Wishin' and hopin'...

We were at the lake over Memorial Day weekend.  We took a walk and found lots and lots and lots of wishes.   

For you photography peeps out there, I found these to be tricky and I'm still pondering ways to perfect the shots.  I shot in manual with a low aperture so I'd get the nice background, and a fast enough shutter speed to {kind of} stop the action.  I focused on the flower, which proved to be harder than it might sound....my kids move a lot...and I mean A LOT!  

So, here's my commentary on these shots.  I know you don't care, and I'm perfectly okay if you stop reading right now!  

I like the coloring on the picture of Luke.  We just happened to be in a lot of tall grass when I snapped that one.  I caught the clearest little wispy things on that shot too.

I love the focus on Peter's little hands and the blurred movement in that picture.   In hindsight, I wish I would have had him take off his sweatshirt...too many different greens.

In the picture of Natalie, I love the crisp, sharp focus on the flower and her sweet hands.  I opted to show you this shot because, in all of the pictures where she was trying to blow the flower, the only action I "stopped" was the spit flying out of her mouth.  Yuck!

Overall it was a fun challenge for me, and the kids love making wishes!  Give it a try and let me know what secrets you come up with!

Family pictures...

Aren't family pictures fun?  Spending weeks trying to decide what everyone is going to wear.  Do you go matchy-matchy, or coordinating, or give up and just let everyone wear their jammies?   Scheduling around school schedules, nap schedules and work schedules.  Trying to transport 3 children to the picture location without them wrinkling, ruining, or spilling on their picture clothes.  Really, really, really F*U*N!

BUT, despite all of that, I  do love pictures of our kids and family.  And while I am a photography enthusiast, and sometimes get "wall worthy" photos, I book a session with a professional at least once a year.  Then I get to sit back, relax, covet admire their camera and lenses, and let them do the work to capture great moments.  And double bonus, I actually appear in some of the pictures!  

Here are just some of my favorite shots from our session.

This year we hired the brilliant Alicen Lum to take our pictures.  As crazy as it may sound, I picked up her card at Baskin and Robbins after a T-ball game last spring.  Her card was gorgeous, and when I checked out her website, I was blown away.   She's fun, calm, and excellent with kids (she has two young ones herself).  On top of taking amazing photos, she also edits and then gives you a DVD with all of your pictures.  Can anyone say Christmas card photo?!?!   A few weeks after our photo shoot we realized that we have kids in the same preschool class.  What a small world.

For those of you that are wondering, NO I am not paid to advertise for Alicen.  But, she is excellent and worth every penny!  I like to give credit, where credit is due!  And, when I find someone/something that I like, then I want to share it!   If by chance you do book a session with her, let her know that I recommended you...maybe she'll give me a prize...kidding!