A morning at the Library

When you are a photographer, its hard sometimes to remember to take pictures of day to day life.  You know, just the kids hanging out, brushing thier teeth, going on errands, ect.  One morning, Noa wanted to go to the library, so I decided to take the camera along for the ride.  Sometimes I ask my husband to buy me a small point and shoot camera so I dont have to lug the big D90 around all over, but then I look at the finished product and wonder if I could ever get anything close with a PAS camera.....

Photography In the Light - Life - Kid Sushi

Kid Sushi : Aka a Playdate and Lunch for My Favorite Kiddos

 Noa has a best friend.  His name is Asher.  Noa talks about Asher, asks for Asher, or "writes" about Asher daily.  Unfortunately for Noa, but fortunately for Asher's mom, Asher just started napping again.  This means that, often, Asher is napping right around the time Noa is starting to wear me out with constant playtime and is hankering for a friend to come over.  You can imagine my delight, than, when I found out that, for Asher, naps are optional and that he was still "allowed" to spend the afternoon wide awake and playing with us. 

So, we had Asher over for a few hours today so his mom could get a mini-break and so I could get a mega-break.  For lunch, Noa requested his favorite - kid sushi.  This is the #1 kid pleasing lunch in our house.  Its easy (but somewhat time consuming) to make:

- Take out 3 pieces of bread

- Cut off crusts (we dont usually do this, but you need to for this creation)

- Use rolling pin and flatten bread

-Spread whatever you want on top (we like PB and Nutella)

- Cut each piece into three strips

- Roll em up

- Serve to happy kiddos

 Noa and Asher, in thier favorite outfits, post-swim and pre-mud puddle mess.  The blue bin to the right of the picture is Noas outdoor "shower."  He likes to stand in it while we spray him with the hose.

 Cutie pie Asher.  It's funny, six months ago Noa and Asher were like fire and gasoline.  Now they are BFF's....amazing what difference 6 months makes, cognitively, in toddlers.

 Love this...full mouths and arms

 Posing, as usual...I dont know who he gets it from  **insert sarcastic wink**

And, Austin's weekend resulted in this chicken coop.  Not bad for a bunch of scrap wood and twenty bucks.  Gotta love a handy man.



Photography In the Light - Lifestyles - The Guinn's

  

  See me digging up old sessions here.  These pictures are a couple of years old, but I found them on my hard drive and wanted to put them here.  These are friends of ours from Hawaii.  Sam had acquired this vintage board, and the concept came to life from there.  A few retro swimsuits, accessories, and the aforementioned board, and we were off to the races, so to speak.
    For a location, we chose a secluded cove on the west side of the island at Ko Olina.  It took a bit of rock "maneuvering" to get the board over to the cove, but it was the perfect spot for these shots.  When I think back at all the photo sessions I've done (Over 70 now!) this stands out in the top 3, for sure.  It was so much fun, both of them are extremely photogenic, and its in one of my favorite places in the world. 



The happy couple.  Christa did her own hair for this shoot, and it fit the theme perfectly.

They had been married less than two years at this point, and were still basking in the love glow. 

I think they will always be that way, though.

Looking at these makes me wish that I could go back in time and do the session again, having

learned as much as I have over the last two years.  However, I think a big part of photography

is being confident on the knowledge you have while still aiming to improve every time you do a photo

session.  These pictures, technically wrong as they may be, are still favorites.

Reminds me of a vintage post card.  Sam had done some modeling before

and Christa is just a natural beauty; they were so easy to shoot.

I think this is what Oahu looked like 50 years ago.  Minus the technicolor.

Black and white conversions are harder than most people think.  I didnt know this

at the time, and I cringe a bit looking at how I processed these shots.  It's more than just

desaturating, or changing the gradient map.  Brightness, contrast, levels, hue and saturation,

a good B&W conversion takes awhile to get right.

 Vintage editing is a whole 'nother thing too. 

I <3 backlighting.......

The beautiful Christa herself.  She's due to have a baby any. day. now.  I wish I

could have been there to do maternity portraits for her and take pictures of her

sweet little son, Shepherd.



Photography In the Light - Bumps - Ally Rose

  

 

   Ally  is the first new face I met upon moving to Elizabeth City.  We were at a playgroup, and I knew immediately that we would be friends.  At the time, she had a tiny two week old and a rambunctious almost-two year.  Our sons were about 8 months apart, and we started hanging out and getting to know each other.
Since then, Ally has become an indispensable friend and our boys just adore each other.  This is Ally's third pregnancy and the first time she has opted not to find out the sex of the baby.  It has been fun playing the guessing game and dreaming about who it is hiding out in that adorable belly of hers. 
   Ally's birthday was last week, so we spent the day shopping, hanging out, and enjoying some girl time.  My birthday gift to her was this photo session and I knew that we would have a blast because shes so photogenic and fun to be around. 
   For this session, we drove to the Ghent district in Norfolk.  Ghent has a bunch of BEAUTIFUL old homes and its right on the river, so I knew it would make an excellent backdrop for her photos.  Sometimes its nice to get out of Elizabeth City and try new locations. 

I love to find unexpected pockets of color.  These yellow bushes are all over the place right now.

 There really is nothing more beautiful than a pregnant woman, at least in my opinion. 

Ally has pretty rough pregnancys, but through it all, she is so optimistic, upbeat, and

happy.  This time around she was chasing two toddlers on top of being pregnant,

 but she still managed to keep things running smoothly. 

We shot these pictures around 6 pm.  This time of year, the light between 6:00 and 6:45-ish is just

to die for.  Initially, I was kinda bummed about that big building in the background, but now I like

the colors it reflected onto the water.

 Bump......perfect.

I cant help but think she looks 15 years old in this picture.  I know thats bad, being she pregnant

and all, but she is just such a tiny thing.  This is my favorite shot from the session.

 A bunch of people have asked me how I edited this shot.  I wont go into detail, but I took a picture

of the concrete and superimposed it over the original shot at a lower opacity.  I love the effect.

 The mamma to be, again.

 I think blue.



Life In the Light - An afternoon in the garden

Today (March 16th) started out looking like an inside day, if you know what I mean. 

It was rainy, cold, dark, and one of those mornings that make you feel like you live in Seattle,

even though its North Carolina and its supposed to be warm and sunny by March.  Lo and behold, though

the sun made its appearance around noon, and we decided to get out and get our garden on.  So, with Banban strapped into his carrier and Noa loaded down with garden tools, we made some progress with our own little Eden.  Of course, we had to take a detour to the garden store to get some supplies, but it was a great afternoon and a fun time to spend with my little boys. 

Noa LOVES being in the garden.  Even when i'm not with him, he will spend a solid 30 minutes watering, weeding, and just playing around.  A few weeks ago he dumped a HUGE bucket of sunflower seeds into one of the beds.  I thought I had gotten them all out, but I noticed about 10 little sunflower seedlings peeping up today.  I started to pull them out and was immediately stopped by my 4 year old telling me that they were, "My little baby plants."  So, it looks like we will have sunflowers growing along with our tomatos this year.

Romaine lettuce.....and weeds.  

3 of my 6 beds.  The far one (with the trellis) has sugar snap peas and onions in it right now.  Soon, I will be planting some cukes in it too.  The middle bed is full of strawberries and a handful of potatoes.  The bed at the bottom of the picture is romain lettuce, spinach, and a handful of onions.  The onions (all 100 of them) are kinda spread all throughout the place because I just needed a place to stick em. 

Broccoli.

After a bit, I noticed that Noa was no longer helping me.  He had found his way to the puddle at the end of the driveway and went inside to get his little boat and toy turtle.  I love seeing his imagination grow and watching him create his own little worlds.  Four is such a sweet age.

 Banyan is the sweetest and easiest baby ever born.  Seriously.  He is just a little lover and as long as hes attached to me, I can go about my business.  We scored some tulips for 1.00 each, so I grabbed these terra cotta pots from the garage and started planting.  I cant wait to have colorful tulips to flank our front stairs.

 I put 25 strawberry plants in today, and Noa (my official waterer) made quick work of drowning them in mud.  It really takes a concerted effort for me to remind myself that this garden doesnt have to be perfect and that letting Noa be a part of it all, crooked rows and mud included, is priceless.  I hope that he will look back on these times some day and see value in life, growth, earth, and nature.

Tulips, 1.00 each!  I bought pink, purple, and yellow.  

 Poor Mr. Turtle got left in the puddle.  Noa REFUSES to take the tag off him.

 No trip to the garden store would be complete without a few goodies.  I snagged some Dahlias, Gladiolous, and Peonies for our flower bed.  The Elephant Ears, a staple of a good southern garden, are going on either

side of the side fence gate.  I love Elephant Ears because they remind me of Hawaii.

 Since it seems I never post pictures of myself, he is a snap, via Austin, of Banyan and I.

 I am thankful every day for a home that is warm, safe, happy, and affordable.  I know I am blessed, and I am grateful for a husband who works hard to provide a fun and happy life for his family.  God is good.

 Onions - about 50 of the 100 that are scattered throughout the GreenBean Garden.

Sugar snap peas

This is why I love little boys.  Look at those muddy toes and dirty jeans.  He is so in the moment and I adore that about him.  I truly do treasure each day I get to spend being his mom.

Today is done, today was fun.  Tomorrow is another one.