A Rarity... Shots of my Only Boy | Kansas City MO Metro Area Children Photographer

After taking pictures of the little girls all week, I decided I really wanted to do a photo shoot with my son. He's very rarely around when my camera's out. So Mommy asked nicely and he agreed. And man did he please his momma. He was posing, working the camera, and piercing the camera with his eyes. He had me cracking up the way he was movin around, like he was a professional model. But of course he has had a camera in his face since day one, he should be used to it by now.

And since 4 out of 5 children have all done photos for me, Kayleigh wanted to do some also. Here are a couple of hers.

18 Months Old... and Baby Sister.

Today I wanted to get some photos of Lilly to mark her being 18 months old as of today. I can't believe she is almost 2 years old. Time flies so quickly. She is already practicing those Terrible Twos. She has defiently became her own person. She is sweet, stubborn, onry (she is the onriest one so far of the bunch), independent, a snuggly cuddler, an awesome little dancer, and a good big and little sister to her siblings. She loves music, having her hair brush and shaking her head no, no matter what question you ask her. I love her so much. She is and always will be our Lilly Bean. (Yes I will call her that 'til the day she leaves for college!)

And then here are a couple of baby sister Emily for fun.

Impromtu Session with Miss Maddie | Kansas City MO Metro Area Children Photographer

I bought some new fabric a few weeks back and I just finally got them out today. I laid them out put Emily on one just to try to and get a couple decent shots of her and test out the new background. I got a couple of shots, she got fussy and I started to put my stuff away. The next thing I know Maddie was following me saying "momma, take a picture of me." Of course I wasnt going to turn down her offer. We played for a little bit and got some really good shots. I must say I love the new backgrounds. They give the photos a sort of vintage/retro look and I'm diggin it! Not to mention I had a gorgeous model to work with. Here are her photos and the one decent one I got of Emily.

Fix it Friday # 3 | I Heart Faces Weekly Challenge

And here are this weeks photos.

Orignal by Dana's Photography

My Edit

And a fun one for the heck of it

Back to School

Today was Dylan's first day as a 4th grader and Kayleigh's first day as a 2nd grader. Talk about making momma feel old. While to me the summer seem to fly, the kids couldn't wait to get back to school. They were up and dressed and ready to go before 7am, school doesn't start until 9:04am! In true mommy/photograher form, I followed them around documenting the first day of yet another school year. As the time got closer to leave they got more and more anxious. 8:45 hit and we were out the door, again, me following them with my camera in hand as we walked to school and into their classrooms. Fast foward a few hours and they came running in the door to tell me about their day. Dylan summed it up with one word "fantastic" and Kayleigh of course gave us the play by play of her entire day, not missing one detail! I have got to say I am so proud of the people my children our becoming. They are so smart and funny and defiently have personalities all their own. And not just the older too but all of the other ones too. As it is I have so many people say "Maddie starts school this year too right?" It doesn't dawn on them that she has only just turned 3 and still has another two years before kindergarten. That's just how smart and mature she is for her age. Then Lilly surprises me everyday with the new things she picks up. These kids get smarter everytime I turn around. They're little sponges, I swear! I love them more and more everyday if that is even possible and I know they will continue to make me proud!




Here is a couple a storyboards I made of the kids' first day of school

5.365 A Week in Our Lives

Keeping things fun is a weekly (daily) thing in our lives. My hubby and I are just big kids and we love to have fun. We were on the merry-go-round at the park in this photo.

Fix It Fridays # 2

Here is this weeks Fix It Friday photo and edits. And what an adorable picture might I add!

Original Image by Angie Arthur

My edit

1.Color balance adjustment  2.Bumped midtones in curves  3."S" Curve layer

4.Sharpened  5.Another slight bump in curves  6.Cropped

And of course, a black&white edit

4.365 A Week in Our Lives

The dreaded task of laundry for 7 people is a weekly (almost daily) thing!

3.365 A Week in Our Lives & 1.52 Motion Blur

A little behind in posting....

A girl's gotta have her make-up!

And my motion blur assignment for week 1.

2.365 A Week in Our Lives

Nothing on my agenda.... at least for today. Gotta have my appointment and such writen on the calander so I dont forget anything... or trust me, I will. Not the most exciting photo, but it does give you an idea in to a week (or month) into my life.

1.365 A Week in Our Lives

This weeks topic is "A Week in Our Lives." My first image of the week is of my baby girl Emily in her crib. As the "newborn choas " has started to settle down we are working on a sleep schdule both mommy and baby can live with. This is her drifting off to sleep tonight.

Fix It Fridays - I Heart Faces Challenge 8/6/10

To get out there and hone in on my photography and editing skills I'm going to start participating in challenges and such. Today is the result of my first challenge. Editing. On "iheartfaces.com" there is a weekly Friday Fix It Photo Challenge. One photographer offers up their SOOC photo to be edited to our hearts desire in order to perfect our editing skills. And my weapon of choice to edit is PaintSho Pro X2. So without further edu...

Original Image by Andrea Riley

My Edit

I adjusted the curves, shadows, enhanced the eyes, took out some of the magenta with color balance, and finally sharpened it a tad.

(Love me some) Black&White Edit

The "*B* Family Sneak Peek | Kansas City MO Metro Area Family Photographer

A couple weeks behind posting this on my blog but thank goodness for Facebook previews! =)


After a couple weeks of "cooler" weather my friend decided it would be a good time to scheduled a family photo session with me. Well the week of the shoot had been the start of the hottest weather of the summer. It figures, right? But even sweating our butts off we had a good time and got some great shots. This is the second time I've done a shoot at Loose Park here in KC and I am just in love. Their is so many locations to shoot at. It really is a photographers dream location. Here is their preview.