Zander Turns One!

This was my first photo shoot with my awesome I'minlovewithmy 7D. I've been taking pictures of Zander since he was in the belly. His mama, Beth, is my friend and she does photography as well. She is my assistant when I do weddings and she let me use her living room for photo shoots for a year because my rental, with it's brown walls, cast an orange tint on everything. We don't need babies that look like they got a fake tan!

In return for her kindness I've been helping her get pictures of Zander... because it can be really hard to take photos of your own kid!

Zander is such an awesome little boy and he's always been so good during photo shoots for me! He was a little distracted this time but Beth eventually started singing "Everybody's Got a Water Buffalo" from VeggieTales and that got his attention. Boy loves his VeggieTales!

Here is Zander... big one year old already!

(We were attempting to use a reflector... for the first time... I think I need some more practice with that haha!)

I'm kind of obsessed with black and white if you can't tell. I just like it. A lot.

We decided to put Beth in some photos...

And that's that! Zander is one now so I won't be doing photos of him every few months anymore. But it was a ton of fun and I really like working with Beth. :)

Photography Tip... Real Smiles

It's no secret that I love photography! And today I am going to share a really simple tip with you... getting real smiles out of people. It's a small thing that will make a huge difference in photos.

So... you are at your location and you have your "model" right where you want them and all set to go but they have on a fake smile. You can tell because it doesn't reach their eyes. The eyes will reveal a lying smile every time.

How do you move them from fake smile to real smile?

Well... I do a lot of talking throughout the shoot. I ask questions to get to know the person. I tell stories that I hope will make them laugh. The point is trying to get them to a place where they are a little more relaxed.

But I still have to get that smile to reach their eyes when they are posing for the photo.

With kids it's a little more difficult.

The first step (with kids and adults!) is to always have your camera ready so you don't miss that real smile moment. I always take one with the forced smile and check that my settings are right. I want to be ready when that real smile comes!

For kids it might take a while but I try to find that thing that will get them to drop the "cheeeese" smile and give me something real. It might be a joke. Or sometimes I have them make a silly face and that often has them laughing when they are done. With my kids I like to ask them what something is that they think is funny... for the longest time their answer was "UNDERWEAR!!" But it got me those smiles that reached the eyes!

Adults are often quite a bit easier. The thing that works best for me, believe it or not, is taking the picture of the fake smile and then simply saying "Ok, this is looking real great but we have to get a real smile here!" or "We have to do something about that fake smile!" Something about that seems to make them do a small chuckle and it sends the smile right to their eyes! It's not always a huge smile, which is very much ok... we just need to see that their eyes match their mouth. :)

This is Liza's fake smile... obviously the one you DON'T want!

 

This is much better! (Still not quite what I want though... but hey... when working with kids you take what you get!)

The eyes are super important when doing portraits like this! Don't forget to check them and make sure that they are twinkling when they are supposed to be. :)

How do YOU get people to produce a real smile that reaches their eyes?

Jason Graduates

Way back when... On May 8, Jason had his "graduation" from Children's Hour.

Children's Hour is a preschool type program that he has done for three years now. They do all the fun stuff... craft, Bible story, snack, music, gym... for two hours on Wednesdays during the school year.

Jason loves it!

This was his last year since he will be in Kindergarten next year but we are so glad to have had this program for the years that we did!

There were a ton of boys in Jason's class this year and apparently they bonded like crazy and are best buds. It was so fun to finally see him with all his buddies. His class in the one in orange.

Jason was so excited about performing in the program. He practiced his little heart out and was so ready!

He sang loud and did all the motions. I so enjoyed watching him.

But then things took a turn... they were singing a song about a finger band and each verse had an instrument. The teachers had placed the instruments by each kid but somehow Jason got missed for one of them. When it came time to pick up that instrument he looked down to his right where it should have been and it wasn't there. He quickly looked to the other side and when he didn't see them he was so upset. He started crying and was just looking at me saying "where are my blocks?!" I wanted to run up there, grab him and run away to a happy place. I finally motioned for him to come to me and he understood.

My heart was breaking for him. I tried to calm him down and the teachers were so nice about it and did the song again making sure he had each of his instruments. He was so upset though. I finally was able to convince him to go back on the stage to finish by promising him he could have an extra cookie.

He finished out well... through his hiccuppy breaths. I actually have it all on video but I just can't bring myself to share it. It's so sad and makes me cry.

But I'm so proud of my Jason! He's such a big boy and he could have opted to not go back on stage to finish... but he did. :) And we never talked about it again.

I love this next photo not because it is an amazing photograph (because it's not) but because it's part of the story. After they finished their last song they sat down while awards were being given. Jason was still upset and the boys by him were asking him what happened and offering encouraging words. Such a sweet moment!

And then it was on to the best part of the night... COOKIES!!

And let's not forget the guest of honor!!

This is Sarah... also known as Miss Eshbaugh... Liza's teacher.

 

Jason loves her and wanted her to come so she did. :) Jason once asked Sarah if she would be his fake mom. He will have her for Kindergarten next year and we've already started discussing how he will have to share Miss Eshbaugh with the other kids.

His response to that... "But I like Miss Eshbaugh!"

I think we all do Jason. :)

Jesus Loves Me This I Know...

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your kind words, encouragement, prayers and continued acceptance of me during these depressing days. I really do have so many awesome people in my life. I really appreciate the words and prayers.

Today is a better day.
The hurt is still there.
The numbness still lingers.

But my mood isn't so dark.

I'm certain it will be up and down for a while. My blog feels like it is all over the place lately... hey, look at these pictures!, let me share a happy time with the kids, mylifesucks, hey! here are more happy pictures! That's my life at the moment.Very roller-coaster-ish... and I hate roller-coasters!

I also want to let you all know that I am not questioning who God is. This morning I was getting ready and the song Jesus Loves Me popped in my head.... this I know, for the Bible tells me so. And that's that. Jesus loves me. The Bible says so and the Bible is all true and therefore I believe it... and I do know it. And I know he has great plans for me... those plans are just hard to see right now.

I know that something great will come out of this valley. I've been saying that to Mike even as I realized I was slipping off the edge of the cliff. But that doesn't make this time any easier.

And so while I run at God with fists swinging some days...
While I ask my angry questions...
While I often sit here with nothing to say to Him...

He still loves me.
He never leaves me.
He lets me get it all out.

Too often in my life I have been told I am too much... but that is never something that God has said to me. He can handle me and my crazy emotions. (Not that I don't need to work some of those crazy emotions out... He just isn't going to run from them like so many people have.) When I run at him swinging he grabs me up in a bear hug and holds me as I release it all.

He tells me again he loves me.
He tells me he is so sorry that I am hurting.
And then he just sits with me in the quiet... just being there.
My constant.
My rock.

The prayer that sits in my heart today is "revive me."

Revive means to return to life, consciousness, vigor, strength, or a flourishing condition.

Revive me Lord!

A Family and Their Tractors

I've been taking photos for Ashley since she was pregnant and she recently asked me to do something different... The whole family was in for Mother's Day and they wanted pictures of everyone together... oh... and add two tractors into the mix as well. This was definitely a bit of a stretch for me but if we never get outside our comfort zone we never grow!

It was a bit tricky because one tractor was smaller than the other and we were on a slight downhill. Also... several small kids is always a challenge. But I like the shots I got. It's also the day I came home and ordered a new camera haha. One just KNOWS when it's time. :)

It was a cold, overcast, wet day but we got it in!