Documenting a Milestone

My baby is no longer a baby. :( This week we decided it was time to get rid of the last baby item she was using--her crib--and put her in a "big girl" bed. I realize frequently how many things I didn't think to document very well in the two years since we had kids, and decided that I would not miss this final step in her change from "baby" to "big girl".

Here she is, ready to spend the last night in her crib...she was so excited about it. The photo is blurry due to the lights being off in her room, no flash and a model who wasn't being very still, but nevertheless, it serves its purpose:


I can't possibly be the only photog who sneaks into their children's rooms in the middle of the night with a camera while they're sleeping, can I? Yes, I know these are dark, but, it was dark. If you have kids you probably understand why I couldn't turn on the lights or use flash for these :) I'm all for Photoshop, but I also like to depict things as they really were, so I like these as is.


("behind bars" for the last time, hehe)




And the next day, our final naptime in the crib...as soon as she woke up Daddy dismantled it and put the toddler bed together! (no flash for these either)


This is how she wakes up from her naps...I asked her if she was ready for her new bed and she agreed to have one last photo of her in her crib, messy hair and all


Here it is! Oh goodness, was she thrilled! She wanted to play in it all evening and couldn't wait for bedtime.


She kept telling me to leave so she could go to sleep (it was still an hour before bedtime). In this one she is telling me--I kid you not!--to "Get that [camera] out of my room, I don't want it in here! Go downstairs!"




Well, we did it! They do grow so fast and you just don't realize how fast until you look back later and see how much they've changed...and that, my friends, is why photography is so important. :)

It's Here!

The new lens arrived via UPS yesterday, and I've already been giving it a workout! :)
Here are some shots I took yesterday afternoon, just to try it out, and some from tonight for fun. Will post more pics taken with it tomorrow:

First two shots with it :)


(Note the yellow slide reflected in her eyes!)


Just to show you the focal range I can get out of this thing, here are two admittedly-not-great snapshots...taken without me moving an inch. wide angle:


and zoomed in all the way:


...and let that also be a brief illustration of why you don't want your portraits done in dappled light :)

This afternoon we ate lunch out on the patio, and I had to go get the camera and play with the lens some more, because sitting across the table from my daughters I couldn't help but notice the gorgeous light in their eyes. Sorry they were almost done with their corn-on-the-cob (a.k.a. "popcorn" as the oldest calls it), rather than just taking the first bite.




Her eyes look like sparkling jewels the way the sun was hitting them, don't they?




(I know, I know, the poor things can't even get away from the paparazzi when they're eating!)

Trains, Towers and Rivers

For D's senior session we went to an entirely new location. At first we were a bit lost, particularly after realizing the park we wanted to use had been ruined by the flood, but once we got our bearings we found all sorts of great spots for pictures! I ended up with a lot of favorites from this session, but here are just a few:

The river and bridge were just gorgeous!


We found a little park with all kinds of interesting cement structures. Unfortunately we really struggled with the lighting here.


We had way too much fun with this location...the tower was reminiscent of fairy tales, so D. couldn't resist climbing it. I couldn't resist processing this shot (and texturizing it) just for kicks:




He spotted this train mural before I had even arrived, and the lighting there was perfect! I had to stand in the middle of the street to get this shot, but fortunately no one ran me over ;)












On the way home we stopped at the home of a family who said we could "borrow" their truck. I've been on the look-out for rusty/old pick-ups, so I was excited to try it out! The sun was directly overhead by this time, so we were only able to get a couple of shots in when it briefly went behind a cloud.


...and with some grunge processing

Back-To-School Bash Pics

Sorry for the delay!

The Bash was on the courthouse lawn, so we set up our lawn chairs so we could sit and listen to the music and eat our pizza.


My nephew decided he wanted to sit with us--he looks like he's asking my daughter why she's so anxious!


The people behind us had a puppy, so the girls were so excited! This puppy is the reason for the disappearance of my oldest daughter later.




The band, Fallen Chains! I couldn't resist trying a vintage conversion on this. (sorry for the cluttery picture, but it was a really "cluttery" location!)




My friends stuck a label on their baby's head. ??


Look at those big brown eyes!


The sound system...and sunflare!


Mmm, pizza!


Prizes were thrown to the kids at certain intervals, and my girls were getting right up there with the big kids...they came back with one of each prize, so I'm thinking someone must have had mercy on them and just gave it to them off to the side. :)


My older daughter was having so much fun playing catch with one of the balls they were giving away




The pizza tent...you know, it's really too bad I broke my lens halfway through, because I was having all kinds of fun with the backlight, orangey sunset glow and sunflare!


My dad (center guitar) got to join the band on stage at one point


More backlight...


All the younger kids up front for some action songs, led by our Sunday School Dept. (this is my fav backlight/sunflare pic from the whole night!)


Aww, look at them trying to do the actions!


More prizes!




...and the last shot taken before my lens froze up and ceased all functioning! :(


Broken lens or not, we had a really good time; looking forward to next year!