For my birthday, I acquired a new lens for my Nikon D90. This new 70-300mm lens will aid my birdwatching-slash-nature obsessing habits. It arrived the day before my birthday, and as you can imagine, I unpacked that thing faster than a speeding bullet and it didn’t take any time at all for me to throw my boots on and tromp around the backyard taking photos of random stuff.

This particular squirrel is obstinate. She will not be scared off of my feeders or threatened by my pounding on the windows when she’s running my suet feeders empty. Most of the time, she thinks I’m calling her over and will approach me as close as just a foot away. Crazy squirrel.

Anyway, she was sitting on one of my fence posts and with the large maple in the background it made such a pretty picture, for a sometimes very irritating creature, she’s very beautiful. I slid my back patio door open just enough to brace my new massive lens up against the frame to hold it steady, and she posed nicely for me.

Good squirrel.

Enjoy! Painting progress coming soon.

When I opened up the blinds in the studio this morning before the sun came up – I was staring out into the backyard and the blue pierced my eyes and made my pupils readjust to the strange vibrant light.

I looked up at the overhang, and my twinkly patio lights were dwarfed by the icicles hanging down from the gutter. I found the color spectacular, and the size of these icicles are larger than any I’ve seen hanging from our home so had to capture it.

Enjoy!

I’ve finally got April’s senior photo shoot retouched and online for public viewing! You can click the thumb to view them, or just click here (opens in a new window).

I’ve also made online ordering easy for my photography sessions – I’ll be offering prints online through Miller’s Lab because, quite honestly, their print work is phenomenal and their service can’t be beat! I’m really excited to be able to offer that service to my portrait clients!

What I need to do now is complete my site to show these new services. So much to do! 🙂

I have quite a few favorites from her portrait session – particularly the pond reflection shot! Have a look and let me know if you have a favorite!

A female cardinal perched on my fence this morning.


Happy New Year!! I can’t believe it’s already the 4th. Almost a week into the new year and I’m wondering – how much can I get done in the first month? The first two months?

A friend of mine on Facebook asked last week asked her friends what our New Year’s Resolutions were. I told her – my resolution will be the same as last year, unless I upgrade my monitor!! Ha ha! Okay so you’d have to be a techno-geek to get that one right away, but I laughed out loud at my own cleverness. (I’m usually the only one who does, but I digress…)

My resolutions this year are the same as they are every other year. You know? I’d like to continue to grow my business. I’d like to treat people better, be kinder, be smarter, be wiser. I’d like to laugh more, stress less, take more photos and tell more stories. I’d like to spend my year in a creative process, while loving my family, treating them well, taking care of the ones I love and praising God for all that He’s blessed me with. I’d like to be ever mindful of my friends and all that they invest in our friendships – and give back as much if not more than they give me.

I’d like to lose 30 pounds. Dangit – I hate that 30 pounds. Hate it with a passion. Why is that always on my dang list? Bah. They follow me around, quite literally, behind me – everywhere I go. They must be gone, and I will re-commit to that endeavor every morning. I’ll be healthy this year, because I am sick of being sick. Last year was tough – I spent a majority of it, it seems, with some kind of virus or bacteria invading my system. Not this year.

This year, I have a lot of plans, and dreams! I’ll be shooting my first Wedding in May, traveling a bit – painting, designing – and I’m sure I’ll be doing plenty of gardening! I’d like to re-paint some rooms in our home, knock some walls down, and pay off some credit cards.

This year is going to be a great year, and I’m excited and ready to share it with you!!

What about you? And more importantly – how can I inspire or motivate you to help you reach your goals? I’d really like to know.

xo,
me.

For several years, I’ve been taking photos for friends of ours that live just down the street. (They’ve been great practice over the years!) This year, since I had all the new gear and recently, a huge burst in photographic creativity, I concocted this fantastic Christmas Card pose in my minds eye for them.

I was a smidge worried about pulling it off, only because if you can’t get kids done in under 5 minutes, it starts to get tedious on them (and undoubtedly, someone starts fidgeting, itching something, being crazy or generally being children who want to go play!) and since I don’t keep any ritalin on hand, I had to be quick about it. (haha!)

Thankfully, Alex (the one being brutalized and decorated by her brothers) was a really great and patient sport about getting it all set up and ready for the boys to enter and create the chaos that would be this finished pose.

I am totally excited to get my Christmas postcard from them this year!

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It’s been a very busy week over here! I’m working on several projects for Christmas that are keeping me VERY busy and have a(nother) illness to battle while I work! I’ve had a few family photo shoots to edit and prepare for clients, one is staying under wraps until after Christmas but the Daffara Family portraits are ready for your viewing enjoyment!

As soon as I am able to share my other projects, I will – but you know, Christmas presents are hush-hush! I do have a couple of drawings I’ll be posting, one from the weekly portrait giveaway and another beautiful German Shepherd drawing that I’ll have ready in a few days as well.

‘Til then, stay in your seats! (Okay, you may get up to go to the bathroom. But come right back.)

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I had the opportunity to take several family/group photos over the last week so I’m really excited about sharing them with you! This is my first family set – one of my best friends from high school and her gorgeous husband and girls. Their dog even got in on the action and posed well for me! (That’s Sophie. I love Sophie.)

Enjoy!!

I had the privilege of shooting Sophie’s 1 year photos this past weekend, and today is editing day! I’ve just taken a few shots and made a collage, and thought you might enjoy seeing what a little cutie she is.

I am really enjoying my camera – and loving all of my wonderful portrait clients! They have all been fantastic so far – if this is what portrait photography is all about, I’m SO in. This is… well, it’s not like work. Except for the sweating and not being able to walk for two days following the shoot. (haha!)

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(click to enlarge thumbs or view full size here)

I’ve been a very busy bee over here since my new camera arrived! I had two Senior portrait sessions two days in a row – both Sunday and Monday were all day events. We shot on location at this gorgeous park in Blue Grass, Iowa, about 20 miles or so from where I am. Both girls are just gorgeous and they were so gracious with my camera fiddling! I even managed to pick up a 5-in-1 light reflector kit before Jenna’s photo shoot on Monday and my lovely assistant (my daughter, Catybug) took the reflector and filled in my shadows like a pro.

Here’s a sampling of some of my favorite shots of both girls – they are still proofing their collections and I just received my Photoshop software so I’ve toyed a little bit with editing – these are just my first stabs at using the software as well.

The funny thing is – I do enjoy photography and I love my new Nikon D90 – I did not expect the avalanche of calls I’ve received since last week alone for portrait work! All of my photography so far has been at an amateur level, as a hobbyist – and suddenly I feel as though I am being led in yet another creative direction. I’m not complaining – not even a little! I just feel so humbled by the interest in my creative eye.

And to think … nearly 8 years ago, I was filing for unemployment. heh.

Enjoy!!