Week 36-39 Project 52

Week 36 - Favorite Thing

Making my daughter smile is everything to me! <3

Week 37: Places and Spaces

Aside from where family is, Machine Falls in Tennessee is my absolute favorite place. I cannot express how this place made me feel but it was surreal!

This is an old image that I would have loved to re-edit to my current editing style but that external hard drive failed me recently, so it's a great example of where I was during my photography journey!

Week 38: Cozy

I have a very snugly girl and while it makes for very unproductive days I just love it <3

Week 39: Wild Card

I decided to focus on 'blue' this week. I can't get over how beautiful she is and how lucky I am to have such a sweet, smart girl! <3

Week 35/52 - Composed

Okay so I didn't quite pick one of the posed images to this composed shoot, but sometimes the non-composed are the best (o:

Week 34/52 - Five Senses

I never quite thought about it until the weekly theme of 'Five Senses' but Starbucks is my go-to place to ignite all those senses. There is always art of some kind to look at, or the pretty mugs, and of course the beautifully handcrafted beverage. The tastes of the drinks or sandwiches. Touching the different thermoses with the rubber grip. Smelling the sweet, wonderful smells. And hearing the buzz of a coffee shop, the squeal of glee when my daughter gets her milk and portions of my sandwich or pumpkin scone, and the low key music playing that can only be heard once in a while when there is a lull.

I just love Starbucks.

Week 33/52 - Funky

"Modern and stylish in an unconventional way." Yep, I'd say the dress I made Zoey is funky :oP

Week 32/52 - Details

I'm so behind in blogging all of these! For 'Details' week I chose this image. I took the hubs and Zoey out to hone in on my style and practice a couple techniques with backlighting. And while I used to take an image and just be okay with it if there was something I didn't like, I'm realizing the details are what I really need to focus on.

In the image above, she posed all model-y, the birds were flying behind her and the sun created a perfect haze. So from the camera end, I was happy with the details. Next up, the editing details. Taking green out, putting pink/orange in, sharpening and brightening my subject while darkening the background a bit, adding a couple more birds.

Ah details; it's the reason us photographers have to charge what we do, all these details take time and patience and I love every minute!

Week 31/52 - Wild Card

This week was a wild card pick so I chose to represent something I've been practicing lately. Meg Bitton is a huge inspiration for me and all the magic she can bring to an image. And she encourages it on her fb. So I took up the challenge. In a similar image I added the rainbow action she released on my birthday! Recently she posted a firefly image (well if you look through her blog she posted a couple) and it inspired me to play. Jessica Drossin also inspired me to push my usage of her textures a bit more. I have been a bit too afraid to use more than two on a high opacity but I think the outcome was spectacular! I might just post a before and after to illustrate the difference a few textures can provide! While I love pure, natural, and clean images to represent my brand I think adding a little magic from time to time in my repertoire would be healthy <3 I honestly love discovering new editing techniques and learning as much as I can about shooting and editing!

And also if you notice, I'm starting to define my brand with a vintage, british rose to represent the beauty and natural feeling I hope to bring to my future clients. I'm really determined to get my business up and ready to take on clients by the end of this year! I have a few goals but, aside from all the licensing, my primary goal is to work on building a portfolio of this desert area.

Desert editing is not as easy as editing a scene as depicted above. We don't have the tall cacti like Arizona to help make a scene interesting and the warm yellow colors from the surroundings can spill onto my subject's face. And then there is the heat and sun :oP My uncooperative model (being a toddler is no excuse :oP) cannot be out when it's so hot so practicing with the bright sun has not been possible and we just haven't been able to get out in the evenings. Oh my, I really sound like I'm whining. I will admit it sometimes puts me in a rut, but days like today when Zoey is just smiley and snuggley and sweet makes me realize my family is my number one priority. And I am grateful, too, that they are so patient with me as I go out and pursue my dreams! As I just read somewhere, sometimes being in a rut can inspire and that's when this new edit of this image came about.

I just love photographing moments and giving my daughter a ridiculous amount of memories to look back on that she doesn't remember :oP I just know she will have fun looking through the 10TB of images I will provide her for her wedding slideshow (who am I kidding with only 10?!?) :oP Anyway, I do hope you enjoy the sprinkle of magic I hope to grace my blog with from time to time!  It really is a fun release of creativity now that Zoey has made it absolutely clear she does NOT like wearing my bonnets I've been making her :oP

I will say though, I'm looking forward to a little shoot of Zoey sporting something her Oma is making for her! :o)

Week 30/52 - Euphoria

This most definitely had to be my pick for Euphoria. There is a thrill I get before performing that can only be described by the word. And then the presence of Ms. Kay on that stage amplified that feeling <3

Week 29/52 - Me

I am really awkward in front of the camera and very vulnerable. I thought Tyra taught me everything I needed to know about being a top model but I freeze and feel judgment (even if there isn't any) with a pose I choose, face I make, etc. So for this week I used an image I took when I did some self portraits for the Shadow theme with evoking you. I honestly love when my hair is curled and am too scared to curl it here for fear it's so damaged by the extra hard water we have. But hair is one thing that makes me feel beautiful, I dont mind not having make-up on (okay a little mascara would be nice) but as long as my hair looks great I'm confident :oP Yep, all sounds silly, but there are reasons people put make up on, buy nice clothes (or lingerie no one ever sees), get cosmetic surgery, etc. and it's to make ourselves feel good about ourselves. So aside from the occasional 'youre beautiful' I get from my husband, my hair does it for me :oP

28/52 Time

Ah, time. Time is something to cherish, greatly. And while time spent with any of her grandparents is something I want to showcase, for this week I really wanted to focus on Zoey and her Grandpa. He is leaving soon to work halfway across the world for an amazing company doing something incredible. This isn't a short trip either, so I really needed to get the two of them together as much as possible when he came out to visit this past weekend. Luckily he hadn't seen White Sands National Monument so we all headed up there for some grandparent pictures with Zoey! This is just one of the many I took and I cannot wait to share the rest with you (oh it's a lot)!

27/52 Addiction

Ah, addiction. This was a fun one to contemplate. I have many 'addictions' but the two that I cannot seem to live without are depicted above: taking pictures (mostly of the Z-Dog) and Starbucks. :o)

26/52 Friendship

I was SO excited for week 26's theme as it could not have come at a more perfect time. I finally met my friend Lauren, in person, while up in Washington. We both danced with WCB but she moved shortly before I arrived. Thankfully she found me online maybe four or five years ago and we have been wonderful friends since! She is a gorgeous photographer (check out her page!) and very much inspired me to upgrade from my little point and shoot with manual features to a beautiful d-slr camera!

One the exciting parts about going up to Washington to do the WCB alumni performances was that I knew she would be at one of them in the audience supporting her friends she once knew and some (like me!) that she hadn't met yet! Seeing her in person was just a highlight of my trip. She's beautiful, carries herself elegantly, contagious smile, and sweet voice; just an absolute gem! And while our meeting was a bit brief due to it being rather late at night the time I spent talking with her was very cherished by me.

While in Omaha my sister and I went on a bike ride to boys town. On the way home (and down a rather big hill) I saw all these lilies basking in the beautiful sunset light (Oh it was glorious and I can't wait to get to those images and show you!). But right when I saw the lilies I had to stop (as my sister zoomed down the hill! eek! Sorry sissie!) for I knew Lauren loves lilies and it was the best way to symbolize my friendship with her. :o)

I do hope to one day go on a little photography trip with her, maybe even up in the PNW, and make some more memories but for now I'll hold onto the fun, short night we had to stand and chat! :o)

25/52 Fatherhood

This theme followed Father's Day and the image I knew I had to use was one taken shortly before my trip to Washington. If there is one thing I cannot get enough of it's Zoey kisses, whether it's her giving kisses to me or my hubby or the grandparents, I just love it. So this image just warms my heart and had to be the image for the week :o)

24/52 Texture

Wow I am so far behind on blogging my Project 52 images! Texture was fun because it was shortly after we visited White Sands for the first time. Obviously Zoey discovering sand and it's texture had to be my image for the week! She just completely loved it! :o)

23/52 Season

Another image from White Sands that I used for my project 52 is this one. The park is surreal for reasons that made it perfect for this week's theme of 'Season!' The white sand looks so much like the sparkling snow of winter, the yuccas were blooming like it was spring, but the temperature was undeniably summer! It was gorgeous and we ended up staying until sunset which made it even more beautiful! I am looking forward to exploring this park much more as we get more settled in our new home! :o)

Side note: I am incredibly grateful to the national parks for giving military families free admission to all their parks! I hope to show my daughter all the beauty this country has to offer!

22/52 Yellow

I know this should be super easy but I wasn't feeling like using any old flower picture and after I decided that I was clueless as to what to do (perhaps it's the residual stress from our move). But when Zoey and I went for a little walk after picking up the mail and she plucked this poor little flower I knew I had my subject! :o) Flowers go through a lot with toddlers but the joy they bring the little one is totally worth it to me :o) Below is a glimpse into what the little flower went through <3

21/52 Dream

I decided this week I'd take a break from photographing my Zoey for the Project 52. When I heard the theme was dream of course I wanted to do a sleeping picture and that left the kitties as my subject!!! So after that was decided Stu's Song from the Hangover was stuck in my head: "What do tigers (kitties) dream of, when they take a little tiger(kitty) snooze?" So this is my image depicting the query :o)

19/52 Weather

Ah! I'm finally getting caught up! For Project 52's Weather week I chose an image I took after the rains stopped that caused the flooding in Nashville/Clarksville. I dont have the flood pictures to edit that I took as they were on that hard drive that fell from my laptop and off my laptop and became corrupted because of improper ejection. Le sigh. But I loved this shot I took of a soggy rose: 'beauty after the storm' in it's most literal sense. :o)

Happy 18/52

This week is "Happy" on the m4h's Project 52 and I'm sharing an image that depicts one thing that makes me incandescently happy (I've watched pride and prejudice one too many times huh? :oP). Zoey has been giving kisses for a couple months now, VERY sporadically. But in the past couple weeks she's been adding the 'mmm-ah!' sound and actually puckering her lips! The location isn't perfect in this image, it'd be brilliant outside with a sunset as backlight but she only likes to give kisses to humans (cats and toys are very special :oP) at night while we are all gathered in the living room relaxing from our long days. So among the mess she created during the day I get kisses and I wouldn't have it any other way. <3

White 17/52

This week's theme is white for the Project 52 I've joined. If you've been following me you know I'm trying to capture as much as I can of the desert Spring. Lately I've noticed these little white wildflowers popping up. So I took a bunch of pictures of them and settled on this one since the white popped so beautifully against the yellow grass and tree lined mountain behind it. The macro shots of it's center are quite fun too and I will get to posting those soon. Please bare with me for the next month or so as I will be busy with a move! :o)

Perspective 16/52

Perspective is honestly a tough theme for me and I struggled with it with the Evoking You Project 52. I debated doing my own thing this week because I had done it already but why not push myself? I was taking some pictures of my daughter in the backyard and this one stuck out for a literal and figurative interpretation of 'look beyond what you see' (if any of you have seen Lion King 1 1/2 you might recognize that and get a chuckle, I love that movie :oP). From a new mother's perspective I can look back on all my mom did for my siblings and I and see beyond it all to understand the intense amount of love she felt for us to do all that she did. So with that perspective in mind I hope to live up to such an incredible role model for my own daughter (and future children!) so that when she becomes a parent she will understand how much I am truly in love with her. <3