Sunkissed

I forgot my lens hood yesterday when I brought my camera along on Alex’s walk.  Alex has this thing where he sometimes “flattens out” on his walks when he gets really tired and there happens to be a nice patch of grass nearby.  He’s SUCH as basset hound.  So yesterday he flattened out, as you can see below, and I took the opportunity to snap a few pics of my two boys.  The sun was in a really difficult position and I didn’t have my lens hood (both Alex and Adam hate getting their pictures taken, so it’s not like I could ask them to move – I’d have only gotten some eye rolls and a “yeah right”).  I tried to maneuver around the boys and get different angles, but it just wasn’t working.  So in the photo below I used my left hand (right hand was working the camera) as a hood substitute, blocking the sun, and was able to get this shot:

It’s okay.  And the hand technique worked pretty well.  And I’d love to experiment more with this in the future.  But I don’t really like the above photo nearly as much as the following ones.  I know that sun flare isn’t technically proper, and I know that you should never, never point your lens directly at the sun.  But this was the angle I wanted to use to capture my boys in this so-sweet moment.  So I took my hand away and just shot the angle, sun flare and all.  And I kind of love it.  
And I love this one more.  
(Alex was so tired he was full-mouth-open panting.  Ten minutes later, he hopped up and bounded away, like “okay, I’m ready for round two!”)
Here’s that dreaded sun flare again.  But you know what, sometimes it just works!

Sandy - April 13, 2012 - 12:56 am

I really like the last photo on the left with the sun rays. How neat!

Cindy Kehl - April 10, 2012 - 4:08 am

I love the story, and the pictures. The sun flare seemed natural, and made me feel the mood of the pictures, as well as the warm weather! Sure wish we had your weather here! Thanks for sharing the pictures of your boys!!!

(Last) Sunday Gabs

Last weekend I needed to take a break from TAX PREPARATION (ugh) so I grabbed my camera, wandered around my house, and took some “happy snaps”.  There was some lovely light coming in my living room windows, so here’s Larry the Plant.  Larry is special (and has a name) because I’ve had him for 14 1/2 years.  And he’s still alive.  This is truly miraculous.  I can’t keep anything alive more than a few weeks, and Larry is not only still alive, but has survived four moves across the country and is now on his sixth house.   He started out as a seed in a dixie cup (I bought him at a Nature Club-or something-fundraiser in high school) and now look at him.  :)  Actually, he’s not looking too great because he recently had an episode of some weird mold/fungus/I don’t know what and I had to repot him – I hope he’ll be okay.  Anyway, beautiful window light!

Spring is in the air!
We had a delightful rain storm last weekend and this is what it looked like at about 8 in the morning.
And finally here is Alex.  On the left: 7:30-8:00 am.  On the right: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.  Pretty much every day.  :)  He loves “his” window, as we call it.  When he is not sleeping one of his favorite things to do (besides go on a walk) is to sit by his window and look for cats.  He hates cats.  Goes crazy about them.  And is therefore always on the alert for them.  He is totally like a crabby old geezer sittin’ on his front porch yelling at all the kids who ride by on their bikes.
Hope you had a good week!

Sunday Gabs

1) This is Alex yesterday.  He really does not like having his picture taken.  I tried to get a photo of him looking up at me for the longest time and this is the best he eventually did – in the 10 minutes leading up to this photo he was super annoyed and refused to lift his head or look at me.  It is the funniest thing.  He hates the camera.  Oh yes, I tried getting down on his level and even getting below his level to get a picture of his face, and everywhere I moved, he moved too, in the opposite direction, like he’d get up and walk away, or turn his head away, or otherwise thwart my picture-taking plans.  But I eventually got this one and he’s still a cutie.  :)

2) Raise your hand if you are obsessed with Pinterest.  GAWD, I spend way too much time on the internet, looking for things to pin.  In about a week I will literally have my entire future dream house completely planned in Pinterest photos, right down to the wainscoting in the cute little nook where my breakfast banquette will be.  Because apparently in my dream house I have a breakfast banquette.  And apparently it is absolutely crucial that I plan my entire dream house right now.  Thank you, Pinterest.  :-\

3) I have this week off from work!!  Woohoo!!  It’s “midwinter break”, which I have never had before (in my two previous school districts/states), but let me tell you it is a blessing!  I have sooooo much to get done and I’ve been looking forward to this break for a long time.  FINALLY, I can tackle my kitchen disaster.  That was today’s quest (I’m almost finished!) – yes, an entire day devoted to cleaning my kitchen, THAT’S HOW BAD IT GOT over the past few weeks.  I even took a picture of the mounds of dishes swallowing my countertops, just to have evidence, but I won’t make you look at it.  You would totally go all Macauley Culkin in Home Alone.  I am not even kidding.

4) All in all, it’s been a productive and wasteful weekend.  Kitchen.  Pinterest.  Kitchen.  Pinterest.  Hope yours was as well!

Robin {Senior Portraits}

At long last, here are Robin’s Senior photos!  I blogged a sneak peak a LONG time ago, and experimented with textures on a few here.  But finally I’m getting around to the full post from this super-fun Senior session last summer in Albuquerque.  Robyn is so, so beautiful and it was pure joy to photograph her.  Adam was with me acting as my assistant, and Robyn brought her boyfriend along for support – the four of us had a fun time trying to make each other (but mostly Robin) laugh, which resulted in some VERY BAD joke-telling.  No really, it was seriously horrid.  :)  I think I even told my signature joke:  ”Hey, do you wanna hear a joke?”  ”Sure.”  ”So do I!”  Hahaha…?  Anyway…We split our time between the Botanic Gardens and downtown Albuquerque, and found some really gorgeous backgrounds (for a gorgeous subject!).  Congratulations, Robin, on soon becoming a high school graduate!  Go Class of 2012!  

S.W.A.G.

This weekend has been one of the best weekends I’ve had in a long time.  I spent Friday night, all day Saturday, and most of today at the Professional Photographers of South Carolina (PPSC) annual convention.  I have been a member of PPA (Professional Photographers of America) since the opening of my business, but I hadn’t joined PPSC until this weekend, even though we moved here six months ago.  Just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.  You know how it goes.  So I got a postcard in the mail a few weeks ago advertising the convention and thought, “hey, I really need to join PPSC”, but more than that I started to get really excited about the convention.  The postcard promised exciting workshops from some true giants of our industry – Tim Kelly, Hanson Fong, and Bobby Carlsen – and also the hilarious success-extraordinaire Aaron Johnson (of What The Duck fame).  And I have to say the convention did not disappoint!

I have had a really amazing, eye-opening, educational, “professionally developmental” time at the convention these past few days, and I have SOOOOO much to think about, analyze, scrutinize, and plan for my business and my photography technique and know-how.  In the coming months you are going to see some changes at Sarah Kehl Photography, changes that I am confident are needed and for the best, and will help take my business and my photos where I want them to go!  I am pretty dang excited….  :)