IHF Photo Challenge- Hearts

This week's theme for the weekly photo challenge over at IHF is "Hearts."  I almost didn't enter b/c I thought I didn't have any photos that matched this week's theme.  And I thought "How can I forget the heart on the belly from Tracy's Maternity shoot?"  I should really start keywording my photos as I upload them in Lightroom!

This is one of those "poses" that I saw that I just had to re-create.  The original photo that I saw was so different from this, and I must admit, I love mine more.  How perfect is Daddy's face?  How peaceful and content does Mom look?
What a fantastic couple and a fantastic family!

Crafted Love- Pie N' The Sky Giveaway [Part 2]

So yesterday I showed you the first thing I won from Pie N' The Sky's giveaway.
Yesterday, my second package arrived.  It came from Oxford Ohio from Allison Kaye.  Allison Kaye calls www.craftedlove.com her home.  You may remember her from my winter fun snow shoot a couple of months ago.
This has probably turned out to be one of my favorite shots to date.


Anyway, my awful picture of my super cool gift does not do the gift justice.  I had, seriously, one shot taken before Ammy pulled my high heels from in front of my camera and put them on.  She is a HUGE fan of these new flowers. ;-)



Anyway, you can find Allison here:
Twitter
Facebook
Etsy
Blog

She is awesome!  Have a look, for real!

MaieDae- Pie N' The Sky Giveaway

So, I have had some CRAZY luck the last month.
First, I won a Flip-It Manual.  I'm almost done creating this project.

Then I won this fantastic giveaway from Pie N' The Sky's blog.  It included lots of great artists, but I'll dedicate a blog post to each one as their items arrive!

Saturday I got THIS:



What is it you might ask?  But first, how cute is this packaging?  How brilliant, how clever, how thoughtful!
Inside was a wonderful little treasure.  a perfectly crafted Gardenia barrette!! I'm not sure whether to put it with my photography props for those little girls or keep it all to myself.






Where can you get one you ask?
Well, right here at Savannah's Etsy shop.
You also need to check out her blog: MaieDae.  This is where the inspiration for my Vintage Plate post came from.

Go check her out.  Run!  Do not Walk!

Tracy & Twins Maternity

So last month I went over to my cousin Tracy's house to shoot her maternity pictures.  She's pregnant with unknown identical twins.  I think the reason she doesn't want to know what they're having is because she already has 3 girls.  So she'll either have 5 girls or 3 girls and 2 boys.  I really want her to have boys for her husband Stan's sake, but I also think that twin boys could be so rambunctious!!!  Right now, even with 3 girls, their house is calm and peaceful.  That wouldn't be the case with adding some boys to the mix.
Anyway, without further ado, the reason you all are here: pictures!

Self Portrait - Week 4

This week's theme was given my a friend of Jenn's (You can find her children's portraits here and her wedding work here) and the theme is [Drum roll please] DIRTY DISHES!!!

I had big plans that involved me and a sink full of dishes in my kitchen, but my motivation to clean the kitchen up enough to put in a picture and to stack dishes in the sink which I would later have to put away didn't really appeal to me.  So I took the lazy way out.
1 pot, 1 shower, 1 lazy picture. :-)

As far as editing, I went with Dark, stark, and yet some-what vintage.  I wanted that whole 1950's fake ad funny.  Did I achieve it?
I love doing these self portraits.  They're really causing me to become more comfortable in front of the camera and they're really quite fun!

Sharing the Training Love

I've got too much to do today to put pictures up [bummer] with a full post so I thought today would be an awesome day to give a few shout outs to some really neat up and coming photography things.

First, the release of Photoshop Actions "LUXE II" by Florabella is out. You can get $20 off the purchase this week. I own ALL her actions and these will be no different.
Check them out here.
Or on Facebook here.

Second, the newest thing out is an online Photographer's show called [Framed] Show.  It's starting today and you can catch the first episode teaser HERE
I really really think this is going to be something really cool so here are some other links to get you in touch with [Framed].
Facebook
Twitter
and their website
Really.  If you have any interest in growing yourself as a photographer I just know this is something you're going to want to CHECK OUT!

Third, (non-photog related but still awesomely cool) is a giveaway over at Crafted Love.  Love Allison!  She's awesome.

Finally, a free month long class via email to help you with your photography.  This is from
www.willettedesigns.com.
It's the Joy of Love class! Check.It.Out

Until tomorrow when I hope to do a blog post of a twin maternity shoot have a great day and stay warm!

Willette- Joy of Love - Day 01

Have you signed up for the Willette FREE February Joy of Love class yet?  Daily emails with tips, tricks, inspirations, and topics.

The first day had a topic of "What They Do."  Many people took pictures of their husbands at work.  I took pictures of Amalie taking a bath.  Her tutorial for the day talked about making the most of indoor light and how to get catch light in a person's eyes.  Not bad on the catch light huh?  For those that don't know what a catch light is.  I've labeled with a handy dandy arrow.  It's the little block of white in the person's eyes, caught by the reflection of light (in this case, my bathroom window.)



The window in this image is behind me, over my right shoulder.  Try playing to see if you can get a catch light. Using a flash or strobe will make it easy, but try with natural light.  It's a fun activity!
I really liked this image of Amalie so I did a couple edits on it.  Sometimes I think I'm still trying to find my editing "voice."  Which is your favorite?

Ivy


April


Posy


Lilac