Picking Cat Tails

#179

I adore little boys.  Big surprise, I know.  I'm not biased one bit by the fact that I have two of the best little boys on the planet, the best big boy ever, and 2 of the greatest nephews ever known to mankind.  My dad isn't bad either:)  But we won't speak of my brother...

The kiddo in the picture isn't mine but he was hanging out with us at our hunting lease.  He had quite a collection of cattails going.  Which gave his mom the idea to collect some as decoration for her house.  Which made me think, "Why haven't I ever thought of that?"  Would it be too obvious if I copied the idea now?  Whatever, the boy is cute as a button and I'm just glad that in this case, picking cattails had nothing to do with felines.  Because if it had been MY youngest son, you can bet it would have.

Photographing the Photographer

#178

This is my good friend and fellow photographer.  I have to snap pictures of her when she's not looking so she doesn't yell at me for taking her picture:)

Maternity Shoot

#177

I did a maternity shoot a few days ago and had a lot of fun doing it.  I'm hoping to do more of these in the future.  Being pregnant is such a special time in a woman's life so it's exciting for me to be a part of documenting that memory for a woman and her family.

Pure Bliss

#176

Does it get any better than this?  These two little cutie pies were jumping on the bed while we were in between maternity shots of their mom.  The expressions on their faces makes me want to go jump on the bed right now!  I think I'll go do that.

A Growing Belly

#175

This is my friend with the adorable little baby belly.  She's 20 weeks pregnant and not quite ready for maternity pictures yet but we wanted to document her growing belly.  What's really exciting is that her new little peanut will be a part of my Project 365 later this year.  I can't wait to take those pictures!

Practicing and Experimenting

#173

#174

For me, photography is a constant learning process.  I don't care how much I know or think I know, there is always more to be learned.  So I decided to take my camera along with me to swimming lessons today.  I knew the light would be extremely bright causing harsh highlights and shadows.  But I wanted the challenge of it.  The first picture is a result of that experiment.

The second picture is Milo patiently posing for me while I adjusted my studio lighting in preparation for a few upcoming photo shoots.  He's such a good sport and willingly hops up and back down again when I ask him to.  I wonder what my clients would think if they knew I used Milo as my model to prepare for their photo shoots?  Especially since I'm preparing for a maternity photo shoot!

A quick note.  I've noticed that when I upload pictures to this blog, since I reduce the quality of the photo to make it a faster upload, there are definitely aspects of the photo that are lost in translation.  For example the first picture is sharper and has brighter colors when I view the original on my computer.  If you click on the picture to view it at a larger size, it seems to look a lot better.  So I suggest doing that for best viewing the details.

My Little Mud Ball

#172

Milo looooves to roll in the dirt.  Especially after he's gone for a swim in the pond.  That way the dirt really cakes on his fur and makes him as dirty as possible.  Maybe he's part pig?  I don't know, but what I do know is that he loves being a mud ball and I say, whatever makes him happy.  Just as long as he doesn't expect to jump on the bed after that!