Leading to the Blue

Day 7

January 7

As I was getting ready to leave to go back to school I made a quick stop at my dad's house on my way out of town and I stopped at the end of the road leading up to his house to get this shot. It was at my favorite time of day, just before sunset, when everything seems so calm and peaceful. It was the perfect way to end my month at home before starting up my second semester!

The World's Greatest

Day 6

January 6

Today I started my day off with two of the most amazing people in the world- my two best friends. I moved into town at the start of my seventh grade year and started spending every single day with the two of them. They were the two who were always there for me no matter what and I know will continue to be there for me whenever I need them. After graduation we all parted our separate ways; moving on to a new stage of our life but never forgetting the ones close to home. Every time we come home we try to spend time together but over the past month of Christmas break we've hardly seen each other with our busy schedules.

We decided to meet up this morning for brunch at Village Inn and catch up. We finished our food and ended up sitting for another hour talking about school, family, boys, and life, knowing all to well that by the time we were done we'd all have to go our separate ways again as we get ready to start another semester at school.

I was hoping to photograph the two of them before we left but Kellsie had to leave soon after brunch to go to the hospital to get ready for her surgery tomorrow (hope it all goes well Kellsie!) So I asked Nichole if she'd do some pictures for me real quick, so we went to the park for a quick session.

So here it is, my photo of the day! One of the best friends any girl could ask for!

Nichole

Peaceful Sundown

Day 5

January 5

Today my boyfriend and his best friend came to visit and venture around the windy city. We spent the morning fighting the cold and wind while they took pictures and oogled over the size of the wind towers. I got a few shots during the day and when I got home I was looking through my pictures, not terribly impressed with what I got during the day when I looked at the colors shining on the living room wall and looked out the window to see this...

It was a beautiful way to end the day!

Miss Courtney Ann is three!

It seems like every time I photograph these kiddos I start to feel older and older! My niece, Miss Courtney Ann, is turning three next weekend so my sister-in-law asked me to do pictures of her and of course I was delighted! Our session with Courtney for her two year pictures didn't go the greatest so I was hoping that her three year pictures would go a little better but I was being silly to expect an almost three year old to actually want to sit and take pictures.

It took us a while to get her to cooperate and hardly got any formal pictures of her smiling like her mom had hoped. But we got her to at least smile in some of them, even if she wasn't sitting on the block or in the balloons like we'd ask.

In order to get her to take some pictures we had to have big brother Joe show her how 'big kids' take pictures. Now that Courtney has her 'big girl bed', we told her she has to take pictures like a big girl (but that of course didn't work out).

Despite the troubles with getting her to smile and cooperate like we'd wanted, these are probably some of my favorite pictures of her!

So here are our pictures for my session with Joe, Courtney, and Steph.

Enjoy!

My boyfriend has started his own 365 project where he photographs a little Danbo (You can view his photos by going here). When he showed me the link to the little guy he was buying for his project I was so fascinated, saying "oh he's adorable", "he's so stinkin' cute!" etc., so guess who got their own Danbo for Christmas?! ME!

I may feature Danbo a few times throughout the year in my 365 but this is Danbo's first appearance in my photos for the year. I got Danbo out while the kids were at the house and they fell in love with him. So I asked Courtney to take a picture with him and of course she wouldn't smile but she was dressed in her pink and white tutu and her tiara and was looking absolutely adorable.

Although in this picture she's actually holding her hand to her mouth because she was shoving m&m's in her mouth (which ended up on Danbo along with some slober!) she totally has this Diva look and I couldn't resist posting it!

And of course my photo of the day!

Day 4

January 4

We had asked Courtney to sit on her block (pictured above) for her pictures but she refused to. Instead she wanted to sit on my mom's ottoman. So we moved the ottoman so she could sit on it, but instead of sitting on it she sat next to it. She was playing with the flaps on the bottom and looking under it and I asked her, "What? Are you going to try and climb under there?" Leave it to me to give the kids bad ideas! So Courtney shimmied her way under the ottoman. But at least she was smiling!

I love her expression in this picture; her bright blue eyes, laughing out loud, climbing out from under furniture, holding her magic wand, and a little pink bow to top it all off!

Adorable Ava

Ava is adorable! I'm just going to get that out of the way right off the bat!

Ava's grandmother had contacted me a few months ago saying she wanted pictures of her son Justin, as well as her soon-to-be-born granddaughter. Lets just say I've been waiting for this day since the moment I got the e-mail!

Ava was absolutely adorable. From the moment I got there she was trying to talk to me and tell me exactly how she felt! And by the end of the session she probably hated me because we had her naked half the session! In her eyes I'll probably be forever known as the lady who "made me suffer in the cold and had that big black flashing thing in my face the whole time!" But after looking at the pictures I didn't feel bad at all!

Talk about having too many pictures to choose from! Usually I can pick out my favorite pictures in a matter of minutes, but that sure wasn't the case tonight! I've spent the last three hours editing, and debating, and deciding, and then changing my mind again, then deciding, then changing my mind again. But now it's final! Here are some of my favorite pictures from my session with Ava today!

Enjoy!

The ENTIRE session, Ava was so interested in the light coming in the window. No matter how much we tried to get her attention, she would not look away from it. So finally we ended up having to move the dresser away from the wall so I could actually get pictures of her face instead of the back of her head!

So here is is, my photo of the day.

Day 3

January 3, 2011

Curious

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!