Baby photography: Zoe!

Yesterday I met up with Phil and Kim, and their gem of a baby girl, Zoe!
And you know the first thing I noticed about Zoe? Take one guess:


This little girl gives J man a run for his money on the "stunning eyes" award! What a cutie!
Oh, and her parents are pretty cool, too :)



And this shot was one of my faves of the day: can't resist a baby in a tutu!

(and I am a fan of cloth-diaper butt, too :)

Phil asked me to get a special shot, too. You see, Zoe was born REALLY early, and was so small that her daddy's wedding band fit over her fist and onto her wrist. So he asked that I get a picture of his band over her thumb, just to measure the change from her birthday. I'd say that's pretty incredible!



Thanks SO much to Kim, Phil, and Baby Zoe! You've just captured my heart!

Much love,

Em

Jennifer+Paul: Wedding

The background of this couple will come shortly, but really, I am tired. And I feel like watching an episode of the Simpsons. So, here are a few of my faves from the wedding yesterday- yes, an Independence Day Wedding!

The seriously beautiful bride:

yay, Marines!

pocket dresses!!!

The boys- a great-looking group!

a packed church full of wonderfully talented singers- the hymns brought tears to my eyes!

the bridal party and ushers- totally feelin' the love!

one of my faves from the day:

More to come soon!

~Em

let it snow, let it snow......

LET IT SNOW!

Today we have been enjoying the sheer beauty of the midwest winter in the fury of a true snowstorm.
So far we have at least 10 inches of snow, and right now it's beginning to blow, so chances are there will be a big drift against our back door in the morning. Goody.
It is weather like this that makes me REALLY glad that we have a Jeep. I got to drive around on the nearly deserted streets of my town today, very slowly, of course, even though I have 4 wheel drive. I traversed through snowdrifts into ghosts of county parks, looking for the perfect places to take pictures at, since the snow was sticking perfectly to every tree branch. I found several pristine locations, and got some great shots, all without leaving the vehicle. And the little J man slept snugly and happily from his now forward-facing carseat. (note: I gotta get a picture of that to share with you, too.)
I had way too many to choose from, but here is my decision for the entry for today. Number 7 of 365.

a couple firsts

first number one:
we got snow last night! not that that is necessarily a "first", seeing as it is Wisconsin, and it is December, but it was the first snow of the season. I was really happy it snowed when it did, too, cuz it gave new life to our otherwise pretty drab landscape. And because I had a photoshoot this morning. Outside. In 20 degree weather. With a windchill. (not sure exactly how cold it was, but I know it was chilly, since I couldn't use my pointer finger to take the pictures near the end, and had to use my ring finger, which was a little less numb)

first number two:
I had a photo shoot with a married couple, who just wanted nice pictures of just the two of them. It was kind of like an engagement session, I suppose, but a little more relaxed. There really is a big difference in photographing young love, and those who have spent a third of their lifetime together. More comfortable, more at ease, and even more in love.

Here are some of my faves of Mike and Melissa:





Em

Once upon a November

I had the privelage of photographing two of my very good friends' wedding this past weekend, James and Brenda.
Although I didn't have as much time as I generally do with the couple, we ended up with some really lovely shots!

Put a red chair in an alley......

...and this is what you get.

(ps. this is a high school senior photo.)



Thanks for a great time, Maggie!



Em

little bit o' rock 'n roll for Jesus

My friend, Mike Westendorf, asked me to photograph an event that he and his band were playing for- they were one of the bands to come on before FFH (Far From Home- it's another well-known Christian band). It was a benefit concert for Cancer research, put on by Faith Lutheran Church and was advertised on KLOV.
Well, anyway, what I am trying to say is that it was kind of a big deal.
Which you may have guessed since he wanted me there to photograph the whole thing.

Just Kidding.

Or, as my little bro would say "Hota, Ka, Hota, Ka".
( ask me if you don't get it)

It's a big deal, but not cuz I was there.
It was a big deal because God was there, and we are called to serve Him and each other.
And we did it through music!

The whole thing was in the Sports Complex in Waukesha, so it was held in a really big gym.
You know how gyms are known for their totally spectacular, flattering lighting?
No?!?
Oh, Yeah. They are known for their totally stinky lighting.
At least there were stage lights, and I was able to utilize my somewhat limited knowledge of lighting to get some pretty suh-WEET effects.
In all honesty, I enjoyed myself there, singing my heart out to Jesus along with the band, and taking pictures at the same time.

Talk about fun!

Being a High School Senior....

Has got to be interesting nowadays... but, well, it was probably "interesting" when I was a high school senior, all those years ago.
ahem.
over 9 years ago. yikes.

Anywho, I remember my senior portrait experience was not-so-exhilarating. My pics turned out okay, but I was just NOT comfortable, and it felt awkward while I was there in front of the huge camera in the studio setting, feeling very unsure of myself.
SO, I guess there's a notion out there that photographers are "old" and "stuffy", and this can be an anxiety inducing experience for a young man/woman to put themselves in front of a stranger and try to act natural.
Such was the case with Corina.
She was, according to her aunt, a nervous wreck all day long, and unsure of what to expect.




Needless to say, it didn't take long for her to get comfortable, and we really, really had a lot of fun.
oh, and her pictures turned out beautiful.

thank you, Corina!!
em

Another World

This sight met us as we were going up the bend in 151 towards my folks house last weekend... a sun and moon set over Lake Winnebago!
Well, needless to say, I told...er....asked j-hubby very politely to pull over so that I could take a picture.




~em

Pretty

Oh, how I missed photographing girls for High school senior portraits- I had done 5 senior guys in a row- so last night's shoot was really a breath of fresh air.
Not to be sexist or anything, but girls, in my experience, tend to be more natural in front of the camera.
Which, if you are a photographer, makes the whole shoot that much easier.

Here's one of my fave's:




Thanks, Meghan!


~Em

Something pretty at the state fair

HIghlights from Phil and Rachel's Wedding

I had the awesome privilege of meeting Phil and Rachel Yesterday (yes, I just met them at their wedding) They are extremely warm, inviting, and genuinely nice people. My friend, Tom- who lives in AZ, called me a few months back to tell me he would be shooting a wedding in my area, and asked if I would like to help out.
Of course, I said yes :)
Despite a little mixup on the actual date of the wedding (I thought it was Friday, and I *just* found out Wednesday that it was actually a Sunday wedding), we got together smoothly, and were able to enjoy the day taking pictures of this wonderful group of people!
These are just a few of my favorite (I have SUCH a hard time narrowing them down!!!)
Enjoy~

Em

This weeks Photo Challenge

This week's challenge was a great exercise in the use of light- the details of the challenge are a little confusing, but basically we had to take pictures of the same object in a window at different times of day- one picture at the same angle each time, and another picture at what we felt was the best angle for that time of day.
These three are the "same angle" --yeah, I know- the nighttime one is a little off- but my hubby was busy working on rebuilding a computer in the same room, and things were moved all around, so I couldn't quite get at the same angle. The little glass jar was never moved, though- it stayed in the exact same spot all day.

7:30 am

2:30 pm

10:30 pm

and here is the set of different angles of the same jar- how I felt it worked the best with the light I had :

I chose this setup because I wanted to capture the dappled morning sunshine and the light passing through the jar onto the windowsill. 7:30 am

I decided to do a more detail shot for the afternoon, since the light isn't as dramatic as the morning- and I took the picture from below, so that the background included the blurry leaves- I like the painterly look of this one :) 2:30 pm

For the nighttime shot I did something a little more "outside the box"- so I physically went outside the box...er, house. This is taken from the outside looking in. 10:30 pm

I would love to hear your ideas/critiques on this- even if you weren't part of the challenge- good or bad, I enjoy hearing other's ideas on what I've done. Thanks a lot, everyone!
~Em

Photo Challenge #18

Here are the basics to this week's challenge:
This week's challenge is to photograph numbers 1-7 (my father always make us do things in prime numbers when I was a child, since I thought 12 photos would be overwhelming we'll just stick with 7).

Rules:
1.) 7 photos total (If you feel ambitious go ahead and do all 12), one photo for each number.
2.) your photos can either represent the number or have the actual number in letters or numbers.
3.) B/W or Colour
4.) Tweaking is allowed.
5.) Photos should be submitted by either Friday, May 29 or Sat. May 30
5.) Have Fun!


I was really awesomely inspired by this week's challenge...in fact, I plan on going further with it to make a personal project of it. Something like "99 years"..still working on the full concept, though. We'll see how far it goes!







ok, so I was going to stop in by my cousin's house yesterday, cuz they have a 6 and 4 year old, but they are in Montana. Sorry ;(