Hayrack Ride

As you can see, I'm still in the process of editing images from the past several months.

The shots from this hayrack ride are from October.

Yes, I said hayrack ride...not hay ride.

I had always heard it called a hayrack ride and then someone destroyed all my hopes and dreams by telling me that it was stupid to call it a hayrack ride because there is no rack. 

I then told them that maybe it was quite possible that they were stupid because they couldn't possibly be riding on only hay in order to justify calling it a "hay ride", as that would seem to be a very stationary ride.  If you were even able to call it a ride.  So there must be some sort of rack involved or at least a trailer but it doesn't seem quite right to call it a "haytrailer ride" so I'll stick with my Illinois term "hayrack" and if you have a problem with it you can see me about it personally at which point I would probably do something very mature like stick out my tongue, wrinkle my nose, stamp my foot and say, "Grrrr...call it what you want but it's a hayRACK ride!".

My oldest, Mercede, sporting braided pigtails...very appropriate hair wear for a hayrack ride, wouldn't you say?

Awww.  What a cute couple!  Actually, they're brother and sister, though they have been mistaken for a couple before.  I told them that it's not as bad as if they really were a couple and were mistaken for brother and sister...which has actually happened to my husband and I...several times. 

Weee!  Riding on the rack of hay.  The wee one is my Summer-wummer.  It's really just "Summer" but I like to throw in the "wummer"...it makes her sound as if she's still little.

What a cute little smile!

Hayrack riding at night.  Ooooo!  Fun...and cold.

This is what happens when you take teenagers on a hayrack ride and no, this was NOT posed. 

Sigh.  I love technology though sometimes it pains me so.

More catching up to come...

B

Airport

The new camera has arrived.

I love it.

It makes me giddy.

Like a schoolgirl.

The wonderful UPS man dropped it off sometime yesterday and it was waiting for me when I arrived home at 4:00.  I then had to turn around and drive to St. Louis (an hour and a half away) to pick up my mother-in-law from the airport.

  Acting like a child with a new toy I grabbed my AC adapter for the car and charged the battery on the way up.  Impatiently I watched for the wonderful green light that would tell me that the battery was at least full enough to let me play for a few precious minutes.

It turned green and I was happy.

I pushed buttons and turned dials.  I made adjustments and tweaked settings. 

These are the first images from my new friend...

Do you know what this is?  I'll tell you shortly.  Hint:  It's NOT three white circles.

These are lights from the highway that I threw out of focus (on purpose).

Aren't they pretty?

To quote an old movie..."They're so CREAMY!"

It's like modern art.

Ooooo.  I love the patterns.

The simplicity.

The colors!

And this?

This is an airplane.  For real.  I saw the plane coming in, aimed, threw it out of focus and shot.  Isn't it a such a cute little plane?

I thought so.

Less dot-shaped images to come.

B

Two quick things...

1.  Just because something appears to be trash, doesn't mean it necessarily is.

Case in point...this picture.  It's blurry and the highlights are all blown (this means "without detail" for those of you who don't speak photography).  But I changed it, and tweaked it, molded it and gave it some love, and now I love it. 

It makes me happy.  I'm so glad I didn't delete it.

2.  I want this house.  It's amazing!  It's beautiful!  I live on a hill so I could totally make this work...if I could just convince my husband...and inherit a fortune.

 I first saw it on the swissmiss site here.  She blogs about all things design related and has some amazingly cool and interesting things posted.  She basically keeps me in the coolness loop, if there were such a thing.

B

So we had a warmer day today...

and I was able to clean out my van without my fingers turning into red, frozen nubs.  That was nice.

However, it does not make up for the fact that we know it's going to continue to get colder.  And colder.

This is the reason I'm creating another "warmer days" post.

This is from our last camping trip of the year back in September...

I just love this face.  And she's such a somber little thing that I don't get to see it often.

Taylor getting her fishin' on.  Check out the seriousness on that face.  She means business.

Matt helps London put hot dog on his hook...

London fishes with said hot dog hook...

and Mariah got results from her hot dog hook goodness.

It's all about technique.

Summer caught a lizard.

He was a cute little thing and felt quite at home on her leopard print swimsuit.

Two things about this image:

1.  My cheapie little lens did pretty good at getting this little fella in focus even though he was so tiny.

2.  I'm hoping that Summer's hands look this way because she'd been submerged in the river for several hours and not because she's eating her own flesh.  Ew.

This shot just describes the weirdness that is Summer.  I mean Summer, my daughter, not Summer the season, though Summer the season can sometimes be weird too.

She really liked this lizard.  I guess enough to kiss him.  Poor little guy.  Wouldn't you be scared if you saw those giant lips headed in your direction?

B

I have wonderful news!

(no, I'm not pregnant)

Since I was able to secure a loan from these two wonderful people...

who happen to look a wee bit different from when these photos were taken...

I have been able to purchase this (much sooner than I thought)...

Oh.  It's so wonderful.

Instead of waiting until mid-March to wrap my hands around this sweet little black box of wonder, I will now be clicking the shutter by no later than the 21st (according to UPS).

Wheeeeeeee!

If you don't know anything about photography or cameras, the rest of this will sound like German (unless you speak German in which case it would sound like Cantonese)...

My camera can be set to an ISO of up to 1600 but starts to look grainy at ISO 400.

THIS camera can be set to an ISO of up to 12800 (that's twelve thousand eight hundred) and doesn't start to look grainy until ISO 6400.

Oh.  This makes me happy.  Low light, here I come!

It shoots HD video.

Oh.  More happiness.

It has amazing AF point settings that I'm sure are going to help me with faster focusing, though it may take me months to learn to use it effectively.

Those are just a few major differences in this bundle of joy and my current camera.  My current camera isn't bad, but I think I've outgrown it.  I think I'm ready for the pro equipment now. 

Ummm.  Yep.  I'm ready.

Be prepared for lots of test shots on here as I work my way through learning the new bells and whistles.

I think you'll be impressed.

Completely unrelated:

I inhaled soap up my nose this evening in the shower.  No.  Not on purpose.  Shampoo was dripping down my face and for some bizarre reason I decided to sniff at that precise moment which caused the shampoo to shoot into my nostril.  It burned. 

All I could think to do was puddle some shower water into my hands and sniff it up too so it would rinse out the shampoo.  It is not easy to make oneself sniff water up one's nose.  It's not natural.

 I think it helped a little but it still stings.

Any advice on how to handle this more effectively in the future, in case it should happen again?

B

I'm sick...

but I'm happy.  cough, hack, sneeze

I get to order something tomorrow that's so cool on the coolness meter that it blows the top right off.  If  a coolness meter had a top.  If there were such a thing as a coolness meter.

I will tell you all about it tomorrow.  Trust me.  You will get sick of hearing about it.

It's fresh sheets day at my house (I know some of you will be jealous but don't worry, fresh sheet day will be coming for you soon too), so I'm going to go curl up in bed with the only child that has remained awake.   Which is strangely enough, the youngest.  He'll be watching t.v. but I'll be reading my newest book...Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.  Maybe a book report soon?  We'll see...it's a pretty interesting book.  I would definitely suggest it...unless something freaky happens in the next 93 pages.

And just because I hate posting words with no pictures because...well, because...you know...the whole picture is worth a thousand words thing, I'm posting this edit of yours truly.  It's extremely intersting how one looks at oneself after spending almost two hours "fixing" ones face.  Society says this is how we're supposed to look.  I even shortened my nose for crying out loud.  That's just weird.  But cool at the same time.  But still weird.

shrug.

B

Passion...

passion flower, that is.

I took these back in July but only just looked at them last night.

I thought that 10 degree weather might be the appropriate time to share a little remembrancer of warmer days.

Aren't these the weirdest looking little flowers?  I love them.

They're just kind of wild and crazy with their wispy hair-like parts and their criss cross top.  They don't try to be all dignified and stoic like the roses...they're just happy and fun...and passionate.  I think they're proud not to be like the roses...look how tall and straight this one's sitting.  He's different and he's okay with it.  In fact, he embraces his craziness.

I know one thing...I would take a bouquet of passion flowers over a bouquet of roses any day of the week.

Which reminds me:  My husband sent me flowers a few days ago because he knows I've been a little stressed lately.  But he actually sent me "flowers"...the word "flowers".  He sent a text that said, "flowers".  Awwww.  Wasn't that sweet?  I thought so.  He sent me flowers and it only cost him $.20.  Not a bad way to make your wife happy.

Just don't abuse it.  Real flowers would be nice every once and again.

I don't know what kind of flower this is but I took it the same day.

I was more intrigued by this little guy than the flower.  I've never seen anything like him. 

I'm not sure what kind of disguise he thinks he's got going on there though.  He's orange.  And white.  Sitting on a purple flower.  He may as well be waving a giant flag that says, "Come eat me."

Maybe he tastes bad and therefore has no worries.  I don't know though...even if I tasted bad I'd still want to blend in a little just in case I stumbled across a bird with short term memory loss.  Wouldn't you?

Think warm, passion flower thoughts on this bitterly cold day.  It will help, I promise.

B

*Disclaimer before you think I've ACTUALLY lost my mind: I know flowers can't think or talk but if they could I'm sure this sweet little passion flower would agree with my comments above.

Shameless self-promotion...

I'm going to plug my blog on my own blog.  How's that for ingenuity?

Let me explain.  I don't advertise much...wait...I don't advertise at all.  As much as I would love to have "Priester Photography" proudly displayed in newspapers, magazines, the yellow pages, and on city buses and billboards all across Missouri I would hate to sell my firstborn child to pay for it.

She may like to get away from her psychotic mother with the camera, but I would hate it.  Who would do my dishes?  And my laundry?  And bring me things when I'm working?  And brush my hair and rub my back?

I digress...back to the point.  This blog is my advertiser...my advertisement...my way of advertising.  It's all I've got.  sniff, sniff. 

So I want you to help me advertise and I'll help you.  Help me help you.  HELP me HELP you! (name that movie)

Here's how:  Send your friends and family here after your session.  Tell them not to be scared.  They don't have to read any of my insanity.  All they have to do is make a comment on your post.  It can even be anonymous.   If 10 of your friends, family or street peddlers make a comment on your post then you get a free 5x7.  This should be relatively easy since I usually already have 4-5 faithful commenters anyway.

See?  You win.  I win.  Your commenter wins because they get to voice a thought on the www for all the world to see.  That's a big step for some people.  We'll get through it together.  They don't have to make intellectually stimulating comments (though I could use some) or even comment on the images themselves,  but just a comment so I know that they came, they saw, and they left.  Even you (the client) can leave a comment. 

Some examples of what you could comment on...

"Oooooo.  Pretty girls!"

"Awwww.  Mother/daughter lovliness."

"I like fire."

"I'm hungry."

"Don't forget your towel."

"Pickle Loaf"

See?  It doesn't have to be amazing...just words.  It's really not hard.  I can even do it.

If you're confused about HOW to make a comment click here for detailed instructions.

I saw this on the way home from the above shoot with the Kemp family.  I just snapped it from the car window...no worries, I was pulled over at the time (not by the cops...just of my own accord).  I don't drive and shoot.  It's dangerous.

And then I snapped this from my parking spot in our driveway.  Pretty colors.  Me likey.

All of the Kemp family proofs can be found here under "Kemp Family Too".

Happy posting my lovely, helpful blog readers!

B

My "A" game...

I brought it with me on this shoot.

Despite various obstacles we managed to have a great time.

Actually, I can't speak for the family, but I personally had a great time.

"Obstacles" you say?  What kind of "obstacles"?

It was 37 degrees.  And windy.

Now you know how I love the wind in my pictures...I was happy about it, but these guys weren't too fond of 37 degree wind blowing on their coat-less bodies.

My battery pack decided to quit working.  Of course.  The remedy?  I pulled my car into the field, ran an extension cord through the window and plugged it into the converter that the Kemp family so graciously allowed me to use. 

In theory this would have worked marvelously.  The problem?  The converter couldn't handle the watts/volts/power (I'm no electrician) that my lights put out.  The resulting remedy?  I put the shivering family where I needed them, stood on my stool, took a picture, and then jumped/tripped/fell off the stool, and ran back to the car to flip the switch so my light would work for the next shot....then repeat.

After a few shots we would all run back to our parked, running cars to warm up for the next set...then repeat again.

The important thing?  This system, as psychotic as it sounds and as funny as I'm sure it was to witness, worked.  We got some great shots of this super cute family despite the issues.

And these last three shots?

Well...you wouldn't understand.  It's a Jeep thing.

B

*The rest of their session from the warmth of their living room coming up next...

I've found a new therapy for what may be called my "winter blues"...

Update:  Come back after the 25th to see the rest of this happy little family's pictures.  For now you only get to see "(insert picture)" instead of the ACTUAL picture.  My apologies...but your interest is piqued now isn't it? 

I thought so.

I had a particularly unpleasant evening last night and an equally unpleasant morning.  I won't bore you with the details, because according to my photographer peers I talk too much about my "issues" and may cause you to doubt my photographic abilites.  Let me assure you...my photographic abilities are fully intact. 

While I was in my state of unpleasantness I ended up face to face...erm...face to machine with my favorite ATM voice.  I think I'll call her Moneypenny...how fitting is that!?  If you have no idea what I'm talking about then read this post to get caught up.

Moneypenny greeted me as I slid my card in the slot with this line, "Hallo!  Please enter your secret number." (Don't forget the British accent...that means everything in this experience).

My secret number?  I have a secret number?  That is so exciting!  I was so excited.  How much better does "secret number" sound than "pin".  I felt like James Bond's sidekick. 

It made me happy.  That's good therapy...results in less than 2 minutes.

The only flaw with this particular therapy plan is that I haven't the funds to support very frequent visits unless I just re-deposit the money I withdraw straightaway.

That could work.

On to the reason for this post...

The Guinn Family

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We had a good time with this shoot.  They wanted "something different".  I gave it to them.

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How cute is this shot?  I love his eyes.

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Here's where the shoot got interesting.  We decided to go outside despite the fact that it was only 35 degrees.  Can you say "brrrrr"?  We did.

I think we pulled it off.  They don't look like they're suffering too much in these shots.

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They actually look quite comfortable.

This was something I've been wanting to try for some time now.  While I think I'm lovin' this one...I'm just not quite sure about it yet.

But this one?  I know I'm diggin' this.  It almost looks 3D for some reason.  The t.v. looks fake.  It's not.  It is indeed a real t.v. sitting on a real stool in a field that just so happens to have my clients inside it's little bitty screen.  Okay, so scratch that last part...but it IS a real t.v.

You can see the rest of this sweet family's session here...if you have the password.

Coming up:  Another session in subzero temperatures...or close to subzero anyway...I need to move to Hawaii.

B