Tag: Photography

Pictures Perfect

I’m not sure I’d ever have what it takes to be a photographer. Oh sure, many people comment on the pictures I take with my phone and post on Facebook, but they are far from professional.

There is a local photographer close by that has never disappointed us with her photos. She took Ella’s First Birthday pictures, Andrew’s helmet pictures, and recently Andrew’s First Birthday pictures. Her name is Beth and she owns Enjoy the View Photography.

I am always amazed when I look at the pictures she gets. I know the chaos that was happening when the pictures are being taken, yet she is able to grab that perfect split second in time that makes it frame worthy.

For Andrew’s session, she set aside some time for us to get a few of both kids and the family. The autumn colors were not at peak, but the outdoor photos still look fantastic!

She got pictures of the whole family sitting, standing, with Ella on my shoulders, and more. It is hard to pick a favorite and which ones to put on canvas.

Then there were photos of the two of them together. Some truly amazing shots of them sitting, but the one that both Sam and I love is them running from the camera.

There is one of Ella grabbing Andrew and hugging him that makes me laugh …

…and one that makes me tear up….

Beth got a couple solo shots of them, which wasn’t easy with Ella. She was way past being done, however, there is one that just came out perfect…

…my favorite solo picture of Andrew captures him in all his sweetness…

We headed inside to get birthday and cake pictures. Again, Beth was able to get these split second moments perfectly. Andrew was not really about sitting still, but you’d never know it by these pictures.

As far as a cake “smash,” we didn’t really get that for pictures. We got some at home on his birthday, but he was just to careful during the photo session. It was almost like he was saying, “I’d rather not make a mess…”

My kudos again to Beth and Enjoy the View Photography for these wonderful pictures which we will look back and enjoy for years!

Camera & Corrective Lenses

Camera Lens

It’s been a busy week. With Ella’s birthday just a few days away, we decided that we should take her to get some professional pictures done. Almost every picture she is in has been taken with our cell phones. We had a professional sitting at JC Penney a few days after she was born and even bought a membership for a year so that future sitting fees were free. With Covid, however, we have never been able to go back. So no 3, 6, or 9 month professional pictures were ever taken. Sam and I decided that we had to get some 1 year pictures done.

There is a little photography place about 2 miles down the road from us. The gal actually has a studio in the basement of her house.

Her house is on an area of farmland and probably has some amazing scenery for outdoor pictures. Sam’s cousin Katie made an outfit for these pictures. I snapped a picture of Ella in it before we left. It is really hard for me to believe she is going to be one. She looks so big to me and with this outfit, she almost looks like a toddler.

The photographer got just a couple shots of all of us, a couple shots of Ella with me and Sam. Ella was in a good mood and offered up many smiles. We got some of her walking and sitting and we also got pictures of her eating her birthday cake. It will be a couple weeks before the prints are available for us, and we are looking forward to them. We will get a link that we can send to our friends and relatives who want to purchase pictures from the session.

This week before pictures, she was practicing her posing … this was a wonderful shot I caught of her goofing around with the towel from her bath.

What a ham!

One more good picture I caught this week was with her and the cat. It seems like she is forever chasing the cat around. She likes to pull her tail. Normally, the cat will jump and scram as soon as Ella comes close to her. This week, albeit for just about 3 minutes, Ella walked over to the cat and sat down next to her. She actually was able to pet the cat. I have a feeling that as she get’s older, she and the cat will be close friends….

Corrective Lenses

I was finally able to get into the eye doctor today. I had Lasik surgery years ago. It was the best thing I ever did. What an amazing thing to no longer need glasses. Well, after all this time, I have noticed some issues, so I made the appointment.

Today, the doc told me that I definitely need glasses for seeing distance and for reading. I had a feeling this would be the case. I had a couple options: I could get a pair that I could wear for driving with the bifocals for reading all in one pair, OR I could get two pair of glasses. I chose the later. I can keep the glasses in the car for driving and I can keep the readers on me for reading and work.

I told the doc that the readers I have give me a headache and he said that’s because all the over the counter readers are hit or miss. They don’t line up with everyone’s pupils. He took a tablet and took a picture of my face and showed me how the readers I will get will have the pupils lined up so the head ache will go away.

Years ago, I couldn’t wait to NOT have glasses…..now, I am excited to have them again.