For those of you who are interested, we were drinking “Evening in Missoula” from the Tea Source. This is the only tea I’ve been wanting to drink latley. It’s amazingly fresh, you can order it online, and the prices are super reasonable. Check it out! They also have a great selection of other fine loose leaf teas.

Oh, and for those of you who may not know, here’s the link to my talented husband’s literary blog. It’s a mix of thoughts, small pieces of writing, and details about the journey we’re embarking on as we seek publication for his amazing children’s book. I honestly think it is the best children’s book I’ve ever read, but then again he wrote it for me for our 5th anniversary, so I’m probably a bit biased. Hopefully we’ll find an agent and publisher who will agree with me about it. Anyways, onto the tea party!

Here’s Madeleine, pouring her tea (notice her proud little smile…)

Nothing like a little taste…

This is probably my favorite one. I can just see her as an adult enjoying a cup of tea. It’s hard for a mom to see her sweet little ones growing up so fast, but I’m also very excited to watch her turn into the woman God created her to be. I’m already so proud of her (and all my kids!)

Just happy to be having tea with her mom.

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…go look. I mean it….

Okay, now that you’ve seen how stinking awesome his work is, you can see why I’d want to learn anything I can from him. Don’t get me wrong – I totally love natural light and the moods that it can create, but learning how to do this type of photography well will only allow me to be more creative as I shape a shot in my mind in the case where natural light just won’t do. So I finally splurged and bought his OneLight DVD seminar. Worth. Every. Penny. Pure gold.

I don’t really intend for this to be a review of the DVD (other than to say it may end up being one of the most influential learning tools in my photography career) but I had to mention it for all you other photographers out there who might be afraid of using flash or off-camera lighting and to share with my clients about what I’m doing to spur on my creativity. I purchased a few modifiers and radio poppers and set to work playing with them. Zack made it totally easy to understand. While I haven’t had a chance to get out in daylight and play yet, I wanted to share this one shot I took with it set up in my entry way with tungsten ambient light that never could have been taken without off-camera lighting. Thanks to my good friend Tamara who graciously modeled for me. I’m completely excited to play with these techniques and can’t wait to see what good things are in store for this year.  

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This next set of two photos is just so much fun! He LOVED these little toys and had to figure them all out!

Mmm…toes…. (I only wish I was even half this flexible!)

This next series of three photos cracks me up. He had the sweetest little hat, but wouldn’t keep it on for more than a few seconds. I managed to capture this little sequence of movements and I crack up seeing the hat flying at the end.

He attacked the dog with his teeth – CUTE! No dogs were harmed in the making of this photo

As an interesting side note, these were all done on-location at Austin’s house and were not done in a studio. I brought my portable studio lighting gear and we used a really awesome white fleece and this is what we got! So if you like the “studio” look, please feel free to let me know when booking a shoot and we’ll do something similar. I still love my natural light, but this is fun for me as well. More to come in the next few days about my new lighting gear, so hang tight and check back soon.

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I just wanted to start by thanking everyone who entered the contest! Andy (Andy Stenz Photography) and I have really enjoyed reading all the stories and finally narrowed it down to our winners!

The winners are…    [Drum roll, please!]

…Bethany and Daniel!

Bethany and Daniel met on the other side of the world in a completely different continent. After 4 years, mostly spent far from each other, they are finally together and getting married soon! We are SO excited to photograph your wedding! Congratulations! We look forward to capturing your wedding day with beautiful images!

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