11.17.12

more on mini’s

A few posts ago I featured a preview of mini-sessions, and as I was finishing those up and getting them out this week, I was making note of a little trend I noticed…

My favorite photos are ones wherein the personality of the subject really gets reflected.  When I already know my subject – and when they know me – that’s pretty easy.  But if I’m just a stranger with a camera, I try to spend a little time at the beginning talking and (hopefully) letting everyone get a little more comfortable.  But with a mini-session, we have 20 minutes to get in there and get it done!  So there’s not a whole lot of time to play around.  And on this particular day, I had a lot of children between the ages of 1 and 3 – in other words, prime, “Who are you and what is going on here?” staring phase.

I noticed it was in the last few minutes where those more shy little ones got playful, and you got to seem them sparkle a little bit.  (I think I need to work on getting my time down from a 17 minute warm-up!)  But I also noticed that I find something sweet in the shy pictures, too.  I like them both, and I’m happy to have a little of each.

These are a few samples of… the one on the left – first 17 minutes, the one on the right – last 3 minutes.  🙂

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11.13.12

fall afternoon by the river

I had fun on this gorgeous Saturday afternoon.  Watching the river run by, exploring the gardens, and I had a really sweet family there with me.  This brother and sister had a lot of big smiles; I had trouble figuring out which photos to use for a preview.

But I did!  Here’s a preview of their explorations:

(And my caption didn’t show up, but if you’re wondering about the expressions on the siblings of the one about half way down, where they’re holding hands by some stone steps – She’s trying to squeeze his hand as hard as she can, and is delighted.  And he, the poor guy, is trying to grin and bear it without losing photo composure.  Those are the kind, with my own family, that I enjoy looking back on the most.)

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11.12.12

working…

I’m feeling the holiday crunch these days.  I have a whoooole lot of photos to get through before it’s card season deadline time, as well as a couple of weddings, and still more shoots to go. So this past weekend I was planning to get in some good editing time.  (While not with two more families down by the Chattahoochee – which was gorgeous!  Those previews coming soon.)  But my sister through a little wrench in my plans when she suggested a get together at my parents’ house for my mom’s birthday (not that I was ignoring the birthday, I had just already celebrated with her earlier in the week.)   Since I hadn’t seen my nieces in a while, I said I would join – but also brought my work with me.  My parents’ dining room is nice and quiet, gives me more room to spread out than I have at home, and has a nice peaceful view through the windows.  My brother and sister-in-law have spent many a day and night studying there during Christmas break as grad students.  The perfect working spot!

But my sister’s no fool.  Saturday morning she pulled up something next to me at the table, and then she made herself scarce.  And that something looked like this:

 

And when that something finished her pancakes, she found a new spot to sit in.  She’s all about finding things to sit on.  And this time it was me.  So soon this was my view:

This was not exactly conducive to lightening-speed productivity.

So, since I hadn’t seen her in her Halloween costume (or any pictures – ahem, Sister, I’m looking at you here), I got her dressed and walked next door to visit our long-time neighbors.

And the other niece is getting big…

But not too big for a sucker, or for pink.

And soon they were gone, back home again.  So maybe the morning wasn’t so poorly spent, after all.

Posted in Tots,Kids,Personal
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11.05.12

Smyrna Mini Sessions

Ah, fall, it’s my favorite time of year.  Colorful leaves and blue skies, and cooler breezes bring some invigoration after the slow summer heat.  And I still get a little excited when I walk by he school supplies section in the stores.

But fall also means it’s the busiest time of year for photos!  And one reason for that is oncoming holiday season…  So, every fall I do a couple of mini-sessions for folks who are just looking for a photo for a holiday card.  This weekend I had 8 families back to back for 20 minutes each, and I’m hoping I got a workout from all the squatting and standing because I definitely indulged in some “taking it easy” for the rest of the day.  But I loved looking back over these photos.   This neighborhood is the best, and a couple of my very first clients were here.  I always have fun going back and seeing how they’ve grown – and their new additions.  Everyone is always as nice as can be, and willing to have some fun with their photo moments.

I had to go through these right away, and so a day later I have a sneak preview of all these good looking people of Smyrna…

And I need to say thanks to Brooke for setting this all up this year!  I didn’t have to do any scheduling or handling of time slots, lady took care of it all!
So Brooke, thanks for pulling this thing up off the ground.  : )

 

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11.02.12

testing…

So I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to figure out why I lose color when I upload to this blog.  I finally realized I was losing sharpness, too, and that it’s not so much a color profile issue as a resizing/site settings issue.  So, after several emails today with the ever patient Steve from ProPhoto support, I’m running a little test here with a few photos from my cousin’s wedding last weekend.   I’m aiming to keep the quality without sacrificing too much site speed; let’s see if I can find that balance…

I think it worked!  Hooray!  I’ve been trying to figure this out (the wrong) way for a long time.  Thank you, Steve, for your patience with the technology-non-inclined.  Now you know what my little brother feels like.

 

Posted in Personal,Weddings
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