obvious halloween title.

So, this year, knowing I would be way too tired to attempt anything so silly as making the kids' costumes, I put it off until last week.

Fortunately, Anna wanted to be a ballerina... the only thing I purchased were the shoes.
Miles, on the other hand. Well, the kid is just so stinking silly. So, he needed an equally silly costume. Thank you Target.
And yes, I'm definitely sending this over to Amy Karol.

And finally, Abbie. She was influenced by her dad. And therefore, he was put in charge of her costume. I wish I was kidding when I tell you he worked on the shell for 6 hours. But it could have been longer. I believe he intends to do a blog post about it (when he emerges from crunch time).

P.S. I did make the hat... but not for this costume. For Matt.

Revamp.

Over the next couple of months, I'll hopefully be totally revamping my site. Making it a little softer, a little sweeter, possibly adding music and some other fun changes.

One thing that's not changing: my pricing. Isn't that good news?

And in the meantime, I've added a slew of new images to my site. Most are from new sessions, but a bunch are new images from older sessions that I've rediscovered and fallen in love with all over again. Go check it out. See if you can find you, or your kids!
(If you can't, it's not because I don't love you! And I'll be adding more! So keep an eye out!)
I've also added a new gallery for Interactions. Basically, my favorite part of my sessions are when I get to capture real emotion... and most often, that happens when the people I'm photographing aren't really paying attention to me.

I'll also be adding a fun gallery called Products. I have a bunch of wonderful products that I offer that I think people have a hard time wrapping their minds around. So, I'll be showing off some pictures of canvases, storyboards, and some mini albums. Some other great stuff too.

In closing, fun stuff going on the website. Go check it out!

Jealous.

My best friend, Melinda, had her baby girl today.

I hope you know what that means.

Isn't she just the cutest thing? She's about 7 hours old here.

PS Magic! Episode 1.

I make no secrets about the fact that I use photoshop on every single picture I take. Well, the ones my clients see. Now generally, they just need a tiny bit of tweaking to make the colors pop or to get rid of some pesky scrapes or something. But today I thought I'd show you some simple fun from Photoshop.

I had left my camera in Aperture Priority mode, which means that the camera makes most of the decisions for you (it was a lazy afternoon). Sometimes, that works well, but often it doesn't. Here is the picture as it came straight out of my camera.
So, while this picture is cute, it's very dark. Literally 3 minutes in Photoshop and now... voila!

Now, that's much better. And cuter.

If you'd like to see more posts like this... let me know! I think it's fascinating, the fun you can have in PS.

Getting a bit rowdy!

As mentioned in my last post, I had a photoshoot with 5 kids who were 4 and under. All the Grandchildren of one wonderful woman. I am sure they keep her young! I sure needed a nap after this!







You'll have to click on this last one... it's getting cut off and I have no good solutions to fix it.

A General Update:

I've been informed that I'm not blogging enough. In lieu of actual new content, I'm posting this email update that Matt sent out to his family members. Enjoy!

(Stuff I added to clarify for you blog readers is in green.)

Life is good in our corner of the world. We try to live vicariously through the adventures of our extended family...Katherine in China, David all over Asia, the other David in England, Audrey and Marshall in Hawaii, and all those people in Idaho and Utah. We appreciate and love to hear from everyone! You don't know these people and in retrospect, I should have deleted this paragraph.

Most of you will laugh at this, but Alissa and I feel old. I think little kids are energy vampires. They suck the energy from their parents, channeling it through their tiny limbs to fuel a tiny fleshy whirlwind of destruction and excitement. Mostly, though, we feel old because Abbie just started Kindergarten. That and our exponentially increasing number of white hairs. (Which Matt made me spend 20 minutes pulling out on Saturday!) Abbie's teacher told us she reads at around a 2nd grade level. We know she has an amazing memory because we always ask her where things are - the TV remote, a lost DVD (thanks, Miles!), her sister Anna, or a library book. When asked what she likes most about school, Abbie said she likes Music class. She also mentioned that she dislikes P.E. because it's difficult. Florida schools recently started requiring PE every day. Abbie loves school, and jumps out of the car and runs away without looking back every morning. We have to jump in the way if we want a good-bye kiss! Nevermind the 20 minute wait to drop her off, or 40 minutes it takes to pick her up. We'll be within walking distance from our next school, mark my words!

Anna's hair has started growing back, slowly. Several months ago, Abbie sat Anna down in the kitchen and helped her cut off her curls. Thankfully, Alissa had captured a few photos of what Anna's cute curls looked like before the incident. Abbie has been doing chores to work off the cost of the subsequent haircuts. Anna is a darling to be around, and loves to cuddle. Good thing, too, since Miles and Abbie have personal space issues. Anna maintains that she wants to be a Karate Princess for Halloween. The kids have been watching too much Avatar: the Last Airbender. Anna also recently named one of her baby dolls He-Nai (that's how quirky she is).
She's 4 tomorrow!

Miles has started doing a lot more talking since the tube surgery. He had fluid blocking his inner ear, which may have caused his slower speech development. They also say that talkative older siblings can do this...Miles's favorite phrase is "Not nice!", used when he is upset. He can say about 25 (35 now!) other words, but chooses not to talk if he can help it. We know he understands a lot, and are just waiting for him to accidentally reveal his genius.

Alissa recently picked up knitting. She learned how to do it on the internet. I believe she's making herself a pair of socks right now. (DONE!) So far Miles and I have green snow hats, which we will be needing dearly for the sharp Florida winter. Alissa pretends it's Fall by making all manner of hot soups. The reality is that we'd die of heat exhaustion if our A/C went out....which it actually did the other day and today. The guy from the power company walked Alissa through flipping the main breaker so she wouldn't miss her Prime Time TV. (Hello! It was a Thursday and I really can't miss The Office!) Keep in mind we only have 3 channels - ABC, NBC and CBS. We don't think it's a bad thing that our kids don't know what a commercial is. Alissa's photography business has slowed down a little bit, but she recently did a shoot with 5 grandkids together. (Preview coming later tonight!) I was tempted to sign up for cable just to be able to watch General Conference at home, but resisted the urge.

I've been getting busier at work. The game I'm working on, is slated to ship in February. That means all the important work will need to be done around Thanksgiving and Christmas. It shouldn't actually be too bad, but that really is horrible scheduling. The game is looking pretty good, but I have started looking for work elsewhere. We've been really wanting to go to Austin, as the cost of homes in that area is much more affordable than most other industry centers (LA, Chicago, NJ, Boston, Vancouver, San Franciso, Seattle). The job hunt is going slowly, as character art is a very small and competitive field. We are thankful for the stability we have right now, and have faith that we will be directed where to go.

Most of the reason I'm writing this update is actually because we have big news. We are expecting another baby in April! Alissa just had her first appointment with the doctor, so we haven't found out if it's a boy or a girl. However, Anna has named the baby "Baby Kay", so I guess it's another girl. Miles is a little Momma's Boy, so I'm fully expecting him to start causing trouble when the new baby is born.

Both Alissa and I have blogs, but hers is updated far more frequently than mine. You can read more about what's going on in our lives there, as well as see lots of pictures!

Alissa's blog: http://24-7-365.blogspot.com/
Matt's Blog: http://digitallunatik.blogspot.com/

I did it!

My brother David was an avid knitter. And when he died, he had TONS of books, and yarn and needles that my mother adopted. I went home after having browsed through his books and running my fingers through the yarn. It has been years since I knitted.

So, in what feels like a bizarre tribute to David, I picked up my needles again. I had forgotten everything! Fortunately, KnittingHelp.com has some of the best tutorials for learning to knit that I've come across.

And lo and behold, look what I did!


It's for Miles size, but he loathes it. I'm not sure why since it's 100% wool and still over 90 degrees here on a normal day. So, no action shots. But I did stuff it so you could see the form a little better.
I've also finished my first sock. Working on the mate. They're really nothing to write home about. But I'm having so much fun!

Because I promised this mom a couple more...

Just to tide you over till you return from vacation!
Oh that we could all be so cute...
And this one, because it's one of MY favorites, even though I know mom & dad will have others.

You can now stop Refreshing your screen.

More to follow of this unbelievably amazing family.