This month's food photography challenge was to capture seafood in both it's raw and cooked format. Living in the midwest, this presents quite a bit of a challenge when it comes to securing fresh ingredients! Since I was unwilling to go out to the local lake and catch my own,... Continue reading

My May project initially felt a little random to me but as I look through this set of 10 photos I see how the light changed throughout the day. I love that with the warmer weather I'm finally able to get outside again. I have both beautiful diffused indoor morning... Continue reading

Golden hour on our deck playing with their new sandbox for the first time. ISO 200, f/2.2, 1/1000 at 50mm Continue reading

Without quite realizing I'm doing it, I have tended to post only the pictures of my girls looking all sweet and innocent and cute. That is definitely not the only type of image I capture of them. I have plenty of silly playful ones too but they tend to break... Continue reading

April showers bring May flowers. . . and May knock-you-flat-on-your-back colds. Even though it is the 14th, I'm just now getting to our monthly inspiration challenge. Please forgive my tardiness, Life decided to shout: "Slow the heck down!" and I had no choice but to listen. Now is the season... Continue reading

My single greatest regret when I first downloaded the photos from my memory cards was: "WHY didn't I hand the camera over more often and get IN the photos??" Of the 600+ images I took over the course of 6 days I think I appear in approximately 7 of them.... Continue reading

There is so much to see at Walt Disney World. The amazing details of each of the parks is simply mind blowing. It is truly a photographer's dream. I could spend days just capturing the buildings, the characters, the gardens, the sculptures, etc. I'm so happy there I feel this... Continue reading

The thing that took me most by surprise during our family vacation to Disney World is just how difficult taking pictures would actually be! The parks are very crowded even on slower traffic days. Those gorgeous photos I had in my mind's eye were nearly impossible to capture without lots... Continue reading

In the midst of all the post-vacation chaos, Little Pea celebrated her special day. Two years old, I can hardly believe it. We came back from Disney and I had absolutely nothing planned for her little party. I had approximately 4 days to pull it together with no gifts, no "theme", no cake, zilch. After some consideration, it seemed only right to do a Disney mash-up theme for her. She has been obsessed with Minnie & Mickey Mouse for months. She had a blast on our trip and flipped out over meeting each of the characters in person. But to... Continue reading

We're back from our whirlwind Disney trip and what an experience it was! I have so many thoughts I'm trying to collect into some kind of coherent format for you but it's taking me some time to dig out from the chaos of post-vacation reality. Why do moms always need a vacation from their vacations?? Maybe it has something to do with the mountains of laundry pouring out of suitcases. . . Be on the look out for lots of vacation recap posts coming soon, especially over on Develop where I'm working on a series of vacation photography tips. I... Continue reading

Our trip to Florida was fantastic. I never thought something so stressful and overwhelming could be still be so incredible. Now that our whirlwind week is over and all I have left are the memories and the photos I'm even more grateful that I took my DSLR into the thick... Continue reading

This month's food photography challenge was to capture a pasta dish. I knew we were bound to see lots of traditional recipes featured so I decided to try something totally different and do a favorite pasta salad recipe of mine. I tried several compositions during the process of building this... Continue reading

Yesterday I mentioned all the gear I've hoarded for my DSLR for our big trip. Beyond all the fancy photos I want to take, I am also looking forward to the simple snapshots I'll be capturing with Instagram. I love that I'll be able to easily share with our friends... Continue reading

A huge portion of what makes me so excited about our trip to Disney is the photographic opportunities I'm going to be given. Our time with Handyman Tim is so limited and precious, I can't wait to document him having a fantastic time being playful with our girls. This is truly an adventure for all of us and it is something I hope to remember for a long long time. So yes, I'm feeling a lot of pressure here. I debated long and hard whether or not to drag my full DSLR into the parks with us. In the end,... Continue reading

Next week I'm heading out on the very first family vacation we've ever done with the kids: a whirlwind tour of Walt Disney World. I'm a huge Disney fan so to say that I'm excited would be an enormous understatement. I absolutely cannot wait to see my girls' expressions when... Continue reading

Yesterday I talked about how to get your kids excited before you go to Disney. Today I have 5 tricks up my sleeve for once you get there! The best benefit of these tricks is that they'll help you save a little money in the process because you'll be taking advantage of sales vs. buying at the inflated prices on site. 1. Pre-shop for souvenirs at the Disney Outlet: We are lucky enough to have an official outlet near us. If that doesn't apply to you, start stalking the clearance bins at your local Disney Store. When I first popped... Continue reading

I am so excited to share with you that we are taking the girls on our very first trip to Disney World next week. Handyman Tim has been working an insane schedule that has been hard on every last member of the family. We've all had to sacrifice precious time together and it has definitely taken it's toll. I decided that we all needed a little Family Togetherness Bootcamp type experience and where else is a better spot to do that than Disney?? Tim has never experienced the Disney Parks before. He has no idea what he's in for. The... Continue reading

My April project was a very difficult day to get through for me. I don't really feel like I have a "theme" in the same way I did for the other months. Nothing much presented itself. Mostly, this was just a very very normal day filled with regular old family... Continue reading

My little girl is 5 years old. She is finally old enough that she remembers every last piece of our birthday traditions: how we decorate, the need for flowers, the appropriate balloons, our red plate. She made sure we were on track for every element of her special day right down to her cake. Her very favorite color is blue. Blue. Blue. Blue. And yet, she wanted a strawberry cake. So we decided on a pink and aqua party + dinosaurs. Typical 5 year old fashion, right? A little of this, a little of that. All that matters is she... Continue reading

The Peanut has always been my little baking buddy. She loves to help me in the kitchen and I love having her there. I tried to do a little baking with Little Pea and the Peanut had a burst of jealousy, "No, mommy! I do the baking! I'm your helper." When it came time to make her birthday cake, the Peanut was thrilled to get back in the kitchen with me. Poor Little Pea had to go in the playpen in the living room so she wouldn't get in the way. It was then that I had a great idea... Continue reading

I'm busy working on today's 10 on 10 project. It has not been the best of days and I'm happy to have the distraction of this project to keep my mind busy. At 1 p.m. as I closed the door on my girls' quiet times, I decided to try something... Continue reading

Does your child's school have a no-cupcakes rule like ours does? While I understand not wanting to deal with the sugary mess some mountains of frosting must cause, that rule still irks me every year when the Peanut gets to take a special treat in to mark her birthday. This year I was overjoyed to find this idea on Pinterest: Party popcorn covered in white chocolate and tossed with sprinkles and M&Ms. There are quite a few versions of it out there, but this one involves actual cake mix melted into the chocolate to make it taste officially like a... Continue reading

I'm sorry this post is coming a few days late. The end of March was filled with more than normal chaos. I'll be catching up this week with our "Intentional" photos from last month but it's time to share the word for April! On March 29, a sweet high school... Continue reading

This month I was challenged by my fellow food ladies to capture a culinary splash. Our entire group was a bit intimidated by the assignment and we spent more than a bit of time studying other splashes to gather inspiration. The thing I love most about my food challenge group... Continue reading