Elephants and such

Something that just arrived this week that I can't wait to display on the wall in M's room:

{a series of three 12x12 photos with a canvas texture and mounted on a stiff sintra board}

The elephant is a favorite little toy- M's room is decorated with elephants in a chocolate brown and green color scheme. This image is a digital "TTV" or "through the viewfinder" image. True TTV images are created with two cameras, one shooting through the other camera's viewfinder to capture an uneven edge and dusty, grungy look. I still haven't figured out how I am going to hang these- to frame or not to frame?

Flowers for Thought

A Fun Bun

Here's S's little friend, Andy the rabbit. This polaroid was concocted using a fun PS action found here: polaroid generator. Polaroids are all the rage right now, but they are becoming extinct as Polaroid will no longer be manufacturing the film. (Perhaps they'll drag this out for a while thanks to the surge in popularity of the vintage/ retro photo look).

Andy is a 2-year old miniature lop. S. recently did an animal report for school, and she chose the rabbit as her subject. She also constructed a rabbit diorama featuring a burrow with baby bunnies (made of pom poms). Here are a few fun facts (courtesy S.- our resident kindergartener and rabbit specialist):

1. Rabbits are called kits or kittens when they're a baby.

2. Some rabbits could be brown, or white, or broken orange.

3. All bunnies jump really high.

4. They eat grass, clovers, and lettuce, carrots, alfalfa, and that's all. [eta. most of which grows in our backyard!!] . . . oh, and they drink water.

5. They are fast. They could live in a cage or in a habitat underground.

6. My bunny is broken orange and white. He jumps high too. That's all.

This is a Lens

Busy week. Two birthdays- neither of them mine. UPS delivery. Big box. New lens. I promise to share it with DH as there is enough glass here for the two of us. Heart flutters. Shutter clicks. Bliss. Meet the newest addition to our Canon collection:

{add this baby to my camera, and the whole outfit weighs as much as a small child! I tell you, I'm going to get some major biceps toting this thing around! It is one of those lens with "zebra stripes" that mounts directly on the tripod rather than your camera on the tripod.}

And of course I did break it out of the box (within seconds of it being delivered!) and here are a few test shots:

{flowering pear 1/1250 sec at f/3.2, 200mm, 100 ISO}

{For some fun in the garage: try an impomptu photo session with the garage with the door open and your subject angled towards your new lovely light source. You'll notice a flattering source of indirect light, and a nice reflection in the eyes!}

{Birthday mail from a beloved Uncle M & Aunt D--you made her day! Notice the new rollerblades-- evidence of a recent birthday. More about this in the next post. I promise!}

{My darling A. in the kitchen. This lens works great indoors if you have enough room to move back and/or a full framed sensor. I love the bokeh (background blur) it produces! Now I'll never have to clean up my house before taking photos!! Hah! It handles low light especially well.}

Tulip Festival at 19 Percent

So about the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point . . .

For the last few weeks I've been daydreaming of the arrival of the beautiful tulips, flittering butterflies and the sweet smell of lilacs on the breeze. Truth is, springtime around here has been a slow poke. One day it is 80 degrees, the next day 40 and snowing. Yikes! For good reason, the tulips have been delayed-- and I am no horticulturist, but I understand that it just isn't prime tulip season. We only have one tulip bulb in our yard and it just bloomed. It was a tulip left over from the previous owners about 4 years ago. (Go figure?) Lacking in tulips, we rely upon the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point to fill that need.

So we waited all of last week to allow a little more time for the tulips to wake up. Friday was gorgeous weather and we could wait no longer. The receptionist at the gardens said the tulips were at about 19 percent. I figured that 19% of 250,000 bulbs still adds up to quite a lot. So we went.

There weren't a whole lotta tulips YET. If you can imagine, there will be tulips by the bushel in a week or so. I did manage to get some fun shots nonetheless, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. My mother was in town and helped to keep the kidlets in one place, allowing me to shoot away.

{My little photographer's assistant: capturing her own piece of the tulip mania}

{Each one facing a different direction. Counting me, we've got the north-south-east-west covered! This is what I call "lack of posing" or "not willing to hold still."}

{Thanks Mom for this shot of my handsome little guy and my wind-swept hair. I love M's expression here!}

{My cutie pies at the fountain inside the secret garden. A. made a wish and plopped a coin into the water. S. did too- though her coin toss was too fast for me to capture! She asked me today with a tone of dissappointment, "Why didn't my wish come true?" I urged her to be patient, as some wishes take a long time.}

{Welcome to the secret garden . . . I can't show you everything inside, as it wouldn't be a secret! I can say that I dream of having one of my own some day!}

{Mmmmm. Springtime.}

{M. crawling down the steep grassy hillside. Most kids rolled sideways, he just met it head on. Atta boy!}

{Grandma won M. over on this trip . . . he's known for being quite the Mama's boy, so it was a nice break for me!}

{Sweet girl- love this one!}

Sand Bags

Today we're getting the rest of the sand out of our bags- home from a week long trip to sunny San Diego. It is good to be home, and 'twas good to be gone. Being together as a family for seven days straight: wonderful. Having DH gone at work today reminds me how much I just love being with him. I already miss him.

I've got buckets of photos from our adventure that I am just thrilled about . . . and I photographed a wedding yesterday that I can't wait to share too! I came home to a full voicemail box, about a million emails to respond to, and I and I am working on getting back to everyone. Boy, do I feel loved! ;)

{M's first glimpse, touch, and feel of the ocean. He was mesmerized! I was too--can you tell?}

I promise, there'll be plenty more to come. I just need to get back to "work" for the moment.

Some People

I am on the mend after nearly a full week of being sick. It is a rare thing for me- as we all know moms don't have "sick leave" and I have been blessed with really good health. Thanks for the well wishes, people.

So a couple days ago a good friend did something for me that really made my day, and even more than that, reminded me of how blessed I am. Just getting through the day on "lesser-capacity mode" I had yet to think of dinner. My sweet DH had been making meals all week while caring for me. A knock came at the door, and wow! Here was this friend with an armload of food (vegetarian food, nonetheless--yes, I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian) and a smile. This woman drove 20 minutes in the snow to bring this food to me! I couldn't believe it, but then again I could. Some people.

Some people have many generous thoughts . . . and they follow through with them. I recently fell in love with this quote:

"Never suppress a generous thought."

~Camilla Kimball, wife of Pres. Spencer W. Kimball

So to this friend- thanks for reminding me of how beautiful service is. I often think I need to plan ahead, coordinate, make sure it is needed, cover the bases before I act on a generous thought. I needed the reminder that service doesn't have to be so planned out. Your gesture made me want to jump up and do something nice for a bunch of people. It reminded me to call a neighbor who has been experiencing a difficult pregnancy. It reminded me to tell my children about how wonderful people are. You are some person! Thank you.

T'is the Season

. . . and we are not quite ready for Christmas, but that's okay. This has been our busiest season yet as far as photos and cards go. We're officially done taking orders for Christmas cards (and our family cards are finally off to print!) I am now taking a few moments to enjoy the beauty of the season too. You may notice the new blog header (with snow-t-rex and snow-baby . . . we had a blast playing in the snow last week!)

I'm still trying to meet my goal of 100 posts before the end of the year. I thought I would add some photos from the past week of interesting textures, colors and elves. :)

{Have you ever seen such darling elves? S. did a great job in her program . . . she didn't have a problem finding me in the audience . . . I was the mom with the huge lens in front of her face.}

{Mr. Snow Rex survived the night despite severe cracking at the base of his tail. He actually lasted nearly a week before he toppled over!}

{"Mom! Come see the train!"}

{Innocent baby brother}

{"Don't ruin my train!!" ~ A. attempts to thwart M's efforts to displace her toy arrangement.}

One quick story: A couple of days ago we decided to pick up some fast food for dinner at Burger King. Usually DH drives and I distribute food to the family from the passenger seat. For some reason, I was in the driver's seat this night. I snacked on french fries while K. proceeded to pass food to the kids and to eat his Whopper and such. He complained several times that his burger didnt' didn't taste right, like it had some weird sauce on it . . . or something. Perhaps it tasted weird because he had a cold? He finished it off and then looked through the paper sack again. To his surprise, he found an extra burger. I said, "No, that one is my garden burger." (I am a vegetarian and have been since I was about 3 years old). Then at the same time we both burst out in laughter, as we realized he had eaten my veggie burger (all the while thinking it was a whopper-gone-bad.). So I ate his whopper (minus the meat patty) and he thinks we're even now. (If you count eating a veggie burger as punishment enough for eating someone else's dinner!) :)

Cowgirl Portraiture

Tonight {this morning?} I was feeling creative and apparently was having enough fun to forego sleeping and here are the results . . . my little cowgirl, taken from a photograph of my dd. I created this oil painting via corel painter and my wacom tablet . . . and I think I have just rediscovered a love for oil painting!


Some of you may know that my degree is in art education. I taught junior high art and photography for a few years, and have been a mural artist for the past 10 years. I only took one oil painting class in college and honestly didn't fall in love with the mess, the long time oils take to dry, the fumes, the clean-up. Needless to say, my murals are all painted with water-based acrylic. My DH enjoys painting once in a while and prefers oil to acrylic, but not me.

Until now. {Here's a close up of the texture and blending}

So I can't wait to create my next portrait! I had never installed this program until tonight. As an artist, I am surprised at how intuitive this program is. I really created this image in the same sequence that I would a 3-d painting. It takes quite a bit of time, and many layers are involved. There isn't a magic button or setting to create a realistic oil painting . . . that is why the process was so rewarding for me. I think I may have this one printed on canvas masonite! I'll let you know how it works out!

{I kept her face on the smooth side and the background/ bandana pop with a bold texture. Does she pass the test?}

Harvest Collection Givaway

Happy Autumn! Announcing a fun givaway for anyone who loves free stuff!!

If you would like your name put in a drawing to win your choice of (1) of my limited edition harvest collection art prints, add a comment to this post. With your comment, please designate the art print which you hope to win (by number) before noon on Thursday!!

I will post the winner's name on my blog Thursday after 12:00 MST. The winner is to email me with an address and I will ship your FREE, signed art print to you. Choose from the following 9 art prints:

Harvest Fresh

A collection of my favorite fall pictures- makes me want to grab a mug of hot cocoa and some fuzzy warm socks. I am loving fall- though it does make for a bit of a challenge when it comes to unpredictable weather and scheduling photo shoots!

{A's reaction to her first try at cotton candy: "I think I will save this for later." After I convinced her it wasn't sweet dryer lint, she ate it up and requested more.}

{M- king of all shuffleboard for tots. Lovin' the scarecrow festival!}

{I think I would like to start a collection of photographs of cool doors, door knobs, locks, etc. Perhaps I'll start with this one . . .}

Noisy as a Firetruck

One day I felt the need to go out on a photo journey and find something unique to photograph. This firetruck caught my eye, and I asked the owner if I could snap a few pictures of it. He offered to let me sit behind the wheel (which I did) and he told me about all of the truck's features. He was planning to restore it to a state of firetruck splendor--I personally loved the old worn parts and the character of rusty, painted metal. Here she is . . .

{I used a PS action on these photos which mimics the effects of using a lomo camera. It really enhances the deep colors and vintage look of these photos!}

Sweetness in a Silver Dish

From today: two little redheads & a blondie. You may recall them from an earlier post. Baby E. has the most incredible blue eyes, they are piercing. Enjoy browsing!

{baby sleeping soundly in a . . . silver dish? I do love the light streaming in from the sunny window. What do you think?}

{Snuggly. Soundly. Sweetly.}

{Three sisters: you can see how close they are. You know that they are there for each other. You know they love being sisters.}

{This image really speaks to me. I am caught up by her intense gaze, yet it is peaceful and calm. I love her beautiful eyes.}

Answered Prayers

I pray often. Sometimes out loud, sometimes a whisper prayer. At times, a silent prayer. And today, all of the above. Sometimes, it is a simple prayer in my heart. When I have a deep concern for someone I find myself alternating between being focussed and distracted--going through a gammut of feelings and emotions: hope, concern, gratitude, joy, relief, sadness, love--then I must accomplish a task and for a moment my silent prayer must wait.

Today I could not stop thinking about this handsome little baby. At five weeks old, and he has spent all but two weeks in the hospital. For the past couple of days he has been the focus of my prayers, along with many others who are truly rallying around his family. He is the son of a friend in the neighborhood, and I have been humbled by just how many people want to reach out and help in some way. I know he is in the thoughts and prayers of many.

So tonight, I made arrangements to go and visit baby H. & his mom at the hospital--camera in tow (of course). I felt that photographing him today was one of the best things I could do (second to praying for him) . . . here are a few photos I'd like to share with his mother's permission:

{proof that prayers are answered: baby H. resting peacefully tonight.}

{I am so inspired by this determined little guy- barely older than a month and has already undergone 6 or 7 surgeries. He keeps on going, despite setbacks and emergency operations and more surgeries in the future, he still keeps on going.}

{I think I know where H. gets a good dose of his resillience from . . . his mama. As I looked through the photos from tonight, her happy countenance really struck me. She still finds joy, even through all she has been through this week alone (her baby had 4 surgeries this week!) J- your example means a great deal to me.}

To baby H:

{Hold on kiddo. You'll get through this. You'll be stronger than ever. Miracles do happen, and they have happened for you. Miracles will continue to happen. Prayers have been answered, and they have been answered for you. We pray for you.}

* Today was another day that reminded me why I am a portrait photographer-there is so much love and human emotion out there, just waiting to be captured through the lens and into the heart.

Please say a little prayer for baby H.

A little about me . . .

I am happily married the "boy next-door" ands we are parents to three beautiful children (as you can see, even their toes are gorgeous!).

I come from a family of artists: painters, furniture designers, musicians, actors, screenwriters, photographers, architects and teachers. (Yes, my family is that big! 9 kids in all). I am passionate/ obsessed about all things creative. I have been blessed with an abundance of opportunities to utilize my creative energy!

I must admit, I have been bitten by the blog bug. I have recently been inspired by several enlightening and worthwhile blogs and have finally decided to join in on the fun. I make no guarantees as to whether reading my ramblings will add to your life or even your day. I hope you will be pleasantly surprised, and if anything at least the photos will add a little interest. :)

So visit often, share your thoughts, and we'll see where this takes us . . .