Amanda - Class of 2014

It's Amanda's turn on the blog.  We did a couple shoots this summer for her senior portraits including a fun beach shoot and another in an historic district.  She was a great model.  So excited for her to be graduating this June and heading to college. 

Colton | Children's Photography

This handsome little guy turned one!  He was so much fun to photograph.  Kept me on my toes.

Beach Shoot

I'm so proud of this girl.  Not only is she beautiful, but a hard worker.  We had a great time while in Nags Head.  Got up one morning and did this!!  So much fun!

Zion in the Spring

My husband and I were blessed to be able to visit Zion National Park during the Spring season.  I was expecting warmer weather, but we were met with a little bit of snow and ice.  It was an amazing trip.  The snow and fog and clouds made for interesting photography.  Several of these photos are new, never been published.  Yes, I'm still playing catch up! 

 

 

St. Louis Balloon Race

I revisited some photos from this past summer's balloon race. It's an annual event in St. Louis.  If you get the chance, it's a must see.

Year of Change

It's been an incredibly eventful year so far this year.  With one daughter getting married and the other graduating from high school and leaving for college, this momma isn't quite sure what to do with herself.  Empty-nest syndrome....big time!  On top of all that, we sold our home of seven years and are in the process of purchasing a new home.  I have no option but to adapt, deal with the emotions and move on.  So, to help me deal with all of these feelings, I usually find that I pour myself into something creative.  Here is a look at what I've been up to recently.

 

Touched

Spent some time at our local Botanical Garden yesterday to get in some of the last few blooms of the season. They are fading fast, but hopefully to be replaced by some fall colors soon.

 

Thought I'd try something new and give a quick tutorial on how to create the effect on this photo.

Touched

 

I use Photoshop CS5 to create all my textured photos.  First I bring my RAW files into Adobe Camera Raw and adjust for exposure, contrast, and sharpness.  Opening the file into Photoshop, I then add my textures.  In the above photo, I added a bokeh layer set to Screen at 78% opacity and then a second texture layer by Distressed Jewel set to Soft Light at 58% opacity.  I then ran an action from Paint the Moon's Photoshop Elements Set, Fresh Wonderland, called Candy Light Pop adjusting layers to desired look.  If you'd like more information on using textures and actions, visit Rita at The Coffeeshop Blog.  She's got awesome tutorials, as well, as lots of freebies. 

 

To download your free bokeh layer, visit here.  I'd love to see what you create, send a photo to Facebook.  While there, please like our page.  Thanks for stopping by.

Sugar and Spice

Baby A was almost a month old before we were able to schedule her session.  But, she was so sweet and did an amazing job. 

Fair Days

It has been years since I've been to a county fair.  Going to the Wood County Fair with my parents this year, took me back to my childhood days of 4-H, spending days showing off my little dog's obedience skills.  The sights and sounds brought a flood of memories.  We indulged ourselves on popcorn, sno cones, elephant ears, and chocolate covered frozen strawberries. Wished I'd gotten a picture of that one!  We strolled through the animal barns, reminded how awful the pigs smelled.  We watched the animal show where the cutest little jack russell terriors performed some pretty impressive tricks.