From the fall…and our Christmas card.

They are my world.

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As I was adding some photos to a farm website I’m on, I thought it would be nice to share some here. We have decided to call our farm Wayward Lane because our place can be tricky find, located down a road with bends that never shows up on anyone’s GPS. And our house and barn are at the end of a long drive/lane.

Anyway, here are a few photos taken over the summer and fall.

Sunset looking out from our front yard.

Bella and our Pyrenees puppy

Pretty rainbow colored eggs from our hens.

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Artistic Indoor Photography Workshop

Are you a photographer struggling to make shooting in the winter work when you don’t have a studio? Worry no more! I’ll be teaching a beginner’s class on how to shoot artistically indoors with only available light. Whether you’re working out of your own home or traveling to your client’s homes, it can be done. Keep the clients coming year round and have fun doing it!

Shooting successfully indoors does require you to change the way you think and it often means learning a few new skills, but it opens up another avenue of income for most photographers in colder climates.If you want to expand your client base and keep income flowing when you can no longer shoot outdoors, than this class is for you.

Just a few of the topics to be covered…

Indoor versus outdoor shooting-think differently!

Lifestyle or Portrait-which is best?

Using your home – the pros and cons

Finding the light anywhere

Background “clutter”

Backdrops and flooring

Camera settings

Lenses and equipment needed

Editing

Setting the stage for your clients

Drawing the clients in

…and much more!

The Details

Dates: December 8th 2011 and January 9th 2012

Tuition: 500.00 with a 250.00 deposit due to secure your spot. Balance due 2 weeks prior to the class date.

The class will be from 10am to 4pm and will include hands on shooting in different indoor environments from simple to more difficult.

Lunch will be provided.

Classes will be limited to no more than 8 participants in order to allow adequate shooting instruction.

Email me to reserve your spot today!

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She’s one! I can’t believe it. My beautiful, tiny little baby is heading into toddlerhood. She has brought so much joy to us with her inquisitive, sweet and feisty little personality. It’s quite a sight to see all 5 of us gathered in the family room, watching Lilly’s latest antics (of course, followed by her squinty eyed cheesy smile). This little girl is loved to the moon and back!

I had so much fun planning and decorating for her party. Lilly has such a bright little spirit and her party seemed to steer naturally toward happy, bright colors. She also ADORES fruit so of course that had to be included. The girl will choose fruit over ANY other food. I made nearly everything with fabric and paper that I had on hand so her party ended up being pretty inexpensive. And the decorations can double as decor for her room.

If anyone wants tutorials on how I made anything, just let me know.

Now for the prettiness!

I made the bunting and paper circles. Lilly’s initials were made by a sweet friend before she was even born.

Torn fabric ribbon garland.

Lilly saying “wow” about the giant balloons.

Individual lemonade jars with blueberries, lemons and raspberries. Yummy!

She loved these cherries!

I made these out of scrapbook paper, fabric that I ruffled and elastic.

I was so worried this cake was going to be terribly hard to make, but it was amazingly simple. I wish I had taken a picture of the inside-it had raspberry filling.

The happy birthday girl.

Her cheesy grin.

That is one big balloon!

Everyone needs a kiss on their birthday. Bella is such a great big sister.

Why is everyone staring at me?

She was a little unsure about getting messy…

…but she got the hang of it. She wasn’t thrilled about how it felt though. A bath soon followed, lol.

Happy Birthday my Lilly girl!

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This post has been a long time coming. Over the last year or so there has been a shift in my life. Whether it came from the chaos and excitement of moving to a new home, the amazing joy of a new baby, the industry I love so much being slowly eroded away, or the desire to just. slow. down. I’m not sure. Perhaps all of the above. However it came about, my focus has changed. I want to live in the moment, to enjoy the memories that are slipping by so quickly. My goodness, I am about to be the mother of a 12 YEAR OLD. Where did time go? I see my children changing overnight and I want to cherish their childhoods, not rush through it trying stay on top of “everything”.  I am blessed to have the option to work less and spend more time with them and I am taking it. I will have the time to build the career of my dreams later. I want to build well balanced and happy little people right now.

I will still be working, but it will be considerably less. So…I will be booking very limited sessions and screening all clients to ensure I am the perfect photographer to capture their own precious memories. And loving every precious minute being a mom to my little ones. I hope all of you out there remember to take the time to live in the moment.

Beautiful print by TheWheatfield on Etsy.

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I’m also looking for a 3-5 month old baby who would be available for a photo session this Wednesday during the day (late morning or afternoon).  You will receive a free 8×10 and 5 digital files as a thank you. Please comment or email me. Thank you so much!

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I have a teaching session lined up for the week, Wednesday the 8th and Thursday the 9th. I’m looking for 2-3 models ages 8-12 who enjoy the camera. I also need a family, preferably with children at least old enough to walk.  Clothing is very important for the style of the shoots, so I’ll meet with you prior to the session to help choose the outfits.  Photographers may certainly apply if I know you personally. You will receive 1 free 8×10 print and 5 digital files within 3 weeks as a thank you.

Please email me with a photo of your child and/or family and I hope to have the chance to work with you!

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I have such a massive collection of images that I’ve taken this spring and I’ve been so bad about posting them. Something about raising 4 beautiful children, being a wife,  running a business and a fast paced household that  makes extra time quite hard to come by.  Imagine that!

I hate that all these photos that I ADORE are hiding away on my hard drive so I’ve given myself a goal to share at least one a day for the next week. If this goes well, maybe I’ll set another goal, but for now a week is fine by me.

This was the last one that I worked on so it’s the first up. Bella and I walked down the driveway to check the mail while we were waiting for Daddy to get home. And of course she went barefoot as she always does.  We looked at a pothole in the road and talked about how they form and she found a dandelion and a clover leaf  that she said made her lucky. How I love these quiet simple moments with my children.

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I’m participating in a fun blog project with some fellow professional photographers. This month we are all focusing on the word “reflection” and are posting an image that we feel conveys that word.  I hope you enjoy visiting all of the beautiful blogs that are part of this collaboration!

I love this photograph of my son. Just a simple moment where he paused while playing in a puddle to inspect his own reflection. It’s not often that my busy little guys slow down so this is a treasured photograph.

Please take a moment to follow the link to the next participating photographer,  the sweet and oh-so talented Teri Mason.

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Well, our new baby girl should be here within the next couple of days. We were hoping for a completely natural birth, no meds of any sort and for the baby to decide to come when she wanted. However things don’t always go as planned. I have quite a bit more amniotic fluid then they consider normal and she’s not wanting to stay head down. I’ve had a few ultrasounds and they can’t find any serious reasons why I might have extra fluid and are chalking it up to a “who knows” cause.  She seems happy, healthy and very active (I foresee another busy little girl living in our house soon . So all is good. But since she loves to flip sideways, breech, halfway head down-all in the course of one day, they are worried about cord prolapse should my water break. And the chance of my water breaking is higher then usual due to the excess fluid. So, I’ve agreed to be induced this Thursday at 8:30 am after we try some things to get her head down. After loosing a baby girl at this exact stage of pregnancy before we had Bella, it’s already hard stay calm. As much as I wanted the natural birth, I want this baby in my arms safe and sound. I’ll be nearly 39 weeks so she’s good good to go.

So, most likely sometime Thursday or early Friday we’ll be holding her! I would love your prayers and thoughts for an easy labor and delivery and healthy little girl.

And just as a heads up, this blog will likely be used a little differently over the next few months. I’ll be taking time off of work and while I’ll still take some sessions, the majority of my time is going to be spent with my kids over the next few months. As much as I adore my clients and adore photographing all the beautiful children I am blessed to meet, I am looking forward to this time with my own children. So the blog may become more of a place for my kid’s photos, my ramblings about our lives and such. I guess that’s where it all started and will be fun to do the same again. Oh and did I mention our house is for sale and we’re in the process of house hunting? I’m sure there will be posts on that too. So lots of changes ahead!

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