up north

We are out of here for a few days. We're heading up north to visit my uncle in Beulah. My grandparents owned a cottage there so my dad and uncles spent most summers in Beulah. So, of course, growing up I spent a lot of summers there, too. It holds lots of fond memories for me and I'm excited to share them with my children. My mission: to see if it is an urban legend or not that my grandparents' summer cottage was named JATOMBO (after the three boys - Jack, Bob and Tom). It sounds so exotic! I'll be back next week and hopefully have loads of photos to share. Here's just one of The Cherry Hut when I made a cherry pie run last summer on an overnight stay in Traverse City.

the 3Day expo

Last Saturday I had the fun of attending the local Breast Cancer 3Day Expo. Two of my teammates, my sisters Debbie and Sarah, were able to attend as well.

Debbie and I loaded up our kids into the car with us. This has truly been turning into a family experience for us.



We joined up with Sarah and made our way. The first thing we did upon arriving was to hit the bathroom.



Okay, so that's certainly not the most important thing but it is the first thing we did. Then we entered the main expo area and were immediately greeted by women in pink boas cheering us on. Just that was cool. We wrote encouraging letters to each other that will be delivered at camp and signed a large banner that will be on display in the opening and closing ceremonies. My kids wrote me letters and it took all that within me not to look over their shoulders and try to read them. I will just have to be surpised at camp.







Did I mention camp? That's right, we spend the nights in these tiny tents, two to a tent. Of course, everything is pink!



We learned about the pit stops, checked out training gear (I bought a second pair of shoes so I can start breaking them in) and had a few snacks. It was a good time. I feel more confident in my ability to complete the walk. The boy took a photo of all of us girls and he pointed out that he moved a bit so that we'd be on one side but you could see the balloons on the other side. Wonder where he gets it from?!?



And lastly, the trio of sisters that are walking: Deb, Sarah and myself.




I am getting closer to my support goal of $2200. I am currently at $775. A new round of thanks goes out to:

The Petrotta Family
The Calvert Family

I really need your help here. I would like to get the total support of $2200 collected by August 8th. If you are considering donating, please do so in this coming week. If I don't get the full donation, I am unable to walk. I've been so encouraged by the donations and the nice notes coming in with them. Please help me reach my goal. Any donation - $1 to $100 - is really needed. If you have already supported another 3Day Walker I would ask you to consider making a $3 donation to me. That's just $1 for each day of walking 20 miles. The button is just to your right. I am walking so that one day, we can cure breast cancer and no person will have to deal with such an unforgiving disease. I need your help. Thanks so much!

I need to borrow a Fuji Finepix!!!

As many of you know, I decided to challenge myself with Project 366 this year. I have been taking one photograph a day using my new Fuji point & shoot. Well, yesterday I took the photo of my daughter in her new tee and three hours later when I turned it back on to show my sisters, the lens got stuck. It won't close or focus.

I can't take any pictures!

I'm not sure if you fully understand how much this devastates me. The camera is still under warranty so I am shipping it to Fuji for repair but I do not want to stop Project 366. This is truly a strange request, but if anyone has a Fuji Finepix F50FD that I can borrow for the next month or so, I would truly appreciate it. Yes, I can use my Nikon, but I was really enjoying the challenge of being creative and thinking outside the box with my little Fuji Finepix and would feel like I was cheating somehow. How much would I appreciate it? Enough to offer you a complimentary Gallery R Session. That's $165 value, folks. Please email or call if you're willing to take me up on this crazy offer!



Now get out there and enjoy this beautiful summer we've been having. Is it just me, or is there an abundance of fireflies this year? I've really been enjoying seeing their show of glow. Totally takes me back to being a kid.

had to get it

Okay, I saw this tee shirt at Old Navy and had to get it. I thought all you photographer friends would appreciate this as much as I do.

No Pictures, Please

you know we're girls

because we had to get together to talk about stuff we could have easily phoned or emailed about. I'm talking about a great group of local photographers that got together last week. We all met at the I Shot Someone in Detroit workshop and we're trying to have monthly roundtable meetings to work on the business end of our photography businesses. We're pretty darn good at the photography part but since the business part is how we earn a living, we're trying to help and encourage each other out. It's a great feeling to be working with local photographers instead of feeling like we need to compete against each other.



This month we had, from left to right, Jackie of Jackie Blair Photography, me having a bad hair day, Jennifer of J. Urbin Photography, Amy of Lil Sweet Pea Photography, Jen of The Family Room and Sarah of Blink Photography. Anita of Anita J C Photography was there, too, but I forgot to take the photo before she left. Sorry! Looking forward to next month's roundtable. Oh, and boys are welcome, too.

living with photographs

Okay, I won't be able to do many more of these as I'm running out of rooms! I think I still have my living and dining rooms, the kids' bathroom and eventually the basement. So, enjoy it while it lasts. The kitchen was clean, the kids were at Grandma's so it was actually staying clean and I thought I better take advantage of it.

client faves

Let me take a moment to introduce you to another fabulous client and handsome young man that I have had the privilege of photographing for the last three years.



My name: Claudia

My occupation: Business Operations Coordinator (and mom)

I live in: Lake Orion

A little factoid about me that not many people know about: I had the opportunity to drive cars on the Waterford Hills Race Track, and absolutely loved it........could be a race car driver in my future?

Okay, so I'm picturing Claudia in a racing helmet, gloved hands on the wheel, zooming around the track with a huge smile on her face!

One of my fave foods: any kind of dip

If I didn’t have a child, I’d drive a: Saturn Sky

They are pretty to look at. Plus a convertible is always a bonus.

Since I do have a child, I drive a: Saturn Vue

And it's a cool orange. No soccer-mom-mini-van here.

If I had three hours to myself, with nothing that had to get done, I would: find a Garden Walk and take a tour

My favorite image from my session with Rebecca and what I feel about this image. I can't pick just one image or two. I've had such a tough time selecting photos from the sessions because I love them all. Rebecca manages to capture Derek's personality in every one of them. I even love the images where Derek and I are together (and I'm NOT photogenic). They really show the love that we share.

Claudia is too modest. She looks beautiful in these portraits but I do agree that the love is so obvious.





Can I just insert that I have always wanted a portrait like this of me and my son? It just makes my heart melt.



And a few more of a boy being a boy.

completely random

Okay, so these have absolutely nothing to do with photography.

A fun little video that just makes me giggle. How fun is Dancing Matt? Simple things truly bring people together. From Matt's site:

A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.

I love how, even once bunches of people join in, you can still see Matt with his distinctive moves. It's kinda like a Where's Waldo?




And check out this cool site. Wordle lets you make 'word clouds.' Not quite sure what the point is, but it's cool. I could see doing this with your wedding vows, your high school graduation speech, the first story your child wrote, etc. This is when I put in the last few posts from my blog. You'll need to click on it to see it larger.

something a little different

Usually I try and post a sneak peek for my clients on the blog. I select a few of my favorites and post with a snippet about the session. Just a little something to hold them over until their full gallery is ready. With the June Gallery R sessions, I put a big rush on the proofs and I didn't even get the chance to do sneak peeks. So, I thought I would take some time now and post a few images from the sessions. I followed the example of Marianne from Marmalade Photography and asked my clients to share their thoughts on the session and their portraits and added a few of my comments in italic. I'll start with Alissa. I've been photographing her family for seven years now and they are just a pleasure to work with. Here are E & A.



My name: Alissa

My occupation: Stay-at-home mom and student

I live in: Birmingham

Alissa is so modest. Her home is fabulously decorated and has such great style, if I may add. And I particularly enjoy seeing photographs from previous sessions when I visit!

A little factoid about me that not many people know about: I was accidentally stabbed in the side by a Bayonette gun held by a war veteran when I was 4 or 5 years old.

Ouch!

One of my fave foods: Mexican

One of my fave brands of kids clothes: Mini Boden

And they also have great photographs in their catalogs. So fun!


Where I like to shop for grown up clothes: Nordstrom's, Banana Republic


When I indulge, I indulge in: Dairy Queen Blizzards


My favorite images from my session with Rebecca and what I feel about this image. I love the two images of Ella and Ava standing in front of the tall grass. In one they are holding hands and dancing, and in the other they have their hands around each other's waist. They look so carefree and happy against the beautiful background setting.

Carefree is exactly the word that describes the first image.





And a few more of my favorites that I couldn't resist sharing.









See you soon!

upcoming class on Monday in Rochester

So, I'm officially closed for the summer but that doesn't mean I'm not working. I have a few outstanding orders at the lab and framer and will get those to you right away. I'm also scheduling a few high school senior rep sessions, (still looking for 2009 seniors so send them my way, please) and have a photography class this Monday through Rochester Community Education. It's not too late to register. You can call their office, (248) 726-3165 , and get registered today.



The class will focus on how to use natural light to its best advantage and also be a quick review of composition. All of that information could come in pretty handy for an upcoming contest, hint. hint. Hope to see you there!