It’s really hard to take a good photo of yourself, or at least it is for me.  I have always been one of those people who just feel awkward and have a hard time in front of a camera anyway, so that’s why I always ended up behind one.  I would like to thank my hubby (who has also been my assistant from the beginning) for taking my new updated profile picture for me.  He is absolutely fantastic at setting up my lights and all kinds of other things I need him to do, but he struggles behind the camera with the settings and capturing things just at the right moment just as much as I struggle to be in front of a camera.  But he stepped up to the plate, and he took out some time to let me get things set up for him and take a new updated photo of me for my website.  I think he did a great job!  He has always been my #1 supporter and I love him for it.  It’s been a rough last couple of months around here due to my grandfather being sick, and also I had a nasty neck injury that had kept me from doing many things that I wanted to do.  He’s been there for me through that holding my hand, while I was sad, and through a not so fun treatment for my neck, and it’s nice to get a new updated fresh photo and to try and make a new and fresh start this fall.  Anyways, I just wanted to say to him “Thank you, and I love you!  Everything you do is so appreciated!”

So here’s a larger version of my new profile picture he took:

I would like to post a picture in loving memory of  Julius Washington Bowen, my grandfather.   He will be missed, but I know he is joyous because he can now be with his wife, son, and daughter, who had already left this earth before him.  Times like this in my life make me realize  just how precious pictures of the ones you love truly are, even if they are not a planned portrait.  We had visited my Paw Paw over the holidays and my children had brought their little point and shoot cameras they had received for Christmas, so I decided to grab one of them and take a quick portrait of him.  I can now always remember just how he was, sitting in his chair that he always kept covered with a sheet, wearing his hat, and a blue jacket that he always wore.  I don’t think I can ever remember him without a jacket like the one he wore in this picture.  He wore one like it pretty much all his life.  I hope that my story and this photo will inspire those of you out there to take pictures of your family and treasure them, even if you don’t take the time to have a professional portrait made.  The memories they hold are so priceless.  I love you Paw Paw.

I had the opportunity last weekend to go and assist and second shoot a wedding with my friend Tyson Zahner.  I had a nice road trip on the way that took me through Kentucky and Illinois on the way.  I absolutely fell in love with Kentucky on the way through.  It seems as if it’s a requirement to have an old barn to live in Kentucky.  I loved looking at all of them.  It was a lovely day for Heather and Casey’s wedding.   Just perfect weather and Heather and Casey were such fun!  Here are a couple shots I managed to get in between moving light stands and holding equipment for Tyson.

I had promised that I would be sharing a few more images of my favorite girlie, Miss Makala, after her family had a chance to view the slideshow of her images.  Well, they came in several weeks ago to view her images, and now I have a chance to sit down and go through all her images and share a few more of my favorites.   It was really hard to pick favorites from her session because I really loved them all!  I think her mom had a hard time as well.  Luckily, her mom was able to score a brag book so she can enjoy a whole bunch of her images for years to come!  Ok, so here’s a few more of my favs:

Boy oh boy,  Makala sure has some talent!  There is no way I could do what she’s doing in this next one…. I would end up in the hospital!  Good job Makala!:

The polka-dotted rain boots the Cullman cheerleaders wear with their uniforms are just too cute!!!!   We had to get some shots with them and I just loved this one!:

Her mom loved the color version of this next one…but me…I am still a sucker for black and white:

We had so much fun laughing and goofing off the day of her shoot.  Her laughter was contagious!  I loved the laughter shots with a more of a vintagey faded kinda feel:

Ok, so I have to quit!  LOL.  I just really enjoyed so many of these images!  I hope you do as well.

It’s like pulling teeth around here to get either of my kids to have their picture taken.  They have had their picture taken so many times by me over the years it’s kinda lost it’s excitement for them so to speak.  Anyhoo, I talked my Catybug into going out today and playing around just a bit and I totally got the image I wanted out of her.  I love it!  I just thought I would share it.  She’s so cute!

My hubby spent a lazy afternoon sitting on the dock with our friend Norman, hoping to real in that big one  that never came.  On beautiful days like this, one that is sure to never be far behind this when fishing with Norman, is Sally, his ever faithful dog.  Sally is never far behind her master’s feet anywhere he goes.  I decided to play around with the camera and snap a shot of her at her master’s feet.  I really wish that I could’ve gotten all of her in the picture but it would have required me to back up a couple steps, which would’ve put me directly in the freezing lake.  To bad I didn’t have my wide-angle lens with me, but I still love the shot.

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year.  I love it because the world seems to renew itself again, and begins to paint itself with all the many beautiful colors of the rainbow.  It’s wonderful to see the little flower buds sprouting on the trees and watch the flowers as they seem to stretch out of the ground with all their beautiful colors and reach up toward the sky with hope.  It always makes me feel hopeful for things to come.  I have been under the weather this week, but the warmth of the sun coming in through my front door encouraged me to wander around outside a little bit today and snap a couple of the new things sprouting up in my yard.  First, I decided to snap a photo of the peach tree blooms blossoming out in our backyard, and then I moved on to a hyacinth breaking its way through the dirt and the leaves of winter in our front yard.  I hope you enjoy them!

Congratulations Shelley and  Jeri on your photogenic wins!  I had so much fun with each one of you and I am so proud to be a part of your wins.  Thank you both for allowing me to take your photographs, it was a pleasure!  I thought I would share your winning photos.

Shelley:

Jeri:

Last week I had a chance to spend some time with Miss Gabby and do a quick mini-session for some headshots.  She is such a goofball!  We just kicked around and laughed and got some great shots of her.    Her photos made me renew the love I have for black and white photographs.  Of course they are wonderful in color as well,  but I am still a big sucker for black and white photos!   Gabby, you glam up good girl!   Here’s some of Gabby’s photos:

I decided to go and watch the Good Hope Middle School pageant tonight.  All the girls were dressed to the tee and they all looked lovely!  My dear Krissie, who is one of the moms of my pageant girls, wanted me to take some photos of her daughter, Alyssa (aka Lizzard)  at the pageant while she was performing her walk, and well…I found out that Krissie will never be allowed to be my assistant EVER!  LOL.  I asked her to hold one of my flashes on her daughter Alyssa for me while I shot off the photos, and it makes different beeping noises as I shoot to let me know if it is functioning correctly or not.  Well, I forgot to mention this to Krissie, and as soon as it started beeping, she put it down because she thought she was doing something wrong.  I had to laugh a long time about that.  I did manage to get a couple shots of Alyssa before Krissie decided that the flash was malfunctioning.   I still love ya, Krissie!  Here’s the couple shots I got:

After the pageant I had to snap one of Miss Alyssa and her trophy.  Congrats on winning third alternate Alyssa!  Nice job!

Towards the end of the pageant, I ran into one of my clients and she asked me to snap a few photos of her daughter, Kacy, and  and her brother, KT.  KT has been on my website before.  In fact, if you watch my banner above you will see my favorite picture of him.  It’s a black and white one of him in his race helmet.   It was really nice to see KT’s mom and catch up a little bit with her and her family.  Here’s Kacy and KT:

I had a great time watching all the girls do their thing tonight!  They did a fabulous job!  I sure am glad I wasn’t the one judging because it would’ve been extremely hard to pick a winner.  Well, I guess that’s all for now.  I hope to be a spectator at the High School pageant tomorrow.  Good night.