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Monday, August 23, 2010

Little Mallory

As I mentioned in my PREVIOUS POST, I got quite a few cute pictures of this sweet little 5 month old... Mallory. She's growing too fast... it was just a few short months ago I was privileged to capture her newborn shots, see THIS post. Every photo I've shot since 4th of July has been in full manual mode. I'm really enjoying the challenge and that, for the most part, I get great exposures!

These were all taken while her mommy was holding her, all similar poses but the facial expressions are priceless!












I really enjoyed this day and this little girl. I think when I follow my dream and make photography my career (like in 20 years after our kids grow up) I would like to specialize in babys and children. It's their simple happiness and "genuine" nature that inspires me! 

Generations....

You might recognize a few faces in these pictures... my good friend Emily asked me to photograph her family for some special occasion pictures. Her Grandma is having a "milestone" birthday and she wanted pictures with all the great-grandchildren for some special uses at the party. Also, on this day we took photos of her parents and the grandchildren for another special use.

First location was at Great-grandma's house... I love that she choose their house to take the pictures. They've lived there for over 40 years, for them, it's not just a house, it's their family home.










Little Mallory was enjoying Great-grandma's hands...


They must have tasted good!


I just love these next 2 shots...




Next location was at a friend's house that had a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L yard for the shots with Emily's parents and the grandchildren. We snuck in a few of both, Emily with her kids, and her sister with her kids. All the children were so well behaved and easy to photograph. In fact, we shot at both locations in just 1 hour!


A sweet Mother and Baby moment...




Little Mallory was so cute... her grandpa can always get a great smile (and giggle) out of her! She was being so adorable that I got quite a few more of just her that I'm going to post separately.









These were a few for the "special" project... shhhhh....




Grandpa's shirt reads... "Loved by the best Grandkids"... I think that love goes both ways!






These last 2 were just for fun... Miranda and her friend who came along for the day.




Thank-you Emily for once again allowing me to capture some special photos for you and your family!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

4th of July Fun!

I love 4th of July... I love the USA... and I love being able to celebrate our countries freedom! This year, as most years, we spent the day with family and friends in our home town, watched the parade and attended the High School fireworks show. Our small town has a wonderful parade that normally lasts about 1 & 1/2 hours. It's a fairly long parade that starts at the local frosty shop, continues thru downtown and ends at a park where the crowd gathers after for fun, food, crafts and festivities!
This year was especially exciting for us because 2 of our children were in the parade! My husband's grandfather "Papa", who owns an antique store that's located downtown, decided he'd advertise his business in the parade (as he's done many years in the past) and asked if our kids and our niece would like to join him!
Of course, I would bring my camera out for a day like this! Plus, it gave me the opportunity to practice shooting in manual, this means I set the ISO, F-stop and shutter speed, which I did for all the pictures I took on this day.

{Click on any photo to see it enlarged}




These horses were so beautifully groomed; look closely you can see in this photo that their hoofs were painted GOLD!


Our 2 year old LOVED the parade this year... he didn't get bored or antsy the entire time... he just watched with anticipation and excitement!


And so did our 11 month old... I think I enjoyed watching him more than the parade!


I took so many pictures of him... it was all so "new", he was just taking it all in.



He was clapping like the rest of the crowd... Mommy loves it!!!


Every year I make matching t-shirts for our family to wear and this year I took our attire even further and made matching flip-flops for my daughter, my niece and myself. I also made matching hair bows for my daughter and niece.


Here they come...


Papa was proudly driving with his grandson Tory in the passenger seat and our son, daughter, and niece sitting in the back.


The car decided a couple days before that it was going to have some sort of starter problem, so we were all crossing our fingers it would start... Thankfully it did!


Look at the joy on the kids faces... they really had a great time!


I was such a proud parent... I took a ton of pictures as they passed us (which was just a few short seconds)!


From the opposite side with the antique store and all the family behind them.


He was having fun too!!!



These 2 are a couple of my favorite pictures from the entire day!



And what would a parade be without all the candy they throw at the crowd? I think that's the kids favorite part!


Papa and Nani. This July they celebrated 65 years of marriage! When he retired as an Officer of the Air Force they opened up the antique store and have been in business for over 35 years. They have 6 children, 13 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren; with more to come! This year Papa finished writing and printed his autobiography, that I was priviledged to be a part of. They are wonderful people who continue to have an awesome life together.


My handsome husband... he's giving me the look that says "Enough with the pictures already"!

The following are just some "extra" pictures I took of our little Rigan... he's one of my favorite subjects, mainly because he can't tell me "no more" and because he's so stinkin' cute!





This was an awesome day and I think I got some nice pictures that we will treasure for many years!