So goes my summer…it’s hard to believe that it is already August!  For me, it feels as if summer just began.  And at the same time, each day has been long and busy and FULL.  In my head I’m hoping to just blow through my uncompleted task list with a ferocity like there’s no tomorrow.  Yet in reality, I’m lucky to get one project completed each week.  But I’ve decided I’m not going to beat myself up over it…summer days are dwindling, the kids will soon be back to school, schedules and deadlines will soon reappear.  There’s only a couple weeks of summer left.  I’m going to make them count.

On my list of to-do’s is to edit images from my lighting workshop last month in Utah.  Nichole Van is an amazingly talented, award-winning photographer in Utah with a knack for explaining the technical in understandable terms.  She and her husband were incredibly sweet, generous, and welcoming hosts to us and I cannot say enough great things about her.  She is my hero.  Seriously, I just love her to pieces!

I hope to share more about the workshop later but for now, just one quick image…In digital photography it is extremely difficult to get proper exposure when shooting extreme conditions.  For example, shooting in mid-day sun.  You must expose bright enough to get detail in your shadows and yet at the same time be cautious not to blow out your highlights.  In the first shot, the model is standing in the shade with the gorgeous mountains and sunny blue sky behind her in the background.  If you properly expose your subject, the background setting will be too bright, causing a blanket of white light to appear behind her.  If you properly expose the background and not the subject, she will appear dark and in the shadows (see image below).

There are two options…you can 1) combine two different exposures of the same image and then combine them into one image in Photoshop.  Or 2) you can add off-camera flash to the mix to properly light your subject.  The following image was taken with Nichole’s lighting setup using an AB800 (a powerful off-camera flash that I typically use in my studio images) and a parabolic umbrella (if my memory serves me correctly).  It was amazing to watch her work, turning an impossible lighting scenario into pure magic!  I was giddy with excitement when she let each of us have a turn at shooting this scene:

Who couldn’t love gorgeous models in a killer setting like this??  That’s it, I’m packing it up and we’re moving to UT! 

[Hahaha, honey (if you're reading this), I'm just kidding!  One can dream though, can't I?]

Besides being a rockstar teacher, she is also one beautiful mama-to-be!  Her pregnancy glow was absolutely radiant!

Thanks, M, for your patience…I can’t wait to meet your lil blessing soon!

I just got back from a phenomenal two-day workshop in Utah (more on that to come later…), and when I returned home I was welcomed by my loving husband and two sweet smiling faces, each bearing gifts for mommy to show they were thinking of me while I was gone.  My heart just melted.  I cannot tell you how incredibly loved I felt at that moment.  Indescribable, unconditional, and whole-heartedly.  My son has truly “grown-up” right before my eyes the past few weeks, and my eyes filled with tears as he sang the song he wrote especially for me.  He has such a loving, tender heart and continues to amaze me each day with how much he is just like his Daddy.

“You are more precious than rubies, gold, and silver

And the thing I need to say is I love you.

There is no need to worry, I have your hand.

I have your hand all of your life.”

And I am again reassured of what is most important in this life.

Um, yeah, that’s mom two months after having a baby…??   I think it has to be a crime to look that good!

These boys are always fun to photograph…in fact, this family was probably one of my very first to capture when I started out!  It has been a privilege and honor to watch these boys grow up and to be a part of their lives.  Thank you so much for choosing me to capture this precious time in your lives! 

Just a couple for now and more sneak peeks to come next week…I forsee lots of headswaps in my near future!  Bless these boys, it was a super hot summer day and we caught these in the last few minutes of our session.

I seem to be running a bit behind these days…summer seems to be throwing a wrench in my productivity!  Hope to get back on track soon and have your galleries ready as soon as I can.  Thanks for hanging in there with me!

You may recognize this beauty from our fabulous girly cupcake session, isn’t she a doll?

So you can imagine my excitement to have my family’s portraits taken by Angie…let’s just say, I was beside myself!  You should have seen me, I was a total mess getting ready for the session – so nervous and anxious…it was raining (like lightning and thundering!) outside…the kids were super crazy with excitement and COULD NOT SIT STILL for a second!…each of them cried at some point in the session….And in the midst of all that, Angie thankfully calmed my nerves, had a blast with the kids and shot some incredible images that I absolutely love and adore and will absolutely treasure for the rest of my life.

Without her permission, I can’t post our family’s sneak peeks to my blog, but you can go here to see for yourself!

I’ll be “unplugged” for the next few days, taking a break to spend some wonderful time with my wonderful family.  I’ll catch you on the flipside!

And I know you were probably wondering where the title of this post came from.  In the famous words of my rockstar teacher Jen Hillenga at Texas School, “Wait for it, wait for it….”

Now off to work on my son’s end of year slideshow.  I think there’s only a couple thousand images to go through!  Wish me luck, I’m gonna need it!