Everyday « Life Behind the Emerald Lens

Grist Family – Impromptu Day in DC

My friend’s been having a bad week and we’d talked about taking some family photos. Her life is in the middle of a major upheaval and some fresh pictures would be good to help her on her fresh start. We are lucky enough to live in an area with many wonderful locations for us to take photos at, but we both really liked the idea of at least some photos in DC.

We grew up here, and DC is only an hour away. The traffic is nutty so neither of us get up there like we should, especially since we both love the city. In fact, here’s a sad little secret. I’d never been to the Lincoln Memorial! I know! I’d actually never been on the other side of the Washington Memorial from The Mall! Shameful!

So there I was on Thursday morning when she dropped me an IM. “Do you wanna go to DC?” Well, I was game! Sounded fun!

After she wrapped up homeschool with her boys she tried to get the three of them all into clothes that would in any way coordinate. The two boys worked out great, but not so much for her. She finally decided on an outfit and after we both ran about a gazillion errands we headed for the city.

Now here’s what made the day more fun… I just heard… It was 96 degrees and the hottest day of the year! Do we know how to pick them or what?

We opted for the metro ride because it’s just easier than attempting to park during tourist season. DC is just far too crowded during the summer. The roads are a nightmare normally, but you add all the visitors, and yeah… hope you don’t want to get anywhere.

Before we headed up, we met up at a Starbucks at home. I mention this because there’s a big circle window in this Starbucks, because it’s in a Target. Melanie’s youngest son decided he needed to lay down in the window and it was way cute.

I gotta admit though, this picture cracked me up when I saw it – especially after a comment he made in DC. “Mommy, I’m not five any more. I’m SIX!” Oh he’s vying for his independence already, and this picture he looks so grown up in! He’s really six, but this picture doesn’t show that.

We did stop by the Washington Monument for a few minutes.

As we walked on, Zeke picked up a large stick and declared it the flag for his army and invited his brother, Zeb, and my son, Joram, to join! He then marched off with the other two boys following. Really, I just had to get a photo because it was just so cute!

We crossed to the other side of the Washington Monument and there’s this WW2 memorial just before you get to the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. I love the fountain there so I grabbed some photos there.

Aren’t they just a cute little family?

Well, I just couldn’t pass up the chance for a family shot with the Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pool behind Melanie and her boys. This one was fun to take because I’m so short I had the camera way over my head!

While I was walking around to meet them, they found some steps to sit on. I come around and Melanie was just sitting there with Zeke looking over her and it just looked so fantastic! Of course I had to snap this candid moment!

The boys took a turn sitting by each other and I just fell in love with them all over again.

We finally made it up to the monument and let the boys take a break. They started to play and just be adorable.

I just love the three of them!

The boys are just so cute, even when they are relaxing!

The final picture I got for them is one I really love.

Melanie, thanks for the impromptu jaunt to DC and how much fun it was! It was just a fantastic time and I hope you like these photos!!! The rest of the shots are on your proofs page!

–Have Camera, Will Travel
JS

Davey’s Spring Photos

OK, so I gotta say one thing. You cannot get too many cute kid photos. It just isn’t possible. Trust me, I’ve been photographing my own cute kids for almost 13 years. (Egads, how did I get so old? Seriously. I must have had my first one when I was like 7. Only explaination, right?)

When talking about cute kids that aren’t my own… well… who do you think? We’re right back to little Davey. That’s right, I was supposed to be taking engagement photos for Aaron and Tara, but oh no. I had to shoot pictures of their little boy, Davey. Why?

That’s right. Cause he’s darn cute!

I asked Aaron, is Davey going to be in your wedding party? He said, No way! I’d get upstaged.

He was right. I mean look at this kid!

This kid is definitely too cute for words and absolutely capable of distracting the world with said cuteness.

There should be a crime against being this cute.

Of course I had to take a picture of him going down the slide… I mean how cute is a kid going down the slide? Oh yeah, this cute:

And one final photo:

Was that enough cuteness? I’m telling you that I’m not so sure this post was safe for work. Or home.

Now I’m going to make a shameless wish here, and hopefully his parents will see it. I really want to become this kid’s photographer. When Aaron adopts Davey, I want to be there. When Davey goes to school, I want to be there. When Davey graduates 8th grade… you guessed it… I want to be there. I love this kid and he just makes me melt!

–Have Camera, Will Travel

Vaughan Kids – Everyday

My friend from Church has two great kids and asked me to come do a surprise shoot for her husband. Now this is where it got real fun. Their daughter didn’t get her birthday photos, plus we thought it would be great to shoot the kids in his uniforms. Of course, that meant making sure we actually HAD his uniforms.

You see, daddy’s a cop! So you can just imagine the phone conversation:

Wife: Honey, when are you going to go to work on Friday?

Husband: Um, noon.

Wife: Yeah, why don’t you go to the gym first… leave around 10?

Husband: Um, ok….

Wife: Oh and I need one of your uniform shirts… and your extra badge…

Yeah, the boys at work probably had a FIELD day with that one!!! I’m still snickering over it!

We used the neighbour’s back yard and I started off with just some shots of little Sophie:

Then I took some shots of her and her brother together:

Devin then started to put on the uniform, and I got a few pictures of Sophie playingin the grass while her brother dressed:

The kids had a lot of fun in the uniforms, though it took a few minutes to get Devin on board. Pretty much I took this photo and showed it to him and then he was ready to roll with it:

Oh yeah… they were awesome! He started going on about he be rappin’! This is why I love working with kids! They are so fun!

We did get a picture with mom in the photo – she’s wearing dad’s Gator’s jersey. Let’s hear it for Gator’s fans!

With having the badge… I just felt we had to play with it. Stop! In the name of the law!

I had a total blast with this photo shoot and want to thank Devin and Sophie for having some fun with me! And Devin, you better believe I remember you asked for some rapper photos!!!

–Have Camera, Will Travel

Joram – Everyday

My kids tend to be my test subjects for weird photo ideas or new photo plans. Lucky for me, they roll with it. It’s good for me because I like to shoot pictures of them. Ok, and it gives me great practice for days like today where I got to go take photographs of two kids. Wait till you see THOSE pictures. Watch for them next week. Let’s just say: Dad’s uniforms for a little dress up fun!

Back to my kids, though. I got a recent photography magazine in the mail and it was talking about senior portraits. End of the school year brings those into play. I don’t know about you, but when I was in school we had two choices. Get the crummy school photographer take boring pictures of us in that drape thingy (I’m a girl… what did they use for the guys? Was that a full suit jacket and shirt?) or spend fat stacks of cash and get creative photos where we could make them very personal.

I opted for Plan B. At the time I was still an active dancer so I chose to wear my ballet black and pink with a dance skirt and my toe shoes. I loved those photos. They were the first photos in 17 years that I thought were not only decent, but showed who I was.

Probably why I like to use a more photojournalistic style today. I like to capture the heart of my subjects rather than use stiff poses.

Well, we hopped into the van to go somewhere and I chucked the magazine at the kids in the backseat. I told them to look through and if they saw anything they liked, to let me know. I’d use them for some summer portraits to practice the whole “senior” thing.

Joram saw some person on a swing and loved it. He asked if I would do that for him. Sure, I said.

I know you guys are avid fans of my blog, right? So you saw my little niece of cuteness on the swing at my inlaws? Well you guessed right, I took care of photographing Joram on the same swing!

Doesn’t he look like he’s having fun? He’s already asked for prints for his bedroom. I think it’s time to seriously contemplate what to do to decorate that room. Hey, I have a start!

Joram’s also become our little lawn mower. We only have a push mower so that involves some whining, but Pop-Pop is cool with a riding mower. Joram was tickled to mow the front lawn. Wearing the lawn hat was a great bonus. The light was a bit harsh when the photo was taken plus it just doesn’t seem quite right to me that he’s old enough for such a task – which I tried to capture with the camera. That, and the love he had of this chore.

So there you have a little more insight into our lives and some pictures of my kids to tide you over until next week. I’ve got some great posts coming up! Until then have a great 4th of July if you are in America, otherwise just have a great weekend!

–Have Camera, Will Travel

Paul and Melodie – Everyday

One thing I love about visiting my in-laws in NJ is having them show me the latest thing they’ve done to their house. Sometimes it’s huge, sometimes it is small. I don’t know that I’ve ever been there with the living room furniture done in quite the same way twice.

They are definitely people after my own heart. I love to rearrange furniture and now that we’ve got our own home again we are loving personalizing it!

I don’t think they’ve had a new portrait taken in this century. I mean come on… it’s the dawn of a new age. They need something, right? Something that really shows who they are today.

Now I really hate taking pictures in the early afternoon but you do what you have to do sometimes. Seems I’ve been taking a lot recently. The light is just not friendly to anyone. That said, I still thought that going outside to their yard was a primo idea. Their yard is so beautiful and they really spend a lot of time. We walked around it Saturday and learned what everything was. It’s really like having their own personal park out their back door.

We started out in front of their willow trees. I happen to love willow trees. I don’t know why, but they make me happy even though they are “weeping”.

In one corner of the yard there’s a wooden swing for two. My husband and I spent some time in it Saturday night. It’s a lovely spot to just sit and relax.

We cleaned off the picnic table and used it for some great shots. Paul is a volunteer fireman and has put a fire ring in the corner of his yard near this picnic table and we’ve got some good memories of cooking over the fire and eating at the picnic table. The whole fireman angle… well that’s a story for another time…

Just off their back deck they’ve got some wonderful plants. I love the red hot poker’s to the left of them. They’ve got a bunch of bird houses hanging around and we enjoy birdwatching from the kitchen window.

I wanted to make sure I got at least one shot with the house in it. Here we are in the front of the house by their flagpole. Stars are a part of buildings in my hometown and I love that they have one on their home.

Mom and Dad, I love you! Thanks for letting me take some new photos of you and letting me share them! Thank you also for welcoming into your family and being so supportive of everything I do! I hope you like these pictures and I can’t wait to come visit again!

–Have Camera, Will Travel

Ken and Phyllis – Everyday

Whenever I go to NJ I seem to find work to do. Sometimes it’s fixing a computer, sometimes it is photos, but it’s always something. Which is fine. I’m really not the vacation sort. As much as I like to just lay down and read or whatever… I don’t do that well when away from home. I feel like I should be out and doing something!

The good thing about that is it always keeps me interacting with people. It’s fun and rewarding, especially when I actually can help. Every once in a while I seem to be able to help, so yay!

On Sunday morning before Church, my husband’s Uncle came over with his wife. I’ve always loved them mostly because they are good people. They are kind hearted and fun and just a pleasure to be around. They always try to get over to see us when we come for a vist, and that’s very thoughtful.

I grabbed them just before they left and shot a handful of photos. Nothing special, but they were long overdue for a new photo. I figured I could grab something for them in the couple of minutes we had and I’m rather happy with the outcome!

This is my pick for them:

I just love it! Can you tell that’s a couple that still cares deeply for one another? I can only hope that is how I am someday with my love. *SIGH*

Working with couples can sometimes be difficult. We’ve trained ourselves for bad posing. Shoulder to shoulder and eyes straight to the camera. Throw in the super cheese smiles that make us look like we’re constipated. Yikes! Don’t we like the person we are with? Of course! Aren’t we glad to be there? Yes!

I love it once couples relax and get into the groove. I got these other three photos of Uncle Kenny and Aunt Phyllis. I hope they’ll like them, too.

–Have Camera, Will Travel

Playful Mackenzie

I love photographing kids being so full of life! There’s nothing like their exuberance and zeal!

While in New Jersey for my brother-in-law’s wedding, I photographed my little niece playing. My father-in-law has a large tree that someone tied a fire hose to for a swing. All the kids love to be pushed, climb up a limb and jump off, and other such daredevil kid activities.

My boys went out and pushed her for a while and I thought it was a great chance to get some photographs for her parents.

After getting off the swing, she started dancing around the yard. I loved it!

Kids have the most amazing faces. They just glow and their eyes sparkle and I love that they all look like little happy cherubs!

Things I learned about Mackenzie this weekend is that she’s got an adorable little voice, she’s a smart little gal, she loves unicorns, and she thinks my chihuahua is a fantastic dog! I hope we can see her again soon. Her mom loved the photos and I really look forward to printing some up. Maybe I’ll hand deliver them so I can spend more time with Mackenzie! I better take the dog along for the ride though!

–Have Camera, Will Travel

Life Behind the Emerald Lens

Search Blog

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Grist Family – Impromptu Day in DC

Davey’s Spring Photos

Vaughan Kids – Everyday

Joram – Everyday

Paul and Melodie – Everyday

Ken and Phyllis – Everyday

Playful Mackenzie

Emerald Lens

My Upcoming Schedule

Google Friend Connect

My Tweets

My Clients Blogroll

Networked Blogs!

Search Blog

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Tags

Emerald Lens

My Upcoming Schedule

Google Friend Connect

My Clients Blogroll

Networked Blogs!