Bunnies are here!

Check out Yani and mommy. Yani is my little model ;)

Jesus Fish

Funny story. On Easter weekend my son's fish lept from his bowl and onto the bathroom floor. I found him dried up and stuck to the floor. I picked him up and instinctively put him back in the bowl- which my husband pointed out was pointless. I proceded to get choked up because my son was going to be so sad- and then all of a sudden my Easter "Jesus Fish" rose from the dead and gasped for water! He rehydrated himself and is still alive a week later! Glad I put him back in the bowl and not the trash! The photo shows some of the lasting effects that "turning crunchy" had on our fish- his tail has fallen off. Can't help but laugh at the lucky thing though.

SCORE

Tonight I finished up a 4 day workshop put on by an organization called SCORE . They are a group of professionals, often times retired, who offer help to those who want to start a small business or for those of us who are already in business but would like additional assistance. They covered accounting, making a business plan to take to a lender, time management, and marketing yourself. I was going to put up all kinds of links to register and get information, but there are so many different types of businesses that I don't want to steer anyone in the wrong direction. It would serve you best to contact SCORE and talk to a councilor about what you need to do specifically.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Our Family on Easter morning after church and before the company came over- I now weigh 12 lbs more than I did in this photo.

Stud

Does this hat look familiar? Blackmail for AJ's future girlfriends ;)

Friday March 21st

On Friday I took photos of my old best friend's daughter. We grew up together and were a month apart in age. After all these years it's so ironic that we both had daughters a month apart in age as well. It was so great to see her and her family. I hope to get to take photos for them again in the future. It was so interesting to see the differences in personality that children develop at such a young age. She did a head shake that was so cute and characteristic- it KILLED me when she did it- such PERSONALITY!!

Ella Grace

Ella was so great for this shoot- we did so many different set ups and she got tired by the end but we still were able to get great shots the entire time. Patience is a virtue. Thanks little lady!

With one of the bunnies.

The bunnies DID survive the making of these photos. Miraculously.

Last photos for the day- you made it Ella!

I'm so tricky. These blocks were not in the original photo. Simple cut and paste from a photo I took of just the blocks after Ella was done for the day. Also, the "E" started out yellow but was hard to see and it would have been the only yellow in the photo, so I made it blue- not so simple color replacement ;)

They're he-re!!

The bunnies are here, the bunnies are here! Lots of you who know about my spring promotion are just dying to see these little guys so I figured my point and shoot camera should give you an appetizer. I just bought the bunnies last night for the photo shoot starting March 29th. For then next couple of weeks I'll be opening my home to take children and family portraits with these little guys. Call for an appointment if you haven't already :) 215-2874

Be BRAVE!

There is a new craze called mess the dress, or dirtying the dress, or trash the dress and I think it's... awesome. I've been reading up on this new fad and it's not about messing up your wedding dress, it's about the art- getting once in a life time images that tradition has not allowed for in the past. So I'd like to encourage my brides to think artistically and be BRAVE! Set up a "day after" shoot and roll around on some black sand beaches (in Maui), go to an amusement park, play in the rain, dive into a pool! I think I should just start adding this option into my packages. Check out the articles online and all the amazing images that people have taken. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/fashion/weddings/10trash.html

Maya Madison

The #1 complaint about my website is- hey, where are the updated photos of Maya? Well, here they are!! I'll do my best to post some new ones every now and then, if you're lucky I'll throw some of AJ into the blog as well ;)

Bubble Head

Let's ask my husband why a baby needs a bath tub this full of water??? Hehehe. Nice "do"!

so sophisticated...

and so cute!

An Interesting Twist...

on retouching digital photos.

Lindsay and Shawn...

I like this technique on the "walking away" photos as you can see.

Texturizing

From the Kilker/Drummond wedding.

My favorite texture to use:

I recently discovered a new way to put an added twist on retouching photos. It's called texturizing, or at least that's what I call it. It is the art of taking your photo and overlaying a transparent texture while stratigically erasing that texture where it interferes (like over faces). There are a few companies that advertise selling such overlaying textures, however I have found a few favorites from a free site: http://www.textureking.com/
Check out the examples. Let me know what you think of the textures! At the bottom is my FAVORITE texture to use. Feel free to try it out on your own photos and send me an email of your hard work ;)

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

A friend of mine (who is expecting twin girls soon) suggested that I join an organization called "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep". Not knowing what it was I looked it up: http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/ I discovered that it is a group who organizes photographers to take photos for those who are greiving over the loss of a newborn child in the hospital. I've been looking for a way to give something back to the world so I immediately filled out an application. They recently aired a segment on The Today Show to help get the word out.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23481435#23481435

Here is my debate- is this going to make me so depressed that I can no longer function, or will it be unbelievibly rewarding to be able to donate my services to families going through an emotional event such as this? I can't imagine that I would ever be able to show up and photograph without countless tears streaming from my eyes. But just to be there to help the family in any way that you can would be such an honor. It makes me appreciate the two children I have. Thank God they are relatively healthy. If anything, doing photography for this organization would certainly remind me every day to count my blessings.

PA Indoor State Track Meet

This past weekend I was contracted by Don Rich from PennTrackXC to take photos at the indoor state track meet at PennState University. I think the best part is litterally getting chills when someone breaks a record or achieves a personal best. The photos will be up on Don's site by Thursday if you want to go check them out! http://pa.milesplit.us/

Entry for March 4, 2008

Everybody interested in me being your wedding photographer: get psyched!! I'm working on developing an online contest for some lucky couple to win free wedding photography for their big day. Keep your eyes pealed for the official announcement and in the meantime, get together your best, true sob stories of why you and the love of your life deserve "a break".

Does this count as communtiy service? I really want to make it through those pearly gates ;)

Ava: February 29, 2008

She's BAAAACK! A little older and wiser this time around.