project 26 | post 11 | me and mine

I've been trying to be really proactive and planning with all of my photography project posts.  I knew I'd need some Me & Mine photos again soon, so when Shawn suggested we go out for some family tball practice at 2:00pm on April 29th, I figured I might as well go with it.  I really meant to get these edited before now and this post done and checked off the list.  I did.  Really mean do, that is.

I didn't, however.

So then, when I went to edit them (way too late on the night before they are due), they were just a mess.  Of course the crazy dichotomy of shade and then bright full sun.  That's 2pm for you.  But the white balance on my camera has just been won-KAY of late.  I don't know what on earth changed.  I've changed nothing.  But it has taken it upon itself to be all whacked up.  (My personal theory is that he feels sorry for me and wants me to have  D700 and he's trying to prepare me for his final breakdown... I don't think Mr. Pace will take the $2200 plus tax price tag very well).

And then, lastly, you know those comparison pics you've seen on Pinterest?  Those "this is what I feel like running, but this is what I really look like?"  Yeah... that's how I felt when I saw these photos.  Starting the running program has really increased my positive outlook on my appearance, even though I've lost no pounds whatsoever (yes, I know muscle weighs more than fat.  Still I was hoping for a LITTLE bit of weight loss encouragement), and even though my pants and shorts are fit just as tight as they always have.  At any rate, I suppose I have this mental image of what I look like.  When put face to face with reality in a photo... let's just say it is humbling.  So I was tempted to trash these out of the potential me and mine camp.  I had trouble getting the remote to register from being too far away.  Little Buddy wasn't in the mood for the tball play (until he got to hit the ball).  The cards were stacked against me.

But forget that.  This is me.  The real me.  Reality.  The real us.  All of us.  Playing tball for fun as a family.  There ya go.  Nothing spectacular photographically.  But capturing a memory that included me.  And that's the point.  I need to remember that.

My friend, Celeste Jones, is up next in our group.  Check out what she did with her iPhone for this week's Me and Mine.

I shot these with my D90 Sigma 30mm f1.4

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.

I didn't have time for it. Not in the slightest.  I'm so behind in everything. Absolutely everything.  Trying to manage it all (and failing at it) is weighing on me heavily and my chin has erupted into something that reminds me of a kid activity book connect the dots page.  [I'm not exaggerating.]  Stress is oozing out of me.

But one aspect of this week's assignment for the Finding the Light photography workshop I'm taking is to photograph involving rain. It has looked like rain for days now, but has yet to rain here at our house.  So I've been stuck in this stage of in between light.  Not full sun, like I need for part 1 of the assignment.  Not any rain, like I need for part 2.  This is just tagging along with my general state of overwhelment, lately.

Yet this afternoon.  I suddenly heard the background noise change, and peeked out the window.  I saw rain. Hard, hard rain.  I debated internally for just a moment.

You don't have time for that.
You don't have time not to, Carey.  Just go do it.

I asked the kids if they wanted to go out and play with their umbrellas in the rain. Enthusiastic yeses. We went. I held my umbrella in my left hand and the camera in my right, with my neck strap on. Somehow I did it. My back was wet, but the camera was safe.

I know we were out for more than an hour. We all had a ball. An absolute ball.  But more than the photos I got, I got some reprieve.  I always underestimate how much *I* need to play, too. I feel like a burden has been lifted, though not one thing off my list was accomplished.  I need to have more fun.  A lot more fun.  To just let go, more often.

As I lead the kids upstairs to the bathtub (with Little Buddy shivering his bony little self to death), I said "guys, thanks SO much for playing with me this afternoon in the rain. I had so much fun!" Little Buddy replies, "but mama. you didn't play. you just took pictures."

Oh Buddy. Little, Little Buddy.  It may not have looked like play to you, but it sure was play to me.  And I needed it.  Badly.

[Though, I did tell him that next time it rains, I'll leave my camera inside and just play his way.]

I found this quote:  "Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. " -Roger Miller.  May I always remember to walk in the rain and never merely become wet by it.  May I pass this on to my children.

I'm seriously dying to edit these photos right now.  Dying.  But the list is long and the hour is late.  For now, I'll share the first four that caught my eye as I quickly ran through the first memory card I filled up.

I shot these with my D90  Nikon 85mm f1.8

food challenge | may | magazine recreation

I've joined with several other ladies across the country to improve our food photography skills.  Each month, we've challenged ourselves to a different theme.  For May, our theme was to recreate a magazine cover.

I didn't think I was going to be able to participate in this one. With everything my family and I have going on these days, something had to give.  But at the last minute, Allison Jacobs inspired me and I realized I could get this done.

My inspiration was this July 1981 cover of Bon Appetit magazine.  Just simple.  Just a bowl of the fruit.  Not a lot of fuss about the magazine contents crowding the cover.  The cover is about the image.

I decided to use our group name (The Inspired Plate) as my magazine title, and then made up a name for the issue and then a teaser for the contents.  All in all, this was actually really fun.  I had dreaded it big time for the last several months.  As usual, nothing is as bad as I, Anxiety Girl, expect it to be.

Take a few moments to visit the other ladies in the group and how they were inspired to create a magazine cover.  Next up is my friend,  Stacey Siegal | Bradenton-Sarasota Food Photographer.

I shot these with my D90 & Nikon 50mm 1.4D

Project 26 | post 10 | Song CD Cover

When I first saw the idea for this theme, Song or Album Cover, I cringed internally.  Whatever would I do???   This would require orchestration, which isn't my strongest suite.  I decided I would choose a song that I loved and try to interpret that.  But the songs I kept thinking of... weren't ones I could easily create images for.  But as I was driving the kids from here to yonder one day, it hit me!  And I was SOOOO excited to try this out.

You see, since Little Buddy was teeny, he has loved the song "Chicken Fried" by Zac Brown Band.  In fact, I'll be linking a video of him when he was two years old, singing it, after I share my photos for this week's theme.  Three years later, it is still one of the songs he requests to hear.  What could be more perfect?

In case you are not familiar with the lyrics...

You know I like my chicken fried

Cold [root] beer on a Friday night

A pair of jeans that fit just right

And the radio up
by Zac Brown Band (official website link)

After school, we stopped by Food City to buy a case of every kind of root beer they sell.  Daddy loves root beer, as does Little Buddy, so I decided we'd combine this with a root beer taste test.  I used the Virgil's root beer (link) for the photo shoot... then I went to taste it.  ICK!!!  I thought it tasted like Robitussin and just knew Shawn wouldn't drink it.  What do I know?  It ended up being his favorite of the lot.  Then we went to KFC to pick up a bucket of fried chicken, original recipe.  This isn't something we've had, really... and man, the kids both really, really dug eating the fried chicken out of the bucket picnic style.  We'll be doing this again, for sure!

Now, I know you are dying to watch him sing as a two year old.  This video is from March of 2009.  By the time I had the idea to film it, he wasn't singing as exuberantly as he'd been prior to the video camera, but, you'll get the idea. : )

The morning of the day I intended to do this shoot, it was raining.  It was Friday.  On the way to preschool, I mentioned to the kids that we may  not be able to do the Chicken Fried photo shoot that evening and we may have to wait until Saturday.  Little Buddy got panicked and insisted, "But Mama! It HAS to be a Friday night!!!"  He's my little rule follower.

Of course this IS me we are dealing with and I had to show the other images I captured that Friday night.  It truly was a lot of fun, unexpectedly, since this was an orchestrated shoot by me.  And these are batch edited, photographers.  I wanted to share them, but let's face it.  I'm absolutely drowning in my to do list this month and I just didn't have the time to custom do each one.  But I still love them.  I didn't intend for the Little Lady to be in the pictures... but she was not down with that.  She wanted to help Mommy, she wanted to be in some pictures, and she wanted in that basket of chicken!!  So she's wearing her bright and coloring clothes... doesn't exactly match, but well, that's my kids for you.

Continue through my group to see how they turned a favorite song into an image.  Next up is the wonderful Celeste Jones | Wilmington Delaware Photographer.



I shot these with my D90  Nikon 85mm f1.8

10 on 10 | May Edition

Another month, another day 10, another of my favorite photography project -- the 10 on 10.  I'm always, always photographing my family and the things we do... but this project makes me capture the fullness of our day.  The entirety.  Not just the middle, but the beginning and the end.  I just love that.  I love that I've captured what an entire day looked like through the last almost year.

[The 10on10 is a creative project I'm working on this year along with 10 other photographers around the country.  On the 10th of each month, we post 10 images and link to each other to create a blog-circle.  Our contribution can be 10 photos over the course of one day (as I do it), 10 over the month, 10 favorites, whatever.  Just 10 images that will help us remember these times.  Not perfection photographically, but perfection for our memories.  The goal is to purposely capture our days.]

This month I shot on Wednesday, April 18th, 2012.  An ordinary, yet rainy morning.  This was the view out of my bedroom window.



Very, very, very out of character for the lady, she slept until 8am.  When she awoke, we went to wake the Buddy.


It has not rained much this year during preschool drop off and pickup.  They are always so excited to use their umbrellas.


I had to file my sales tax for my photography business this morning, for the first quarter of 2012.


We've been watching our tadpoles develop and the Little Buddy has been so fascinated by it.  I also pulled out "Purple Pincher" to get a few shots of him.  We've had him since Hilton Head in September and we are planning to take him to Topsail Island in June to let him go free.  He's a huge hermit crab, and he's very friendly.


Again I handed the camera to Little Buddy and let him shoot to his heart's content.  He did pretty good, no??


I am so happy to have a little guy who isn't afraid of nature.  Who isn't afraid to handle creatures and bugs, even if "I", myself, cannot.




On the way to Karate... in the van.  He's suddenly developed an interest in drawing and I LOVE it.


He's moved up to the next Karate class and it's quite a bit more challenging.  Now he gets to wear all of his sparring gear for most classes, and MAN, does he get sweaty!



This is the first time this has happened since I've begun this project last August.  I missed an hour in the morning while the kids were at school... and then in the rush to get home from Karate, get dinner finished, eaten, cleaned up, and ready for bed... I TOTALLY forgot it was 10 on 10 day.  Totally.  Since I shot these three weeks ago... I honestly cannot remember what the reason was now... We did bedtime really late that day, and I can't remember why. I miss my brain.  I know part of it was not getting back home until 6:30pm or so and having to finish up dinner prep... and part of it was that the kids slept so late that day.... At any rate, as we were finally heading up to bed, I realized it was 10 on 10 day... and I had majorly dropped the ball.

I asked Shawn if he'd shoot me reading to the Little Lady... Nine times out of ten, Shawn puts her to bed.  We've done this for bonding reasons for her, since she spent so much of her life less than thrilled with Shawn, for no apparent reason.  Now that she's past that, we still stick to this routine.  It's special daddy-daughter time.  But every once in a while, I like to get to put her to bed, too.  That, and I LOVE reading the book she insists on getting read each and every single night:  Yertle the Turtle.





Little Buddy can keep himself awake as long as he needs to, if there is a book or video going.. but the Lady cannot.  She simply turns off.


And then it was Little Buddy's turn for bedtime.  He prefers animal encyclopedia type books to stories these days.... though sometimes I beg to read a story.  But Daddy was putting him to bed this night and I got to shoot.

Thanks for looking through my day.  Keep the circle going and check out  my west coast kindred photographer spirit San Francisco Family Lifestyle Photographer | Jayme Franklin. 

I shot these with my D90 Sigma 30mm f1.4 Nikon 85mm f1.8 Nikon 50mm 1.4D

capturing, forever, the beauty of an ordinary day

It has been three months now and I can still feel the utter disbelief I experienced that Sunday morning when I checked my email on my phone before church.  I rubbed my eyes.  I felt awake.  It felt real.  I was fairly certain I wasn't dreaming.  And yet, there was simply no way the email was true.

I showed Shawn.  I needed another person to verify that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.  A local photographer had emailed me asking if she could commission me to photograph her children in their home, just being them.  We went to this photographer, Tina, when I was pregnant with Little Buddy and she shot my treasured maternity photos.  Then she shot Nathan's newborn, 6 months, and then one year photo sessions.  The four books from those sessions are truly some of my most prized possessions.  I simply could not fathom that Tina would want me to shoot her own kids!  Honestly, just the thought of shooting her made my stomach instantly turn to a million butterflies.  But Shawn insisted that I do it.  I replied yes and a week or so later, I was shooting.

It wasn't my imagination.  It wasn't wishful thinking manifesting itself into a dream.  It was real.  She saw talent in my art.  She wanted me to come and capture the little details, the real things, about her children.  I  have never, ever, felt more honored.  I cannot express in words the validation, as an artist, that this has given me.  As people balk at the cost for my services... someone sees the value and feels I'm worth it.  Thank you, again, Tina.

One of the things I have always loved about Tina is how she makes you feel so at ease around her.  I detest being in front of the camera.  I am truly incredibly, incredibly uncomfortable being photographed, and despite that, she shot my family those four times and made me feel comfortable, at ease, and the resulting images made me feel beautiful.  Walking in the door to her home felt like walking into Pinterest.... but despite that potential intimidation, her magnetic personality pulled me in and set me at ease.

Today I'll share the images I took indoors.  Her twins were just so much fun.  I loved hanging out with them.  I loved how her girl is soooooooooooooooo much a mini Tina.  I loved her more shy, more humble, but mischievous giggling boy.  But more than anything, they encouraged me as a parent so much.  As I'm watching my two play together lately, I'd been wondering how long this would last.  But these two still wrestle, giggle and play, just like mine do.  I've got many more years of fun with my own to come!  And yet they were so very polite, mannerly, and well behaved.  Just blessings of children.

Lastly, before I get to the images, I wanted to share how fascinating it is, that even though my client here is a fellow photographer, still the images that were her favorites... weren't mine.  I've heard it said that the photographer's favorites are never the client's favorites... and I've seen it in nearly every single photo session I've conducted.  But it did surprise me that even with Tina, the ones that spoke most deeply to her heart as these kids' momma, weren't the ones I loved as an artist.  Of course her (way too large) gallery included only images that I loved and was emotionally connected to... but my very favorite favorites... weren't the ones she chose.  At the risk of redundancy, I just find that fascinating!

I shot these with my D90 Sigma 30mm f1.4