When you've been married for 15 years, and you are more in love than ever: 

Favorite Photos -- Eau Claire, WI, Family Photographer

It's been MONTHS. Like... months and months and months since I have posted anything photography related. It's hard to tell that I even do it by looking around here (crickets chirping). 

But, I have been taking photos! 

Here are just a few of my favorites from the past months. Enjoy!

Family photos are really my favorite!

Here are a couple of slide shows 

from a recent retirement celebration and a two year old birthday party:

Truest of Friends

This is one of my truest friends, and I was honored to photograph her with her truest friends. Two sweet pups... makes me miss having dogs around the house. 

Shooting pets is super fun and often happens super fast! When I am shooting very active pets, I actually take my camera OFF OF MANUAL MODE *GASP!!*

I use the Aperture Mode. This way I can set my f-stop to whatever I want and the camera will compensate with the "best" exposure time. A lot of times, the image is quite a bit darker than I would like, but I'd rather get a darker shot than MISS the shot because my finger couldn't move the dial fast enough!

Life is Beautiful, and I'm Going to Photograph the Real You

In college, I first majored in Graphic Design. That's when I fell in love with Adobe Photoshop. I do SO love Photoshop. I love a good Photoshop Challenge. I've had friends ask to put nun habits on a friend in a photo, put someone's arm around a polar bear, make the shape of land masses on the earth into a guitar shape, put heads onto body builders or celebrity bodies, transform kids into their favorite characters, and added people to groups that weren't present for the photo. 

I have erased people and objects from backgrounds. I have turned frowns into smiles, I have open closed eyes. I can switch heads in my sleep.

I can work miracles, people!

But there are some Photoshop skills that I just don't do when I edit photos of people. 

When people ask me to whiten teeth, brighten eyes, smooth skin, erase wrinkles, and/or even trim their figures, I take a stance.

I do VERY minimal re-touching on my photos. I will re-touch temporary problems. For instance, acne. Ugh! I get it. The breakouts come on the day of the shoot, but they eventually go away. When a child comes for yearly photos and has a bruise or scratch on their face, consider it gone. 

But all the other things... it's life, and it's BEAUTIFUL. 

I don't smooth out newborn skin, because no baby comes out without red blotchy skin, and it's beautiful.

I don't brighten eyes, because eyes are bright anyway, and you are not a snake.

I'm not going to take away wrinkles, because growing older is a privilege that not everyone gets to experience. 

Self Portrait. Taken with a shutter remote : )

We are all different. We are all special. I feel like it's my job to capture your REAL, special moments. 

Everyone knows life is not perfect, and it confuses me so much that we still try to make it look perfect (whether in photos or on social media). 

So, let's smash that ideal. When you take photos, capture moments: cheesy smiles, cuddles, dips, silly outfits, fits, sad moments, happy moments... capture it all to remember what real life is like.

This was the saddest day of my life so far...

It's so hard to take a selfie with a DSLR.

Scariest night of my life so far...

Capture it all. Keep it real. Even if it's on your phone.

Tips for Wintry Photos -- When the Weather Isn't Cooperative

It's December 18th. DECEMBER 18th.

There is nothing but a mere dusting of snow on the ground. I still see grass.

Stupid.

I am certainly not complaining about the fact that we have had an extremely unusual fall. November brought some 50 degree days. It was amazing.

But, I'm over it. Though I very much dislike sub zero temperatures, I do very much like the snow. When I had kids, I started to love it!

I love December, because (usually) there is snow, but it's not quite as cold and January and February.

Well, image my frustration when I scheduled a photo session for December 13th, and minutes before the family shows up, it starts pouring rain. RAIN. In December.

What makes things worse, they were so excited for wintry/outdoorsy photos! They came with the cutest coordinating hats, scarves, and mittens. Ugh.

I channeled my inner Tim Gunn because, it was a "make it work" moment. 

I am so thankful for my screen porch. Since it was rain, that meant it was warm enough that we could at least be "outside" on my porch.

So, when you can't go outside, but still want to create a wintry feel:

Tip #1 - Add some twinkle.

Set your subject a few feet in front of a background lit with Christmas lights, and use a wide open (at least 2.0) aperture to create some beautiful sparkly bokeh.

Since my tree was up, we used that. The look could totally change if the ornaments were simply taken off or the tree used was white or a fun metallic. 

Tip #2 - Use a White blanket

Using a white (maybe even furry) blanket automatically adds a feeling of needing warmth in the cold, and obviously, the white makes us think about snow. Right?

Tip #3 - Use Other Wintry Looking Props

I like this silver frame. It's very playful.

And then, wrap everyone up in a blanket.

It *kind of* looks like I added a snow overlay outside, but I assure you, IT'S RAINDROPS.

Tip #4 - Add your own snow!

This tutorial from Teal Garcia photography is great AND includes the overlays as well.

Here are some free (commercial use even) Photoshop brushes from Joe Cavasos.

Woo HOO! SNOW!

Family Photos on the Family Farmstead -- Eau Claire, WI Family Photographer

Oh. My. Word.

Words can't express the joy of this photo shoot. 

Seriously.

The Last Days of Summer -- Eau Claire, WI, Family Photographer

This day was super beautiful. I was sweating in September. It just makes me think that we are going to get clobbered this winter...

Photography tip:

My favorite lens for taking single person portraits in a 50 mm opened up to f2.0. That's how you get a lovely blurred background (that blur is called bokeh). 

Soon to be Four -- Family Maternity Photographer, Eau Claire, WI

So this baby boy was already born, but I still need to show off this beautiful family. It's been a joy watching them grow!

Baby Kit -- Eau Claire, WI, Familly Portrait Photography

So pretty much a year ago, this little angel came into our lives. Katherine (Kit) is my niece. She's cute as a button as most babies are, but she's just a little extra cute, because she's related to me.

These photos are INCREDIBLY outdated. She's almost a year old now. But I knew I wanted this to be the first photo shoot I shared on this new blog!

Her mom, Karin, my sweet sister-in-law is a capsule wardrobe blogger. Check out her blog, Truncation. She is like minded... going for a minimalist lifestyle, loves the Lord, but isn't about perfection and only talking about the good things in life. I think you'll appreciate her authenticity.

So, without further ado: 

One more thing I love about Karin: she let's me try fun photo ideas with her baby. But, C'MON! I can't stand the cuteness!

That's my husband's brother. He's a chill guy. I've never seen him so visibly excited as the day Kit was born. It was priceless.