Day 8 - Cake Balls

Day 7

Day 6: New Beanbags

Day 5: Lila

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2: AMY

This is my beautiful friend Amy. I love the way she laughs. As I took this picture this evening, she was washing my dishes. You know it's a true friend who will wash your dishes. :) She's a fellow mom of three... a "real" mom... although her house is (sickingly) much cleaner than mine can ever profess to be. Amy is my encourager. Even when I don't feel like it, from walking around the block, to making sure I'm where I need to be on Wednesday night... we help keep each other accountable, and for that I greatly appreciate her!

365 Project

Have you heard of the 365 Project? It's been going around the internet for several years, but I decided yesterday that this is my year to complete it. Basically, you take and post a photo daily. To take a photo every day doesn't sound like it would be a big deal for a photographer, and in a way, I'm guessing I do have an advantage over some since my camera is a piece of equipment I pretty much use daily on the job, but I think it's going to be a challenge for me as well. As I stated in my last post, I have gotten out of the habit for taking pictures for ME, for FUN. Don't get me wrong, I do have fun doing what I do, but it is different. At first, I even thought I might say that it will always be a personal picture, and things from the studio wouldn't count, but I think that's unrealistic, because the studio is such a part of who I am, and I do get excited about creating portraits at work. But in general, I am going to try to not rely too heavily on studio work for this project.

That said, the picture I chose for 1-1-10 (yesterday) was taken for clients. One of my favorite things to do at weddings is to "play" with the rings, and I think this shot makes a good "first of the year" picture:

Happy New Year!

I have been neglect in blogging once again. One of my hopes for this year is that I will take more time in enjoying photography for myself and not just for business. Here's to the promise of new beginnings!

Pumpkin Patch Woes

So, my mom and I have been taking my girls to the same pumpkin patch in Lake Jackson since Mallory was a baby. This will be our 8th year at the same patch. It's become a photo tradition. The past several years, my Grandmother has been able to join us too, which has been such a blessing.

So, it's that time of year! Being a photographer, I have a tendency to be a bit obsessed about what the girls wear for pictures. I still like for my girls to match, and so until they begin to balk fiercely, I intend to keep it up. My days off are typically Sunday & Monday, so Monday is "the" day to do our pumpkin patch outing. I had already seen pumpkins up in Pearland and was really looking forward to our trip. So, last Monday was the day. I still didn't know what my girls were going to wear. After a morning of shopping & hunting down hard-to-find children's clothing stores, I finally found the perfect outfits. I stopped and got some new shoes for the girls as well - because of course, they need to match, and I can't just let them tramp through the pumpkin patch barefoot. (I will be the first to admit that one of the reasons I love my girls to have bare feet in pictures besides their cute little piggies is that it allows me not to worry about what goes on their feet). After a quick trip to the grocery store, I headed home just in time to grab the hair accessories, load the clothes into a cute little bag & then to the van, and then headed to pick up the girls. (3:30 pm - in case anyone was wondering).

We drove to Angleton (a 45 minute drive, give or take), and begin the whirlwind of getting three little girls ready for pictures. Change of clothes, hair, shoes, etc. It's an amusing thing to watch as an outsider, I'm sure. We load up and take off for the pumpkin patch, which is in Lake Jackson, another 30 minutes or so down the road. My dear mother was in the back seat with Mallory, who I believe MAY have come up for air once during the entire drive. We were also playing VeggieTales Jonah on the DVD-player, a technology that awed my grandmother. Of course, we got stuck watching the slowest train in Texas take its time crossing the intersection, but we finally were getting close, and the "Are we there yet?"s could finally be answered with "Almost." It was 5:30.

We drive up to the church where they keep the pumpkins and pull into the parking lot. However, there was a slight problem. Too much green. There were no pumpkins!!! I felt completely bummed. Guess I should have checked to make SURE of the dates for the pumpkin patch. *sigh*

The following Monday, it was pouring, so our trip was foiled again. However, so far, it looks as though there is only a 10% chance of rain for this coming Monday, and I have confirmed that the pumpkin patch is now open for business.

And let me tell you, the girls are ready... the bribes I bought for them to elicit good pictures two weeks ago are wrapped and still sitting in the van!

So, since I have no new pumpkin patch pictures, I decided to share some from years past. I went digital in Nov. 2004, so here are the past 4 years worth of my sweet punkins...

2005

2006

2007

2008

and 2009, well, lets hope those will be coming soon!!