GG's Garden: Musings of an Atlanta Photography Lover

New Blog Site!

2010-07-16T20:51:00.003-04:00

We've got a new blog! Please redirect to:

www.galliphoto.wordpress.com

And don't forget to check out our new website (www.galliphotography.com).

Thanks!
GinaRose

Little Miss Olivia

2010-05-23T18:17:00.004-04:00

When I start explaining how I know this little cutie pie, I end up sounding like that girl in Ferris Bueller's Day Off...she's one of my best friend's older sister's daughter. Shew!

Regardless of how I know her, she is an absolute dream. Those eyes...that skin!! Even though she absolutely REFUSED to smile during our session, I think we still got some pretty great shots.

The last one is my favorite :)

Three's Company

2010-02-28T10:53:00.003-05:00

I had so much fun with this family! We ended up at a local garden to do our session, which turned out to be more fun for 2 excited kids than I thought.

We were racing the sunset which I was worried about to begin with, but we ended up with some great shots as a result...

Happy New Year!

2010-02-13T14:39:00.003-05:00

I know, I'm a slacker. I could give you all of the "I got caught up in the holidays...blah blah BLAH", but who likes excuses?

Anyway, I've got a bit of catching up to do, and nothing gets me quite in the mood like my b.e.a.utiful niece and nephew. Enough with the chatter...onto the pictures

They grow so fast!

2009-11-18T19:52:00.004-05:00

Baby E is already 9 months old! We headed outside for his 9 month shoot, but it was pretty chilly, so we ended up back at the Naab home. Regardless, we had fun!

This kiddo is one seriously happy camper

Beautiful mom, beautiful babies

Maternity Shoot

2009-11-05T18:58:00.003-05:00

My first maternity shoot! We had a blast with Arie, her amazing sister whom I ADORE, and her fab aunt in for a visit. Arie is gorgeous, so it certainly didn't make my job difficult. I can't wait to meet her new baby....I'm sure he'll be adorable!

I love this one :)

I love this one too!

This baby's got one hot mamma!

We had such a great time - I can't wait to met that little guy!

Happy (late) Halloween!!!

2009-11-02T19:47:00.004-05:00

So it's been a little while...thing have been busy around here for sure, but I'm certainly glad to be back!

I have a few sessions to catch up on posting, but we're going to kick it off with a session I did over the weekend with some neighborhood kiddos in their Halloween gear. Really, they could not have been cuter!

When I walked up and saw these baby blues I knew it was going to be fun, even with all of the rain and yucky weather!

And then this snuggly dino looked up at me and I just melted

By far my favorite shot of the day - the dino is "reor"ing and the kangaroo is giggling...how adorable are these two?!

It may be a little late, but Happy Halloween!!

His favorite activity

2009-09-01T12:44:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago, my SIL here in Atlanta asked me to come up and take some pictures of my nephew doing what he loves most in this world - playing trains.

Here are a few shots from our mini session

Sweet smile! He loves the dreaded "cheese" smile, so it's always a fun challenge to try to get a real one out of him :)
Lining his trains up for THEIR portrait...

Thanks Blake - it was fun!!

Baby Noah

2009-08-30T22:59:00.004-04:00

This morning I had a shoot with sweet baby Noah - and oh my gracious was he a total doll! He was all smiles from the moment I walked through the door, and fortunately for us those grins never did quit.

Wouldn't it be fabulous to wake up to this face every morning??

Playtime with mommy

And some snuggle time with dad

Ohh he was a talker! (a kiddo after my own heart!)

So much fun! I'm excited to see this family again for his 9 month session - I can't wait to see how much he grows!

Family Fun

2009-08-14T21:35:00.006-04:00

Last weekend we made yet another trip up to Knoxville to do a photo shoot with a new family. They were a referral from a previous client, and that client kept saying how well we would get along. While I totally trust Wendy, I had no idea just how right she was!

Of course, it helped that the two kiddos looked like this...

And this...

And they were snuggly

(super snuggly)
And sassy
But most of all, they were FUN
I have never laughed so hard at a session - we had way too much fun! I can't wait to see what they think!

Thanks Forester Family!

Little Dancer

2009-08-07T13:53:00.004-04:00

My niece E absolutely loves to dance. My SIL has sent me countless video text of her shaking her little behind to some silly song or another, and since I used to be a dancer as well, those are always my favorite. Before her baby brother's 6 month shoot, we thought it would be fun to play dress up and take some fun pictures.

E was determined to do everything herself getting ready

As you can see, I made it very clear that there was absolutely NO dancing allowed ;)

Picking blackberries

Sweet E - this is one of my favorite shots!

Thanks for playing E - you're ALWAYS a kick!!

Beautiful Family

2009-07-27T15:55:00.005-04:00

Really, I have a beautiful family. And, even better, they are always drumming up new business for me, which is AMAZING. My sister-in-law has been my biggest advocate, and for that I figure it's the least I can do to do family shots for them as often as possible.

It definitely doesn't hurt that they are a gorgeous family to boot ;)

My sweet nephew B is now 6 months old, so we hopped out to the park for a 6 month shoot, plus some family shots. Check it out...

Big sister E lovin on her mama

She's such a great big sis! No one can make B laugh like she can

He makes me melt! What a stud muffin :) haha

I've been editing wedding photos for 3 solid days now, and I can finally say I'm almost done! I'm going to try to have them posted later this week, so keep an eye out!

Better late than never....right?

2009-07-22T21:33:00.004-04:00

When it came time for round two with this gorgeous family, I could not have been more excited. Evan is already 6 months old - sitting up on his own and becoming such a big boy! I'm a little late getting these posted, but better late than never, right? :)

Oh, hello eyelashes!

Big sister Isabella brought along some bubbles for entertainment, and she obviously had a total blast with them
Getting some always needed mama love

Such a sweet family

I know mom's been checking for the sneak peek of these, so this post if for her :) The disk is ready to be dropped in the mail tomorrow!

Now, if I could just finish those wedding shots.....

Sweet Little T

2009-06-21T22:14:00.002-04:00

Last week I had the privilege of doing a shoot with Little T and his absolutely gorgeous family. I could just eat him with a spoon he's so precious! I want one just like him :)

He insisted on pushing Mom & Dad by himself. Such a big man!

Giving his parents a big squeeze!

Little T, you are absolutely precious. Thanks for coming out to the park for some fun!

Next time...wedding pictures! We shot an intimate wedding at the Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church this weekend, and I can't wait to share!

My gorgeous nephew

2009-05-28T19:50:00.005-04:00

When we were up visiting the family last month I got a chance to take some pictures of my adorable nephew to document him hitting the big 3 month mark. He is so absolutely snuggly and sweet - I just can't keep my hands off!

Enjoying some sister love - she was singing him a song. What a great big sister!

Then it's time for mama love
How gorgeous are these two??

And a beautiful family! They've got mom's blue eyes...
Just a little shopping trip :)
Look at that face!! How could you not be in love?!

We've got another shoot planned for a few weeks from now, and we're going to try to get the whole family in this time. (My brother-in-law is a master at avoiding photo shoots!) I'm really pumped to get some more fun family shots. I think we're going to get some of E in her ballerina tutu as well...how whimsical and cute is that?! Thank heaven for little girls, right? ;)

Sweet Sisters

2009-05-26T19:44:00.005-04:00

Oh my goodness.

These two little angels were absolutely to DIE for. We had so much fun on our Sunday morning shoot! We weren't sure if the weather was going to cooperate, but it turned out to be fabulous. I got them edited and sent out to their super cool parents in record time because I couldn't take my eyes off of these two!

Look at all this personality!

Sweet sister love...

Seriously, these two were a total kick. I know it helps that their parents love the Steelers too...nothing like seeing a Terrible Towel in a 3 year old's room! :)

Thanks little beauties! Hopefully I can come up and visit ya'll again soon!

Sharon & Cyril

2009-05-24T21:37:00.003-04:00

We headed on up to Knoxville this weekend for our adorable niece's birthday, and while we were there we (well, Josh helped with this one!) had 2 awesome photo shoots!

The first was Saturday morning engagement shots with Sharon & Cyril. I love how you can tell how in love they are!

These two were lots of fun to shoot. I can't wait to do their wedding in a month!

I did another shoot this morning with two absolutely precious little girls, but we'll save that post for tomorrow :)

Baby Wright

2009-05-21T22:37:00.004-04:00

Our friends Paul and Kristen (and they're adorable daughter G) welcomed the newest member to their family almost two weeks ago. K was super sweet, going back and forth between totally passed out and being by far the most physically active and wiggly newborn I've ever seen. He's going to be fun! :)

Here are just a few shots from our session...

Welcome to the world baby K! Can't wait to learn more about you :)

Hello again!

2009-04-26T19:56:00.006-04:00

I promise that I've THOUGHT about writing a blog for a few weeks now, I just haven't gotten around to it! Work has been busy and stressful, and usually when I get home at night I'm ready to crash.

However. I did go up to Knoxville to do a shoot for a friend of my sister-in-law's, and it turned out to be just what I needed. I mean, who could be unhappy after spending a few hours with these two?!?

Sweet Evan, 3 months old. He was the star of our photo shoot :)

Mama said he was super flirtatious that day, and I ate up every second of it!

His GORGEOUS sister Isabella. It took about .5 seconds for her to warm up to me, and from then on we had a great time

Giving her sleeping baby brother a kiss

Sleeping Evan

We wore this little guy out for sure

Thank you again Marleen for allowing me to come up and spend time with your absolutely beautiful family! I can't wait to see you guys again in a few months :)

More to come soon...for REAL this time! :)

Spring it on!

2009-03-20T20:14:00.005-04:00

I know...lamest blog post title ever. Sorry :)

J and I were at the grocery store the other day when we spotted these ridiculously gorgeous tulips. He bought me 2 dozen of them (because he's amazing) and I snapped some shots the other day. Love them! I think I'm actually going to try to plant some in the yard this year so that I can take pictures any time I feel like it!

This post brought to you by the letter J (aka, my stellar husband)

2009-03-08T21:27:00.004-04:00

After all of my moaning and groaning about nothing to photograph, my super cool husband (J) brought me home a bouquet of flowers so that I could photograph until my little heart was content.

200 photographs later (trigger happy, anyone?), I have something to show for it!

Oooo...light and flowers. Yummy

I love you, beautiful flower burst

Seriously, this on is wilted and it STILL looks cool!

Also wilting, but certainly one of my fave's

Thanks hubs! You always inspire me when I need it most :)

Seasonal Identity Crisis

2009-03-05T19:33:00.003-05:00

While I realize that it's not fall any more, I can't seem to find a plethora of things to take pictures of in winter in Georgia. Nothing to indicate that it's the coldest season of the year, except for some bare trees and a bunch of Georgians totally over dressed for 40 degree weather.

NOT that I'm complaining - I love our meek version of "cold" down here - I'm just sayin' that it's not totally awe inspiring out of doors right now.

So, enough blathering. My point is that I have resorted to digging through my files for some fun pictures to post, and found some fun fall shots that I never put up. So now I will share them, 5 months late.

I'm nothing if not timely.

These trees were in the park across the street from our townhouse. I was supposed to be eating lunch at home one day, but instead spent the entire lunch break at the park. Good thing too...the colors were gone in a few days!

Loved the red mixed in with all of the yellow and orange

The blue and yellow totally popped that day

That's it for now. I'm sure I'll catch on to the current season soon :)

A Quickie

2009-02-23T21:14:00.002-05:00

I L.O.V.E. this shot. Don't know why, but it just speaks to me.

Maybe it's because it combines 2 of my favorite things: trees and love.

Or whatever.

That's it. Because sometimes a quickie is just necessary :)

Baby B

2009-02-22T08:32:00.004-05:00

My amazing sister-in-law gave birth to the newest addition to our family on January 24th. We headed up two weeks later to meet him and take some pics of his first few weeks of life.

Hello beautiful...welcome to the world! We've been waiting for you

Oh how I love me some baby toes!

Mom and big sister E admiring their new addition

I couldn't resist! :)

Welcome baby! We're so happy you're finally here.

For Dad

2009-02-10T19:46:00.005-05:00

My dad has been asking me to take pictures of his motorcycle for years. Like eight years. Like, since I first picked up a serious camera and took a picture years. And I finally got around to it over Christmas. You're welcome dad...I'm nothing if not prompt.

Since I finally put in all that effort to shoot the bike, I figured it was the least I could do to share the shots with the wide world of internets. Internets? Meet the Moto Guzzi. He's been waiting awhile for the introduction, so please say hello.

Nothing like a little branding. Love the Italian...Ciao, Moto Guzzi!

Ooooo...nice wheel!

The classic shot. Doesn't it look like the bike is shyly turning it's head to one side, digging it's kickstand toe into the driveway while quietly saying hello? Just me? Thought so.

Macho, macho man! Looks a little more powerful here. I wish the house across the street wasn't in the background. Maybe in 8 years when I get around to round 2 I'll place the bike more strategically.

Hi dad. Your bike looks nice. Sorry it took me 8 years to take pictures of it.

Finito. Grazie. Buona Notte, ya'll :)

Hello 2009!

2009-02-10T19:11:00.005-05:00

Well well well. Welcome back, me.

2008 was a brutal year, and I'm not sorry to say that I was glad to see it come to an end. 2009, however, has kicked off in a much more positive light, and I'm excited to see what it brings to our little corner of the universe. :)

I've got a plethora of photos stockpiled since it's been so long since my last post...I don't even know where to start! We took a trip up to Knoxville to see our new nephew (also a B name...hmm...going to have to come up with a new name for him! Maybe Mini B? Baby B? BM?) and for my dad's 60th birthday. (Happy birthday dad!) On the way back we drove through the mountains and I got some fun country shots.

This barn was craaazy cool! I totally made J stop in the middle of the road so I could take some pics. Luckily we were in the middle of nowheresville South Carolina (or was it TN? One thing's for sure - it was somewhere so deep in the southern rebel flag hangin' country that J didn't want to get out of the car) that stopping in the middle of the road wasn't a big problem.

This guy was fun too. We actually pulled a big u-turn and I got out of the car for him. Crunched around in the hay to get some fun shots. Can you believe that he was just sitting out there in the middle of nowhere, all broken down and junked up? Who just LEAVES a truck on the side of the road?

We actually drove a mile or so away before I begged J to go back for this one. I just thought it was awesome. Seriously? Hay for sale on a trailer? There wasn't even any hay around! J wouldn't let me out of the car for this one, and considering this was actually someone's drive way, I guess I can understand :) Here's a close up:

I want to hang this on a wall somewhere. I don't know where...but somewhere! It just makes me smile :) If you come to stay with me and discover this on a guest bedroom wall, don't be surprised. I'm just sayin.

All right, that's enough for tonight. Wouldn't want to go all crazy and wear myself out on my first night back. Or something.

Night Ya'll!

Merry-go-Round

2008-11-11T18:33:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago we met my parents up in Chattanooga for the weekend. Went to the IMAX, dinner out on the Chattanooga strip, and all that fun stuff. On our way out, we stopped at a big community park and found a HUGE carousel that you could ride on for 25cents per person. Not too shabby!

So we hopped on, and I played with movement...

Unfortunately, they didn't do the whole brass ring thing anymore. Well, not unfortunately for me. I would be the one person to get knocked out cold by a "fun" brass ring. My hand-eye coordination has never been great...
Dizzy yet?

Sweet baby B

2008-11-10T21:05:00.006-05:00

A few months ago my amazing sister-in-law S and I spoke about me taking some shots of my nephew (her son) B for their Christmas cards this year. Well, we finally got together a week or so ago...brought B up to a park near their house and let him ham it up.

Ok, first of all, this kid is absolutely adorable...those baby blues are enough to make my knees go weak. Watch out 4yr old ladies! Second, he just flat out knows how to pose. Just start chatting about some Mickey Mouse or Thomas and the smile comes on full blast. Amazing.

Hello, blue eyes

Thanks again, B! You're a natural :)

So I'm a week late...

2008-11-09T19:42:00.004-05:00

I know I'm late, but now that my technical issues have been solved I thought I could post some fun Halloween shots. I have Halloween shots because we are lame, and love to carve pumpkins. Like so:

We like to get a little creative too...no boring jack-o-lanterns here. But also no crazy I-just-carved-all-4-Beatles-into-a-6-inch-pumpkin either. I'm not that talented.

I know what you're thinking...you wish you had a pumpkin like ours. Well I was pretty proud of him too, until I went out on our porch yesterday and saw this:

I'm afraid our poor jack-o-lantern is dead. Or really close to it. Funny...jack-o-lantern's teeth cave in kinda like people's. Too far? Gross? Ok. But true, and you know it.

Happy Halloween ya'll!

The bloggy god is not shining upon me

2008-11-06T20:33:00.003-05:00

So I have been trying to post a new blog (something I am clearly good at) all night long. Unfortunately, the Bloggy god has chosen not to shine upon me, and absolutely will not let me upload any pictures.

I keep getting a "Server not responding" message. Whatever that means.

And, since this is obviously a PHOTO blog, well, there's really no point in blogging. Except to say that I tried.

I tried!!

Booooo. I have so much to say - SO MUCH TO SAY! But don't worry, I saved the post. And so help me bloggy universe, I will try again tomorrow.

Night ya'll! :)

I am a Roller Coaster

2008-11-06T18:01:00.008-05:00

That's right, I said it. I'm a roller coaster. Clarification? Can't read my mind? Hmm...ok then.

So here I sit, at my computer uploading close to 1500 photos onto my laptop, for the first time in a few weeks. This is my relationship with photography - I am nonchalant about it for stretches, picking up my camera every few days feeling uninspired by what's around me. Then all of a sudden, as I've been climbing slowly to the crest of my photography-loving hill, I can't put the darn thing down. Like, run home mid day when I should be eating just so I can grab my Canon and spend my lunch break at the park across the street taking 350 pictures of TREES. Or our jack-o-lantern, or some flowers, or my nephew B. All the excitement of the loopy loops and corkscrews comes rushing in and my shutter finger just won't stop clicking.

See how I am a roller coaster of photography? Clear as mud? Cool.

The downside of my surge of excitement is that now I've got a million photos to put up here but the OCD side of my brain insists on individual posts so that I give the illusion of some sort of organization. So I need to curb my enthusiasm (ha!) and take my time. Booooo. Only children aren't good at that.

All right then, enough non-sensical chatter. Let's start with the roses. (We only children are also slightly pre occupied with ourselves, so it makes sense that I would start with the subject that contains part of my name. These photos also kicked off my surge in shutter finger love, so it placates the OCD side of my as well.)

Going to the chapel...or Carmel Beach

2008-10-06T20:13:00.005-04:00

It's taken me awhile to get them up, but, well, it's taken me awhile to get them done. I'm diligent, if nothing else :) Today I finished putting all of the final cuts on disks and will drop them in the mail first thing in the morning.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but our AMAZING wedding photographer and his spectacular partner Amanda have agreed to host our shots from this wedding. They are unbelievable, and everything I could aspire to be. Check them out: http://www.johnblackphotography.com/

Back to my non-professional meanderings. As I said before, the wedding was beautiful - bride was

breathtaking, groom was handsome, and the reception was just plain FUN. Enough of my nonsensical chatter...

Flower girl holding the rings

Bride and flower girl
Mother and father of the groom during the ceremony

Oh so sweet

And then the party began...and it was a GOOD party

And they finished off the night with some shenanigans

That's it for now! I'm sure I'll put more up later, but I'd like to let the Bride and Groom see them first ;) I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out...it definitely helps to have such beautiful subjects.

Thanks ya'll!

Sneak Peek

2008-09-24T22:23:00.002-04:00

Well well well...I realize it's been a while since my last post, but alas, I have no excuse. Other than the fact that we've been running around like crazy since the moment we got off the plane from CA, and it won't stop until maybe NEXT weekend. Maybe. But it's all been fun, so I can't really complain :)

So I've been so wrapped up in editing all of these wedding photos that I completely neglected all of the rest of the (hundreds...eek!) pictures I took during our incredible stay out west. (Thanks again Richardsons!). Wedding photos will come soon, but until then, here's a little sneak peek of our trip:

Sometimes it was gorgeous, as seen below. And then the fog would randomly roll in and the temp would drop 20 degrees in 2 seconds. NOT a good time, but pretty, none the less.

Because I can't make it longer than 30 minutes without busting the macro. I army crawled over to this little guy and was amazed at all of the colors in his skin (coat? scales? whatever)

This bridge was built sometime in the 1930's. Don't let that scare you when you're driving over that 500 foot drop or anything. Not scary at all.

Oh! The spray! I think if I had begged Josh to pull off the road "so that I can get a picture of the spray" one more time, he would have thrown me off of the aforementioned bridge.

Luckily for me, I know when to stop asking. And when to give my hubby some wine so he is more likely to give in to my photographic whims. :)

Since said hubby is trying to sleep next to me, I will bring this to a close. Soon to come (I use this phrase very lightly): wedding pics. Should be a very good time.

Hello Again

2008-09-07T16:07:00.005-04:00

Well hello again. I know it's been awhile since I posted...and since I CLEARLY have a huge audience, I apologize to all three of you for the delay. Thank you for your patronage :)

Ok, so I didn't end up going to take pictures of my friend's beautiful daughter (bad weather...hurricanes-n-such). We did, however, go to the zoo. It was actually a great day, and I was able to bring home a bunch of fun pictures. And about 30 bug bites on my legs. Good times.

Onto the animals....

I love elephants. I hope I look this good when I'm old and wrinkly

This rhino was going to have nothing to do with the crowd of people willing him to turn around. You've got to admire that kind of stubbornness

Ahh the gorillas. Always a fun stop

And the orangutans...this guy woke up, meandered across this rope thing, and then went right back to sleep. What a life to live, huh?

Have you ever seen a baby orangutan? Really, truly, honestly - this little guy was by far the cutest animal we saw all day.

It was lunch time at the petting zoo, which meant they were too busy stepping on each other to get to the food to stop and let us pet them.

Back to the gorillas. This guy was having the time of his life inspecting his foot. It was pretty cute :)

Onto the lions. This mama just had three little boy cubs - she has obvious reasons to be this tired

One close up - I couldn't resist. I realize that she could maul me as easily as I flick off a mosquito, but her paws look so sweet and fluffy. Kinda like my kitties, except a teeeny bit more powerful.

That's it for now! Wednesday morning we leave for California to photograph K & A's wedding, and we are SUPER excited. The wedding isn't until Saturday, so we'll have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to roam all over the coast and Hwy 1 and take an excessive amount of pictures. What's more fun than that?

We'll also be bringing the laptop, and I've told J to force me into blogging while we're gone. So my 3 readers will have something to do while they procrastinate ;)

For Buddy

2008-08-21T21:54:00.003-04:00

This post is for you, buddy, to explain butterfly wings. Because clearly I'm an expert :)

I have been looking for a picture that will show you how it's possible for that to only be one butterfly, and I think I've found it:

See how the top wings kind of overlap the lower (brighter blue) wings? They're actually able to separate, which is why in the picture from before looks like it has 4 separate wings. So when you look from the side, they look like 2 whole wings, but when they're balancing and you look from the front, it looks like 4 separate wings.

That's about as scientific as I can get. After all, I got my degree in psychology, not biology (or entomology?). Anyway, hope that helps buddy! :)

Butterflies + Bees + Macro = FUN

2008-08-20T19:49:00.006-04:00

So here we are. A brand new, distinctly different and therefore correctly labeled post. Dedicated just to the butterflies and bees that I could not get enough of this weekend. Let's be real - these would not have looked good lumped together with the previous landscape post. Plus, it makes me feel organized and sane, ok? Ok then.

Clearly these don't need much of an introduction. They are butterflies and bees, taken with my macro. Somebody make me put that thing down!

They were beautiful though. I love the colors nature produces...

And the bees!

I could not get enough of those bees

Don't worry mom, I didn't get too close...

Except when I took this one. (you know I'm a hypochondriac...I had already asked D, a 30+yr ER nurse, all about the symptoms of anaphylactic shock, just in case. You can never be too careful). Pretty cool though.

As much as I love the above picture, I don't want to end on something that could be considered "scary".

Wimps.

Just kidding...if it were a spider I would have beaten an Olympic runner in the 100 meter dash to get as far away from the 8-legged creep as possible. And I don't run.

So here's one that's a little more pleasant. Cute, even.

Ok, that's the end of my bugs.

Saturday I'm taking some pics of another little angel I know, so if you prefer sweet little girls to bees, I suppose you'll enjoy Saturday more than today. I guess I could understand that :)

I like bugs though. As long as they don't have 8 legs. Ew.

Taking a SHOT at landscapes

2008-08-20T18:00:00.000-04:00

First of all, I know you love my play on words. Don't lie...it made you giggle. Or maybe that was just me. Hmm...

Moving on.

I know I said I took pictures of things besides my sweet niece, and I promised to post them, but I can't resist starting with one more sweet shot. Especially since clearly I need to work on taking pictures of people rather than, I don't know, PLANTS. For that little wedding in 3 weeks...kinda important.

So here's one more of E, because she's just that dang cute:

OK. Onto some landscape/non-human shots. Here's a tree. If you know me at all, you know that I love plants and the outdoors, so when I saw this scene I just couldn't help myself.

This was an out the window shot at Cades Cove. I realize it's a little washed out, but it was a little hazy, and I do love me some mountains

On our drive home we got a little distracted on some country roads, especially once we realized we were literally in the middle of a cloud. Pretty cool feeling to watch fog roll into you

So there you go...some landscape shots.

Now, while on the foggy mountain I got a little distracted by some butterflies and bees. Distracted to the point that J actually walked away and when I finally looked up and realized it was 20 minutes later I had a mini panic attack thinking he'd finally ditched me for stopping mid hike for the zillionth time to take random pictures with my beloved macro lens. Fortunately, he had only wandered a short distance and wasn't (too) frustrated by my little pit stop. This is why I love him so much...he puts up with all of my nonsense and maybe, perhaps, loves me a little more for it.

However. I can't put those in this post because they don't GO with the pictures I've already put up. And I get a little OCD sometimes about things GOING together. So those will come later...probably later tonight, because I'm busy and cool like that. :)

Weekend with the family

2008-08-18T19:26:00.000-04:00

We just got back from a weekend at a cabin up in Sevierville with most of the Pinchok clan, and we had a great time. It was my FIL's 60th, and since he, J, Big J (no pun intended ya'll...he's the oldest!) and I all have birthdays within 2 months of each other, we thought we'd do a weekend away.

I don't think I put my camera down the entire time we were there...so many things to shoot! Now, as much fun as nature is, NOTHING beats an adorable 3 year old. And I had one at my fingertips. E is not only as cute as can be, but she's also a HAM for the camera! She clearly loves to have her picture taken (and loves seeing every shot after you've taken it).

Since she was so much fun, I thought I'd do a post just for her. Plus, I know that her mamma is going to call her in to look and she will positively squeal when she realizes that all of the pictures are of her :)

This speaks for itself. I mean, the girl is just plain cute

And look at these little toes! They tell her she got Uncle J's chubby toes...I would definitely agree.

She loves her daddy too. What more could you ask for?

You are looking at a little artist right here. This girl can color in the lines better than I can, and she chooses perfect colors every time. Look at that concentration!

She does let Mamma help sometimes though. Good job M...you're a great "colorer" too!

I did take a *few* (read: hundreds) of other pictures. But I'm tired tonight, and I have to go back to work tomorrow, so those will have to come another day.

Love you E! Thanks for being such a fun subject!

More Kitties, because I love them

2008-08-14T01:07:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned how much I love my cats? Because if I haven't, I feel that now is an appropriate time.

I love my cats. I probably love them more than any person should love any animal. Truthfully, if it weren't for J and his "rational thoughts", I would be that crazy cat lady because I would a) not be able to leave the shelter without at least two cats and b) own every single "free kitten" in the city of Atlanta. And I'm pretty sure that's a LOT of free kittens. This is not to say that I haven't been burned on multiple occasions with shelter/free kitties. They've run away, or had diseases, or any other crazy things...but I love them all, and I would go out tomorrow and get 50 more if Josh would let me.

But he won't.

I suppose the negative side is that my house would be like those crazy ladies on TLC Documentaries where their whole house is a litter box and there are 800 bowls of food and 10 pregnant cats at any one time, and that would be kind of gross. That would actually be really gross. So I guess his "rational though" comes in handy, because I could probably get out of hand pretty quickly. I have no self control when it comes to cats...I'm not afraid to admit my flaws.

ANYWAY. At the request of my cousin Stef (a fellow kittie lover), and because I think they're pretty great, here are a few pics of my little cuties...

Here's Gus, being a little devil. He only looks sweet...don't let him fool you. This little sucker has claws like a lion and he's not afraid to use them. Except with kids...for whatever reason, he's extremely tolerant with tail pulling children. I cannot say the same for the cat we owned when I was little, and I have scars to prove it. (Not really, but she did scratch my nose one time)

Oh how I love me some kitty feet! I mean really, could they BE any cuter?

And here's Maxine, or Fatsy Maxie as we like to call her. You can't tell she's fat because (clearly) this is just of her eye. This is the only picture I could get before she ran away. She does NOT like for her picture to be taken. I'll get a good one though...just you wait.

And for all of you who don't like cats? Well, I don't have a dog, so that's just tough cookies, isn't it? I do have a friend who wants me to take some pics of her ADORABLE dog Sadie, so maybe she'll let me put a few up here when it's all said and done. But don't get your hopes up...the cat reigns in this garden.

Blast from the past

2008-08-11T21:39:00.000-04:00

So I realized that thus far I've been all talk and no show. I mean, I could blab all day long about loving photography back in the day, but I haven't shown any of my old stuff! Now, I'm not claiming to be great by any stretch - this is just something that I loved to do and was pretty good at coercing my friends into participating in :)

Like I said, these were all taken with a 35mm in black and white film. I developed the film and then developed the prints in a dark room. When they didn't turn out the way I wanted them to, I usually just colored over them. Totally easy cop-out, but occasionally it would yield something worth while. OCCASIONALLY. Since I was a dancer at that point, most of my photos were of girls in my company.

This is one that I manipulated with art sticks (sticks of straight pigment). We were decorating our hands for one of the Primitive Light shows

My friend who's getting married? See below. The sweet little girl on the stool? Her flower girl

I loved these black tutu's so much! I only got to wear white (boo)

And here's the bride again, showing off her best *assets*. Hehe. I couldn't resist :)

Ahhh the pain of pointe. Love it.

So there you go! A little blast from my photographic past.

Jumping back in...photography style

2008-08-10T21:31:00.000-04:00

All righty! I guess I'll get started :)

A little back story...

About 6 years ago, I was very into photography. I worked with an old Nikon 35mm in all black and white film and LOVED it! Then I graduated, started my career, and the time to exercise creativity seemed to slowly dwindle until it was completely obsolete (post for another time, but finding a work-life balance...not an easy thing to master). So anyway, a few months ago I decided that I needed to "re-connect" with my creative side, and I started back in with photography. And all was well in my little world.

Then one of my best friends asked me to be her wedding photographer for her beach wedding in September. Of course I couldn't say no! She was one of my original favorite subjects (we were dancers together and she was always up for anything) - what fun to shoot her again! So I said yes. And then I panicked. Holy freaking moly - what was I thinking?! I haven't taken pictures for real in forever...years even! I had better get to picture taking.

Over the past few weeks I've been diving in, head first. J and I bought a new camera (Cannon EOS 40D DLSR - *love it*) which has allowed me to truly step it up. Here are a few shots from this weekends excursions to Lookout Mountain and Piedmont Park:

First Post...

2008-08-10T21:07:00.000-04:00

Well well, first post. I've been debating back and forth with myself whether or not to get one of these things started. I mean, recently it seems like everyone has a blog, and they seem so therapeutic for those who have them. The only problem was that I couldn't imagine that I had things to even write about. (I'm really not that exciting...)

So today I came to a realization. I love my job, I really do. However, I've realized recently that it offers me absolutely ZERO creative outlet, and I've been searching for a way to re-capture that side of me. And truly, what better outlet for creativity than a blog?

So here we go....who knows what will happen? :)