A Sweet Three Year Old!
Over the weekend, I got a chance to snap some pictures for this little man in his grandparents backyard for his big 3rd birthday!
We’d had to reschedule this shoot a couple of times due to rain, cool temperatures, and illness, and I’m so glad we waited. We had a glorious weekend here and by Sunday evening the temperature was perfect for portraits.
This sweet little guy was such a delight to photograph. Well dressed and lots of big smiles!
Can you even get over that bow-tie!?
It was such a pleasure to be out taking pictures again. I’ve been on a little hiatus since the fall and my creative juices are definitely flowing again. I can’t wait to get my own guys out in this warm weather and take some updated portrait style photos of them!
Chasing Mermaids Spring/Summer 2013
I’ve been slowly gathering items for my little guys’ spring and summer wardrobes and I have to say I’m loving all the bright colors and patterns this spring! I may have even jumped on the mixed patterns trend. Whoa baby! Lucky for me, I’ve got access to some of the cutest fabrics and kids clothing designs around. Mom’s of sweet little girls, look out!
Don’t worry, she’s got adorable designs for boys as well. My guys will be sporting these pirate shorts this summer!
Pretty in Pink: 9 months
Have you EVER? I mean look at those ruffles!!
Some of you have asked how my “unbusiness” is going. The answer: GREAT. I’m getting to do so many things for other people that I LOVE doing. Photography, designing, cooking. It’s been so relaxing and so wonderful.
And I’m still getting my creative fix in a major way. About a month ago I got to point my camera at one of the sweetest little girls I know. She’s growing and changing so fast now; her little features and personality are coming out in full force. And I can very surely say she’s an absolute doll.
And girlfriend has got a wardrobe to die for. Mama and Grandma and Aunties sure know how to make girl look good!
I’m still so glad that I decided to take a step back and slow down. I’m getting to do things like shoot for my friends, edit on my own timeline, and enjoy every moment of new learning. I may not be getting as much practice as I was during the last half of last year, but I’m so much more intentional about what I’m doing and it feels so much better.
This sweet girl will be turning one very soon and I’m so thankful I got to take her 9 month shots. This week I’ve also been helping her Mama with some paper goods and invitations for her big party. What fun! Just the type of project I’m so happy to have at the moment.
Side Hustle.
So, if you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen me post some fun design-y + photograph-y type stuff over the past couple of weeks. Mainly of sweet kids or fabrics or business cards.
I have this friend and she’s pretty crafty with the old sewing machine. Well, actually, hers is new and fancy and shiny. Her name is Raedene Averitt, and she’s the owner of Chasing Mermaids Boutique. She makes incredibly cute clothes for kids in the seasons latest fabric fashions and trends.
I’ve technically been working with Raedene since last summer, on an ad hoc basis, photographing things for her here and there and helping with design things for her shop. Towards the latter part of 2012, her business skyrocketed and she began getting order after order after order. Feeling the need to streamline her business, as well as spice up her Facebook page and Etsy shop, she asked if I’d be interested in assisting her with a multitude of behind the scenes bits and bobs.
I was pretty excited. See the thing is, I’m a terribly good assistant. I love to organize. I love to-do lists. I love the behind the scenes. I’m good at taking direction. I don’t get offended if criticism is delivered respectfully and kindly and I genuinely ADORE small business. I don’t have the time or talent (yet) to have a business to call my own, so for the time being assisting someone who’s doing something I really admire…does it get any better?
A month or so in, and I think we’re in a good groove. I’m taking pictures and designing enclosure cards and being all technical in Big Cartel and I’m loving it. It’s just enough to stimulate my brain, but not so much that I’m ignoring my kids and pulling my hair out from stress (a resolution if you’ll remember).
Hop on over to her Facebook page for all the latest designs and updates about Flash Sales, Ready to Ship deals, and new fabric combinations. She’s pretty rad, I think. And I’m pretty sure you’ll like her too.
365 Project: January + Fun Photo Apps
I made it! I’m 1 month in to the 365 photo project I’m doing, and we’re still going strong. I have to say there were only 1 or 2 times I got to dinner time and thought “oh shoot, I need a photo today”. Most days, I had lots to choose from.
I’ve decided to continue my Facebook hiatus another month. Week one was a little hairy and I was tempted to log in on 1 or two occasions, but since then I’ve been great. I even had to log in to my old account last night for an address (I seriously logged in, went straight to my messages totally avoiding my newsfeed, got what I needed and deleted my account again as fast as I could), and didn’t peek! Instagram is fulfilling my need to be “connected” to family and close friends, so I still feel like I’m in the loop.
On that note, I thought I’d share some of my recent most favorite photo apps. It’s been so much fun playing around with filters and cropping on my phone and I’m not even ashamed to admit that most of my pics are “doctored” up quite a bit. Don’t hate the double-filter!
1. Camera+ : This was my go to app for a long time. It’s got great adjustment presets for different lighting situations, great cropping and rotating abilities, and some cool (free) filters.
2. Snapseed : I’m sort of still new to this one, but I really really like it for its editing options. You can adjust Brightness, White Balance, Exposure, and Contrast allowing you to fiddle with your photos like you would in many real photo editing software packages. They have filters available here as well, though I’ve never used them. Usually I’ll do a quick brightness and white balance adjustment here, and then export to another app for filter fun.
3. VSCO CAM : This is the mobile version (limited) of the fantastic VSCO collection which emulates a film quality in digital photography. I ADORE these actions for Lightroom (my favorite photogs (use them) but I can’t quite bite the bullet on the full set for editing my own pics just yet. This mobile version offers some fun tools to adjust for grain, fade, temperature, and fill light and give photos a really neat film like quality.
And of course, I usually throw an Instagram filter on top of all this as well. I typically scroll through each one and see how my picture looks, but seem to choose Valencia and Nashville most frequently.
Check out my Instagram feed for examples of my recent pics!
Simply Peaceful
This year has been one of a lot of personal change and growth for me. Some really really good, and some I’d like to improve upon. Starting this blog has been a catalyst for most of that change. I’ve learned new skills, met new people, and had the opportunity to explore things I’ve come to really really love. It’s also added a significant amount of stress and uneasiness to my daily life in many ways and at many levels.
I love this little blog and I’ve struggled with what exactly it should do and be and become. I’ve spent the last several weeks reflecting on what it is I really want to do and I think I’ve come to a conclusion. Call them resolutions, or keywords, or goals…I’m going into 2013 more simply and more peacefully.
I’m not entirely sure what that will look like. I’ve got a handful of clients left to shoot and design for this month and after that I’m going to take things as they come. I’ll not be pursuing photography as a business and I’ll be scaling back my design work significantly. I’m not sure how our family is going to change this year, and I’m not happy with how the business aspect of my hobbies impacted my family last year.
This decision came with lots of reflection and conversation and personal exploration. And it was a really tough one for me. I was blessed during the months of October, November and December to really be able to see what starting a business and maintaining my family would be like. I so enjoyed meeting and working with my 2012 clients and learned immensely from the work I did for them. I’ll surely be continuing my learning on a personal level and will continue to design and shoot for friends as a hobby and I’ll blog about these things and my family shenanigans here. Back to basics friends.
The words simply and peaceful are my buzzwords for the year. I’ve reflected and goal set along with Emily Ley, Lara Casey, and Nancy Ray over the past few days and I’ve been able to apply those words to every single one of my goals and objectives for the year.
So stay tuned friends. I’ve been waiting for January 1st for what seems like weeks. I’m excited and enthusiastic about the changes I’m going to make and I can’t wait to see what the next twelve months hold.
Happy New Year!
Zoom Photography: Sweet Myla
I’m surrounded by trucks and trains and the color navy blue almost all day long. As a result, I really really love photographing little girls. I just die over their sweet curls, fancy tutus and hairbows.
Sweet Myla was no exception. She was so happy to sit and pose and she really really enjoyed playing with her pearls!
Thank you so much miss Myla for letting me chase around for the afternoon!
Zoom Photography: Sweet Baby
We’ve been blessed with so many new friends since we arrived back in the States from Ireland. By chance, we happened to move to a city where Mr. Zoom’s distant cousins live. We’ve become great friends with an entire family of some incredibly warm and welcoming people.
Last week, I was able to spend some time with the newest member of the family. She’s such sweet little thing and this girl has got a closet to die for. I love these shots of just her, little sister to two of the cutest big brothers around.
Isn’t she just a doll? I can’t wait to continue watching her grow!
Boo! A Super Spooky Shoot: Raleigh Commercial Photography
I seem to surround myself with insanely creative and talented people.
Lately, I’ve been spending some time with a couple of local seamstresses. Both awesome stay-at-home-mama’s and both awesome with their sewing machines. You’ve seen Raedene of Chasing Mermaids (and her adorable kids) around here before. She’s had a terrifically busy summer; which included having her first trunk show, trying out lots of new patterns, and collecting a small (and totally droolworthy) collection of chevron. Lauren, of LouLouBean Boutique is a new friend and super crafty gal herself. She makes the cutest appliqued stuff around including towels, shirts, and tote bags. She happens to have a daughter in Big Zoom’s preschool class and I’m so glad we’ve gotten to know each other this year.
It all started back in early August when I began helping Lauren design a carnival theme birthday party for her kids. We worked on invitations, cupcake toppers, return address labels, and carnival game signs. I thought she was pretty fun to work with and wanted to introduce her to my good friend Raedene. A couple of days later, these two creatives conjured up an idea to pair up and put together an adorable Halloween line of skirts and pants with matching appliqued shirts to celebrate the season. They even created some cute sibling coordinating outfits!
When they asked me to help out with some photography and marketing design, I was super excited. I love taking pictures and I love working with local business people. This, essentially classified as product photography, is right up my alley.
I had a great time helping these girls put together this line and we really hope you all love it as much as we do. Please pop over to Chasing Mermaids blog and Facebook, as well as LouLouBean Boutique to check out all the details and fabric options.
I know my kids are going to be cutest on the block this Halloween season….are yours?
Sibling Love
Back in May, while at the beach, my sweet cousins asked if I’d take a couple sibling snaps of them for a top-secret super special project (Happy Anniversary Aunt Ann and Uncle Neal!).
There were a couple of hiccups that went along with this shoot. I forgot my battery charger, parentals were always around, and the “golden hour” rudely coincided with happy hour.
On the last day of the week-long trip, we finally got our acts together and snuck away from the wedding festivities for a quick shoot on the beach.
Photography School 101. Bright sunlight on a beach is hard to combat. Also, don’t shoot from below (duh).
Despite my having had, ahem, several glasses of champagne prior to taking these shots I think some of them turned out pretty well.
And, I was inspired to start yet another frivolous business. Selfies: $5 a pop. I’ve got references.
These three are really fun. They were my “baby” cousins when I was a kid and after they turned about 6 there was a long span of time I didn’t see them. A couple of years ago when our first cousin got married, we met up again and boy had they grown up. I’m finally starting to create pictures of them in my mind that are of their present grown-up selves, not the sweet toddlers from my memories.
That guy there. He’s pretty cool. And a genius. I used to change is diaper. Womp, womp.
And these two, I just adore. They are the kind of sisters I love to be around. They are happy and fun and the best of friends.
Cousins: I love you to bits and I had such a great time snapping these pictures of you. Could it have been any colder out there?!? Miss you lots!
