Good Vibe-rations

Ren, a fellow photographer from 2peas, is opening her brand new website tomorrow. It is going to be full of goodies for photography. She is holding a contest now for $100 vouchers for her Vibe Blog, so be sure to stop by and sign up!

Winter Blues and Walnuts

I thought I would take a small break from editing photos (Christie, yours are comin') to share my distaste for January in Minnesota. Normally it doesn't bother me much, but the weather is seriously starting to make me cranky. The temperatures her have been sub-zero for weeks, with the exception of this weekend. It was a balmy 40 degrees, just enough to remind us of how real people have winter. Here's a photo of the sunset on Sunday. I didn't notice until now how the wind-swept snow looks like the ocean.

Here's another. I really love the old oaks in the winter. You really get to see how snarly they are without their leaves, branches twisting every which way.

Here is the same photograph with Matt's preset applied. I like the silhouette it makes.

This morning, due to the extreme cold, the kids had a late start, which meant Bodie didn't go at all. The temp was -11 when Tye went to catch the bus. I make sure to bundle him up really well. We always joke about how he end up looking like Ralphie's brother in "The Christmas Story". He can barely move with all the layers he must wear.
One more thing to add-
I was helping Tye proofread his homework tonight and noticed something in his creative writing. He wrote about his new magnet kit he bought, and the cool things you can do with it. It came with several magnets, paper clips, small washers and nuts, even a metal fish to catch with the magnetic fishing pole. "I can make a walnut man," he writes. Walnut man?
Me: "Tye, what do you mean by walnut man?"
Tye: "You know, like walnuts and washers and screws."
Me: "Oh, you mean nuts and bolts."
Tye: "Yeah, walnuts and bolts."
I laughed so hard,I cried. I think he just had his first blond moment.

Playing with textures and presets

I wanted to play with some of the presets I made and adding texture overlays. I really love this look, and think it would be really fun for senior photos. For this one I used the Shamrock preset. I think its cool what it did to the purple wall color (see the original coloring on the post below). I really like the urban acid feel of it. I added the Texture layer, set on Hard light.

For this one I used a preset I haven't given away yet, called Morning Kiss. It's a bit of a brightening action, but with a cool tone. The purple wall turned blue, giving it a different feel. Once again, I used a textured overlay layer, set on Soft light.

31 down

Today's my birthday. 31 one already. I took some time out today to do a few self portraits. I always try to do at least one around my birthday, because its usually the only one of me all year, since I'm the photographer and not the photographed. I'm never really pleased with them, but I do like the coloring in this one.

I had a really nice day, actually. We went for Mexican food tonight, which was delicious as always. I'll share a picture from dinner later. And Barbara made a scrumptious cake. John and the boys, got a video game for the Wii as a present for me. But they were too excited so they gave it to me last night. All in all, a very nice day.
For the Photographers out there, I have a gift for you. Here is a new set of presets!

You can download them here (<---*expired*----See new post here for link.)

Take 2

Because I know you want more...

Flip Video Camera

I got a video camera as an early birthday present (thank you, Barbara!) and its the coolest little thing. Tye decided to test it out for me last night, with the help of his brother. Make sure your volume is turned down a bit before you play it!

How will you vote?

Jason had this on his blog. It was very interesting. You plug in what issues are important to you and it tell you which presidential candidate has the most similar views.
My results told me the candidate I liked all along really is the right one for me. She was the best match for my interests. Who is the candidate for you?

Bodie, a buckle, and a blog treat.

I asked Bodie if I could take some pictures of him, and surprisingly, he agreed.
First he gives me his "model" face (notice the squinty eyes)...

...which he finds very funny...

Then his goofy smile...

This one's my fave.

Here I used my Bodalicious LR preset...

Here's my Drama King LR preset.

John found this belt for Bodie the other night. It was John's when he was little. Bodie has been wearing it non-stop ever since. I think he would wear it to bed if I let him.

Drama King again.

Now for the treat. I combined my favorite presets into one zip file.

You can download them here (<---*expired* ---See new post here for link).

Kelly's family

Kelly seriously has one of the most photogenic families. She is a former co-worker of mine, and we have discussed taking family photos for a while. Well, we finally got together in November. Her kids are so lovely.


Her son is 4 days older than my oldest, and they are really very similar in personality and interests. By the end of the photo shoot, they were tossing a football back and forth. I think if they were schoolmates, they'd be best friends.



This is one of my favorite family photos I've ever taken...

Aren't they cute?

Shout out!

I would like to give a quick shout out to KJBSTEVENS (her username) for this lovely post about me on a forum. I don't know her, but the mention and praise (at the bottom of the page) she gave me really made my day a few weeks ago! Thanks so much!

9 years old

He's growing way too fast for me. It's hard to believe he's half way to adulthood.

This is the great cake his Grandma Barbara made for him. She used the cake decorating kit he got her for Christmas. And of course, the Pokemon characters are for an added touch...

I took these in the afternoon of his birthday. The color is a bit off, but I love them anyway.