Prom!

Remember me telling you about my fabulous friend Jalene?  And that we were shooting prom together?  If not, pay attention!

Kidding:c)

Prom was Saturday and I must say, it was so much fun!  I attended the same school but we weren't allowed to have proms because of an old will, a man of many beliefs, and a church.  It's too much to go into now.  We had banquets.  They were fun...but now I know what I was missing. 

Jalene handled the posed pictures and I shot candids.  I fought off and on with my external flash, but finally when all the lights were turned off for dancing (except some strobe lights, don't worry) I got it.  But what I found out about high schoolers dancing is, they dance toward the center of the room.  I have a lot of pictures of behinds.  And the two times I pushed through to the middle?  It was dangerous!  I still got some good shots though.  Jalene on the other hand?  Not many people wanted posed.  Sad really.  Those that did didn't have money with them.  From what we've heard about the previous photographers, people weren't impressed.  Hopefully we can build trust and show them how awesome we are, and by the Fall Ball (that we also get to shoot), they'll know we rock!

I could share some of my favorite pictures from the evening, but instead I wanted to share the most popular one.

This is the picture I put on Facebook to ask which shoe was better. 

It got a lot of comments.  And the results were split almost down the middle.  Luckily I was too distracted after I took the picture to take them off so I picked the bow one based on comfort.  Sadly an hour and a half in they were no longer comfortable.  Thank goodness I'd worn flip flops there to set up and switched into them before the dancing started:) 

And about the dancing.  I'm a good little girl who never really learned how to.  My church didn't condone dancing so I just never did it.  Times have changed and now it's okay.  Sadly it's too late for me.  I can step touch, but that's about it.  But you know what happens when you're taking pictures of dancing teenagers for three hours?  You have to let it out!  I busted out a few step touches every once in a while.  It felt so good!

Don't worry, it was dark and I doubt anyone saw me.

They were blind from my flash:c)

i heart crumbs

I have a sweet friend I met when I joined the Phoenix Mitchell's Angels.  I fell in love with Renee the first time she opened her mouth.  She's hilarious!  And sweet.  And cute.  I could so easily hate her, but she won me over with her humor.  Not only does she run and entertain me with her Facebook status updates, she also bakes.  Amazing things.  And she wanted me to take pictures of her creations so she could start a website and eventually a bakery.

We started with cupcakes.

My newly purchased studio lights and I showed up at her house this morning ready to go.  But the girl wasn't ready!  Her excuse?  She can't do the math to half a recipe so she just made 11 full recipes of cupcakes.  They were everywhere.  Literally. 

As I set up she got started.  6 pounds of butter, 9 bags of powdered sugar, a Prozac, a 5 hour energy drink, and a Red Bull later...she'd made 9 different recipes of icing and frosted enough for me to photograph.

Here are some of my favorites.

Spring!

Spring has finally sprung in Oklahoma!


Oh, not really. It was miserable and rainy and cold just a few days after these were taken.


Sigh.

Middle School Banquet

My little Chickadee went to her first middle school banquet tonight. Sigh. I promise she was just born.

Since she's no longer 'in a relationship' she had plans to meet to girlfriends there. I've been to three of these in a row and I've seen entertainment from a trivia game, a male beauty pageant, and a motivational speaker. This year there was a band. A band that was pretty good and engaged most of the kids. But was so loud I think some of my internal organs might have been rearranged.

My sweet friend Jalene who'd helped me with Ball pictures asked me to come help her with Banquet pictures. There weren't any posed pictures, but a place had been set up to take some for fun. I spent a lot of time there and caught some cute ones. I was trying out an external flash for the first time and we had our problems at first but eventually we bonded and ended the evening happy that we'd gone together:c)

Here are just a few of my favorites from the evening.
As I attended my fourth in a row I made some observations. Girls put a lot of thought into the evening. Boys...not so much. And most girls have never and will never wear their shoes again.

I love that:)

Family Party

We had a family party a few days ago to celebrate my Aunt Pat's 65th birthday. The party was really to introduce her one and only granddaughter, Olivia, who joined our family in July. Olivia flew all the way from San Francisco for the occasion. She was nice enough to bring her parents Scott and Adrienne with her as well. You might remember them from their beautiful wedding in Tucson. When trying to plan dinner for 27 people the restaurant choices were pretty slim. I got a phone call from my Aunt Marcia saying that since we had a big house and were centrally located she wondered if we'd host. I of course said yes because when we were renting this house and it was sold out from under us we prayed that if God gave it to us we'd use it to serve Him by opening it to friends and family. We've certainly done that with the pool. I of course said yes and started cleaning.

Do any of the rest of you look at your house differently when you know people are coming? I clean stuff I don't normally clean, like baseboards. And chandelier crystals. I like to entertain from time to time to ensure I don't lose control of the house:)

The evening came and I had to run to my Aunt Pat's house (two doors down) to take family pictures for her. Four generation pictures. That was neat. Then I ran back down to get everything ready. The rest of the evening was a total blur. My couch from the living room is getting reupholstered and I was so worried about only having a love seat. But when I sat up two card tables and eight chairs in the living room, it was wonderful to not have a couch in the way.

I'm sure the food was wonderful (because we had our traditional Christmas Eve Stack-Ups) but I spent the entire dinner time busy. I refilled ingredient dishes, put up tables and chairs, took down tables and chairs, made drinks, moved my picture table over, moved the coffee table to the den, hand picked rice out of the living room carpet, cleaned up after 11 children, and banged on the laundry room door to hush the dog.

I did sit down to eat dessert though. It's all about priorities folks.

Shortly after that I had to hop up to take group pictures. I was trying to decide where when Shawn mentioned using the professional lighting we hadn't returned to my neighbor. Soon my living room had orange extension cords, 26 people, chairs, peacock feathers to tickle the younger ones, and some sweaty people. Our house has never been able to keep up with a crowd. One vent in the living room, and one in the dining room don't really keep the temp at a pleasant place. We were all in it for the cause though.

Here are a few of the good ones. Let me say first, it is nearly impossible to get all the children and the parents and grandparents smiling at once. Or even looking at the camera. But, it was fun and shows the real family. We're not all posed types of people. We're real. And we didn't attempt to hang the backdrop. We were already losing the focus of the younger children about 3.5 seconds in.This last picture is the funniest to me. I was trying to direct Kennedy to focus first, center everyone, and count for us. And at the same time, lose 40 pounds, foof my hair in just the right place, and wonder if my makeup was melting off. I was missing what was happening on the front row. Shawn (left end) and Jeremy (right end) were cracking each other up because apparently Shawn had no idea what to do with his hands. It seems that he's never been on the front row of a picture! I have four pictures all with his hands in different places. Love that man!

After a whirlwind day and evening I was so glad we had the big, centrally located house. And you know what? Who cares about the dusty baseboards or the chandelier crystals? It was about all being together for that time. Although we really missed the cousins that live out of state, we don't know where we would have put them if they'd come!

I Have My Life Back

It took forever, but I finally finished the Ball pictures. Okay, it was under two weeks, but it felt like forever. In total, I edited 124 pictures. I brightened their eyes, whitened their teeth, cleared their complexions (if necessary), brightened the colors, and sharpened everything. It really made for a good picture, if I do say so myself. Then I uploaded them all to Sam's and set about ordering close to 200 copies. I couldn't close my eyes without seeing people sitting in front of a black background. With bright eyes and white smiles. I was overwhelmed.

But.

It.

Is.

Finished.

Just in time to realize the elementary school yearbook I'm in charge of is due. Soon. Very soon.

My tongue is still stuck to the roof of my mouth from licking 123 envelopes, but that's another story for another day.

I just had to share some of my favorite pictures.

That tall girl is really goofy. Wonder who she belongs to. This is one of Reagan's best friends. Isn't she beautiful? She has the sweetest personality to go with it. I could keep her as one of my own if her parents wouldn't mind. They do though. Not that I've asked...I just know. Who else thinks these two need to go into modeling??? Love this picture! And now for my very favorites. I am truly blessed!

I thankfully learned some things from all of this.

1. Have more than one assistant to help with order form filling out. I did a lot of standing around...as did the people in the line.

2. Black backgrounds are a little...one dimensional. I need to invest in a yearbook one. You know what I mean? Or an Olan Mills one. Does that help explain it?

3. I will wear more comfortable shoes! If I own any.

4. I will get my lazy couch shaped tushie off the couch and get a wet rag to seal the envelopes with. My tongue might never forgive me.

5. I would do it all over again to help raise over $1,000 for a school system that I absolutely love.

6. And I'll take the sweet deal my neighbor offered me to purchase the lighting I borrowed for the evening. Because I can't wait to do this again next year!

So now I move on to the yearbook....which is due in less than a week. Send help...and coffee...and pictures. I don't care if the kids don't go to our school. I'm that desparate...and pathetic.

Goodbye forever.

Or until next week.

We Came, We Saw, We Balled

My feet beg to differ, but the Ball was a blast and a huge success. Since it was put on by a Foundation board that I'm a member of, as a fundraiser, it was all hands on deck. I volunteered to be in charge of posed and candid pictures. So I took a leap of faith and started my own website. Then I asked a friend who is an incredible photographer to handle all the dance floor candids. Then I asked a friend and neighbor and incredible photographer if I could borrow his lighting and backdrop so I could take the posed pictures. And then I prayed, crossed my fingers and toes, lit some candles, and stopped breathing deeply.

You know what? I survived. The pictures all turned out, and I will rejoin life in about a month and a half when I have them all identified and edited and delivered.

In about 2 months the Foundation pulled off a very financially successful event that was a hit. The dads and daughters ate, danced, laughed, and bonded. It was precious to watch. And the moms that couldn't stay away sat in the back and teared up and took pictures.

I was so busy taking pictures that I missed most of the dance floor action. But I did take these before we left.Boy howdy they're cute!

The Ball

I had to leave my house today.

I had to peel myself out of bed today.

I had to shower today.

I had to put makeup on today.

I had to fix my hair today.

I had to take the 4 x 4 car from Shawn today.

I had to find my Cuddl Duds, coat, and gloves today.

Why you ask??

My girls are going to The Ball.

Not just any ball though, the Daddy Daughter Ball.

And two need a dress and new shoes.

And one needs to come home from her extended stay with another family.

Oh, and I need to finish designing a website, buy an adapter for my camera, and pray I don't break any of the expensive lighting I've borrowed for the posed pictures.

And maybe shave my legs.

But that one is debatable.

PW's Contests

I sure hope all of you know who the Pioneer Woman is. If not, please clear your calendar for the next two weeks, send your husband and children out of town, click on that link, and spend some quality time reading everything she's ever written. That's what I did about three years ago one Spring Break. Except that I didn't have anywhere to send Shawn and the girls. So the next best thing? I took the girls to my in-laws house and let Mom take care of us so I could read.

Love you Mom!

Everything she writes about is good, even the burping. But I'm partial to burping since I was the female champ in high school.

She has a photo tab and because of what I've learned there I bought Photoshop and then a dslr. Well, why Shawn bought them for me:c) I have learned so much about Photoshop by using her free actions and following her step by step instructions. She talks to me like I'm six when explaining something. That's the only way I learn.

She started doing photo contests a while ago. She gives a subject (flowers, children, pets) and you enter pictures in her Flickr group. I've entered a few of contests and was overjoyed when I had a picture chosen for the Funny category. I was yelling and screaming and the girls came running in to see what was wrong. I told them I'd had a photo chosen and then showed it to them on her website. About a minute later McKinley said, "I took that picture." Uh, yep. I didn't take it. How could I? It's underwater and the strap from the camera is shown around her neck. And the kicker?? It's not even my camera! It's Carrie's! I'd like to get an underwater case for my camera so we can get shots at other times then the 4th of July when they visit:c) When I saw the most recent category, I knew I'd have plenty of choices.

Here are all the pictures I entered. And not a single one was chosen! Dangflabit. Apparently I need someone else to take it, with someone elses camera, and have it appear on my computer.

Oh well, I'll be ready and waiting for the next contest. Maybe....