Work in Progress

Well! Where do I begin?? First of all, I have to apologize for not writing for a whole week, where do the days go? Second of all, the highly anticipated photo shoot of some favorite friends and their little family happened last Saturday! The reality of it all started to hit me last week, and I think that's partly why I didn't write anything. That and the fact that both my daughter and I came down with bad colds. Her first, then me, which was probably pretty inevitable since I was covered from head to toe with either what was coming out of her nose, or what was coming out of her mouth when she sneezed. Gross, I know, but you mommies know what I'm talking about. Mommies are outfitted with special non-gross-out uniforms in the delivery room. Ha.

But besides that, I was pretty consumed by thoughts of lighting, props, poses, etc, etc, I felt like I was back in High School, cramming before an exam. Yes, I was, and am still, a crammer. There is sooo much to it, and I haven't even scratched the surface yet. To top it all off, I was super disappointed because the two big white translucent umbrellas I ordered did NOT fit the same stands as my black and silver ones, EVEN THOUGH they were from the same company. Why do they not tell you this upon ordering?? I spent the night before the shoot photographing the wooden giraffe from my kitchen that has two broken ears and unusually long legs, trying to get the lighting right with my two black umbrellas. Someday I will have a camera that has an adjustable flash. But, they say it's the user not just the product, and well, this user is green.

My nose amazingly dried up just in time for Saturday afternoon, and by the time 3:30 came I was getting pretty excited. I had a plan, for once in my life, and my trusty laptop beside me to remind me of all the poses I wanted to try. And Thank Goodness for my wonderful boss, Paul, who allowed me the use of his vacation home/future retirement home. The floor to ceiling windows provided AMAZING light, and I waited till about an hour before dusk when the sun was low and just glowed through perfectly, at least for an hour. (Fox Hollow is the name of the vacation home I used. It is open for rental year-round, and I have the privilege of being the house-keeper! It's my home-away-from-home in the summer. :) The website is here. )

We got underway, and my wonderful sister-in-law, J, (an awesome photographer whose Flickr page is here. ) was good enough to be on second camera, and was excellent moral support. Her husband was good enough to help out with the kids and was even on boom-lighting. Thanks so much J & E!! And thanks to my ever-loving husband who entertained our daughter, and then the other girls, while we took shot after shot. And for not losing your head when I lose mine. ;) Thanks to the H family for being excellent, and willing subjects, I really hope you like some of the photos we took! Two and half hours of posing is not easy I'm sure.

Things I learned from this experience?
-I have a lot to learn. Ha! That goes without saying.
-I have an excellent family, and beautiful friends.
-Natural, filtered light makes for beautiful pictures!
-Children are not as difficult to pose as I expected. Babies are much harder.
-I really, really enjoy portrait photography, and I can't wait to practice outside with a plethora of natural light.

Well, I am almost done editing my shots, and I'm anxious to get them on here, but obviously I want to give my subjects the first look. I will, however, give you a little taste of what's to come..Until next time...Smile brilliantly. ;)