post the pic of my cute kids on their first day of school...except that hasn't happened yet...needless to say, they are loving it!