I forgot the pictures!!

I'm not exactly sure what just happened.  My last post was supposed to be about this great family I had in this week, and I got a little sidetracked.  (I know, I know, ME, get SIDETRACKED?!  Never!)

ANYway.  they were so cool.  I just got a new piece of equipment in, and they had the misfortune of being the ones I decided to start using it with  (note to other photographers:  

Always practice with new equipment on clients - it's so professional looking  - especially when you can't figure out how to use it!  :)   But they were really cool with it.  And still cool w

hen I gave up and switched to something else.  And did it AGAIN.  Seriously.  It was that kind of day.  :)  But they were great!  The mom and I had been playing phone tag for so long when we were planning this session that at one point, we almost didn't connect.  (I believe the word "stalker" was used in a conversation, and it a really funny way,  which doesn't happen that often.)  I'm so glad we did connect, because she was so nice to work with (the whole family was great).  And is this not the most adorable little guy you've ever seen?  Barely a week old, and just as cute as can be!

Spring already??

The cherry blossoms are blooming, and March is almost over.  And it's freaking me out ever so slightly.  Because I'm not quite done with Christmas.  I realized this when, during our annual Easter Egg Hunt and Chocolate Gorge, that my son had found an egg next to the Jingle Bell tree that was still stuck in the ground in the front yard.  I would have been embarrassed except that nobody else seemed even remotely surprised.  (I know, that should have made it worse, and yet, it didn't!)  I'm always the last house to take down the decorations.  I once left my tree up until February.  And it was alive at one point, so by the time we took it down, it only had about half its needles left.  I have this great Halloween door sign that says, "Keep Out".  It's on the outside of the front door.  I never go in the front door.   I use the back door.  So I didn't remember it was even there until I went to hang my jingle bell wreath for Christmas.  I can only assume that everyone thought I was just a very bad hostess.  (And I kind of am, but mostly out of sheer laziness, and not any desire to chase people away.)  But the holiday thing - there really are two types of people in the world - the ones who take their tree down on Christmas day (or if they're feeling festive, Dec 26th), and those who take it down under protest, and usually weeks later.  I'm the second kind.  I want the good stuff to last.  I want to have that fuzzy holiday feeling.  I want to get the belated birthday card a week after my birthday, because it makes me feel like it's still my birthday, if only for a few more minutes.  And I want babyhood to last. (and last and last.)  And my baby, my newborn, my tiniest wee beasty, is turning 2 on Thursday.  How the heck did that happen?   I don't want her to be a kid yet.  I'm okay with the toddler stage, because she's just barely not a baby anymore.  And I love that her words only sometimes sound vaguely like what they are supposed to.  I love that she says, "peash" instead of "please", and "Dat Too" is her name for her pacifier (day 3 of it being for bedtime only!).  And my son, my little boy who is only 6 1/2, said his first swear word this week (in his defense, he had no idea it was on the banned list).  We went from peash to that, practically overnight.   And I'm not ready for it.  I'm not done with him being my little guy.  I'm not done with  her being my baby.   I know there are so many more wonderful things to come with both of them, but I'm not done with this part yet.  I need it to slow down, just for a little while.  

 

A lot of Y in my studio

Y chromosome, that is.  4 boys.  Fantastically fun, hysterically crazy.  ALL boy.  I had the best time in the session, I don't think I ever stopped laughing.  But trying to get 4 boys to face the camera at the same time?  hahahahahaha

    

stories in my head

So of course everyone sees things differently (natch!), but one of the things that I love about photography is that when I see an  image, I create this whole story in my mind about what's going on.  I can't look at a picture and not hear conversations and feel their emotions.  (Although I don't think the people staring back at me can really see me, because that would make me CRAZY).  And I love this picture, because of that.  The woman on the left is grandma, and the one on the right is HER mom.  And in my mind, the great-grandma is looking at her great-granddaughter and remembering how small that woman to her right use to be, how she nursed and held and loved that baby more than anything.  And she can't believe it was so long ago, because she just had her *yesterday*, it went by so fast.

So, yeah, I tend to project a little bit.  :)

I am not a morning person

I go to bed at 2.  Please don't call before 9 am.  Or after 9 pm, since everyone else is sleeping (my work number is a cell phone, and I've always got it with me).  I want to talk to you, I really do.  But if you call before 9, I won't remember the conversation, because I'll be having it in my sleep.  :)

shiny happy people holding hands....

And one not-so-happy baby.  :)  The funny thing is, a minute before, and a minute after, she was happy as a clam.  

I am so glad this family came out - we had spoken on the phone a few times, and I couldn't wait to meet them.  They were so much fun!  (and now know so much about me they could probably blackmail me if they wanted to!  I've GOT to slow down on the caffeine during sessions!)  :)

it's good to be the king

This little guy (yep, the same one from earlier this week) came back for a few more, and was in a much happier mood this time.  Yay!

In other news, SEPPA is VERY SLOW about posting the print scores.  Don't they realize we're biting our nails??   (well, not literally, but darn close!)

Best hair ever!

I think this might even top Josie's lightsocket hair.  I don't know  - it's kinda hard to top your own wee beastie with anything.  :)  But seriously, I loved this little guy's hair!  

And in case you haven't noticed, I've been working on a new warm-tone B&W.  I'm loving this.

(And no, didn't pack a single thing.  Although I did manage to put a puzzle together, did about 20 baby flips (i.e., flipping the baby over, not ME), and saw The Other Boleyn Girl.  :)

Oh!  And the SEPPA print scores are coming in - so far, I know I have at least one merit print (yay!).  I'll post the rest of the results later.

And for those of you who haven't ordered  your prints, or even worse, haven't proofed (!!)   - YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE - I'm about to start harassing you with annoying phone calls and emails.   Just thought I'd warn you.  :)

-e

I'll never get the house packed at this rate

Because what am I supposed to be doing today? Packing. Editing, too, but mostly packing. I planned for it. I scheduled for it. I have music for it (anyone who's ever been in my studio knows I do NOTHING without music... and apparently lipstick, as I discovered this week, but that's an entirely different story). But back to the packing thing. We've got about a month to get it all moved and I really wanted to be living as if we HAD to have it done by mid-march or so. And instead, what am I doing? Playing with your pictures. :) I had two shoots this week that I really want to share.

The first, this little guy just wasn't a happy camper for a lot of the session, and we'll probably end up shooting a few more, until I'm happy that I captured everything I wanted (because, of course, it's all about me! haha). But there were plenty showing his adorableness, so I'm not displeased. :) He's got the most beautiful eyes, and when he did smile, they just lit up. I loved it!



And the second shoot, this morning, was of a client who I never want to leave. She comes over and we just talk and talk and talk... and take some pictures too, but mostly talk. (And I swear, it's not all me talking!) She's so much fun! And baby G is soooo cute! I remember when she was just a belly bump (okay, it wasn't THAT long ago). I love those curls. This child passed out halfway through the shoot, and since her mom and I are always in sync with which images we like, I got to play around more with what I was shooting, and how I processed them after. I loved how these turned out.



So I suppose I should go pack some books or something now.

And today!

   So I had two faaaaaabulous sessions today (failing miserably in my plan to have one per weekend).  But this was cool - they work for the same organization and know each other, but didn't know the other knew me.  I'm constantly amazed at what a small town this is.  I had a great time with both families.  I could have hung out all day and talked with both of them. (And not just because I'm chatty, I swear!)  They were really fun.

So here's one of each...  

 

I'm back!

Did you miss me?  :)

So - quick highlights (and a lowlight) of Portsmouth VPPA Convention:

1.  New friends: Tracy, Barbi,  Skinny James, and a Eurasian ex-model named G (and many more, I just can't think of everyone off the top of my head.  Y'all know I'm bad with names.)

2.  Toga Party: apparently a larger sheet doesn't mean a safer toga, it just means a bigger toga.  They are just as difficult to keep in place. (and no, there are no pictures.  Thank goodness.)

3.  Shark:  I won $700 (pretend) at blackjack

4.  Blech:   Enough bad things from the hotel that I really don't want to stay there again

5.  3 BLUE RIBBONS:  Whoo hoo!  And one court of honor for my entry in the journalism category.  (And 3 red ribbons, but the blues are the ones that really matter.)  I'm thrilled.  Of course.

6.  Steff falling asleep during print comp:  (3 hours of sleep+4 hours of driving+sitting in a quiet dark room all day)

And now I'm back.  :)