My Nieces!!! | KE365 | D67

Meet Siena & Natalie, my gorgeous nieces. We got together for a session at a beautiful park in Columbus called Inniswood Metro Gardens. I know how much my sister appreciates the black and whites, these are some of my favorites at a first glance.

Siena is a wonderful sister to Natalie. Having a sister means you always have someone to talk to, lean on and help you to learn and discover. Siena and Natalie are so lucky to have each other just as I was lucky to have an awesome sister growing up.

She was being so sweet and cooperative showing Natalie the roses. I absolutely *LOVE* this next one of Siena, it reminds me so much of my sister growing up. The eyes, the expression and even the gaze off to the side. Just like my sister.

If there was an award for best pouty face my niece Siena would totally win it. She is truly a pro and some of my favorite images of her over the years aren't even the smiling ones, they are the pouting ones because she is just plain adorable.

It was so much fun photographing them, and I'll have some special ones with Kailyn and her cousins I will be posting later.

The Bug | KE365 | D66

I would love to know what these little guys are called, my husband is figuring they're a type of beetle...

Anyone know? Either way it was pretty cool how curious they were about what I was doing. One even came over closer like he wasn't afraid at all.

Evening Wetlands | KE365 | D65

Back to the good old wetlands again, except this time the sun was setting...

There is something enchanting about the wetlands and I feel so lucky to have grown up with it close by. On our last trip the boardwalk was completely flooded so we didn't make it very far into the park.

This time I was so relieved to walk all throughout the park and see how much additional land has been preserved since I was a child. The park and boardwalk must have tripled in size since then.

Rose of Sharon & New Sight | KE365 | D64

This one is for my mom and my daughter. My mother's beautiful flower in both name and bragging rights for gardening ability and at my daughters request.

My daughter is taking a huge interest in art and photography already. Constantly telling me what to take a picture of and what needs to be hanging in her room. If I am getting this at two and a half I can only imagine what the next few years will bring!

One thing I love about this project which I've probably said before is that I see the things I've been photographing for years in a completely different way now and my images reflect it. I photographed the living room in my parents house countless time for photography classes through the year, the light in there at any point in the day is stunning. Somehow after years of photographing it, I can go in there and take new images that are remarkably different from anything I've ever thought to capture in there.

The Fly | KE365 | D63

For Day 63 I didn't want to post another image of a daisy, since I must have had 10 posts with the flowers so far. A lot of my images lately have been taken in my parents backyard. They had been out of town so my daughter and I were there nearly everyday taking care of the cats and watering plants. We were getting ready to water and then this fly landed... I couldn't resist. So apologies in advance... another daisy! =)

Looking Up | KE365 | D62

No matter how low you get, looking up again is always captivating.

The Horses | KE365 | D61

Day 61 wasn't filled with major technical discoveries or artistic revelations. It was filled with a lot of family time and some needed relaxation. As for the photo of the day, the horses:

The grass is always greener...

Kind Eyes (above & below)

It's pretty obvious my daughter was excited. She loves horses and says hello to them every single time we drive by.

Flying | KE365 | D60

Again with the symbols, this awesome butterfly was hanging out with the kids at my High School Reunion Picnic. I love butterflies, they are so beautiful but what I really love about them is they always seem to show up at exactly the right moment. For example after my grandpa passed who was one of the greatest men in the world to me, my family was out on our patio right after the funeral and the same species of butterfly that had been on the image of everything at his funeral showed up on our flowers and stayed there for a long time. I will never forget that moment, it and the butterfly are burned into my memory.

Butterflies can symbolize so many things from growth and life cycle to beauty and independence.

I thought I would be posting images of the reunion, both yesterday and today. After I got to the happy hour celebration Friday though, I sat and talked, relaxed for a change and really didn't take any images at all. That is so unusual but I'm really glad that is what I decided to do.

Then at the reunion this butterfly shows, luckily my friend Rion pointed it out and I got a chance to capture this one:

To me it seems that all throughout high school I was in a cocoon, but now my wings are out and I'm flying.

I did take some images at my reunion picnic at least, other than the butterfly of course. I got some shots of some of the offspring from our class which I will share later over on my FB page.

Becoming Extinct | KE365 | D59

It makes me kind of sad to see all the land where I grew up slowly disappear. These images were taken very close to where I spent my whole childhood growing up. I used to sit way up on top of that hill under the trees with friends just looking out at the miles of land. Now it overlooks a nice new development. This beautiful hill is the next spot to go and I didn't realized at the time how very lucky I was to get a chance to capture these images.

Had it not been for this challenge and knowing I needed to get an image for the day (and of course my daughters pleading) I might not have lugged out the heavy stroller and taken my daughter out for the long walk on an crazy hot day. As I drove past the spot the very next day... there went the farmer plowing down the entire field. Who knows, by the time there are this many flowers growing wildly in this field again as it was throughout my childhood there will probably be a house or maybe 10 right in the middle of it.

Perfectly Imperfect | KE365 | D58

Just about every time I remember seeing an image of a daisy, it's nearly perfect. Sometimes it's nice to appreciate the imperfect...

with all the beauty & diversity that it actually creates.

Harvesting the Garden | KE365 | D57

It has been crazy and a bit hectic this week, but we found time to slow down again to harvest grandma's garden. The challenge with taking images of a small child so often is trying to get exactly what you need (the child!) focused.

Over the years I have seen that this profession is so different from others, photographers are always so willing to share their tips and tricks or pass on awesome new technology or shoot locations. I'm not sure what it is about being a photographer that makes you want to give back, but I'm guessing it might be similar to what I have experienced where I was shown so much direction, critiqued, given tips and tools all from people who had nothing to gain other than the satisfaction of helping someone else. I myself had a lot of questions asked lately from some that are in the beginning stages of learning the world of photography and trying to become professional and even from fellow moms and dads just trying to get some clear pictures of their kids. Since I was shown so much help I love being able to offer the same to others who appreciate the art of photography as well.

I often get asked how I could possibly get such clear images of my daughter, especially when they see what a ball of energy she is first hand. The first answer is practice, and a lot of practice. There are also some technical tips that will help like paying extremely close attention to shutter speeds and sometimes you just have to give up on manually focusing.

One of the best lessons I learned from Mrs. D. my first photo teacher in high school was that if you are shooting hand held you should go no lower than 1/60 with your shutter speed if you want to avoid motion blur. It is possible to go lower, many can even get to 1/30 of a second and still stay away from motion blur but this takes many years of practice and an extremely steady hand to achieve.

For this image I shot at 1/125 because it was a well lit evening and Kailyn was extra energetic. I really didn't want everything in focus since the subject was her little hand learning how to pick the fruit, so I lowered my f-stop to 4.5 to help blur out some of that background area and put the focus right where I wanted it.

Since the beginning of this 365 journey I have had more and more people reach out to me and let me know how it is affecting them, what they are learning, what they like/dislike about my images and style and a lot of other amazing things. It means a lot to me to hear and I end up learning a lot about myself from what they say and I experience. It cracks me up that a few years ago when I was becoming official with my business my good friend Darrin Ballman was looking over my images to give me a opinion and some feedback. One of the things I remember most of what he said was, it needs 'pop' or contrast or something. Basically it was just too flat. Lately I keep getting complemented on my contrast and color and although I had years of schools, working and managing photo stores it took until Darrin said just the right words to me to open my eyes and really see what the problem was. This is why it is so important to study other photographers, network with them and learn from each other. It really ends up improving the industry as a whole.

So on that note just a little tip for achieving a boost of color without having to do too much is to up your contrast and add in some blacks. If you are a photographer hopefully you are shooting RAW and you can do this easily right when you are processing out to JPG. If you are a parent you can do this easily just by having simple program like Photoshop Elements.

Please feel free to message me or comment below if you have more questions and I'll address them in upcoming 365 posts.

Sun-Shiny Day | KE365 | D56

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,

I can see all obstacles in my way...

It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)

Sun-Shiny day.

~Johnny Nash

suburban sunset | KE365 | D55

I think my eyes were pulled in as soon as I saw this first shot. Probably the designer in me, I don't know. I love grids, alignment, vivid color, organic shapes... this one gives me all of that in one. So, what is it?

fossil | KE365 | D54

My favorite part of this isn't even the fossil,

it's the raindrops landing, quickly drying out and disappearing.

Mr. & Mrs. King KE365 | D53

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. King!

I was thrilled to get to shoot these long exposures during Day 53 for Pam and King during their wedding reception. We managed to sneak away for just a few seconds and I'm glad we had the chance. The tiki lights provided just enough light to get the right mood.

Tim looks so proud standing next to his new wife, it is so sweet how they look at each other. They had a lovely evening for a wedding on their beautiful country residence, I'll have more images and info about the wedding when I post their sneak peek!

barriers KimberlyElaine D52

Today, I'm feeling kind of like this...

Worn and weathered, cracking a bit. Barriers blocking my way every direction I look; seeing a tiny, blurry chance of making it way up ahead.

Day 52 is a really tough day for me in just about every way. I was debating on it back and forth whether I should even write about it. People sometime ask me, how can you do it? Laying your life out there like that to be judged, writing about everything and for everyone to know your whole life.

It's not really like that though, there are so many things in my life that are just for me, my husband and daughter, or just for our family or friends. I have a lot that I do share which gives me an advantage as a photographer as it does for all the other photographers that share their images, struggles and lives. Sharing makes the individuals who we seek to capture natural, real images of- well it makes them more comfortable because they know who you are and exactly what you are about.

That isn't the reason I decided to write this post though, I decided to write this post for all the women who have gone through, are going through or maybe don't even know they will go through it in the future. I'm writing for them because it's hard and every little bit we talk about it and learn from it helps it get just a little better.

I was told by multiple doctors there was a really good chance I would never be able to conceive. I spent so many years worrying, crying and fearing that I would never get the chance to have a child. Joe and I decided we would be okay, we would adopt in the future... we were determined we wanted to be parents. By some miracle we had Kailyn, still to this day I'm really not quite sure how.

Those of you that know me well probably know I have had my fair share (if there is such a thing) of weird, rare and down right frustrating health problems every since I was a child. Even though the last year has been filled with rare and frustrating medical problems for me, because I somehow had my little Kailyn I guess I got my hopes up that I would be able to get pregnant again one day.

Day 52 put the fear, sadness and worry right back in my head and heart. I don't know whether we will be able to have another baby, there are so many things stacked against us at this point. It is a constant worry for a lot of women and therefore it deserves to be talked about. Some of my closet friends have gone through the same obstacles or similar situations and it is hard on everyone involved.

There is no other way to look at it, Kailyn is a blessing. I feel so lucky to have an understanding husband to support me as I struggle through, he shows me how to be strong. I also feel lucky to know that no matter what we will get that little brother or sister for Kailyn one day, I know we'll end up adopting. Those that I have seen touched by the adoption process are some of the most incredible people I have ever met, with the most unique perspective on everything.

Even though I know all of those things, it still hurts.

backyard roots KimberlyElaine D51

A day for getting back to my roots again, I love birds and just about everything about them. I spent years photographing all kinds of birds so it seems like a great idea to once again get back into some more of what I used to love about photography.

It seems like my save for web mode has switched it settings because these uploaded more weathered and less vibrant than the originals. I'm going to leave it because I actually really like how it looks and I think sometime the extra vibrancy actually takes away from the point of the image in the first place.

beaming KimberlyElaine D50

I thought Day 50 was going to be images of my 3 girls, my daughter and nieces. Instead I found this amazing sight of incredible beaming light. I'm such a dorky symbolic person that these images really speak to me especially about the journey this project is taking me on. After 50 days it feels like I have already learned tremendous things.

The maze of obstacles with beams of light that somehow made it through. To me this image symbolizes everything the last year has been for me. Extremely challenging, obstacles that seem so hard you think you could never make it yet somehow you do and it's beautiful.

These will hang in my bedroom so everyday I wake up and remember that no matter what obstacle gets thrown in my path somehow... I will make it through.

Eventually more good will get through and things will seem clearer and actually possible to accomplish. Maybe one day a clear path emerges and things will seem possible after all.

farm field at dusk D49

More props to husband Joe, who dropped me off on the side of the road to shoot this one.

Funny I end up liking the perspective of the one I took when he came back to pick me up, where I stood on top of the car.

my girl KimberlyElaine D48

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May...
I've got so much honey, the bees envy me
I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees...
I don't need no money, fortune or fame
I got all the riches baby, one man can claim
Well, I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way...

Talkin' 'bout my girl, my girl
That's all I can talk about
Is my girl

~Temptations

Enough said. ;)

freezing summer • floating thru summer KimberlyElaine D47

Some action shots of the waterfall in the at Zoombezi Bay at Columbus Zoo.

natalie • siena • kailyn

We are so lucky that Kailyn has such a big family, and a good deal of them live really close. She loves spending time with her cousins, they had so much fun running around Zoombezi Bay. This is my favorite of the 3 from D47.

Teen Identity Photographer Pledge

One thing I love about Tasra Dawson who is the reason I started my own 365 project is that along with creating the 365 project she started the Teen Identity Portraits & Magazine. I just took the pledge at:

http://teenidentitymag.com/2010/06/teen-identity-photographers-pledge/

If you are a photographer, check it out. It is a worthwhile cause to pledge that you will photograph our girls in a respectful and beautiful way to raise their self esteem and show them what true beauty is.

If you are just interested in finding out more about what Teen Identity is you can check out Teen Identity Magazine at: http://teenidentitymag.com/

princess raaidha KimberlyElaine D46

Cannot believe it has been a year since I photographed baby Raaidha in the hospital. Time flies and one thing is for sure, Raaidha is as beautiful as ever! She had a birthday party fit for a princess. Shero and family through such a lovey party for Princess Raaidha.

There will be more sneak peeks in a few days of Raaidha's royal 1st birthday party. Here are a couple of favorites for now from my images for Day 46.

Look at those eyes...

One thing I really love about my job is that I get to see so many kids grow up and change through the years. You start to form relationships with your clients because you begin to know and understand them. It makes you appreciate the privilege of what you witness though time.

rainy days KimberlyElaine D45

Well it started out as a rainy day. What exactly do you do with a two year old that was promised she would get to go out and play in the morning if she was a good girl and then you wake up... and it's pouring down rain? With my daughter, you just go play in the rain.

We still managed to have fun, in fact I think my daughter had a blast! She was so excited to get to use her "rainbrella."

Sometimes it's hard to make the best of something, to get the most out of a situation. As a mom... and a photographer, my success depends on my ability to see the best in a situation on a day to day basis.

crowning KimberlyElaine D44

I remember a day when I would hear it's great if the corn is "knee high by the 4th of July." Well I think the saying might need a small update... especially with all that modifying they seem to be doing now. How about "Crowning by the 4th of July?"

Really not sure how I feel about modifying the DNA of the food we feed our children. Makes me wish organic food wasn't so expensive.