Tag: photography

Merry Christmas!!

It’s that time of year again!  I feel like I was just celebrating Christmas and New Years only a couple months ago!  But in that time, I have had a baby boy and watched him grow to be an active little *almost* seven month old.

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.  Nothing beats the smell of apple cinnamon candles burning while you decorate your Christmas tree!  For the past few years, that job has been solely my own, but I look forward to next year when Grayson can at least help a little.  He’ll be 19 months old by then, and I’m sure will be into everything, but at least he’ll be more excited about the holiday season than he is this year, when all he knows is that there’s some big green thing with pokey things sticking out all over and shiney twinkly lights that are fun to look at (although he doesn’t know the words to describe it yet like I just did).

I had so much fun taking Grayson’s Christmas pictures this year.  He is so curious about everything, and loves touching and exploring new objects and textures.  I had to take away the glittery ornaments because after just a few seconds his hands, face, hair, and feet were covered in glitter!

I am addicted to Pinterest, and there were some amazing ideas for baby Christmas pictures!  So, of course, I tried two of the most popular ones.  This lights photo would have gone better if it wasn’t already past Grayson’s bedtime, but I managed to get this decent shot before he had a complete and total meltdown.

This was my favorite out of all the hundreds of photos I took, and it was displayed prominently on our Christmas card this year.

And who could forget this gem?!

“Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal!”

Here he is showing off his sitting-on-hard-surfaces skills.  He finally learned that he can support himself with his hands if he starts tilting one way or the other.

My mom came to visit a couple weeks ago, and Grayson had so much fun playing with his Nana.  She even stayed home with him one night so Steve and I could have a much needed date night.  We went to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2.  Soooooooo good!!!!!

I can’t wait until Christmas day when Grayson gets to open all his presents.  I’m sure he’ll be more interested in the wrapping paper, but it will be fun just the same.  And I will have my camera ready to capture those precious moments of his first Christmas.

Mr. Grinch

While I was going through some of the Christmas photos that I took of Grayson, I discovered this gem and thought it was so hilarious that it had to have a caption!  This will be a little surprise on the back of our Christmas cards this year.  And if you happen to receive a Christmas card from us (Mom), I apologize for ruining the surprise, but it was too good not to share!

 

Kitty Photo Shoot

So I was uploading some photos that have been on my camera for a while, when I look over to my left, and my cats are all gazing out the window to a beautiful sunny day.  I couldn’t help myself.  I had to start snapping pictures with my Sigma 30mm lens.  Love that lens!  It takes the best pictures ever!  I don’t use it as often as I should because it has no zoom, so it’s really only good for photos where you can move your body quickly to zoom in and out as needed.  Which, for me, means that I mainly only use it for portraits or close ups of objects or food.  That being said, here are some of the photos I took of our kitties today.  Hope you like them!

Oh, and if you like what you see……I’m available to take pictures for you too!  Well, as long as you’re in the Nashville area that is. 🙂  Or in CA when I happen to be visiting.  Since I’m just starting out, I can offer you beautiful pictures at next to nothing!

Lacey has such beautiful eyes.

I love this one because the green from the grass is reflecting off of her blue eyes, so it looks like her eyes are green toward the top and blue at the bottom.  Such an awesome effect.

Lacey is my little poser.  The other two kitties don’t cooperate with me very well and get annoyed if I have my camera in their faces for too long.

Finally got Lazarus to look at me.  I had my aperture set so low that only his nose is in focus and the rest is out of focus.  For those of you who don’t know many photography terms, aperture has to do with how much of the picture you want in focus.  The higher the aperture, the more in focus the entire picture will be.  As you can see with this photo, I had my aperture set very low so even though his eyes are only a fraction of an inch further back than his nose, they are still slightly out of focus.  If I had focused on his eyes, then his nose would slightly be out of focus.  Hope that makes sense.

BIG yawn!  See how Lazarus’ upper canine tooth is not very sharp?  I’ve always wondered how that happened.

Such a handsome boy.

Fancy wanted to get in on the picture taking action…..or so I like to believe.  She is the least photogenic out of all three cats.  She hates having her picture taken, and never looks at me when I want her to, but I find ways to make her do it anyway. 🙂

All three kitties looking out the window.  Of course Lazarus has to ruin the picture by turning his back to me.

Fancy is beautiful when she finally lets me take her picture!  She has such pretty eyes, and they reflect the green grass so well.

Hello pretty girl.

It’s like she knows she’s having her picture taken.  “Here, Mom.  This is my good side, and I’ll even gaze upwards for you so that my eyes are looking into the light.”

Seriously.  Have you ever seen a more photogenic cat?  Of course, I’m a little biased since I’ve raised her since she was 8 weeks old.  And now she’s already 4 years old!  Where has the time gone?

When my parents were here, my dad was playing with the kitties by shining the light that was reflecting off his watch onto the walls.  The above and following pictures were captured during that time.

What are you looking at?

Oh, you’ve got your camera out?  Okay!  Let me just lay right here and pose for you!

Fancy is staring at the light on the wall across the room.  She pounced right after I took this photo.

Here’s Lacey, copying Fancy’s last pose.  And oh look, my parents made it into the photo!  Ironic since they were actually in the room while I was taking these pictures. 🙂

Ok, I’m open for business!!!  Great photography at a very cheap price, or maybe even free if you’re lucky!  I need to expand my portfolio!  I can only take so many pictures of animals before it starts getting redundant.