A beautiful sight from my office window this evening...

after days of rain.

I actually wasn't sick of the rain...yet.

Though I'm storm-a-phobic I actully love rain.  Just rain...not stormy rain.

I like how it makes everything smell clean.

It makes everything seem fresh.

I like the sounds it makes...the little drip-drops, plinking and gurgling...particularly the gurgling.

There's just something romantic about rain, don't you think?

When I have to run errands on a rainy day it makes me feel like I'm on the set of a movie.

I like it.

Not to mention that we get skies like this after rain.

Beautiful!

Don't feel bad sun.

I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow old friend.

You have been missed.

B

*These weren't edited at all....straight out of the camera.  True colors.

I must apologize to the poor mother of these two girls...

I'm sorry!

I have no idea how you are going to choose from all of these pictures.

That may sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but when you have to toot, you have to toot.

Uh.

You know what I mean.

I'm so happy with how these are turning out.  Beautiful.

You already have 42 proofs,

and I'm only to the shots where they were leaning up against the white part of the barn.

We still have the shots of them laying in the grass...

the ones sitting in the field...

then the red background in the studio...

the grey background with the fan...

the black background...

and the white background.

I'm sorry!

I'm really trying hard to only keep/edit the ones that stand out...

but so many are standing out!

I can't help myself.

I was able to shoot two beautiful, cooperative girls on a beautifully sunny day.

What was I supposed to do?

I have no restraint.

It's the same reason you can't put chocolate in front of me unsupervised.

B

Gift Certificates...

Sorry to interupt the senior session but I have information I need to share.  Obviously it's important because it's after midnight and I felt the need to blog to you about this information instead of drifting off to slumberland to get my much needed beauty rest.

Someone requested a gift certificate.

A normal person would've opened up a word document and printed out a certificate with a little, fake, gold emblem in the corner (much like you got for your school awards...if you got any awards) and printed it on a piece of white paper.

I've never claimed to be normal (well, maybe once, but I was just trying it out to experience uttering those words).

Since I always have to take everything just one step further, I opened up Photoshop and created this:

I'm pretty proud of it.

Click it to see it bigger. 

I said "click it"!

Thank you.

I'm so proud that I also took pictures of it.

I embellished it a little with the fancy schmancy brooch thingy...I know, a very technical description.

I even made a matching envelope.

I realize that there's a difference in the colors on the first photo and the last two.  I'm not sure why but in reality it looks like the first image.  A little bit green and a little bit creamy.

Yummy vintage.

I'm not sure if I'm going to leave the brooch thingy or not.  It may be too much.  I may use something similar but smaller...but that still has a vintage look.

I've also created a newborn gift certificate for one of my clients that turned out super cute.

So there's the important information I had for you...I can create custom gift certificates for any occasion.

 Don't you feel enlightened?

B

!sdrawkcab siht yrt s'teL

I normally edit my pictures from the very beginning shots from the session to the end, working my way through methodically. 

I usually get a little impatient because my best shots are usually from the last of the session and I want to get to them as quickly as I can. 

I know not why the last shots are usually my favorites...maybe because my subjects are more comfortable with me by that point.  Nah!  It's probably because they're so sick of my annoying demands..."lay in that wet grass, lean on that rusty gate, put your leg behind your head"... that they just give in because they know that's the only way they'll ever get home.   

Whatever the reason, I've decided to mix it up this time.

Here's my theory:  If I rush through the "so-so" shots to get to the "wow" shots then I'm not giving the "so-so" shots the attention they need to make them "wow" shots if possible.  Some "so-so" shots are destined to remain so-so but some of them could, with the proper attention, love and care become "wow".  I can't make them "wow" if I'm rushing to get to the other "wows".  So...if I spend more time with the "so-sos" I'll get more "wows".

Is that confusing?

Let me simplify...I'm working backwards, from the end to the beginning in the hopes that I'll get the "wow" pictures finished so I can devote more time and attention to the first pictures (which have now become last) in order to create something more "wow" with them.

I read magazines the same way...last article to the first.  It's more fun.

Here's where we ended this session with these beautiful girls...twin girls (if you couldn't figure that out).

I'm already rockin' the texture on this first one.

Black and white just moves me...even on outdoor, fall pictures where you would think that color would be more dramatic.  Wrong.  Black and white is the drama queen.

Did a little rounded corner on this one to go with the whole seventies feel it was giving off. 

Groove-a-licious.

These are fall pictures but I'd like to point out the lovely little yellow flowers on the left.  They're still tryin' to hang on.

More texture and I love this color treatment...sort of sepia, sort of washed out.  So pretty.

 I hovered in my helicopter to get these shots.  It was a little tricky.

So my present concern is that if I'm doing the "wow" shots now, then when you see the "so-so" shots they're just going to be so-so even if I can turn them into "wow".  You'll be disappointed.

What a quandary.

B

Complaints...

I'm tired.

My head hurts.

My eyes are achy.

I feel nauseous...or hungry...or both.  I can't tell which.

I'm hot (temperature hot, not sexy hot, though I have been called hot before it was when I was in high school and a size 2).

And my shoulder hurts.

I probably have the swine flu.

Yep.

That's it.

Someone care for my children when I'm gone.

Give them more to eat than the three cheerios we gave this little guy.

Look how he's eating them so defensively.  Like it's the first thing he's eaten in days.  Not to mention the giant tear rolling down his cheek or the fact that we're making him eat off of a stool.  Poor thing.

This is my favorite from the whole session.  The giant tear (double click to see the tear) accompanied by the two little fingers holding up his last little morsel of food.  It's TOO much! 

Have I mentioned that I love this chair?

Okay.  So he's not deprived.  He's a happy, healthy, little monkey that's well taken care of and loved.

I'm sure my family will ensure this for my children also,  in the event of my passing from the swine flu...

...or PMS.

Whichever comes first.
B

Slideshow here:

Proofs here.

Slideshow song is "Little Sack of Sugar" by Elizabeth Mitchell.

Operating on three hours of sleep.

I'm not a person that requires a lot of sleep.

If someone asks me if I'm a morning person or a night person, I say, "both". 

I get creative at night.  It's when I wind down, get focused and feel the urge to create (which is unfortunate because I'm usually lacking at least two or three of the main ingredients I need for said creation and can't simply tricky-trot to the store at 1:00 AM to get it).

But I thoroughly enjoy my mornings too.  A new day is like a clean slate...something to look forward to.  I'm not someone who can sleep late.  I want to get the party started and that ain't gonna happen if I'm unconsciously drooling on my pillow.

Therein lies a problem.  As my mother would say, I'm trying to "burn the candle at both ends".  This does not typically work well.

Last night I couldn't sleep for reasons I won't bore you with.  Suffice it to say that I was angry...angry at who or what is irrelevant.  So I took my anger out on my laundry and also read a great book about a woman with an overactive imagination.

The laundry and the book was finished by 3:30 AM. and so was I.

I would just like to point out that operating on little or no sleep causes weird things to happen to my body.  I feel slightly drugged...light-headed.  Things are occasionally blurry, but oddly enough it also creates an interesting feeling of contentment.  I really can't be bothered with any real issues or concerns simply because I'm too tired to react to them.  Everything is in slow motion.  I like it.

I've been working this evening in this state of mental exhaustion on a shoot I did for a long-time friend of mine.

We've known each other since we were about ten years old.  Ten?  Is that right? 

Everything's fuzzy.

I've actually known her husband for even longer than that, but we can't stand each other.  We're actually worse than a brother and sister.  Seriously.  Ask our spouses.  They've witnessed the incessant argueing.  It's not a pretty sight.

                                              

Here's their oldest munchkin.

I feel this way some days too...particularly right at this moment.

Baby munchkin.

How cute!  That's a cheerio he's holding with his finger. 

Peek-a-boo!  I love my green chair...for so many reasons.

Love this!  How cute is that little sideways look?  Stinker.

So I'm about half way through with their session.  I hope to finish it up tomorrow and I've also got the promised sneak peeks of the twin senior session I did a few dazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Zzzzzzzz
B

The wedding is...

completed...

accomplished...

achieved...

culminated...

exhausted...

concluded...

finalized...

exterminated...

executed...

DONE.

The wonderful dance,

followed by a wonderful kiss.

Aww.  The father/daughter dance.

This is one of my absolute favorites from this wedding.  I don't know why.  I just think it tells you everything you need to know without showing one single facial expression (or face for that matter).

Bride and brother-in-law.  Sweet!

How cute is this shot?  Really.

And I'm not entirely sure but I think I just did a senior session of this subject's twin sisters which you will be seeing sneak peeks of shortly.

I'm not sure what was going on here at the time that I shot these but does it not look like they are totally up to something?  I thought so.  That's why I started shooting.

That face just says "guilty" to me.  Guilty of what, I'm not sure.  Just guilty of something.  I thought it was a cute moment.

Thank you for taking this little trip with me over the last few days as I worked my way through this beautiful wedding.  It's been fun.  I'm glad you were there for me.  It's a good feeling to know someone's got your back.

I'll be loading all 302 images here under Moss/Cureton Wedding.  Feel free to check them out but be patient as they may still be loading as you're reading this.

Last but not least...

Here's the wedding slideshow.  My goal in creating it is to make you cry.  I'm mean that way. 

Won't you please let me know if I succeeded?  It doesn't have to be the snorting, hiccupping, waterworks kind of crying...I'd be happy if you had the little prickling behind your eyes that makes you blink fast or even if you just FELT like crying.

I'm easy to please, really.

For best viewing and to ensure optimal tear jerk reactions please watch it in HQ (high quality) mode...if you are able.  Also, if you right click it and then select "Watch on youtube" you can watch it full screen.

I'm just sayin'.  It's probably worth a full screen view. 

For those of you who are interested, here are the songs I chose:

"Dream" by Priscilla Ahn

"Today" by Joshua Radin

"Times Like These" by Jack Johnson

I hope you likey.

B

I know you love my wonderfully descriptive explanations that I give for each image I post...

but I don't have time for that today.

I have a wedding to finish editing and then a family session and then a senior session with twin girls, so you get the bare minimum today.

Please forgive me.
The beautiful bride.

A totally cool, seventies-looking bride and groom holding hands. Groovy.

Close-up!

I love it outside.

Walking to their vandalized car.

Rings....

Rings...

Rings.

Hello?

Hello?

No one's there.

I'm SORRY! I just type it as I think it. No backspacing.

I'm wasting TIME here! Moving on...

These are pretty self explanatory...

I'm sorry if you hate me for posting this dear, lovely maid-of-honor but it's just TOO cute! It's like you were thinking, "Oh sweet henry! I can't believe I just got through that...I need a drink!"

and the bride looked on in approval.

How cute is this? Sweet.

Remember in an earlier post I talked about how you needed to watch out for "Mr. I-have-a-camera-phone-and-ain't-afraid-to-use-it" because he was trying to steal my ideas?

This is him.

This is the idea he claims to have been his. Even if it WAS his idea (which I'm not saying it was)...he wouldn't have been able to execute it as I well as I have.

I will give credit where credit is due though...he does some pretty good work for using just a camera phone. wink, wink.

Love this.

Poor Aubree didn't even have a chance.

This shot is so NOT about the groom holding the garter and the bride holding her hand to her face suggesting her embarrassment. It's all about what's going on in the background.

I just keep looking at it and smiling.

This is the last of this wedding's sneak peeks. I'm hoping...I say HOPING...to finish up today.

I'll keep you posted.

B