Happy New Year!!!

Welcome to 2008! Well...almost!

I wish you all the most amazing things that the new year has to offer!

2007 has been a whirlwind year, but it's been amazing! Before I start making resolutions for the new year, I want to take a few minutes to be thankful for all the things that have happened in the past year.

The weddings portion of my business has been thriving, and I'm thrilled to offer a new product that I'll blog more about in my next post! 2007 was also the first year that I got involved with Operation Smile and National Family Portrait Month! It's also the year I unveiled my new website and started this lovely blog! Thanks so much to the brides I've worked with, the brides I'm currently working with, and to all the families, children, friends and individuals who have helped make this such a memorable year!

Check back soon for more on the new products, as well as a big announcement for some studio plans in '08! Have a happy and safe new year!

Merry Christmas!

Yes, the children were nestled all snug in their beds, with Emma's arm slung over Eddie's head...

Merry Christmas, and may the spirit of the season be with you always!

From Atlantic to Pacific...Gee the Traffic is Terrific!

What is Christmas without family? What is Christmas without a 15 hour car ride to visit family? This holiday, we set out with kids in tow to visit our Florida family! The trip has was great, and the kids were awesome. That is, until we hit Atlanta... After a half hour of deliberating the pros and cons of taking the outerbelt versus driving straight through downtown Atlanta, we decided on the latter. I'm now convinced that it doesn't matter which way you choose...You'll run into traffic like this no matter what!

After we made it through the mess, I needed to invoke the power of the green mermaid



to ensure that we would make it to our destination by nightfall. We finally made it, and we've been basking in the love, hugs and kisses of our family ever since! Some of them we haven't seen in over a year (since we moved back to O-H-I-O), but it seems like we saw them just yesterday! Adding to the fun was my brother's manufacturing of the newest holiday rage, the marshmallow gun! If you've got some PVC pipe, a hacksaw and some mini marshmallows, you're in business...kids love it!

The wonderful thing about family is that sometimes the distance really doesn't matter. We're still connected, no matter how near or how far.

This Christmas Eve, I wish you all a holiday filled with love and happiness. Whether you're surrounded by your family this time of year, or just wishing you were...Remember the true meaning of Christmas and have a very, very Merry One!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

For years I swore that I would never feed my children a line about Santa Claus. "After All", I told my family and friends, "Why start your children off with a lie that they'll never forgive you for"? Then I actually had children. I saw the mysterious mixture of joy, excitement and magic that sprang into their eyes when someone mentioned the jolly old elf.

"Well", I thought to myself, "It'll be fine if I just don't actually say 'Yes, there's a Santa'. If some one else brings it up, fine...but I'll never confirm or deny because well...it's cute. I'll just stick to referring to St. Nick in the historical sense and that's that." So would someone please tell me why on earth I find myself stashing gifts in closets, telling the kids they had better shape up because you-know-who will be here soon and even helping them sprinkle reindeer food on the lawn (so Rudolph can find our house, of course)?

When did this happen? How did it happen? And when the day comes...how will it end? The truth is I want my kids to be able to give thanks appropriately for the gifts they receive. But I selfishly want to see those little faces light up when we read "The Night Before Christmas" imagining themselves sound asleep while reindeer hooves shuffle about on the roof. So I'll keep it going as long as I can because the grown up world will come around soon enough for them. If this is one other way they can hold on to childhood a little longer (and by default, I get to hold on too), then so be it. Now, if someone could help me out with the zip code for the North Pole...

A Few Good Books...

A couple posts ago, I mentioned that a lot of my friends and family members were going to be getting photo gifts for Christmas from me this year. As much as I would LOVE to be able to share those images on todays post, they must be kept under wraps until the big day because I know a few of them read this blog! :)

So I thought today I'd do something different and post some reviews of some great photography and wedding-related books. I'm a frequent reviewer on Amazon.com, but there are a few books that I haven't reviewed there and they may be helpful to some of you out there! Whether you're planning a wedding and want a good planning book, or you're just looking to capture some better photos of your kids these are some fantastic books!

The 35mm Handbook by Michael Freeman: IMHO the best basic photography book out there! It's pre-digital, but explains ISO, shutter speed and aperature on the most basic level and guess what...that translates right back into digital! The book describes focal length, depth of field and the camera itself so that anyone can take great pictures!

The Art of Wedding Photography by Bambi Cantrell: A wonderful book with lots of great examples of poses, techniques and processes. Short on words, but long on images! For every picture, she jots down exactly how she acheived the desired look. She goes into a little bit of album design too, and although this book came out before the digital revolution there are still some great principles there.

Storytelling Wedding Photography by Barbara Box: Another one that came out before digital, but still some really great examples of photojournalism and black and white photography. She gives great tips on how to find great photo ops. Amond my favorites, "I look for those elements which, like sculpture, display an elegance of form and composition while capturing the essence of the subject. These could be details like folds in the gown, wrinkles in a glove, or the flow of the veil".

Light Science & Magic by Fil Hunter and Paul Fuqua: A good textbook-like approach to studio lighting. Although it goes into more detail on lighting situations more appropriate for product photography (think "spatulas"), and the photos are all black and white (color would have shown some of the techniques a little better), it's still a good read.

Professional Techniques for Digital Wedding Photography (2nd Edition) by Jeff and Kathleen Hawkins: One of my all-time faves! The authors show great examples of composition and then go a few steps further by showing some of the techniques achieved by good digital editing! Everything from partial colorization to special effects and vignetting!

The Lighting Cookbook by Jenni Bidner: Although so much of what I do now is with available light, there are still times when studio lighting is neccesary. This book provides "recipes" for different situations. Example: For "Fail Safe Portraits" You take 1 studio flash unit with umbrella, 1 lightstand, 1 fill flash, and backgrounds of assorted colors, etc. etc.

And finally...Bridal Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields: Great strategies for staying on budget! Complete with lists of questions to ask each vendor (including the photographer), and helpful information of what your best bet is for flowers given your wedding date and your locale!

Whew! That's a lot of books!

Birthday Wishes for my Son...

Six years ago today, my life and my husband's were changed forever when our little Eddie arrived. All 10 fingers and 10 toes, and so calm... I imagine every mother remembers the very first time she laid eyes on her newborn child and I'm no different. We felt so blessed to have such a beautiful little miracle in our arms.

Through diaper changes, first steps, first teeth, potty training, and now reading...I often stop to marvel at what this little child has become, and imagine what he will continue to become.

Eddie, you bring us so much joy every day...Thank you for all the love you've taught us we are capable of. Happy Birthday.

And just because his birthday happens to be so close to Christmas, I just had to post this little bit... These guys make me think back to my vocal music days! It's a little slow at first, but when you think about what all they've got going on here, it's pretty remarkable!

Winter Wonderland

Well, it's that time of year again! Schools close, snowmen are made, sleds are dusted off and hot cocoa is poured (with marshmallows, of course)! It's been a crazy couple days with a major move taking place and Christmas shopping to be finshed, so I'm sorry to say that my shutter didn't click much over the weekend! There are a couple projects I've been working on which I'm excited to post just as soon as I put the finishing touches on! In the meantime, I'm conducting a little informal poll for the day...What do you do with all the Christmas cards you recive after the season is over?

That's the Spirit...

It's not hard to get in the holiday spirit when there's so much of it around! It's been in the stores for quite some time now, it's on the radio, it's on our tree and mantle...It's infectious, and we love it! So yesterday I tried to take advantage of that spirit and snap some pictures of Eddie and Emma for our annual Christmas cards. I was set on having Emma's hair curled for the shoot, and Eddie wasn't into getting his picture taken at all ,so I made this deal with him (yeah, yeah... so bargaining with our children is a bad way to go...I know, but when it comes to the Christmas cards it's got to be done!) I would let him snap a few pictures while I got Emma ready and "I'll post the best ones to my blog", I told him.

He was so excited! So when I saw this one, I told him I would post it. "Who Hoo", he screamed "Mom's puttin' me on her 'glob' (arms pumped in the air for emphasis)"!

There you go, Eddie...You're on Mom's glob... I mean "blog". :)

It's hard to keep their attention for too long but hey, it's another opportunity to click the shutter! Here are a few more from the day!

I found all the red from the tree skirt a little distracting, so I played around with some saturation levels in post-processing...

And then there's Emma...

Here's hoping everyone's getting in to the Christmas Spirit!

Anatomy of a Shoot...

I recently had the pleasure of accompanying my friend and fellow photographer Chantal Stone on a wedding shoot last month that involved a really fun couple, a beautiful day, and some amazing locations in downtown Columbus! She always amazes me with the lengths to which she will go to capture a great shot! So, as she was directing the bride and bridesmaids for this particular photo I thought I'd take a couple frames to document just how a picture like this is created...



Step 1: Leave to comfort of the nice, warm church (it was downright cold this November afternoon)...

Step 2: Look both ways before crossing East Broad Street...

Step 3: Recruit an able-bodied, willing individual to direct oncoming traffic around the bridal party...

Step 4: Get the group ready for the shot...

Step 5: Get back inside said "nice, warm" church! (Did I mention it was freezing that day?)

To see Chantal's final image (and a few more from the same, amazing wedding), click (and scroll) here!

Meredith...

A baptism, christening or dedication is an important event in most any religion, so when my friend Sarah asked me to photograph her daughter’s baptism this past weekend (during what she affectionately called the “bling Mass…a reference to the gold vestments worn this time of year) ”, I was quite humbled. I recalled the occasion of my own children’s baptisms and the photos our family members crowded around us to take (full of red-eye and camera shake). I remembered how Eddie slept through the entire event (even while the water was poured over his head) and how Emma was his polar opposite, screaming throughout (she may have emptied out the first couple pews).

I saw a tremendous opportunity in recording Meredith’s special event. “Why not approach it like a wedding”?, I thought to myself. There are plenty of similar details…from the church architechture, to the oils, and the baptismal stole and readings, to the family that has gathered together from points near and far. A baptismal or christening gown has all the elegance of a wedding gown, so why not strive to capture the event in much the same way? Well, that’s what just what I did!

I realize as I write this post that today is actually Meredith's parent's anniversary! Well, I thought about it the other day and then my memory was jogged again today after reading Sarah's blog entry! So a huge Happy Anniversary to both of you! It's been such a joy to know you and we are honored to have you as our friends! You deserve all the best that life has to offer! May you have many, many more years together...

Patricia and John

What a beautiful wedding Patricia and John had! They were married in September at Grace Baptist Church in Westerville and a reception was held at the fabulous Westerville Community Center. Most of us are familiar with the center's Aquatic facility and fitness area, but it's a wonderful location for a wedding reception too! Hardwood floors, arched windows and an outdoor terrace make it a great place for photos! Unfortunately, some thunderstorms rolled in shortly after the reception began, so we weren't able to get the outdoor photos like we had hoped, but there was plenty going on inside!

The wedding was expertly orchestrated by Wedding Planner, Cindi Gremling. Interesting side note: Cindi and I realized we were both working with Patricia when her son and daughter-in-law bought the house next to us this past summer...Talk about a small world! If you'd like to see more about Cindi and her organization, Girls With Attitude, visit her site here: http://www.girlswithattitude.org/

Anyone that knows me and my shooting style knows that I am a huge fan of black and white photography, so I really had to fight the urge to convert more of these. In any event. here are some of my favorites from the day!

The detail on the gown was stunning!

The first dance...I had always wanted to try this shot with the manual focus and slow shutter speed...I think it turned out pretty neat! And check out that cake!

I knew they made a great couple the minute I met them...

Congratulations Patricia and John! Thank you for letting us share in your big day!

Amanda and Michael

Amanda and Michael were married this past spring (before I started blogging), and after visiting with Michael's mom this weekend I felt compelled to go back through their images and post a few of my faves!

It's worth noting that Michael's mother is a friend of mine and a former co-worker...so I felt like I had known Michael forever by the time his wedding day came around!

They were married May 5th, at West Jefferson United Methodist Church and a reception was held at the London Senior Center. They were truly a great couple to work with and so much fun to shoot! The weather cooperated beautifully so we were able to get some great outdoor shots too!

The flowers...

The Church...

The Couple...

My friend and assistant for the day, Teresa shot this one while I was getting some pics of the guys...I love this one!

A Dot Com Christmas

When did it get to be the week before Thanksgiving? Someone once told me that as we get older, the years go by faster. I was about 10 at the time and one revolution of the earth around the sun seemed to take an eternity...I couldn't wait for time to start moving at warp speed (so I could have my next birthday party sooner)! Now, just as with so many other things, I should have been careful what I wished for!

So the Christmas season will soon be upon us whether we're ready or not! And that leads me to conduct a little informal poll...How many of you do your shopping online and how many hit the "brick and mortar" stores? Feel free to give reasons too! Is it the convenience factor, is it getting the energy and excitement of the season and the other shoppers at the mall? Personally, I tried a little early shopping just yesterday and got so frustrated at the narrow aisles I had to announce to my husband it's looking like a "dot com" Christmas again this year!

One gift my family can count on from me this year is photo gifts (yeah, really...) in one form or another. I've heard people refer to computers as the "digital shoebox", meaning that we get our photos off our digital cameras an onto our hard drives and never look at them again. Maybe we make CD's, but the vast majority of our photos never get printed, let alone made into an album or a scrapbook. People often say that in the event of a disaster, their photos are one thing they would want to make sure they could recover. If those photos are all stuck in a computer though, it greatly reduces the likelihood that they could be recovered. And make no mistake...a hard drive crash (especially on a laptop) is a major disaster! This is why I am defending and promoting the use of albums in all forms!

While I create custom-made albums for weddings, there are literally tons of other easy-to-use consumer album design products out there. Everything from snapfish to picaboo to shutterfly and creative memories. Whether you make one album to highlight a year, or an album for every birthday party, vacation or trip to the zoo we need to make sure our memories are well preserved. Stay tuned...I plan on creating an album from each manufacturer and doing side-by-side comparisons! It should be fun...and all for the sake of research!

I should be keeping pretty busy in the coming weeks...I'm hoping to post some photos from a couple recent weddings, I'm shooting a baptism for baby Meredith right after Thanksgiving, and then proceeding into the Photo Christmas Card Season (which I love by the way)! And maybe I'll even get some shopping in too...better hurry though, the time's gonna fly!

Until I get the weddings photos posted, these are a few shots I took during a hike through the Big Darby State Park just as the leaves were first starting to turn...the second shot reminds me of the opening credits of "Little House On the Prairie"!

It's Alive...It's Alive!!!

Ok...what I meant to say was, "My new site has finally gone live"! Check it out over on www.claypoolphoto.com

A big "Thank You" to everyone who helped it all come together! Especially my husband and children for their patience with me while I obesessed over the photos, the music, the colors and the order everything should go in!

I'll have more to write and more pics to post later...Right after I finish editing the images from this weekend's wedding where I was second shooting! I can tell you right now though, this was an amazing wedding and sooo much fun to shoot! Can't wait to share!

Miscellaneous Randomness

Wow! It's funny, I've had these thoughts floating around in my head for days now about what I'm going to blog about and I must admit...I'm suffering from some serious writers' block! I've become a bit of a blogging addict lately, and gotten some great ideas about what to write about and I've been shooting so much that I've got a ton of photos to post. I've even experienced this phenomenon where the mascara on my "shooting eye" wears off faster than on the other one (maybe I just need a better mascara). Any other photographers have that problem??? For some reason though, I can't seem to get it all "on paper" (or is it "on the LCD or CRT screen" now). Maybe it's the lack of sleep...

In any event, we finally had the pleasure of meeting little Miss Meredith this past weekend! What can I say, she is absolutely beautiful! And she's so mellow too (not to jinx her parents or anything, but...). It's so easy to forget that my own kids were ever that tiny, and not so long ago either. It makes you think sometimes about how fast time flies. Like a wise man once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it." (More on that later).

Here are a couple of my favorite photos from Meredith's photo shoot...

On Saturday Emma, my mother and myself met friends of ours for "tea" at Miss Mollie's Tea House in downtown Grove City. If you haven't been there, it's definately worth checking out! It's decorated in the Victorian fashion with velvet sofas, toille curtains and lace doilies. They serve great teas, soups, quiches and baked goods. And, it was a great place for a photo of the two little princesses for the day!

Miss Mollie's has a great party room available for private parties, Bridal Showers and Red Hat Parties too! I wish I could post a link, but I haven't been able to find a site for them!

In other news, my new site should be live in just a couple days now! My friend and an amazing photograher Chantal Stone (http://www.chantalstone.com/) took my picture for the "about me" section.

We met at a Starbuck's and I had to chuckle to myself as I sat there thinking about the last time I had a camera lens aimed at me. Chantal asked me why I was laughing during our shoot and I had to tell her...Not counting my wedding photos, the last time was for my senior portraits. It was so comical to me simply because I could remember exactly what I was wearing (suede skirt and jewel-buttoned blouse), where we did the shoot, (Jeffrey Mansion) what the weather was like that day (overcast).

This morning, I got curious and pulled out those pictures. Yes, like I said I remembered the outfit...but I totally forgot about the big hair! Gotta love big hair! Maybe someday it will make a comeback??? I kinda can't believe I'm doing this, but... (this will be the test of whether or not anyone really reads my blog, huh?) :)

All I can say is, "Thank You, Chantal for making this shoot more pleasant than the last!"

Another great place for big hair (and a good laugh), 80's movies! This is a great clip I found while looking for something else on YouTube the other night. Maybe it's because of the british accent, but I love this stuff! I'll leave you all with his final words 'till next time.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0_KEXHGkN2I

PS...if anyone out there knows how to get these videos to appear on your blog...are you willing to share?

Tea For Two...

So it's been a while since my last post, but there's a good reason. I've been putting the finishing touches on my new website, finally going to see baby Meredith and family (photos to come soon), and shooting a really neat wedding with my friend, Chantal Stone (http://www.chantalstone.com/). I hope to be able to write more later, but I'm already running late to pick little Princess Emma up from her new preschool, so I've got to be quick!

Here's a quick photo of Eddie out on the farm... and one of Emma at the tea party she went to with her BFF, Ashley this weekend.

Phun Phamily Photos

Okay, so I'm borrowing the improper use of "ph" from my high school physics teacher, Mrs. Damian (Physics is Phun!), thank you very much!

In recent days I have come to realize I have more in common with one Jessica Simpson than just our uncertainity surrounding tuna products (although mine was a confusion with cat food...and before I was old enough to read, but still...). It turns out that Ms. Simpson is a big supporter of one of my new favorite orgaizations, Operation Smile. Now in it's 25th year, the organization provides much-needed plastic surgery to children with cleft lips and palates. There are two things about children that amaze me on a daily basis...Their laughter and their smiles. To know that there is a group of plasic surgeons that volunteers their time away from whaever surgeries they could be doing back home (come on, we've all seen Dr. 90210) in order to litterally bring smiles to these children's faces (not to mention those of their parents) is truly heartwarming. I am so thrilled to now consider myself a part of it too.

With that in mind, here are just a few of the images from the photo shoot...Check out these fabulous smiles!

New Site's Coming Along...

Some of you may have noticed that my claypool photo site is no longer in existance. Well, after a couple years of trying to maintian and update the site my extremely talented brother, Heath, designed for me... I've decided to go another direction and create a brand new flash site with bludomain.com (http://www.bludomain.com/). The new site should be ready in about a week! I can't wait for the big reveal! Right now, I'm waiting on getting lisencing through EMI for the music I want to use, hopefully it won't take too long.

So last night while I was working on the new site, I thought I would go to the bludomain site and check out the status of the contest I enetered about a week ago. The contest was to take a picture of your pet with a "real" can of soda somewhere in the picture. I got excited when I saw that the winner was announced, but a little discouraged when I read that there were over 600 entries. My pictures wasn't the winner, but while I scrolled through the winning images with my husband remarking out loud that , "Wow, these are some really cool photos", I did a double take when I realized that the next image was mine!!! I may not have won, but my picture was still there!

You can visit http://bludomain.com/blog.cfm to see the winners in all categories!

A Little Under the Weather...

So this morning I'm still battling a chest cold/laryngitis. I was actually glad when I woke up this morning with a cough...that means whatever this is is running it's course and should be over soon! The downside of it is that I wasn't able to visit my friends Bob and Sarah, who just welcomed their second child into the world...a daughter named Meredith. Meredith will be joining big sister, Elizabeth! We are so happy for their family! I was honored to have been asked by the two of them to take some photos of the new little arrival, but I wouldn't dream of bringing this cold/cough etc. to one so tiny.

In any event, I've been amazed at how Meredith's mommy has been able to keep her blog updated on such a regular basis in spite of midnight feedings, diaper changes, etc. One of her newest entries is a challenge which I found particularly interesting, it's a challenge for mothers and fathers to come up with their own list of 40 reasons to have children. She's put together a list of her own full of beautiful sentiments and little things about babies and children that really make you think about the little blessings that they are. But little did she know that I was already coming up with my own list to parody hers! So here we go!

Heather's list of Reasons to have Children

1) Princess Pink nailpolish looks just as great on the carpet as it does on your nails!

2) Books with pictures trump books without!

3) I've always wanted to hear myself say things like, "You'll break your neck if you don't stop that"!

4) I love sounding like a broken record.

5) I really love explaining to my children just what a record is (it's not a giant CD)!

6) When you're sick and tell the children you have no voice and can't yell, one steps in and offers (so sweetly) to yell at the other one for you.

7) They help you decorate! When Mommy paints the powder room blue, Emma can paint the kitchen with black water colors!

8) You have to be reminded that children are no longer in the room and you can switch the channel from "Nick Jr". (Thanks to Candi for that one!)

9) You realize the wonder of the 3 year old's compartmentalized stomach (Broccoli section full, Candy section's good to go).

10) It's fun to pull dry play-doh out of the carpet!

11) Privacy in the bathroom is highly overrated!

12) But seriously...They make us better versions of ourselves, they teach us as much as we teach them, they give us more reasons to love than we ever thought possible.

13) They give us an excuse to take photos like this...

And because I can't leave the list at 13...

14) They make us believe in something bigger than ourselves.

Right now, I believe in a nap... I believe that this cold will be over soon! Ahhh...the power of positive thinking!

A Grain of Salt

I LOVE photography. I especially love photography that is emotional. I won't deny that there are some photographs that have made me even cry before, like this Alfred Eisenstaedt image...

Or this one from Dorthea Lange...

Both of these photos became part of our culture...everyone recognizes these images instantly and knows at least a little bit about them. Maybe that's the kind of recognition some wanna be pro-Photoshoppers are hoping for when they create composite images of the top and bottom of an iceberg (taken by a diver in Nova Scotia...yeah, mmm hmmm) or of some random photographer risking life and limb by jumping from one rock formation to another while loaded down with cameras and gear...in flip-flops. Are we, as a culture supposed to believe these pictures and take them at face value? Or do they deserve a little more investigation? Maybe I'm just a little more cynical since I use Photoshop and know of it's powers (for good and for evil). It was with these questions in mind that I went searching. Not up, walking around, "vision quest" kind of searching (I'm much too tired for that), but internet searching for the truth, or at least a reasonable facsimile.

Here's what I found... http://www.snopes.com/ What a resource that turned out to be! It lists both of the aforementioned images and many more. It also attempts to label the images as "true", "false" or "real picture, inaccurate description". The creators of the site even go so far as to determine the origin of the photo and even talk to the photographer. Here's what the photog of the iceberg had to say... http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/iceberg.asp

Eisenstaedt and Lange weren't immune from the myths either. It wasn't long before hundreds of couples came forward claiming to be the couple from the picture in Times Square. It wasn't until Eisenstsaedt himself told the story that the false claims came to an end. Read this story from this past August to see just what the real story was (and a very cute update)... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11909482/

My point is that what you see, can't always be what you get. In this age of information overload we must all be extremely careful about swallowing what we are spoon fed. It used to be "Don't believe it till you see it", but even that adage is being put to test. Don't believe me? Then check this out...

This is a rare family in south Westergoveland Province (on the continent of Anaphalictica), where each and every member has the exact same DNA. It's like they're clones of each other. According to the village doctor, this kind of thing occurs in 1 out of ever 20 gagillion families (so you know it's very rare). Usually, they can't all go out together because the villagers will get them confused with one another, but for this photo they all made an exception...

Facsination!

It's absolutely true! Everything I've heard about front load washers is completely true! After our old dryer decided it only wanted to dry on high heat and bake all of our clothes, we decided we needed a new dryer. If you're getting the dryer, you might as well get the washer (or so my dear husband said) too. After all, it uses less water, less detergent and doesn't damage your clothes like an agitator will. Given our water bills the past few months, I was game. But still not convinced. That all changed this morning!


I like feeling like I'm doing my part. We recycle, tried composting, switched to compact fluorescent bulbs and when the weather is nice, I either walk or bike somewhere close. So it's nice to know that we will be using less water (about a third of what we were using before) and less energy (130kWh as opposed to over 400) to wash our clothes. But the best part is...watching it work!


Remember the scene in Rainman where Dustin Hoffman is counting the number of times the red sock goes around at the laundromat? That's how I felt this morning as I pulled up a chair and a cup of coffee to watch the maiden load go through. The kids and Isaac want in on the action too! Isaac's only request before he left this morning was, "Don't finish all the laundry before I get home". Uh...No problem there! I think I can save a couple loads for him!


In other news...I've just finished my ZookBook layout for Kathy and Tom (July, 2007)! Check out the images below!










These are the most amazing albums, and the potential for layouts is just endless! Due to sizing constraints with this blogging site, I'm not able to post the panoramas, but trust me...they're awesome!

Check back for images from my first ever Operation Smile Phamily Photo Shoot!

Jessica and Jason

Jessica and Jason were married this past Saturday at Deer Creek State Park. It was an absolutely beautiful day with the leaves just beginning to turn! Jessica and Jason were an amazing couple to photograph! Her gown was beautiful, the ceremony music was awesome (she walked down the aisle to "All You Need is Love") and a live band, Mike Perkins Group (http://www.mikeperkins.net/) performed during the reception!


Thank you Jessica and Jason for allowing us to be a part of your big day!