I Heart Faces - Best Face of February 2010

I took this picture of my daughter Vivian while we were snowed in during "Snoklahoma 2010". The snow outside made the most beautiful light for photos in my dining room and Viv has finally started to let me take her picture again. She even let me dress her up and fix her hair and everything! So much fun! She's wearing my coat and headband, so maybe that helped a little. Anyway, I had to choose this photo because I think she looks stunning!

Go to http://www.iheartfaces.com/ to see more entries! It's people's choice week, so stop back back in a couple of days and vote for me please!

I Heart Faces - Anything But a Face!

This is a shot I took the other day during a book/website photoshoot and just loved the look of her hands and the reflection in the table. To see more photos without a face, go to http://www.iheartfaces.com/. Ironic isn't it?

I Heart Faces - Red

I just did these photos over the weekend at my parents' farm with my beautiful niece Addi. Thank goodness we did some by this red wall! I knew just which picture to enter this week! Have a great Valentine's Day!

To see more red photos, go to http://www.iheartfaces.com/.

I Heart Faces - Hearts!

It's Hearts week over on I Heart Faces, they're a little partial to the word Heart I think! Anyway, I knew immediately which photo I was going to use. This photo was taken this past fall during an engagement shoot. We were taking pictures in this beautiful flower garden and I saw a bunch of flowers in the shape of a heart so we used that for several of our shots. Here's one of my favorites!

To see more Hearts, go to http://www.iheartfaces.com/. Have a great week!

Sneak peek of baby Gabe

More to come as soon as I can get them all edited!

Crochet hat and diaper covers by Shannon Meredith.
Here's her website: http://www.shannonsknits.wordpress.com/
Here's her Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/shannontheknitster

Fixit Friday

It's been a while since I've participated in Fixit Friday, (everytime I type that, I write Fixity Friday) but since we've been snowed in for days, I had time! Here's the before picture:

And here's my edit: I took the yellow out of the picture using my color balance, did a seventies action and added a fun texture. I also rotated it and cropped it so it was a little more interesting!

Photoshoot with Presley

This is the third shoot I've had with this adorable little girl and she is always so happy and fun to work with! Here are some of my favorites:

I Heart Faces - Best January Pic

The theme for this week's I Heart Faces contest is the best face photo you've taken in January 2011. I looked back at my calendar to remind myself of what shoots I'd done and had several to choose from. Then I remembered baby Gabe! I had the privilege of going into the operating room with a good friend of mine and capturing the first few moments of her son's life! I had been back behind the curtain the whole time and figured that is where I would stay. I had no idea that the doctor would call me over when they were pulling him out. I didn't even have time to adjust my settings on my camera, I just ran around and saw him make his entrance into the world! Tear immediately came to my eyes and it was such a wonderful moment! I had to choose this photo as my I Heart Faces entry for this week!

To see more entries, go to http://www.iheartfaces.com/.

I Heart Faces - Innocent Wonder

I chose this photo of my daughter Vivian on a trip to the historic round barn at Arcadia. I caught her in a moment and have loved this photo ever since. To see what she's looking at, click here for the original blog post about our trip. It's a pretty amazing barn!

To see more innocent wonder, go to http://www.iheartfaces.com/.

Winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered, I loved all of your photos and my decision was a tough one! But first let's get to the winner of the Peach Orchard print. I did an online random number generator and it said that the winner was number 9 Christy! What's cool about this is that out of all of the people who entered, she is the only one who is from my hometown, where this picture was taken! She was also my highschool yearbook teacher! Congrats Christy, email me at mandystansberry@yahoo.com and send me your mailing address! Now for the winner of this week's contest:

I chose this photo from Angie because I kept going back to look at it! It's so beautiful and it reminds me of so many things in my own life! Great job Riz, you have won $15 off your next photoshoot with me. Thanks everyone for participating!

I Heart Faces - Smile!

This fall I did a lot of family photoshoots. I mean a lot! It was a lot of fun, there were some easy ones, some more challenging ones and each one was a different experience. This shoot was a long awaited one for sure. This picture is the daughter of a good friend of mine. My friend moved away about five years ago and is now back with her husband and two daughters. I am so lucky to get to spend time with her and her babies now and to take their pictures! Especially in moments like the one below. Pure joy!

To see more smile shots, go to http://www.iheartfaces.com/. And smile at a stranger today, even if they don't smile back, it'll make them wonder!

Photo Friday - Your Fave!

Okay guys, this week's contest is your absolute favorite photo that you took last year! I had to choose between this one and the Glendalough Cemetary Picture, but I think this one wins. It's from my hometown and that means something to me! To mix it up a little bit this week, there will be a prize! Everyone who enters will be in a drawing for an 8x10 matted print of this peach orchard photo. The winner will get $15 off their next photoshoot with me! So let me see your favorite photos from 2010! You have until Monday at noon and the winner will be announced Monday night!

Please Vote!

Thanks for all the nice comments on my photo of Vivian that I entered into the I Heart Faces best face contest for 2010. Now, please head to their website and vote for my photo, #34!  Thank you!
http://www.iheartfaces.com/2011/01/photo-contest-best-face-photo-of-2010-3/#more-3569

I Heart Faces - Best Face 2010

 Here's my entry, and deciding on which photo to use was very hard! I polled some of my Facebook friends and the overwhelming response was to use this photo! I love the excitement on her face and I love this girl. I hope you like it! To see more best face photos, head over to http://www.iheartfaces.com/.

Photo Friday - Bokeh

Okay guys, I want to see some major bokeh submissions! If you need to learn more about bokeh, take a look at my last post, it explains it there!

You have until Sunday night to post your own bokeh photo. Winners will be announced on Monday!

Bokeh Love

So this year for Christmas the hubs got me a new macro lens! I've always wanted one, but lenses are expensive and I figured that it wouldn't happen. I was wrong, what a good Matty! I've been playing around with it the past few days and here are some of the shots I've gotten. I had a bokeh theme going because of the contest on Pioneer Woman this week. Actually I took several of these the day before she announced her bokeh contest, so I was pretty excited!

In case you don't know what bokeh is, here a wikipedia explanation: In photography, bokeh (pronounced /boʊˈkeɪ/) is the blur,^[1][2] or the aesthetic quality of the blur,^[3][4][5] in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.

Get a good idea of what it is, because I'm having a bokeh photo contest on Friday, so get out there and start playing with bokeh before you put your Christmas tree away! Here are some places where I found great bokeh:

My mantel with my tree in the background.

You can put a figurine or anything you think is pretty in front of your tree and it creates great bokeh in the background.

 I set up an ornament on my dining room table and shot through it to catch some great bokeh.

 This is my centerpiece on my table, the beads created their own beautiful bokeh, no Christmas lights necessary!

 This is just a sparkly ornament in the corner with Christmas lights behind it.

 I had to use these adorable Rudoplh stuffed animals as my main focal point! I also gave it a vintagey color because I thought that it would look better that way!

 I saw these cookie cutters sitting on my counter and knew I had to use them for the bokeh experiment. I did however crop out our gross kitchen counter. White laminate with gold flecks just isn't something I wanted to highlight. Can anyone says, '70s?

 Gingerbread man bokeh!

So, get ready for the contest on Friday, I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

I Heart Faces - Self Portrait

I gotta tell you, I hate seeing myself in pictures. I almost didn't even do a self portrait, but I decided to go ahead and try it. I never like them. Ever. So, I decided to feature my favorite Scarlett coffee mug, since she's way better looking than me! So, focus on Scarlett please!

Go to http://www.iheartfaces.com/ to see lots of cool pictures of lots of talented photographers!

I Heart Faces - Scenic Black and White

This photo was taken last November in Dublin, Ireland. It was the week of Thanksgiving and the city had put up its Christmas lights. I just love how European cities decorate for Christmas! To see more scenic black and white photos, go to http://www.iheartfaces.com/.

I Heart Faces - Paper

The theme this week for I Heart Faces is paper. I looked through my folders for quite a while to find one! It wasn't easy folks! Finally I thought of cupcakes and knew where to go! This was such a fun couple and great wedding to shoot!

On another note, thanks for all the nice comments last week, having the winning photo was something I never thought would happen, it really made my week! Thanks to all!

To see more paper pics, go to http://www.iheart.faces/. Have a great Thanksgiving!

I Heart Faces - Silhouette

When I saw the theme for this week I knew which picture I would choose. Well actually it was between this one and another one, but this one one in the end. This wedding was at a really beautiful church with the tallest windows I've ever seen! Made a cool picture!

To see more silhouette pictures, go to http://www.iheartfaces.com/.