Mamas can be sexy too... - Redding Maternity Photographer

Don't you agree? Diane was so beautiful this morning, not sure if it was her newlywed glow or the baby glow (probably both), but this girl was screaming sexy mama. I know sexy & mama aren't words usually used together (And why not?), but when her new husband seen them, he thought the same thing & wants her to buy her own cowgirl hat :) When somebody calls & asks me to take their photos, the biggest problem I have is calming down & not asking them to take every possible photo scenerio for their family. So, when I was contacted by the bride-to-be for wedding photography, I was so excited to hear she was also expecting a new addition to their new family. So, me being the photography freak that I am, I pretty much went overboard. Me? Whodathought huh? What happened to calming down you ask. Well, weren't you listening?, I'm a freak! So, due to my obsession, she received the photos of her 2 boys the first day we met at the park, their wedding photos, family photos &...my favorite, her maternity photos. She was just over 20 weeks along during the maternity session & had the smallest bump I have ever photographed but I enjoyed every moment of it & I think these photos are some of my favorite maternity photos I have taken so far...I think I say that with each session cause I like each session in their own unique way. Isn't she beautiful & look at that intense look on her face, I think it represented confidence that radiated this amazing glow. Pregnant women are so amazing. Let me say, this was one of the quickest maternity sessions I have ever done (1 hr total). Diane was so wonderful letting me take all the other pictures for her, I didn't want to take up too much of her time. That being said, these were some of the best quality photos I think I have taken to this day thanks to my new 85mm lens. Of course I'm showing the last photo session I did for this family & the latest session so far this year because I couldn't wait to show my favorite session first. Don't get me wrong, I love the wedding photos too but having this opportunity to get close to a family & to be allowed this private access, I am grateful beyond belief. A lot of women don't think about capturing this time of them having a baby, I think it's just as important as getting the newborn shots with the baby just weeks old. I will however be missing that with Diane since she is moving today to Maine. I hope the best for this wonderful family & I will be showing more of them in the near future. Thank you Diane, Rob, Nathan, Noah, & Gavin for the wonderful times, and... ...ya'll come back soon, ya hear.

I'm back.....

Since even before my last post, I have been struggling with technology. Living in a location that has horrible cell reception & it's my only source to the outside world, I have been struggling longer than I should with the internet & phone service. Well, I'm so extremely happy to say (and I really mean ecstatic)... I finally have a landline & just upgraded (HA HA!!!) to dial up internet service. High speed isn't going to be available where we live until at least Fall of this year & I'm not getting my hopes up that it will even be that soon. We were using an air card before & with horrible cell reception comes horrible internet reception. Somehow I made it work for almost 2 years but really, enough is enough. I upgraded my PC & bought a new work station to help be more comfortable while I'm working on photos. I feel like the world was going on without me & I just hopped off that deserted island & into slow bay area traffic during rush hour. I heard dial up isn't much better & I'm finding that out cause it won't let me add pictures to the posts most of the time. I always think it's God's way of telling me to get off my butt & go take some pictures.

The good new is that I have been working. Most recently, I just finished a wedding, family session, and maternity session for a wonderful client. I will be posting those photos soon. I presented my Open House photo video to the teacher I was photographing for (previous post) & she said it was better than she ever could have imagined & we sold 10 copies @ $10.00 each to get the kids some end the year party money. Also I've been taking other photos such as some baseball games for one of Matt's classmates, my daughters friend & her horse & many more. Trust me, I'm sooooo excited to finally be showing off some of my new photos, I'm having a hard time keeping seated (but then I get reminded I only have dial up, I know it will take a while to show them).

I have to say, the hardest part of not having reliable technology (in this case, the internet), is that I wasn't able to view my favorite photographers blog. Her name is Amanda Pair, located in Alabama & her photography simply amazes me. If anybody asks who inspires me...it's her. Check her out sometime at http://www.amandapair.com/. I hope she inspires you as well.

We just adopted a new golden retriever from the pound about a month ago. Her name is Lady, she's 5yrs old & such a blessing. Matt seen her & was pretty confident she would be a great addition to our home here, man was he right. She is so gentle with him & she has taken to us like she has known us forever. Isn't she beautiful (photo above).

So, we are all doing well & Jon's business is getting the best advertising possible, word of mouth. He gets people calling him out of the blue & when he asks them how they heard about him (he only advertises in the yellow book), sometimes he doesn't even know who they're describing to him. We hope to have a website up for both of us soon but havent decided how I'm going to conquer that right now. I will be posting new pictures soon, I hope. Remember, I have crappy dial up (but at least I'm can post better now, even if it doesn't allow many pictures to load with dial up), so I can only send a few photos with each post but I hope you like them just as well.

It was hard to photograph Lady with my new 85mm, everytime I would walk away to get eye level, she would come closer to me. I have a whole bunch of her walking towards me but nothing compares to her rolling around in the dirt & grass. Happy dog = Happy family.

Sydney, Model for the day...

Taken 4-10-2010

This is Sydney, she was our gorgeous model during the Turtle Bay (http://www.turtlebay.org/) photography workshop featuring Kevin Lahey (http://www.kevinlahey.com/). I will be honest & say that I hadn't heard of Kevin until a few weeks ago. He brought Sydney along as a model & I was really proud at what I captured. What a fun day & the best part...Kevin said he really liked how I tilted the camera to take some photos. It made me feel pretty good that I was doing something he didn't see very often. These are all (SOOC) straight out of camera, in Manual mode, no computer enhancements, photos. Kevin liked the b&w setting on the camera for instant gradification. I have a hard time choosing my favorites so I'm not going to this time, they are all my favorites.

Beautiful hair to boot, she's so pretty.

I LOVED the eye contact!! I started smiling & telling her what to do...like using her fingers to shape her pretty face. I wish I could have taken over & directed her the way I wanted, I would have gone crazy with photos of her hands & face.

See, not much more to say...that beautiful smile & direct eye contact says it all. The first photo & the last 3 b&w photos are Sydney's favorite photos. I can't argue with that.

Abi's 2nd Easter - Redding Photography

Taken 4/1/2010

This is Abi, isn't she a gorgeous little doll. I was so happy when Katie called wanting Easter photos. We headed to a park & just let her play. The next two photos below show how the day started & how it ended. She was such a cautious little girl studying her guest so intently & kept guarded to an extent. It took a while to open her up but once we did, she flashed the cutest smiles. The biggest one's came from Katie playing with her. Besides the photo above being my fav of the day, I LOVE both the photos below, from her looking for the location of the crazy woman with the big black thing attached to her face, to being relaxed & just having fun with mom. What a beautiful little girl.

This is just plain good old fashioned happiness you're seeing here.

She is really holding herself up on these bars.

Her eyes are so pretty & blue.

She loves running after her mommy.

The photo above makes her look like such a big girl. Katie, Thank you for this time together.

I had so much fun & next time I'll remember to bring the reward for Abi being so good (can't believe I left it at home). Abi has grown so much & is really showing her own character, thank you for allowing me to capture her beautiful little self. Hope to see you soon.

Carly - Redding Photography

Taken 3/26/2010.

This is my niece Carly, she lives in Oregon & came down with her sister Mary for a visit. I think Carly is so beautiful & her eyes are amazing. I used my 50 mm for this shot so her eyes would stand out & was hoping not to focus on her super cute freckles by blowing out the highlights a little. I transformed the photo into b&w but I left her natural eye color. Notice the eye closest to the ground is greener, it was because it was closer to the green grass.

She was reading a book by James Patterson & was so excited about it, she wanted me to take photos of her reading it. She started telling me what the book was about & it seemed like most of the pictures I had, were of her talking. I couldn't decide what color version to post so I did them both.

This photo below is what I consider the super cute freckle photo. I have them too so I am allowed to call them super cute, took me many years to accept them & now I can't get enough of them, on other people, especially kiddos. No Carly, I'm not implying you're a kid.

She is such a happy girl & I hope to see her again on another visit. She liked being my model & I loved taking pics of her.

NOTE: When I take pictures of my family, I shoot the entire session in Manual so I'm continuing to learn what setting is the best in what specific lighting situation. So, as the blown out photo below is totally noticable, I'm still happy that I learned something. This photo had everything to do with not paying attention. I was wearing my sunglasses while shooting this day (never have done it before) & wasn't able to see the camera warning me the photo was going to be blown out. The bad part is that it took me a few frames to even look at the LCD & when I finally did, I was a little upset with myself. But the only way I learn is to do & the best part, is that I'm applying it. Besides this brief moment of not paying attention, I'm getting pretty proud of my progress again. Getting out & doing something is what this last month has been about.