Christmas Tree Preview:

Newborn Pictures: Cade

I was so excited when Ashley asked me to do her son's pictures a few months ago!!! I've been wanting to take newborns for a LONG time but didn't think I would get the chance unless we had a #3 come along ourselves. This little one is so adorable! Thank you to his mommy for letting me!

Pumpkin Patch 2014

The sun light here is very intense. Even as we head into fall it's really challenging to shoot in full sunlight here! I am playing around with my camera setting, because while I would always LOVE to shoot during golden hour, that isn't realistic!

Birthday Pictures

Finally the weather and my schedule were able to coincide and I could actually shoot golden hour shots for the first time! It absolutely surprises me that my mellow child is the hardest to get to pose for pictures. My crazy, jump all over the place child is a lot more cooperative! So while these didn't turn out as good as I had hoped, I still love them!!

ColoRADo Adventures: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

(The big show stopper here is feeding the giraffes! This little boy showed no fear!)

(This chipmunk was a little familiar with people!)

(Our boys are so good about going on adventures with their parents but they do have their moments. Somebody was begging to go back to the car after all the walking we made him do.)

(The picture quality is poor but I can't get over her facial expression!)

(This little beauty was so fun to watch. That's the sleeve of a shirt she tore off!)

FMS Photo-a-day Challege: Week of May 4th

May 4th: Us

May 5th: 4pm

May 6th: From Down Low

(We went and checked out "The Cave of the Winds!" This ladder was one of the ways you would get out back in the old days.)

May 7th: From Above

**FAIL**

(In my defense, our stuff arrived and we wanted to get it all organized so I have a good excuse!)

May 8th: Blue

**Fail**

May 9th: Favorite 

**Fail**

May 10th: In the Garden

(Garden of the Gods!)

Gender Reveal Photos:

A friend of mine let me take her gender reveal photos last week! We did some for both boy and girl just so she wouldn't have to keep family waiting on the big day.

I won't reveal what she is having here :) But I had so much fun taking her pics! Thank you Ashley!!

ColoRADo Adventures: Pike's Peak

(Pike's Peak)

I am horrible. I start a new blog and go MIM (aka Missing In Moving) but I have been taking lots of pictures! I just haven't been great about posting them here. Once we secured a place to live we have been exploring like crazy! The other day we made the ascent up Pike's Peak.  For those not in the know, Pike's Peak is one of what are known as the Fourteeners or in lay terms, a mountain that exceeds 14,000 ft. There are 53 of them in Colorado and much to our surprise, Pike's Peak only comes in at #30 at 14,115 ft above sea level! To give you an idea of just how high that is, my husband has never been that high flying a helicopter and he went over the Cascade Range. As we got closer to the top we felt the all too familiar symptoms of altitude sickness settling in again. The drive is BEAUTIFUL although a bit daunting if you look down during the switch backs. I didn't know I had a fear of driving really close to a cliff face. That got the heart pumping for sure! When we made it too the top, it was a bit colder than we had planned so I just jumped out really fast and grabbed some pictures from the top and we headed back down. Every time we see "El Capitán" we tell the boys, "You were ALL the way up there!" 

( From the Top: You can see where they forest caught fire last year. I of course knew it got close to the city but when you see how close it's enough to make you go through and update your 72 hour kits!)

(This area is about half way up the drive to the top. The crazy part was watching people climb up all that way to snowboard down! Paying for a ski lift ticket doesn't seem that bad now.)

(On the switchbacks. Much more intense going down than up. Especially when you see where people have hit the guard rails! This is a good place to make sure you keep it on the road...)

First Family Photo Shoot: The Jeromes

Yesterday I was honored to take pictures for a great family in my ward! When I originally agreed I didn't know it was going to be their daughter's blessing day! I was so excited to be able to capture these shots on their special day. But this also made me more nervous! I am still editing but I wanted to give them a preview so here is one of the images from the shoot:

Their baby is so cute!! It definitely helps when the subjects are so photogenic! 

Thank you Jeromes and family for letting me do this!

Photo a Day Challenge 11:

Day 11: Three of a kind

This is an older picture. But things got crazy today so I am using an old one. These guys are really three of a kind. The little one's definitely take after their father in so many respects. 

A Photograph a Day Challenge:

Taking the advice of the amazing photographer, Andrea Child over at Tea Tree Photography, I decided to find a Photo A Day Challenge to keep my skills sharp and develop some new ones. So I found this great blog that I am in love with. 

She has a great photo of the day challenge! I won't be posting updates on Facebook everyday because I love you guys and don't want to flood your news feeds with "Oooh look Kayli took ANOTHER picture..." as your cursor finds its way to the "hide all" button. But if you would like to follow along be sure to follow this blog! 

Today's challenge:

10. My Fave Part of the Day

I would have to say my favorite part of the day is just sitting back and watching my kids play. I love seeing them learn on their own and experiencing the world around them. I remember those days. Not having to worry about money, bills, job security...all those things that will come for them in time. Right now they are completely free of those. Free to play, laugh, explore and grow!

{Getting the Perfect Shot}

To quote Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain:

 "Fire enough bullets and hope to hit the target."

This is basically the style I started out with in photography. For my oldest's third birthday, I took him to a beautiful park and followed him around for three hours just snapping away! I played with settings until, out of hundreds of photos, I had maybe about ten that really worked.

I have learned that photography is just like any other art form. It takes practice...then more practice and then more practice! 

As I get better and more familiar with my camera and the different settings, I am not having to take as many pictures to get the good ones. Which is good because my kids are losing patience with mommy wanting to practice all the time! 

If you are like me and want to get into the photography world, my first suggestions would be to learn about your camera's settings, take the darn thing off auto and PRACTICE!

Since my kids are fed up with the sound of my shutter, I have branched out to practicing on non family members. I had my first photo shoot  a couple weeks ago. I was terrified! But I got some cute pictures from it!  It majorly helped that he was one of the cutest little boys I had ever seen. I'm not charging to take photos right now because I simply don't feel that good yet. I need more experience to build up my confidence. Once I know I can deliver a more quality product and I'm not shooting like "An American" I will start charging a modest fee. But right now that feels like such a far ways off! Coming up I am having my first family shoot! And I am so excited, but oh so very nervous.  I will post how it goes!

Birthday Pictures:

The First Post

I am an Army wife. Mother of two. Wanna be great photographer!

I am exaggerating when I say I am a newbie.

But one talent I do have is appreciation for good art.

I can't paint, draw, play beautiful music, write...

There came a point where I didn't want to just appreciate art. I wanted to create art myself. 

It all started when taking my son to get birthday pictures taken at a photo studio, but I still wanted them taken. So I decided to do it myself. And thus my journey began.

I've come a long way from my point and shoot on automatic. I've finally gained the courage to actually photograph people other than my children. This blog will serve to record my journey through learning this craft! And you can bet there will be lots of blundering about and mistakes. And maybe a few laughs!