Good Morning!

It seems as though my blog has a bit of a split personality disorder...It's part "Mom" and part Photographer, so in an effort to help merge the two I've spent some time today doing a little photo journal of my morning. Won't you join me?




Can't start the day without a cup o' joe...





Next, we'll get the kids some breakfast...

Open up the front door and wait for the bus. And because no child can ever leave a frosty window alone, we have art on the storm door...

Run for the bus Eddie! I played with some curves on this one and thought the effect looked an awful lot like some of my parent's old photos with that yellowish cast...everything old is new again these days.

The child is six years old now...you would think he could make his own bed by now.

Okay, now it's time to get Emma up and at 'em..."Emma, Em-mma"....

Oooh...we need to leave in less than 10 minutes and there's till much to do!

Like brush teeth...

And brush hair (not bad when when you've got a camera in one hand and a brush in the other)

On go the boots...

And on the way to the door, I had to walk by these. What could they be??? You'll have to wait for another post, let's just say it's super exciting!

Whoo-Hoo! We're on the road at last! Just in the nick of time too!

And even though I didn't want to do it when I woke up this morning, I'm here at the gym! Care to join me for a workout? Nah, nor worries...they don't let us take cameras inside!

By the time I leave here it won't be morning anymore! Thanks for tagging along!

You Might be a Photographer if...

I cannot claim credit for this one, I found it online and had to share! Admittedly, I had to change a couple to make them a little more "G" rated, but the idea is the same...

Maybe you've seen some of these behaviors in yourself, but have been embarrased to share??? Rest assured, there are plenty of others like you (I mean, us...) :)

1. When out to eat, you unconsciously complain aloud about lighting with mixed color
temperatures
2. When your husband tells you to “focus” and you grab your camera
3. If you say you went on a shooting spree and people look at you funny
4. You get arrested after going up to a cop and asking him if he knows where you can find a ladder because you want a better angle from which to shoot the governor
5. You pull out your camera phone at a bar and began to play with angles
6. You are getting your credential photo taken at an event, you demand for the staff taking the photo to move in order to obtain a cleaner background.
7. If you can walk into any room or onto any scene and manually set your exposure within a +/- one stop of the actual exposure.
8. When you slam your car into the back of a van and after looking around to see if you’re okay your next thought is “Well, guess I can forget bout the new Mark III”.
9. If you pray for overcast days when you're vacationing in Hawaii because "the light is better". 10. Your 2-year-old counts by saying..."1.4 2.0 2.8 4 5.6 8 11 16 22"
11. You read the photo magazines and before Us Weekly.
12. you're shooting a downhill mountain bike race that your kid is in, and he crashes and gets stuck upside down in some fallen logs, but you grab a couple of shots before you help him up
13. you're shooting a bull riding event and the bull zero's in on you, but instead of turning and running for your life, you run backwards and keep shooting...just in case.
14. You’ve scared the passengers in your car to death because you slammed on the brakes skidded to a stop, and reversed without warning in the middle of the street because you caught a great shot out of the corner of your eye.
15. You’re searching for a house to buy and find yourself frustrated by the awful photos taken by the realtors.
16. You’re the official photographer for your own wedding.
17. You are watching a pro sporting event and you are watching the photographers on the sideline more than the actual game.
18. Your friends harass you for giving unsolicited photo tips to fellow tourists while at National Parks and other weekend destinations. "Seriously, your flash will NOT improve your pictures of Mt. Rushmore..."
19. You set up remote cameras and pocket wizards at a friend's b-day party to get an angle none of your other friends might get when it comes time to blow out the candles
20. You pay attention to the wattage of light bulbs in the light fixture above your table at a restaurant.

A Daughter's Gift

Is it really nearing Groundhog Day already? Whew...where did January go? I can't say I mind seeing the longest Winter month go by quickly after all, once we get through the 28 days of February (okay, 29 this year) it's just another 21 till Spring, right?

Given the speed at which time now flies (I do think "warp speed" is the technical term for it), I can see how I missed my window to post these images. The back story is worth the wait though so here goes...

I got my first Christmas gift from my daughter this year. She thoughtfully picked out and gift wrapped (with help, I'm told) a beautiful, round, stunning, green...grapefruit from my father's tree in Florida. Apparently, my aunt was with her when she picked the fruit and she described in great detail the joy with which Emma wrapped her gift and bragged "Mommy's going to be so excited", and "It's a surprise"!

Of course, I loved the gift! But how do you make the memory of a child's first gift to a parent (besides the gift of just being) last? How, oh how do you make a grapefruit last forever??? Make the seeds into a necklace? No. Allow the fruit to petrify and keep it as sculpture? Nah. Bronze it like baby shoes? Nope.

When mom's a photographer, she takes pictures...

I call the first one "Grapefruit". (Clever, no?) The picture on top was from the center of the grapefruit then using a Photoshop action to acheive the perfect "sections" inside...Just for fun!

Music...Makes the People...Come Together...(Yeah)!

In trying to keep up with my New Year’s resolution to see the inside of the gym more often, I’ve realized two things. 1) Even after being out of high school (and thus not twirling a flag with the marching band) for many years now, I still feel the need to be “in step” while on the treadmill or elliptical. For those of you that were way cooler than me back in the day, that means having your left foot hitting the ground on the down beat...and 2) I’m in dire need of some new music to help the workouts along.

You see, several years ago, my mother hit the big 5-0. And to celebrate, we had a big party complete with music from throughout the past 5 decades. It was so much fun to dig up everything from Rosemary Clooney to the Beatles to Isaac Hayes and the Bee Gees! There was stuff from the 80’s and 90’s too (natch), The songs had been stored on an old computer (which had long since been relegated to the “man cave” in the basement) and were never heard again until last year when my dear husband connected all of our computers on a home network.

After checking out some long lost files, I stumbled upon the music library. Being blinded by such artisits as artists such as Duran Duran, Madness and yes, even Right Said Fred I quickly connected my iPod without remembering the music from the 50’s 60’s and 70’s were in the same folder. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the Rolling Stones as much as the next person. But when you’ve got 30 minutes to go on the treadmill, Frank Sinatra doing “Fly Me to the Moon” is the last thing you want to hear!

It’s not all bad though…I did manage to get a couple good songs on there…A few faves:

Get a Move on – Mr. Scruff (you may recognize from a Lincoln Navigator commercial)
Ocean Beach – Black Mighty Orchestra
La Belle et La Bad Boy – MC Solaar (French Hip Hop…totally cool)

They will wear out quickly though, I fear. So now it’s time to play a little game I like to call “What’s on Your iPod”? What music inspires you? Not only to walk an extra mile, or throw an extra 10 pounds on the leg press…What do you listen to that helps you move through your day? What helps you endure rush hour or edit photos till 3 am? If you’d like to share…I’m all ears!

Scavenger Hunt!

I love an excuse to shoot! So when I saw a contest posted on bludomain this past Wednesday for a photo scavenger hunt of sorts, I couldn't pass it up! The assignment was to take photos of all the items listed below and put them into a collage. The first one to send their collage would be declared the winner.

1. traffic light

2. a fast food restaurant

3. grocery store

4. park

5. gas station

6. tree stump

7. some kind of body of water. River, lake...puddle??

8. mailbox

9. department store

10. home improvement store

11. school bus

12. large outside garbage can

13. bike

14. rocks/gravel

15. fence

16. street sign

17. train tracks

18. school crossing sign

19. Dr.'s office, medical center, or hospital

20. thrift store, antique store, 2nd hand store, etc.

So at 4:00 pm I loaded the kids (and the camera) in the car and headed off! I crossed the last item off the list (the shot of the urgent care here in Grove City) at about 6:00 and rushed home to put the collage together. Then when it was finished, I got ready to e-mail my entry. Imagine my shock and surprise when a winner had already been declared...just mere hours after the contest was announced. So, I let out my best Homer Simpson "Doh" and moved on.

Not about to let all that hard work go to waste, I share with you now what would have been my contest entry as well as a link to the actual winner. If you live here in Grove City, chances are you'll recognize lots of these spots!

Meet Heath and Jamie

I thought it was time I do a post on my two cover models, Heath and Jamie. They are the ones whose likenesses are featured on my website, my business cards and even in one of my sample albums so I figured they deserved a post of their own. Besides, if you’re in Ohio like I am right now, it’s time escape from the cold, grey days and see some photos of the beach!

Heath and Jamie were married at the Jupiter Beach Resort in Jupiter, Florida. Jamie was absolutely breathtaking in her gown which was splashed with red!

She later revealed that she tried the gown on as a joke and fell in love with it! Traditional veils don’t fare so well during a beach wedding (same goes for unity candles), so Jamie opted for a tiara instead. I’m always keeping an eye on the parents of the bride and groom, so I snapped this one of the bride's parents as they exchanged vows in front of the waves.





After the ceremony, they headed back up to the resort for cocktails and a dinner reception. They danced their first dance to “Forever” by Ben Harper and left the next day for a Honeymoon in Belize.

If it seems like I’m sharing a bit more about this wedding than I normally would, it’s only because at this particular wedding I was more than the photographer…I was the groom’s sister (and the mother of the ring bearer and flower girl. Talk about wearing many hats)!



Thanks so much Heath and Jamie for being so much fun that amazing day! Here are a couple more details from the big day...

The cake...

The flowers...

And for anyone who may be wondering…yes, I happily travel outside Ohio!



Update: At Heath's request, I've added the photo he mentioned in his comment below. It's one of my faves too...

What Writer's Strike?

Some may find this hard to believe, but I'm not a big t.v. watcher. Sure, if it's on I can get sucked in to something, but there are really only two shows I turn the t.v. on to actually watch...on purpose. Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, which happen to be two of the temporary casualties of the recent writer's strike. Now I'm all for giving the writer's their due...they deserve what they are holding out for. However, I've been finding that their strike is having an unintended consequence in my home, maybe it's happening in yours too...our family is communicating. It's not just family either...Gotta give a shout out to my "Grey's Girls", my friends who I meet with weekly to watch the show and guess who's going to get a visit from their family or develop a relationship with a patient. We were all wondering what we were going to do when the shows ended until one of us found a Grey's board game! So instead of sitting around the t.v. glassy-eyed, we sat around the kitchen table laughing and talking. The same thing happened at my father's house this Christmas...it was Sunday, and time for Desperate Housewives, until I remembered "the strike". One of us reached under the coffee table for the "Trivial Pursuit" game and there we were once again!


It's been so refreshing that I was a little perturbed when I realized last night that I had a choice to make. Desperate Housewives was new (it had been the week before, so naturally I thought it was back on for good), but I had just heard about The Complete Jane Austen on PBS...horror of horrors, they were airing at the same time! As luck would have it, there was a "special" two hour Extreme Makeover Home Edition and no Desperate Housewives. The choice was made for me, although I would like to think I would have chosen Jane Austen anyway!

For those who may comment that I need to get DVR or TiVo, I say I don't want the t.v. to have that much control over my life. For me, life's about choices, and the decision to watch one program over another is just one of the minor ones. I'm perfectly content to spend an evening in front of the fire reading another good book with the kids (or by myself). And bedsides, as long as there will be television, there will be reruns.

One from the Archives...

So I've spent the better part of this evening in an effort to include some new photos on my website. I guess the term "new" is relative...these photos were taken a little while back, but they are new to the site! This particular wedding was one done before I started blogging, and when I went back through the photos and recalled their special day I just knew I had to do a post about these two.

Janice and Dwight were married on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. They both wanted the wedding to be a simple, family affair with most of the family in khaki and white (and barefoot too)! I didn't exactly "blend" with my photographer's uniform of black on black and I paid the price that hot August day! Here were a few of my favorites from the day...

During the vows...

What a great couple...

The bride with her new family...

After the ceremony and a champagne reception, Janice surprised everyone and jumped into the fountain in front of the resort! I thought that made for a really cool picture. There's some alternative processing here, but I love it!

Go Bucks?

I realize I may get some hate mail for this, but I may or may not be entirely Buckeye. Oh, it's not that I don't support them. On the contrary, I'm all scarlet and gray on game days. I even have a framed print of the Dispatch front page from the morning after the Fiesta Bowl against Miami displayed in my home. During the time I lived near Miami, a firefighter once offered to take an axe to it too...But I said "No Way"!

But I confess to sometimes planning shopping excursions around games (if you're interested, the stores are empty during the Michigan game), and not considering kickoff times when planning family get togethers. Part of it may be that I just don't "get" football. I don't get the rules, the downs, the flags or the penalties. Although I do get a little excited when the quarterback hauls it from one end of the field to the other, don't expect to see me get out of my seat screaming at the set!

All internal struggles aside, I am totally pulling for them in tonight's game. I'll watch it with some interest because after all, they are a part of this great city that I love and a victory for them is kind of like a victory for us all. And even if I am the only person in the history of the game to nap during third quarter at the horseshoe, I still get choked up at script Ohio.

Guess I'm a Buckeye after all...

Columbus Bride 2008

If you're looking for something to do on this particularly dreary January day, and you happen to be near downtown Columbus you might want to check out the Columbus Bridal Show at Vets Memorial. While I'm not an exhibitor, I love to go to see what all the hot trends are for this year's weddings. See, not only am I a sucker for great photography...I also love anything "wedding"!

So what's in and what's out for '08?

For gowns, color is the hot thing! Maybe just a splash of red or blue or black...one model walked the runway in an entirely black gown! It's bold, yes...but individual too! Gathers are big again this year too (think Melania Trump)...yards and yards of gathered fabric seemingly held together by diamonds (or rhinestones maybe). Strapless is still in, but there were some halter dresses and spaghetti straps too. What's out? Off the shoulder, and bows on the back!

Flowers: Definitely outside the box! One florist had a dramatic display set up with centerpieces made to look like whole pineapples or martinis. hand-tied bouquets are still popular, but it seems the cascades are making a comeback this year, much to one florists delight.

Cakes: More embellishment than one could ever dream possible! It seems the big thing is to make guests wonder "is it a work or art, or are we going to actually eat this"? Gone are the bride and groom's likeness dancing the night away high atop the cake...it's all about sculpture these days! Although one photographer's booth did show an album where the couple had "Bride and Groom" pez dispensers sitting on the top layer.

Favors: Individuality is the big thing here! Although I did see where there were some very cute 3-tiered cookies iced to look like miniature wedding cakes, there were also plenty of flowers, candles, picture frames and wine bottle corks! Whereas several years ago brides and grooms had everything stamped with their names and the wedding date, today's couples are letting the favors speak for themselves.

Photography: Of course, I save the best for last! The photojournalistc approach is still very big. While some of the more formal shots may indeed have been posed, nearly every photographer takes great care to ensure that they are posed naturally, and in a more relaxed fashion than just 10 years ago. As for albums...the coffee table (a.k.a. flush mount) albums are hotter than ever! With so much versatility, design options are endless. There's also much greater flexibility when it comes to choosing which pictures make it into the final album.

If you'd like to go, the show continues tomorrow the 6th from noon until 5!

2008, Day One!

Here we are...it's officially '08!

Now it's time to make those resolutions. Tops on my list of resolutions for this year... Get organized (all those new toys the kids got for Christmas need to find a new home off their bedroom floors!), set foot inside the gym once again, and get the rest of the house painted!

Another resolution I'm making, well it's really more of a goal...I want to get a permanent studio set up and begin offering a new line of children's portraits! I'll be blogging about that process throughout the next few months...and maybe be ready to rock and roll by Easter!

Anyone out there have any resolutions they want to share? I'm always interested in what other people are resolving, so if you've got one that's unique...I'd love to hear about it! Or maybe you're like my friend, Sarah and make resolutions on a monthly basis instead...

Either way, we're all at the starting gate for '08! Make it a great one!