Strawberry Fields Forever

This morning we went strawberry picking again, but at a great farm that had a playground, little goats, a nice dog, a wagon Jude and Daphne could ride in and beautiful scenery. Our neighbors Rosie and Daphne joined us, which made it extra fun.

When Daphne was out in the strawberry fields helping her mom put the berries in the bowl all I could see was the blue sky behind her and the greenery all around her and I HAD to snap some pictures! :)

Isn't it romantic...

Here are a few more shots from Saturday's shoot. :)

Rainy Day Photo Shoot :)

(click on photo to see larger version)

Boy do I love this family! I've known this family since I was eleven years old and let me tell you, they are not only so beautiful on the outside, but even more so on the inside. I know, how is that possible? :)
(There were four generations present in the first b/w photo below.)

We took our chances with the rain today, and it won out. Talk about yucky weather! But we made it work the best we could and had a good time too. I love this first shot of them on the porch. I would have loved to do more creative shots out on the grounds where we were shooting, but the weather really nixed a lot of possibilities. But that's ok. I just started editing tonight, so I posted a couple of them. I'll probably post a handful more in the next day or two.

Below are some pictures of Holly & Dan with their beautiful baby girl, who fell asleep as soon as we started taking some pics of them. Isn't that so sweet? She just closed her eyes and was out! :)

Life...

Sometimes even when life isn't at it's busiest, you can feel like you have been too busy. :) This time of year seems to do that to me. I don't feel like I'm doing much, but yet seem to be somewhere every night of the week.
I haven't been taking as many pictures as I usually do and today felt like I was missing my camera! LOL. I know there are many of you out there that can relate to that. :)
Here are some life snapshots from this past week. Nothing fancy about them, but they do show life.
Jude took his first little swing in a hammock and thought it was pretty neat. He didn't really make a sound, just smiled. I think hammocks do that to all of us... like a big inner sigh and a smile.
Josh and I also enjoyed the company of our good friends who stopped by to get lunch with us as they were passing through our state on their way home north. I love seeing old friends!!
Josh and I were also inspired by some other friends to go pick strawberries and dip them in chocolate. So that we did! And they were good!!
The last picture I posted I think is so great. :) It's of Jude at the park after playing in (or eating) the sand. He looks tired and you can see the evidence of what he was doing all over his face. It just makes me smile. I love that boy!!

Albums

I've finally chosen a company to go with for my albums and CD cases. I think they're clean and classic and I love the satin lined box they come in. :) These top two shots are of the CD case/box that every client receives after a photo session.

The bottom 3 shots are of a 5x5 album. The albums are also leather (like the CD cases), each page holds a matted professional photo and the albums come in various sizes. I'm going to start offering these to clients, but still need to figure out my pricing on each size. I think you'll love these as much as I do once you get one in your hands! :)

Having a little fun...

I'm one of those photographers who can't wait to get to work on the pictures right after a photo shoot. It's great fun for me to download and see what I captured, and then get to enhance my pictures to make them even more beautiful.

Most photo shoots take a day to edit, maybe two if I got a little snap-happy during a great session (when I say day I mean the time in my day during Jude's nap times and after he goes to bed) :). But a wedding is like a regular photo shoot times 4 (picture quantity wise). So, I had to have a little fun today messing around with pictures, now that I'm completely finished editing Hollie & Tommy's wedding photos. Phew! Here are a few photo tweaks, some more subtle than others.

Hollie + Tommy's Wedding!

What a fun wedding! Hollie + Tommy were married last Friday night at the Mission Mill Museum in Salem, OR. It was such a special wedding that I got caught up in the emotion of the event and was cheering with the rest of the crowd when they shared their first kiss during the ceremony, "You may now kiss your bride." What a neat couple!

The location was really beautiful and had so many neat settings. I grabbed a handful of shots here to tell the story of their big day, but you wouldn't believe how many amazing pictures I have in store to share with them. :)

One of my favorite things about capturing a wedding is getting the "big picture" - the complete feel of the day by capturing every detail. As you can see from these photographs, this day was truly a celebration and a lot of fun for everyone involved.

One extra fun perk of the day, for me, was that my friend Missy, of Artisan Photographics (www.artisanphotographics.com), joined me as the second photographer. I've always thought it would be neat to do a photo shoot or wedding with her, so it made for a really fun time! I had to mix in a few of her fabulous pictures to share. I loved the shot she captured of the groom's mother wiping a tear during the ceremony! You'll see it below. Thanks Missy for a day of shooting, laughing, creativity, & hard work. You're the best.

Hollie + Tommy, thanks for allowing me to capture your magnificent day! It was truly beautiful!