Do you know what this is?

It’s a representation of how many days are in a year.

Doesn’t look like much, does it? This is how much of this year is already gone forever – crazy, considering I’ve barely gotten used to writing “2010″ on my checks -

This really made me think hard yesterday when I saw it.  Consider this : If each one of these represents a year of your child’s life, then there are 18 of these in total before he or she heads off to college and into adulthood. How many are already gone? If I think about this for my grandkids, for instance Genevieve who is 5 – well, that means there are only 13 of these left to fill her complete childhood.

Here’s the kicker – none of knows how many of these we have left to fill.

We just have to make sure we fill them well!

Don’t put off anything that you really want to do, waiting for that “perfect” time, because you may miss it, or it may never come. That includes having your family or child’s photo session. Forget the usual excuses – “I need to lose weight”  “Johnny needs his braces off” etc.  Before you know it, the squares will all be filled in.

I’ve been trying to add more veggies to our diet this year, but it’s really hard for me for a couple of reasons. First, I’m not used to eating a lot of vegetables, so I don’t have as many recipes as I’d like. Second, since I only go to the grocery store every 10 days to 2 weeks, it’s hard to get fresh vegetables that stay fresh.  Third, there are some vegetables that I’m not a big fan of. Like cauliflower. So when I ran across this recipe online at Tasty Kitchen I was intrigued. It’s called “Faux-tatoes” and it’s made with cauliflower yet reminds you of mashed potatoes. I tried it, tested it out on Jim (who honestly thought it was mashed potatoes) and declared it a winner. I added a little more cheese to the recipe than called for, but I thought it was good and worth a try for those of you who have children who are picky about veggies.

Ingredients:     

• 1 head Cauliflower
• 2 Tablespoons Exra Virgin Olive Oil
• ¼ cups Diced Onion
• 2 cloves Garlic Chopped
• 2 Tablespoons Sour Cream
• 2 Tablespoons Cheddar Cheese, Grated
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1 Tablespoon Milk
• Salt And Pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Cut cauliflower into florets and place into a steamer over boiling water. Cover and steam until fork tender, about 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the onion and garlic until translucent. Transfer mixture to food processor.

When cauliflower is fork tender, add to the food processor and add sour cream, cheese, butter and milk. Increase or decrease the milk depending on the size of the head of cauliflower.

Pulse until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

You can also use bleu cheese instead of cheddar cheese. And, if you like, add herbs like chopped chives or rosemary at the very end.

Thought I might show you just how nice these whimsical frames are, and maybe give you a better idea of the size. This is an adorable 20×10 Storyboard of Rachael with her American Doll, framed in a green apple and lipstick pink frame to match her room. The whole thing measures about 26×16, and the quality matches that of more expensive products. This particular frame has a wavy-style trim, but it can also be a more traditional curved trim suitable for a less shabby-chic decor, or a boys room. I love that it can match any color scheme.  Some popular children’s room combos are blue and brown, green and brown, pink and brown – all of which can be selected as frame colors. It would look even better if the child’s clothing for their session was in the same tones! Take advantage of this chance to get this fun and unique product for YOUR little girl and her doll, and you will have a unique keepsake that can be saved and handed down along with the doll someday to her little girl.

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Perfect for your favorite little girl, and that American Girl doll that Santa brought her! One Day only for PA clients (SC clients please call for availability!)

If you are NOT one of the 1.6 million who have already viewed this You Tube sensation, you owe it to yourself to watch it. It was compiled by Lisa Lavie, a singer who asked other You Tube singers to participate in singing & videoing themselves singing along to the famous “We Are The World” soundtrack she provided. With 24 hours, 57 people returned it to her, and within 3 days she & her team had compiled it into this inspirational video that many think is better than the celebrity version. Note that these videos were all recorded under various conditions, in closets and bathrooms and basements – some with mics, some without – but it all came together with a realism that showcases that raw talent and inspires us all to do our best. Please enjoy, and remember to help Haiti (we can’t all sing like this, but we can give a little of the gifts of our security & safety to help).

You know that I’m all about using photography to decorate your home, and this is the time of year that I get ready to spruce the place up! I’m seeing a ton of cool display ideas lately from other photographers. I’m not sure if I posted this before, but I have this set of 10x20s on the stair landing to our lower level:

A new twist is adding letters or a monogram to these images. Here is one I did for Genna:

It can be completely customized as far as size, and can be mounted on foamboard – or a floating canvas – or a wooden gallery wrap! Think of the possibilities! The fun part would be to coordinate clothing choices with the room colors so that it would match perfectly when hanging on the walls.  Here is how it would look over a bed in a child’s room:

Or on a ledge or shelf:

If you are thinking about updating your home’s decor, think about using those wonderful images of your family to do it! NOTHING is as personalized and custom as beautiful images of what you love most in your life!

( custom wall displays of portraits, ideas for decorating childrens rooms, children and family photographer in the upstate SC area, westminster SC child photographer)

I love all things photo-related, so are you really surprised that I love these? Find them here :  www.photolunchboxes.com

I know, I know, I promised to share more photo tips and I’ve clearly been lax about that. I was feeling a little guilty yesterday, so I decided to put this up on the blog for y’all. I mean, all y’all*.

*in case you are from the North and didn’t know this, “y’all” is not the plural of you – “all y’all” is. It took me a while to learn this when I moved.

Anyway. I meant to do this yesterday, but somehow the day slipped away & I didn’t really have any good ideas until I saw the sun dip behind the trees while I was outside on our patio. So I grabbed a willing subject (!!!) and fired off a few shots. Doesn’t he look willing?

I want to show you another way that pro photography distinguishes itself from everyday images, and that is in the appropriate use of flash.  The first image is one that I took exposing correctly for the whole scene. You can see that that leaves the handsome subject woefully underexposed. The second image is one that I took exposing for the subject; however that overexposes the background. The sky & water are blown out (meaning no detail, just a white blurb), and part of his hair, and the color shifts. It doesn’t look bad, but it isn’t “real” – meaning you aren’t aware of the evening ambiance, that this image was taken after sunset, and that there are soft lights on the trail behind him; it could have been in the afternoon.His face still has shadows on it.

This is the perfect time to use flash – but not just your ordinary, on-the-camera full blast flash that makes the subject look like a ghost on a black background. If you put the camera and flash in an automatic mode, the camera meter will calculate the amount of flash needed to light up the subject as the focus of the image. Unfortunately, that will mean that the shutter will close before it can  let enough ambient light into the sensor to show us the  background. The trick is to control both the amount of light needed to brighten your subject AND the right amount to show the background the way you want to.  You do this by using shutter speed and flash power in combination. The third shot is one that I captured using the flash off camera and slightly to the left, manually exposing so that the background shows up just enough to give it that evening feel, and that the willing subject (who is demonstrating admirable self control and heroically fighting the urge to say “are we done yet”) is also exposed well. Notice his skin tone is more normal and the shadows are lifted from his face (no raccoon eyes) – and you can see the blue of the evening sky.

Now, I don’t normally use flash for my portrait sessions in my standard locations because I generally shoot in conditions that don’t have such a wide range of exposures, or where I care a lot about the background. BUT it does become a factor in bright sun or beach images, or in bright fields, and especially in weddings where quite a few images are taken at dusk or in dark reception halls.

The best way to learn about flash is to get a firm understanding of the way that shutter speed and flash power relate to one another in controlling ambient light, and by PRACTICING. Take a series of images keeping your subject and lighting the same, and adjusting the flash power and the shutter speeds to see how they actually affect your exposure and final image.

You can get better at evaluating the quality of a photographer’s work when you learn to look for things like black eye sockets, too orangy/yellow or red tones in low light images or images taken with lamplight, overexposed flashed people in a black room where you can’t see what’s around them, harsh shadows and squints from those in full sun,  really dark subjects in a sunny field or conversely people in a field or beach with a white (not blue) sky. Now, I’m not talking about images that are actually done that way for effect – I’m talking about work where every shot is like that, because the photographer doesn’t know how to control the exposure with intent, or is inexperienced with a flash. These are the types of images  that help to distinguish custom, professional photography from that done with “a really good camera”. No matter how cute the subject or the pose, the image will be weak without the proper lighting & exposure – and years later, without the “mommy goggles”, that picture will not speak to your heart in the same way. Trust me on that one. I have albums of images like that of my girls, that I thought were great at the time. How I wish I could turn back the clock & get custom photography of them in the days when I didn’t have the skill, and, I thought, the money. Compared to the crazy amount of cute clothes and toys that they had (and of which, of course, no longer exist) it would have been something I treasured and had with me to this day. Priceless.

(understanding why custom photography costs more, use of flash in photography, evening portraits using off camera flash)

First time parents-to-be are so much fun for me to photograph; their excitement is contagious. I met Katie & Brian this weekend for our session and I am just counting the days until I get the phone call that their new baby is here! They chose not to know the sex ahead of time, which adds to the fun! They were up for anything for this session, so I was able to talk Brian into giving Katie the shirt off his back and I love how sweet and romantic these images look!

Oh, and of course we included Stanley – who knows something is up in this household but isn’t quite sure what it is -

Isn’t she adorable?

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Gavin has now become the one who doesn’t like having his picture taken. He hates having to do anything that interrupts his playtime, including preschool, baths, mealtime, and bedtime

So that means I have to bargain (lollipops, playground time, etc)  for every. snap. of . the. shutter.

I got five of those snaps last Saturday.  Hey, I’ll take what I can get! Is he not the most handsome devil you ever saw?

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