Trevor!

"Livin the John Deere Dream..."
That's what his mom said when we shot this image! :)

And by the way, I have the world's BEST neighbor's! Not only do I get to use their pretty fields, pond, and barn for this photo shoot, but when I casually mentioned wanting a shot by the John Deere, he simply smiled and asked, "well, where would you like it?" He hopped on that tractor, drove it out to the middle of one of his fields, parked it, and watched with pride as I finished out this senior photo session.
Seeing this tractor and remembering his eagerness to help leads me to something totally non-photo related. You see, this is the same tractor - actually, it's beloved owner, Ray - that recently helped Greg out by lifting a massive cow to her feet after a tough delivery. (The cow gave us a fine little bull, but she never recovered) Our neighbor, Ray, has helped us with fences, mowing, emergency plumbing issues, and even picked up my daughter from school one time when I just couldn't get there! He has hiked with us, fished with my son, and his wife, Jo, makes the worlds BEST cherry pie. The world needs more people like our neighbors. We are privileged to live down the lane...

So, the tractor, an old truck, and the barn just made this photo session. The style was so fitting for Trevor and made him feel totally at ease! For time sake I'll just show ya one of my favorite shots...

It's been hard to blog lately. The leaves are starting to fall to the ground now, and these beautiful colors are sadly leaving us. But, it's made for some wonderful photos and I can't wait to share a few more of them here.
More to come!! Keep checking back!

Best Post EVER

I can't tell you when the last time I had a session with my own kids! I always think that because I don't have to make an appointment with myself, then I can just do it anytime. Wrong. I finally had to "make an appointment" with myself and stick to it. That's not easy with kids' schedules these days!
AND... my own family was harder to do than any client I've had so far! They didn't exactly take it so seriously in the getting ready part, in the urgency to work with the light, in the don't make stupid faces at the photographer - Oh! That is soooo going to be my next post!!
Well, I do love these shots - I love the light, the color, the casual, the glimmer, the wind...I love everything about em! My kids. My JOY.

Change is Good

It's Fall and the leaves are about to change, and so are a few other things...

It's time to go BIG. Big, meaning the best of quality, service, and unique products to offer. If you have pictures online in my Proofing Gallery, you have UNTIL THE END OF THIS MONTH to view and order straight from that gallery. This is a great service that I have provided, and I have been happy with that gallery host, but in order to streamline the ordering process and my desire to offer the best product on the market, I have decided to switch to a different gallery host. I can now offer package deals, gallery wraps, proof books, albums, and "press books," all with countless options.


This basically means that anything I do that's new will be accessed through a different link. I will not put that link on my website until NOV 1st. If you are needing to view brand new pics, I will email the link to you. OR Facebook, or whatever...

IF you have images through my "old" gallery, they will be available until Oct. 31st. If your event or photo session was within the last 3 months, I will should be able to move those images to my new gallery for a time period.

Here is the link to my new online proofing gallery:

www.SeeMyPrints.com



My personal thoughts about this - the new gallery is not as "flashy," just to warn you. I cannot attach music to it at this time. Bummer, I know. I also cannot make the images look better with neat backgrounds for each page. You think that means nothing, I know. But it does affect the presentation. I have been weighing what to do for some time, and have decided that if I have to sacrifice the flashy site for a better product that gets in your hands and hangs on your walls, then I'm doing it. There.

Growth means change sometimes. This is a hard step for me to take because I really liked all those bells and whistles. I just know it'll be worth it, though! And by the way, THERE WILL BE NO PRICE INCREASE UNTIL JANUARY 1, 2011. I don't think I have to raise the print prices much at all, but consider yourself warned! :) Just know that I am committed to creating the best possible images and the best possible price, and I will work until you are satisfied. That part won't be changing - it's just who I am.

Keep watching this blog for sneak previews of my photo sessions!

Innocent Bystander

Ok, I literally took 5 images of this guy, and here is what came out! We were in the middle of a photo session of my own kids, and there just happened to be a couple of friends heckling from the sidelines. My own 3 kids (pics to come) got sick of it, as usual, but I was crazy about this beautiful light and the sky and the water that I just wasn't done snapping. I told him to pose as if he was in a JC Penney catalog - and he did! Ha. THANKS TANNER!

Mercy!

Have you ever been to Bartlesville, Oklahoma? Well, now I can say that I have. And although it's stuck out there in Oklahoma, and most people whiz on past it on I44 like I always have... I discovered that this is a really cool place! It has an incredible downtown area, perfectly poised for a nice urban revitalization, yummy eating places (I judge a place based on good eats... that's just great), an amazing baseball stadium, very cool lofts, and from what I'm told, approx. 6,000 people come out for Friday night football games!!! Hey, a movie is currently being made there (which could possibly be a secret so I better not say who is in it), and one of only 2 Frank Lloyd Wright skyscrapers is built there. Like I said, it's very cool.
But far better was the fact that I got to reunite with an old friend to do her son's Senior pictures! Although time (alot of it) has passed, and we have lived in completely separate towns, I am amazed at how much we still have in common. Juli - how great it was to just catch up with you! What a wonderful family, what an even better story... Thank you so much for letting me take your sons pictures - I hope you love these images of your incredible guy!