Senior Session Adventure!

Yesterday Jess and I hit the road for her official Senior session! Can't believe my baby girl is a SENIOR! Anyway, we headed toward the studio first to load up a couple of cool props to take w/us. Before we even made it to the studio I had to stop and take a few by the old stone school that I drive by everytime I'm heading to my studio and always think to myself "I'd love to take pics there". The morning sun was just peeking over the trees and made the shot so pretty!

Then while at the studio we saw these beautiful purple morning glories in full bloom by the wrought iron gate....

Then off to the Norris water filling station! I knew it would make for some awesome backdrops....

Next stop was Norris lake...

Then off to Canton, where we drove around looking for some cool old buildings. We were looking specifically for some graffitti, however they must keep a pretty close eye on their teens & spray paint cause we were not successful. We did find a beautiful old stone church that I absolutely LOVED and a really cool old brck wall...love, love, love!

We ended the session w/lunch at one of the local diners and grocery shopping (cause I can do that as long as the senior is my daughter right?). We had a blast and I must say this session had a whole different feel to it then when I did my older boy's senior sessions....let's just say it was more like pulling teeth:)

stuff that's been keeping me busy... lots of weddings....

lots of photo sessions....

I can't possibly post pics from every session from the last few weeks...just too many. The other thing we've been doing is lots of construction on our rental house. .

we're in the home stretch but it's been a long road. as soon as the interior is done (hopefully w/in a month or so) I'll upload before and after pics of the interior

Thinking outside of the box/case

I've had this dilema for the past couple of years. As my equipment collection grows, so does my need for a good way to carry it all. I started w/a simple canon carrying bag, then quickly outgrew that and went to a hard case w/padding and immediately realized it just didn't have all the compartments I needed when it came to card/battery/lense/flash storage. So then I bought a camera backpack which had all the little pockets and padding and that worked for a few years except for weddings when every good photographer knows to bring just about EVERYTHING they own....and that's NOT going to fit in the backpack so I end up carrying the backpack and also another smaller bag. I didn't really like having to remember which bag had what and when shooting a wedding you just don't have time to dig through 2 different bags for some fresh batteries. It was a problem............until today. TA DA! I was reading the sunday paper and of course looking thru my favorite add, yeah the Menards add, when I saw the solution to my problem. It's called a Massive Mouth Bag! Now technically this is a tool bag and it is black and yellow (the only color it came in) but look at how nice everything fits in it! I now have spots for each flash, battery chargers, batteries, and cameras/lenses all in ONE bag. The draw back...it's heavy, but I'm thinking the positives out weigh (no pun intended) the negatives:)

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!