I had a shoot at a local church on Saturday for a family before confirmation.  I was using a rounded part of the building for the backdrop for the photos.  The building side was stone up to about waist high and the stucco type material you see in this photo for the remainder of the structure.

 While I was reviewing the photos, I noticed that you could see the cloudy sky in the windows high up on the side of the wall.  It was a cloudy day that was on the verge of becoming very stormy.  I liked how you can see the sky and the clouds and it is so contradictory to the building texture.

 When I capture shots like these, it is a reminder to pay attention to the whole frame.  This was taken from the corner of a very large group shot (30+ people) and was not a distraction to the original shot.  But it could have been.  I would hate for someone’s eye to be drawn to that window and away from the family.

While I love spring because it means the cold weather is on its way out, it also brings rain.  I really do not like the rain.  It’s part of the reason we left Oregon.

 But in Idaho, the rainy skies have more personality than any seen in Oregon.  I’m not sure why but I think it has to do with the fact that it’s not rushing in off the water so the clouds have shape.

I took this last week during a break in the afternoon spring showers.  The sun was trying its hardest to peek through the dark clouds.  But there was a break coming in storms.  I love how this shot turned out.  It has more feeling than just a cloudy sky.

I have a photography job this weekend.  I got a call from one of my previous clients asking to do some extended family portraits as well as some shots of their confirmation at their church.  It made me feel great to have them trust me again to their photos.  This has the potential to bring in enough money to buy a few things I’ve been needing.

 Next week is my job with my son’s preschool to do their class photos.  This is a great opportunity to get my name out there to a minimum of 20 families in our local area.  Not only will they get to see my work first hand but they’ll be able to see that I’m very affordable.

The shot above was taken in my kitchen of all my utensils.  I love to cook.  I may not be the world’s best cook but I have fun doing it.  There is such a contrast between the plastic, the wood, and the wire of the whisk.

I love taking photos of my dog and my kids.  They allow me to experiment without complaint.

I have been getting re-acquainted with my telephoto macro lens.  It’s been awhile since I’ve used it mostly because I just like to have my camera handy with my standard lens.  It’s easier than lugging around my entire camera bag.

My dog was playing by the backdoor when I took this photo so there was plenty of sunshine to bounce of his nose and whiskers.

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On a side note, a friend of mine will be hosting a giveaway that I am sponsoring.  Keep your eyes open for details on that!

Oh, I cannot even express my joy at the sight of spring!  We have had some lingering winter like weather and it is such a relief to see the growing plants, trees, and flowers.  The grass has started to green up, our trees are starting to bud, the flowers are blooming, and the birds are singing.  I love it!

With the nicer weather, I have more subjects to shoot.  While taking photos of the squirrels the other day I noticed the buds on the large tree in our front yard.  Since we just moved here, I’m not too sure what type of tree it is.  I don’t know what kind of leaves to expect.

 I was able to drag out my macro telephoto lens and play around a bit.  I captured this shot with that lens.  I love how the background is so out of focus (real technical, I know) and that the colors of the bud/leaf/whatever are brought out.  With the news flowers and bugs making their appearance, I intend to get out and about and enjoy the wonderful weather!

There are three squirrels that live in one of our trees.  There is also a family of cats that frequents our yard.  They are not ours but there’s something like eight of them.  The cats like to chase the squirrels.  Which is funny because the squirrels fight back and defend their tree.

 I have see several times when the squirrel will jump on the cat’s head and madness ensues.  Along with the cats and squirrels, there are a ton of birds that like our tree.  There must be four different types of birds that live in there.  I hate birds so  it can be tough for me.

With spring having sprung, the animals are all running amok gathering food and what not.  I think the squirrels are having babies because I have seen them gathering the makings which I assume are for a nest.

I took this shot this week through my glass screen door because I didn’t want to scare the squirrel off.  I have tried so many times to capture him in his antics but he runs once I get the camera out.  Here he is digging in the ground around the tree.  I’m not sure if he buried something and he’s retrieving it or what.  While digging he had to chase off a few cats but eventually he got out whatever he was looking for.  He scampered back into the tree.

It looks like I’ll be doing the first round of photos the first part of May and then the wedding is going to be in July.  At least that was the time frame this afternoon.  It will probably change a few times!

I’m excited, nervous, terrified, EXCITED!! all at the same time.  This is huge!  She told me that there wasn’t even a question about me doing them, they wanted me to.  It will be a busy time for me but what great exposure and practice.

I have been hesitant in doing wedding photos because you all know what an undertaking that is.  But it could be a huge opportunity for widening my customer base.  Plus, she is so stinkin‘ sweet that I know she won’t kill me if it’s not perfect.

We’ll see how the next few months go and the preparations.  I think I’m also being recruited to help plan the dang thing.  Which isn’t so good because I didn’t have a wedding so I have no idea how these things go.

It is so exciting to see my business already growing and I’m learning so much!

I love taking photos of my son’s hands.  Baby hands are so tiny, delicate, and soft.  As they grow older, they are able to grasp more and more things.

Their tiny hands represent just how little they are in this world.  When my husband holds our baby, there is such a contrast in their size and strength.  Seeing a tiny hand in the giant paw of a father captures my heart every time.

Our son is almost 4 months old and in the past few weeks he is learning so much and growing so fast.  He is able to grab things now and is almost able to bring them to his face or mouth.  His little fingers will circle around a rattle or a teething ring and just grip so tight in his focus to get it to him.

I have found that he is so fun to shoot in his regular daily activities.  Children are tough to shoot in a structured setting.  But capturing them in their ‘natural environment’ is fun!

I just haven’t been able to take many photos.  Our entire household has been sick for the last three weeks.  As soon as one gets over it, another one picks it up.

 On the business side, I helped my last client order a book from Blurb.com with all the pictures from the 50th birthday party.  It was a softcover bound book and with almost 90 photos, the cost was just under $40-that includes shipping.  I was a bit hesitant because I didn’t know how it would turn out even though it’s a trusted vendor through my website.

My client received the book less than a week after ordering it and loved it!  I asked her if I could see it before she gave it to her mom and wow!  I am so impressed with them!  Not only was the quality great but it had my name in it as the photographer.  Seeing my name in print was great.

Her mother sent me a thank you card because she loved it and so did her friends.  I will be using them for all my book orders from now on.  The price is great, the quality is fantastic, and fast shipping.  If you need a book, you should go through them.

I took this photo the other day on a cloudy icky day.  I was snapping photos of my infant son when I looked over and could see the stop sign clearly through the window.  Nothing fancy, just good framing in the window.

 Below is the samephoto but with all color removed except for the stop sign.

This is the final shot in my ‘Popcorn Series’ from last weekend.  I took this just as my husband put some new kernels into the machine.  They had not heated up yet and were about 20 seconds or so from actually popping.

The inside of the air popper is metal and you can see the kernels reflecting off the side.  I think my flash was a bit much, even though I had changed the settings a bit.  This may stem from also having the light on in the kitchen as well as setting a fast shutter speed to capture the eventual movement of the popcorn.

I love the color of the kernels-a bright orange on one end with white on the other.  This popping corn was given to my husband by a farmer when he went to deliver a load at a farm in Nebraska.  We were given 25 pounds of this popping corn so we’ve had a lot of it over the last few months.  While I may not be a popcorn nut, I will say I prefer this popcorn over most microwave varieties.  You can control the butter and salt content to your liking.  And it is a great family activity.