Merry Christmas!

All Gus wants for Christmas is.....

 

.... his two front teeth.

 

 

Not really.

 

Whenever I say this he's quick to tell me that's NOT what he wants for Christmas.  Like, why would anyone ask for teeth for Christmas?  He wants a red Razor Flash Rider, of course!



senior pictures jumpstart

 

For October Break this year, we took the 4 oldest to Seattle, where I tried to work in a little photoshoot with my favorite senior and take advantage of some real fall scenery.

 

 

How this girl is about to turn 18 and leave my nest I'll never know.

 

Doesn't it go by in a blink?



What's in my bag

In response to questions about what camera, etc. I use......

I'm a Nikon girl. It's what I've always used & I'm too invested to change, even if I wanted to.  I shoot with a Nikon D700.  My favorite lens would have to be my Nikkor 70-200 2.8G, but obviously can't be used in every situation.  Same with my Nikkor 85 1.4. Such beautiful lenses, but when I need something wider I have to use the Nikkor 24-70 2.8G. The 24-70 has a great, practical range, but I don't love it.  It's not as pretty.  I also have a super-wide, a Nikkor 16-35 4G, which can really come in handy & is fun to play with.  And then a 50 1.4G, which I use quite a bit, usually for indoor & low-light stuff.

I never use an on-camera flash.  But I do use strobes in my garage/studio.  I have 2 Profoto & 1 Elinchrom strobes & use a big (5 ft?) Octabox, among other light modifiers.  My backdrops are usually seamless paper rolls.

And for post-processing, I use Lightroom & CS5 & a random assortment of actions.  I still have so much to learn!!!


And of course I can't do a post without a picture.....

 

Caroline couldn't decide which hair accessory to wear today.

 

 

This has been a daily activity as of late.

I've got me a girly-girl and I'm  loving it!



Halloween 2011

So I'm trying to get last year's Halloween posted before it's Halloween again!

I barely made it!

 

 

So here's what our   HALLOWEEN  2011

 

looked like......

 

 

the pumpkin carving

 

 

 

the elementary school Halloween parade.....

 

 

 

And then....

 

the big night.......

 

 

This was the closest I got to a group shot.

It's like herding cats.

 

 

So we had Granny Zane....

 

 

Who for some reason thinks old ladies tend to be combative or aggressive....

 

So I told him that old ladies are nice & sweet.

 

 

So here's his sweet little old lady version.....

Love that kid.

 

 

Then there was Gus as an oh-so-original Commander Rex.....

 

 

 

 

Then there was Max......

 

 

......do you see him?

 

He was a bush.

 

He and Noah were both bushes.

They had big plans to curl up in yards & scare people as they walked by.

Not sure how that went.

 

 

 

 

And then of course there was Chicken Baby, which I've already posted pictures of, but I'm going to post them again.

 

 

Fluffy cuteness.

 

 

Didn't even try to take the hood off.

 

 

LOVE that little Chicken Baby.

 

 

I didn't see much of the older kids that night.

Jake(red hat) & his buddies wore their morphsuits & think they're not too old to trick-or-treat.  And I don't even have a picture of Mars at all, but she didn't really dress up.

 

 

But of course Brian & I did!

 

We were Billy Idol.....

 

 

 

and Madonna.....

 

 

....as in the Lucky Star version of Madonna.

 

 

Oh why must I humiliate myself like this every year?

 

Really!

 

 

 

But we aren't the only ones at least...

 

Here's some pics from the annual Halloween Block Party......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good times as always!

 

 

And Chicken Baby had a great time!!

 

 

Hahaha!

 

School pictures 2012

Mauna Kea

also known as

 

The  Best. Beach. Ever.

 

 

 

We spent a few delightful days there.

 

 

 

molesting sea turtles

 

*DISCLAIMER - No sea turtles were actually molested by us on this trip.  We know that you are not allowed to touch them & thought we had made that clear to our children, and then Max couldn't help himself apparently & touched one's fin right when I took this picture.

 

 

ordering lava flows on the beach

 

 

 

 

Aaahhhhh.