My Baby

I begged her to go outside ... "just a couple shots", I promised. After she groaned and carried on about how she "didn't want to!", she finally agreed to pose for "just a couple shots". Well alrighty then!!!

Six shots later (cross my heart), we were finished. She really wasn't being all that cooperative. We downloaded the pics, and, at first, I really didn't think we had anything. But sometimes, you just have to look beyond that first glance.

What I see is a beautiful little girl and I'm tickled pink with how these turned out!

Love ya, KK. xoxo ~M

Feeling Black & White

January in eastern North Carolina is pretty drab. Everywhere you look you see brown, brown, brown. Brown leaves, brown tree trunks, bare brown shrubs .... ho, hum ... Makes for some not very colorful pictures. I planted some beautiful pansies in the fall, but the deer ate them all ... sigh ... So .... I've decided to just go with the flow!

Here's Mr. R modeling some warm shades of brownish black & white. :)

Okay, okay! Maybe just a couple in color. :)

Thanks R for giving me 20 minutes, traipsing through the nasty woods, and sitting on that oh-not-so-comfy board! You're the greatest! xoxo ~M

Pound Puppies = Love

I was just itching to go outside and take some pictures today, but ... alas ..., there seems to be a bit of a slow down in the outdoor portraiture business in January. I don't understand why more people don't want to come outside in the crisp, chilly air to get their portraits made. I mean, really, it's rather refreshing! (cough, cough)

Then I saw them. Our beloved pound puppies. They'll do anything for you if you just let them out. Bless their little hearts.

Meet Gidget. We adopted her about 2 1/2 years ago. She's a bit of a handful, but we love her anyway. And isn't she an awesome model???

This guy is Elliott. He'll be 15 in April. We've had him since he was 4 months old. He's older than the cute little girl holding him! She's only 12!

I think at this point Gidget might be getting a little bored.

Despite the fact that Elliott is getting a little hard of hearing and has lost sight in one eye, he can still play like a frisky little puppy - well for a few minutes anyway. Then he conks out for several hours!!

This look right here is the one that Gidget used to worm her way into our home.

Don't look now, it's BATMAN!!!!

We wouldn't trade these guys for anything in the world. Or the cute little girl, for that matter. xoxo

Me

Have you ever taken a picture of yourself??? First you try handholding the camera and hopefully get yourself IN the viewfinder. But then, when you flip the camera around to take a peek, you about have a coronary when you discover that your nose is TWICE as big as it should be!!! WAY too close! So you run and fetch the tripod, spend forever getting that set up, looking through the viewfinder, at what??? There's nothing to focus on! So, you set the timer (thank goodness I have a remote) run and sit and fire away. Another quick peek reveals that you are now out of focus. sigh.... And, of course, you MUST do this indoors! I mean if I went outside, where I prefer to shoot, what would my neighbors think! They'd think I was off my rocker, that's what!

So, you go through the whole sit and fire, peek and gag, sit and fire, peek and gag thing over and over, until .... WAIT ... by golly I think I may just have one! And one ONLY , I might add, that's potentially acceptable. Well that is after some MAJOR editing to remove lines, wrinkles, sun spots, wrinkles, blotches, wrinkles, red eyes, oh ... and wrinkles. :)

I think maybe I'll just stay on the BACK side of the camera where I belong! :)

Troopers

First of all, I apologize in advance .... for the sheer number of photos in this post! You see it was only 25 degrees outside the day we took these pictures! And, by the time we were done, a little over an hour later, it was only 26 1/2 degrees!!!! Can you say "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

But these girls were real troopers! They did everything I asked with a smile and hardly a shiver. I, on the other hand, was freezing my hiney off!!! AND my camera was acting a little finicky, too!

But it was worth it! I love these pics! These two, Em & Em, have been best friends since 3rd grade!

I thought they deserved to see all these pictures of themselves on the blog and be able to share them with their friends. They earned it!!

Thanks Girls!!! xoxo S

Faded Beauty

She's a little bit weary. She's a little bit dusty. She's a little bit faded and rusty. She's a beauty.
I fell in love with her. I want to photograph her again.

Never Fear .....

Daisy Dog is here!!!! Is she not the cutest little dog ??? All she needs is a cape and she's ready to conquer the world!!!

Clean Up Day!

Today is clean up day! I am working on cleaning up all my image files. Copying them all off my computer and storing them away. Starting with a clean slate (so to speak) for 2008! But as I was cleaning I came across some images that I just love. They're not technically correct. Some of them are quite grainy. But, for me they represent how far I've come in such a short time. How much I've improved in the quality of my photos and a reminder of much I have yet to learn.

As I look at these photos I can remember where I started just a few short months ago, be proud of how hard I've worked and how far I've come, and be inspired to keep learning and growing in the months and years to come.