In honor of Halloween, a comic strip for you!

If you've ever seen me look panicked at your session, then you can pretty much guarantee that I saw that "Err 99" message. Talk about stopping your heart in the middle of a session. The fix is fairly easy, take out the battery and restart the camera. But I've heard, every once in a while that doesn't help and the camera is just dead. That is why I carry a backup camera! I'm sure you thought my 2nd camera was so you could laugh at me when I accidentally choke myself on the 2 straps hanging around my neck.

WhatTheDuck.net has some rather funny (and a few off color) photography jokes. This one though I thought I would share with you. Hope you enjoyed it!

What the Duck is an online comic strip. Viewers are welcome to link, post, copy/paste, or save the strips to their own sites, blogs, forums, newsletters, etc.

What the Duck comics and whattheduck.net are © 2006 Aaron Johnson All rights reserved.

Meet Miss H

She is the 4 year old daughter of my best friend, and when my best friend came over I had the pleasure of photographing Miss H at her tea party (with her little brother). Having 2 boys myself, I am not typically invited to tea parties, so this was a special treat for me.

Thanks Miss H for the M&Ms and for the photo opportunities!

Just a peek!

Just 2 sweet siblings, all dressed up and ready for Christmas! I've delivered the proof gallery to their parents, but I wanted to show them off to the rest of you!

Also, I still have a few openings for Christmas card photos. These are more of a mini-session and dedicated solely to getting that great Christmas card photo! This is just one design of many that I have. If I took your photo earlier this year and are interested in using one of those images, then I can do that as well. Just contact me for more details!

October and Autumn

I love this time of year. The crisp air outside, the changing leaves, the pumpkin patch trips, the putting away of summer clothes and pulling out favorite fall clothes, wearing a lightweight jacket to a ball game, high school football games, band competitions, and starting Christmas shopping. What is your favorite fall activity? What do you love about October?

I've been taking appointments for fall sessions lately, and for Christmas card photos. If you are interested in a session this fall, please be aware that my calendar is almost full. I am working on being able to add in a few more dates, but it is going to depend on childcare arrangements.

Grandma's Flowers

I remember, as a child, visiting my grandmother and playing hide and seek in her garden. I remember running barefoot in the grass and mud. I remember learning to hang upside down on their little swingset (which looked so big when I was little and ever so tiny this last trip). I remember rolling down the hill with my cousins. But, especially, I remember all the flowers my grandmother always planted. Flowers everywhere. I love those special memories, and I hope that my children have similar ones of visiting their grandparents.

I'm working on getting better at taking photos of flowers, and working on doing different effects with them in photoshop. But, here are 3 of the flowers in my grandmother's garden this year.

Thanks for the good time in the Gardens!

I had a great time in the Botanical gardens with these 2 children. I have taken their portraits before, and each time I have not connected to this little guy. This time, however, he let me play chase in the field with him, he took my hand and showed me some fish, he pointed out a frog, and he smiled for me. Thanks Lisa for letting me photograph your precious children, they truly are a delight!

Family.

Everyone has family, and I loved getting to see some of mine during August (well through Labor Day weekend). The following are just a few of them. My two grandmothers, my cousin (who is close in age to me and I count her as one of my best friends), and then the baby of one of other cousins (not the Dad holding her...but isn't it so sweet to see a Dad so in love with his daughter?).

I had so much fun seeing everyone, taking thier portraits (when they let me), and that little baby is so sweet! I can not wait until my other cousin has her baby!!! I hope to be able to continue to do some sessions for my family, and I was thrilled to get portraits of my grandmothers to preserve for my children.







Now...to work on the photos I took of my grandmother's flowers and garden. She has the most amazing blueberry bushes, they are over 6 feet tall and loaded with blueberries. I would show them to you, but my own mother and aunt would not speak to me for months if I did as they are in them picking those blueberries.

Sports Site up and running!

Finally, after months of waiting, I have my sports site up and running with major thanks to my husband and business manager. I am currently working on the main site splash page adding links and updating the photos. I am also going to be updating the photos on the portrait side with some from this year! Exciting times indeed.

As for sneak peeks, I have 3 Moms from this past weekend wanting to see some from their sessions. I am hoping to have those proofed by the end of week and give everyone a sneak peek at their sessions - a beautiful 3 month old, a fun 5 year old, and a stunning woman that I am happy to call my cousin. My Aunt is anxious to see those shots, almost as anxious as I am to proof them.

Childhood Fantasy Sessions

I took the boys out to play, because quite frankly I do not seem to do enough of that with them. We had a great time just playing. The kids loved getting to dress up as Pirates and go out to a creek and play around. I would love doing sessions like this for clients! There was not one ounce of posing going on, just capturing my boys as they are. Okay, sometimes I would ask them to "pause right there for just one second" for a shot or two. But this was a totally fun session.

For you, imagination will know no bounds. Unfortunately we will have to abide by trade rights and copyrights for certain characters. Generic pirates, princesses, fairies, knights, cowboys, astronauts, firemen, policemen, military men, etc. are all fine.

Joined a new charity organization

NAOCP - National Association of Charitable Photographers.

One of the exciting things about this is that I will now be offerring free sessions to adoptive families. My heart is in adoption, particularly international adoption. If you know of a family who is adopting, or of an adoption agency, please contact me for details. They also offer Military Family sessions for families with a loved one deploying, and they offer hospice sessions.

For those that did not know, today, we are Dossier to China to adopt our own beautiful daughter. It's a long process, and we are just now through the first stage. This next stage will take up to a few years depending on referal timeframes and so forth. If we end up going special needs route, then it will be faster.

My heart truly is in adoption these days, it's such an exciting time for us as we await news of our future daughter. Don't worry, I'll be sure to let everyone know when we find out who she will be.