Little Models

I have been a busy bee this past week, working with little models. Cute kids and complete creative freedom...what photographer wouldn't love it? All of the following children are either modeling headbands from Born2Impress or leggings from Bon Bon Cupcakes.

4 Going on 14

For my son's fourth birthday photos, I wanted to do something different. I love photos that are fun and capture personality. This photo session with my son did not disappoint. There was a lot of personality!

Tutu Twirls

One of my favorite vendors, Tutu Twirls, sent me some more goodies the other day. She makes the best quality tutus I have ever seen with silky ribbon around each waistband and lots of extra details. Now her shop will also be featuring gorgeous headbands. I have gotten a lot of headbands from a lot of different vendors. Some of them are well constructed and some are falling apart when I open the box. :-/ All of the headbands from Tutu Twirls were so well constructed that I gave them a few extra tugs to see if I could pull them apart. They stayed put and look adorable on all of my models. The items you see below, minus the pettiskirt from another vendor, should be listed for sale soon! Check out Tutu Twirls on Etsy and Facebook.

Windy Kansas Day

I grew up in rural Kansas. I enjoy rustic country scenery. I like the peaceful quiet of an open field. I do not, however, like the wind that "comes sweeping down the plain". Ok, that song is about Oklahoma but Kansas sure has a lot of wind too! Thank you Baumgartner family for making the drive to meet me and for braving the very windy day. The kids were perfectly adorable and I had so much fun letting them "scare" me.

I love a good smiling photo but I just couldn't resist posting this one. He reminds me of one of the Hardy boys. Does anyone still read those books? :)

I suppose this photo could be considered an out-take of sorts. It is not a traditional portrait but I love the look of pure joy. :)

Baumgartner family, be watching for an email in the next day or so. Your images will be posted to my website shortly.

First Outdoor Portraits of the Year

Spring is just around the corner and I cannot wait for the flowers to be in full bloom. After a hard winter with entirely too much snow, it finally warmed up enough for my first outdoor session of the year! I love the challenge of the changing light and the ability to change the background just by turning around or walking a few feet. Perhaps I need to move to climate that will allow me to shoot outdoors year round. ;) Maybe I would miss the snow if I didn't see any for a while....maybe....

Keremy, your kids are as cute as ever. Hope your little guy had a great birthday! Here is your sneak preview:

My second hand-painted backdrop

If you read back through my blog, you'll notice that I have a tendency to get a bee in my bonnet and I am not happy until I complete whatever idea is pestering me. I bought a whole roll of canvas intent on saving some money and also creating some unique backdrops. First, I painted the red barn door for Christmas photos and hopefully some little boy clients down the road. For the other backdrop, I wanted something very girly for my daughter's 2-year portraits. I imagined something pink with flowers. I didn't really know for sure what it would look like when I started and I am not completely sure it is exactly what I was wanting. But, it worked for the photos and I think I am fairly happy with it. I have more ideas for things that I want to paint but I think they will have to wait. My family has been patient as I've taken over the dining room with my projects but I think we all need a little break from the mess. :)

As with the last backdrop, I photographed my journey so that I could share the process. Ignore the poor quality images because it was just easier to grab the horrible little point and shoot camera... ;-)

I started out with a base coat from an old can of paint that I found in the basement. Canvas is pretty absorbent and I didn't want it soaking up all of the good paints.

Then, I began painting the background...lots of pink swirls.

Then, I added some brighter pinks and browns.

Then, it was time to decide where I wanted the flowers and I decided to just make an oval pattern in the center.

Then, I added in some darker pink washes to get away from the browns a little and I was also wanted the edges darker than the center.

The next step was adding more detail to the flowers and adding in some green.

Here is a close-up of the flowers.

For the final step, I added a light brown wash over everything to tone down the bright pink and to help the flowers blend a little more.

And the finished product with my daughter...more of her photos can be seen in the previous post.

And, since I NEVER take photos of myself, I posed in front of my new backdrop and took a photo. So, this is me...and my new backdrop. :)