our favorite thing

winter and i love going to the painted potter to let our creative juices flow!

she's quite the artist!

these are a few of our favorite things...

1. ice skating at discovery green at christmas

2. visiting friends

3. baking sweets

4. going to festivals

5. reading together

6. painting and coloring together

7. going to the movies

8. taking photos

9. listening to the country music on the radio

10. girlie parties

i love my darling Winter Eden. she always makes me laugh.

what are your favorite things to do with your kids that you enjoy yourself too?

Freaking Fantastic Giles

i'm increasingly shooting more after sessions, and i love it!

this is lauren and rodney giles from team giles. they were married in february 2009 (of course i covered that). there wasn't a lot of time between the ceremony and the recepton to take those romantical photos that lauren was just dying to get...so thus, the after session.

{nikon d300; 18-200 lense ; f/13 @ 1/30 sec on manual}

{f/14 @ 1/30 sec maunal; shop: levels}

{f/14 @ 1/30 sec; shop: levels}

{f/4.5 @1/4 sec}

{f/4 @ .4 secs}

{f/14 @ 1/30 sec}

{f/13 @ 1/30 sec}

p.s. i've noticed i don't use flash at all like i used to back in the day.

Wedding Book

click image to view larger printable image.

click image to view larger printable image.

oh, goodness me!

oh dearie me. things have been great and busy. hardly a moment to sit. so i only realized yesterday that i haven't been writing daily as usual.

So on the contrary, time away was for good stuff!

I'll be attending my first ever costume party ever. Going as a salon girl. A friend's mother let me borrow a costume she wore 30 something years ago...Handmade! It's so awesome! Bought some feathers for my hair today to make a cute clip...maybe I'll Framed Studio it up and add some jewels! I'm sewing the baby's costume tonight i better get on with it. He'll be a musketeer! Oh dear, he'll be so darling. A little mustache to go with his feathered hat and plastic sword. Winter, the little mermaid, is all so excited to go trick or treating. Expect more photos soon!

a little help

the little one holding the reflector...
that's my daughter, Winter. (4 yrs.)
she loves taken photos and helping at shoots.

she mimicked things i she's heard me say.
"the light is too harsh on the right side of her face"

letting the maid-of-honor (who tagged along) know.

{perfect lighting in these photos thanks to Winter's help}

this shoot was great. lindsey has been a friend to our family for as long as Winter has been born. i was estatic when she hired me to photograph her wedding. we started at 5 pm. the day was perfect. not a cloud in the sky and the sun was giving that golden light through the oak trees...and the air had chill to it. i shot the whole session on the manual setting. i try to refrain from using the flash as much as i can if i love the ambient lighting. thank goodness for good help from a preschooler!

Corey & Melanie's Wedding

{Sam Houston Park. manual: f/9 @ 1/6 sec, flash fired. shop: levels, gradient, render lens flare}

i really love this pose. i posed them facing the lake together and i moved around to the other side and had them turn heads as they embraced eachother. they were such a fun couple and truly let their personalities become the style of their wedding.

{manual: f/5.6 @ 1/25 sec; shop: levels}

the bride and groom's daughter, elyce, was truly a darling flower girl. she waved back at the bridesmaids and dropped a petal and then pick up a bunch of petals and put them back in her basket. she stole the show!

{mother of groom and the groom, corey.}

elyce had the whole wedding party and guests in tears of laughter!

sam houston park is a gorgeous place and the perfect setting for a wedding.

i loved the old reminents of old houston.

more photos coming soon...

...

so i incorporated alot of what i learned at my downtown night photography class (you can read the post here). I used my tripod alot more throughout the ceremony. i'm working without my flash alot more. i love ambient light, but naturally this is more challenging trying to find the right fstop and other functions to make a great photo that my clients will just drool over...but i'm definately getting fast at it. it makes me smile when i can get something just as i see it in my mind.

i hope that sharing my experience of my work with you helps you to get the photos you dream about.

lesson learned - downtown night photography

{that's me. nikon d300, manual, f/22 @ 30 sec; shop: just levels}

there's was alot that i learned
and being the kenestetic learner i am...
i had to experience.

{both 'the tree fountain'; manual, f/22 @ 10 sec 1st, ISO 400; shop: levels}
{1. slowly moving the focus in as the shutters open 2. the actual subject shot}

{recycle globe exhibit; aperture priority, f/11 @ 8 sec, ISO 400; shop: levels}

{aperture priority; f/18 @ 30 sec, ISO 250; shop: levels}

{manual; f/22 @ 20 sec; shop: levels}

{walking with flash light; aperture priority; f/22 @ 10 secs; shop: levels}

...it was a lot of fun joining a group of photographers last night just taking the time to shoot random things and practicing, trial and error, with night photography and lighting. i learned that i must have a tripod. i must shoot a lot on f/22. i want to have my shutter open for as long as possible to get the shots i wanted to create, about 30 secs. and if the object is moving its not going to show up...but light will! if the object it still for a moment it will appear transparent, ghostly...this was such a different and neat experience to learning. i was so glad to finally just have the time with the objective to just mess around with my functions and buttons on the camera and really take neat photos for fun. downtown photography - one experience goal accomplished!

do you have photography to share with me and other readers, share you link or blog!

in the woods

{nikon d300; f11 at 1/25 sec; ISO 1600. shop: levels; color overlay (gold); lens flare}

a shot from a mini shoot i had on sunday. enjoy!

i have my downtown at night photography class tonight!

can't wait to share the photos for that!

i fancy it

WEDDINGS
a few ideas i fancy for weddings

...

i'm in the wedding business so naturally i've seen all the darling decor...but when i search my favorite wedding sources such as martha stewart weddings.com the creativity ceases to amaze me. it so wonderful to have the availability to purchase hand crafted bridal and wedding couture from etsy. you can find anything you need...and it won't be "david's bridal dull"!

photo from snippet & ink - my favorite wedding ideas source

Gorgeous handmade bridal shrugs made by Bonzie. There's so many cover ups to choose from!

also if you're in the houston area and looking for table linens for your wedding...i've done the comparing for you...and classy linens is the best quality for less!

I hope you enjoy this first edition of the weekly i fancy it ...

p.s. Eeks! i'm a "dot-com" now!

blushing bridal

this has to be the most fun and lovely part of my job.
having the one on one time with the bride.

{kemah boardwalk; nikon d300 18-200 lense; 1/60 sec and f/6.3; levels photoshoped}

so it was pretty recent that i discovered something wicked about levels. how to make my photos look more vintagy {i.e. scroll to the last image}. click ctrl+alt+L...this will bring up your levels diagram. do the levels as you normally do. but don't click okay just yet. click the drop down menu that has RGB. there'll be colors listed. select green. move the right triangle in (green) and then move the far left triangle in (magenta)...you may want to select red after this and just give it a tad bit of red.
vintage is mint!

{alvin barn; nikon d300 18-200 lense; 1/50 sec and f/9; levels + crop photoshop}

this shoot was alot of fun and i was extremely excited to get back and work on the images so that i could show my clients. the first part of the shoot we went to this big red barn in Alvin, Texas. Its off some little highway out there. It was amazing! There was bales of hay and a huge leafless tree and a dark shoot for the livestock! ...i did say amazing right!? then on to kemah which was loads of fun! all the photos came out great and you can see more at sherrard photography blog soon.

{alvin barn; nikon d300 18-200 lense; 1/50 sec and f/7.1; levels and advance levels adjusted}

what's your little photoshop trick {or treat}?

happiness list

{Nikon D60 . f/5.6 at 1/125 sec . ISO 100 if its a photo of me...i won't tell you what i photoshoped}

i saw a fellow blogger friend, taza, post her list.
i need to be reminded even simple things can be the best things.
this is a time in my life where happy things are easily overlooked
and the things that make a person moopy set in...
so 10 things that make me happy.
this will set as a reminder all the times i'm frowny face.

1. my darling babes smiles
2. warehouse district of houston
3. colored glass
4. taken photos for fun...for me, no workie.
5. my daughter's pressed flowers
6. the smell of sea grass at ikea
7. when there is a moment where i've completed all tasks
8. when i hear guitar slaps in a song.
9. painting a room the color i fell in love with
10. 2nd hand precious treasures found at the thrift store.

leave me with your happy thoughts.