Try Something New

Sometimes it's nice to try something new.  I have a bunch of photos in my house of my children and for some reason, they all look the same to me.  The kids are younger or older in each one, some are inside, others outside, but they all have the same look to them.   Here are a few photos I've messed with a bit, changing to black and white, boosting contrast and saturation, even adding a little photoshop sunshine... 

Now, I'm not saying these are groundbreaking by any means.  But they're not the same old/same old either.  Don't be afraid to find your style.  Experiment.  Try adding a border or softening the edges.  You just might find you're inspiring someone else to mix it up a bit too!

Calling All Waukesha County Seniors!

I'm busy this week sending out my latest offer...

High School Senior Portraits!

I've been learning through parents that some companies in the area are charging nearly $1,000 for graduation portraits.  That's crazy talk!  Smile Out Loud Photography is offering your sitting and a photo DVD of all the prints in the session, for  - let's just say hundreds and hundreds LESS than that.  It's a great investment.  I'm an on-location photographer, so call me or visit my website www.smileoutloudphoto.com and we'll book a date at your favorite location in Waukesha County.  I'll snap a few photos while we talk and I'm hoping you'll be surprised and delighted with the results.   Don't miss your chance.  I have a pretty heavily scheduled fall coming up, thanks to a fabulous fundraiser I'm doing... so you'll want to book now. I'm thrilled to be embarking on a whole new aspect of my photography business - High School Seniors! 

One More For The Road

Smiles for Miles

I have spent a bit of time the last few weeks following the blog created by a woman from the midwest who has a baby who is very sick.  

Every day, several times a day, I've been checking in with this mom who is doing her very best to keep it together in the face of some daunting odds.  Her youngest son has a very serious heart condition and has been in the hospital for weeks, enduring procedures, needle pricks and surgeries and as of this morning, nothing has really changed.  I can read in her words that she's really frustrated and sad for her baby's situation.

Now, here's where there's something for all of us to learn.  Here are my kids, just yesterday, out at a park where I've been taking photos documenting the creation of my city's first universally accessible playground.  

My kids are happy and thankfully, healthy and I should let go all the frustrations and momentary disgressions and just be.  Just be with them and enjoy them and experience life with them because it's all so fragile and fleeting, isn't it?

My children are so wonderful at bringing me back to reality - where I should live more often - and helping me realize that life is today, now, this very moment... so smile!

Happy, Happy Easter!

We're having a very good holiday!  Here are a few photos of what we've been up to the last few days.  We've colored our traditional dozens of hard-boiled eggs.  You'll forgive me if I happen to have a favorite... check out the egg that Caitlin made, pretty special!  We've hit up the Easter Egg Hunt in Okauchee.  The kids had a fantastic time running around like little crazy people for a minute and a half and filling their baskets full of more candy that we don't need.  Today my parents came over for church and dinner.  Lots of fun!  Now we're on to a full week of spring break.  We're not going anywhere this year, but we're bound and determined to have a great time.  We'll just have to make our own fun!  Stay tuned!

Mini Montage

A few days ago I shared with you all a few of the custom card samples I've been working on putting together.  Here a few more.  I should also tell you I've been playing around with creating montages too.  Can you tell?  I'm so excited to bring these to life - finally - after thinking about them for so many months.  This is the kind of thing that I really enjoy... a nice photo presented in a nice way.  I have always tried to put together a really nice Christmas card.  It's the one time of the year I get to send a message to so many people on my Christmas list.  I want that one communication to be classy!  No sense in sending out something I'm not proud of!   Anyway... there are so many more great styles and colors available.  You can see them all on my website.  

Hat Parade

Jackson's kindergarten class marched in their very own 'Hat Parade' in school yesterday.  Each student made their own version of an Easter hat or bonnet and paraded single file through the older kids' classrooms.  They had a great time! I whipped up a hat for Jackson at the last minute, but I think it turned out pretty nice... complete with bunny ears and plastic eggs.  Other kids covered their hats in chicks and Easter basket grass... it was a lot of fun to see what every one had come up with.  I think I'll keep ahold of some of the other photos I took during the parade.  I'll use them as leverage with Jackson and his group of friends when they're teenagers!

Jackson John

INTRODUCING...

the newest products available through smile out loud photography!

I've been working hard the last few months to put these together and am so happy to finally be able to share them with you!

Christmas Cards...

High School Senior Graduation Announcements...

Birth Announcements

All now available through my website, www.smileoutloudphoto.com

There are dozens of styles and colors to choose from... each comes with complimentary envelopes and I've competitively priced them so that they're affordable even in this tough economy.  Please take a look - see what you like - and don't forget to book your sitting so that you don't miss out on the chance to share your life's wonderful memories - with style!

Broken

Well, here he is - not even two full weeks after his last trip to the emergency room.  You'll notice the bright green cast on his left arm.  There was an unfortunate series of biking/crashing events on Saturday that left my littlest with a greenstick fracture in his left forearm.  Let me tell you, I've had better weekends.  I just am having a hard time figuring out why he's always on the short end of the safety stick.  He really loves life.  He's an all or nothing kind of kid, guess that's probably my answer. The funny thing is that each and every time he has some sort of minor disaster, he walks away thinking that absolutely everything is fine and I look/feel like a bomb just went off.  Is this motherhood?  Jackson is five.  That leaves approximately another 40 years or so that I'll be worrying about him.  Guess I'd better get used to it.  At this very moment he's begging to ride his bike around the block.  I don't know how much more of this I can take?  Does anyone have any bubble wrap?

Comparison

This is the original print of Jackson, the one with no touchups... guess I should have included that in the first place.  Not easy to decide if it's too much or nicely done if you don't know what I started with.  So, take a look...