City Skyline

Day 2

January 2

As a country girl I haven't really spent a lot of time admiring the city skyline. Today my boyfriend and I went to downtown Denver to do some shopping and our way back I asked where we could go to get a picture of the city for sunset and he took me to this place just a little way from downtown.

Here's the shot I got!

Enjoy!

New year brings new project: 365 project for 2011

Throughout the past few months I've been looking at pictures that I took from when I very first started in photography and I can't believe how much I've improved. Even over the last year I have seen a huge improvement in my photos and I've realized what the key ingredient is: shoot more! I knew I wanted to some sort of project for the new year; something that will push me in my photography to make me better. I was talking to my boyfriend and he suggested I do a 365 project (take a photo every day of the year, which he has also done for the past two years). I juggled the thought for a while and finally decided, 'I'm doing a 365 project for 2011!!!'

Instead of having a personal new years resolution, like eat out less, or go to the gym more (which I will hopefully do anyways!) I decided on these things:

1) I have to update my blog before I post pictures on Facebook. I think that a huge part of a picture is about what the artist sees in it so I want my fans to hear what I have to say as well as see it. Although sometimes I feel like no one ever reads my blog (if you do I'd love to hear from you! Please?!) I've decided that no matter what, the first place I will upload all my pictures to is my blog!

2) I have to take a picture every day for this whole year. I can't fall behind on my pictures and have to push myself every day. I want to try every day to do something outside of my comfort zone and push my boundaries with every photo.

2.5) Although I have to do a picture every day I have to keep in mind that school comes before anything so I will push myself to do a photo every day but I may not have them online right away, so fans, please be patient with me!

3) STOP PROCRASTINATING!

I am the queen of procrastination, Miss "I'll do it later" so I'm putting my foot down and putting an end to it! 2011 will not be a year of procrastination for me! End of discussion!

So fans, here is my first photo for my 365 project. Since today is the first day of the first month in the 2011 year, I decided to do 1/1/11.

Thanks to my boyfriend, Scott, for helping with the lights!

The Christmas Kiss

The day before Christmas Eve my brother was flying in late at night and I had decided to go see my boyfriend before making my way to the airport. We had decided to go around and look at all the Christmas lights in his area and I had this picture in mind for a while so I asked him if we could try it. It took a while to get the lighting right and the owners of the house probably thought we were creepers with our camera set up, but I absolutely LOVE this shot!

Enjoy!

Christmas with the family!

Since it's Christmas time I thought I better make a "Christmas special Blog"! So here it is! This year I spent Christmas with all my siblings (besides my sister Darcy who spent Christmas in rainy California) so I decided to do a photo for each member of my family on Christmas day, so here they are!!

My nephew Joe loves guns of all sorts. When he went to see Santa at Cabela's he told him that he wanted a machine gun, a shot gun, and a rifle. And of course his little sister Courtney wanted everything that he wanted..in Pink. My aunt, uncle, and cousins got him a Nerf machine gun for Christmas (which he loved of course). And my siblings and I got my dad a new shot gun and scope. So we had Joe and Grandpa pose for a picture with their guns. But of course the way Joe was holding his gun made it look like he was about to shoot my dad in the face!

Not only does Joe love guns but he is also into the Star Wars movies right now. So my brother Jeff and I were the great aunt and uncle that we are and decided to get him a light saber. These light sabers are battery powered so they light up. This light saber can also turn into two separate sabers so you can fight and they have sensors in them that make sounds when you hit them together. Joe was definitely not bored on Christmas day with all his toys.

And also you can see in this picture that we did NOT have a white Christmas =(

I woke up in the morning to see the ground covered in white but when I looked a little closer I realized it was just frost from the fog the night before. It was nice enough on our Colorado Christmas day for Joe and I to be outside without a coat on.

Joe also got a Darth Vadar helmet, which my brother, Mark, is fixing in the picture above and my brother Nick, is wearing in the picture below. It has buttons that make it talk like Darth Vadar and also has a voice changer to make you sound like him when you're wearing it.

My niece, Courtney, absolutely loves my sister-in-law, Alisha.

Miss Courtney snuggling with Aunt Alisha on the floor.

You can't have Christmas without naps! My sister-in-law, Stephanie, was taking a nap on the couch and Courtney was climbing in and out of her lap the whole time. When we told her, "leave your mommy alone so she can sleep", she'd still climb right up in her lap and squirm around.

My mom gave Courtney a 'granddaughter' bracelet so she was helping her put it on.

Boys will be boys... Joe had sweet talked my brother, Jeff, into playing light sabers with him outside. When Jeff saw me taking pictures he threatened me to a duel.

Bina Family Photos

Talk about a flash back! Rachel had messaged me on facebook a couple weeks ago asking to meet up to do family pictures while they were home for Christmas. During our sessions I was thinking the whole time about the first time I photographed this family. Rachel and Spencer got married back in 2006 and it was my very first wedding I shot! I had helped my sister photograph Rachel and Spencer as they were taking the first step to starting their family and now they have two adorable kids!

Natalie was so adorable when we were starting pictures. We decided to go to our church to get some pictures with the Christmas decorations and while Rachel and Spencer were in the back talking to our priest, Natalie walked up to me as I was getting my camera out of my bag and watched me as I attached my lens, flash, and put a memory card and when I asked her if she was ready for pictures she smiled and said "YES!" She sat down right where I asked her and was ready to pose!

Here are a few pictures of the family!

Baby Jack!

After pictures at the church we decided to go to the town park to get some of the kids outside. Although it was too cold to get picture of baby Jack outside, I did get some shots of Natalie playing on the playground!

Wild Basin hiking trip

Talk about a beautiful hike! On Saturday my boyfriend, his best friend, and I went on a photography/hiking trip to the Wild Basin/Calypso Cascades and boy was it beautiful!! The snow was falling straight down the whole time, it was a little cold but we were all bundled up so it was no problem, and the scenery was beautiful!!

It took us about 2.5- 3 hours to hike about 2.5 miles up to our destination while we stopped for breaks to catch our breath (and fix my socks to try and stop the blister on my heal from growing), take some pictures, and enjoy the scenery. When we got to our destination we stopped to sit on the side of the path to eat some lunch before starting our journey back home.

It took us about an hour to hike back to the car (most of which was downhill, luckily) because we only stopped once or twice to rest our legs before continuing on. By the time we got to the car I was dead! I had a blister on one of my heals the size of a quarter and another one started on the other heal about the size of a dime from my not so warn in snow boots. My hips hurt so bad that I could barely move! That night my boyfriend and I went to the light show at the Botanical Gardens in Denver and we were both so sore we looked like an 80 year old couple limping around!

Despite the pain it was all worth it because the view was beautiful!

Here are a few pictures from our adventure to Wild Basin.

Annual Christmas photos with Joe and Courtney

It's Christmas time already and I can't believe it!! The past four months have flown by since school has started and the last five years seem to have gone by just as fast!! I've been doing pictures every Christmas for my niece and nephew since Joe's first Christmas back in 2005! The other day I looked back at some of the pictures I did of Joe his first Christmas and I couldn't believe how much he's grown! It has been so awesome to watch these two grow up over the years and be able to record those years with pictures!!

Here are a few pictures from our Sunday night session! Enjoy!