Some random stuff

I'm still trying to catch up on sessions, but I don't like to work on Sundays, so I'm trying to catch up on my family website instead. It's perpetually several months behind - right now I'm working on May... which is sad, because by the time I get around to my commentary I sometimes can't remember why I took the picture in the first place. But anyway here are some pictures I thought worth sharing.


I don't blog all my sessions, due to lack of time, mostly. This is a darling little girl - she always seems to be smiling. Her mom said she'd been having a hard time getting a picture of her smiling - she's full of smiles, but stops when Mom's face goes away & the camera comes out instead. That really rang a bell with me, because exactly the same thing happened with my babies too! There is definitely something to be said for having someone else holding the camera. :)

Some fireworks pictures from Independence day - we haven't been to the "big fireworks" for several years, but this year we thought all our children were past the fearful stage, so we gave it a try. We were at Balloon Fiesta park, and after standing in a long line for "jump houses", buying some very expensive treats, and running from a sudden rainstorm, we decided to watch the fireworks from the parking lot above the field. What a great idea that was! Not so close that the noise was too scary (although one of our kids watched from inside the car, just to be safe), and close enough to see really well. And we could make a quick getaway too! Naturally I'd forgotten a tripod, but the hood of the car was at a good angle - fireworks pictures are always so much fun.




These were taken up at the top of the mountain at the little visitor's center. I highly recommend going out on their deck to see the hummingbirds! They are really acclimatized to people being around, so we got to get surprisingly close.

My kids always hang around when I set up backdrops. They want me to take their picture because I bribe them with marshmallows - the point of the marshmallows is to ensure their cooperation when I actually WANT their pictures, not just any old time, but sometimes I get a picture I really like when I wasn't planning on it. Something about this one just appeals to me.

I've been selling off some backdrops that I don't use, and I discovered this one in a sack in the garage. I've never used it but I should! I need to design some cute sky-theme set or something.


This is a really nice waterfall we visited last month. So pretty!


Another case of kids hanging around, wanting their pictures taken for marshmallows.

And this too - our youngest was kindly given a bunch of dress-up outfits, and they were methodically trying on each one. This was such a hit that they both dressed up and needed a picture to record the combination.

A parenting thing

This Saturday we had one of those moments - I had just told my husband that I had to spend some time with photograpy this weekend, but first I was doing some weeding (have you seen my garden? That's another story...) Suddenly I hear my husband shouting "Get in the car, we're going to the hospital!" First my heart stopped, then I ran through the house to wash off my very muddy hands, and fortunately I grabbed his ipod on my way out the door. Meanwhile I'm shouting back "Why are we going to the hospital?" Turns out our little one had been helping wash the car, slipped on the wet garage floor, and hit her head so hard she passed out. By the time we got to the hospital for a CT scan she was behaving 100% normally (by which I mean arguing with her siblings and crying because she wanted a shot - she knows that if you get a shot at the doctor's office he will give you a lollipop). Fortunately she was fine, and the ipod entertained all 3 children while we spent a few hours in the ER. Now when I see her I'm just so grateful for her good health & happiness - what a blessing to have healthy children.

Vacation pictures

I feel like I'm spending all my time playing catch-up with pictures. These are from our vacation to Colorado - it was so much fun! I took a million pictures, knowing in my mind that I was going to have a hard time getting around to processing them all. I actually came pretty close while gone (though I didn't get to any customer pictures like I'd said I would).



I love this one of our youngest and my husband. He is such an amazing dad! I'm so grateful for him every day.

And the rest of these - they are NOT engagement pictures. This is my brother, who brought his super-nice and beautiful girlfriend with him to our tiny cabin stuffed full of family. They are not engaged! I don't know why you would think they are engaged from these pictures. Because they're not! (Unless there's something he's not telling me.... and I do tend to be the last one to know family news...) We all really liked her & were glad she could stand the crowd for a week. So happy to meet you! :)















The whole time I was taking these (and some other family pictures for other family members) I was wishing so much that I had scenery like this in Albuquerque. Nope. I like what we've got, but now I wish for a mountain meadow or lake. Within very short driving distance of course. Ha.

Some fun stuff

Last weekend we went to the Great Raft Race (is that what it's called?) down the Rio Grande. My husband took the kids down before I could get there, and they found a really good (and muddy) place to watch the boats float by. If I'd known how muddy it would be, I certainly would have dressed the kids differently, or at least brought a change of clothes. As it was, once you're muddy, you're muddy! You might as well play in the mud some more! It was fun all around.








We ate dinner in Old Town & since I had the camera (and another session down there) we did some playing on our way home. I love my handy-dandy models! :)

New camera

After 2 1/2 days of indecision, today I bought a new camera. I tend to be financially conservative so I surprised myself by upgrading my camera instead of just replacing it. I totally waffled because my 40D was a fantastic camera, I loved it. But having the 5D could be an advantage, and upgrading when the insurance is going to pay for part of it just seemed like too good of an opportunity to miss. So I've been playing with this beautiful new camera all evening. It's so fun! I don't have a great lens - I still need to replace my favorite one that was stolen, but even with what I have I'm really happy.


I love that she is still very happily wearing moon boots on April 30th - on the wrong feet no less.


What's amazing about this is that it was taken at ISO 2000. I think the 40d only went to ISO 1600. And the high ISO settings on the 40D had a lot of grain.


This is just a un-retouched crop of the previous picture. Amazing clarity for ISO 2000! And hardly any grain.


I put this in because my husband never appears in pictures (he has a problem with photographers :) ), but he was helping me test out the new camera. I think this is meant to be his new facebook profile picture.

A sad day for Pam

We are having a hard time here at our house - a.k.a. Etherdox Photography - our home was burglarized and my camera and laptop were taken. Matt has also had a bunch of tools stolen from the garage. It's upsetting to us - the burglars forced a window open and were in the house while I was being "parent helper" at the preschool yesterday. Very disturbing. That said it could have been a lot worse - my desktop computer is still here and that's where all the pictures are. We are grateful to be safe and that we weren't home & in any danger. We have already done some major fortifications to the windows and the rest of the house. Even though we were being careful just in general, obviously there was more that should have been done.

So this post is my tribute to my last set of good pictures from my beloved Canon 40D. I still have my backup camera, and my backup lenses, so I can still take pictures (another blessing). But I will miss that 40D very much - and the lens that was on it.

I saw some pictures like this that another photographer did for a bar mitzvah, and I loved the idea of using scriptures like this. The kids loved it too, they were perfect models (they even loved the flash going off in their faces).