Onomatopoeia...

Okay class! (clap, clap) Are you ready for today's lesson?

(clap, clap is an onomatopoeia)

I remember first hearing this word when I was in middle school. I like the way it sounds.

An onomatopoeia is a word that imitates natural sounds. Think "crash" or "splash". A word can be onomatopoeic and also onomatopoeical. Isn't it wonderfully strange that using a word as simple as "splat" is described using such a complex word as "onomatopoeia"?

I like strange things.

You obviously do too or you wouldn't be reading this blog.

Let's get to the point of this post...the real meat and potatoes...
Beautiful baby Clara. Sigh. (onomatopoeia)

How great of a name is Clara? I love it! I've already announced to Matt that if we ever have another little girl her name WILL be Maybe Clara Priester. Yes, Maybe.

I told you. I like strange.

I adore these outside shots. Her big, bright eyes just bounce the sun right back at you.

Look at those happy little cheeks! squish, squish (onomatopoeia)

She seems to be perched a little precariously on this chair but, no worries. Her mom was right next to her, at the ready.

It took us a while to figure out what she was looking at but we finally determined that she saw birds. tweet, tweet. (onomatopoeia)

I'll lay off the English lessons for a while. Don't rejoice too greatly though because I'm sure to come up with something equally as annoying to discuss that has no connection whatsoever with photography.

Perhaps math.

B

Here's baby Clara's slide show. The song is called "Daughter", which I thought was fitting. It's by Vienna Teng. You can buy it here.

If you'd like to see the images without music you can go here and select "Baby Clara".

I might be hyperbolizing...

Mercede was complaining that London was exaggerating too much in a story he was telling me.

I said, "He's fine. It's not an exaggeration. It's a hyperbole. He's trying to make his story sound more interesting."

Mercede said, "Fine. London! Stop hyperbolating!"

She gets her ability to invent new words from her mother. That's me.

If you don't know what a hyperbole is...look it up. It's in the dictionary. It's a good word to know, plus it's fun to say....hyperbole, hyperbole, hyperbole. (A hint: It's not pronounced "hyper bowl", but "hyper bowlee")

Though I laughed at Mercede's usage of the word, upon looking it up in the dictionary I found that she wasn't far off. Something could be hyperbolic, hyperbolical and you can even be hyperbolically doing something or hyperbolizing. Not hyperbolating, but pretty close for an eleven year old.

I wonder if you could be hyperbolically hyperbolizing? Sweet.

What, in the name of Bob Ross, has a hyperbole got to do with this beautiful baby's sneak peak pictures?
Not a cotton pickin' thing...except that I may use a hyperbole or two in describing this little chipmunk.

Do you see it? Huh? Huh? Do you see the bubble? I told her mother that I love it when I can get a shot of baby drool when they're this age. Well...I got baby drool AND a bubble mouth.

I'm dying from the cuteness. (hyperbole) I can't take it!

OH!

Her mom said, "I hope we can get a picture of her making her little surprised face because she just started doing it."

I cocked my camera and my hip to the side, raised my eyebrow and said, "Consider it done!"

Not really. But I did stand on a ladder precariously dangled over this little munchkin while holding my 500 lb. camera (hyperbole) for 20 minutes until she did it. That has to count for something, right?

Oh my. The feet! The smile! The squishy cheeks!

Another baby in a bowl. This baby fills it out just a teensy bit more than the other baby though.

The green thing she's chewing on? It's her toy monkey and she loves him. We had to use a monkey wrench to pry him from her little hands. (hyperbole)

Seriously. I typed "monkey wrench" without getting the joke I made until after I typed it.

This is what happens when you blog at 1:30 in the morning. I want to marry this picture. (hyperbole) I love everything about it.

You'll see in these last few sneak peaks that I'm apparently on a vintage kick this evening.

I'm not sure if it's the little Gerber Baby face or the flower on her head that did it, but these shots just screamed for the vintage look. (hyperbole) Sigh.

Oh. Painted pictures, how I love thee...hence the "Bob Ross" statement above. (Double click this one to see the painted effect better)

Ack! Texture AND a beautiful child? What was I thinking? It's too much cuteness.

Seriously. The world is not ready for this magnitude of preciousness. (you guessed it... yet another hyperbole)

I hope you enjoyed today's lesson in the figure of speech that is the hyperbole.

More tomorrow. That is, more pictures...but also more lessons. One can never have too much knowledge, particularly about words.

B

In honor of the beginning of flu season...

I'd like to present the following image of me, Mercede and Summer.
Several things...

It was taken in February of 2000...almost ten years ago. How is that possible?

Mercede is two years old and Summer was just one month old. I'm a strong, confident woman so I'll even tell you that I was 22 at the time. Do the math.

We all have the flu. I'm pretty sure I also had mastitis at the same time...if you don't know what that is, be glad. Be very glad. It involves a lot of foot stomping and teeth gritting.

We were living with my brother while we were in the process of building our house.

We're in a giant red rocker from the 1970's that was my dad's chair when I was little. We were using it most likely because we had no furniture of our own. Which is probably also the reason we had the room divider that's in the picture. That has been in my parent's house for as long as I can remember. I must have needed it for some reason and finagled it from mom when she was having a weak moment.

We still have that blanket...someone made it for us, I think. I'm aging so quickly that I'm already forgetting the little things.

Where did I get those fancy silk pajamas?

My forehead has NO wrinkles on it. Seriously. Zoom in. Not one wrinkle.

I must have heard mom walk in and take this picture. It's the only explanation for why my mouth isn't hanging open with drool hanging out.

To all mothers everywhere...Here's to hoping your feverish, sleepless nights on the couch (or giant chair) with your vomiting, feverish children be met with wellness in the morning as we all surge forward into the wonderful season of the flu.
B

I am out of control...yet again.

I could only narrow my favorites from this session down to 15 pictures. That's right! FIFTEEN are my FAVORITES!!

It might have something to do with the fact that I ended up with 80 proofs. Not 80 proof...as in the alcohol I drink (hiccup), but 80 proof(s)...as in this little man has 80 pictures of himself to choose from.

The lucky little doodle bug.
This one makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. When I let his grandma see this one in the camera she said, "Oh! It looks like he's still in the womb!". I had to agree. I think that's why it's my favorite in the top fifteen countdown.

I love all the open space in this one. It makes him seem secluded. Not that a secluded baby is a good thing. It's just nice for a change.

So soft. So wrinkly. So smooshie.

I love the dark shadows on this one but my favorite part is how prominent his little skull bone is. Keep in mind that this little fella is only 6 days old at this point and weighs in at a whopping 5 pounds. He has a right to have his little skull bone showing. And what a cute little skull bone it is!

Oh. A baby in a bowl. Wrapped in gauze. How interesting.

This one may not look right on your end, but viewed in a large size you can see the painterly look I applied to it. I figured that a painter sometimes paints bowls of fruit, so why not a painting of a bowl of baby? Or better yet, a bowl of gauzy baby!

I think it totally works.

How could any mother not love this picture? Answer me that. His little eyeballs looking over at her as if to say, "Woman. I am a baby. Not a powder puff for your cheeks." It's too cute.

Now THIS one has to be my number two favorite in the top 15 countdown. The wrinkled forehead, the poochie little belly and oh my, the look on his face. How perfectly adorable!

Daddy's hands. Awwww.

Daddy's guitar. Sweetness. This shot took some doing but we did it. It was worth it.

This may give you a better idea of his size. His dad's the football coach here in town so we had to give him something to show off to the team.

Seriously. It's too much. Who puts a baby in a football helmet? Pssh! Little Bit's mom and I, that's who. Obviously. I'm diggin it.

I think our little fan exerted a little too much team spirit. It wiped him out.

A different take on the ring shot that everyone is asking for lately. It's one of my favorites.

I can never get enough of cute, little, wrinkly baby feet. Or ears but that's another story for another time.
B

Here's the slideshow if you care to view it.

If you'd rather see the pictures without music you can view them here under "Mills New Arrival".

Before & After...

I've always loved to see before and after shots. It's one reason I love those corny makeover shows.

I don't get to watch them nearly enough.

Let's take a little before and after trip, shall we?

Before:
After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Wasn't that fun?

I thought you'd like that.

And a couple non-before and after shots because I can...

Oh my stinkin' good golly. If that's not the cutest little grin I ever did see...except for my own children...of course.

Awwwwww. Can't you just smell the powdery baby skin smell from looking at this?

I can.

It's hard to believe that we all used to be this flexible.

B

A lesson in figures of speech...

Metaphor: Her hair is liquid silk being poured from a bottle.

Simile: Her hair is blowing in the wind like prairie grasses on the plain.
Metaphor: Her eyes are vice grips holding your gaze.
Simile: Her faint smile is like a glimpse of the sun before it sets.
Simile: These pictures for me are like sunshine on a rainy day.
Metaphor: These pictures are the happiness of a sunny day.

See what happens when I start homeschooling?
B

Beauty...

and the Beast!

In my defense this was Brayden's idea. You can see he obviously posed for it willingly. I really can't be held accountable. I just did what he told me to do.

You all know I would NEVER be so juvenile and unrefined that if someone suggested during a senior session that it would be funny to pose like the hulk and then get photoshopped green that I would run with that idea. I, being the sophisticated woman that I am, would NEVER at that point set up the brick wall, suggest that the aforementioned teen rip his white t-shirt to shreds and then make him flex what little muscles he had so that I could create this monstrosity. And I would definitely NEVER take that same image into photoshop, paint on green skin, yellow teeth, and add ridiculously large muscles.

Never.

Here's the before image for comparison.

I'd also like to add that I asked Brayden if I could post these and he said, "Why not? You put the ones of me smiling on there didn't you?" He prefers to be seen as he does above rather than smiling. What did I tell you about teenage boys!?

You're learning. I know what I'm talking about.

Back to the beauty...

I'm working through these images of Bree.

I'm about 1/4 of the way through the session at this point.

I really like this one. It's a background I've used before but it looks so much better when it's thrown out of focus. I couldn't do that as easily before because of the lens I was working with. I can achieve it easily now with my NEW lens.

Yes. My new lens. It's so pretty. I wuv it.

A wot.

Oh. I don't know. Mom? Whatcha thinkin about this one?

Trying something different here. I like it. It's very Charlie's Angels meets multiple personalities.

Oh my. I should quit talking.

But what fun would that be?

I am totally crushing on this picture.

It's black and white. Yeah! It's grainy (on purpose). Yeah! It's natural light with my new lens. Double Yeah! And it's not posed. Yeah!

I just keep scrolling back up to look at it.

Don't you?

If not, you should. Appreciate fine art when you see it people!

B