Snow.

Man, Alabama has been hit with more snow this season than I have seen since we moved here three years ago. It's been kind of wild, but I have appreciated all of the opportunities I've had to practice on some snow pictures. I can't wait to get a macro, (I think I've said that before a few times) but for now, these will have to do. If the weather keeps up though, I may have to actually invest in a shovel. :)

Self Portraits

I've been wanting to update my profile picture fro a while, which meant it was time for a self-portrait photo shoot. It was fun, frustrating and a little weird. Fun, because I love taking pictures. Frustrating, because I get to see a lot of not so great shots. (Do I really have that many wrinkles already? Where did they come from!?) Also, I don't have a remote yet, (have one coming in the mail!) so getting my focus just right was tricky. Weird, because not only did I do the shoot in my living room in front of a huge window for all to see, but because during the editing process I was working on my own face and it just felt kind of strange. Nevertheless, It is done and here are the results. I'd love to hear which one you all think I should use for my profile!

Scrunchy

A few from my home

I often have the dilemma of where to post some of the pictures I take. Right now, the photography season is slow, so with no clients work to post, I have more time to spend on family shots, but I like to add most of them to my family blog. Occasionally, I find a few that I love enough to want to post here. I like to post new things I've tried on this blog. These pics are of my third son trying to get his shirt on. He looks like a donkey! He though it was pretty funny when the shirt got stuck. The last two are my daughter. She is feeding popcorn to her oldest brother in the first, and playing the tub in the second. I actually added that one to my family blog as well. I'm loving photoshop and RAW still. Can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can head outside again!

Which way?

Do any of you ever go to edit a photo, and find that you like the same one edited more than one way? It happens to me on a regular basis! This morning I have been editing a picture I took of my daughter last night. You'll see it below. The light from our west facing kitchen window was shining on her face, and it captured one beautiful eye open. The expression on her face is so true to the age of a baby slightly squinting at the sun, wondering what makes it so bright. I instantly fell in love with it. The problem is I can't tell if I like it with the natural orange hues of the setting sun, or in black an white. What do you think?

I have a few other random shots I liked from yesterday. Some banana's, our pet fish who is already two years old, my sweet boys, and my baby trying to maneuver into a chair. She has chocolate on her lips. I love photography!

RAW

I am now officially shooting in RAW and I will never go back. I absolutely love the ability it gives me to manipulate my photo's! Wow. How did I go so long? Here are a few of my very first RAW images. My subject? My four year old playing the new Wii we got for Christmas. He is in heaven!

Can't look away.

Random Shots

I'm just now getting used to my new Mac computer. I have the real Photoshop now, so I've been messing with it all week and wanted to post a few random shots I've taken. I've been trying to look around and open my eyes to little things that would make cool pictures lately. I want to train my mind to see ore artistically because it's not something I think that comes very naturally to me. I was pretty happy with these shots though!

Driving home from dropping my son at pre-school I noticed this tree root pulled out along the side of the road. I'm glad I stopped then, because today as I drove past the same spot, a big truck was scooping it up to haul away.

Huntsville was hit with a few freezing days of ice and snow last week. My husband and son noticed this bush outside our house for me to shoot.

I noticed the cool patterns of these pencil shavings while sharpening my pencil the other day.

These next shots will either make you say, "awwww....or ewwww." After my three year olds bath the other day I caught a glimpse of his wrinkley toes and had to grab my camera! I used my new hot-shoe flash for these shots. I'm still learning how to use it. Any suggestions out there on how to get crystal clear shots with your hot-shoe?

The rest of Utah!

And finally, here are the rest of my favorite Utah portraits. These are all members of my very large family and I love them all! I've got some pretty cute family don't I?

Some beautiful nieces......

A fun little Nephew........

My big brother and his family.......

Another brother and best friends little kids.........

Ella Bella......

Sister-in-law/best friend......

Another little nephew!

Phew, I'm tired!