Macro Monday!

It's my last blog post of 2007! As I reflect over the past 12 months I realize how much growth has occurred, personally and business-wise. I have to attribute that in part to the fact that I became less concerned about the number of bookings and more concerned about working with the coolest couples. I'm having more fun than ever (and I hope they are, too). How many people can say they LOVE their job and can't WAIT to go to work?!

I have some big ideas in store for 2008, so stay tuned!

Back to Macro Monday...SD was correct, last Monday's image was a closeup of a heater vent. I'm lovin' this week's shot and can't wait to see how long it takes to guess it correctly. The object's color was changed during editing.

Happy New Year!

Back Soon!

I'll be taking a few days off from the blog to spend time with family.

Happy Holidays!

The Polar Express

I'm sorry I kept you waiting, but I thought it was appropriate to save these pictures for a Christmas Eve blog post. I'm sure you'll forgive me.

I've already told you how cold it was the night we arrived. It was so cold, in fact, that The Youngest didn't even want to get out of the car and have his picture taken with the train. The Husband and I were dumbfounded...and then I made him sit for these pictures anyway.

They were taken with available light and no tripod, which is why they're dark and moody.






Bed jumping in the hotel. I'm a bad influence.

The front page of the local paper the day of the Polar Express ride. The ride had been sold out but a good number of passengers failed to show up. We, however, were first in line to pick up our tickets due to a 12:00 PM checkout and nothing else to do.

The train station was restored in...1980 I think the sign said? It was beautiful!

Yeah, only one punch in the ticket. Bummer.

Santa boarded the train halfway through and gave each child a bell off of his sleigh. (And sat for pictures, of course)!

I want to wish all of my friends, family and couple's a very merry Christmas and I can't wait to see you all in the new year! God bless!

The Husband's Debut!

And a Polar Express preview for those of you who are patiently waiting. :)

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?? Anyone??

The Youngest has made a friend. Awww.

The long anticipated images from The Husband. You'll notice the pictures are much clearer than mine. That's because he's not shooting through the net like I am. That's the Wedding Photographer in me...I don't want to step foot on the field because I'm afraid I'll be too distracting, so I'm content to sit behind everyone on the bleachers. The Husband, on the other hand, has no qualms about getting right out there to get the shot. Good work, honey!

A pitch black shot of the Polar Express. Can you see a little bit of face underneath their hoods? It was sooooo cold out there that most of my shots were a little blurry from my body shivering!

If Thelma & Louise Were Elves

Wait for it to load...you'll be ROFLYAO!

Click here.

More From the "D" Family

Here's a few from Saturday morning's session with the boys. It literally lasted 15 minutes! I want kids to have fun during these sessions so as long as they stay in one place I'm not too picky about facial expressions. Of couse I'll try to get them both looking at the camera with nice smiles if possible, but I'm not going to stress them out over it! Dad came in after a few minutes and was behind me doing...well...I don't know what he was doing, but they thought it was funny!

I love tounge pictures! They always crack me up!

Macro Monday!

You thought I was going to go another week without a Macro Monday post, didn't you??

I have so many things to tell you about, like my new travel coffee mug that sings (yep!), my ultra-trendy-cool camera strap, Saturday's flag football game where The Husband was the photographer, my session Saturday morning, and, of course, the Polar Express ride...but let's get Marco Monday out of the way, shall we?

Kudos to Lindsay and Pat for guessing the "massaging" shower head correctly! It was so nice of you two to stop by the blog and leave me some love. :) Are you thinking about your E session?

Happy Holidays!

Here it is! This year's Christmas Card. I went with the "less is more" idea this year. I absolutely adore this picture, and I'm thinking about ordering it on a photo purse. I can't help myself.

One of our Christmas presents to the boys is taking them on the Polar Express Sunday afternoon. (Granted, it's geared a little more towards Train Freak than The Oldest). Since we are anticipating another winter storm (I'm trying not to revert back to my old ways here) we have decided to head up that way tonight and stay in a hotel. At least we won't have to drive in the bulk of it on Sunday afternoon.

I have to admit I'm nervous about riding on a train in the middle of a huge snowstorm with the possibility of freezing rain. But what I like even less is loosing the money we paid for the tickets 2 months ago. They've got me between a rock and a hard place. If I don't make it back safely I'm leaving all of my camera equipment to my most loyal blog commenter.

You know who you are!

Little White Angels of Bliss

The other day I visited the blog of a Seattle based photographer, Sarah Rhoads. I've never met Sarah or even talked with her on either of the photography forums I'm a member of, but she had a post about snow in Seattle. I just had to comment when she referred to snow as "little white angels of bliss".

I left her a comment, the gist of which was that I had never referred to snow as "little white angels of bliss". Far from it. In fact I'm certain that when I've referred to snow in the past I've used way more colorful adjectives in my sentences.

However, she got me thinking about the things we take for granted, and sometimes complain about. As much as I can't stand winter, I really don't mind the snow all that much. (Can someone figure out how to make snow without all the frigid temperatures?) And if it wasn't for the snow would I really need all of my fun hats and boots? Nope! So this year I'm going to try not to be such a Hater. I started with the title of this post.

It's been snowing here since 9:30 this morning, so Junior and I went out for a minute. My original plan had been to head over to Ithaca for some snowy waterfall pictures, but I had a feeling the kids were going to have an early dismissal from school. (I was right) and I needed to be home when they arrived. SO, you get pictures of the Country Club instead. This is what we see when we look out our windows.

Enjoy!

Outtakes

It's that time of year again...Christmas card season. Sometime in the middle of November I realize I need to come up with and idea for our card. This year, as hard as I tried to formulate a plan, the best I came up with ahead of time was to buy the boys not-quite-matching sweaters. One night while The Husband was working late I threw them in front of a white backdrop with said sweaters on and told them we were taking the Christmas card picture.

Now, normally I would show you the best couple of pictures. As a Photographer it's my job to portray subjects in the most flattering way possible. But when I was going through the pictures I decided I was going to do a blog post with the ones that normally wouldn't make it.

Here they are!

What on earth is up with The Youngest's eyes??

Poor Murph.

Taking a break from all of the seriousness.

For Heaven's sake, what is he doing with his mouth?

This one makes me smile, but in the end we chose an even cuter picture.

Maria & Bob's Engagement Session

I know, I know, it's Monday. The title should say "Macro Monday", not "Maria & Bob's Engagement Session". I haven't forgotten, but The Youngest is home sick from school, school was delayed 2 hours for The Oldest because of freezing rain, and the fridge has been broken since Friday and my coffee creamer is on the verge of going bad. Something had to give!

So, like any good Mother would, I let The Youngest watch Nickelodeon all morning so I could edit some photos from Saturday's E session and try to find someone to fix the fridge.

We started out by braving the icy trail that leads to Taughannock falls.

On the way back Bob started a snowball fight with Maria.

When we arrived at the park we were greeted by two snowpeople. (I prefer to think it was a couple enjoying a nice winter afternoon). I thought about asking Bob and Maria to pose with them, but I thought they'd think I was nuts, so I decided to ask them on the way back. I figured by then they'd know I was nuts and do anything I'd asked. By the time we got back some vandals had decapitated the snowcouple. I mentioned that I'd thought about taking their picture with them and Maria confessed she'd had exactly the same idea but she didn't want me to think she was nuts! So Bob graciously fixed one of the snowpeople so we could take this picture.

Maria asked me to take a picture like this because this is how they hang at home.

Warming up inside with a glass of wine.

Last but not least, Queen Maria on her throne of ice! Thanks for the great time you two!

Just One!

This afternoon I spent several hours with Bob and Maria, who are getting married in 2008. We spent a couple of hours at Taughannock Falls in Ithaca, and then popped over to the Commons for a bit before going our separate ways. Bob and Maria are a very down-to-earth couple and I already feel like I've known them for longer than I really have.

Bob and Maria, here's one to tide you over for a couple of days! I had a great time hanging out with you both this afternoon!

B&W Friday

I always love an opportunity to photograph my Little Buddy! Besides the fact that he's got the most beautiful blue eyes ever, he's also really good at taking direction. He's without a doubt the most cooperative 2 year old subject I've ever seen.

Peanut is shaping up to be just as good. She slept the entire time she was here, with the exception of a few seconds when she opened up her eyes. She makes newborn photography look like a cake walk, and I know it's not!

This shoot was for their Christmas cards and I honestly drew a blank when trying to come up with an idea that would incorporate an infant and a 2 year old. Shirley has tons of interesting antiques at her house, so I wasn't surprised when she said she had an old sled we could use. I think it was perfect.