Search this site:    

Well, we are in the middle of another snowy day, so I thought I would finally post some photos from one of my fall sessions [that I neglected to post MUCH earlier!].

The ‘S’ family may look familiar to some because this was our second shoot. I originally took photos for the ‘S’ family Christmas card  a little over a year or so ago, when their little munchkin had just turned one.

Well now little miss munchkin is 2, and they wanted to get some more family photos. Our first session was bitterly cold and snowy. The second session was just a bit nicer – an absolutely gorgeous fall evening! The only “little” problem to this otherwise perfect session was that we met at a local park with a playground and, as expected, little miss munchkin had absolutely NO patience for us adults and was way more interested in the “play” portion of the evening. And, hey, I don’t blame her one tiny bit!

Luckily, with a fast camera and a faster shutter speed, I was still able to get some nice shots. I personally love these types of shoots. It is challenging, but capturing those perfect moments between a family and seeing those unique personalities are worth ALL the work.   And these genuine toddler smiles and giggles?  Absolutely priceless!!!!

Thank you all so much!  It was really fun working with you all again!

My 4 year old, Kallie, often tells me that she is “trying new things!”.  Which is to say she is [finally] going to attempt to do something for herself, without any help.  She has always been a bit more afraid to learn new tasks, so we are always excited to hear her proclaiming she is “trying new things”.

My project 365 – a photo a day for a year – is such a wonderful way for me to “try new things” in photography.  Since I started this project, for the second time, on January 1st, I have taken a LOT of photos of my kids. Actually, pretty much all my photos have been of my kids.   Of course, being winter and being stuck inside for most days, there isn’t much else to photograph other than the cat and a bunch of snow in my backyard.   

To keep from just uploading the same type of photo every day, I have been playing around, trying to be more creative in my composition, lighting and post processing.  Trying to keep things different and just more FUN!

Last night as I took my daily photos of the girls, I tried playing with lots of negative space.  And then I converted the photo to BW.   And I now I absolutely love this photo!  I think it would look so cute blown up BIG and hung in the girls room.  I love how it captures their goofy personalities!

I have said this before and I will say it again, I would HIGHLY recommend project 365 to anyone who wants to learn photography. You will be amazed at how much you will learn and improve over the year.

Many people think that cold and snowy weather means outdoor photo sessions are impossible.  But I personally don’t think there is EVER a time when outdoors photos are impossible (OK, maybe torrential rain…).  In the snow or with a backdrop of brown, leafless trees, when everything is colorless or drab, the subjects just POP with color!  I love it!!

I met the “D” family on a very cold Sunday morning at a local park.  It snowed quite a bit the day before and the temps were in the teens, but the scene was oh-so- beautiful!

The ‘D’ family wanted photos of their little one and his two older cousins.  They were such a nice family and, for being so cold that morning, I was amazed at how sweet and accomodating the kids were! 

The only problem that morning was my camera started acting goofy!  It seemed to “freeze up” (no pun intended!).  I think it was the cold though, since it has been fine since then.  But I felt SO bad making the kids wait while my camera ”caught up” and was ready for the next shot!

So – on to the photos!

Thank you all so much!!!!

I guess we have been lucky, considering what our neighbors to the south have been going through this last week.  But I still wasn’t too happy yesterday to wake and find out, for the third day this year, that school was cancelled and we were under a winter storm warning.   Just another February day in Northwestern PA. 

I did get out for a run in the snow – which actually was incredible!  It took quite a bit of motivation to drag myself out from in front of the fire and into the cold, snowy outdoors, but once I was out there, listening to some cool new tunes on my Ipod, I felt pretty damn alright!

And I did get a few photos of the snowy scene.

Quite pretty, but I am quickly getting the urge for some warm sun and spring flowers!  Or better yet – HOT sun and icy drinks by the pool!!

As you can imagine, getting 5 people to look good in a photo at the same time takes some work.  Especially when 3 of the 5 are little ones.  I think the rule of thumb is that you should take 5 shots per person.  So with 5 people in the family, you should take at least 25 photos (I think…please don’t quote me on this). 

During our first attempt at a family photo, we started out with a husband who wasn’t too happy about shoveling the deck.  We also had one 8 year old who claimed she was ”freezing” before we even set foot outside.  

I was pleasantly surprised at how good our photo turned out, considering all the crying, complaining and just plain ole goofing around that was going on during that 5 minute session.

I thought I would share some of the outtake photos.

First we have an overly dramatic 8 year old crying a few crocodile tears.  I am not sure what Kallie is doing.

Then we have some happier moments, but the photographer (me) didn’t do such a good job in making sure we were all actually IN the photo.

And then we have the hubby, who is just, well,  a dork.

Luckily, after all this, we did get one (and ONLY one) good photo.

I can’t wait to see what next month will be like!

Next Page »