Best of 2010: "Little ones and littler ones..."

Another "Best of 2010" posting.  This time, my focus is on all the kids and babies I was blessed to photograph this year.  How do I pick just a sample of the 100s of photographs I took?  I kinda failed at that task and posted way more than I should have.  Kids and babies tug at my heart and I can't help but be in love with each of them that I have photographed!  

Enjoy!

Best of 2010: "So In Love...."

I was reflecting on my past year with 'pbj photography' and realized I am super-duper-uber behind in blogging.  Rather than filling your news feed with tons of new posts, I am just going to do a few "Best of 2010" posts.  In no particular order are, in my opinion, are the best photos from this past year in the category "So In Love..."  It has been a great year and I am truly blessed with great friends, family, and clients!

 

Let's sit around the circle and share something about ourselves...

The last time I updated my blog was October 18th.  It is now November 18th.  I have 5 subscribed readers of my blog and I have failed each of them.  Since I am awake due to my husband's extremely loud late night hobbies and my anxiety about an upcoming event, I will grace you with a sharing session.  I tell you more about me and you tell me some interesting (or uninteresting) stuff about yourself.  Sound fair?  I want to know more about my 5 readers.

I am not sure if anyone realizes this or not, but besides carrying around a camera and holding it up to my face occasionally, I have a "real" job too. Well, several jobs, but one that is officially recognized by the greater society.  I put in my 40 hours at a local long term care facility (aka nursing home) as a CERTIFIED Occupational Therapy Assistant.  First of all, I stress "certified" because that title cost me about $37K for the 15 months I spent a community college.  Second of all, when I say "assistant," that does not mean that I spend all day following someone around who knows more than me and getting them coffee and cleaning their equipment.  I actually hate that the word "assistant" is in my title because it discredits everything that I do all day.  I don't get coffee for someone with a higher degree (unless they ask REALLY nicely) or file another's paperwork or transcribe documents.  I work with a rehabilitation team to ensure that patients admitted to my facility go home (or wherever they choose to go) as healthy and independent as possible.   Most of my clients are 75 or older and most of them return to home successfully. I spend my day exercising, chatting, motivating, listening, hugging, and laughing with people that have seen the lowest of lows and highest of highs.  I love my "official" career, but my passion is photography.  Someday, full-time photography will be my "official" career and this momma will be pretty stoked!

So, there you have it.  A glimpse at what I do for 40 hours of my week.  I will gradually share what goes on the other 128 hours when I am not falling asleep at the computer.  Goodnight!

P.S.  Don't worry (in case you were), I will post some recent work from the past month sometime this week.

Advice to anyone who wants to take better photos of their kids...

 Disclaimer: I am not trying to be offensive or bash new, budding, photographers.  I think it is great when people latch on to a hobby that they truly enjoy and I fully encourage anyone who wants to try photography to take a class or two and see if it is for you.  :)

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Advice to anyone who wants to take better photos of their kids....hire a professional.  And, this is why:

You get a shiny new $800 dollar DSLR camera for Christmas because you think, "It is silly to pay someone so much money to take the kids pictures when I can just do it myself."

Off to the park you go with your family for your first photo session. 1000s of pictures and several hours/days later, you have about 15-20 pictures that are "okay" and you are frustrated because they still don't look like the pros.  You think, "maybe I need better editing software." 

You run out to Best Buy and grab the latest edition of Photoshop.  Photoshop is uploaded and you are excited to finally get the photos you want of you kiddos to show off to friends.  You even think, "hey, I should start taking pictures of other people's kids too and maybe advertise myself as a photographer!"  You upload your first photo to the program and see that you have no idea how to use the program or even how to crop the image.  Ugh.  Bummer.  Now, you spend several days/weeks playing around with photoshop until you figure out how to oversaturate/overexpose/overcontrast images and make them look "artsy."  There is still something missing though.  They still don't have the quality you want.  What's next?

You head off to the local camera shop and buy some new fancy, schmancy, lenses that you read about online.  Now it's time for another photo session with the kids and off to the park you go with your camera fully ready to go in Auto Mode.  1000s of pictures and hours/days later, you have about 15-20 images that are "okay."  Bummer.  Looks like you will have to spend more money and go to a class now to learn how to use your new camera, new editing software, and new lenses.  Christmas is right around the corner and you need photos to send out to family, so you run over to Picture People to get a few portraits (dropping about $200-400 on a few prints).

Total Investment: ~$2000-3000 for a handful of "okay" pictures and hours of stress. 

My advice: Hire a photographer if you want good portraits of your kids.  It will save you so much stress and money in the long run.  If you want a nice camera for reliability when taking everyday photos, I think that is a wonderful idea.  Just don't think that you will never need a professional photographer again.  Great pictures on high quality paper are something that will be cherished for years to come.  Take advantage of that when you can.  :)

{Corbin and Avery} Little Ones

Meet Corbin and Avery!  Corbin is celebrating his 1st Birthday and his mom asked me to help remember the milestone.  We couldn't forget about Big Sis, Avery, though!  She was loving being in front of the camera and gave me lots of great pose ideas!  :)  ♥Jackie

 

 

 

{Mitch and Rachel} Wedding

I have been behind on blogging!!  Thank you for waiting patiently for me to upload some teaser photos from Mitch and Rachel's Wabash wedding!  I met Mitch and Rachel through a mutual friend early this year.  Rachel asked me to photograph her wedding before even seeing my wedding work and I am VERY THANKFUL that she trusted me with such an important day in her life!! The wedding took place at the Honeywell Center in Wabash, Indiana, and they did a wonderful job at directing guests and managing the day so that Rachel could relax before walking down the aisle.  The Honeywell Center has many great photo ops and Rachel and Mitch were great to work with (and all smiles) as I had them walking all over the property in 85-degree weather.  I have been lucky to work with such CALM and RELAXED brides lately!!  Rachel was one of them.  :)  Please browse through some of the photos from Mitch and Rachel's day.  Enjoy!  ♥Jackie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{Paul and Leah} Wedding

Last month, you all met Paul and Leah when I posted photos from their e-session. After meeting them for the first time (and hearing a lot about them from a mutual friend), I knew their wedding day would be very special and I was VERY excited to be a part of it.  The ceremony was held under a beautiful pavilion with a fireplace behind them as they said their vows.  After the ceremony, guests were invited over to the reception, which was held on the same property.  Leah's aunt did an amazing job on the floral arrangements that decorated the entire site. When driving up to the wedding, there was a torrential downpour and rain in the forecast for the entire day...fortunately for Leah and Paul (and my nerves) the rain cleared up and the day was dry!  They are such an amazing couple and I am so glad I was able to spend the day with them!  Here are a few (probably a few too many!!) teaser photos from their special day.   ♥ Jackie