A Shout Out to the Coolest BFF's in Glens Falls

Hey there Girlies! You ROCKED this fun session!!
These five beauties from my hometown gave me as much sass and tude as five tween girls could muster up, and I assure you, there was none lacking.
They were really too cool for me. Really.











Thank you, Girls. You helped me to find some cool spots in downtown GF for some future urban sessions. Anyone from the GF area that might like one of these hip modern sessions- give me a ring - I am thinking about expanding my business into that area.

Hey Visitors!!

If you visit my blog frequently, would you leave me a comment- just say, hey, I love u man, hello, how are ya, you know, whatever. Cuz lots of people visit and I don't know who you are- like Greenwich, NY, or Mount Prospect, IL- I just gotta know who's stoppin by!! :):):)






Just a cute one I took of my handsome boy edited a la Audrey Woulard!

JUMP!!

Celebrate with joy and thanksgiving- tommorrow is Resurrection Day! Happy Easter everyone!

Meeting Audrey Woulard

For those of you who are not photographers, you may not know the name Audrey Woulard, but you WILL know her work. She is the Pottery Barn Kids Photographer. If you are a photographer, then you probably think she is something equivelant to, say, Brad Pitt, and meeting her would be like the equivelant of say, getting a back stage pass to The Rolling Stones, so going to a workshop of hers is like getting a singing lesson from Josh Groban. Yes, folks, she is a star.

So, I spent the weekend in Audrey Woulard's loft. I am terrible with words, so I will just say it was COOL. I got to shoot adorable professional models in a famous natural light studio under the direction of THE Audrey Woulard. One of the girls I photographed happens to be in this month's American Girl catalog, which impressed even my daughter, who is incredibly difficult to impress. This was like a dream weekend for me. On top of Audrey Woulard I got to spend three days with Julie, Megan, and Candy (missed you, the rest of you Chicks!), also photographers I want to be like when I grow up!

Without further adieu, these are the images I took at the workshop. It was a tough shooting environment, these poor kids were like celebrities being photographed by paparazzi, there were lots of photographers vying for their attention. I am sure their parents were very proud of them!

I'm Back From Chicago

Do you ever feel let down after you get back from a big trip? I was happy to come home to my family that I missed so much, but I am sad my big fun trip is over and I am back to normal life. I spent Friday with my Pixel Chicks girlfriends Candy, Megan, and Julie. It was such fun to chat photography for three whole days, plus we added in a good bit of girl talk too, so what could be more fun?

I have to share some of the fun pics we took on Friday while touring the city. These were all shot in Millenium Park on a stunningly gorgeous bright blue sky 60 degree day in the Windy City.

We spent Saturday at Audrey Woulard's workshop, I will post more about that later...


Awww...Chicago is so romantic


This is "The Bean" a huge mirrored sculpture in the Park.
It was a fun place to shoot fun and playful images (we wished we had
some kids to play with!) I am right in the middle of the image but I also shot it.
You can see my reflection in three
different places.


This was a huge lighted wall that made a super cool
backdrop. This is Candy shooting Megan, who should become a supermodel.


This is what the lights form when you step back and look at it from a distance.


This is us, shooting us in the bean.

Mother's Day Sessions

Mother's Day is upon us and time is short. Treat yourself (or your wife) to a piece of artwork that will be more precious than just about anything else that Walmart or TJ Maxx has to offer. Make it a memorable one.

For prints to arrive by Mother's Day, sessions must be completed by April 20th. Gift certificates will also be available. Put your art on the wall: take 15% off gallery wraps and mounts through the end of May.

Finding My Passion

Images that tell a story, freeze a moment, evoke that feeling of comfortable familiarity, maybe a little ooh and ahhh here and there too..... that's my passion. When I see images that do this, the emotion feels like it comes from inside my bones, like it's been released after being stuck there for far too long. My own images don't always do this for me. It's often other photographers who drive me to my knees to beg God for that talent. A few of these do that for me though. Why? Is it because they are technically correct, follow the rule of thirds, or meet a certain skin tone standard? Hardly. It's because they tell a story about these little souls that is very personal to me, since they are my own. When they are grown and "all bony" as my friend Cindy says, I want to remember their littleness, those chunky dimpled hands wrapped in a dirty bandaid and adorned and bedazzled with jewels. I like to think that I will look fondly upon a boy's ripped holey jeans, and the yucky binky my daughter insists on having in her mouth whenever I am not looking, and her dirty "pink." I will long for a crowded Build -A- Bear where my children rubbed and kissed their bear hearts and then stuffed them into a new friend. I will wish for sister moments, and to see the stars in my little ones eyes when she hung on big sister's every word, and to see them ride a carousel together in a mall...

This is why I became a Photographer.

Subscribe to My Blog's Feed

Do you guys know about Google Reader? My friend Amy Lemire (whose daughter won the Photo of the Year award) just told me about this cool little tool that I was most likely the last to know about. BUT in case you sometimes feel as though you live in a cave as I do at times, I want to tell you about Google Reader. Here you can collect all the blogs you like to read in one place, and it will tell you whether there is something new on the blog or not. This was great for me b/c I would make the rounds of all my photog friends some mornings, and some of them are just not blog attentive (you know who you are!) and I would be disappointed to see the same post as every day for the last week. NOW, I don't have to be disappointed anymore, or waste my time navigating all over creation, which is always a plus for the start of a great day.



BTW, there's others besides google too, but I only know about Google so that's what I am going to talk about. So, go to google reader (google it, as my friend Ali says, "google is your friend") and then add me in your feeds. Or if you aready have the google reader then scroll to the bottom and click subscribe to add me.



And now I will leave you with this song that has been in my head for days and I just have to get it out....



Megan, don't continue reading....

ooeeeooahahtingtangwallawallabingbang

Inspiration for the Day

"Rather than concentrating on being the best, I concentrate on being better than last week."



This quote is by Jerry Ghionis, an Australian Wedding Photographer whose approach to his art may very well have made him the best at what he does. At the very least, he's one of the ten best in the WORLD, named so by American Photo Magazine in March 2007. He has also been called an "Icon of Imaging" by Microsoft and has won 4 of the last 5 "Wedding Album of the Year" awards by Wedding and Portrait Photographers International. WOW. I guess his advice should be lauded!


For me, this idea of concentrating not on being the best but on being better than last week is a way to overcome that feeling of overwhelm I sometimes get when I think of all things I have to learn, all the ways I need to change and be better. You can use this in your spiritual life, professional life, your physical fitness, your life as a Mom or Dad. It pumps me up.

With all that being said, I am off to be better than last week, starting with a workout and then an online photography class while Ella sleeps.....

Have a fabulous day being better than you were last week!

For you photographers out there, I used Kevin Kubota's mochabw action on this image, increasing the opacity of the brown layer to 100% and decreasing the gradient layer to about 45%. I love the soft brown color of this one, it lends to her classic look.

I Want Some Wisdom!!

Okay, hope my bringing up the -26 thing didn't depress too many of you New Englanders. It's better now, there was even sun on Sunday. That was a sight to see. I had to wear my sunglasses, but first I had to find them. They were buried somewhere in my purse under the diapers and wipies, sippy cups and a few hats and mittens (yes, my purse is ginormous!) but eventually I found them. I had to wear them all day. Have you ever noticed that when you wear sunglasses in New England in the winter that they are perpetually foggy? It's because your body heat is, well, enough, I digress....

Here's another beauty of a quote from Solomon. He was a cool guy, VERY wise. Of course you know that already.... There's this cool book I want to read soon called "The Richest Man Who Ever Lived, King Solomon's Secrets to Success, Wealth and Happiness." Somehow Amazon figured out that I would like this book so they put it on my home page. I think I will order it... anyway, here's that quote:

"One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."

I hope I can live these words.

This pic is one of my new favs, maybe b/c it is different for me. For you photogs out there, I purchased this rockin set of textures from Michelle Black Concepts and I am quite happy that I did. (This is the feet of the little cutie I have a crush on, you remember him...)