The H Family

I could not decide which I like more.... what do you think?

Here is a sneak peek for the H family. They called and asked me to squeeze in a session before they also left for American. For all of you military out there you understand that there are actually five seasons, Spring, Summer,Fall, Winter and PCS Season!

It was such pleasure working with the entire family as they were easy-going and willing to do anything I wanted to try. And check out those little girls. They are so very different in their coloring and both just as beautiful as can be.

I met a princess...

And it was like a fairytale working with her. This is sweet little E who has lived in England her entire life. She and her family are also getting ready to go and wanted some memories of the only place Miss E has known as home. Mom put her in a beautiful silk dress and of course no princess is complete without beautiful crown. As we were taking these pictures, J turned to look at some benches and told me that when E was just a baby she would sit "over there" and feed her a bottle while looking at the beautiful flowers and the cathedral. What wonderful memories!

Miss E, I wish you and your family the best of luck in your new assignment and your new life. It was such a pleasure to get to know you.

I guess it's like the doctor

...that doesn't take care of herself.... I am the photographer who doesn't do family pictures. The last picture we had done with all five of us was when we left the states back in 2002! And my how the kids have changed!

However, I've made myself a promise to work on this problem. So had everyone get ready and set up the tripod. This is what we came up with. (Thank God for the timer on my camera.) I added some different coloring and a little glow and blur. Tell me what you think of the processing.

Trying out some Textures

Just playing around with some textures. I think I like them. Let me know what you think.

The Girls

Outtakes

I set up the studio in the house to play around with my 3rd light that had arrived... Riley didn't want anything to do with it but Kate and Abby played along... we had lots of fun... and of course, what is a photo shoot without some silly "outtakes?!"

The S Family

Mrs. C asked me to take photographs of her beautiful family. They all looked so nice and were so much fun to spend time with. You can see just by looking at these pictures how much they all love each other. They too are getting ready to leave England. I hope these photographs can be a reminder of their time here and of just how little their little girls are. They do grow up so fast!

Trying new techniques...

Look Mom! No hands!

On one of my favorite photography sites http://www.ilovephotography.com I found an incredible photographer in New Zealand that uses his flash in such a unique way that allows both the sky and the object of the picture to be exposed correctly.

Think of pictures where the subject is too dark with the sky looking beautiful or the subject looking just right with the sky being completely blown out when you know there was a beautiful blue sky with fluffy white clouds when you snapped the shutter. He was kind enough to share his technique on the site so I decided to try it out on the kids in the front yard. My technique still needs some work but I think I'm getting the idea... and I'll never get better if I'm not out there shooting and trying to expand my comfort zone. Go check out his site and you will appreciate how great these type of pictures can look....

http://www.stateofthenation.co.nz/

My Three

I took all three kids out to get some pictures of them together. Kate and Riley are so accustomed to my camera in their face that some bribing was necessary to get them to willingly participate. However, Abby thought it was good fun to pose for photos so I was able to get lots of her. It's good to have a photographer for a step-mom when you have a myspace page! :)