Stoneyville: August 2011

My Memories ~ review and giveaway

As a photographer I love memories and making unique things with my photos. That is why I was super excited when I was contacted by Liz at www.MyMemories.com about reviewing the My Memories Suite. Of course I jumped at the chance to try it out. I love having anything that lets me have more fun with the thousands of photos I take! So I downloaded the scrapbook software and got to work playing around with all it has to offer, and it has a lot. The program can help anyone create digital scrapbooks, cards, calendars, and so much more. Plus My Memories Suite is rated #1 by Amazon and Top Ten Reviews for digital scrap booking software. It is affordable and so easy and fun to use. You don't have to be Photoshop savvy to use this program (although it is still really fun if you are use to Photoshop too) it helps you walk through it.

In maybe 5 minutes I had this scrapbook page done (this is one page of a 10 page scrapbook layout). Just a lot of fun and a great way to share and display all of the photos you take.

So now I am sure you all want to get your hands on this digital software. Well guess what, I have one to give away to one of my wonderful readers, a $40 value.

Not only that but anyone that wants to get their hands on the software now can use this Share the Memories code. It provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!

Just use this code to order your software.

STMMMS33889

How great is that!

To enter:

Visit www.MyMemories.com and let me know what you would make with your software.

for extra entries you can follow my photography blog, Facebook, and/or Twitter

and My Memories blog, Facebook, and/or Twitter

just leave a comment for each item completed.

*you must be a follower of my blog to win and giveaway will end in 2 weeks on Wed Sept 14th, good luck!

Winner drawn~ comment #3 Sarah!! Congrats Sarah.

Shoot & Edit week 34: original

This weeks theme for Shoot & Edit was ocean/lake/pool/river. This is a shot I took at Middleton Place when I was doing a photo shoot. I was testing out my Tamron 18-200mm lens and I was trying to set it so I could used a set aperture and not have to change it during the shoot. I actually didn't use it to much but that is why my ISO was set so high.

I actually really love this shot, this place is so pretty for photo shoots.

I Heart Faces: White

This weeks theme over at I Heart Faces is white. This photo came to mind immediately when I heard that. I just love all the white and texture in this photo. Her white dress, the white wall with the wonderful old texture! This was an old pottery house on the grounds at Middleton Place.

Favorite of August

So for this month I actually didn't take a lot of photos of Addison. However this photo of miss Nora Rose I just love! Almost makes me want another baby.... maybe in a year or two.

Awww!!!

Water drops

So I didn't take a lot of non client photos this month but I did snap a few still lifes one day while I was cat sitting. The lady that I cat sit for has an affinity for flowers and plants in general so whenever I cat sit for her I always make it a point to take my camera. So this is one of my favorite from this month. Water droplets on a spiderweb in a flower.

Shoot & Edit week 33: edit

Edit time: here was my SOOC shot for this week.

I actually didn't do to much to the photo. I really liked it SOOC. I ran a PTM action and tweaked it and then I just sharpened it and added my sig. Simple.

I am entering this photo in picture perfect: Babies challenge this week.

Shoot & Edit week 33: original

So as I mentioned before I have been pretty busy with photographing other people I haven't had a bunch of time to take photos for myself so this weeks photo is from my latest shoot. My neighbor accross the street had her little girl on Wed. night and yesterday I went over and took photos of little squishy Nora Rose and her big sister. I am just now going through them and picking out my favorites to edit and give to her. This is one of my favorites so far. Careful, viewing all this cuteness may make you want to have (another) baby very very soon!!!

I warned you!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday ~ 9/20

This weeks SHS shots are all from my most recent photo shoot, I haven't had a chance to pick up the camera since then because I have been editing photos none stop. I finally finished, just in time for my photo shoot today!

Collage ~

This is a collage of some of my favorite shots from Chris and Andrea's shoot..

On the Dotted Line ~

Okay well this has both dots and lines :)

Geometry ~
Middleton Place has a bunch of old wagons and carriages and stuff. They have a full on farm so before my photo shoot I walked around a bit and snapped some photos of all the cool stuff. I thought the spokes on the wheels reminded me of those compasses we used in elementary school for some reason.

Hanging by a Thread ~
This might seem a little weird but I walked over to this pen because the goat in the back was coughing so bad he sounded like he was "hanging by a thread". He sounded pretty bad off! He was actually coughing in this picture too.

Brushstrokes ~
This is one of the building on Middleton Place grounds. I used the brushstroke filter on it.

Week 32 Shoot & Edit: edit

Goodness I feel like I haven't been on here in forever! I have been sooooo busy trying to get my photography business up and running, doing photo shoots and editing all of the photos I am taking. I haven't really been commenting on any blogs, and I have hundreds of blog posts in my reader, hundreds! Plus I still have some client photos to edit and I have a photo shoot this weekend. I'm not complaining at all I absolutely LOVE it! I do feel bad about not having the time to comment on all the blogs I read, especially all the people that support and comment on my blog. I promise I will be back to commenting soon.

So this weeks lesson was perfect for my photo, since peacocks have so many colors it was a great way to showcase it!

I didn't do much to my photo just a little bit of a color boost and sharpened for the web.

So there it is.

Anyway if you want to see what I have been up to feel free to head over to my photography blog and let me know how awesome you think I am :)

Eyes

So I thought I would go a little different for this weeks I Heart Faces theme. I was going to go with a photo of Addison but I decided to do my eyes.

Shoot & Edit week 32: original

Time for Shoot & Edit week 32! YAY! So this week I have been busy with some new photo sessions and I haven't been picking up the camera for personal use very much. Mainly I have been doing a lot of research for my sessions so I could have some ideas. I was really really happy with how they all went and I enjoyed it so much more than I could even have imagined! I just love taking photos and my sessions this week just proved that more than ever! Anyway enough of my jabbering. This shot was taken at one of my sessions at Middleton Place this weekend.

I thought it fit pretty darn good with the theme bright and colorful. I love peacocks!

So my ISO was way to high, I should have lower it but we had just come out of a "secret garden" type dark area where it was really dark not to mention cloudy the whole time we were shooting and I had to crank up my ISO for the shots in there and as we came out we saw this guy walking around and ran quickly over to get some shots with him. He roams around the grounds all the time and we heard him a few times but hadn't seen him yet.

Anyway I just love his colors!

busy!

Sorry I have been away, I have been busy with my newest sessions. Go to my photography blog to check out my sneak peak of these sessions!

Shoot & Edit week 31: edit

Alright it is time for this weeks edit of Turn on the Hose shots.

Here are my originals:

And my edits for this week.

WW: Gettin busy

So things are starting to pick up around here. As some of you know I have taken the leap into a photography business and I am in the beginning stages of getting everything set up. My stepdad does website designs for a living (lucky me) so he is getting my web page up and running. I have ordered my business cards, designed my cd covers and they are on the way, and most importantly I have 4 sessions booked so far! Two this weekend actually. I also have some free sessions I have planned for my neighbors and friends, newborn and family shots. I am super excited for the newborn shoot (I just hope it doesn't push the baby fever into overdrive)! I also have a few others that have shown interest in getting a session booked.

So I tell you all of this to say that I am starting to get nervous! I know this is normal, and actually good since it shows I care and all that but wow. I know once I get out there on my first (paid) gig on Friday I will feel much better, but the butterflies are still there. Luckily my first session is a kids session, I'm pretty well versed in photographing kids so I think that will help too.

Anyway all of this rambling is just to say YAY my business is getting off the ground and if the nerves keep up I might not even make it to Friday because the butterflies are going to take over my stomach!

And of course I couldn't leave you without a photo.

My MIL is going to be taking care of Addison while I do the sessions I have this weekend.

I think Addison is going to wear her out!

Linking up with The Paper Mama, Supermom, And Then She Snapped, Better in Bulk

hi-lar-ious!

So I saw a picture over on The Paper Mama that she got from freecrappyportraits.com and I decided I needed one for myself. So I sent over a picture of me and the family with a little bit about each of us, AND I got this back......

Just look at this, Yo Gabba Gabba, the hubs is DJ Lance, ALL of our dogs, cats, and even my horse that we had to put down, and me taking a photo of it all!

Close cousins

When I saw the prompt over at I Heart Faces I knew what photo I wanted to use. As a child me, my brother and sister and my cousins were best friends. We spent every summer together at my Grandma's, swiming, camping out, going to Disney, exploring the woods and generally getting into trouble. It just so happens that my cousin and I had our children only 3 months apart. Hopefully these 2 will be just a close as we were (and still are).

Shoot & Edit week 31: original

This weeks theme for Shoot and Edit is Turn on the Hose. Well this is turn on the sprinkler! This was Addison and her cousin Sid the other week playing in the sprinkler.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday ~ 8/7

SHS time. This week is not all that interesting. I spent most of the week waiting on my new camera body to come in so I didn't really take a lot of pictures. SO anyway, here are my shots.

Seeing Double/Two ~

Two of the little one.