A couple of weeks ago we had a wine tasting party at the pool by our house. I took my camera over and got these shots of the event. I loved the lighting and the candles. The one of the party, I particularly enjoy the reflection off of the water. I hope to have more to upload in the coming weeks!
-Kim
What would fall be without a little baseball! My older son has opted to forgo fall soccer and do some more baseball. He just can't seem to get enough of it. I do enjoy watching him play. He isn't necessarily the best one of the field, but he has passion. It shows in his intensity and his knowledge of the game. He just seems to instinctually know what he should do. He is just so happy out on the field. These are a few shots that I took last Sunday during a double header. We were at the ball field from 11-4:30. I still don't think he was done! Enjoy!
-Kim
They are growing up. They are growing up so fast and it just makes me weepy sometimes. This year, I have a fifth grader and a second grader. It used to seem so far away, but now it is here. I have their first day of school photos. They were a challenge to take because it was raining out. But, it had to be done. My younger son was so excited about his Tony Hawk shoes and he wanted me to photograph those as well. He certainly has his own taste in clothes and shoes. My older one just will wear whatever fits and is comfy! Anyway, another year is here and well underway.
I hope to keep trying to update this fairly frequently. However, I am now working full time as a teaching assistant and going to school on Thursday evenings. Even with all of that I am hopeful to still be able to do some photo sessions as well. Have a happy labor day!
-Kim
Right now my photography is having a gallery showing at a local library. It has been VERY exciting for me and so rewarding. I have some pictures from my evening to celebrate it all.
First, we went out to dinner. I was with my family and we had a nice Italian dinner. This is me waiting for our food!
At the reception, I had so many people turn out to spend some of the evening with me. This next photos is a picture of the moms from my play group. We don't get to see each other as much as we used to since our kids are now in school.
After I was introduced, I gave a very brief speech and then my boys rushed in! It was so sweet. They came and just gave me the biggest hugs.
The curators of the gallery are incredible. They have been so helpful and gracious. I have known one fo them for a while and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the other one.
Finally, there is a shot of one of the walls in the library. It was truly and wonderful, classy night!
-Kim
Yesterday evening was a beautiful evening for a walk. We had a great time just heading out around the neighborhood and enjoying the evening air. I think the funniest thing was my younger son who was still in jedi mode from a party. They all got "jedi" gear and "light sabers". He was in his element. As we walked around he fended off anything that may have sought to destroy us. He has such a little hero attitude.
Then once the boys were in bed, I went out and tried my hand at light painting. It is a photographic technique I have always wanted to play more with. I was feeling stressed and sometime using my creative juices helps to release it. Well, I did have a ton of fun with it. I have just a couple of images that I got the rest just looked VERY weird. I will try more later and post them at another time.
Have a great day!
-Kim
My boys and I had the privilege to go on a short vacation with my parents. (Too bad my husband didn't have enough vacation time. We missed him while we were gone!) We did have a lot of fun. I got to really spend some time with the guys bonding and doing things together. Not only did we get to get away, but we got to play some miniature golf, take in a 3-D movie, and just hang on a resort where there was plenty of outside stuff to do. I had my camera along for some of it, but some of the time, I just spent with them.
I am already feeling a sadness that our summer is coming to an end. I have enjoyed the relaxed pace of life. The boys are more relaxed and so am I. They are ready to head back to school, though. They are both starting to talk about it and are ready for their friends and the structure that school schedules bring. But, for now, we will just enjoy these last couple of weeks and the great summer memories that we have made!
-Kim
Well, my baby is 7! We had a wonderful pool party with s few of his friends. I loved the little monkey plates and the cake. We had quite wonderful little luau! I did not take the underwater shot, but we did have a mom there with an underwater camera and the kids had a blast with it! I loved the one of my guy holding up 7 fingers underwater.
Enjoy!
-Kim
Just a little over a week ago, we had the pleasure of being able to go for about a 2 mile nature walk a preserve not far from our house. It was unusually cool for this time of year and there was just a the slightest drizzle falling. PERFECT for shooting some photos. The boys had so much fun walking around and looking at everything around them. We were almost able to forget about the fact that we were in a large suburban area. Here are a few of the shots that I got that afternoon. Enjoy!
-Kim
This is my nephew. He is going to be a senior this year. When we went to visit them I had the honor of doing his senior portraits. He is such a wonderful young man and I can't wait to see what life has in store for him.
He lives in a very small, old town and I loved the setting. I really enjoyed going around town and using that as a backdrop for many of the photos. I also was able to convince (o.k. demand) my two and my older nephew to put on something nice for a cousin photo. I was only given a VERY small window of time to get the photo. But, I think it turned out well. I am going to tack it into the end.
This was such a great time and I love my nephew for letting me experiment with him!
-Kim
In the photography class I took this summer, I worked on lighting. One of the weeks we were challenged to do some studio style shots. I called one of my friends and she and her family were kind enough to come and let me practice some of my lighting on her family. I absolutely LOVE this family and the girls are just awesome. They were all so great for me. I had a really hard time choosing which ones to put up here, so I am putting quite a few up. I felt bad that not a lot of the family ones turned out as I would have hoped, but there were some fun shots.
Enjoy!
-Kim
What a trip! I don't think that it is possible to go to Disney world and NOT have fun. We even hit a couple of bumps while we were down there. My mother passed out from heat exhaustion and my son had a trip to the emergency room and got stitches. Despite that, the trip was still a huge success. I am posting some of my favorite photos from the trip. If I were to post all of them, well, my blog would be full! I took over 400 photos while we were there. But, here are just some of the more exceptional ones.
It was interesting to me that the kids didn't enjoy swimming as much as they do here. But, it is hard to cool the water down in that heat that they have there. The swimming was still fun, but the water wasn't as cool as they would have liked it to be.
This next shot is the hotel we were in for part of the time. It was a very still morning when I went out to take this shot. It was interesting because it was so humid, I had to wait for my lens to defog before I could take the shot!
And, of course, we have the obligatory shot of the family in front of the castle. The fireworks were spectacular! We enjoyed that as well. They are truly amazing!
Enjoy!
-Kim
I had the extreme honor to photograph this family. I had never done a newborn shoot before and asked them if I might give it a try when their little on arrived. Sure enough, not even a week after he had been born, I was asked to come and photograph him. He is absolutely precious and was so accommodating for me. His whole family was just so in love with him and it was just heart-warming. Welcome to the world!
Even though it remains cool, it is June. The boys got to go swimming for the first time today. I didn't get many pictures because I came in on the very end of their swim time. I was still at work today. :-( Anyway, even though it was only in the upper 60's the pool was heated and the boys were having a blast!
I also got some flowers today and took a couple of shots of those. I am in a photography class again and am trying to just shoot anything I can think of. I hope you enjoy!
-Kim
I am VERY excited to have a new lens. I was like a kid on Christmas morning. However, I didn't have much time to shoot tonight. I was able to convince my 10 year old to come outside and let me shoot a few photos of him. He is so good to me that way! These are the first ones with this new camera and they are completely unedited. (well other than to put my stamp on them and shrink them to fit here!) I can't wait to do some more photo shoots with this lens!
I had the extreme pleasure of being a part of this family's celebration! The parents were having their 40th wedding anniversary celebration and wanted a large family photo as part of the festivities. They were so wonderful to work with. One of the family photos we did on a pitchers mound. The daughter and grand-daughter are softball pitchers, so it was a very appropriate setting. It was a great day for shooting and I was very excited about how these turned out. Enjoy!
-Kim
I saw all these lilacs blooming in our backyard and it just made me happy. They are our neighbors bushes that boarder our yard on one side and I just LOVE the purple blossoms. I hope you enjoy as well. (Too bad I can't put scent on the internet!)
-Kim
And, just for the challenge it presented... I did the following.
Last Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of joining a friend and her sister-in-law and their kids in a backyard photo shoot. It was so perfect out for getting some great photos. I love spring time with the green grass. There is no other green like it in the world. I love the bare feet as well. Just so casual and fun. I had a hard time picking some of my favorites, so I ended up with quite a few. They all turned out so well. Enjoy!
-Kim
Check out these blue eyes! WOW!
I went and watched my little one play some baseball last night and had fun. It is so fun to watch them play a "grown-up" game. They did get some outs, though, and all seemed to have fun. It cracked me up when they put my little guy in full catchers gear. He did not walk up to the plate, he did a stiff-legged-tin-man type walk. It was hilarious!
The moon was also coming out as the game was going on and, of course, I had to photograph it! I actually have a couple of photo sessions coming up this weekend, so I will be able to post photos from that soon!
-Kim
I never used to be much of a baseball fan. In fact, I used to find it very mundane. However, having three guys in my house who have a passion for the sport may have something to do with it. Seeing baseball through the eyes of a young child has given me a glimpse into the fascination with the sport. The power they feel when they really hit the ball and watch it go sailing. The anticipation as they run to first (or second, or third) and wonder will they make it? Will they be out? The gratification of high fives, or good games, or we'll get 'em next times... It all seems to make sense somehow. How the sport can hold such passion and awe. They have found their thrill for the day and can't wait for the next time to come.
As for me, I am just amused how small they are still. And when then put on those hats that are just a little too big for their heads, their ears stick slightly outward giving them an impish look. The wonder and joy is all there in their eyes. I don't know if I enjoy watching them play, or watching them watch the major league players play more, or if I have truly become a fan of the sport. Either way, baseball season rocks! PLAY BALL!
-Kim
