Busy

I feel like I've lost my blogging mojo.  I've been so busy pulling my hair out over my business website (which is almost done, thankfully).  My friend's husband has been working on it off and on since May.  Unfortunately, it did not turn out to be what I needed for my business, so, in the last week I have re-vamped 90% of it myself, which has been really stressful for me, not being the most technical person. I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out and I'm so glad to be almost finished!

I've been praying for a while that my business would pick up and it seems like my prayer may just have been answered.  I had nothing on the calendar until today, when several people responded to an ad I placed on Craigslist, one of them booking a session in October.  I'm hopeful that things will pick up, especially since soccer season is winding down and Dave will be home more.

If you want to check out my new site, it's photographybykrysha.com (this page is what I'm going to change next, if I can ever figure out how).

Just the Two of Us

While we were clearly over-joyed that Dave was called back and has a job for this school year, none of us were really ready to say goodbye to summer vacation just yet.  Today was Dave's first day back at school.  Next week the students will be there, too.  It's always a little hard to get into the swing of things at the beginning of each new school year, and today was no exception. 

Grace and I had a relatively good day at home together.  I think she needed some mommy time, and it was nice for me to spend some alone time with her, too. It got me thinking of what I need to do this school year for her, and pondering what class/classes to sign her up for.  One thing that needs to change for sure is our television consumption. We need less t.v. and more books, and that goes for me as well. 

I'm hoping it's a phase for Grace, and that she'll start to enjoy reading like she used to.  Right now she is so focused on playing with friends, that even when she's not with her friends, she's with them in pretend play.  I guess it's a sort-of-good thing, but sometimes I worry that her inability to settle and relax with a book might be a glimpse of ADHD to come (which Dave has had since he was a kid).  I miss those days with her snuggled up beside me, reading book after book after book.

Today Grace was a good sport while I did more testing of my new lens.  I have another week to decide if I want to keep it or not.  I've been a bit disappointed with its sharpness at times, but zoom lenses generally aren't super sharp.  Overall, I like it, but I do like the 70-200 lens so much better.  It's sharper, but also a lot more expensive and much heavier. 

 Crazy, slide hair

Hummingbird

More fun with the telephoto lens.  Wish I could have been a little closer to this momma hummingbird, but it's pretty cool how much detail you can see even being as far away as I was.  Tack sharp....love that lens!

Busy Weekend

I've been going back and forth on what to call my photography business.  I have finally decided on 'Photography by Krysha' (probably the wrong use of the single quote. I struggle with correct punctuation). After making the decision, I'm already second-guessing, but that's just my nature--to decide on something and then quickly grow to hate it.   It would have happened with any name I chose.  That's just me.

A friend has already started working on my website, which will be photographybykrysha.com.  I'm really excited (and nervous) to see how it turns out.   I need to, in the coming weeks, start working on a logo (thanks, Lisa!) and form an LLC. But more than anything, I need to get organized and turn our office into a professional and clean space to meet with clients.  This will be my greatest challenge.  It's such a mess right now.

Although I don't have any other clients scheduled as of now, I had a busy weekend of photo sessions.  Because of the lousy weather during the week, I ended up doing two of them on Saturday.  It turned out to be a beautiful day--not too hot; perfect for photos at Dow Gardens. 

I've realized a couple things that I really need to work on--posing and telling people what they need to do.  I also screwed up my camera setting and left my ISO up too high with my family session.  I'm praying that the prints don't look too noisy.

Despite all these issues (and the fact that I left my last session with a horrible migraine that almost made me lose it during the car ride home), I'm excited to start this business and see what happens.  I don't think I'll make much money doing it, but if I can contribute a little bit to our finances, and pay for some new photography equipment, that will be worth it to me!

Here are some of my favorites from this weekend:

 Our friends, Greg and Eileen, and their little boy, Samuel

 

The Wells family, our friends from church

The One

I've been renting lenses lately.  I'm currently on my second lens, and I think it's a keeper (if only I had $2500 to spare).  I rented it for a family shoot I have tomorrow night.  They have three boys, so I knew I would need a telephoto lens to capture the kids in their element without being all up in their mix like I have to be with my 50mm.  The one drawback (besides the price-tag) is its weight, which does make it a bit harder to maneuver.  The image stabilization on this lens is UNreal...I shot some photos at a shutter speed of 1/25 of a second and they were sharp as can be.  On my lens, the same photos would have been a blurry mess. 

Some photos from the week:

 Grace was excited to try out these

hand-me-down soccer cleats from Hayden

 I see some goals in her future

Fortunately, Hayden has two sisters and is a good sport

What I thought were weeds are flowering!

zoomed dragonfly

Lettuce in our garden

Love these little feet

Sorry, the buffet is closed!

A new umbrella from Aunt Deb

A preparing-myself-for-tomorrow trip to Dow Gardens

Always a lady

Shutter speed 1/25...Crazy!

 Some props from ebay--my new favorite thing

Grace with Emma, another new friend who just moved in

Emma has a kitty

And kittens! 

From a Distance

I Heart Faces is one of the photography blogs that I follow daily, as do many other people. Each week they have a theme where you can enter a photo for a chance to win.  This week's theme is "from a distance."  Right away I thought of this photo of my Mom on the beach with Grace in Florida.  It's one of my favorites of the two of them together.

I'm always humbled by the photo entries they receive and find myself questioning why I'm even bothering with this whole "photography thing".  But it is inspiring to see other people's work and try to learn something new and improve every day.  So, what the heck, here's my entry...

Apple Blossoms

I've been waiting and wondering when the apple blossoms would flower.  This week was it.  Today Grace and I went down River Road to Leaman's Apple Orchard to take some photos. 

The Boys

My friend, Melissa, brought her boys over for a visit today.  We've both been missing what were once weekly get-togethers.  Grace's friend, Avian, has had a baby brother for a few months now.  Grace absolutely adores "Baby Alex" and constantly asks about him and how his mole is doing.  She says he's a "cute little buddy." 

I had a blast taking photos of these little guys.  Alex is so smiley, it made the picture taking pretty easy actually (except for the fact that Grace kept finding her way into most of my shots).  What a little stinker.  Grace is obsessed with babies right now.  Today she asked me if I was going to have a baby like Melissa did.  Then she proceeded to tell me how "Melissa has baby food in her boobs."   The girl cracks me up. 

Cutest smile ever!

Brothers...