Picture 10,000

I recently took my 10,000th picture on my Canon 20D. Here it its:

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Croup - Yes, I have three children, and this is the first time we've had to deal with croup. Lila has it, but fortunately, it was a pretty mild case. The barking seal description is pretty on, though.

Caterpillar - My best friend's little boy is having a Baby Einstein birthday party (1 year) & she made him the CUTEST caterpillar cake. I promise to take pictures. The party is tomorrow.

Casual - I would say my lifestyle is best described as casual. We aren't very formal around here - our formal dining room is a school room/crop room. We don't wear shoes in the house and I live in Old Navy t-shirts. I love to have people drop by, and lately it doesn't even bother me that my house isn't immaculate or that my laundry is sitting in the living room - hey, at least it's clean! At some point you have to realize you have three children. If that's not a cry for a casual lifestyle, I don't know what is.

Critical - what Kevin is when it comes to my photography. My latest newborn shoot that I thought was ROCKIN' he didn't like because you could see reflections of my strobes in the trombone. At times, this has really bothered me, and honestly, sometimes it still does, but I'm getting used to it. I figure if he ever does give me a compliment, it must be a really good picture, because usually he's pointing out all the flaws to "help me get better." Of course, it's helped my ego for parents to purchase hundreds of dollars in print orders on shoots that Kevin didn't like. Helps me feel validated that I do know what I'm doing and maybe it IS just him. =)

Caramel Macchiato - my "usual" at Starbucks. Going out for coffee with a girlfriend is what I do when I get to that breaking point at the end of the day when "I've GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE".

un-Cooperative:

Did I mention I love newborns?

Did I mention how much I LOVE to "shoot" newborns? There's nothing sweeter. You can view the rest of the pictures of this precious newborn at http://lauraodom.photosite.com/Luttrell/ . Isn't she ADORABLE???

Word Play

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Babies - My favorite thing in the world to photograph. Especially MINE. I love the baby stage. The sweet baby breath, the precious smiles and michevious grins, the breathtaking eyes that just stare up at you and melt your heart, the smooth baby bottoms, the perfect baby skin, the tiny toes, the daily accomplishments, the newness of it all. It makes me sad to think that these days are rapidly coming to a close. My baby will be a toddler soon, and then a preschooler, and then a bright young lady that can read and ask a billion difficult questions. I'm sure it doesn't end there, but to go further is something I don't want to even ponder right now.

Bubble Bath - I love a good soak in the tub. Not that it happens that frequently, but I enjoy it when it does.

Bubbles - One of the worlds greatest inventions. You can keep children entertained for hours with just soap and water.

Birthday Cake - I love sweets. I'll admit it - it's no secret. A good birthday cake is hard to resist. I love wedding cake even more.

Bananas - Lila hasn't quite gotten the concept of the knock knock joke down, but she understands it has something to do with bananas. A typical Lila joke:

Lila: Knock Knock
Me: Who's There?
Lila: Banana (then follows infectious uncontrollable laughter).

Watch out world!

Momma has a new lens!
Check out the awesome DOF... =)
It was a very Happy Mother's Day from Kevin & the girls.

A Touch of Color...

These feet belong to my brother and his girlfriend. I thought it was a pretty cool shot, and was fun to play with in PE to add just the touch of color on the tattoos.

Word Play

Okay, I've become inspired to do the word play thing... I'd love to put my own "twist" on it of course, and make it about photos... but don't know how feasable that will really be considering my lack of spare time. Maybe I can work a photo or two in there now and then, but there's no use waiting until I'm ready or I'll never do it, so here goes...

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Albums - A big part of my life. I have completed over 50 albums, and am still going strong. I feel like it's pointless to take pictures if you're not going to document them and put them in an album. Of course, I'm currently behind on that... better get crackin'

Advertising - Oh look, here's a spot to put a picture! One of my clients is the manager of an apartment complex and told me if I'd make up some sort of fliers or something, she'd put them in the Welcome packets that they give to all their residents. It took me a while to come up with what I wanted to give her, but this is what I finally came up with. It's postcard size.

Amazing Race - I never really got into the whole reality show thing until we started watching this one. I LOVE this show! It's pretty much the only thing Kevin and I sit down together and watch every week. Although we've been watching the Apprentice lately too.

Astros - Our hometown baseball team (Houston). Since Mallory started playing softball this year, she understands the concept a LITTLE bit better. Kevin's eating it up. He and Mallory went to one game by themselves, and recently we took the WHOLE CREW with us... Not quite the relaxing date night that it would have been with just the two of us... three girls at a baseball game is an adventure all its own, but we still had fun. Berkman even hit a home run.

Altoids - curiously strong mints. My favorite are the Cinnamon.

Bride

I feel like I'm getting really good at doing children's photography, and I LOVE capturing those precious childhood mannerisms on film (or disc, as the case may be). I've been developing my "style" and I'm pretty pleased with where I am right now. I've actually been toying with the idea of specializing in children's photography and not doing weddings (even though I have a couple of weddings booked). That said, I had a BLAST doing these bridal portriats, so now I guess we'll just wait and see. It was fun to have someone pose the way you asked them to for a change & not have to run around chasing a child to catch that "perfect" moment. (Although, that's fun too... I'm torn.) =)

So, it's been a while...

Ack! I'm way behind on my blog, which isn't surprising since I'm behind in most other aspects of my life too as of late. I've been VERY busy with my photography business lately. I've had 1-3 shoots a week for the past month or so - and occaisionally up to 4. I really enjoy taking photos for people, but it's all the "other" stuff that takes so much time... the editing, the collection of orders, the uploading, filling orders, paperwork, etc., etc. Don't get me wrong - I love it. It's just hard to focus on with all the other demands in my life - most of them dealing with my three precious girls.

More Baby Props

So nice to have my own precious baby model on hand... =)
Finally got my flower pot. And I picked up a couple of these cool tubs from Target - got a raspberry one and a bright aqua color. Very cute.