Bedazzled for Homecoming

Wooohoooo! Just took my second set of school dance pictures last weekend! Same couple... but you know what that means... they liked my last photos enough to ask me to do it again! I consider that a victory and an honor!

I know I'm guilty of almost ALWAYS going black and white... but in my defense, her dress was black and his shirt was white... I didn't want green leaves and other color distractions to take away from their details.

She stole his oh-so-cool aviator sunglasses and did her best Fonz impression. Wait a minute... does she even know who the Fonz is??? Waaaaay before her time...

 Okay, I HATE that the car is in the background, but these are in fact candids and they were in a hurry to get to their dinner reservation, so I couldn't mess around with backgrounds. Note how lovely her running legs are! I'm so proud of her budding running career!!!

 They did this spontaneously right before they were off, and I told them to reenact it for the photo. How cute.

You know you're feeling good if one of your photos becomes someone's profile picture on Facebook!

I also took some pictures of daughter with mama. But I worry that mama might disown me as a friend if I post those pics on here... but I think they're awesome!

So, just a quick update about my Team in Training progress:

Thank you so much to those who have given me such a great start in fundraising. I was contacted by the local TNT coordinator, and he praised the progress we've made so far. If you've donated to the fund already, I cannot thank you enough and tell you how much it means to me. If you're interested in donating, please visit my fundraising page. I really, really appreciate your interest and support in this cause.

And of course if you're local and you'd like some photos taken, by all means contact me!

I have been assigned a coach and a mentor for training, and our kickoff for the training season starts next week!

I am so excited to be a part of a team, and cannot wait to see us pull together and bring out our best selves for the sake of those who need us.

Having a Ball

Last weekend was perfect fall weather... cool, crisp temperatures, bright sunshine, glimmers of dew on the brilliant green grass...

Makes me think of... soccer.

"Tis the season for a lot of us mamas with mini-vans to be carting around short people to their various sporting events. Weekends (aka "rest days", ha ha ha) are fully scheduled with game after game after game. Yes, it's tiring. But these are the glory days... watching our sprouting little ones use that bundle of energy God gave them. It's really something to cheer about, sports fans!

I was so honored when a friend of mine (who happens to be my youngest's soccer coach) asked if I could take some pictures of her daughter in action on the field. I imagine she doesn't get a lot of opportunities to take snapshots of her little one while she's on the sideline coaching the girls.

I admit I don't have a lot of experience taking action pictures. I've taken shots of my son on the soccer field, but it's a challenge... you just have to keep snapping away, hoping that the referee will not be standing in the way right when you press that shutter release.

But we were blessed with fabulous brilliant sunshine... a key ingredient to getting crisper shots of girls running and kicking. And who would have a problem getting a good angle on this little cutie pie??

But don't let her fool you with that sweet smile. She's a terror on the field!! This girl means BUSINESS! I love it!

It was a lot of fun, and I hope her mama liked some of the shots we came up with.

So..... my official Team in Training Fundraising Page is up and running!!! If you're reading this and you have made a donation I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart. This cause and this project mean so very much to me.

If you're interested in arranging a portrait session... just shoot me a message via email or Facebook and we'll settle on a time, place, theme, etc. I'll edit the shots and send you a link to review them. From the site you can order prints or just share the link with family and friends. I'm more than happy to help with printing here locally as well.

"Fees" for the portraits are a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my TNT page. The amount of your donation is whatever you feel comfortable doing. The photos are my way of saying thank you for donating to such a worthy cause.

Hope everyone is having a "ball" this season!

Soul Sisters and an Update

Been gone a while, but I'm back with a recent project. I sure do appreciate friends coming forward and asking me to take pictures. They have to know how much I love doing it, and my hope is that they'll have at least one or two photographs they'll end up liking.

So here are a few shots from my most recent session... a couple of lovely sisters. We decided against an "on location" shoot since the youngest has a cast on her arm! That's okay... I love the up-close and personal facial shots anyway. Lighting was pretty good this weekend.

So here we are with the basic "together" shots:

 And clearly my symmetry was off with this one, which makes me SOOOO mad because I really like the shot! Yeah, I could crop, but the printing dimensions will be off....  :(

 I love seeing all of the baby teeth in this one.

 Just experimenting a little bit...

And here we go with the solo portraits. Here's the oldest...

And now the youngest...

And finally a quick shot with their very pretty mom. Could have done better with this. Wish I had taken more time to set this up better.

What lovely ladies! That was a fun session.

So...

Time to get myself a little more organized with my purpose and my goal. I finally received contact from Team in Training and they are having an informational meeting later this month (one that I cannot attend because I have a staff meeting at the same exact time that I cannot miss). Apparently, this session is for those who want to train for the Shamrock Marathon. The Nation's Triathlon is not listed.

I've been doing some thinking.

I would love to do another triathlon at some point, but I am worried about the expense of the equipment. I would need a new bike, probably some attachments, and a new wetsuit. I don't know if I can justify the expense of these things while we will be facing a pretty expensive year with our middle daughter in travel volleyball. My races this year sure added up too.

It is probably significantly wiser for me to sign up for the marathon. I will be mostly trained... just need to keep my distances up over the winter, if my body will allow it. I won't need any additional equipment (except maybe a new pair of four leafed clover shaped sunglasses).

Hmmmm. Need to come to a final decision very soon.

Sweet Cheeks

Have been busy the past couple of weeks... ran a 200 mile relay with friends in the wilds of Maryland and Washington, D.C. and celebrated my niece's first birthday. My camera has definitely been in use, but more for the "candid" side of life. That's okay... great memories are being created!

But this past weekend I needed to fulfill a promise I'd been keeping for a while. My good friend and colleague gave birth to her second lil' one a couple of months ago and I was long overdue for a visit to see her sweet new bundle of joy. I wanted to take portrait-style pictures of both of her beautiful girls as a gift. 

We were not blessed with great lighting this weekend, and truth be told, I was a little less than pleased with some of the shots. The girls did fabulously... I was the one with the problem. I will most likely ask for a "do-over" with this session, but here are some of what I came up with.

Look at the sweet cheeks on this little cutie-pie!!

And here's mama with her little newbie.

 She reminds me of a sweet little elf.

 And this is always a "money shot"... Daddy and baby. Wish we didn't have a quilt in the background. Anyone want to teach me how to use Photoshop?

Fall is really here! My favorite time of year for photos...