Oh So Silly!

 Ah, I am such a summer person.  This pictures were taken last summer at White Sands.  It was at least 100 degrees out, a very SILLY time to go to White Sands. And, we didn't take nearly enough water per person, though we were thoroughly warned by the park management (silly of us).  We have some very silly sledding pictures, including some funny ones when my youngest fell off the sled and got a mouthful of sand, but this is the one I picked to submit to the I Heart Faces photo challenge this week.  It was silly of us to think that throwing my son off the white sand cliff would necessarily result in a soft as powdery snow landing ... though it's a funny story to him now...


Head over to I Heart Faces for some more great entries!

The truth about a photography session - {Albuquerque child photography}

So I have been thinking a lot about photography. About having a photography business. About what I like & what I don't.  I do like blogs - I like other photographer's blogs and I like having one myself.  (Except when I go a month without updating it.)  One thing I've noticed about photography blogs is that - I'll just speak for myself here - I think I tend to post some of my favorite images from a session, try to come up with a little text that's slightly different from the last post (it's not my strength!), and try to "let the images speak for themselves". 

And I think we (photographers) want to make it look easy.  We don't want it to look like we make mistakes that drive us crazy, so we don't talk about that kind of stuff on our blog posts.  (I'm sure some photographers do, but I haven't seen much of it.)  I want to change that this year and show more of what really happens.

I'll start with some images I took of my daughter today.  It's a good object lesson because taking good pictures of our own children is notoriously hard for photographers.  Nevertheless she is just about to turn 5 years old and it's time to do some serious photography before she grows up too much. :)  I had something really specific in mind (which I didn't get).  I also had some really specific lighting I wanted to use, and I wanted to use my kitchen because I love the new color and curtains.  I set up a bunch of lights and tinkered around with them for quite awhile.  This next image is the best one I got with first the lighting setup I used.  It's actually a nice smile but the lighting is not what I'd had in mind (although I do think it's kind of pretty and soft).



She is such a reader (or rather "reader" - she "reads" books and figures out what is happening from the pictures) that I wanted to include that.  It's really hard to get a 5 year old to look natural reading to themselves when they know you're trying to take a picture.  This was my favorite.  (The rest looked a bit awkward.)


I got plenty of strange looks like this one.  Plenty of images didn't make the final cut. :)


And some really sweet ones, like this one, that I love.  I turned the flashes off and went to all window light and a reflector, which was more what I wanted.


She is such a happy girl - I love it when I can get her laughing in front of the camera.  (Instead of a stiff smile with her head turned at a funny angle like usual.)




And this - I love.  Window light is perfect here, with a reflector to fill in the shadows.


She thinks it's really pretty to lie down for pictures.  Sometimes I agree. :)


And I wanted to use some fun props - she had a blast with the tea party toys.  I get these out for little girls a lot - sometimes it really works.  (Keeping it real - sometimes not.)


This picture is the closest I came to the original idea I was hoping for.  It's not what I had in mind.  It's really tricky to coach little people on how to look natural while kind of posing the way I want them to!  But I realized that she was at the end of her cooperation attention span, so we finished up and I treated her to a bunch of marshmallows.  There are tons of pictures that I love, and there's always another day to try again.

Albuquerque Senior Portraits

It's January! Usually the slowest month for photography anyway, I've been spending the month 1) spending time with family 2) painting my kitchen (almost done now) and 3) working on a lot of business strategy, streamlining things, lots of things like that.

I'm so excited about the first big project I've finished - it's my new website, http://seniors.etherdox.com.   I love high school senior portraits, and I decided I want to try to focus more energy on them. 



My new senior website has a ton of galleries, so you may see someone you know!  It also has senior session choices that make more sense :) (a problem I'd definitely been struggling with), and some hopefully helpful information too. 

I also have a new Model Program - I'm excited because it will start with a short model session with a theme (of my choice... but we'll discuss, don't worry. It will have to fit your personality!)


So please help me out & check out my new website.  If you're looking for a senior photographer, I'd love to work with you!

Some senior portraits from last year - {Albuquerque senior photography}

I did some senior portraits last fall that never made it to my blog... come to think of it, I did a lot of photography last fall that never made it to my blog!  Seniors especially I like to blog, because for one thing, senior sessions are some of my very favorites.  For another thing, some of the coolest locations get turned up for senior portraits.  If I blog them, then I'll remember some of these places and won't forget to go back!

This gorgeous senior came here from Gallup!  How flattering is that???  (Honesty constrains me to admit that she was also coming for the weekend to take the SAT.  But still!)  She wanted some studio portraits and then we went downtown for some great urban style.

If you know me at all, you know we love soccer in my family.  And I love it any time a senior has sports equipment to bring, or we can actually go do something athletic.  (Okay, I can't count standing around with a camera around my neck as "doing something athletic", can I?)


Great juggling - no lamps broken or flashes knocked down! :)  (It's the only time I'm happy to have "high balls" in the house.  Usually it's my son kicking it too hard... at the window...)


She had some great outfit choices.  I love to have something more formal too - what a beautiful dress!




One of my favorite fun urban locations - easy & not dangerous.  (A great combination, right?)




And I always love jumping pictures.  Gorgeous.  Thanks so much to this high achieving senior and her mom - I loved getting to meet you!

Next senior!  Some of the teenagers I know I would just love my son to grow up to be like.  This senior is one of them.  I don't anticipate my son being a football player, unless he radically changes his build in the next few years, but I do really hope he grows up with some of this senior's other amazing qualities.  Such a great guy.  (I can say this without just guessing because I am friends with his mom.)









I realllllllly wanted to make it to a football game.  It's really hard to get a press pass at Milne Stadium.  Football season is, naturally, my craziest time of year personally and professionally.  So the opportunity presented itself for me to get an actual press pass at the last game of the year.  So cold, I think that's the day it was snowing and blowing like crazy, and I had only like an hour between another appointment and one of my own kids' games, but I still thought there was barely enough time to make it.  I ended up only being able to be there for the first 15-20 minutes of the game, which was hugely disappointing to me, but I got a few things I was happy with.  And I did really love the press pass!


First he makes the tackle.


Then he helps the tackled guy back up.  That's why I want my son to grow up like him.




Marathon post! I was thinking of breaking this post up. But let's be realistic, I'm not really getting around to blogging like I want to. So here's another senior session.  This session - so much fun!  I loved it.  And this was kind of a marathon session to go with the marathon post, appropriate I guess.  We went to the botanic gardens, and something about the botanic gardens just makes sessions long.  I guess there are just too many great places for photography!






I always WANT to do photography in the farm house, but it's so dark in there.  Somehow it really worked this time - I think the sun was coming in the door and I had the big reflector or something.  How fun is this???


It wasn't quite fall yet but the colors were amazing.


I loved getting to know this amazing, fun, creative, energetic senior!  I ended up with twice as many proofs as I usually do because she was a.m.a.z.i.n.g with expression!  Great happy smiles, great serious faces, everything in between. Thanks so much!

Albuquerque engagement photography

New Year's resolutions. I almost always refuse to make them. This year - total reversal!  I'm setting goals all over the place.  One resolution - keep up with blogging. :)  Okay, I'm always better at this after the holidays are over, so an improvement in blogging won't be that shocking.  But how about all those other goals?  We're painting the kitchen red right now, for example, and this wasn't my goal but my husband just welded the most amazing panels for our back yard.  Just the tip of the iceberg.

I am so excited for my niece, who is getting married next year in July!  She and her fiance visited for the holidays and we thought it would be fun to do some engagement photography here.  They're from the Pacific Northwest, so Albuquerque is actually the opposite of their home.  Just think of how green and verdant their wedding photography will be next year. We had a lot of fun and miss having them around!















If you're interested in more information about wedding or engagement photography, you can call or email me and we can chat about it.

I love doing sessions at great places like this, but for lots of other session locations, see this blog page here.