Vintage Love

I will confess that I love all things vintage and also that I am a prop junkie. Most of my things were inherited but I have a crazy idea that may come to fruition one day that I could have a photography prop rental business along with my love of photography. To be able to rent props I have to build up my inventory, right? That is the excuse I use anyway. However, I have tried to limit myself somewhat with the caveat that my props have to be used in my home decor. I found the vintage globe awhile back and have wanted to use it for something that just collecting dust. I threw together my starfish and some sand, glitter and seashells in mason jars and voila! Somewhat eclectic but I love how this photo session turned out with the yellow dress that I just adore and is on it's way to being too small so perfect time to torture my princess with more photos. We headed outside to cozy up with one of my prized possessions: my antique crazy quilt made from silk neckties. Obtained at one of my favorite antiques stores up in Pennsylvania over 15 years ago. It also had been collecting dust hanging on the wall. I am glad I took it down and cuddled Miss "S" up.

Twinkle, Twinkle...

Twinkle, twinkle it's a little princess. I threw together this little mini session for two reasons. The first reason was to test out the twinkle light background I had read about and the second reason was to capture a few shots of the the lace crown I made to match Miss "S" and her current favorite dress. My little princess was in rare form and did the cutest poses on her own. This will probably not be repeated but c'est la vie.

 

Miss "S" Winter Wonderful

I wanted to get some photos done of Miss "S" in the super cute sweater and boots that I finally broke down and bought this year. I had searched for somewhere close to the house and finally found a field right down the road in the back of a subdivision. After the frustration of another failed attempt at getting some photos of a three-year old that was not interested in taking photos, I decided it was time to find someone to help me. I asked the daughter of a good friend of mine to assist me in getting the photos I envisioned and it was the best session I have ever done. After a bit of exploration near the tall grass at the back of the field we found some trails that had been cut through the grass and the light was so awesome! Even though it was mid-morning, it was filtered by the trees making for some great shots. Love, love, love them!

Photography 101 Workshop Winner!

I can't believe I forgot to post about this! On May 24th I found out that I won the giveaway spot in Maggie Holmes' Photography 101 Workshop that will be held online July 9th - August 18th!! I am so looking forward to this workshop and learning how to use my camera!

http://maggieholmes.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/05/photography-workshops-giveaway-winners.html

The Adventures of Samantha Marie

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Adventure Is Out There!

Here is another chapter in our crazy adventures. I was really inspired by the movie "UP" since that is one of Samantha's favorite movies and we watch it all the time. So, since the train tracks and balloon photo shoot was fairly quick (partly because of the balloons being let go during that session, perhaps by me), Kristi of Kristi Kruse Photography (www.kristikrusephotography.com) graciously offered to shoot a part II of our first session. More balloons and then of to a field at an abandoned house. Samantha's Dzia-Dzia (my dad) and Aunt Christie were in town visiting so they came along for the ride. I thought that Samantha would have a good time with her balloons and having a field to explore. Well, the humidity was high that evening and she evidently did not care for how high the grass was since she just kept saying "get me out of the grass!". It also did not help that as we got out of the car and walked to the field that it started thundering and you could see the storm coming off in the distance! Despite all of this, Kristi captured some really awesome photos.

Here is the link the the Facebook post that Kristi put up: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.359008577496211.85507.117544851642586&type=1

Samantha in a Vintage Travel Photo Shoot

Words cannot begin describe how I feel about how the photos from Samantha's Vintage Travel photo shoot turned out. They are absolutely GORGEOUS! So many thanks to Rebecca at Red Bridge Photography for working with me on this photo shoot. Also, a huge thanks to my best friend and Samantha's godmother, Melissa Rains, for taking time out of her workday to help distract and wrangle Samantha into the photo session. I don't think we could have gotten the smiles from her without her help.

I had planned to have Samantha's two year photos done during the Christmas break but with Thanksgiving, Samantha's 2nd birthday and Christmas all within weeks of each other, I just didn't have time to get everything together. I also had a hard time deciding what direction I wanted to go with the photo shoot. I just love to plan these photo shoots for her, coming up with an idea, bringing the props together and making something great happen. While perusing Etsy (awesome place to find things handmade and vintage) I found the dress made by Corinna Couture (love her stuff!). The black flower hair clip is from Ruby Blue, Inc on Etsy. I started out with a kind of Valentine/Love theme but it ended up being a Vintage Travel theme. I had the milk glass that was my grandmother's, the vintage Kodak cameras were a gift from the owner of the Ye Olde Vineyard Antique store in North East, PA years ago and I found the suitcases and chair on Etsy and antique stores. The trunk was borrowed and the smaller vintage camera is Rebecca's. The pearls hanging out of one of the bowls are from Samantha's one-year photos (I think I may try to work them into the photos every year). I just loved how it turned out. 

The photos were taken at The Cotton Room in Durham. I originally had paid to reserve the space for two hours but when we got there it was set up with about 50 tables, people all over hanging things from the ceiling and setting for an event that was later that evening. There was also a cake on a table in the corner we needed to use. Evidently there was some miscommunication and I ended up getting my money back and they moved the cake table but not without some confrontations and going up and down three flights of stairs with a two year old! Everything worked out in the end and Rebecca was just awesome, staying longer than normal just so we could get everything the way I wanted it.

Here is a link to Rebecca's blog post about the session on the Red Bridge Photography website: http://redbridgephoto.com/?p=1691

As Rebecca said in her blog post, a photo shoot can seem chaotic at the time and with a little one running around you can’t be sure you captured anything that you wanted. This was our fourth photo session with Rebecca and I don't need to worry about what I will get since I have been so happy with all of the results of Rebecca's talent. Thank you so much Rebecca for these beautiful photographs that we will always treasure!!