Ahhhhh, I miss my Chipmunk Cheeks

...especially after spending the morning with this handsome little guy & wishing I had photos of me & my kids together like these. I used to call Richie, my now almost 23 yr old son, Chipmunk Cheeks & this little guy had the same cheeks I remember Richie having (and never grew out of, hehe).
I'm sincerely honored this mom & dad allowed me to capture these quick moments in their life. I miss having babies, not like I'm going to go out & do anything about it but it sure does help me to decide what I want to do in the future with my photography.

I've been making some much needed decisions in my business lately & my heart feels unusually settled with them. I hope to be announcing the news soon. Thank you, to this beautiful family for spending some time with me. Have a great day!!

Had to share a few more.....

I LOVE this mommy & me treasure! Isn't mommy beautiful!

This family was so much fun, the kiddos were super cute & everybody did a great job.

P.S. This private back yard was simple & gorgeous at the same time,

I love taking photos in your favorite place.

Ideas are a brewin' - Redding CA Photographer

I got my sensor cleaned at Crown Camera this last week. I can see the difference in the clarity of the images so I kinda got a little carried away sitting on my front porch the other morning on an overcast day. Click on the picture & you'll see the same surprise I did. Kinda scared me a little since I was concentrating on the bee & didn't notice it until I edited the pics. That bee was almost a meal.

The photo above is a bee critter that scares me more than the sneaky spider in 1st image.

Without getting all technical on you (that's honestly not likely to ever going to happen, lol) it has a trunk like thing, that got inserted into the pollen areas of the flower. It's body reminded me of a mosquito or mean fly but the trunk could be more like an elephants trunk, I just didn't see it flex. I kinda figured it was a bee though, as long as it's pollenating my beautiful blooms, that's all I care about.

The photo above has the teeniest bee I've ever seen & this next specimen below, I call, the Elvis bee, his tooshie was stripped like old time prison clothes & shakin' all over the place, it made me think of his song, "Jail House Rock".

Thankya, Thankya very much!

The super colorful flowers above are the Arizona Sun Blanket Flower. so happy, colorful & full of pollen, no wonder the bees like it. I didn't even notice how many variaties of bees we had in our front yard, until I started taking pictures of them. These photos show about 8 different kinds.

That's not a bee in the photo above, (Duh, I know you know), that's just a jumping spider checking me out. I think he was upset cause I was invading his personal space but I wasn't scared. I can take him. (Sometimes I wonder if anybody ever really reads blogs anymore, haha. If you actually read these, I'm so sorry, lol).

I planted this bleeding heart from a bulb not long ago & I can't believe I got to see it bloom this year, I was sure I'd planted it too late in the Spring. Well, I love little surprises & this was just a day full of them. It really makes me realize how glad I am to not be a small bug enjoying a flower right about now. Hope everybody has a great day.

I've got some creative portrait ideas sparking, it's time to see them come through. I just need the right people, like you, to help me.

Baby Lucas - Redding Photography

Meet Baby Lucas, the little man in charge. Refusing to go to sleep, afraid he would miss something, he stayed awake the entire session. The photo of his eyes closed while mom was kissing him was only a second long. There are times when you have the best laid plans, all you have to do is check off your list while taking photos, then there are times like yesterday, when they all go out the window & you just go with the flow.

Simply put, I was super happy to get to see him. I hope he let mommy sleep after I left, I stayed a while hoping for him to get tired but it just wasn't to be. I could either be regretful or just wait until the next time I see him. As he grows, there are more opportunities for almost every shot we didn't get to take. I can't wait for family photos. Congratulations again Jennifer & David!

Self Photo Critique - Kimberly Kester Photography

Here are a quick couple photos I took of Baby Lucas last week, only 5 days new (or technically 4 days since he was born on Monday) & Wow, Jenn looked amazing!!!

I often beat myself up (you have no idea how often) over not having a better lens, better camera, better lighting gear, better talent....that I thought I would beat myself up in front of all 2 people who read this haha. I decided to bore you with a list of things I coulda, shoulda, woulda done to make these photos better. I'm not saying they're right & let me also say, Jenn said she loved them (and so do I), I just feel the need to do this. Kinda saying it out loud, forces myself to just accept what I did, make the most of it, learn from it & move on. I do pretty good up to the moving on part. It's impossible to know everything about photography, so as long as I keep getting better (in my own eyes), that's all that matters.

So, Here goes.....

I coulda set up my flash stand & used off camera flash to light the scene better, I coulda used my tripod to slow the shutter speed slightly to 1/80 to add more light to the image. I shoulda increased my ISO even higher than it already was (my settings were f-1.4, shutter speed 1/100 & ISO 400) or even gone around & turned on all the lights & hoped for the best. It was pretty dark inside the house @ 9 am & dark clouds were dumping lots of rain that morning. Light was not on my side, even with my best low light lens.

Isn't he a cutie, looks so much like his daddy, he's like a mini Dave. The truth is, I went there to meet Lucas, I didn't even have an hour to visit that morning & had even less time for photos but wouldn't have missed it for the world. Super happy I got these few.

For my niece Amanda, Let me go a little deeper into the technical parts. I had Jenn stand in front of her dining room window which was the brightest area of the home at that time, instead of using artificial lights. I was going for a mood shot, but it wasn't going to be easy. My camera hand shakes a little more than the average person, I couldn't go slower with the shutter speed, without my tripod. Lucas was moving a little & with the aperture being wide open (f-1.4) for the most light, I tried to snap the photo when he held still the most, I think I got pretty lucky. (Oh, I had other settings on "One Shot" since there wasn't almost no movement from Jenn & I was being patient with Lucas to hold still for just a second. I moved the focus point to focus on Jenn's eye in 1st photo & Lucas's right eye on the 2nd photo, the part that I thought told the story most). With a tripod, I prob would have been able to go to 1/80 but not slower with Lucas moving. Pop up flash was NOT going to happen & that would have only left the ISO to go up higher, it probably should have been at least 800. In post processing, I turned up the exposure, added an "Action" & these are the outcomes. Are they the best, nope. Are they still nice photos, I think so & I'm my own worst enemy. So when they look back on these photos, are they going to think how I "shoulda done this & shoulda done that"? Are you serious? They will just love seeing Baby Lucas being his cute little self weighing less than 6 lbs & fits in the palm of your hands,... their precious, tiny, hungry, little man. I LOVE these moments!!!

After our session later this week, I promise to post the photos for those who don't have fb. I was honestly just jazzed to get to see this little man & his absolutely beautiful mama Jennifer. Can't wait for my next visit. Thank you for inviting me Jenn, holding Lucas definitely made my day & brought back lots of memories when my little ones, were little ones. These moments don't last long & I'm so glad I was there to capture those tiny musician fingers delicately touching mommies face while expressing the only way he knows how, "I'm hungry".

Our Private Park Part 2 - Kimberly Kester Photography

Sometimes I see something beautiful that just can't be passed up & I'm super lucky I have my camera handy. Here are some of those somethings. I posted these on my Kimberly Kester Photography facebook page as well http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.248884498536832.58451.113161385442478&type=1&l=97a67395d2, stop by if you haven't already & check out my page. For those who are not a member of fb or can't access it, here are the same photos, so you don't miss out on our pretty private park. The day started with the moon rising early the other morning in the front yard, followed by some chilly sweet icing & ended with a sunset displaying her pretty pinkness. What a fantastic day!

As soon as the truck was hit by the quickly rising sun, the ice was melting, I had to work fast. These first 2 photos are of my truck, it rained the day before & was super cold, my truck is silver so the photos are super light & the ice formed almost flat with a sparkly crystal pattern. You can see how the strong winds shaped it beautifully, almost like velvet or feathers.

The photo above & the rest of these ice crystal photos are from Jons truck, it's dark green & the sun was hitting it differently than mine so they formed a lot cooler, I was secretly a little jealous when he pointed it out. This next ice pattern almost looks like choppy ocean waves. Remember to click on the image to make them larger.

Couldn't resist a heart shaped on Jons frozen passenger window (Marissa thinks I could do better, lol. gosh I love that girl, she's right) & I couldn't resist the last photo of the pretty sunset. It's not the best I've seen but I'm happy I had my camera available & ready for at least this one. The night before & the night after, didn't look this nice, so I'm not complaining.

We love our yard. As soon as the tulips, redbud blooms & so many more of our little things spread their Spring happiness, I'll be sharing those as well.

Getting back to why I started photography in the first place (for sharing little treasures like these) is so good for my soul. Photographing people is a completely different catagory when it comes to photography & I love it in it's own way, but I don't want to forget the beauty that I get to enjoy each day, right down to a fresh sprouted mushroom (like I photographed a few years back). I think it's why I'm an emotional photographer. I see the simple things that others might take for granted & I try to show the beauty that they're screaming out for me to capture.

I hope everybody stops & enjoys every moment, just stop, you won't regret those sometimes rare moments like the moon rising in the morning through the trees, Spring flowers bursting with bright colors that quickly fade, the cool ice sculptures that only come on those very chilly mornings during a strong wind or a cloudy sunset that just makes you thankful you got to see it. It's simply a quick moment when you look at the bigger picture of how fast time flies. Enjoy them!

Baby Madison - Redding CA Photography

I've been waiting a long time to meet this little cutie.

Introducing Madison, the sweet baby girl of Jessica & Danny (my December 2010 bride & groom & I took their maternity photos in May 2011). When it's super chilly outside (& boy was it this day), I love getting photos of babies at home, keeping them in their own comfy environment. I was just missing the most important ingredient to great photos, I needed sunshine & this day totally fell short of granting me any much needed luck but I think they turned out pretty good considering, if I do say so myself. I plan on putting newer ones on my fb page (Kimberly Kester Photography) as I edit them. There are a few other cute ones I didn't take the time to edit & include before posting this & I still want to share them. Enjoy!!

The photo above is for one of my bff's, Dana. Madison is from a hunting family too, so we had to get her in camo & (of course) Pink! This little girl was such a good baby, NO, really, I mean it, she was happy the entire time & she wouldn't stay asleep for more than 5 minutes. This little lady didn't want to miss out on anything...after all, she was the star for the day.

We started the morning off with a bubble bath, She loves herself a good bath, let me tell you. Next time, I might have mom blow a few bubbles while the baby is looking at her, I think it'll give it a cool effect.

Love it when they find their toes & have their tongue sticking out. Cutest picture ever! You should view it larger (by clicking on it) to see it the best. She's such a doll!!! Toes, love those wonderful toes.

Such a happy baby, don't you just LOVE the chin dimple!!!!

She's such a cute little peep now (Don't you just love that hat!!!) but just wait,...she's going to be a knock-out like her mommy!

I think in the end, I wore her out, this was the last photo I took of the session. I didn't want to risk another nap lost for a couple photos so I let her sleep & said my good-byes. Next time there needs to be background noise in the room (TV or radio playing) during baby sessions, it would allow for the camera clicks & prevent the room from getting too quiet. I wish it had been warmer for outdoor photos or at least sunshine so I could have done better indoor photos. Argh!! I'll get over it, eventually.

Congratulations again to Jessica & Danny (& their entire family), hope to see you again soon & Thank you!!