52 Wednesdays :: Eyes

Second week of 52 Wednesdays is at hand!  This week the theme is "eyes."  In my mind, eyes are like little masterpieces: each set so different, with such varying color and amazing little inflections.  I have a sweet girl at home with the loveliest eyes.  Her father and I both have grayish-green eyes and subsequently, Eva has the deepest true blue eyes.  They are generally happy and full of joy.  They are deep and thoughtful and kind.  I just love looking at them.  At this point in Eva's life, she has had me pointing my big, black camera in her face for years.  Poor girl is over it.  I was lucky to get this shot, and if I had time I would have liked to have posted all the out-takes as well.  Her idea of looking at my camera consists of her face being in the general direction of my camera--all bets are off in regards to where her eyes actually are.  Maybe as she gets older, she'll come back around.  In the mean time, I feel thankful to have a small collection of shots like these.

For this post, I'm going to show two versions of the same photo.  I love both for different reasons.  The first photo below here, is more true color.  Her eyes are still very vibrant, but the rest of the tones are very muted and grey.

But every once in a while, I love to take a great image and give it a dreamier spin, as with this one below.

So difficult to choose just one. =) I hope you enjoy.

Next, be sure to take a look at the next set of eyes in our photographer's circle.  


Cheyenne Bell with LoveJoy Photography, Fort Worth, TX - http://www.lovejoyphotoblog.com/

52 on Wednesday :: Morning

This last year I followed a few photographers who were working together on a 52 week photo project together.  I thought the concept was really fun and somewhat genius for helping with motivation and accountability.  Each week there was a theme and each photographer would interpret it their own way and then link to the next photographer in their circle.  

A 52 week photo challenge may not seem like that much of a challenge, not nearly as daunting as a 365 perhaps; but for me, it will take effort and dedication to complete it each week for all 52 weeks.  I'm really excited!  So each week there will be a new theme and this week's theme is morning.  This week actually posed a bit of a challenge for me because my daughter was sick, and then I became sick, followed by a bout of food poisoning = horrible week in the health department.  Normally, I wouldn't want to save my assignment for the last minute, but today I was able take a few shots of what would be typical for me on any given winter morning.

I live in Oregon and in the winter, it is fairly dark.  I wake up at 7:15am and it is still mostly dark and doesn't really reach full daylight until closer to 9am.  I don't generally take pictures of sky, but this morning I was desperate for ideas and there was a bit of blue (rare occurrence in a Pacific Northwest winter) at about 8:15am.

By this time, my daughter Eva was nearly ready for school and being silly, as she frequently is in the morning.  I love her eyelashes, they give me eyelash envy.  So I take pictures of her looking down...intentionally. =)

And after walking her to school, I sat down to enjoy my breakfast -- a Starbucks chai tea.  Also at the table was leftover orange from Eva's breakfast.  It's this time of year that I really appreciate far off foods, as frowned upon as that may be.  If we ate entirely local--there would be no fruit in the winter here and that would be really difficult.  So I sat there thinking of how grateful I was for this southern orange and the farmer that grew it.  However, I ended up putting it away because I've been stomach sick and didn't think an orange would sit well.

So I just enjoyed my chai tea.

And then I went back to bed.  Because that's what sick people do.

Up next, see what a morning looks like for Ms. Traca Miller, a photographer from Stephenville, Texas..

Traca Miller - Stephenville, TX Photographer http://www.tracamillerphotographyblog.com/?p=1473

Special Effects

Meet new baby K.  He was born this month!  So sweet and small and just plain precious.

Since baby K was a holiday baby, I thought it would be nice to have twinkle lights behind him to celebrate the seasonal timing of his arrival.  Only the lights were added later in the post-processing.  This is the pre-twinkle light version below.

I love having the option for fancy, extra touches.

And here is the very timeless, black and white version.

In my sessions, many images are edited into three versions.  I have found that my clients enjoy having the extra options and I enjoy the creative nature of it all.

My life :: Christmas Greetings

My family celebrates Christmas, and though I know there is a large gamut of beliefs and practices I'd love to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and more specifically, a Merry Christmas! 

Our Christmas card below.

Wishing you all the best!

Love,

Marla

oh how I love me some babies! :: newborn portrait

I am the baby whisperer.  This may not be common knowledge but in the last few newborn sessions I've had--baby whisperer, that's me.  I think it must be my calm nature and how much I adore holding a new baby in my arms (and not have to take them home with me of course), the little babies must be able to sense that my arms are comfort-safe-haven-city. This last newborn I had the extreme pleasure to photograph put up a little fight in the beginning; but even he was no match for my baby voodoo magic.  Yes, the heat was set to 80 degrees, and I was using my fancy white noise iphone app, and applying the 5 S's method from The Happiest Baby on the Block to said baby, but I still think it's me. =)

See, this lovely little man was no match.  I won.

Isn't he just gorgeous?!  I just love me some babies.