Monday, January 25, 2010

Fifteen Year Old and Black Birds


So I need to practice sunset photos, and Hannah's my go-to model. The above image was totally overexposed, but hey it looks cool.

I think Hannah looks really beautiful when she's looking up, apparently. Ha ha. I can't get over how OLD she looks in this one below. WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BABY?!


Well there were some creepy-looking dudes walking around the bridge, so we decided to wrap it up and head home. But I had to get the sky. It was amazing. Ron Brandenburger, I was amazed today! ;)


This is why we love this bridge.


At the stop light, I was agog at all the black birds migrating south. How fortuitous that I had my camera!! This will turn into a painting one day...

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Castelans' Kids

Jose and Amy Castelan are good friends of ours. They have four of the most beautiful children I've ever met, and I mean inside AND out! I took photos of Parker, age 8, Penelope, age 4, and Presley, age 5 (he was in one or two) when I first got my new camera. They happened to be there at the Halls' house, so they were my very first clients!

Pixie, the baby, wasn't there that day. So when we all ate lunch together after church last Sunday, I seized the moment.

Pixie strolled over to Mary Nell's baby grand piano and began playing.
It was too cute to miss!

Bess thought Pixie's lamb and puppy would like to hear her play.


Presley had declined portraits before, but he was very agreeable this time. So we went in the back yard, darting around Shadow, a huge German Shepherd, and clicked a few.

These kids love each other so much. They are a precious family!


Presley is one cool dude. He says that when he grows up, he's never getting married. He just wants to own a big house and have a lot of dogs.





Pixie was most interested in the dog. She's a lady of few words, but her eyes say a lot.




Pixie also doesn't like to go anywhere without her Lamb.
It was a quickie photo shoot, but I was very pleased with the results!



This Sunday is Hannah's 15th birthday. Our good friend, Matt Hall, is flying in from North Carolina. He's been on assignment for the last several months, and we're all glad to have him home. It'll be a short weekend visit, but we hope to hear lots of stories from his travels, and have a great time celebrating with Hannah! Eek, this means she'll wants her learner's permit!!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Baby Bella

Hi, folks! January has been one busy month! I decided my goal for 2010 was to really learn my new Canon 7D camera, amass a body of great portraits, and get a professional website going. What better way to launch that project than to photograph all my friends and their babies? We had NINE babies born in our church this year! That's only out of 50 or so families!

Jason and Alyssa are a gorgeous couple who have a beautiful baby named Bella. An appropriate name indeed! Bella had a nice nap before I came, so she was very happy while I took pictures. It was so cold and rainy that day that I met them at their home. Alyssa is a top notch decorator so it made for a beautiful environment.


The best photos turned out to be in their bedroom. Bella put on quite the show! Bess came along with me so she kept Bella entertained.


I love how Alyssa has the word "sleep" above their bed. She's great at using text as decoration in their home.

Then we shifted to portraits of just Bella. I borrowed props from Marcia Kelly's vintage consignment shop My Sister's Closet on Union Street. Bella loved playing with the pearls!


I love fat babies!!

This shot was Alyssa's idea: she had the word "family" and wondered if we could use it. I thought it was perfect. And Bella certainly enjoyed having something on which to chew.

Thanks, guys!



Sunday, January 03, 2010

Weekend Getaway!!


Ok so I'm a terrible wife: I left my husband to go to Georgia for Christmas. Yes, I abandoned him on our second Christmas as a married couple, and yes--gasp--didn't get home until the day after our second anniversary.
We had a glorious holiday in Georgia, which you should know from reading my previous two blogs (both of which written for Lanier's benefit so he could pretend he was there). But upon my return to Texas, my husband informed me that we were going OUT OF TOWN, JUST THE TWO OF US on a weekend getaway. He asked his dad where we should go (good man!) and Chuck recommended The Haven River Inn which is about 90 minutes away, close to Kerrville and Fredericksburg.


You could have knocked me down with a feather, as Scarlett O'Hara would say (did she say that?).We checked in Friday afternoon. Above is the best shot I could get of our room. Three words: King Size Bed. I had to search for him in the middle of the night! This is high livin'.


We spent Friday night eating Mexican food in Kerrville and writing down our goals for 2010 and beyond. Then we hit the Wing King to catch the 1st quarter of the Gators v. Cincinnati. It looked like a slaughter so we figured we could miss the rest of it and head back to our room.

After waking up very late Saturday morning, we ate breakfast there (very good!) and walked around the grounds. It's a huge house and really nice. I highly recommend it. The rates are great.

It has a humongous wrap around porch.

Then we were off! At this point I must add that we listened to The Decemberists' latest album "The Hazards of Love" three times on our trip. It's a rock-opera, which I'm proud to say I know what that is. Dad educated me back when I was in high school and he forced us to listen to southern classic rock in the mornings. But I digress. Listen to this album! It's awesome.


Cool cross on the hilltop as we wound through the hill country.

We parked near the central park area in Fredericksburg and I wanted to see this whirly thing up close.


Of course we had to take a few cheesy "I was here so I took a picture of myself in front of it" photos. This is my favorite one of Lanier.

A cool antiques store with gorgeous granite-topped tables and shiny things.


We went out back because Lanier had spied tons of slabs of granite which I guess one could select and have made into a table. So we posed in front of different ones. Here's Lanier's stern sexy look.

And my sly look. Thank God for good hair days!!


Down the way there was a dude playing German music on his accordion. He was a neat guy.

I told Lanier my one goal was to find at least one killer bakery and eat something sweet.
We found a great one!

Goodness it all looked amazing. I ate a fresh fruit cheese danish. Mom, wish you were here. ;)

Here's me with my danish.
Next we bowed to Lanier's taste and hit a brewery.

I loved all their posters. I'm a sucker for a good poster.

I liked the big lit up sign behind the bar tender.

We hung out there for a little while and tasted a delicious brew. Ole Miss was playing so we watched a leetle bit.

I gasped when I saw this store, a modern vintage clothing place. I couldn't afford anything in it, but man was it lovely touching all the pretty soft things they had for sale....Anthropologie on steroids, yow!

Finally, after hitting Rustlin' Bob's for Very Very Hot Salsa, we were ready to go. It was a lovely, lovely weekend and every married couple should get away for a night like this. Happy New Year, everyone!


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