JFP photo blog

Orange Crush

This last week I had the opportunity to co-shoot my big boys' soccer photos.  Now I had a little bit of a problem that you will see at the end but here are a few of my boys....there were a bunch that I loved but I didn't get releases signed by the parents so, sadly you won't get to see them here, besides, I'm pretty sure this is not my specialty.

Undefeated.  I think he might be more excited than the boys.

"A player of my caliber sitting the bench?  Shocking, I know."   

And my favorite part of rec soccer...the hideous t-shirts (orange?  really?)...cute boy though.

Now you know why the rest of them are in black and white.  Hmpf.  Can I pick the shirts next year?

 

OK, 10 days of posting = complete.  I will be taking a brief hiatus, what with the long weekend (we are off Friday through Monday) so you can expect to see me back here on Tuesday for a few posts next week and then, hopefully, we will be off across state lines to photograph a teeny, tiny, little bundle of joy!

I Will Fly Into Your Arms

After much debate overthe years, I have finally found a song that I LOVE for my website and slideshows.  I have used a few things, once or twice, that I do also like, but I am such a rule follower that I can't stomach using music without license.  I mean, I wouldn't want someone to use my photos without my permission and so with that in mind, I just haven't used music at all.  Not to mention the fact that my music taste is not exactly appropriate (80's new wave anyone?).  Well, when I was in Vegas I was introduced to a music licensing company aimed specifically at website and slideshow use.  I spent quite a chunk of time perusing their selection until I found MY song.  It is called "Fly Into Your Arms" by Sarah J. Hyland (also on itunes).  Now I know that it is meant to be more of a romantic song but this is the image it brings to my mind....

Best part of my day. 

She does truly leap up into my arms.  And even my biggest baby always hugs me.  Doesn't get any better than that. 

Anyway, now you have to click on over to the website just so you can hear it. 

In case you are keeping track...day 9 of 10 day blogging challenge: complete.

Flashback

So I don't have much to post today as I was too busy to take any pictures this weekend.  I got to spend the weekend with someone I've known since I was two and that I hadn't seen since sometime in high school.  Just the best time ever!  She is one of those people that I consider myself lucky to count as a friend.  She's one of the good ones...I know she will never care if my house is clean and that even if I only see her once every 20 years or so, there is no weirdness at all.  It's like we talk all the time and see each other regularly.  Now that's a friend.  Not only that, she is the kind of person that was immediately accepted by the kids.  She jumped right into our Rock Band concert, complete with Farrah Fawcett wig.  And she has lived ALL over the world and has amazing stories to tell.  Anyway, here is us from the first day of first grade (I think?) in Indonesia....just a photo of a photo...

That's good for a laugh on a Monday morning.  Note the awesome, matching, metal Peanuts lunch boxes.

More Monkeys Jumping On the Bed

Last week, when it was so gorgeous and sunny and my bedroom was filled with fabulous light, I went begging for somebody to come and jump on my bed.  These little monkeys were the second set of small people to show up.  All told, that made four almost 2 year olds that morning.  By the time we were all done, I was spent.  Absolutely no need to find time for a run after that.  Anyway, here are a few of my favorites from our short, little, mini session....

Just a little hesitant at first.  So sweet...and those eyes, so blue. 

Such a cute 2 year old kind of smile.

Love, love, love a little bit of thoughtfulness.  Any guesses what she's thinking?

And then, just a little bit of simply cuteness. 

Next up was her little friend.  This expression cracks me up.  It always (on any kiddo, but especially here) makes me think "What you talkin' about, Willis?".  Sorry for all you younger readers out there who don't understand my hilarious (yet completely dated) references.

Such a cutie and such a crack up!  He had us all laughing for the entire 3 minutes he spent on the bed.  Then, he had better things to do.

But he gave us this cute smile as he was escaping.  

Thanks so much for coming over everybody!  It was fun and we should do it again...in case the sun ever comes out for more than 5 minutes straight again.

To Amuse

Oh the lengths we will go to to amuse ourselves (and one very pregnant lady) when it is absolutely pouring outside.  Hopefully laughter is not too contraction inducing!

 

Ah yes, her grumpy old man face.  Attractive.

and now, I give you, the mastermind behind this whole endeavor....

Sly devil.  Apparently, he has been longing for a uni-brow.  Huh?

I know his eyes are squinty in all the photos.  I can't help it.  He was laughing to hard.  We're just lucky the photos are in focus.  I was laughing pretty hard myself.

Day 6 = done.  C'mon little baby, stay in there and grow!  You can do it!

  

 

All You Need Is Love { Baby Photograher }

That's the song that keeps running through my head while I look at these mommy & baby photos....(and more specifically, the version from the movie Love Actually...you know, from the wedding, with all the horns).  Back to my point...this little girl is so completely adored by her momma and it shows.

 

Makes my heart do little flips...and wish, just for one minute, that my babies were tiny still.

 

She is just a doll baby.

 

I mean, does she not have the perfect gerber baby features?  

 

Maybe a little print ad for Tiffany's? 

 

She is such a good natured little person and I had the best time goofing around with her and her momma.  I'm pretty sure she even said her first word to me...."Hi"...makes me giggle a little just thinking about her cute little voice.

 

Happy Wednesday everybody!
  

Never Enough Books { Child Photographer }

That is definitely one of my top five life mottos...learned from my father at a very young age.  So much so, in fact, that my very favorite Christmas day memories consist of everyone in our family grabbing their new books (plural, of course) and their yummy snacks (also courtesy of my dad and always the "good" chocolate) and curling up in a comfy spot for a bit of reading & eating....favorite past time EVER!   The point being, these young ladies are on the right track to becoming lifelong book lovers.

If you are a fan on the facebook page then you will have seen my plea for friends to come and jump on my bed in the glorious light in my room last week.  These guys were the first takers of the day and boy did we have fun.  At first they weren't too sure about our plan, but luckily for mom and me, the lovely & talented (& highly regarded by these ladies) Annabelle was home that morning.  She turned out to be our official librarian, running back and forth to get more books.  Here are a few of my favorites....

Their mom, literary genius that she is, has done everything right.  Not only are they lovely, charming, little munchkins, but they are both voracious readers.  They love their books.  When I hang out with them during the week, we do A LOT of reading....we've been known to read for close to an hour straight.  Pretty amazing for their not-quite-two-year-old-selves.

OK, so I don't know what it is about that one.  It completely melts my heart.  It should be printed ginormously somewhere.

Who doesn't have a photo of themselves wearing their mom's shoes?  I can think of at least 4 or 5 different photos of my sister and my kids right of the bat, where they are wearing someone else's very large shoes.

A little momma love.  I love all the little things about his one.   The little arm.  Mom's face is full of quiet, calm, love.  And, well, she's still holding on to her book, for Pete's sake. 

So I tried to put different ones here than are in the Facebook album so go ahead, click on over there and check out the other ones....while you're there, feel free to become a fan.  Stay tuned for the second round of little monkeys jumping on the bed....coming soon.

PS  Have you noticed that I am killing this 2 weeks of posting challenge?  Day 4...check!

 

 

Perfect Score { Family Photographer }

Wonderful family, perfectly coordinated:  check.  Lots of laughing:  check, check.  Amazing, warm, glowy light: check.  Birds spotted: 3 (heron, woodpecker, ducklings)  Frogs spotted: 0. 

Overall rating: perfect 10.

I had so much fun poking around by my favorite bridge with these guys this weekend.  So much fun that I am having some serious struggles picking out which of my favorite shots to share...but I'll give it a try.  Here are just a few....

 
These guys were so much fun.  I'll admit that going into the shoot I was  little nervous about getting a  genuine smile out of a 14 year old boy.  I just don't rate super high on the cool scale, but with the help of his sister's special patented "moves", I think we have a winner!

I absolutely adore that one...especially that his eyes are smiling too!  On the flip side of the coin, I knew I would get lots of great smiley shots of the little miss...she can be quite the ham and knows me well enough to be comfortable around me.  That being said, my favorite shot of her isn't super smiley....

 

Just beautiful. 

 Hopefully having a big brother around will help deter some of the vast quantities of boys that will be flocking to their door.

I really had a good time getting to know this mom while we were working out the details for this shoot (I just love how their clothing choices just all came together!) and luckily for me, our daughters are quickly becoming attached at the hip, so I will get to see a lot more of all of them!  PS:  love the sun highlights on their hair...swoon.

Sometimes all it takes is a hug from a cute girl to get the guys to smile!

So, these next two, I just absolutely love for so many reasons.....

  

I love the personality and emotion in that one.  Can you tell who makes them all smile and laugh?  Can you tell that she just loves her family?

And this next shot is just for her...and me.  It was all the little missy's idea.  She has been to our house and seen our huge converse canvas (which I promise I will post about soon!).  While I was taking these shots she asked if I was going to take one of just their shoes, like ours.  Genius!  I know that it might not turn out to be the one mom chooses to print big as it's not a traditional family photo, but sometimes I just need to shoot one or two just for me!  It is definitely one of my new all-time "artsy" favorites.

Sigh.  It just really makes me happy.

Thanks for such a fun and easy morning, guys!   More shots coming your way soon. 

Dooz-day

It's day #2 of my self-imposed 10 day blogging marathon challenge and here I am posting!  And not just any old thing....cuteness and her friend. 

It's a pretty big deal around here when little miss sass gets her haircut.  It doesn't happen nearly enough and she absolutely adores the whole grown-up beauty experience.  Amusingly enough, her friend came with us last time and was with us again today.  Thursdays are our playdate days and that's when the haircut lady works early, so I guess he is doomed to go to every one of her haircuts...poor guy.

A few before shots....

Kinda scruffy...in that fabulous windblown sort of way.

After her day of beauty....

All smooth and glittery.  The glitter hairspray is a definite must.

Don't know if you can tell but the braids go all the way around her head, creating a halo of sorts.  She is calling it her "angel hair-do".  And that is the most "her" face.

She totally loves him.   And just so you know, I never once prompted them to even be in a picture together.  In fact it was a little on the difficult side to get any individual shots.   All this huggy business is completely her idea and so far he doesn't seem to mind too much.

My definite favorite of the day.   

The Bedrest Challenge

Well, one of my very favorite people in the world is officially on bed rest.  Ick!  Though whatever it takes to keep that little man in there, cooking, for a little longer will just have to do.  Her doctor told her that if she wasn't bored, she was doing too much.  Well, no matter how restful she is, we can't have boredom, now, can we?  Therefore, I have decided to challenge myself (and any of you other bloggers out there) to post once a day for the next two weeks, not counting the weekend when I fully expect her husband to be doing a lot of singing and dancing to entertain her.  Now, I can't promise that these will all be the most enlightening posts, but I figure since I am guaranteed a captive audience of at least one, I might as well go for it.  The rest of you bloggers, leave the poor girl a comment with a link to your site so she can spend the day wandering from site to site....and if you don't have a blog, feel free to leave a comment with a handy tip for entertaining someone on bed rest or a link to your favorite site to read/shop/or spend hours on, your favorite book or movie, etc, etc....

My contribution for today = my new wall display.  I am so excited about this I can't stand it!  You see, most of my current wall art involved some serious effort in the "getting it just right" category and I am loathe to change them because I LOVE them just the way they are.  HOWEVER, I was also pining for somewhere to put current photos in a more relaxed (read: inexpensive) way that I wouldn't feel bad about changing out with the seasons.  Here's what I came up with....

My original plan was the magnetic knife holder strips from IKEA.  Sadly, I was too lazy to actually get to an IKEA.  Luckily, I am married to the handiest man alive.  See, there are 2 main differences between my Home Depot modification and the IKEA idea.  The IKEA ones come in 20 inch strips so I would have had to have 2 for each row BUT (and I'm only pretty sure about this part) I think the IKEA ones come pre-drilled.  SuperJohn had to drill holes in these with his fancy drill press.  (Just so you know, "it's all about having the right tools" is commonly heard around here.)

And here's what it looks like now....

 

I LOVE this!  It is easy, casual, kind of loosey goosey and pretty darn inexpensive.  I am so excited to get to see these photos every day and to be able to change them out every so often...though I have to say, the sunny pool photos may make a reappearance during the dead of next winter when I am longing for some sun. 

The beauty of this idea is that you can make it fit whatever wall you've got.  Someone I know has a nice long wall in her kitchen and we talked about doing just one long strip across the top of it.  I think she could put up a variety of print sizes for a little more interest and she will be able to keep her's high enough that the little sticky fingers at her house won't be able to reach them.

I would love to see/hear all your fabulous photo wall art display ideas....send them my way and I will share here for everyone to enjoy!