Yes, I Know, It's Been Awhile

Things are finally slowing down around here. Ok, maybe not, but at least things are getting to a manageable level.

The day job kept me hopping between May and June. On my birthday (June 30th; be sure to mark your calendars, as I always love e-greetings on my special day, LOL), my oldest son, Chris, came home for two weeks between assignments. He got out of South Korea, after serving a year there, and is now over in the Azores for the next 15 or so months. He's loving it there!

During Chris' visit, my husband, Johnny, was rear-ended on his way to work. So insurance work ensued. The week following Chris' departure brought Johnny's neck/back surgery, to include a 4 day hospital stay (making me so glad that we chose our local doctor so that he could be admitted to the hospital where we both work). I am also very thankful to my powers-that-be for allowing me to take a portable phone and laptop up to the second floor so I could continue working while sitting with him.

Now that he's two weeks and a few days post op, the staples have been removed, his pre-op pain is gone, and now we have to focus on keeping him busy doing things that he enjoys, but won't mess with his healing, which is proving to be quite challenging. He is not a couch 'tater by nature.

Prior to the early-summer festivities, I was given an outstanding opportunity to be a photo-journalist for a local publication, here in Wayne County. If you get a moment to do so, please go check out Down Home Magazine's web site. You can view past issues in PDF format. Prior to Johnny's surgery, I was shooting and writing for the upcoming issue. I'm very excited about this one, because it is personal to me. I can't tell you about it now, but maybe I'll share with you, after publication, why the most recent article is near and dear to me. :)

Over this past weekend I was able to do two shoots. One was the 9 month portrait of my favorite red-headed bundle of joy, and her big sister, who is also a stunning red-head. The following day I did a maternity shoot for a friend of mine who is also a red-head, as is her daughter, and significant other.

During the first shoot, I learned that 44 is no match for 9 months and mobile! That child was hard core mobile. :) She was sweet as could be, but fast as all get-out! What's a photographer to do? Get on the floor and try to keep up, of course! Sometimes the baby is faster than the shutter finger, however, soooo...But we got some good shots, both of her and her big sister and the two of them together. I always enjoy those girls when they visit. They are well behaved, sweet tempered, and just as good as gold. :)

Right before I started the shoot Saturday, I found that I had black swallowtail butterfly eggs/larvae in my parsley plant, which gave me the idea for my other blog, which I call The Butterfly Chronicles. I started taking pictures for my camera-as-science-project blog that day. Follow the above link and check it out. :)

On Sunday, my friend Crystal came to the studio to graciously let me take pictures of her mid-section. Honestly? This girl glows! I know every pregnant woman is beautiful (at least in my humble opinion), but pregnancy really suits Crystal. She brought her boyfriend, Will, and daughter, Amber and let me go to town on them with the camera.

I had never taken maternity portraits before, and was really looking forward to the opportunity. My red-headed 9 month old session from the day before was supposed to be my first, but she decided to take the plunge into life outside the womb about a week before our scheduled shoot. :)

Crystal, Will, and Amber were very gracious about letting me into their world for an hour that afternoon. There is something really intimate about shooting an expectant family. I was priveledged to be allowed into that inner sanctum for that time.

Sprinkled throughout this blog are images from both shoots. I hope that you've enjoyed reading my blog thus far, even though I know I've been rather slack about keeping up with it, lately.