Thursday, December 15, 2011

Loving Light - My Holiday Card Photos

Since I didn't do Holiday Sessions this year I got to focus on my own family photos for our card.  And by that I mean spent slightly more than 10 minutes on them this year.  I think I spent 30 minutes taking these.  That's about all my kiddos could handle.  Really they are pretty awful about taking pictures right now.

When you first start learning about the best lighting to take pictures in photographers will tell over and over to "find the shade" and "avoid the sun".  But once you start learning a little more about lighting you realize that some of the most fabulous photos are actually soaked in dreamy sunlight.  I am obsessed with that dreamy sunlight lately, in other words, backlighting.  It's not easy to master and I am still learning it with practice and patience.  So this year I rounded up the gang complete with my almost teenage niece and headed out to an empty field in our neighborhood just before sunset to get these "dreamy" images.  And I love how they turned out. 

Celia was probably the most cooperative of the bunch, or rather least uncooperative I should say.  She posed for me for a good 5 minutes then was so done.




This guy on the other hand, not so much.  Lucky for me I'm not a fan of overly posed photos.



Is that light not FABULOUS? 

I've been sort of taking a break from my photography lately, but these images have really sparked my interest again.









Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Brunch with Santa

We had our brunch with Santa at Redstone this past weekend.  We love this event.  There are tons of things for the kids to do like making crafts...



Balloon animals...


train rides...


Seriously, do these bars look natural on him?   Really, he is being quite the little mess lately...


and of course Santa.  This Santa is so good.  We love him.  Celia hasn't been scared of him for a couple of years now.  She tells him she wants "My Little Ponies" a total shift from the Barbies she's been telling me for the last month that she was going to ask him for, great.  Santa has some exchanging to do.



Kye was still not sure what to think of this big red dude and looked a little like he was going to pass out.  In fact, Santa had to remind him to "breathe".



(Isn't it cute how they both have their hands in their pockets?)


But he managed to hold it together and pose for a picture, sort of.



Stills looks a bit in shock, but I'll take what I can get.