good morning, beautiful

the one with cheese

Cheese. I hate that word. I want to erase it from the vocabulary of every single parent on the face of the planet. Okay, rant over. Now let's get down to business, not to defeat the huns, but to look at how to get a natural smile out of a child who has been told to say "cheese" his whole live. (Disclaimer: I am by no means trying to bash parents who use this word. If they are comfortable with the smiles they get while using that word, more power to them. However, as a photographer, I strive to take pictures that are as true to a person's nature as possible, and so therefore, the word "cheese" has no place in my vocabulary while a camera is in my hand.)

The other day I had the privilege of taking some pictures of one of my best friend's little kids. Somewhat sadly, I don't have any pictures to show you that depict the say-cheese-smile. However, I think the ones I do have will show you enough to hopefully convince you to throw "cheese" out on its ear in the rain.

Picture #1. I actually like this one. I asked him to go sit on the rock and showed him where to place his hands, but the look was all his doing. Cute, solemn picture, but not what I am looking for.

Picture #2. Yeah, now we are getting off track. His left hand is blurry, and while I am fine with him looking up, the look on his face is not a good one.

Picture #3. Tissue, anyone? Okay picture, but again, it's not what I am looking for. 

Picture #4. Ah. Now we are getting somewhere. I grabbed a leaf and was "tickling" him with it which ended up producing some great smiles. I like this picture, but his hand is up which I don't like, as well as the look on his face isn't incredibly relaxed.

Picture #5. Eyes closed and leaf in the way. 'Nuff said.

Picture #6. Cute look, but the fact that his hands and body are moving make me want to throw this picture away. However, I do like the opened mouth laugh. But it's not quite what I had in mind. 

Picture #7. There it is. The picture I have been waiting for. His hands are relaxed and by his sides, his body is relaxed and bent forward just a bit. He's not looking at the camera, but that's okay since his smile is relaxed and genuine. 

I edit #7, throw the other 6 out, and everybody is happy, happy, happy. 

So there you have it! The process I go through to not only get a good smile, but to pick out that good smile from my other pictures. And sometimes, I look through my pictures and don't have a good one. Which is okay. It happens. You learn from your mistakes and hopefully become a better photographer every single time you pick up your camera. 

playing catch up

I know I have been absent from here for like, a really long time, but I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. I promise. I have been incredibly busy with school, etc. and just haven't made this place a priority. If you still want to see pictures on a semi-regular bases, go like my Facebook page. Anyway. I would give you a run down of everything I have been up to, but a) I don't want to, and b) you probably don't want to read about it. So I will just show you pictures instead. Cause that's what I do. 

Yesterday evening, one of my bestest friends ever and I went to a corn maze. It was a ton of fun.

I will admit that this farm girl felt slightly weird paying money to go walk through corn, but oh well. 

It was a beautiful fall evening.

Poor little girl is lost. (Just kidding.)

This picture was way harder to take than it looks.

Skipping off into the mass of corn.

Don't ask what was happening here.

Apparently, we are treasures.

......do you even know how to drive a tractor?

She was so excited about that tractor...

....and about the tractor tire...

...and about the tire swing. (I think she may still think she is 6.)

And then, once we were done with the corn maze, I made her pose for me. 

The lighting (and model) made me want to stay there until it was too dark to see.

I love her laugh.

So pretty.

And now a few pictures to sort of catch you up.

My grandpa's 78th birthday.

American Thought and Torture Culture is much better when you get to take a picture like this afterwards.

The college-aged church group I have been attending.

A beautiful photographer who I met at church.

And last, but certainly not least...

One more sneak peak photo from the wedding I helped photograph last weekend! 

(I should be able to show you guys all the pictures in about a week.)

Enjoy the sunshine and fall leaves, folks!

we went for a walk

 Okay, seriously? My dog is the most beautiful dog on the planet. 

She also does awesomely-crazy poses for me.

It has been way too long since I've been down to the sloughs. Not much has changed.

Random airplane that flew over.

Mmmmm.

My crazy dog went for swim. (Needless to say, I didn't pet her anymore tonight.)

So peaceful. So relaxing. So calm. Except for those lovely waves that my puppy was making (thanks, Sabrina.) 

Happy Tuesday all, and to all a good night. 

just words

It may come as no shock to you, but I love pictures.

To me, pictures tell a story that words could never even start to tell. I talked about this in a post awhile back. About the fact that I tell stories with pictures, not words. Yes, I do enjoy writing. I like to tell stories with words about my grandparents' strong love or how awesome my dad is (just turned in a college paper on that subject, no joke) or what the Lord has been teaching me lately.

But to me, a story without pictures is not much of a story at all.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I prefer little kids picture books over adult books with just words. Or that blog posts with just words normally make me exit the page before I have even finished the first two paragraphs.

I have found that recently I have a hard time thinking in words. (If that doesn't make sense, have no fear. If it does, you're my kind of person.) Even as I sit here, typing these words, I am struggling to find the right ones. But I know I need to force myself to not fall back on my pictures as my only means of communication. Just as I push myself in photography to learn new things and take better pictures, I need to push myself to communicate better with words.

So this is me pushing myself. This is me applauding you for actually reading the whole thing.

This is me using just words.

Watch Your Surroundings

(This post was written in May, and I am just now getting around to actually posting it. See how lazy I am.)

The other day I was walking along, and I saw the perfect opportunity take a couple pictures and do a how-to-frame-your-photos-so-they-look-good post.

First off, take a look at the above picture. The first thought that comes to my mind when I see it is that I wanna hop into the picture and take a long, rambling walk down that road which of course continues on for miles and miles and ends up in a beautiful little town where everybody knows everybody. This picture evokes a sense of peace, a sense of romance, a sense of adventure. 

Now what would happen if we zoomed out and turned the camera? 

While this picture isn't horrible, I wouldn't keep it. There is too much going on. The barn is very distracting, and so is that white thing directly in front of me. While yes, the mountains are still beautiful, and the grass is still green, I don't get sense of peace, romance, or adventure.

So there you have it...a simple fix to make your pictures a little bit better!

Five Minute Friday: She

She leaps out of her pen every morning, and waits semi-patiently as I dish out her breakfast. She wolfs down said breakfast and bounces off to her kennel. Her happy face watches me through the fence as I head off to school and I am greeted with the same sight when I return home. She can't talk with words (obviously) but she says more with her eyes and her actions than some people do in 3 months worth of words. She is my best friend, my partner-in-crime, my happy spot. As someone once said,"If I had a dollar for every time my dog made me smile, I would be a millionaire."