Interesting New Location

Recently I was invited to check out the new rooms above Ms. Molly's antique store downtown. The Cedar County Attic was created to function as both a museum and meeting space for the public. I toured the new space and it is amazing the amount of work that went into it! It's a fun place to visit, and with that also comes opportunities for photos. It will be nice to have a place to go during the cold months if the need arises, as I can reserve the room for setting up the portable backdrop stand or just to photograph children in the environment. I took my own kids up one morning to try it out. They were, shall we say, not in the mood for pics! In spite of that, we managed to get some really cute shots. :) This was just after I broke my zoom lens and the new one hadn't arrived yet, so we were stuck with just the 50mm...should be fun to try the new wide-angle lens here sometime!

There are a few mannequins in Victorian style dress...here is my younger daughter peeking around one...


...then she saw the "boy" mannequin, and for some reason was terrified of it. She spent the rest of our time in this room walking around like this and whimpering! (yes, she's always been kind of a chicken)


My older one, on the other hand, had a lot of fun pretending to dance with the man-mannequin...saying he was her prince and she was Cinderella. I got a few more shots of her in this room, which is painted a really nice burnt orange color.




She liked this puppy statue, too.


We headed over into the other room, which has many antique items on display. One of our favorites was the little school desk!


Playing with some different vintage conversions on these






and a black and white


I loved this old cabinet!




Last, there is a great little church pew!




The little one was having a ball with this church pew, right up until it was time to go!








If you have a few minutes next time your downtown, be sure to drop into Ms. Molly's and check it out! And if you're trying to come up with an idea for the location of your next session, remember this is another option!

Senior Sneak Peak!

Just a quick sneak peak for my most recent senior!

Quick Fall Session

This was just a really quick fall session with one of my regulars, a 9-month-old with amazing blue eyes! :)

Senior Sneak Peak!

This week I had a senior session that we *almost* moved to today, but today it is rainy and cold, so I'm so glad we went ahead with it on Monday! It was overcast, but nice and warm with loads of gorgeous fall colors! A. and I had a blast and probably could have stayed out another hour. We went down to one of the parks that had been destroyed by the flood, and though the damage was obvious, with the time that has passed and all the pretty colors, it was an amazing location and I'm so glad we gave it a try! We also found a few neat spots around town. I admit I'm having a terrible time narrowing down the pics because we took so many and I love them all (LOL), but I promised them a sneak peak, so here is just a very small sample of them!

Christmas Mini Sessions

On November 1, 2008, from 10 AM to noon, Stepping Stone Photography will be providing Christmas mini sessions at a discounted rate. There are five openings during this timeframe, with a 20-minute time slot per session fee.

This is a great opportunity to get holiday photos and even get your Christmas cards done!

Packages range from $75 to $115 and include:
20-minute sitting (one outfit)
Selection of 5-10 proofs in your online gallery
1 - 8x10 and 2 - 5x7s
10% off additional prints
24 Photo Christmas Cards ($115 package only)

For more information or to reserve your session, contact me at 319-621-8470, or online at
www.stepstonephotography.com



(Photo shown above is from last year, and does not reflect the props and backgrounds that will be used this year)

Labor Day Weekend

Yes, I realize I'm sadly behind in updating AND in processing photos...so, tonight I have some photos from Labor Day, which we spent visiting my grandpa out of state. They own a pond, so the guys got to spend the day fishing, and our girls had their first ride in a boat! We spent most of the day there, so I took the camera out here and there for some pics throughout the day.

This was the first time I really got to play with my new lens, so I spent a good deal of time chasing dragonflies around and photographing inanimate objects






Thought the porch chair cover would look neat as a background, so I plunked the nearest child onto it. Unfortunately she didn't want to look at the camera, so I kept asking, "Where's Mommy?" to get her to look. Wouldn't you know, she pointed! LOL oh well.


Grandpa pushing his great-grand-kiddos on the porch swing


Sisters, looking out at the pond...longingly, because they so wanted to go out in the boat but Mommy said this was all the closer they could get for now. Bummer.


Waiting for Daddy and Uncle Nate to hurry up and come back so they can go on the boat too


At last! Putting on life jackets...


Is this not the cutest little squish-cheeked thing you ever saw? LOL




Big girls get to sit on the end of the boat...and wow, she did so well sitting still! Fortunately the pond wasn't very deep, so it wasn't too scary.

(see the little hand on Daddy's back?)









Baby Drew playing by himself on the porch...no boat ride for him yet!


Look what I found on the dock? I'm not a big spider fan, but that won't keep me from photographing them!


...and a lovely, serene photo taken moments before Uncle Nate almost fell into the water, nearly taking everyone down with him. Perhaps he should be the one in a life jacket? :)


After the boat ride the kids played with the riding toys that belonged to my second cousins when they were that age. I tried to get a pic of my oldest one on another of the toys, but not only would she not pause, but she sped up and tried to run me over!! So, I have this lovely blur of her tearing past as I jump out of the way. I hope that is not a sign of how she will drive when she turns 16.

This one was a little more cooperative.


At last they caught something besides snags!


Once again the kids are limited to the top of the hill, as the guys clean the fish on the dock.


We had a nice time seeing everyone and were glad for the rare chance to visit!