Families

 by Terri

Weekend in Tennessee…

Last weekend my husband and I headed to Tennessee for a visit with great friends, Allen and Brenda. Actually, it was a surprise for Brenda…for her birthday and it couldn’t have been better…oh, the joys of a weekend away with good friends! Although we would have loved more time…it was wonderful to spend time and catch up with our friends. While there we also visited a few wineries, spent a night at their cabin and had a chance to see their kids…and two adorable grandchildren. So, as you might expect, I took a few (okay, more than a few!!) photos, so thought I’d share some from our visit!

After our “surprise” we had lunch at Miss Mary Bobo’s which was an old boarding house…we enjoyed a WONDERFUL Southern dinner…a great experience!


The grounds at one of the wineries we visited during our visit…I could have photographed there all day long!

Busy and handsome little Alex is two…and was so much fun to watch…it’s obvious why his “Nana and Papa” love him so much!

Darling little Carly, who is 4 months old, is as sweet as can be…although not yet out playing with her big brother…she will catch up and I look forward to photographing them again when they are a bit older!




It’s obvious that Alex REALLY loves his papa…it was fun to watch them together!



Alex, with his aunt Allie, who he also adores…and this evening he decided to “style” her hair…it was quite cute!

Good friends, beautiful countryside, some wine, and a relaxing weekend…a nice break and great way to end the month of August!

in Children / Families / Personal / Travel 0 comments
 by Terri

A Rainy Afternoon | {Josh, Amanda & Jayden}

Lesson two for this great course, Advanced Pro with Brooke Snow, and I’m loving the ideas, inspiration and encouragement…it’s just what I needed, especially this time of year. Late winter/early spring around the Pacific Northwest is a real questionable time of year for weather…it’s completely unpredictable and nearly impossible to plan outdoor sessions, without being somewhat flexible. My session for this week became subject to the crazy weather and it required we move the session indoors, although near the end, the rain let up and we moved outside for part of it as well. My subjects…or maybe they might call themselves “victims” for this week were our son, his girlfriend and his daughter…as well as two dogs, one being about 12 weeks old! Our granddaughter is 6 years old and very used to the camera, but had just returned home from a classmates birthday party, so was a tad bit “energized” and the dogs, especially the puppy…well, totally unpredictable (even worse than the weather!). Planning and posing ideas were all running through my mind and although I was able to utilize some of them, a lot of the time, I had to just adapt to what was happening and try to keep things moving along. I suppose, I should have expected a bit of a challenge before I even began because our son tends to be a goof whenever the camera comes out…following directions was a challenge for him…he either was making crazy faces or laughing…and trying to get some “serious” photo…well, that took some work. The planning did help with that, I must say…I just moved them past those “crazy” photos into something else and in the end, I was happy with what I was able to capture. Thankfully, their living room has windows across the front, so that allowed a LOT of light coming in and my husband helped by adding some fill light with the reflector where needed…thank goodness today’s cameras are much better with higher ISO’s!! Of course, I wasn’t able to “freeze” the dogs very often, unless they were being held…just keeping them out of the photos was a challenge as they were continually “wrestling” around the living room and even under me as we were shooting! Oh, the joys of kids and animals…I love it!!

 

in Children / Families / Love 0 comments
 by Terri

Advanced Pro; lesson ONE | {LeeAnn & Jerad}

LeeAnn and Jerad are a wonderful couple who I’ve known for many years and had the pleasure of shooting their wedding nearly four years ago. It’s exciting to follow them now to the next chapter in their lives as they prepare for a new little one to join them later this spring. We were fortunate the weather was dry and not freezing, so that worked in our favor and they were both excited about getting their session in outdoors rather than in the studio. For this lesson for our first assignment, I scouted a location, a place I’ve driven by, but never used before. So the morning before the session, I returned to look at it again and that was helpful. I also made the decision we’d drive a mile or so down the road after that location for a bit of diversity, to a park on the waterfront. The week before the session I searched online for some new and different ideas poses and/or props to use during the session. I contacted them with some ideas and asked for a few props (baby items) from them and came up with a few on my own. This was very helpful, not to mention inspiring with some new ideas for my maternity shoots. During most of my sessions, I’m fortunate enough to have my husband (he calls himself  my “sherpa”) to help with props, carrying things for bouncing light from the reflector. Our first location was great…I loved the light and the wall behind them, but there were a few obstacles I hadn’t noticed upon scouting…some crazy blackberry vines (which can be quite spiky and sharp!!!) and we found tons of “landmines” aka dog piles, which created some obstacles to work around, along with the blackberry vines. My preparation was very helpful and communicating ideas to the couple beforehand also helped prepare them for how the session would go. What I learned – REALLY walk around the location, looking up and DOWN, when scouting, just so your are prepared…as we drove home, I had to leave my shoes (a bit stinky!!) in the back of the vehicle because I tend to not look down when photographing, my eyes are always scanning the area and thinking about how I can get more out of the area!

in Babies & Bellies / Families / Love 8 comments