Bring on 2011!!!

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=d0d5dc5d09dacd0531bddf&skin_id=1702&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url
Sorry for the poor quality, but I still enjoyed making this. I think it's pretty obvious by looking at this that I picked up some skills and got a new camera along the way!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Another Before and After blog hop

Just got home last night and have been terrible about keeping up here, things will slow down now, I think!

Here is my before and after for the week.

SOOC: Actually I think it looks pretty cute like this, Mac trying to sit at the big table with the big kids.


After: It didn't necessarily need these edits, but I just messed around a little until I found a look that I thought was interesting.


I didn't crop it, I tried, but actually thought it looked better un-cropped. My question is, do you think the gingerbread house is cluttering the shot? I feel like it sort of just blends in, but I'm wondering what others would do...

Before and After Blog Hop

Been away from the blog for way too long, I promise soon a lengthy post about Disneyland, including lots of pics (ok, I can't really promise anything right now...)
I thought I'd go ahead and play along with Pixel Perfect's Before and After this week.


Before. We were just messing around and I snapped a few pics of the kids. This looked yucky to me SOOC, but I thought I saw some potential...


I must say that I think this is lovely. My little Mac is 18 months old already!


Here is what I did (if I remember correctly)
First I tweaked the color a bit using magic seesaw, mostly to tone down some yellows. Then I used Everday Elements Deep clean 1 to pop and brighten the eyes. I also evened out skin tone a bit. Then I ran Everday Elements Florida action tweaked the layers a bit. Then I felt it really needed a good crop, and I think the crop is the best part of the edit:)

Indoors

In the midst of preparing for Christmas, and a trip to Disneyland next week, I'm feeling a little swamped. I haven't had as much time to mess with editing photos, let alone take a ton of new pics. I have been trying to get better at taking some photos inside the house, because this time of year, the weather is just kind of, well, blech. I was trying the light in our family room and I think this might be just the right spot to set up a little "studio".

Charlotte:


And Miss Evelyn:



PS: It's funny that I didn't tell the girls to pose any certain way, yet they are in nearly the exact same positions!

sepia

Decided to enter Photo Freak's sepia challenge. I don't actually often edit in sepia, and as you can see it isn't completely sepia, I experimented by adding some sepia tones and also left some color in, but I think this is a lovely pic!

Update

I bet you thought I may never post again:) This time of year gets so busy and I upgraded to a desktop and it's taken awhile to get up and running. I had a fun (but cold) time taking some photos of a friend's kids on Saturday and as promised, here is a little preview of these two gorgeous little ones. We didn't get to do as many as we wanted and couldn't stay outside that long because it was a brisk Seattle morning. A little too brisk for the kids (and frozen fingers aren't so good for snapping pics), I think we got some really nice shots and I think we all had fun!

Taylor (little beauty)


And Gavin (hello, watch out ladies!)



Together (so cute)


I hope you like them Adriana, there are lots of others that I'm working on too!

A Few Holiday Favorites

A snowy bus ride.

Charlotte and her favorite cousin Maddie.

My big sister.

More of Charlotte and Maddie.

And my favorite, looks like an add for a silly tv sitcom.

flash photo

I have been looking for a way to improve my indoor photos, especially when the light is low. I think the on camera flash looks so ugly and I wasn't quite ready to look at an external flash. I stumbled upon www.lightscoop.com, it looked like it might be a good thing, and it was quite inexpensive, so I ordered it. I was pleasantly surpised. This shot was taken at night with flash and I think it looks great! Happy Me!

Please tell me...

There is no playboy mansion in their future...



Because it is not going to make Dad very happy.


Disclaimer* poor lighting + on camera flash = pic I love, even if quality is quite poor

Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours...

the ones that started it all

I had to take a moment to post these pics I took over the summer while visiting family in Montana. Something about this particular group of photos made me fall in love with photography. Also taken with this group is the pic on the blog title. I"ll keep it up for awhile to remind me how much I love this new path I'm taking:)

Seriously?

How could any Baby be so cute? Awwww...love my Baby Mac!

The Windows to the Soul

Participating in The Paper Mama photo challenge where the theme is "eyes". I had fun messing with this photo of E and thought her eyes said so much in this shot. I had so many others that I thought about using, but kept coming back to this one. I love this girl.





PS: I realized a couple of hours after I linked up that I posted the wrong pic and had went back and changed it. It is slightly different than the one I used in the thumbnail, but nearly the same:)

Before and After (Pixel Perfect Blog Hop)

Here is the before of Sara and Henry. Clearly I just shot without adjusting exposure, white balance, etc. I didn't like this pic at first.




Here I tried a black and white effect and I really like it.



The color was trickier, but I thought I salvaged it. I tweaked the color and exposure, popped the colors and softened a bit.

The other silhouette shot

I might like this one better, but it's not like I will actually win or anything:)

i heart faces silhouette contest

Just thought I'd try this for fun, so I thought this one might work. I had a darling one of Evelyn on the beach, but I realized it seems most silhouettes are beach pics and I thought I'd try something different.
Go check out the site, there are some amazing photos up!

Maternity preview for Sara

I did my first maternity shoot the other day, and I have to say, I am very pleased with these. They are lovely. Thanks so much Sara for letting me spend a couple of hours taking pics with you, it was so fun! We did have to practically break down the bathroom door to rescue her son Henry, who somehow got stuck in the bathroom. I'm quite comfortable with Sara already, but if I wasn't, I might have considered that a great icebreaker!
I really hope you like these Sara, Feliz said this first one reminded her of the painting Leo did of Kate in "Titanic"! Haha, it kind of does...

PEPS + L.A. = Amazing

We are the most fortunate to live in Seattle because of a little program called PEPS. This stands for program for early parent support and it really is life changing. You are matched with other brand spankin' new Mommies (sometimes Dads too, but I did a group with only Moms) who live in your neighborhood or very nearby. The sort of formal part of the group lasts for 12 weeks and meets once a week with a volunteer leader. Each meeting begins with some sort of discussion involving your highs and lows of the week. As a new Mom, this was so cathartic! It also felt so wonderful to know that other people are having the same sort of lows (and highs) that you were. It made me feel normal. The next part of the meeting would usually be a group discussion about a topic relating to new parenthood. Feeding babies, sleep issues, relationship with your partner, brain development. You name it, we probably discussed it. Our group clicked so amazingly well. I had suddenly acquired 14 new best friends! When else does this happen in your life?
We have now been together for 5 years and we don't meet every single week anymore (but we sure try), we still have a bond that just continues to strengthen. Some of those newborn babes are in kindergarten! We do girl's weekends at least 2 times a year and Mom's nights once a month. Many things are different in our lives, most have a second child, some have a third. Some now live out of state, some are no longer married. Trying times, joyful times, sleepless times, we've shared all of these. I liked the way one friend put it as we toasted each other at a dinner out in a recent weekend in L.A. "No matter what else changes in our lives, we will always be here for each other." This is such comfort. I love these girls.
We spent 3 days in L.A. last weekend and as usual, it was a blast! Here are some of my favorite shots from the trip. Of course, some of the girls couldn't be there, but they were of with us in spirit:) For any of you readers out there who don't know me, I am the blonde with the pink sweater. Now you can put a face to the name!

Favorite

This is for Photo Freak's blog. She has a fun contest going on, post your favorite photo. I think this is still my favorite, or at least one of my favorites. I just love Evelyn's serious face, the way she has the sweater jauntily tied around her shoulders, and mostly, I love the old blue door!

Fall Photo Contest

I am entering the "Fall" photo challenge over at Simplicity. Go check it out, there are some amazing fall photos!!