winter wonderland

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?


Shopping done?

Cookies baked?

My to-do list is getting pretty short, which is nice because it leaves me with plenty of time to complain about the weather.

Regardless of what you've heard, sub-zero temperatures aren't as glamorous as they sound.


Winter does have an occasional up-side though, and a snowy, wintery scene was the perfect backdrop for the fun Christmas session I had last year with one of my darling 2013 seniors.


This is one of my favorite sessions to date, and I love that my girls are always willing to go the extra mile and brave a little frostbite to make my visions come to life.

Montana girls? You are awesome.


This particular beautiful Montana girl makes my job especially easy. I just point my camera in her general direction and the magic seems to happen all on its own.


And don't even get me started on those eyes. Beyond gorgeous.


I'm already starting to daydream a bit about my upcoming senior season. It will be a bit of a re-building year, as I lost my word of mouth momentum by taking this last year off.


But ultimately, I think that is a good thing. That time off let me re-evaluate what I truly want my business to be and how I want it to fit into my life. I tend to let my business run my life, but that is no longer how it's going to happen around here. I struggle to say no. I'm a pleaser. Cancer is pretty sucky in most ways, but it's awesome for changing your perspective and your priorities.


All I know is that I love to create beautiful art through my photos. That's what gives me joy.

So here's my 2014 business plan.

Keep the Joy - Get rid of the stress.

That's it.

Think my accountant will approve?


Here's wishing you a less stress, more joy Wednesday everyone!

because I love a good stereotype

When you know a darling redhead.

And you have a green dress.

Why would you even consider thinking outside the box when you've got a hankering for some St. Paddy's day pictures?


Our corned beef and cabbage dinner will have to wait though, because corned beef and cabbage is the first meal on a very long list of meals requested by this fella, and word has it he just might be boots on the ground right here on the farm by the end of this week.

Between his homecoming meals, and the meals my youngest has on his list before he goes to boot camp in June, I think I'll be in the kitchen for the next three months.


But for now, I'm off to search for a Blarney Stone to kiss.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

happy valentine's day!

I don't get to spend the day with my Number One Valentine, or any of my Junior Valentines, but I do get to spend it with almost every other blood relation I've got on this planet, and that's the next best thing. My parents, my sibs, my nieces, and my single solitary nephew who has yet to acknowledge that I am his favorite auntie.

He's stubborn that way, but I'm wearing him down.


We are all smack in the middle of one big, long walk down memory lane and we've been having us some fun.


I've been sleeping like a rock, camped out on an air mattress on my niece's floor. We've been having a Jane Austen movie marathon every night, as well as a puzzle assembly marathon. To top it all off, she brings me coffee in bed every morning, so there's a good chance I may never go home.


The timing of this trip couldn't be better, as I am currently on the run from the law. The clothing boutique I take pictures for needed some Valentine shots, and I feel confident that it is considered child endangerment to have a very sweet teen-age girl spend her Saturday morning laying on a cold, concrete sidewalk in temperatures that would make a polar bear cry.

If/when they catch up with me, I'm hoping the judge is a woman, as I'm planning to offer her a pair of these cute aqua shoes in exchange for a light sentence.


Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

lessons learned

Remember how I just got through telling you that my youngest was a very annoying reluctant model?


We've talked about this before, but it never ceases to amaze me. Add a girl to the mix, and everything changes.

Aren't they adorable?

As I've been cleaning up my computer hard drive and transferring photos off my laptop, I've come across many pics from the beginning of my photography journey. It's made me think about some of the things I've learned about photographing people over the last couple years.

Some things sunk in pretty quick. Others, not so much.

I know that quite a few of you are new owners of your first big girl camera, so I thought I'd share a few of the lessons I've learned along the way. I'm going to assume that many of you are just like me.....easily befuddled by anything even remotely technical.

Learned Lesson Number One:

Probably the most important thing that I learned right off the bat is to manually use my camera's focal points to focus on my subject's eyes. Now, I always use manual selection to choose my focal point....I never let my camera choose it for me. Every one of the photographers that I admired back when I was desperate for tips stressed just how important it is to have the eyes tack sharp, and if your subject is positioned at an angle, focus on the eye closest to you.

So, that was my number one concern when I set out to take a portrait. I learned to change my focal points without looking at my camera, and soon, I was able to to do it without even thinking about it.

That brought me to my next, somewhat quickly learned lesson.

Learned Lesson Number Two:

If your shutter speed is too slow, that tack sharp eye won't be tack sharp.

I know. Duh.

I had and still have many, many duh moments.

When I was learning to use my camera in manual mode, there were so many things to think about and keep track of. My shutter speed was often too slow for hand holding my camera, and my pictures were blurry. Not blurry enough to see on the back of my camera, but when I'd transfer them to my computer, I was very bummed. Those eyes I'd so carefully focused on were not sharp at all, and I couldn't figure out why. I finally thought to check my file information and realized my slow shutter speed was the culprit.

So, these days, the first thing I do in any location is set my aperture and ISO to ensure that my shutter speed is fast enough to handle any slight movement made by either me or my subject.

For some of you, this is probably a given. For me, it was not. Nothing was a given when I was starting out. Except maybe taking off my lens cap. Of all the variables that come along with manual photography, I at least had that one down from the start.


For me, it's easy to focus more on what I don't know. I still have so much to learn. I can visit the blogs of amazing photographers and quickly feel that I will never get to where I want to be.

So, while it's always good to be looking for that next skill to conquer, that next amazing technique to master, don't forget to occasionally take a look back and see how far you've come.

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

kayla

About two and a half years ago, I decided I wanted to really get serious about my photography, and specifically photographing people. Photographing people seemed much harder for me than photographing landscapes and flowers.

So, I needed to practice, and practice a lot.


At that particular time, I had only one model at my disposal on a regular basis.

You've met him before, but here's a reminder just in case you've forgotten.


These three pictures are a great representation of what I got whenever I could convince junior to let me practice my portrait photography.

He made me pay, and he made me pay big.

In case you're wondering, it's totally possible to be furious with someone while laughing hysterically at the same time.

However, angry laughing aside, after this particular shoot (which followed on the heels of several other similar shoots) I was pretty bummed. I needed a willing model who would actually behave themselves if I wanted any chance of getting better.

Kayla has been buddies with my youngest since grade school, and I'm surprised I didn't think of calling her sooner.

Like, before I'd pulled all my hair out and pinched my charming boy black and blue.

Over the next couple years, Kayla was game to model absolutely any time I had a whim to get my camera out.


Kayla was instrumental in my decision to start my small senior photography business.

And my son was instrumental in my decision to make my senior photography business for girls only.

Before I knew it, it was time for Kayla's senior pictures. We wanted to do something very fun and different. She knew she wanted flowers floating in the water and she knew she wanted pink, and we both wanted it to be soft and ethereal and dreamy. So we grabbed a boat and every fluffy, soft and cushy pink thing we could find and set out to create our floating photo vision.


I have to give a huge shout out to Kayla's mom, Tamsen. The boat had a mind of its own and Tamsen got a major workout making it cooperate.


Kayla, on the other hand, did not get any form of workout at all. I think she almost fell asleep several times. In fact, we could barely get her out of the boat when we were done, and who could blame her. Given the opportunity, I don't think I would have ever left that pillow filled, floating photo prop myself.


The pictures turned out just as we hoped.

A girl, almost grown, dreaming about all her future holds.

Dreaming about all the possibilities.

Dreaming about her life ahead.

Dear Kayla,

Thank you.

Thank you for letting me practice.

Thank you for helping me get better.

Thank you for being so fun.

Thank you for sending all your friends my way.

Thank you for being you.

Best wishes in everything you do and everywhere you go.

Love you!
Teresa

the picture dump continues

More shop pictures. These clothes flew out the door. Poof! All gone within days of the photos going up on the wall.


Lauren and Kelsi are bff's and they were hilarious. We had a ball.

An accessory shot. This darling girl was twelve years old when I took these pictures. Whatever happened to the gawky, awkward stage?!


My adorable niece in the herb garden. This is one of the few times she saw fit to make eye contact with my camera. You've got to be on your toes when you photograph a princess!


This was not as easy as you'd think. I desperately needed an assistant to blow the bubbles, but no such luck. I'd blow the bubbles, drop the wand, grab my camera and hope for the best. We finally, finally got a decent shot. Katie is practically flying through the air to catch the bubble. The outtakes are priceless.


Stella and Ceili....sisters. I love the back lighting in these shots. Back lighting rarely works for me, but mastering the technique is going to be a major focus for me this next year.




I'm getting there! A few more recipes to share and the photo dump will be complete.

Happy Thursday!

wanna go to prom with me?

I've mentioned before that I occasionally take photos for a cute little boutique in my town.

This time last year, we desperately wanted to do a shoot to promote the store's formal wear, as now is the time the girls start shopping for prom dresses.

However, try as we might, it's pretty hard to make the Montana winterscape look anything like the springtime prom wonderland we wanted for the photos.

This year, we thought ahead and scheduled our prom shoot early last fall, before Montana descended into its dreary winter bleakness.


If this picture looks a bit familiar, it's because I stole it from the cutest bride and bridesmaids ever. If memory serves, one of the bridesmaids came up with the idea and it's one of my very favorite shots of the girls.


As you can see, we had fourteen different kinds of fun, and I already have plans brewing for next year's shoot.

Thanks girls! You are the prettiest prom princesses ever!

I'll be back tomorrow with more photos from the archives, as the great computer hard drive clean-up of 2012 continues.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

so it has come to this

I'm photographing fruit.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I actually set out to photograph a homemade snowflake marshmallow, floating in a cup of creamy hot chocolate. I made the hot chocolate, filled the cup, put the marshmallow in a baggie in my pocket, grabbed my camera, and headed out my back door into the first big snowfall of the year.

I nestled the cup in freshly fallen snow and then proceeded to accidentally dunk half the marshmallow in the hot chocolate.

Now, bear in mind that my hot chocolate/snowflake marshmallow photo vision did not include my pristine white marshmallow being covered in brown hot chocolate. In my hot chocolate/snowflake marshmallow photo vision, the snowflake stayed pristinely white, floating dreamily atop the steaming cup of hot chocolate, its edges slightly melty, but not so melty that you couldn't tell it was a snowflake. Just that perfect, blend the edges amount of melty.

But, here I was with a half white, half brown snowflake marshmallow. I tried to be open minded and proceeded to dunk the entire marshmallow in the hot chocolate in hopes that I could convince myself that brown is the new white, but I'm not gonna lie.

It wasn't pretty.

You can see my dilemma.

I decided to grab the marshmallow out and take it into the house and rinse it off in the sink.

Good plan, yes?

No.

The snowflake was already well on its way to melty, as I'd made the hot chocolate screaming hot because I knew I would be setting it in the snow, thereby potentially hindering its marshmallow melting capabilities.

See how well I plan out my photo shoots?

I bet right about now you're all wishing you could just spend a little quality time in my head.

It's a fun place.

So, since the marshmallow was disintegrating, and rinsing it off in the sink was no longer a viable option, I did what every single one of you would have done, and I tried to lick the chocolate off the top of the marshmallow.

(Don't even try to say you wouldn't have licked the marshmallow.)

Now is probably a great time to survey the audience to see how well you all think that plan worked.


You may be wondering why I didn't just go in the house and grab another marshmallow.

I didn't grab another marshmallow because I only made one snowflake marshmallow. I only made one snowflake marshmallow because it is very difficult to get snowflake marshmallows out of snowflake cookie cutters and still retain the snowflake details. In reality, my marshmallow looked more like a starfish than a snowflake, which I am going to choose to blame on the snowflake cookie cutter instead of the snowflake marshmallow maker.

As you can see by the absence of hot chocolate/snowflake marshmallow pictures, the photo shoot was a total bust, and I ended up standing in the snowstorm, drinking the hot chocolate and licking marshmallow goo off my fingers.

Drinking hot chocolate in the snow may sound dreamy and wonderful, but as I was mad and muttering naughty words in between sips, the whole winter wonderland thing was a little lost on me.

By the way, do I win a prize for using the words snowflake and marshmallow more than five hundred times in a single post?


Okay, since I love you too much to send you off to your weekend with nothing more than slightly lame pictures of citrus and a post about licking a marshmallow, I'm going to share my latest photography discovery with you.

I've always struggled with white balance. I've never been happy with any of the white balance settings (cloudy, shade, etc.), so I've always left my white balance on auto and done my best to adjust the color in Photoshop. Not the best option, by far.

A couple months ago, I hired a photography teacher to help me with a few uber technical photography related things that I wanted to better understand. We also talked about my white balance dilemma, and he showed me how to use a white balance card to correct my photos in post processing.

The top picture shows how my camera took the clementine picture on the auto white balance setting. It was a snowy, gray day, and the lighting was very cold. You can see the heavy blue cast in the picture.


Normally, I would have to warm up the photo in Photoshop in order to get the colors right, but by placing the white balance card in one of my photos, I am able to click the Camera Raw white balance tool on the white balance card in the photo, and Camera Raw then makes the adjustment for the right white balance. I can then synchronize all the other photos taken in those same lighting conditions to that white balance setting.

Clear as mud?

That's what I thought.

I use Photoshop CS5, so I'm not sure if the Elements versions have this feature, but I'm loving the little bit of help it's giving me in color correcting my photos.

So, I'm going to spend my weekend trying to find something more exciting than an orange peel to photograph.

Perhaps rocks.

Or dirt.

Hope your weekend is fabulous!

say goodbye to yester-year

Happy New Year's Eve, my friends!

We'll have a houseful of teenagers tonight, so my hubby and I are going to ring in the New Year by eating pizza, (hopefully there will be some left after the youngsters have at it), watching The Help, and desperately trying to stay awake until midnight so we (my hubby, actually) can chauffeur the gang home. Most of them have their driver's licenses, but the last thing I feel comfortable doing is sending them out on the crazy, drunken New Year's Eve roads.

The girls want to make a wish on the dock at midnight, and I can't wait to see how many boys end up participating in that. Apparently, there's also been talk of sprinkling glitter as they make their wishes.

I love it!

My son is not as enthused, but the sooner the better to learn that when your girlfriend wants to sprinkle glitter.....you'd best sprinkle you some glitter.

So, how about you all?

Champagne and fancy dresses?

Or maybe p.j.s and hot chocolate are more your style.

I'd love to hear what you're doing to welcome 2012.

Cheers to the year ahead!

girls only

A while back I mentioned that I was going to be taking senior pictures for some of the girls from our local high school.

I ended up photographing a total of eleven girls, and it was truly one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done.

Almost all of the girls go to school with my youngest, so I've watched some of them grow up since their grade school days.

It's so hard to believe that they are all going to be heading out into the big world in just a matter of months!


I happened to know that D'Aarion had a pretty pink prom dress in her closet, so a few days after we did her senior pictures, I texted her to see if she wanted to help me make my balloon dream come true.

We found the perfect field, and fought off a bit of frostbite, but I love, love, love how the pictures turned out.












I've been wanting to do a dreamy summer afternoon shoot on my porch for quite a while, and Rhayn was nice enough to help me make it happen!










This is truly an amazing group of young ladies. They are beautiful inside and out, and I wish them the very best that life has to offer.

The world is waiting, girls!

I can't wait to see what your futures hold!