The .L. Family

Now this is what I am ALL about; Great light, willing subjects and apparent, obvious, overflowing love! This family's shoot had it all and then some because not only were they willing subjects, right on down to the four year old BOY, but they had poses that were slathered with grace and that wonderful loving feeling... uh oh... I feel a song coming on.... You've got that lovin' feeling, ohowo, that lovin' feeling. You've Got that lovin' feeling now you're gone, gone, gone, wowowo. Sorry. I had to. I am done now.

Thanks L family for braving the cold beach... barefoot :0) Onto the pictures!!







See what I mean about "even the four year old BOY" (he's awesome, by the way!);
















I had some fun shooting around at random stuff and the sunset in between snaps. Here are a few shots I picked up through out my session with the L family;









I think I am going to blow one of these sunset shots up and center it between a couple of these more artistic shots. I'll hang them in my bedroom and pretend like I am lying on an island beach somewhere soaking up the sun!

100mm's of Awesome

I just got a 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM... wow, that's a name! And it lives up to that name!! I LOVE it sooo much! It came fedex this morning after a horrible tragedy occurred yesterday (I missed the delivery guy because I was changing a diaper!) prolonging my wait. There wasn't much to shoot today, flowers are a muddy mess from all the rain and nothing is really budding, so I just played a little to test the water. Well, that water is JUST fine ;0)

Style Guide {Summer 2010}

I have a few sessions scheduled for the beach and some more natural looking places around town in the coming months and so I thought a new style guide might be helpful to both my current clients planning and for the general Fourth Light Follower who might have a beach or outdoors session in mind down the road. I love the more romantic styles amidst the fashion minded right now. It seems the current trend is toward all things vintage and being a fan of the 20s, 30's and 40's I was in heaven creating this style guide... it made me want to go SHOPPING!


Remember when styling your shoot to think about coordinating colors and not necessarily about matching perfectly. You can see in this style guide that the overall theme is blues, creams/khaki and gray but their is very little matching as far as patterns go. I think mixing and matching solids with different textures and patterns is what really makes a simple color palette go a long way.

These styles can be found at Ruche, Old Navy, The Gap and on Etsy .

Diamond Lake

My family and I spent a wonderful weekend in Diamond Lake, fishing, resting, hiking and spending time together. I was able to take my camera out and about, capturing a few shots of this amazing and beautiful place!

My early morning sunrise shot;

Everything at Diamond Lake was still recovering from the bitterly cold winter. While it felt like spring had sprung during our trip, the plants and the lake were still surrounded by the remnants of winter.

A little sunset action;

Another Favorite

Oh, and one more!!

.Bear.

His name is actually Barrett but in these parts he's referred to as Bear. I love my sweet little Bear. He makes our family so much happier, sweeter and squishier... he is just so squishy! Look at those cheeks. I just have to squish them! He'll be nine months soon. I've been trying to gradually collect shots of him since he was born seeing as how "sessions" don't really work with my men right now... they've got better things to do... like chop wood, build bon fires, fish, hunt and this little guy? He likes to EAT!

Clint

Clint's going to be a Country Western STAR. For sure. He is charismatic, charming and above all else he is an outstanding singer! I was stoked to do his shoot. I had all kinds of ideas and scouted spots to take him and he was up for it all! What a great subject he was. He and his mom brought tons of outfit changes and he was even willing to shave his beard off at some point in the shoot if I thought it would be a good change for some of his shots. I spared him the task of shaving in a parking lot, you're welcome Clint;0) I am so happy with what we came up with and Clint's handsome face is a much welcomed addition to my portfolio! If you are in the Coos County area and like country music be sure to catch Clint performing at the Colgate Country Showdown and Performing locally at several events throughout the summer.

Clint {Sneak Peak}

So those of you who are faithful followers of Fourth Light (all two of you ;0) know that when I do a single shot sneak peak it's important 1. because I am so excited that I can't hold back long enough to edit a whole post worth and 2. because it's going to be good... real good! Without further ado here's Clint's sneak peak... oh and the rest are going to be good... REAL good!

The .S. Family

I love these guys! They are always so fun and ready for anything. For this session I brought a trunk full of "vintage picnic" stuff. Sadly, Titus wasn't feeling the photo shoot and seeing as how his momma is an awesome photog herself I imagine that he is no stranger to the camera, just like my two little monsters. So we tried and gave it a valiant effort but you can only coax a two year old so much. Nonetheless we had a great time trying!















And this last one makes me giggle. I can tell where Titus get some of his mannerisms!!

Landscape Photography

When I do a family, senior or wedding photo shoot I am moving... a lot. I am constantly thinking about the next pose, shot, angle or set up and I move quickly to catch each moment as it happens. I have recently tried my hand at landscape photography and can I just say I admire those of you who have a natural talent for this area! I unfortunately do NOT have the landscape eye or steadiness that landscape photography requires and most of all I do NOT have the patience. I have heard that a portrait photographer sets up a shot in 1 minute while a landscape photographer requires 1 hour! Upon realizing my lack of patience in photography I decided to start practicing my landscape technique, in hopes that some of the steadiness and patience would help along my progress as a portrait photographer. So I went out scouting today for some shoots coming up next week (hopefully the weather cooperates for those) and I decided to take it nice and slow, taking my time to set up each shot and not getting frustrated when the first shot wasn't the best. I think I like the results... at least I like them a lot better than most of the other attempts!





I have also been working on a "tree" project for a friend. How can a stationary object be so difficult to take a picture of?! This is my favorite tree shot to date... I am still working on it.