Marble Falls, Texas, Sweet Berry Farm; Stanley Family

Her smile lights up a room, his lights up hers.  They are a precious couple that have recently added a sweet little one to their family.  Some of you may remember the baby shoot that I had the EXTREME pleasure of doing just a few months ago.  Well, we decided to do some family shots this time and WHAT a BLAST we had :D

Big brother is adorable and HYSTERICALLY funny, little brother, is cute as a button and sooooo squishable.   Sunrise, the wildflowers at Sweet Berry Farm, and fall weather..... it was HEAVEN!


I LOVE capturing people in "natural" mode.  Being themselves, enjoying life, the essence of who they TRULY are.  I guess you could say I'm not your typical, studio-style, pose 'em and shoot 'em, kinda photographer.  THIS is my truest joy....

Oh Those Eyes!

I'm sure that most of you out there already know this but since I'm ALWAYS learning, when I stumble onto something or figure something out or just have the most AMAZING epiphany (lol), then I absolutely must share it with the world!  Hey, if nothing else, it helps sink the info deeper into some dark recess of my brain, hopefully not to fly out again any time soon. :)

The other day I had my friends boys hangin' out with us.  As usual (boys being boys) they had found a MASSIVE 4" slug and were messing around with it, UGH!  One of the boys asked if we dared him to put it on his face (boys!).  So, of course, we said, "YES!".  I grabbed the camera and had a blast :D  I'll share the slug image too but I must carry out my mission of sharing what happened first!

The younger of the boys wanted me to take his pic as well.  Aiming to get crisp, clear, sharp eyes, WITH catch light mind you.... on an f/1.8 (OF COURSE).... it just wasn't working out as well as I had liked.  With Jasmine running through my head, "look for natural reflectors", I realized he was facing me, facing the house, AWAY from the light.  I really didn't like the first set I had gotten, so I asked him to come back and do just ONE more :)  I had him turn to his right just a tad, toward the cement walkway (I did too) and voila!  Instant catch light, lost the shadowy bags that NO boy should have under his eyes and those gorgeous baby blues popped right out at me.

What a concept. I know these things, but seeing it happen with just the turn of a head was too cool!  Being a self-taught photographer isn't the easiest route but I do love the challenge.  He was a great sport so I didn't ask him for more or they would have been a tad crisper so this will have to do (images are SOOC).

MORAL:  "Always look for natural reflectors" (and use them!)

His eyes aren't very bright (has gorgeous ones!) and there's some icky bags.... poor kid looks like he needs some sleep!

It blew my mind to see how much of a change from turning just a few inches made!  Not to mention the better background :D

Oh YAH!  The slug :)  Can't forget the slug!

Boys!

Boys.... a whole new ball game.

I had to take just a moment and blog about my son.  He's so precious (probably not the word he would choose, lol).  He's now almost 12yrs old and growing up faster than I would like.  Every time I see a teenage boy, I wonder what Andrew will look like.  Girls change so slowly it seems while boys.... I think all it takes is the heat of one summer, TONS of food and BAM!  Grownup!  I wonder what his voice will sound like, how tall he'll be (right now, he's DEFINITELY his parents child... NOT tall), will he always be a string bean?  What about the color and texture of his hair?  What about armpit hair!?!?  Chest hair?!  Whiskers?!  I can't imagine him shaving.  Oh my... I think it's going to happen so suddenly my head will spin.  We aren't that far away from it.  I've already seen so many of his friends changing.

I'm so used to being a girl and watching my girls grow up.  It's an incredible thing to be a part of.  I told my son that sometimes boys reach a point in their lives where they don't want to give their mom's hugs, especially in public.  It's just soooo embarrassing, ya know.  I explained to him that if he EVER tried to avoid a hug from me, I'd bust him big time!  You want to know what his reaction was?  More hugs, stronger hugs, LONGER hugs than ever before!  He is a WONDERFUL kid and I'm a VERY blessed mama.

I can't say that I'll ever fully understand the desire to skateboard in any kind of weather, wrestle with a stinky friend in the dirt, fart and burp at will or dress in fatigues and have an air soft war in 100 degree weather.  But I can say, I welcome this new ball game and I can't wait to what things will look when my boy hits a homer :)

BREATHE!

I think I can finally breathe! I have completed processing my last session. This has to have been my most favorite one ever I think :D It was of Baby K. It was only the second time I've ever shot a newborn. I was so scared! I felt like I had to put on a show and be the "professional" that knows it all and is perfect. What a mistake. I totally over-promised and under-delivered. Mamma is a precious friend of mine and she's so gracious, patient and wonderful. Jasmine is correct, in this digital age, why should someone have to wait for their images? I usually ask for two weeks. If I shoot for SOOC (straight out of camera), taking my time to get it right THE FIRST TIME and not have to do all my post-processing, why..... Why should they have to wait? ESPECIALLY if it's AFTER the two week period! Yep, I know.... I HAD to watch Jasmine all 5 days. I did, I HAD to!!! It was the best thing I could have ever done! Well.... next to delivering the images when I had promised I guess. I messed up. I didn't plan right. I know that God allows me to bomb so I can learn. I just hate the whole diving from 10,000 feet and going *SPLAT* on the pavement below part. UGH! Not a pretty sight :(

Today I start over. I am scraping myself up off of that pavement, gathering my guts (ugh, bad pun I know!) and moving forward. From this day on, I will UNDER promise and OVER deliver! I want to be that person that causes people to say, "Jennnifer!?! oh MAN, she's AWESOME! Not only is she a fab photographer," (dreaming here, this is my plan, OK?!).... "Not only is she a FAB photographer, able to capture a smile like nobody's business, but she gets the job done right AND she delivers before she promised to!"

Today starts my move toward that goal. Today begins my new life (OMGoodness, like that's the name of my biz!!!! total *ahha moment*) as a NEW, BETTER, HONEST, keepin'-it-real, photographer (that breathes of course ;) .