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I do all my shoots on-location.   So, when I am setting up a senior shoot, one of the first questions is, obviously – where do you want to do the shoot?  I always ask first because I think a shoot location should be personal and reflect the client’s interests and personality.   Many times, the client isn’t sure where they want to do the shoot and I am happy to brainstorm some options.  I start my “brainstorming” by asking what type of look they want – flowers and trees and a manicured-type park setting, a rustic rural setting, or maybe an urban setting?  More often than naught, the client wants greenery and a pretty scene.

Urban type shoots are rarely chosen and get a bit of a bad rap.  But I personally think they can be one of the nicest locations!  There are often very brightly colored walls which make beautiful backdrops.  There often many places to sit, lean, stand which gives so many more posing options.  The locations are interesting and unique and the possibilities are almost endless!

There is also the amazing light.  You see, the open shade of a building on a bright, sunny day is some of the most perfect light EVER.  The light is bright yet perfectly even so skin tones are just perfect.  And then there are catchlights.  Catchlights are those bright sparkles you see in the subject eyes.  I have definitely learned, over the last few years, how finding the right light is probably the most important element in a beautiful photo.  Of course,  you need to know how to properly expose the photo, pose the subjects, compose the photo, but if you don’t have good light, you pretty much have nothing.

So, this week I did a “practice” session with my beautiful niece and her two best friends.    I had been wanting to do such a shoot where I can work on posing and where I can pick exactly where and when I want to shoot and was really happy that my niece and her friends were willing models!  I scouted some locations a month of so ago, and found some great places in downtown Erie, PA!  The only one problem with my scouting trip was it was pouring rain and I really had a hard time determining where the sun would be at different times of day.  So, some of my scouted locations didn’t work exactly as I had hoped.  But we improvised and it was A-OK!

I was so excited when we finally were able to schedule the shoot.  And it was such a good time!  My models were stunning, the light was perfect and the photos?  Well, just see a sampling for yourself!!!!

We started out down by the docks along the bay.  There are some old buildings and I loved the different colors and textures.  Unfortunately, most of the area was in bright sunlight on the day of the shoot.  But we found one small corner that was in the shade.  I am sure the passing cars and people thought we were be a bit odd to pick such a old and run down spot for a photo shoot, but, as you can see, the photos turned out pretty amazing!

We then got a few photos along the water.  It was, as I said, very bright and hot in the sun, but I loved the colored posts.  So I posed my models in the sliver of shade of one of the posts and got just a few shots. I also got just a bit of one of my favorite things – sunflare!!

We then made out way up to the Erie Museum.  There are beautiful steps, sculptures and columns at the museum, but, unfortunately, at that time of day, the sun is just pounding directly on the steps.  I didn’t get the photos on the steps as I had hoped, but we were able to improvise and used the shade from the massive columns to get some pretty gorgeous shots!

Next stop? The sidewalk down State Street! We crossed from the museum to the shady side of the street. With a wide open aperture, I was able to blur out the distractions while keeping the colors and lines of the building and trees. I love these shots! We had a lot of attention during this portion of the shoot from random passerbys, but my models were like pros and didn’t let the attention bother them one bit!

I do have to add, this guy told me as we started that he can’t take a good picture.  Well, I was definitely up to the challenge.  And I think I proved him QUITE wrong!

After a quick break for a cold drink at Starbucks, we ended the shoot with some shots by the “blue wall”. I love the color!!!!

One final shot of my great models!!!

There are great little nooks and crannies like this in pretty much every town.  So, if you want to try incorporating an “urban” location in your shoot, just give me a shout.  I would love to do a bit  of scouting and find the perfect spot for your shoot!  Of course, my shoots often run from 1 – 3 hours.  So if you even want to mix it up and combine urban and rural, that would definitely be a possibility as well!

And I wanted to thank my great models!!!  I couldn’t ask for a better group!!!!  If you want to see even more photos from this shoot, please stop by Facebook business page!!!

Until next time!

Well, here we are in the month of July – the sixth month of my once-a-month family photo project!

July was a good month.  We finally have had lots of sun and warm weather so our kids have been in the pool almost every day.  Their hair is stiff and full of chlorine, but they are happy and swimming like fish!

So, what is new?  Well, I took this photo with my new D700 camera!  Yesiree!  I upgraded to a full-frame and I am absolutely thrilled.  I love it and am so excited for my upcoming weddings and many senior shoots to really see this sucker in action.  My old camera did a very good job, but this guy will ROCK in the low light!   I also love having a wider angle, I took this photo with my 50mm which is usually too long for a group shot like this.

This month we had a short trip up to my hometown to stay with my parents and enjoy the summer activities.  The kids absolutely LOVE going there and spending lots of time with their cousins.  They are truly the best of friends.  We did everything and anything on this visit – amusement park, beach, party, picnics and my husband and I even got an evening out alone!  You see, July is also the month of our wedding anniversary!  We have been married 11 years this month.  And, the interesting this is, we got married at my parents home and our wedding was on a Sunday afternoon.  This year, we were staying at my parents on our anniversary which was also on a Sunday this year!  So, the hubby and I went out to a little restaurant on the bay and enjoyed some cocktails and some alone time.

Yesterday was my 25th high school reunion – which I, sadly, did not attend.  I had thought about it, but we just didn’t have the motivation to either pack up the kids to stay again at my parents or to find a babysitter for the kiddos and make an one hour trip each way.  So we stayed put.  And now I see all the photos on Facebook and I am really bummed we didn’t go.  Oh well, I guess we have next time!

Our little Caroline is doing really well.  She is going to horseback riding every week and recently has had some remarkable improvement.  She has been going for 4 years, but in the last couple weeks, it is like it all clicked and she started holding on better and sitting on that horse like she knows exactly what she is doing.  It is so sweet!!!!

Kallie has finally ‘taken off the floaties” and is swimming all on her own.  She took swim lessons all winter, but it took some time before she felt comfortable swimming in our pool without floaties.  She is doing so well.

Christina continues with summer swim team a few days a week.  And when she gets home, she gets in the pool and continues practicing her strokes.   She is enjoying her summer, but can see there are moments when I know she would benefit from more structure in the day.  She really thrives in school.  She loves waking early and being busy all day.  So long summer days with no schedule can be tough sometimes.

Our summer has been really wonderful so far.  The kids have finally all reached the ages where they can stay up later and just sleep in longer in the morning.  When they were younger, late nights still resulted in early rising, but also meant very cranky kiddos.  This year we have had so much more freedom to go places and do things without worrying about early bedtimes.   It really has been so nice.

As we approach August, I am nervous that it is all going to go too fast.  Only a few weeks and school will start.  We have so much more we want to do yet and are not sure we will fit it all in.  August is getting busy with weddings and now senior photos and time is quickly running out!

Until next time!!!

We had a bit of a crisis over in this part of the world yesterday. Our cat disappeared.

Our cat, Ms. Nugget, is an indoor/outdoor cat. She has been in our family since Christina was 2, Caroline was 1 and Kallie was just a thought in our heads.

In the summer she is outside 90% of the time. She sleeps in the sun, deposits dead critters at our doorstep and visits neighbors as they take their evening walks. In the winter, she plops her oversized belly in front of our woodstove and snoozes from sun up to sun down and refuses to set one paw out in that cold, snowy world. She has a very good life.

And, honestly, she is an extremely good cat. She loves kids – all kids. She loves all people actually. She stays off the furniture [usually], she only scratches on her scratching post or outdoors, and she is very quiet. For a home with 3 little kids and one husband who [proclaims] to hate cats, she is just perfect.

Nugget also has a very strict routine in the summer. She eats about 7 at night, and then goes outside. She comes back about 10 to top off for the night, and then goes outside again for the night. In the morning, when we wake, she is usually at the door. She comes in, eats her leftovers and then takes a nice long snooze until midday.

Except yesterday. She wasn’t at the door in the morning. We left in the morning for swim practice and she didn’t greet us when we got home at lunchtime. The kids swam in their pool in the afternoon and she didn’t come around. We took a walk in our woods around dinnertime, looking for signs of a cat, nothing. We left after dinner to take Caroline to horseback riding and then stopped to visit friends and got home very late. And, again, no cat.

At this point, I was pretty sure our Nugget was gone. Christina has the job of feeding her every night and it just broke my heart when she asked “should I feed her tonight?” And I had to answer “no sweetie, not tonight.”

After I tucked in the girls, I noticed my poor Christina lying there in a ball with tears in her eyes. She was absolutely heart broken that her kitty seemed to be gone. I went downstairs and just prayed that I would hear that [usually annoying] sound of her scratching on the screen door for her evening meal. And I kept thinking about how awful it is when your child’s pet dies.

I finally decided to head to bed when [I thought] I heard a scratch. I assumed it was my mind playing tricks. I started to close up the house, when – there she was. Sitting at the door, looking at me like “what’s the problem lady?”

I was never so happy to see that damn cat. I fed her and sent her downstairs for the night. And I can’t wait for the girls to wake to see who’s waiting for them!!!

Rawr.

And a question – why can’t I look this cute with 4-day-old swimmiing hair???

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday weekend!!!!!

Yikes! I am just squeaking by with my month #5 family photo!   This photo was taken yesterday, on Caroline’s 7th birthday!   I am always so excited to celebrate another of Caroline’s birthdays and prove, yet again, to all the experts that the so-called experts can be oh-so-wrong.   Caroline is seven and she is happy and healthy and still going strong! 

So, what is going on this month of June?

Well, it is the first month of summer vacation so I have EVERYONE home.  Every. Single. Day.  Usually that is OK, but some days it can get a bit much.   I definitely know why my own mom used to get so excited for the first day of school.  Summer is NOT a vacation for mom.  I have more kids, more meals, lots of snacks, more messes, more fighting, and a lot less quiet time.  Oh well, I also know these days of little ones go so fast and before I know it, I will have an empty house all the time :(.   So I am also enjoying these days as much as possible.

June has been a good month.  We had a family vacation last week to the mountains of Tennessee.  Caroline stayed home with her grandmother (Mimi) which really was so nice.  Tennesse was definitely not a vacation for Caroline.  We went boating, horseback riding, swimming and some relaxing.  She would have liked the relaxing part, but not the driving, boating, swimming etc.  We missed her so much, and it was really strange not to have to think about her schedule for feedings and meds her for 5 days,  but we know she was SO much happier at home.  And it was nice to have so much more freedom to do things with the other girls.  The vacation home was wonderful – clean and comfortable with an amazing view.  I am planning on blogging more about the vacation later. Actually, I have a LOT to blog about, and should have many new posts very soon! 

Christina is back into summer swim team.  She also spent a week taking golf lessons this month and her Dad is quite excited to get her out on a course this summer.  Hopefully she will enjoy it as much as he does.   Christina is also, as usual, living life to the fullest.   She is my party girl, she loves to have friends and family over to visit or to go visiting, she will stay up as late as absolutely possible, she will only sleep if forced to, and she is usually the first one up in the morning.  She never wants to miss a second of the day.  I wish I had just a tenth of her energy.

Kallie turned 5 this month.  She is as crazy as ever and continues to be our comedian.   She is also becoming quite the skinny minny.  She grew about 1  1/2 inches over the last 6 months…and lost a pound!  She definitely is enjoying having her sister and dad home for the summer.  She loved her birthday party this month and her favorite gift was probably a purple lizard her Mimi got her from the dollar store.  She is such a goof and has developed a love of lizards.  She carries the thing around all day.  He even sleeps next to her in bed.  Kallie also has decided to assume the role of  “Superdog” this month.  She puts on her swim goggles, and crawls around the house.  She has been playing this role for about 3 days now.   She insists that Christina must play Superdog with her, but Christina, understandably, has no idea what Superdog is and how to actually play it!  Fortunately, Kallie finally let her in as to how the game is apparently played and Christina has nicely played along with her crazy sister.

Caroline is doing so well.  She enjoyed a month off from school, but will be back in school in July.  She is also having a good time at horseback riding.  She goes to a handicapped horseback riding program once a week.   She has been going for a few years now.  It is such a wonderful program and Caroline actually seems to enjoy herself.  Caroline also has been enjoying her pool this summer.  She got a pool through Make A Wish a couple years ago.  We have a float rigged up that fits her just perfectly.   She can sit and kick and float around the pool and she absolutely LOVES it! 

Eric is enjoying his summer vacation.  He is helping at the Y with the summer swim team and is doing odd jobs around the house.   I have a few projects I hope will finally get started now that our family vacation is done. 

Well, that is it for now, this 29th day of June!  Until next month!!!

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