Forever & Always - Update

I knocked myself off my rocker last night. I had two (free) photo shoot sessions and I killed them! I was quite nervous going into the sessions, but I did tons of research on the ages of the children to get an idea of what kind of shots to take. My first session was with two little girls (4 and 2 1/2). I didn't think it went well at all, but I'm loving some of the pictures. The oldest girl had a strong personality and just didn't want to listen. The youngest was super cute, but really not old enough to understand directions.

The second family was the ideal family to shoot. I think the boys were 3 and 5 and the little girl was 3 months. Mom and Dad both came with them and they were all pretty mellow. The boys' listened to directions, smiled and just had fun. The little girl was a bit harder to shoot. She is at that age where she can't sit up, but looks a bit odd laying down. Again though, I'm totally happy with the outcome.

Overall, yesterday was a definite success. I should have the Forever & Always blog updated by Tuesday with the edited pictures. Check it out and if you like them, refer me to someone so that I can actually make some money. I'm going to add a blurb on the other blog about being based out of Columbia, but able to do shoots in Springfield on request.

On the money side of things, I just had a call this morning from a lady who is interested in a family session and also a session of her husband riding ATVs/Dirt Bikes at their track in their backyard. Apparently, he does jumps and tricks and she would like to get motion shots. Motion shots are a night and day difference from portraits. I told her that I would do the motion shots for free, because that is something that I have zero experience with. Hopefully, she will set up a child or family session as well.

I have two more free sessions tomorrow morning. I'm hoping they go well. My thought is to do these four free sessions and hopefully the families will like them and then refer other people to me for actual paying sessions. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I've been keeping myself really busy focusing on photography. I've been reading books, doing online classes, working on the blog, researching techniques, looking into actions for photoshop and finding inspiring photos. I feel like I've finally found something that I really like and I'm proud of myself. I never thought that I would be a person who would like their job, but if I can actually get this up and going I'm going to be that person.

My very own Yum Yum Bowl!

I had the best dinner the other night. It started out with me wondering what I was going to pair with the mango chicken sausage that I got from Trader Joe's. I thought fried rice with pineapple, green peppers and onions sounded like it would go well with the chicken sausage. So, I went to the store and picked those up. Fried rice is kind of a pain to make, so Luke made it. =) I think he added garlic, cilantro and jalapeno to the made-up recipe as well. It was a seriously killer meal. We have a little bit of the mango chicken sausage left, so I'm hoping he will get the urge to make it again.

Us...in the last few weeks

It has been a crazy last few weeks for us. Luke was in Florida, as you all know, and Greyson and I got to spend some time with everyone in Springfield. By the end of the week Luke was ready to be home and Greyson and I were as well.

Greyson and I started out our week in Springfield at Luke's parent's house. I thought I would post some cute pictures of Marcy playing with Greyson in the pool. He is very amused by the water sprinkler.

The rest of the week, we did some more swimming at the other grandma's, got to spend some quality time with Stacey and Leslie and played with Nana and Grandpa. He even got to visit his great-grandparents.

Boy oh boy were we glad to come home. We got home and just hung out together as a family all weekend. Here's a few pictures and a video to see what all we did.

Last Sunday after church we decided to walk on the path behind our house to the park. It was hot, but there was a little bit of a breeze. Greyson looked stylish with his green sunglasses, well he did for the 10 seconds that he left them on.

He loves to swing! I got tons of cute smiles (all gummy smiles - no teeth yet).

We then decided to get on the teeter totter. I remember the old school ones where every time you came down, you slammed your butt down. They are high tech now. They are plastic and have a bit of a bounce to them.

Last picture of the outing. He never smiles at the camera. We need someone to take the picture for us and try to get his attention instead of setting the camera on a tripod.

Photo Shoots

I got to do three photo shoots last week. Brittany let me do two of her and then I photographed two little kids. I had a ton of fun. I'm not extremely happy with the outcome, but I feel like I got a few good shots at all three sessions. Luke created a blog for me just for photography. I have been wrestling over the idea of putting a pricing template up on the blog. I hate the fact of doing anything for free, but on the other hand I need the practice. There are pros and cons for doing more shoots for free and charging, but I think I'm going to start charging. We shall see. Here is the other blog if you want to follow it: http://foreverandalways.posterous.com/.

Can you tell what my name is going to be be? I haven't registered the name in Missouri, so I am hoping that no one else has it. Cross your fingers.

I would like the focus of my business to be maternity and newborn/babies. I think the name goes well with that.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

I've been wanting to practice taking pictures, but it has been so hot outside. Is that an excuse or a reason to avoid doing it? I'm going to stick with it being a reason because Greyson would not be a happy camper if I made him go outside. This morning it was actually a reasonable temperature, so I decided to take him out for a few minutes to see if I could get any cute ones. Here is what I got:

A few days ago, Luke and I took him outside to see if he would like the grass. He loved it. He kept running his fingers through it and grabbing it. I got these pictures then.