3 Girls & The Root Beer Stande | KE365 | Day 115

We headed down to our local Root Beer Stande for a nice lunch with my nieces for Day 115. Our family hasn't been there in years and the girls all had a blast for their first time.

Kailyn was being so sweet giving Natalie some hugs, it's really hard work having to find patience to wait for you root beer float!

Both images were shot at f/4.5.

Ursula | KE365 | Day 114

Had so much fun photographing little Ursula again. She is such a happy kid, always smiling and exploring life. Does she have a gorgeous smile or what?

*LOVE* the profile shot of her, she was captivated my the gorgeous river.

Amanda & Nick | KE365 | Day 113

We set out on a nice fall day to get a few images of Amanda & Nick who are newlyweds. They were married last year before Nick left for service and have planned a fantastic German themed reception for this September to celebrate with family and friends. These two have a lot of fun together, which ends up making it a really fun process to photograph.

Nick might be slightly camera shy but I have to say that I think he did awesome. You can see how in love with Amanda he is by the sweet way he's always looking at her. It's adorable... and Amanda is too easy to photograph, she's a natural beauty and seriously photogenic.

Best of luck to you two in your lives, new home & marriage!

Sneak peek of awesome German themed "Leimbachtoberfest" Reception coming soon!

Santo Sheetmetal | KE365 | Day 112

There was a beautiful sunset on Day 112 which led my eyes directly up to the cupola and weather vane on my parents house. My grandfather had a business called Santo Sheetmetal and this was one of his creations. I love hearing about my relatives that made their way of living from creative artistry. I think it is amazing when you can make something with your own two hands and turn it into a passion that sustains time and is your way of life. It inspires me.

My mom was just telling me this story about when she and my sister were shopping out in Santa Clara, California. My mom looked up and happened to notice a Santo Sheetmetal cupola on top of what had previously been an Old Red Barn restaurant! How amazing for her to be all the way across the country and see something that her dad made years ago still standing strong on top of a building!

It's impressive to realize his work is on buildings all over the country and his company even worked with well known builders, Ryan homes. There isn't much info out there but I found this Old Red Barn link with some photos of one of the restaurants being moved. It makes me wonder if my grandpa made that cupola.

Stop Growing Up Already! | KE365 | Day 111

My daughter is growing up entirely too quickly! She is so tall that I think other kids often think she is much older than she really is. Just like the 6 year old boy below who made 'friends' at the park with her. The two of them were inseparable the whole afternoon. Kailyn cried when we left and asked the boy if he would be back at the park the next time. Really?

Shot at 1/2000s, f/4.0, ISO 100

Of course I knew the day would come when Kailyn would be making 'boyfriends' that would cause her tears, but not at two and a half! If there is anything I've learned about parenthood though it's that there are not too many things that you can expect to have happen in a certain way. Kids and life are way too unpredictable.

I shot the above image with a really fast shutter speed to freeze all those water droplets in motion. I wanted to capture the action of how my daughter stepped on the water to aim it at her new friend.

The Popcorn Festival | KE365 | Day 110

We enjoyed a day at the festival with family for Day 110. This is my daughter and her cousin walking down Dayton-Xenia Rd. enjoying the Beavercreek Popcorn Festival and each other. They are probably in the middle of singing It's a Hard Knock Life or something similar. =)

Shot at 1/320s, f/5.0, ISO 100

I wanted to capture the big scale of the event but realized I would need a good focus point. Having the girls as my main focus in the foreground gave more perspective to the festival in the background.

Deep Color & Spectral Highlights | KE365 | Day 109

Working on water effects for Day 109, freezing and blurring. I decided to work right at sunset to get some deep colors in the water rather than the bright white I would have gotten working during daylight hours. This caused the highlights to stand out against the vivid color.

 Shot at 1/100s, F/4, ISO 100

 

Shot at 1/80s, F/5.6, ISO 400

I typically shoot using natural light, I do use speed flash units for some images at both weddings and receptions or other low light situations that might require it. I don't typically use it for capturing anything else, I just use natural light because natural light is pure, gorgeous and much more realistic looking. Occasionally I might find a nice use for flash such as the above image of the stream of water. I actually like the spectral highlights it creates by hitting the little beads of water, I also like the rainbow bokeh that only would have happened in this case by using the flash.

A Textured World | KE365 | Day 108

Working with textures for Day 108. I took this image specifically to show how the texture changes from foreground to background within the one band of rope.

Shot at 1/80s at f/1.4, ISO 400

Settling for a Simple Day | KE365 | Day 107

It needed to be a simple day for Day 107. After photographing a 5K for Day 106 I forced myself to take a breather and focused on capturing a black and white composition while I concentrated on editing all those 5K images!

Photographed at 1/60, at f/1.8, ISO 800.

Don Lawrence | KE365 | Day 105

Portrait session on Day 105 with aspiring photographer, Don Lawrence. He wanted a portrait session to show put a face with his name. Don opened up shop on Etsy a few months back and has had some great success with it!

Don likes to capture unique perspectives and therefore deserved just that for his portrait session. I always go all out on my sessions, it's not uncommon to see me lying on the ground to get the exact angle I want, sprinting across a field to get ahead of my subject to get two perspectives or even climbing up somewhere high to get a different view. I am not very fond of scaffolding though, something about it screams not a good idea to me. Unfortunate for me, the scaffolding provided the best opportunity for the sweetest shot of the day.

Luckily, I handled it okay and got the above shot! I teetered back and forth on that scaffolding, I can normally handle heights decently but when they rock back and forth I'm not so comfortable! If I hadn't faced my fear, I would never have had the same results.

Air Force Museum | KE365 | Day 104

Both images used a tripod with exposures at 1/5s & 1/6s respectively.

Freedom Kids

I would like to start this post by saying Thank You. There were so many individuals and families that stepped forward to make this happen. The idea started only a short time before the Freedom Kids event but as you can probably tell by the turn out that it evolved into something much greater. I set out to photograph some children and design something to say thank you to all the Veterans that have served our country. I decided to use Honor Flight of Dayton as my gateway to finding these Veterans. Honor flight is wonderful, they work on a donation basis and send Veterans to all the memorials in D.C. that were built for them, in honor of their service. Most of these Veterans have never thought of going to the memorials as a possibility, Honor Flight makes it happen for free.

I was so proud to be part of this community of people that stepped forward, these kids were amazing.

Through the whole design process the ideas started to evolve into doing a poster or large print. With large number of kids involved and desiring for each child to get their spot in the final print and also for the fact that a good deal of the Veterans this was intended for are elderly, doing a larger print just made sense.

I don't want to say too much about the designs itself as I don't want to influence anyone on how they might like to vote. I would love to hear any feedback anyone might have or even just a quick comment to add your vote would be great.

You can find the Freedom Kids Designs here. Feel free to post a comment here to let me know which you would like to vote for or just leave a comment in the design gallery.

50% of profits from all Freedom Kids print sales will go to Honor Flight of Dayton through September 27th so make sure to get those orders in before then to help send area Veterans to D.C.

Carefree Flying Daddy's Girl | KE365 | Day 103

Sometimes the best shots and the best moments in life are the ones that just happen. One of my favorite shots of the day I happened to catch by accident on the way to the car, the 'carefree' image. 

shot as 1/1250, f/5.0 at ISO 100

  

The next image 'flying' will be a personal favorite for me well probably for the rest of my life. My husband soloed his first plane at 16 years old before he could even drive a car legally. So, flying has a big special place in his heart, mine...
and now our daughter's.

shot as 1/500, f/3.1 at ISO 100

shot as 1/250, f/7.1 at ISO 100

I would have to say if I had to come up with one bad thing about the 365 project is that you end up having more images you want for your walls than actual space to hang those images! I designed the shots into some quick album pages which should help with the dwindling wall space issue!

With personal issues that have been coming up for me the past week since I took these images, I have realized that no matter what happens in my future I will always have these two amazing people and I am so lucky and a better person for it.

ORRRC Deweese 5K | KE365 | Day 106

Had the pleasure of sponsoring and photographing the 2010 Deweese 5K for The Ohio River Road Runners Club (ORRRC) for Day 106. This was my first time photographing a big run like this and I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to working at more events in the future.

ORRRC is one of the largest clubs in the nation with over 1500 members they are 100% volunteer run and a non-profit organization.

The race started at Deweese Park and went through Triangle Park and Island MetroPark in Dayton. Beautiful parks on such a nice day, the leaves were just starting to turn. Runners from all ages took part and the event was a big success.

Wedding Rings & Roses | KE365 | Day 102

My husband was so sweet to bring me roses on our anniversary, and for day 102 I thought it would be nice to capture some shots of them.

above image shot at 1/80s at f/5.6, ISO 400 with 50mm lens

above image shot at 1/250s at f/7.1, ISO 400 at 47mm with 18-55mm lens

Decided to get some shots of my rings as well. I have some images of them from our wedding but as the years go by and my love of photography evolves, so does my taste. I thought I would see how I might capture it now.

Silhouette in Bokeh | KE365 | Day 101

During my 365 project I have learned technical skills from studying my manual and various photography books. I have also learned a lot in the great deal of shooting that comes along with taking your camera everywhere, everyday. Some things you can't learn from your manual and you have to gain the skill from experience. That's why this project is so awesome because it keeps you learning in so many ways.

Day 101, working with shallow depth of field and more specifically with creating a bokeh effect in a different way. A bokeh is just the term used for the area that is out of focus in a shallow depth of field shot. Often you will see out of focus, beautiful circles or orbs... this is a bokeh.

For the shot below, I was working at dusk in a small amount of light. I focused back and forth until I had a streetlight positioned directly behind several of the plants. This created a silhouette form of the plants within the bokeh.

Shot with 50mm lens at 1/60s, f/1.8 & ISO400

Custom Disk Design | KE365 | Day 100!!

I do love photography but I have such a desire to design as well. Luckily I have been fortunate to find a way to do both simultaneously with my business. I get to spend nearly equal amounts of time doing each and because it is all custom work I always get to use my creativity.

All brides who order a full day wedding collection get a custom designed disk included with their package. I like it because it gives a unique personal touch because this couple will be confident that no one else will have designs like theirs, they are one of kinds.

Our Anniversary | KE365 | D99

My husband Joe and I have tons of pictures of ourselves as a couple, since we met in photography class way back in high school and have both always loved photography it just worked out that way. Then something happened, we had our daughter and you could say that since then there are not may occasions when we have photos of us in the same frame and especially not alone. We focus energy on getting images of our daughter and our family and never take the time to remember what created that family, us.

The beautiful sunflower field blooming on our wedding anniversary gave perfect inspiration for us to get out there and get some shots like we had done for years before our daughter was born.

So we set the tripod up right at sunset and used a wireless shutter release to take the images. No fill flash was used for the above image since I wanted to capture the mood of us with the beautiful setting sun. When I used a fill flash the sunflowers looked unnatural and I felt the darker quality added to the mood of the image.

Above image shot at 1/500s at f3.5, ISO100 with 18mm lens.

Above image shot at 1/200s at f3.5, ISO100 with 18mm lens.

GP Awareness | KE365 | D98

Can you imagine waking up one day and suddenly you couldn't eat without getting horribly sick?

It all started on June 4, 2009, I opened my eyes and bolted out of bed nearly not making it into the bathroom. The flu? Well that's what I thought for a week or so but then it didn't go away. I saw my family doctor and he said I had a bad stomach virus, gave me an antibiotic and said I should start feeling better within two weeks. Only I didn't. I felt worse and worse. It got so bad I was only eating a few pretzels or oyster crackers and sipping on my orange gatorade.

So my doctor sent me to a GI specialist where they ran a bunch of tests. I waited for the results, trying my best to eat what I could and when I could but it was a real challenge. Weight started dropping off. Then more weight dropped off. Still having no idea what was wrong.

My entire life I was always small, anyone who knew me back in the day knows I would eat and eat and never put any weight on. When I got pregnant with my daughter I was so pumped to gain weight, get some curves... feel like a woman for once. Honestly, I wanted the weight. I gained over 60lbs (i know!) and I loved it. I finally felt good and wanted to stay that way.

Then that one morning I woke up and everything changed. I sit here today now 5 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight and I am frustrated.

Finally in late summer '09 after weeks turning into months of waiting... a diagnosis. Gastroparesis. Most likely caused by that 'stomach virus' I had gotten back in June 2009 when all the symptoms started. I was stunned by the news, but so many things started to make sense. It turns out I had other issues going on along with the Gastroparesis which was making it complicated to diagnose accurately. I had bouts of pancreatitis which I was told I would have for life but sit here one year later with two clean scans thinking maybe it's actually gone!

I have completely changed my life, rearranged it and redesigned it to find a solution. I read the label of absolutely everything that comes near my body and I have to super strict with anything that goes in. I have times when my weight gets so low that I drink nearly 2000 liquid calories in addition to eating what I can during the day. I have taken it upon myself to go to a dietitian to setup a plan that I can live with. The insurance company refused to cover it as it wasn't considered necessary so that's a lot of money out of pocket just to get someone to tell me what I should eat.

The gastroparesis (GP) means that food can sit for a very long time in my tummy and not digest properly which leads to malnutrition. To prevent that I get to drink lots of 'meals in a can' and take whatever vitamins I can in liquid form. This makes it a lot easier for me to absorb the nutrients, it may not be ideal but it works. Fatty diets and fruits and vegetables with roughage are next to impossible for someone with gastroparesis to digest. It's low fat, low fiber all the way. That's if you are lucky enough to eat.

Many people with GP have such a severe cases that they cannot eat at all and get tubes put in their abdomen to bi-pass the stomach entirely. Stomachs have a pace maker just like the heart and in GP the pace maker doesn't function properly. So some people with GP actually have a pace maker put in to make the stomach start to digest again.

It has been such a hard road but it makes me want to get the word out about it. I just woke up one day and I was sick. Ten years ago hardly anyone had heard of this chronic illness with no known cure. Now, nearly 5 million Americans (source National Institute of Health) alone have been diagnosed with it. The only medicines they have to treat it cause severe side effects to the point a lot of doctors like mine will not even medicate you. My only option was to change my life and accommodate the situation.

If you've read this post, I appreciate you taking the time to hear about my journey with this. Awareness is so important for something like this. The more education and the more that we learn about it, then more medical research will be done and one day maybe there will be a cure.

In addition to awareness I wanted to write this post because I have had so many people reach out to me about my weight loss or my struggles. I so appreciate all of you and want to assure you that I am always on top of it. My lovely daughter, my husband and family and all of you keep me on top of it because of all of you I refuse to let this get me. I have a mild form of it compared to most that I know, I get blood work done all the time to keep my nutrition levels good, keep up with specialists and do whatever is necessary to handle this situation. I'm feeling proud of myself that I gained nearly 5 pounds back in the last 10 days that I've been drinking 'meals in a can' again and I thank you for your support!

Self Portrait in a Portrait | KE365 | D97

I snapped a few images of some framed pictures in my mom's house just so I would have them. This one below was me as a child with my first pet, Tiffany. I found it almost as interesting to capture my own reflection 20 years later looking back on some fond memories.

Shot with 50mm lens at 1/80s at f/1.8, ISO 800

Spinning a Web | KE365 | D96

My husband Joe would not be very pleased by this post, his serious dislike for spiders would keep him from enjoying it. While I don't love spiders, I do appreciate them and especially the fantastic way they spin their webs. It's kind of like he was just suspended there in mid air doing a sort of dance.

Shot with 50mm lens at 1/100s, f/4.5, ISO400

Holly & Clay | KE365 | D95

Holly & Clay had an awesome wedding celebration at Playhouse at the Park in Cincinnati on a late summer day in August. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception. Their wedding was in the cozy theater area with their wedding program designed to look as a theater program for the big nights events.

 

The cake was fantastic and reminded us of something out of Alice in Wonderland which Holly laughed and said that's exactly what I wanted!

The entire experience of Holly & Clay's wedding was unique and thoughtful. They are lucky to have a wealth of friends and family they shared the day with and made it even more special for them. It was clear to see they are perfect for each other just by the way they interact and the simple loving looks or gestures they exchange.

We wish you two the best with many years of happiness together!

Moth | KE365 | D94

Some perspective shots of a moth on a sweet building for day 94.

All 3 images were shot with 50mm lens at 1/250s a f/3.2, ISO 400

Leaf Eaters| KE365 | D93

Thought these were inch worms at first, then I saw the red head and 'false' head on the other side. Not sure, but they were an interesting subject for Day 93.

Both images shot with 50 mm lens at 1/60s at f4.0, ISO 800.