Melaina – Anytime Portrait

Melaina and I wanted color – lots and lots of color but I didn’t want to drive all over town looking for it and we were quickly losing the light, so we parked once and walk within a block to find all these locations. I love finding an old part of town and just using whatever we find close by… her red hair helped with the whole color theme!

This was a special occasion since Melaina’s best friend, Heather, is leaving for California and she wanted to get pictures with her before she left. Beautiful friends!

Even though the goal was to get pictures together I also captured lots of them individually.

The rain does not stop the Little Mermaid. We found some awnings to duck into…

And stayed close to the walls…

This series had so much color I didn’t want to change them! But I do like the 70’s look of this next one… the grain, the coloring, even something about the look on her face in this image made me think 70’s. Click to enlarge… LOVE it!

Never a dull moment…

Can you believe that this location was just across the alley from the others? I might use this area again. Finding new places to shoot gets my creative juices flowing!

Couldn’t have asked for a better day!

Come on, what could be better than taking pictures with great subjects and my hubby next to me? Oh, wait and let’s not forget Lucy Dog… Melaina’s Puggle (Pug/Beagle).

Pure joy!!

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Just for Fun – Random Photography

I used this black ice cream chair in Karly’s shoot. It used to be in my room growing up, but it was white back then. My sister has the matching one.  We shared  a room growing up, her side always clean, mine messy… it used to drive her nuts!  She would be proud of how clean I keep my room now :).

When I am on a portrait shoot there is no guessing on what else I might take a picture of.  Sometimes it is only the subject, but many times there are other things that catch my eye and I have to get a quick shot.  I have used many past images for cards and others, like these just sit on my computer and no one ever gets to see, so I thought I would share with you (and maybe make some more cards with some).

Beware, I take pictures of things that strike me as funny, even if it is on you! Hee hee

I love the look of rusted iron.

I know it’s just a traffic light, but I like it.

Joe doesn’t even know when I sneak a pic of him.  I captured this during the shoot of Joely and Steph.

And sometimes he does… I love the Canon 70-200 2.8L lens for these types of shots. I always use that lens when shooting railroad shots too.  I think Joe must be the only guy from high school that has MORE hair than he did back then!

Things like this just jump out at me.

I make anniversary cards from images like this one… the gum wall in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.

Amanda comes along occasionally… sometimes she lets me take a picture and sometimes not!

Abby had these great red shoes, so we had to get creative with them.

I thought this was funny while on a senior shoot with Kayla.

Sometimes it’s of people I don’t even know… just because… shhhh, we will just keep that between us, K?

I LOVE animals, so I have lots of images of dogs, cats, birds and squirrels.

Hope you have a great day!!
{{Hugs}}

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Todd Family – Family Portrait

Time for family pictures again! Do you have yours yet? This is the second time I have taken the Todd’s family pics, but this time they have a new little one… baby Autumn Joy.. what a little darlin’!

Big brother Benjamin is an active one, but the sweetest thing! I chased him around the yard trying to capture what I could before he ran to the next interest.

We did manage to get him standing still long enough for a few pics with his little sister.

Then off again, playing… kids are so much fun at this age… I definitely get my exercise during these shoots. It was such a cold day that we didn’t venture off too far… jut stayed in the backyard…

Click on this one to enlarge it so you can see the art fun… love making artistic images. I will be doing a post soon featuring some favorite art images. What do you think for something different?

Then Benjamin found out that we had a drum set! Inside we go! Joe says he’s a natural… come on parents… time to get this guy a set of his own (Benjamin told me to tell you that :)).

We exhausted poor little Autumn… nothing sweeter than a baby sleeping…

Thanks for a great morning you guys! Such a cool family!

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My Favorite Day in 2009

Since today is my birthday, I started to reflect on this past year. There were days I would rather forget in that time period, but other days that were magical. I decided to blog about the number one magical day in 2009 to celebrate my 44th year… can’t believe I am already 44!!

Back in May Joe had this great idea to go to New York again, but just the two of us this time. It had been a long time since just the 2 of us had been on a vacation together. So, he sold a guitar and off we went… to New York City!

We met up with some great friends, Melissa and Brad for the first few days and visited sites we had never seen before. Brad hates getting his picture taken, can you tell by how excited he looks in this one! Too funny!

Our first stop, the Empire State Building.

It was a foggy and wet day, so there was absolutely NO ONE in line. If you have ever been to NYC and waited in this line, you will appreciate that there was really no one in line this day! We were told the whole way up that there was zero visibility on the top, but we continued anyway and when we reached the top, the fog started to lift…

We walked around a couple times, then suddenly we stopped. Joe took his backpack off, opened the top compartment and pulled out 2 small blue boxes wrapped with white ribbon. I was confused for a second and then Joe explained that we were renewing our vows… well, from then on I was a mess! Brad is a pastor, so performed the ceremony and Joe read vows he had written for me. I unwrapped the little blue box, to find a white gold band with the words Tiffany inscribed on it. He placed it on my finger and I did the same for his and we… kissed… Melissa was quick to grab my camera and get a shot for me…

What a kiss!

That was day 1 of a wonderful second honeymoon! We escaped from the reality of the world and embraced what was really important to us, that we were together, having fun, enjoying each and every moment and kissing a lot!

We walked in the rain…

Road the subway everywhere, saw museums, a broadway play, shopped on Canal street for purses, watches and scarves, ate good food…

And visited the sites…

It was all magical…

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Amanda and Bailey – Child Portraits

Bailey is my daughter’s friend. She is a kind, loving child and is always laughing. Her and Amanda love hanging out together. Even though it was pouring rain all day we took advantage of a few minutes when it wasn’t raining and took some pictures of them.

They are both ballerinas and I thought it would be fun to get some shots away from the studio.

Love this one!

Before the rain hit, we also managed to get a few other images captured.

We had a great time together. I love that Amanda begs to go on photo shoots! It wasn’t that long ago that she dreaded me dragging her out, so I stopped. Now, she is begging ME. Nice change of events! Now to get that to happen with my son, I don’t think so!

I will end with a typical Bailey… happy and laughing! The movement in this image helps tell the story, don’t you think!

Thanks girls! xoxoxo

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