Adorable Twins

Kylenee, thank you so much. They're beautiful, and I'm honored.

Wedding Shoot

Congratulations Gina and David!

This was a good shoot. I noticed after the fact that I somehow managed to have my white balance set on "cloudy" the entire time, but luckily it didn't make much of a difference, and I was able to work wonders during the editing process to correct most of the color. I was pleased. I'm about half way done editing, and these are a few of my favorites.

Gina and David were a lot of fun to shoot. Gina was incredibly beautiful, and the camera loved her!

Progression of a Sunset

Going, going, going...gone.

Bridal Shoot

THANK YOU, GINA! YOU'RE A STUNNING BRIDE!!

This was a great session. I just can't say how much fun I had! It comes out during the shoot though. I realized tonight as I was taking these pictures that I was continually jabbering on to myself. I'm officially a nut case. I was saying stuff about how pretty she was, how nice the lighting was, how I needed to change my camera settings... yada yada yada. It would be one thing If I had obviously been talking to my bride, but half the time I was mumbling to myself and not even finishing my sentences. She must think I'm psycho. I was just having so much fun and completely in a zone. Every now and then I would literally gasp and put my hands over my heart and say something like, "oh, so pretty" or "oh, just lovely". So I'm a bit expressive. That's OK...right?

Because I love this stuff

Lois, Randy and baby Rhett - I just love working with you people!!

My favorite's from last Saturday's wedding shoot...

CONGRATULATIONS CANDICE AND JASON!

Wedding Shoot Today

It. was. a. hit.

I'm far too tired to do any downloading, much less any editing at this point, but I believe these shots are going to be some of my all time favorites. I'm so excited to get to work...after a good nights sleep.

I'm feeling more confident, and I'm starting to put to practice what I'm learning. I still have soooo much to know, but I'm getting there.

Pretty Bird!

I went with a friend to Magnolia Gardens to take pictures of her three children today. It was pretty exhausting because my kids got to tag along, and Stephen did nothing but complain about being tired the whole time. My Stephen. Anyway, I did get some good shots though.

The best part was watching the kids chase this peacock. this guy wasn't scared of a thing! Christian fed him corn chips and almost got close enough to touch him.

My grandfather had peacocks when I was growing up. They're such beautiful birds. This one in particular was really putting on a show. Men are such show-offs.

Pictures, Pictures...

I love taking pictures of people, and I've been doing a lot of that lately, but there's nothing more fun and satisfying than just taking some pretty shots of flowers just for the satisfaction that it brings. When you take pictures for people it feels a little like work because you know the outcome will be judged and scrutinized - people have expectations, you know? But a flower doesn't have expectations, and the outcome is simply for my pleasure alone.

I took these this afternoon, and they're not perfect, but they make me smile. And for this shoot that's all that matters.

Things kids (and husbands) say

I've been meaning to post these...

Christian(2)- "Hey Momma, if you ever get snot on your hands just wipe it off on your jeans like this..."

Stephen(4)- "To get milk in the stores the cowboys round up the cows and put them behind the store and get the milk out of 'em then fill up the jugs and put it in the store."

and the best (or worst...however you want to look at it) for last...

Mike(34)- "It sure is a good thing that you're asleep when you're sleeping because if you weren't it would be really boring."

Oh boy...

Anyway, I found a great little free photo editing site. It's perfect for small batches and those quick fixes. There's not even a download required, and you can save your shots in any format you want. Check it out!

www.picnik.com

Saturday's Wedding Shoot

These are a few of my favorites from last Saturday's wedding.

Congratulations Kylenee and Terrance!

Wedding Day Woes

Let me tell you, there's more to this wedding photography stuff than one might think! First of all - my. feet. hurt. Let me just get this out of the way, before I start complaining about everything that went wrong on my first wedding shoot, I must say that over all the experience was beautiful. The bride was amazingly beautiful, everyone was in a great mood and it was an awesome experience. It was a lot of fun. I absolutely love taking pictures, and it was such an honor to be the photographer at this wedding. I loved it! Now, with that said, here are my gripes: My camera chose today of all days to have technical problems. I don't want to go into detail, but they weren't little problems. They were pretty big, and very hindering. I didn't panic. I kept my cool and did my best with what I had to work with. I don't know what's causing the problems, but I sure hope it's fixable. Also, the lighting in the church and reception hall was terrible. That made my job tough. I had to do a lot of thinking to make each shot really work. Last, I didn't pack an extra battery and after the ceremony my camera's battery started blinking red. Panic mode. I am such a novice. I'm learning. Anyway, so while everyone was eating I ran to the bathroom and gave it a good charge. Thank Heavens I at least remembered to bring my charger! I didn't tell the bride of any of my difficulties. I didn't want to stress her out on her big day, but boy was I ever stressed! I somehow managed to get the shots. The day was a success. I think God was looking out for me. You live and learn, and next time I'm going to do a few things differently! I have about 1,000 shots to sort through. I'll share some of them when I'm finished editing.

Beautiful Bride

This is Kylenne. Isn't she gorgeous? I'm excited about these portraits because this was my first bridal shoot. I'm about half way done with the editing process. It's well after mid-night so I think I'm going to finish up tomorrow! These are my favorites so far.

A few pictures...

Heather came over yesterday and we took some pictures of baby Ellie. This is my favorite one of her sweet little tootsies.


Look who's spending the night with me. I adore this kid!


The boys decided 8:00 AM was a wonderful time for an art project. They were so excited, I had to humor them.

Ansel Adams - I would have liked this guy.

If you like photography or have studied it's history at all, then you've heard the name Ansel Adams. Born in 1902, he was one of the greatest photographers of all time. I've read about him and seen a lot of his work. He was a master. I was reading a bit about him today when I got a glimpse into his personality...

"One time when Ansel was shooting in the Sierra Nevada with some friends, he came away from his camera and walked into the scene. He grabbed hold of a tree limb, ripped it off the tree, and tossed it aside. When his more environmentally concerned friends made an uproar, he simply stated that it did not belong in the picture."

I would have liked this guy.

http://www.betterphoto.com/exploring/ansel.asp#moon

And more...

http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/adams.html

What I did this morning

You'd think someone said to me, "Hey, Margo, I want you to go out and take a series of busy and distracting photographs." and I said, "Sure!"

Still, there's something I like about these.

I love this little girl

Gingerbread Men

Here's my baby boo decorating his gingerbread man. This kid loves to make a mess.

For those of you who might care about camera stuff, I shot these RAW. I've always been afraid of all these different formats, but since my hero, *Jeff Ascough starting shooting RAW, I said, "Hey, what's good enough for my Jeff is good enough for me." (Sorry, sick obsession). So, much to my surprise, I loved the results! I also used JPEG to take a few of these, and the beautiful light that you see was all washed out looking. I did use the flash the entire time. Shooting RAW just looks so much more true to life (duh), and in these shots I didn't lose any of my light - even using my flash! I'm going to have to shoot RAW under some different conditions, but I think I'm sold. The light in these shots was filtered through a window in my kitchen, and the lights in the house were cut off. Anyway, the only draw back is that now I'm going to have to buy some more memory cards. Shooting this new way eats up space like mad!

www.jeffascough.net - my hero

As Pretty as a Picture...

This is Kaytlyn - the easiest child I will probably ever have the privilege of shooting. She happily let me snap away for almost 2 hours without even the slightest bit of complaining! Kaytlyn is the beautiful daughter of my long time friend, Duffy. Duffy was my maid of honor, and more like family to me than anything else. We've known each other since we were about 5 years old - same church. So today I took Kaytlyn's pictures for Duff's Christmas present, and to be honest, I feel like the one who got the present! I've never had more fun on a shoot!

Want to see more of Kaytlyn's shoot?? Sure you do! http://mommamarg.smugmug.com

Carpe Diem