My little model

On Wednesday, my neighbor Jen asked if Bria could come into her studio and model a tutu set that she has on hand.  Of course we said yes.  I was a little bit nervous at first because our recent family photo session did not go very well because Bria was just not having it.  She was a little cranky pants and it was very difficult to get a great family shot because of her unwillingness to participate.  However, the moment we walked into the studio and she saw the beautiful background that Jen had put up and the bright red tutu her eyes lit up and I knew we were good to go. 

She posed and smiled and wiggled her bottom.  She curtseyed and giggled and held onto the dainty bow.  She acted as if she was a little pro.  I thought it was so adorable to watch her be a little diva for a day!

Thank you Jen from http://www.elizabethgracephotography.com/ for thinking of Bria to do some modeling for you.

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Kansas City.  It is always a fun road trip to go on with the kids.  I enjoy this time of year so much that even a 6-8 hour drive doesn't bother me(unless I have the stomach flu which is a story for another time).

We decided to stay with Chadd's cousin Marcus and his wife Justine.  They live close to the in-law's in De Soto, they have a 17 month old son Madden and they do not have any cats(Avery is allergic).  So, it was the perfect option for our family and we are ever so grateful to them for letting us stay there.

They have a lovely double sided fireplace where I was able to get some really great pictures of the kids.  I love to dress my family up on Thanksgiving in hopes of snapping the perfect Christmas picture.  While I do not think that we got "that" picture this year...we are having family portraits done today with my Uncle John and it is a sure thing that we will get some really awesome photo's.

Justine and I were going through the photo's from the day and we decided that this picture captured the personality's of each of my children pretty much to a T.  Benny is our little ham, Avery is ready to pose at the drop of a hat, and Breezy is as sweet as ever.

Justine and I at The Fowble's. 

Cousin Erick and Benny boy.

 Justine and the boys!  The three blondies!

Marcus(Chadd's cousin) and Janet.

The Green's.  Adorable family!

Every year, they try to get the same picture of all of the men and then all of the women on the stairs.  With differing schedules not everyone is able to be there each year.  This year almost everyone was there so the staircase got crowded.  It is always fun to go back year to year and view the pictures and how everyone has changed.

Janet pulled out a hat from the closet and I demanded that we do a pic with all of our hats on.  It was pretty funny.

Bria and Great Grandma Green.

The women plus the dog Buster.













Janet and her sister Phyllis found this amazing recipe for the turkey.  They actually brined it in the refrigerator for 3 days before Thanksgiving and I must say that it is the best Turkey that I have ever tasted.  It was like something you would order from a restaurant.  Grandma Green made these delicious dates that I was a major fan of, especially since they had coconut on them which is an absolute favorite of mine.  The food was all so delicious that we were all quite full and borderline uncomfortable after dinner. 

We played pool, listened to the kids entertain us by singing and playing the guitar, played card games, and had great conversation.  It was a great Thanksgiving all around.

Attempt at Aperture

Last Saturday, I had the privilege of taking a photography workshop led by my friend and professional photographer Noemi Hedrick.noemiphotography.com.  I had an absolute blast.  It was all day long and so much fun.  I learned amazing things about my camera, how to position clients for a professional shoot, and what steps I need to go through to start up my own photography business.  I walked away with an increased knowledge in aperture, ISO and shutter speed.  I am having a blast taking photo's of the kids using my new settings.

I am really working on my Av setting which is a semi-automatic mode.  I am in charge of adjusting my aperture value and the camera takes care of my ISO and shutter speed.  The aperture is the setting that is in charge of how "wide open" your lens is.  The lower the aperture value the more open the lens is...generally speaking.  So, I like to shoot close ups of the kids and have the backgrounds blur...a lower aperture value will increase the likelihood that my backgrounds are blurred. 

I also want to get a program for editing my photo's.  The above pictures have not been edited in any program.  These next two photos have been edited in our Window's Live editing program.  I am definitely inexperienced in editing and was just trying to add a little warmth and contrast to my photo's.  Bria also has a huge bruise on her head so I was able to "retouch" the photo's and remove the bruise.  Unfortunately, I did not save the original photo of the two below to show a before and after but oh well.  I am pretty sure that if I go back into the program it will let me revert to the original..I think :) 

I like the way this picture turned out.  She did put on lipstick so I didn't do anything artsy there...it was just her beautiful lips enhanced by some red :)

This picture turned out a little "bright" or overexposed looking...I think.  What do you think?  Noemi told us that we should  look at skin tone to be sure that it is true and not some fake looking tone.  I have been looking at a lot of photo's and I can easily pick out skin tones that appear too blue, red, green or yellow.  This one looks just too bright or something.

Anyways, I will be posting some of the photographs that I took the day of the workshop soon.  We were able to shoot at an outdoor location and we shot a family and also a couple.  It was a ton of fun watching Noemi position the clients, encourage them, get them comfortable and let them know that their pictures were turning out great.  She has so much confidence while shooting that it is totally inspiring.  I hope to be that confident as a photographer one day. 

So, I am trying to take pictures every day using my new settings.  I am dabbling with full on Manual mode...which is interesting, frustrating, interesting and frustrating!  I would love to take photographs of you, your family, your dog or your child to practice...all of this will be free of course and I will give you all of your pictures.  Let me know if you would be interested in allowing me to practice practice practice on you :)