Elf on the Shelf

Check out the adventures of our elf on the shelf, Phil!

ourelfontheshelf.blogspot.com

And Oh Yeah!

I got some business cards too! Check 'em out

Holy Wow, My Bad

So it been quite a while huh. My bad. Not that anyone REALLY reads this, but still.

A lot has happened sence April. I quit my job at the photography studio, which I will now say was Portrait Innovations. I quit with the intent of working for BellaBaby taking newborn pictures in hospitals. That didn't happen. Insted I got a job working in admissions at a career college. I got fired, long story, and now I'm unemployed.

On the photography front, its not going so good. I've had a job. Just so this isn't a compleatly boring blog, here are some pics from that.







I think they turned out pretty good! I did a second shooter job for a wedding photographer. I thought it went well, but after several emails with no feedback, I gave up. I never even got to see the pictures from that :( I did a porfollio building shoot with a couple that turned out relly good too. (BTW, these events are in no order at all) Here's some pics from that.
So as of right now I'm unemployed with no photography work on the side either. I've had a couple of interviews over the last couple days, but all with retail sales. I know I'll get something, just not something I'll love. I'm also going to start working for a nursing degree, but that is going to take 5 years. I'm thinking about starting a blog for that too. So just one last pic. I actually took this of my son while at a fair type thing. Didn't think it would be anything special but it turned out to be one of my all time favs. Enjoy :)

Check Out That Blur Baby!

WooHoo! I got my Nikon 50mm f/1.8D lens yesterday! I really went back and forth on if I should go with the 35mm or the 50mm. On my D90 the 35 is like a 50 and the 50 is like a 75. I really couldn't decide. It was a toss up. I ended up with the 50mm for two main reasons. First, the 35mm is kinda hard to find! I think they might not make it right now? I'm not sure. Second the 50mm was only $130. I know, I know, that is a really crappy reason to decide on one over the other but I didn't know what to choose so there you go.

I've only had a few hours this morning to play with it but man is it different than my zoom! First of all it is a lot more work! Because of the 1.8 aperture its tricky to get the exact DOF that I want. To much, to little. And a lot more walking back a forth! The one thing that's effecting me the most is to zoom level. I look at something, think "Oh! I want to take that picture!" Then I have to take four big steps back. It's great for close ups but kinda sucks for full lengths.

But man oh man, how I do love the sweet, sweet blur. I've always been a huge fan of a narrow depth of field and was really missing that with my zoom. Its taking some time to get use to it though. I have a couple of pictures that would be awesome if the focus hadn't been a little off.

Anywho, here are a few shots from this morning!

I Heart Faces: Best Face of March

I haven't done a I Heart Faces in a couple weeks but I knew exactly what picture I wanted to use this week! This is from a session of my niece Ivy. I mean, how can you not love that face! Any way make sure to click the box at the bottom to see more awesome entries and vote for mine, #196!

My first maternity session... part two!

So I did my maternity session on Monday and I think it went really good! I'm a little over half way done with the edits and I say not to bad. :)


I really learned a lot from doing this. First thing, next time I do maternity session with a small child I need there to be a helper! It was really hard to get anything of just mom and dad together because we had to chase the little girl around! And as for the idea of the ultrasounds on the string. Nope. Didn't work. The wind and the flimsy nature of the paper made it fly up. I'll try to attach them to some stock cards next time for some weight.

Now to the pictures! Here are some of the ones that I'm done with so far.

Getting ready for my first Maternity Shoot...

Bad blogger, bad. I know its been a while. (Again, not like a whole lot of people are watching, but whatever) I actually have done a lot recently, and learned a lot too. I had successes, and total mental meltdowns. About a week ago I did 3 sessions. All people I konw, but still. It went ok. Some stuff better than others but I learned from the not so good stuff.

But lets not dwell in the past. Today I am doing my first maternity session. And unlike the other families I've done, I have never meet this woman. She is the sister-in-law of a co-worker. It will be herself (8 months along) her husband and 1 and a half year old daughter. I've been doing a lot of research, and by research I mean stalking blogs on line :) I've got a million ideas in my head. We are going to the City Garden, which is the same place I went with Katie on my very first trial run. I love this place. I did go out and buy some props. I don't want to become a big prop person, but I have some simple stuff in my head.

Here is what I got:

I started out with the simple and obvious, some ribbon to tie in a bow around her stomach. Honestly I don't even know if I like this shot, but she had it done with other child so I wanted to do it again for her. I did spend about 20 minutes staring at all the ribbon trying to decide on which one!

 

 

This is for a really cool shot I saw and wanted to try. You have mom hold one side of the string, hand ultrasound pics across it and you hold the other side. Add some DOF and bam! Stunning!

I've always been a fan of the little chalk board. I'm doing this instead of blocks for the name!

And this last thing I bought I'm most excited about. The plan is, at the end of the session, have here daughter but her hand prints in washable paint on moms belly! I came up with this all on my own too :)      (not to say no one has ever done it, I'm sure plenty of people have, I just didn't see it in my "research")

 

So that's the stuff that I bought. I asked mom to bring some baby shoes, ones with laces if she has them so I can tie their wedding rings to them. Also asked her to bring the ultrasounds for the string pic and anything else she wants!

I'm so super excited to do this, wish me luck, I'll post pics later this week!