Lily at 3 months!

I did a few portraits of my little cutie around her 3 month birthday. Of course, that was already nearly a month ago. It's so hard to stay current. I'm just now downloading photos from my point and shoot that were taken over the summer. It's interesting how these two photos, taken just days apart, are so different. She almost looks like a totally different baby. That's what angle and position will do to a face. 

I have a couple of sessions lined up at the pumpkin patch in the next week or so. I always love shooting at the farm. There are tractors, big old tires, farm junk, great barns, and of course the pumpkins. I don't love the rain, but Fall sure is nice. Hopefully I will get some of those shoots blogged in the next couple of weeks. 

Now it's time for me to get ready for our beach getaway this weekend. I can't wait! We haven't been to the coast since last March when it snowed on the beach. Remember those pictures?

Have a good weekend, friends.

VOTE FOR ME! Photo contest

There is a photographer named Jay Reilly that I greatly admire. He is running a contest on his blog that I entered. They have official judges but also a popular vote. If you would take the time to go and vote for my entry, I would be ever grateful. 

I entered the photo of Kian in the sunflowers from the last post. The contest title was "Capture the Summer Feeling" and I felt that photo did exactly that. My entry number is 153. I think you can click on the picture and there should be a place that says "vote for this entry". Unfortunately, some browsers don't support the application so it's better if you are on Explorer of something like that. 

Here is the link to the contest page. 

Thank you, thank you!

Oh and because no post is good without a photo... I call this one: "Kian, DO NOT put your feet into that sand!" See how well he listens? :)

The feeling of summer

I'm just not ready to give it up. It has been a crazy, busy summer...gone by in a blur. But one of the best summers. There have been so many quintessential summer moments...zoo trips, popsicles, vacation, visits from friends, trampoline fun. One of my favorite summer moments happened while my dad was up visiting. He and Kian and I drove to a nearby field after dinner one day to pick sunflowers. The light was a dream. Those of you who check my blog know that I am in love with backlight. I took many, many photos that perfect evening. I love that I have these photos that capture the spirit of Kian as well as his relationship with my dad whom he calls "Papa." I hope that these photos inspire you to hang on to summer for just a little bit longer.

Check back again at the end of the week for some pictures of Lily. I've got them all proofed and ready to go so that I have something to post. I have resolved to start posting regularly again. I have a plan. Now that Lily is going to sleep so much earlier, I suddenly have a spare half hour every night!

Has it really been two and a half months???

Wow. Having a baby really makes time seem surreal. She is six weeks old today. I recognize (not without a decent measure of guilt) that I have not graced this blog with my new baby's picture. Her name is Lily. She is a sweet, sweet doll. Here is her birth announcement with a picture I took of her at six days old, and a few others that I love. The one of her and Kian is pretty sweet. She is truly an angel baby. Hopefully I will not go so long without posting again. Although time with two hands free is a precious commodity these days.

Four generations of Family (portrait session)

I photographed four generations of a family this week. It was truly special to see the resemblances in the faces as well as the love they have for each other. After downloading the images and giving them a quick once over, I realized that almost every single one is a keeper. That almost never happens. Sure makes narrowing them down a tough job! Here are a few that I thought I'd share as a sneak peek for the family. Isn't this little guy so cute? He was an angel baby and peacefully slept most of the time. I love the "My Mom Rocks" pacifier.

At the park

Blessed with a rare sunny (and warm) day, we headed off to Summerlake Park this weekend. I had the point and shoot for some goofing off shots. Here is one of my little guy jumping off a cement wall. Look at the joy in his face! We are thinking of getting a big trampoline this summer so he can jump all he wants. I will also be ordering this photo in a super big size to hang in his room. I'm thinking 20x24. Prints look so much better huge and make such a statement in a room. 8x10s look like snapshots to me now that I've gotten used to printing everything large.

Maternity portrait shoot

This couple was so much fun to shoot. First of all, they had awesome style, a beautiful, beautiful house, and were up for anything. I almost had them wading in the creek behind their house. Was there a sexier pregnant lady ever? There were so many more to share but here is a sneak look. I totally fell in love with that little modern rocking chair so I had to incorporate it in a shot.

Beach Trip part 2

See the next post for details. These are just a few more pictures that Blogger didn't let me upload on the last post. One of these days I'll get a custom blog made...

Beach Trip

I expected it to be cold on this little spring trip to the beach. I didn't expect snow...on the beach. It was awesome. We stayed in a little pink house just two blocks from the ocean. It was rustic and lovely. There was no TV reception, no cell phone services, and the nearest grocery store was 10 miles away in Tillamook. A real vacation. We took advantage of the sun breaks between hail and snow and were able to enjoy quite a lot of time outside (even if it was freezing). Kian certainly didn't seem to mind. Unfortunately, Blogger only lets me upload 5 photos at a time so I will have to put the others on the next post. Which will be weird because this post will appear second. All these photos (in both posts) with the exception of the rainbow one, the bird one, and the vintage toned one of Brad, Kian, and Brisco walking away were taken with the point and shoot. I didn't bother editing any of them (except the vintage toned one) so what you see is what came out of the camera. Feel lucky if you live somewhere warm.

Big Sister

How time flies. Here we are at the end of March already. Despite the many signs of spring, it snowed today. How crazy is that? It's been a busy last month trying to do stuff to make this house more homey...we've lived here six months and I have yet to find places for all the framed pictures.
Anyways, I had the opportunity to photograph this sweet little girl and her new baby brother a couple of weeks ago. He was just 8 days old at the time of the shoot and so alert and mellow. I loved the light in their living room. Check out her eyes! I've got a couple of senior sessions coming up as well as a maternity session in the next few weeks. Tomorrow though, it's vacation time. We rented a little house on the Oregon coast. Hopefully we'll get some sun breaks so I can break out the camera. Perhaps I can talk my husband into doing a maternity shoot for me. I will post a few vacation pictures when we return.

Almost 2!

Kian turns two on Sunday. Hard to believe it was just two years ago that we brought him home and wondered at this tiny person who at once seemed completely foreign and totally familiar. Now he can tell us what he wants. Lately, the thing I hear him say the most is "I do it!" Yesterday, Kian's grandma and I took him to Toys R Us where he got to choose a special toy. The whole way there he kept exclaiming "special toy" because I had prepped him for the reason for our trip. Grammy bought him a little green riding motorcycle that makes revving sounds, and plays a really annoying song. He loves it, though. And you know what they say...if they're happy, you're happy.
I took a few pictures of him outside of the store where there was this great yellow grid of windows and a fantastic blue wall. Here are two of my favorites.

Sunny day

It's February, the slow time. What can I say...if only the weather would be like it is today for a couple of weeks, I might be able to schedule some shoots. For now, we're waiting.

Kian's birthday is coming up next weekend. Can't believe he's going to be 2! He's saying so many words and phrases now, it's so fun to watch his progress.

I will try to post some photos tonight. I've been laying low lately trying to get that table done. So far I've got the practice stuff done under one of the chairs. I decided to go with watercolor which actually works really well on wood, believe it or not. The woodburner is up and running and I've got a set of 18 watercolors which should be plenty. I've got a few designs drawn in pencil and the whole concept is starting to take shape. Talk about blank canvas jitters. I felt so much better when I drew the sun in the middle of the table. After that I though "I can do this!"

Happy almost (almost) spring. I know we're a month off, but hey, the crocuses are blooming and I'm starting to see more birds and buds starting on the trees. Signs of hope that this long, cold winter is on its way out.

Twins!

I had the opportunity to photograph these sweet little twins a couple of weeks ago. I was all set to proof and post and then Kian got sick. Again. Shortly after Kian presented with his fever and after several days of him sneezing and coughing on me, on my food, in my face, I came down with it too. I don't know what it is about this winter, but I feel like I've been sick since two weeks before Christmas. It's just been absolutely freezing here in Portland (I know, my mid-Western friends, we can't compare our 31 degrees to your negative temps but still...) At any rate, I am finally feeling like myself again and am almost able to breathe freely. Now if I could just fully regain my hearing, I'll be golden. So finally, here are a few portraits of these lovely boys. Their sister has also been featured here on my blog as I have been lucky enough to have photographed her a few times in the past.
On another note, Brad and I got Kian a beautiful kid-sized table and chairs for his birthday. The thing is that they are raw, unfinished wood. We had this grand idea that we would stain them and paint cool designs on them and give it to him when he turns two. I will be blogging our efforts. Sadly, I think we may have a project bigger than our abilities on our hands. It may make for a fun adventure. It keeps getting bigger in my mind and the more ideas I have, the more I am struck with blank canvas syndrome. What was I thinking? I'm a photographer, not a drawing or painting type artist. Then there are all these other things to consider: Paint or stain or both? What type of paint or stain? Should we burn the design in first? What should the design be? Arghgh. Maybe we'll just stain it red and call it good. Or not. I'm really determined on this one. Ok, gotta go start building my closet organizer. Till soon. Look for pictures of the table progress so you can make fun of us. Who knows, maybe it will turn out killer and we'll amaze ourselves and our friends.

California winter and camera review

At last, I have found my USB cable for the new camera. Full specs first: This is a Nikon Coolpix L14. After uploading the photos and seeing them large on the computer screen, I got a much better idea of what this camera can do and what it's shortcomings are. First of all, it performs awesomely (is that a word?) in situations where the light is adequate. If you like to use flash (and I don't unless absolutely necessary) it does what all cameras do when the flash goes off: blow out skin tones. If you shoot without flash in low light situations, the image tends to be grainy and of course, a little blurry. But for about $130 bucks you get 7.1 megapixels and it's small enough to put in your pocket or purse. This makes it easy for me to get those snapshots of everyday things. Because I shoot photos professionally, I fall into the trap of thinking that every single photo I take has to look like artwork. Unfortunately, this eliminates about 95% of every day situations. I want Kian to have a record of his life, and not just awesome portraits. What's nice about this little camera is that it allows me to "turn off the inner editor" to quote my publishing professor and just shoot. The photos in this post are all straight out of camera (SOOC). This means that other than resizing them for the web and watermarking them, I did absolutely NOTHING to them in photoshop. So all in all, I would highly recommend this camera to anyone looking to pick up a nice little point and shoot. It's the perfect thing for those of us on the go. And the battery really does last a heck of a long time. About the pictures themselves: The first one is on the beach in California. In the previous post, you can see one from the same day taken with my D80. With the light conditions, not much difference. The other photos are of one of my favorite places in the world. Just 2 miles from the house where I grew up, there is this amazing hiking area called Point Mugu State Park. There is a 9 mile trail to the beach as well as a nice climb to Mt. Boney (3,800 ft). I could go on and on about this place but I'll just say that it is like a little bit of heaven on earth. See how nicely this camera does in good light? I was loving that backlight and those silhouette shots. That last shot is my dad with Kian on his shoulders. I think I will blow it up big.

Crazy Train

This year we went to the Zoo Lights at the Oregon Zoo. They run in December through New Year's Eve every year. I had never been and had always wanted to check them out. Apparently they use over a million lights to do the display. Finding a night that isn't pouring rain here in the winter can be a bit of a challenge but we lucked out on the last night. It was freezing cold (that's 33 degrees on the display), but totally clear. When we arrived, we were really happy to see that they had free admission that night! Kian loved riding the train and looking at the lights. I'm glad that we did it this year because next year we'll have a 6 month old in December. There was a family on the train just behind us with a 2 year old and a 6 month old who screamed the entire train ride. They just can't deal with freezing weather at that age and the train ride and lights just aren't worth it. Who knows when the next time we'll get to go again, but I'd love to make it a family tradition.
Until I can get Brad to tell me what he did with the upload cable for the new camera, I will remain unable to post my killer photos from my new little camera. I can't wait to see them big on the computer. I keep looking and looking at them on the little camera screen but it's not the same at all. Hope everyone is keeping up with their New Year's resolutions. Ha ha!

Happy 2008!

The holidays always seem a total blur of trips to the post office, the mall, wrapping, decorating, traveling. This year was no different. We traveled to California for a nice visit with my parents and my two brothers and their families. It was the first time that all three boys (Kian and my brothers' boys) were together. Getting a good photo of the three of them proved to be quite a challenge but above is the best I got. California was beautiful and sunny. I reveled in that sunshine and tried not to miss an instant of blue sky. Who knows when we'll see it here in Oregon! So here are some photos of Christmas morning as well as some other random photos from the other days of the trip. I got a new little camera for Christmas, a point and shoot sweet little digital that I can just pop into my purse. None of these photos were taken with that one but in the next post I will have photos taken with the new camera. We went for a killer hike and I played around with my new toy. I am blown away by the quality of photos that little thing takes. I will reveal full specs, make/model, etc. in the next post. I am also aiming to post more often here on this blog. Hope this is a good year for everyone.

By the way, somehow blogger screwed up the order of the photos so they are a little bit random. I would fix them but I still have to go and deal with the tornado of toys that seems to have gone through the house today. Brad and Kian built a fort with the couch cushions today. Fun times.