February Kocher/Clark Wedding!

I had the pleasure of photographing a beautiful wedding in mid February (I know, I'm terribly behind), at a historic hotel. The lovely couple did a vintage winter type theme and it worked perfectly with the vintage elements of the hotel. Here are just a few photos of the day! :)

Congrats to Melissa and Jason! :)

Baby Olivia: {4 months}

I had the pleasure of photographing sweet baby Olivia and wanted to share some of my favorite images with everyone. I photographed her parents wedding several years ago and I was delighted when they asked me to do a session with their little one. She is a beautiful little girl. Comments and critiques are welcome! :)

 Olivia and her Daddy

 The above one is probably my favorite! :)

 She has such a sweet smile! :)

 Olivia and her Mama!

 Her Mommy found some of the cutest outfits and headbands!



Rock the Shot February photo challenge..Love!

This month's photo challenge at Rock the Shot is Love. I thought about this a few minutes and wanted to submit a photo that is a little out of the "norm" Weddings, babies, families...all of these are obviously great ways to show love in photos, but I think most of the entries are going to be along those lines. In my case, if someone asked what I love the most, my dogs are going to be at the top of my list with my family and friends. I'm sure there are many people out there that feel the same way with their pets. :)

In June of last year, my ole girl had a litter of puppies and when they were about 4 weeks old, my cousin and his wife brought their adorable girls to see the puppies. This girls were absolutely thrilled to play with the puppies and I'm pretty sure they fell in love at first sight. :) The image I chose to submit for the contest is of Lily (3), giving one of the puppies a big smooch! :)

The color on the image was slightly adjusted in Photoshop CS5 and has the boho glamour action from Oh So Posh Photography's Bohemian Symphony. :)

www.rocktheshotforum.com

What does a photo mean to you?

Some of our most cherished possessions are photographs. From the time we are born, there is almost always someone there creating a photograph of every special or important event in our life. The day we are born, a photo is taken. Our first birthdays and every birthday there after for years to come. Our first days of school, our ball teams or dance recitals. High school dances, high school graduations, first day of college, college graduations, and from that point you are most likely planning weddings, having babies, going on amazing vacations and celebrating new jobs or promotions. I imagine you get the idea at this point. :)

The funny thing is, with the exception of wedding photos, most people don't put too much stock into the photos at the time they are taken. I have also found after shooting many weddings, that the favorite wedding photos are the candid shots. The posed shots tend to be framed and displayed, but so many times, I have a bride tell me that their favorite shots are the unplanned, natural shots. Those types of shots also usually end up being the photo that is cherished by the family for years to come.

This past week, I lost my Grandmother. She turned 80 in October and we were very lucky to have had a nice party for her and the entire family was there to celebrate. Which was great because we were able to get a photo of the entire family. My Grandpa has been gone 27 years, but Gram, her 5 children, 9 grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren (so far) were all there including our spouses.

 

While working on the slideshow, that played during Gram's viewing, I was so happy that we made sure to take lots of photos at the party. There was a bit of grumbling about having pics that day, but everyone made it through and the above was the result. I look at the kids in this photo and hope that years from now, they look back at this photo and realize how blessed they are to have this family that loves them so much and that we all gathered to celebrate their great grandmother.

This next photo is of my grandparents (my mom's parents) on their wedding day in 1952.

The next two photos are of my Dad's parents. They are both still with us and have been married over 63 years. They have 7 children, 28 grandchildren, and so far we are up to 30 great-grand children.  

I am so happy that someone created these 3 photos over 60 years ago. I have to wonder if the people that shot them realized how important they would be all these years later. 

The moral of the story folks is this: TAKE PICTURES! :) 

Save those pictures, pass them on to the next generation and if you have old pictures that need some restoration, have that done too. You just never know how important that photo you take today could be to someone 60 years from now.   

Happy 2012

A new year is upon us! What kinds of fun and exciting goals or resolutions do you have for the new year? I am not one to do resolutins, but for the past 3 years I have made goals for myself that I write down and try my hardest to follow. For the past 2 years one of my biggest goals has been to complete New York Institute of Photography. I have decided to help my self along, I will post my progress on this blog. I have only turned in 3 assignments, so it won't be starting too far along. The next one that is due is portraits. So, stay tuned and I will post my images and the critique I get back for all to see. (hopefully its good, lol)

Happy New Year everyone, make it your best year yet! :)

And just for the fun of it, I attached a couple pics of my new years eve with my husband and some of our friends! :)

Merry Christmas!

Well another Christmas has come and gone. I hope that everyone reading this had as much fun as I did and that Santa was good to you! :) When I wasn't working, I was blessed to be able to get my shopping done early, baking done, decorating done, wrapping done, eating done ;), and of course spending some time with the family.

Several days before Christmas my husband and I traveled a few hours south to my Dads home in Kentucky and we had a wonderful couple of days there. After the dinner and the exchanging of gifts, we all loaded up and headed over to the Kentucky Horse Park for the Southern Lights. They have a nice light set up on the drive into the park and then they have a petting zoo (with porcupines….really), gift shops, food, and all that fun stuff. J I have 2 nieces that are 2 years old and they had a great time at the petting zoo. My 4 month old nephew wasn’t quite as enthused, but he did like the lights. J  

Here is just a small sampling of the some of the awesome lights to be seen at the http://kyhorsepark.com/

Also for Christmas this year I was so happy to receive a gift card from my Dad and Step-Mom to my favorite place to buy camera equipment. I can't wait to start shopping! :) http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Last but not least, I have wanted a small point and shoot camera for awhile now. I almost always have my Sony DSLR with me and it can sometimes be cumbersome. Also, I have wanted something to take hunting and fishing with me that I wouldn't worry about possibly getting wet, too cold, or falling out of my tree stand. So, my husband came through for me and bought me this:
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666296230

I was able to use it at Christmas #2 at my moms house and I loved it. The camera is smaller than my cell phone and takes great pics. I haven't had the opportunity to test all the features, but I'm sure I will get around to it soon!

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that you find many blessings in the new year! I've already got my list of goals for 2012 started and I am eager to get started! I'm thinking next post will be goal oriented! ;)

Happy New Year Everyone! Be safe! :)

What to Wear!

Here is the what to wear guide for this seasons festivities! Outfits great for the whole family for Christmas parties, formal Christmas dinners, or new years eve. Of course, we all like to look nice for Christmas photos! :)