baby w: no. 1

Taking a break from Würzburg to share a photo of baby W, who turns three weeks old today! I've spent some time with W and her big brother S and my friends M and T over the past few weeks, and I managed to take some baby pictures during one of the visits. (Normally I'm too busy holding her or making food!) Perhaps I'll share a few more, but this shot will suffice as introducing her. Expect to see more of W over the next few months (and years)!

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iTunes: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

photoshoot: X and Z

Two of my favorite kids, X and Z are both adopted from China -- and don't they have the coolest first initials?  I've posted some pictures of X before and since that post, she and her family went back to China to adopt Z.  X has grown up so much and is becoming such a beautiful young lady, and Z is just the cutest little guy ever.  I've known their family for years now, so it was bittersweet that I moved several states away just before they got Z.  But in the short time I've had to get to know him, he has totally claimed a special place in my heart.  How could he not?

We got to do a short photoshoot this afternoon -- and by short, I mean short.  We were done in about 10-15 minutes.  This is my favorite shot of the afternoon.  It's faces like these that make leaving so hard.
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iTunes: Cavalleria rusticana

my favorite 3-year-old

Meet C. My favorite 3-year-old and one of my favorite people ever! I miss her very much since I moved away. She apparently asks for me all the time, and her new obsession is "Rice Christy Treats."

Sorry for my tardiness in posting -- what with moving and everything I've been short on time. And internet -- it's taken almost 3 weeks, 21 customer representatives, 2 installers, 1 non-showing-up installer, 3 dropped calls, 2 hours on hold, 2 more hours talking on the phone, and 1 official complaint before getting the internet working. Ridiculous...

Anyway, postings may be fewer and farther between now. I'm anticipating the work load for this graduate program to be pretty hefty, and am hoping to pick up a choir job that I'll hear back about soon. Plus after moving, I lost my client base, so there will be less opportunity for lucrative photography. I'll still put forth and effort to post, however!

See you around the internet!
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My iTunes: Nessun Dorma by Luciano Pavarotti
(My neighbor's iTunes: The Electric Slide)

photoshoot: kiddie winkies: take 2

This is R, G's big sister from yesterday. This is one of my favorite portraits of her from our shoot. She has this great curly hair that looks like an angel halo with the light. She looks so much like her mom, B, and her Aunt K!

Well, short post tonight -- today was an insanely stressful day at work, so I'm going to take a while and unwind...
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My iTunes: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, read by Jim Dale

photoshoot: kiddie winkies: take 1

I had another great photoshoot with some really cute kids yesterday. This is G, and he and his older sister R are just too cute for words. This is one of my favorites of G -- I just love the goofy smile, and the sparkle in his eyes.
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My iTunes: El amor y la muerte by Daniel Lau

photoshoot: three brothers: take 5

"Cheese!" Just too cute.

Currently enjoying a quiet evening to myself -- listening to a little Charles Ives on my new clock-ipod-radio contraption (the last clock I had was so bright that it kept me up at night, even on the dim setting), sipping my new favorite summer drink, and slowly working on a little more deep cleaning and organizing. Thought I would take a break to put up a quick post.
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My iTunes: Circus Band by Charles Ives

photoshoot: three brothers: take 4

Here is one of my favorite shots of S. He had the cutest little pouting face, and this is probably the most still he was for the whole shoot. I really love this shot, and so did his mama!
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My iTunes: Salut marin by Carla Bruni

photoshoot: three brothers: take 3

We did the photoshoot on a football field -- fitting for three brothers, don't you think? S was a real mover, and didn't stay still too long. I managed to snap this shot as he was playing by the practice net down by one of the end zones. Two seconds later, he was just a blur, running as fast as he could toward the other end of the field.
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My iTunes: George by William Bolcom

photoshoot: three brothers: take 2

Isn't this little guy just too cute for words?

At work again... back to the grind (literally, because I work in a coffee shop...)
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My iTunes: L'Amoureuse by Carla Bruni

photoshoot: three brothers

I am resurfacing after a blogging hiatus! I did a quick shoot yesterday for a friend of mine who wanted some pictures of her boys for Father's Day. They turned out really well, and you really see the different personalities of her three boys. T is the oldest and definitely has the older brother mentality. E is the middle boy and my friend says that no one else in the world can make her laugh harder. S is the youngest and he marches to his own beat, and will be a little heart breaker one day. It was quite a fun shoot, and my friend was happy with the pictures. I'll probably put up a few more here soon, but this will be it for now!
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My iTunes: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by the Trevor Horn Orchestra

"photobooth"

I put this together from pictures I took on my cell phone, so the photo quality is somewhat less than desirable, but they were so cute I just had to share them. This little girl is one of my favorite people to be around. We had a ball together last week and I'm quite excited to see her again on Friday. For some odd reason, she loves the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas -- I'd never seen it until last week, and now I have her rendition of "This is Halloween / This is Halloween / Everybody scream" stuck in my head. I must say, the music in that movie is fantastic, but I would have been quite scared of it as a child. She's amazing though and it doesn't phase her.
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My iTunes: Violin Concerto in F by Vivaldo, Autumn from Four Seasons

photoshoot: birthday party

This was the first of the images I edited of the birthday party I shot yesterday. It was a very fun party, every five-year-old girl's dream party. Lots of pink and princess. XiXi had a blast and by the end completely crashed. I've just started editing, and I'll share more photos as I go, but I loved this one and had to share it right away.

Lots of graduation-y events today. I'm listening to the traffic outside and it sounds like it's raining... that should put an interesting spin on the events. But I'm wearing my fabulous new pair of shoes -- super comfortable turquoise wedges. I'm pretty excited!
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My iTunes: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

looking up at me

Looking Up at Me
August 2008

Day one of being gone and without internet. Thank goodness for scheduled posting!

jack

Jack
August 2008

My iTunes: My Girl by the Temptations

Meet Jack. He is almost one year old and one of the sweetest little guys I know. I was fortunate enough to have the afternoon free to spend with him and his family. I haven't seen them in a couple months and have really missed them -- his mother is like my sister. I played paparazzi and this is one of my favorite captures of the day. I love the little tear rolling down his cheek! I'll be posting more on my Flickr, if anyone cares to look at adorable baby pictures!

little shoes

Little Shoes

July 2008

My iTunes: Vienna by Billy Joel

My love of feet strikes again. I'm sure Anna will love it.

Back to papering... July is quickly coming to a close and I still have a LOT on my To-Do List. Hopefully the camera will come soon, along with the business cards. I'll let you know when that happens.

clara

Clara

July 2008

My iTunes: Five by Daily Planet

This is one of my favorite shots I took of Clara, the flower girl at the wedding.

I don't have much time to write today -- I've been working on my 30-page paper and need to keep going with it. Seven pages down this afternoon... do you think I can be done by Monday?

folded hands

Folded Hands

July 2008

My iTunes: Somebody to Love by Queen

This is another shot from the wedding on Saturday, but even though it's dominated by white, this was not the bride -- this is the flower girl. She was quite the little star and loved having her picture taken. This is one of my favorites that I snapped of her. It reminds me of an Anna shot -- off center and with a slight glow!

But I have big news -- I finally decided to take the plunge and invest in my very own dSLR! I'm so thankful that I've been able to borrow one lately, but have been playing around with the idea of getting my own in order to really get a photography business going. (And have a little pleasure on the side, of course!) Anna has been one of my biggest cheerleaders all along and her encouragement finally convinced me. I came across a great ebay deal on a Nikon D80 body because the seller had upgraded to the D300, and I decided to go for it! So now I'm searching for lenses and just got off the phone with Anna chatting about it (we're both up late trying to squeeze a post in -- check hers out)! I also ordered business cards from MOO the other day -- I should have a lot of wonderful things coming in the mail next week!

soap box derby

Soap Box Derby

July 2008

My iTunes: All You Need Is Love by The Beatles

Yes, I know, cheating again for Project Black, but I haven't had time to go out shooting and I've wanted to share this for a while. Isn't this little guy adorable?

I have good news (drum roll, please)... Tomorrow is my first wedding photoshoot! I'm going to arrive at 4:00 to take "getting-ready" pictures! I probably won't get a bit of work done for the rest of the weekend because I'll be having too much fun editing the photos from the wedding. More good news: the bride has gorgeous black hair, so I'm sure I'll be able to find a picture appropriate for Project Black!

you defy explanation

You Defy Explanation

June 2008

My iTunes: Miracles Happen by Myra from The Princess Diaries soundtrack

One look at this card and I knew it was perfect for my brother. "You defy explanation." The picture is of a little boy dressed up as a superhero (I decided not to post an image of the whole card incase that would be copyright infringment).

marbles

Marbles

April 2008

My iTunes: Vedrai, Carino from Mozart's Don Giovanni

Well, I believe today will be the last installment of Project: Yellow. Thanks, Anna, for starting the trend and to everyone else for following on and being a great little community of post-ers and comment-ers! Check out some of Anna's pictures, and she has a collection of links to the nearly 70 people who have joined in on this project!

I thought I would close with a timeless shot -- marbles. I played lots of different games with marbles as a child, and my grandmothers and great-grandmother used to tell stories about how they used to play with marbles when they were little. Marbles just don't seem to change, and they come in all different colors -- including yellow!

This song is one of the first arias I ever sung. It's quite fun and very catchy. I find myself singing it randomly while doing the dishes or folding laundry or typing up a blog post... I need to start getting into high gear to get ready for my audition. I have to work on my Italian diction, my sight singing (that's going to need a lot of work...), and my audition pieces: Black Swan from Gian Carlo Menotti's The Medium and In Uomini, In Soldati from Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte. Wish me luck as I practice and prepare for 10 May!

THE END of PROJECT YELLOW

8 days until surgery