Kids and Laundry and Post-Processing... Oh my!!

Yesterday I have was having a conversation with a friend who asked me what's been going on... I gave the obvious answer of: "Just the usual...kids, laundry, and post-processing!"  After a laugh we both decided that should be my new slogan.  Because that's pretty much what I do all day.  Occasionally I get a break now and then to actually SHOOT, but for the most part, I'm knee deep in kids, their mess, and post-processing.

Don't get me wrong... of the three, it's only the laundry that gets me down.  And if you stop by my house and take a look at my laundry room, you'll see that the growing pile is rather low on the priority list (I seriously need to tackle it today).  The kids are actually pretty cool.  Aside from the near-constant bickering between my almost-11 yr old and my almost-13 yr old,  they are a lot of fun.  I can't complain about them because they help me, they love me, and they always make me laugh & smile.  As far as the post-processing...I would never complain about that because it means I've been busy doing what I love: photographing Weddings!!

Speaking of... remember when I said this week was going to be wedding-palooza around here?  Well, yeah...it still is, at least on the POST end of things.  I promise to get some awesome Wedding photos up soon from Natalie and Michael's Wedding in Michigan last Saturday.  Did you hear about the thunderstorms in the northern Midwest last week?  Yeah, we were right in the middle of that...BUT we didn't let those storms ruin the most spectacular of Weddings!   Here's just a sneak peak from their Day After session:

Next week promises to be quite a busy week, with THREE Weddings (including a very cool one tomorrow) and one that I can't WAIT to blog about-- you will LOVE the story!  So even though next week will be like the best week ever for me as far as what I am shooting, the icing on the cake will be the weekend when my husband comes home for a 4-day pass after 7 weeks of training before his Iraq deployment!!  Yayy!

Have a great weekend everyone!

:) 

Erin & Rick: Married!!

So.... if you thought I fell off the face of the Earth, you can breathe a sigh of relief, because I am here, alive and well!  I've just been so wonderfully busy lately, something had to give, therefore I've regretfully neglected my laundry room and my blog.  And let me submit this post as evidence that my blog is a greater priority than my growing baskets of laundry (which I will somehow muster the energy to tackle later today!).

Before we get to the goods...can I just talk for a moment about how amazing this week has been?  After shooting a gorgeous wedding on Lake Michigan over the weekend, I came home to a very full schedule this week.  Tuesday was my kids' last day of school!  I went to an awards ceremony at my daughter's school, where she received the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence!  We are so proud of her.  Then I met with two fabulous couples and booked both Weddings!  My schedule is quickly filling up, and I couldn't be more pleased.  Next, I found out that a new client of mine just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, and I will be photographing her sometime next week.  I can't wait!!  Yesterday was the start of summer dance classes for my daughters (they get NO break)...AND....ready for this?.... I started my adult TAP and HIP HOP classes!  So Funny!  A couple other moms and I decided that we're tired of it all being about our daughters so we signed up for a couple classes for the summer.  Let me just say that there was much more laughing than actual dancing...we had so much fun!

Ok so on to Erin & Rick's Wedding... What can I say other than that it was utterly amazing!?  It was definitely the type of event that reminds me of why I love being a Wedding photographer.  There was so much love and joy all around, and I feel so honored to have been part of Erin & Rick's day.  There were literally hundreds of beautiful images to choosed from, but below are just a few of my favorite photos and moments of the day...

A prayer before the ceremony...

This just cracked me up...

I have a lot of fun doing headshots of the Bridal party...

 

A tender father/daughter moment before the ceremony...

 during the ceremony...

After the ceremony & reception, we went to Jeffry Mansion in Bexley for some portraits...

 

 

If you pay attention to trends in Wedding Photography, you may have noticed that a lot of higher-end photographers use different textures to add dimension and mood to many of their images.  It's a great technique used in Photoshop to make a photo look aged.  The textures are available for purchase and when used properly, can really take an already beautiful portrait to another level.  Well, not one to conform completely, I was always intrigued by these textures, but I didn't want the same ones that so many other photographers use, so I figured out how to create and use my own and I'm really excited about using them in the future.   What do you think?

 

Erin & Rick: Just A Sneak Peak!

Memorial Day weekend I had the honor of spending the day with Erin & Rick as they joined together as husband and wife.  It was such a joyous day, and so meaningful... and I had a blast photographing them with their friends and family.  And it was a double treat for me because I knew so many people at the Wedding, including one of my favorite Wedding couples from last year...it was great to see old friends!

I have just a teaser photo to share for right now.  There are literally HUNDREDS of incredible photos that I would love to show, but for now this will have to do.  Check back in just a couple of days and I will post more pictures from Erin & Rick's Wedding, my first wedding of the season...

Next week will be Wedding-Palooza here on the blog.  I'll have a full spread from Erin & Rick's Wedding, plus this weekend I am photographing another fabulous Wedding... Natalie & Michael are tying the knot on Saturday on Lake Michigan, so stay tuned for those photos as well.

Have a great weekend everyone!! 

Baby Tribbie: Week 22

Another update in my ongoing Maternity Project, following Jennifer's first pregnancy...

And my how time flies!  Jennifer is now 22 weeks along and her beautiful little bundle is about 7.5 inches long and over 12 ounces!  His tiny organs are forming, he has eyelids and eyebrows,and teeny-tiny fingernails.  (You can now collectively let it out... Awww!!) 

See how Baby Tribbie has grown:

20 weeks, 18 weeks, 14 weeks, 10 weeks 

Today Is History

(we're going to take a break from photography just for today...) 

I'm still a little speechless after last night's results, but unless you've completely tuned out all forms of communication, then you now know that Barack Obama has secured the Presidential nomination for the Democratic Party.  Political punditry aside, this is a magnificent moment in American History, and I believe it deserves pause.  We are a different America because of what has just happened. 

Take a look at some of this morning's headlines:

from the NY Times~

 

 

 from CNN.com~

 

from The Chicago Tribune~ 

I am an Obama supporter through and through, and I can finally understand what Kennedy supporters of the 60s felt.  He is our candidate, and will be our President, a true man of the people.  And I'm so excited to watch what happens over the next 5 months. 

Here is my photo of Barack Obama, that I shot in February at a rally here in Columbus, Ohio (see more of my photos from the event HERE)~

 

No matter what happens in November (even though I'm confident Obama will WIN) we will never forget this moment. 

Jason Nelson

As promised, I wanted to share some photos from a session I had last Friday with up and coming gospel artist Jason Nelson.  Jason and his lovely wife flew into Columbus on Friday for the shoot and then a performance on the OSU campus later that night.  We had a quick shoot in downtown Columbus.  I had such a fantastic time with Jason and his wife, I'm so grateful to them for choosing me for this shoot.  Jason is a truly talented musician with a brilliant future.  Check out his website and give his music a listen, you will surely be touched and inspired.  And when he's rich and famous, I can say I shot him!  ;)

 

This next one is one of my favorites, even though it's completely blurred out.  This was a test shot, when I fired just to read the light.  But once I looked at it, I really liked it.  It reminds me of some my older work back in the FILM days (looong time ago...you'd have to dig DEEP into the archives, 2 or 3 blogs ago, to see what I'm talking about)...

 

Bad Blogger!

I've been such a bad blogger lately.  But it's only because I've been so busy and busy is GOOD!  So today is my good-faith post, as I have plenty to share this week so stay tuned...

Here's what's on the menu for this week:

• a really cool shoot I did for Jason Nelson, a Baltimore-based gospel singer.  Check out his website, and come back (tonight or tomorrow) to show him some love!
  
• a beautiful Wedding from last week
• and a Baby Tribbie update

I'll try to post a couple more odds & ends that I have come across too...then this weekend I'm off to Douglas, Michigan to shoot a spectacular Wedding right on Lake Michigan.  I can't wait!

Happy Monday!

Melissa & Steve: Engagement!

So enough of yesterday's tease...I'm so excited to show (and show off!) one of the best Engagement sessions this year.  Melissa and Steve are the winners of my FREE Wedding Photography contest that I held last year (and will hold again later this year!)  They won by an enormous...like gargantuan... margin, and I couldn't have been happier.  Although all of the couples who entered the contest were equally wonderful and deserving, once I met Melissa & Steve, they completely captured my heart.  They are two of the most beautiful people I have ever met, and I can't believe I get to be their Wedding photographer!

I just have to add this before we get to the pictures... The weekend that I shot this engagment session, was also the same weekend I photographed Jennifer and Tim, my Maternity couple (see below this post), who are also receiving their photography for FREE because they are participating in a personal project of mine.  Like so many other professional photographers, this started as just a hobby of mine...more than a hobby, more like an obsession, but a hobby nonetheless.  Once I decided to go pro, I never wanted photography to feel like work.  So it's super important to me to occasionally do things for free, and to keep on-going projects.  It serves as a reminder of how much I actually LOVE what I do.  Doing things like holding contests and having people participate in my projects really does help to keep the JOY in what I do.  And I have to say, that the weekend I photographed these two couple was ONE of the most gratifying of my career as a photographer.  And I'm so grateful to all of them for inviting me into their lives.

Ok enough of the hug-fest....lets get to the pics!  Aren't they a gorgeous couple?

 

It was so funny, while we were shooting this next sequence, a visitor came along and decided to make a cameo appearance... 

Whenever I photograph a couple, it usually takes a few minutes before they feel comfortable enough in front of me to completely relax...and I expect that.  But Melissa and Steve were already totally at ease and needed no encouragement to kiss for the camera...I love it!

 

 

It's not really fair for me to pick my favorite shot of the day because there were so many great ones. And Melissa and Steve are so cute it was IMPOSSIBLE to take a bad picture of them...but if forced to choose, this would be my favorite of the day... 

 

 

 

She is going to be a BEAUTIFUL Bride!! 

 

I can't wait for their Wedding on June 21st!   

Happy Memorial Day!

Hey everyone!  I hope you take a moment today to remember all of the men and women who have and are serving our country.  It is because of their great sacrifice that we can enjoy the lifestyle that we all are guilty of taking for granted. 

I didn't want to let the day go by without a blog post, but I also don't want to spend the rest of the day in front of the computer, so I'm giving you all just a sneak peak of an absolutely killer Engagement shoot.  The rest will be posted tomorrow...and I promise you, you don't want to miss it!

Enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day weekend, and check back tomorrow for more pics of Melissa & Steve!!

:) 

Jennifer & Tim: Maternity

Many of you already know Jennifer and Tim as the subject of my ongoing project documenting a full pregnancy.  So far I have had three sessions with Jennifer, photographing her growing belly as her pregnancy progresses, but I wanted to spend a little more time with the couple for an early Maternity shoot.  This project means so much to me, and I can't fully explain why.  But to see this tiny baby grow, and to witness the formation of this new family is just incredible for me.  And I feel so blessed because Jennifer and Tim have welcomed me into their lives with open arms. 

At the time of this session, Jennifer was about 19-20 weeks along.   We spent a little while walking around Uptown Westerville, OH, shooting some casual portraits, and then we went back to their home for some more relaxed photos.  Here are just a few of my favs:

 

I love this little sequence...