Monday, March 29, 2010

Project 365 - Day 88. Topsy Turvy | Delafield Children's Photography

The last several days have been very hectic.  I had big plans for today but things got turned upside down when I got called for an unexpected Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Session last night, then woke with a migraine that hasn't ceased and a puking daughter.

As I completed my checklist today, I passed this statue.   It's part of a little series at the entrance to a subdivision near me (a very Shi-Shi neighborhood) and I've always liked it.  It was one of the few thins that made me smile today so I stopped, turned around, and went back to take some quick pictures of it.   And I tried to remember to smile while things are topsy turvy...just like this guy.







Sunday, March 28, 2010

Project 365 - Day 87. Corey's Big Day Out | Delafield Children's Photography

By all accounts, Corey has lived a pretty glamorous life.  He's traveled around a lot of Europe, flown in a helicopter, taken a month sabbatical in England...not bad for a 7 year old.

Well today was another adventure for the books...a birthday party for a classmate at the movie theater.

Not impressed?  

Well...check out the "ride" they used to get there.   Yup...he's living the good life.  




RAFFLE WINNERS!

Thank you to all who participated in the Let's Color A Rainbow charity event and who purchased raffle tickets to help us raise money for Noah's Never Ending Rainbow!  

Here is a list of our raffle winners:

Our grand prize winner is LAURIE JENSON!  Laurie wins a full portrait session for her kids and ALL of the digital images!!  Congratulations, Laurie.  I look forward to photographing your kids again!

Cooking Class for 12 at Ceriello's  -  Sandy Wolf

Mini Portrait Session plus a custom Wall Noggin  -  Robbin Lyons

Antons's Spa Package  -  Robbin Lyons

Craig Bern's Certificates  -  Irene Valentine

Flabbergast Gift Certificate  -  Jenn Michaelis

Children's Play Gallery Certificate  -  Kim Theodorakis

WI Upside Down Gift Pack  -  Laura Johnson

Mazatlan Restaurant Gift Certificate  +  Family pass to Children's Play Gallery  -  Robbin Lyons


Mazatlan Restaurant Gift Certificate  +  Family pass to Children's Play Gallery  -  Kim Ireland

Coffee Gift Basket from Milwaukee Street Traders  -  Robbin Lyons

Candle from Avante Garden  -  Amy Marshall

2 Family Day Passes to Children's Play Gallery  -  Maria Pattersen

2 FamilyDay Passes to Children's Play Gallery  -  Kim Erwin


Thank you again to all who participated and CONGRATULATIONS to all of our winners!!!!

PS...If it seems like Robbin Lyons won a lot, that's because she purchased a TON!   Funny how that happens!  :-)   Thanks for your generosity, Robbin!



Saturday, March 27, 2010

Project 365 - Day 86. Lilly's Dream | Delafield Children's Photography

Today I was sorting through some school paperwork and came across this page that Lilly had done for MLK day in January.   It made me smile, feel proud, and think "Like mother, like daughter.   Always thinking about those babies!"

It says, "I wish that all of the babies have nice warm beds.  I want them to get food and water."

{love}

I told her I wanted a picture of her showing me the page and this is what she gave me.  ;-)

Friday, March 26, 2010

Project 365 - Day 85. Coffee Break | Delafield Children's Photography

I've had an especially busy couple of weeks.  Not as bad as my neighbor but bad by my terms.  So, when she asked if I was available for a coffee break this morning it sounded like a great idea!    We invited a couple other neighbors to drop by and one was able to join us.  It's rare for me to spend the kids nap time doing something for me.   Sitting and having a cup of coffee with a couple of friends/neighbors was such a treat!   We should really do that more often...

We even spotted dear out the back.  It's amazing what you can discover when you have the time to look.

Fix-It Friday #6

It's Fix-It Friday at {i heart faces} again...

I was debating participating this week since I have plenty of my own editing to be working on but when I saw this cutie and an easy way to "fix-it", I decided to go for it.  I worked in Photoshop CS2 and just spent a few minutes doing a couple of easy steps...



I started by correcting a couple of the imperfections on her face.  Then I adjusted the levels to get the white's white.  This was the biggest problem with this image.   A common issue when shooting in Auto since the camera assumes the colors should average "gray".  In a scene with a lot of white, the camera gets confused and just converts it to gray.   Anyway, boosting the levels mad a big difference.

I then flattened the layers and then ran the Coffeeshop Perfect Portrait Action.  I turned off a lot of the options but I did run the skin smoothing and the eye defining since the girls eyes looked quite dark and flat.  Also I added a slight warming to her face.

That was it.  I liked the crop so I left it.  Nothing too exciting but that's how I like my end results...real, but better.  :-)



Check out some other fixes by going to:




Thursday, March 25, 2010

Project 365 - Day 84. "I see?" | Delafield Children's Photography

My little Emma is at my FAVORITE age.   The first year is amazing, of course, but more about the physical changes.  The second year...well, every day I just feel like I know that little girl better.  I can define her personality.  I can predict her future.   LOVE IT!  

She's also starting to talk and everyday has at least one new word to try out.  One of the first things I realized she was saying was:  "I see?"   Why would she say that??  Well, it's the same thing all the other kids say as soon as I pull out my camera and aim it at them...."Can I see?"    Forget about posing for the photo, they just want the result!   So most of my photos of Emma these days are of her running towards me to check out the result or just pointing at me and pursing her face as she says "I see?   I see?"   And truly, who can resist a 17 month who is communicating!?    You bet you can see!

Tonight, while I was making dinner, Emma came up to me saying the familiar "I see?"   I hadn't heard this outside of picture time but it turned out she was holding this little stuffed animal.  It has a small digital photo frame loaded with pics of all the kiddos and she wanted it turned on.   I knew exactly what she'd said, exactly what she wanted, helped her right away and we both smiled widely at how nice it was that Mommy was finally catching on.   I'm not sure but I think she was proud of me.




PS...I really shoulda taken this picture during the day instead of in my poorly lit room at 10pm but I was too busy learning a new language today.  Forgive me.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Project 365 - Day 83. Chef Mom | Delafield Children's Photography

Ahhh....Wednesday.  Yes, the afternoon where my stomach churns, my mini-van speeds, and my kids eat junk food.   It's all for church school so I assume that God is protecting them from all that is horrible in this nugget, right?   Right???    To be fair, it's served with milk and apples so it could be worse but hey...you do what you gotta do.    And at least there's a smile on her face.

Happy Hectic Wednesday.




Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Project 365 - Day 82. HELLO, Spring. | Delafield Children's Photography

For all those people that say March is still winter....psshaww.  I am LOVING this spring weather.  Windows are open, kids are outside playing and Mommy is smiling....even after staying up way past her bedtime editing last night!!

Serious concentration going on here!

LOOK!  She can pump!!

Playing with my new lens.  Can't believe those leaves can survive a WI winter!

I think this guy had a rough winter.  Nothing a little nose job won't fix...


Happy Spring!

How We Colored A Rainbow...Fire Truck Pics!!!

I hope no one came to the Touch-A-Truck Portrait Charity event and thought they'd go home with a traditional snapshot of their little beauty standing in front of a big red truck.    Yes, there were little beauties and there was a big red truck, but these shots are anything but the traditional snapshots and I LOVE THEM!   This is quite possibly the most fun I've had as a photographer so far.

Want to see a video of the fun we had??



The truck has so many interesting parts to it and all make amazing backgrounds.  The kids were so enamored with the whole event and it was filled with carefree smiles and just pure joy.  Here are some of my favorites from the day...      {I made them small because there's a lot, but click on any of them to get a better view.}










































Well, what do you think?   Isn't it cool??

THANK YOU to all of the participants!  You helped us raise $880 for Noah's Never Ending Rainbow!!!!   An awesome day for an awesome cause!