The -M- Family {Photoshoot}

Last week I finally got to meet my newest second cousin, Emmy. And boy was she a doll. Those big blues eyes could captivate anyone. Addison was just smitten with Emmy, Kason was more interested in his bike, but that's a typical brother for you!

Here are a few of my favorites from their session:

Kason was upset that he didn't get to hold Emmy!

So much love <3

The -B- Family {Photoshoot}

After seeing her sister Tracey's pictures, Tina immediately contacted me and asked if I would take pictures of her and her family- and of course I agreed! We met on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I watched their little family's personality come to life in front of my camera.

Olivia's inquisitive personality really shined through during the shoot. And although Patrick remained pretty serious, mom and dad were able to get that handsome smile out of him. The love this family shares is evident, and I'm so glad that I was able to catch some of that love on film. Enjoy some of my favorites!

The B Family {Photoshoot}

I was so happy that when I approached Tracey to let me practice using my camera on her family, she gladly agreed! The Bower family was a joy to work with. Their natural smiles and love for each other were evident from the first picture I took. The way Tracey and Matt looked at Luke brought a smile to my face. This family has been through so much lately, so I was glad I was able to capture them sharing smiles, laughter, and love. Even though Luke got a little restless by the end of our shoot and we didn't get to do a few poses we had wanted, I think I can call my first photo shoot a success!

So here are a few a lot of my favorites. If you can't tell, I had a hard time deciding which ones I liked the best! Enjoy!

 What a doll! This boy will be breaking some hearts for sure when he grows up. 

There's nothing like a mother's love <3

All smiles for dad! Matt was always able to bring a smile to Luke's face.

I couldn't resist on this one! The wind had his hair blown up so cute, and then this facial expression. Picture perfection.  

I'm still looking to shoot more families, couples, or kids to build up my portfolio. If you're interested, let me know! 

THE Camera

This camera. I've only been wanting one for about 3 years, but the price of committing to a camera, lens(es), editing software, tripod (trust me, this list could go on forever) has been holding me back. Until one day Eric told me he wanted a four wheeler. This is perfect, I thought. I'll let him get the four wheeler if he lets me buy my camera. This plan will never work, but it's worth a shot. The next thing out of Eric's mouth was that I could get my camera! To say I was excited was an understatement. 

I stalked my emails for the shipping confirmation, then impatiently waited for my gear to arrive. In the meantime, I googled everything I could think of on how to operate a DSLR camera on manual mode. I printed out cheat sheets, shortcuts, and helpful tips  When the UPS man finally knocked on our door, I'm sure he heard me let out a little squeal as I went to open it. 

Isn't she a beauty?

I immediately strapped a lens on and went outside to start taking pictures. I frantically searched through my binder of papers all neatly organized by topic to figure out what settings I needed to get the perfect picture. After much trial and error (including some all white and all black pictures) I finally began getting some great shots- at least in my mind!

I ran back in to try out the photo editing software on my favorite pictures. Just using basic controls on the software, I was able to edit my pictures to ones I am proud of. I can't wait to see what my pictures can look like once I really learn how to use the software!

Here's a few of my favorites from my photo shoot with Bailey and Cassie: 

Our big girl!

The ball of energy. 















Rare moment of relaxation.















And one last one of a scenic shot. I just figured out how to get rid of power lines, so I might try to redo this one to take out the power lines. But I loved how the sky turned out!





















With any new thing comes practice. So if you'd allow me to practice on your kids, your family, your pet bird, I would be grateful :) Just hit me up!