It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month!!

and in honor of that, our blog has gone PINK!!!

I will be walking in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on October 28! Two of my friends have had breast cancer. Unfortunately, I lost one of them 5 years ago. I will be walking in memory of her and in honor of my friend, Anita, who is a breast cancer survivor! I would love it if you would support me in that walk. Here is a link where you can make a donation... no amount is too small!!

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/MakingStridesAgainstBreastCancer/MSABCFY08Mid-South?px=3060378&pg=personal&fr_id=3541

FACES OF OLDHAM

Faces of Oldham is an art exhibit hosted by Gallery 104 and the Arts Association of Oldham County. I am one of about six local professional photographers who will be displaying work beginning October 4th.

If you are a client of mine I may be displaying one of your images! There is an open house on October 4th from 6-8 PM. There will be refreshments, a silent auction and an opportunity to VOTE for your favorite face of Oldham County! I would LOVE to see you there.... and get your vote.... ha ha ha...

For more information you can call me at 241-2956 or Gallery 104 at 222-3822.

My last session was something other than a Senior! I've been bombarded with Seniors lately, which is nice, but this was a nice change of pace. This family has been a client of mine since the beginning, so they hold a special fondness in my heart. All three little girls are just absolutely beautiful with piercing blue eyes!

Here are a couple from their session.

Here is "J's" sneak peek! We had a great time at the water front!

SENIORS, SENIORS, SENIORS.....

I am late at posting some of my sneak peeks! We have been having a great time this week with several seniors.... even venturing down to the waterfront.

This is "C". I photographed him at his home. He has such a great property with lots of beautiful places. I especially loved Buttercup!

Here you go "C"....

See, Amber....... White men CAN jump!!!

I DO......

Many of my regular clients are probably looking at this slideshow and thinking, "Wait a minute, she doesn't do weddings." Well, that all flew out the window on August 4th when my niece got married.... but don't get too excited because, really.....

I DON'T

Here are a few of what we captured. I have to say my favorite is the one of Amber throwing the boquet. Isn't that a scream???? The flowers totally popped off the stems! I love the look on her face!

This is "A". She and my daughter have been friends since FIRST GRADE.... and now they are seniors. It makes me want to cry. How time flies. I want to go back to elementary school volleyball and girl scouts.

Here you go "A". I hope you like your preview. You know you're one of my faves, and I wouldn't wanna let you down!!!

I am SO BAD at keeping this thing up to date! I apologize. Things have been crazy busy here.

Let's see... what's been going on....

Well, I had the wonderful opportunity of photographing the Taylor Orthodontics pool party a couple of weeks ago. It's always a great time. Dr. Taylor and his wife, Cindy, host this party every year as an appreciation to their patients. The kids (and adults, too!) have a great time. This year Dr. Taylor and Cindy served up snow cones to everyone prior to the pool party. I have some great shots of the kids, but I hesitate to post them since I didn't get permission...bummer. Well, here are a couple of snaps of Dr. Taylor and Cindy.

And, of course, we are in the height of the senior season!! Here are some of my recent faves!

A COUPLE FOR YOU "E"!

I had such a fun time photographing "E" the other night. She was such a trooper in the hot weather! Here are a few "sneak peeks" for you!

BACK FROM VACATION!

I'm baaack! Why does it seem that the work weeks go by so much slower than vacation weeks? Oh well.... We had a great vacation - 2 weeks! Woo Hoo! Our family went to Nolin Lake for a week and had a great time.

I took my backup camera on the boat (scary!) because I never seem to get snaps of our family life anymore. I was happy with what I was able to get.

Here is my hubby...

and daughter (what a HAM!)...

This is my son & a friend of his that went with us! They had SO MUCH FUN on that darn tube!

And this is my daugher and son on the tube. Whitney made some FUNNY expressions while on that tube...

Anyway, it's back to work full-swing. I started off this week with a session of a one-year old and three-year old and another of a senior girl. I will be posted your "sneak peeks" soon!!

JUSTIN WAKEFIELD FUND

Justin is making great improvements. He has gone from being in a coma to brushing his teeth! WOO HOO!

I wanted to do something, as small as it may be, to help the Wakefield family. Therefore, all senior session fees collected between now and August 31 will be donated to the Justin Wakefield fund.

To schedule a session, call me at 241-2956 or send me an email to angelan@insightbb.com.

Continue to pray for Justin and his family!

JUNK YARD DOGS!

Well we had our first session at the junkyard and it was too fun! I love that place. It was so awesome to see all of the old cars there. There was even an old bus!

Here is a sneak preview for "M".... Enjoy!

Busy, Busy, Busy

My senior session got rained out tonight! I know we need the rain, but COME ON! Well, we are going to try again tomorrow.

Just sitting here putting in some orders and thought I would put up some recent images.








Thanks for stopping by!

SENIORS 2008!!!!!!!

It's that time of year. We are starting up full force with senior sessions. I have just received approval from the owner of a junk yard here in Pewee Valley to do senior sessions there! I am real excited about that!! We should be able to create some awesome images there.

Here is a slideshow of some 2007 Seniors. These guys graduated last weekend. Congratulations!

SLIDESHOW DELETED

SEATBELTS SAVE LIVES......AND it's now Kentucky law, and for good reason. It was confirmed in my county paper that Justin was not wearing a seatbelt. I had heard it both ways. Thank God that Justin is still with us and we are praying for his recovery. I had another client who had a car accident and wasn't wearing a seatbelt, unfortunately he wasn't so "lucky". So, everyone please. It's a simple thing to do. BUCKLE UP.

Now on a more positive note, let's look at some awesome maternity images. This is "L". She is going to be welcoming her new "little man" in the middle of August. If he looks anything like her, he will be gorgeous.

Look what was over my house today! I hope this is a good sign of things to come.

Everyone please keep praying for Justin! He remains in a coma after the doctors removed a small section of his skull yesterday to alleviate the pressure. Today his eyes are reacting to light and the pressure is at an acceptable level. We need to keep those prayers coming!

So sorry about the delay in my posts! Things have been hectic here at the studio. I did want to jump on and ask everyone for prayers. One of my daughter's friends was in a serious car accident last Sunday morning. He is such a great guy. We would really appreciate your prayers. Here is one of his senior images that I snapped last year!

Please pray for Justin!

This is T. I haven't seen her since she was a newborn! She had the cutest expressions during her session. I think mommy will LOVE this one. It's one of my most requested shots, and T loved seeing herself in that mirror!

One of my favorite things about this job is seeing how much the kids change between each time they come to see me! It's amazing!

Here is Ms. R and we can't forget her older brother C. He will definitely be a heartbreaker when he grows up!

For the first time ever, my family decided to go to Florida for Spring Break. We always shyed away from it because we were a little concerned about all those crazy kids down there, and many without adult supervision. One thing I like to make sure of when I am on vacation is that I get enough SLEEP. I didn't want partying teenagers keeping me awake all night! But we got jealous of all those people coming back to school and work in early April with those beautiful tans and looking all relaxed..... so we went for it!

Our friends Mary and Jim have several condos in Panama City, and they were also going down, so we decided to go there. My husband had to be back at work on Thursday night, so we had to leave Saturday morning and start on our way back on Wednesday - only 3 real days on the beach.

I've always said I have this black cloud following me around. It's one of the reasons I don't fly. It just seems like at times I have terrible luck. Well, this would be no exception. It wasn't the partying kids we needed to worry about though, it was the weather!! When we arrived in Panama City it was 55 degrees!!!! The entire time we were there it was cloudy, windy and cold. I don't know if it ever got over 60! Now, you might think that 60 is pretty warm.... not on the beach! The wind coming off of that ocean makes it feel much colder than 60.

We decided to leave a day early and come back home. But, of course, the beautiful weather returned to the Emerald Coast on Thursday (the day we went back to work) where the temperature hit 80 degrees with beautiful sunny skies..... At least Mary and Jim were able to pull out a few beautiful days.

Being a photographer, I always have to take family photographs wherever we go, and this was no exception. We were soooo cold in this picture! My ears hurt they were so cold!

The very first baby I ever photographed came into the studio the other day! Wow, how time flies. He now has a little sister, too!

Well, I failed to get my Easter promo cards out in the mail timely for most people to take advantage of the 50% session savings. I am going to extend that offer through this Friday! Call and schedule your easter session by Friday and pay only $25 for the session. A savings of $25!

We are having fun with the Limited Edition Easter Swing! Here are some recent visitors to the studio.

Spring is fast approaching and we are getting ready for Easter at the studio! We worked all week setting up our Limited Edition Easter set. Our theme this year is "Easter Swing". We have several different sets to choose from when you come in for your session this year!

Once again, we will have discounted collections from $99. Schedule your session by Friday, March 9 and receive your session for $25 (that's a $25 savings!!). Book now because this offer WILL end March 9!

Congratulations, Ben!!!!

Ben was one of my 2007 Seniors I had the pleasure of photographing this year. I watched his wrestling career eagerly all year. What an athlete!

Ben gave away only four points to his opponents this entire year. That is quite an achievement in itself! But that wasn't good enough for Ben.... He went on to win the 135 pound 2007 State Championship!!!

Go, Ben! You've done yourself and Oldham County proud! I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Feel free to publish your comments to Ben on this blog. (All comments will be screened.)

(name and likeness published with permission)

Will we FINALLY get some snow???? I don't know about all of you, but I am missing the snow this year. I like to get a couple of good snow events each year. If it's going to be cold, it might as well snow, right? Well they are finally forecasting some snow here for Sunday.

If it does happen, get out your cameras, take your kids outside and start snapping away. I thought in honor of the possible event, I would offer some photography tips for photographing your kids in the snow.

#1 - Try not to direct your children's actions. Capture those fun moments of their thrill of the first snow of the season!

#2 - Exposure - this is a little tricky with all that bright white snow around. Your camera will be reading the light from all of the white, rather than the actual exposure of your subject, causing underexposure. If there is a lot of white in your frame, you will want to "trick" your camera by adding a little exposure compensation. You should try adding anywhere from +1 to +2 stops. This will keep that beautiful snow from looking all grey and drab and have your subject looking perfect!

#3 - Shutter Speed - As always, if there is fast action you will want a faster shutter speed so that your children aren't a big blur! Or, for a different effect, try "panning" your camera. Try a shutter speed of 1/30, and follow the action with your camera after clicking the shutter button. This will create a cool effect of movement with your subject.

#4 - White Balance - If your camera has a custom white balance feature, definitely use that when photographing in snow.

Follow the above tips, bundle up and have some fun! Send me some sample! I would love to see what you end up with. Here is one of my favorites of my kiddos from a couple of years ago using some B&W film.

This is my first newborn of the new year! Welcome Alissa Holladay Gates, daughter of Heather and Jim Gates. Isn't she beautiful?