it's the simple things in life that make us happy ...

doing some major christmas shopping ...

so much cute baby stuff on etsy like this ... & this ... & this ... 

i know it's wrong but i totally want to read this ... 

making tacos for dinner ...

no work tomorrow & spending some time with the girls! 

is august too early for a christmas list ...?

So i know it's august but it's never to early to think about what you want for christmas right ...? Here are a few of the items on my etsy wish list.

Vintage Wood Coca Cola Beverage Crate - Roberta Grove

Welded Address File with Laser Cut Tabs - Smeurer8

3 Leaf Print ECO Table Runner in Natural - Joanne Patterson

Vintage Official Girl Scout Camera - Uncommon Vintage

Green 1st Cushion/Pillow - Karen Hilton Designs

ps. if someone wanted to buy these for me before christmas i really wouldn't complain!

Monique & James

August 5th ... the weather was perfect, & i was meeting up with Monique & James for my second outing into portrait photography. They wanted some images to take away from Germany with them, & also some engagement photos. Monique gave me some ideas & on talking with her we decided to go for an urban setting, a local town.

So i had previously scouted some suitable locations for taking their images & on the day in question i took a walk around with further ideas in mind & found some more places of interest.

The shoot itself was fun. Monique & James were easy to work with, just relaxing & doing their own thing allowing me to get on with taking photos. I understand that being asked to act "natural" whilst someone is taking photos of you can't be easy, but they managed to "ignore" me as best they could. As well as listening to any directions i gave them.

We were able to move amongst the locations no problem & as we got into the shoot i found myself relaxing more, giving directions were needed & of course experiementing & starting to find my own way within their genre. It's important that should i decide to go down the road of portrait photography i stand out from the crowd. As a whole i've never been a fan of this kind of portrait photography, often posed & unnatural it looks fake & isn't what i feel these kind of portraits should be about. As a photographer i need to be able to adapt to the subjects themselves but also bring out their personalities within my photos.

Overall i found the shoot to be successful, & the clients are happy with their images. This gives me something to work from, & new images for my portfolio.

Editing took place at stupid o'clock last night as i couldn't wait to see the photos. Editing to me is one of the most tedious parts of a photo shoot but it can also be the most interesting. You never really know which images are going to work the best until you view them on the computer screen, & some surprise you whilst others you thought were great really don't stand out so much. But it was fantastic to be able to see all these images, & i was incredible pleased with the results.

& now i have areas i know i need to work on & the idea that maybe this is something i could have a serious go at. & of course i had fun.

scouting locations

So yesterday i headed into Landstuhl, one of the local German towns looking for locations for my photo shoot next Tuesday. The client wanted an "urban" setting so Landstuhl made sense, & suits the individuals in question more then the hills i used last week. So naturally i set out with my camera looking for suitable places for backdrops when photographing the couple in question. & these are the images i ended up with, hinting at some of the locations i feel will work well, & in fitting with my photographic style.