The Momtographers Have Arrived!

Sometimes I wish everyone who read this blog knew me, like really knew me! That way you would “get” all the things I write about with such enthusiasm that seem rather ordinary to most! You would also then completely excuse my over use of explanation points (!) and smilies given you’d know how much I really smile and over emphasize everything I say! At this point you are asking yourself where in the blankity blank blank is she going with this… I know I know!

The thing is that this blog post has very special meaning for me, for two reasons, one and the obvious one is the accomplishment that I am announcing, but the bigger one, is that I finished something! I’m a Gemini, we are idea people, ideas, ideas, ideas, lots and lots of good ideas! We even actually see a good portion of those ideas off the ground, but then something magic happens, we get another idea that suddenly needs our attention!

It was nearly two years ago when a dear friend of mine (who I had met online when I was very first pregnant with Chloë) and I started to chew on an idea she had been tossing around. Not only had we been through our bellies growing together but we had also shared in each other’s mutual growing passion for photography and learning how to get good at it… QUICK! Or slow as molasses as it turned out!

So back to that little idea we had been kicking around! It was a Utopia, a place where tired, time deprived, proud mamas could go, have some fun and quickly pick up the tips they needed to take better pictures of their families, after all, that’s all we ever wanted! Should we write it all down in a book? Maybe. Make a movie? Maybe. Blog about it? Maybe. GOT IT!!!!! A WEB COMMUNITY, THAT’S IT! And so, the late night ichats grew more frequent as this thing caught momentum! I would be lying if I said there weren’t moments where I thought about jumping ship for another brilliant idea as I so often had before, but to my own surprise and the even greater surprise of my husband and friends I stayed focused (with LOTS of help fromvmy partner Adrienne)!!! Fast forward…zuuuuurrrrrp… WE MADE IT, WE MADE IT!!!!

So friends I hope you will cheers with me to a huge accomplishment: the completion of one big idea! THE MOMTOGRAPHERS! My hope for this site is that it inspires and challenges moms out there to pick up their cameras, whether it’s an iphone, a point and shoot, or a DSLR and learn to take great pictures of your kids! It all goes so fast and we only have one way to freeze time and that’s with a click of the shutter!

Thank you all for your support! See you on our message boards I hope!

CHEERS!

Unexpected Consequences

When I set out on my journey to learn how to take extraordinary pictures I figured I was doing just that, learning how to take pictures. I had no idea all the other wonderful things I would learn along the way! The people I would meet, and the way I would learn to see the world. I think that is the truly amazing thing about approaching your art, photography or other, as a journey instead of a destination. When you don’t know exactly where you are going, you don’t limit yourself to one path.

I think one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve stumbled upon is the way I “see” the world since beginning this journey. Things I never noticed suddenly have popped out at me like Murakami art! Colors, textures, shapes, emotions, they scream at me to look closer and picture them through my lens. My husband is a music producer and when he used to talk about the way he “heard” things I thought he was nuts. I couldn’t even begin to understand what he was talking about, until I started to “see” differently and it all clicked.

I never truly understood the power art had on the brain until my own journey began. Now I am believer. Whatever your medium I encourage you to bring the arts into your lives, your families’ lives, your friends’ lives wherever you can. Take the journey slowly and soak in all the sights, I promise you won’t be disappointed and you might even learn a thing or two!

So when my Yoshe came out of her room in this get-up my new “eye” knew it was going to be a fun day! And here’s what we got!

Post Script … She hasn’t taken this outfit off since! With the exception of an occasional pause to let me wash it, she lives in her “ballerina”! Who knew how many chances I would have with this gem of a style choice!

A Girl And Her Red Shoes

Sorry guys I’m ignoring you for a moment! Ladies, can you think back to the first time you saw a pair of red shoes that made your heart stop?! I can… I think I was like 4 and it was The Wizard Of Oz, what little girl didn’t want Dorothy’s shoes???????? It was love at first sight and I knew that forever more I would own red shoes that made my heart stop!

So imagine my delight when I cam out of my room to see my two year old in her underwear and long socks proudly prancing around my living room in my brand new red patent leather heels! Be still my heart! I had a slight moment of panic, the momtographer that I am, when I realized that it was 7:00 at night pitch dark outside and the only light in my house were the awful overhead lights that magically turned people into lobsters in my camera! But the panic passed and I grabbed my camera anyway. Now those of you who follow my blog with any regularity, what is that all two of you? Know that I don’t have fancy equipment, I have a borrowed Canon Rebel XT and a 50mm lens. My camera doesn’t exactly handle these types of lighting situations with beauty and precision! Now in the 2.2 seconds I spent contemplating this I realized I just might miss the picture perfect moment when she sat down on her daddy’s pile of vinyl with her purple hannah montana microphone laying still in the background. The scene couldn’t paint more perfectly the picture of mommy and daddy make baby, and I almost missed it! THANK GOODNESS I came to my senses fast and started snapping! They weren’t perfect straight out of the camera they definitely needed a little more TLC then I like but in the end it was so worth it! This is a theme I touch on often, so it must ring true for me, but remember that a great photograph is more then just nailing each technical element, you have to do that yes, but don’t forget the vision. You have to seize each moment , after all isn’t that the real power of photography anyway?

My life long music producer/vinyl collecting/rapping husband and shoe obsessed photo loving me come together to create this little ball of perfection! I don't think I could have staged this better if I tried!

Blast From The Past… Photography ROCKS!

Part of any journey is figuring out why you are on it. For any of you who haven’t read my very first post about why I got started in photography, when you have an extra minute check it out http://thesnapproject.wordpress.com/thesnapproject/. Also any of you who are friends with me on facebook may have already had a looksie at these, but for the rest of you I’ll continue!

I have always felt very disconnected from my past. Like there just wasn’t quite enough tangible documentation of it for me to have a real reference point. I have a few small things, a letter written by my grandmother, a few pictures and couple of my own vague memories, until yesterday that is! I got a wonderful surprise from my aunt (my mom’s sister) who sent me a whole disk of images from my childhood! I can’t describe how happy I was to see those chubby cheeks and spindly legs appear on the screen! Once again photography to the rescue. Looking at those very special photographs I was able to see myself in my sweet girls in a way I was never able to before and I felt so blessed. For me it was just another reminder of the immeasurable role of photography in my life. I have said for many years that if I could do things over again I would probably be some type of historian, then I got my camera and I realized I already am!

Have you taken a picture of something that matters lately? If not, get to it! Feel free to share I love seeing life through lens of others!

A Few Fun Facts:

*Me and my little sister seen below are EXACTLY the same age apart as my girls 16 months!

* My mom’s sister who sent me this c.d. was pregnant at EXACTLY the same time as my mom with her two boys (I am 6 days younger then her oldest and my sister is 1 day older then her youngest!)

*EVERY mom must have a bathtub picture or you’re out of the club! *wink*

Somewhere around 1983 Me and My sister approximately 2 and 3 years old

My Girls Almost the same age

Me and my mommy on my my 1st birthday!

Me and My girls age 1 and 2

I have a very similar picture from Luc's birthday this year see...

:)

And just a few goodies from the bunch!

Me and my sister and those almost identically aged cousins I told you about!

Don’t Forget To Snap!

In my ever evolving journey to take the “perfect” picture it’s easy to pass up/overlook/forget/etc. etc. etc. taking pictures of moments that matter even if they are really are just snapshots. I may have posted on this before I really don’t remember, but whether I have or haven’t doesn’t matter because I’m saying it again. Don’t forget the snapshots!!! I know I am guilty as are many of my photog friends, but at the end of the day I’m just a momtographer, trying to document as much of the beauty and laughter, happiness and sometimes sadness that make up my families history. So that when we are old and gray and some day pass away it will not all be lost with us. Isn’t that what photography, momtography, any of it’s really all about? Don’t forget to snap! Who cares if you the blow a few highlights or your focus is slightly off, some of the most memorable photographs in history  probably had something wrong if you looked closely enough, but the power in capturing and freezing a moment in time far outweighs a little motion blur don’t ya think!

lazy sunday

LS continues...

nope we still haven't gotten dressed LS continues

Daddy’s Hat and Baby Sunglasses = CLASSIC!

Happy Saturday Everyone! While daddy and Yoshe went to get cereal and milk for good ole’ family breakfast me and the Luc’ster stayed behind to lounge in our jammies just awhile longer. Lucky for me my camera was nearby because little miss Luca thought it would be fun to play dress up and being the generous gal that I am, I thought I’d share. So here is a little Saturday Morning Sweet Treat to start your weekend off right!

Daddy's Hat Never Looked So Cute!

Like This?!

OHHHHHHH... Like THIS!!!!

Happy Faces, Sad Faces, It’s All About Emotion

Ok so to all my readers who follow me regularly/semi-regularly you know that the point/angle of my blog is to take you along my journey with photography. Where I am at each step of the journey, my joys and frustrations etc. TRUTH: I have no idea what this post has to do with that! Except that because I ALWAYS have my camera charged up and at arms length I was able to catch these utterly sad and oh so funny moments of my girls that I want to share with you!

So it might be a bit of a stretch, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my camera. It brings me so much joy. When I see images like these pop up on my screen my heart jumps and I know again and again why I put so much time and energy into this hobby! 

Do me a favor friends, go pick up a camera ANY camera in any mode and take a picture of something anything that makes you smile EVERYTIME you look at it! Feel free to post them here in the comments, I wold LOVE to see what makes you smile. Here’s mine:

 

The Calm Before The Storm

 

The Storm

 

The Storm Continues

Insert Fingers All Better (well kinda)

 

Ok really all better now

Many Faces Of The Yoshebug

The best part of photographing people is taking a picture that truly captures the essence of who they are. I don’t think that it is something that happens with every click of the shutter but when it does it’s magical. For me with my oldest daughter I often feel that she has so many sides to her that capturing “her” in just one frame truly is the impossible. She is loving and kind and calm and contemplative one minute and goofy and loud and playful the next. She can go from serious to silly faster then anyone, child or adult I have ever met! Seriously she is one for the record books. 

Just before heading off to Connecticut for some beach fun she gave me a rare few moments in front of my camera where she let them all shine through! Meet the many faces of my Chloë Yoshe aka ” The Yoshebug”…

Hello Friends! (If I still have any that is)

There is nothing worse then abandoning friends in their time of need, so if any of you needed me I am so sorry! Chances are though that my little bloggity blog blog probably wasn’t missed much (well by anyone other then me that is)… ha! But regardless I’m glad to be back! 

My time of absence started because of some major technical difficulties, most of which are still not resolved but I’ve rigged me a system to (temporarily at least) bridge the gap until a new computer comes a knocking. It was exacerbated however, by some frustrations, discoveries, learning curves and some new ventures. I can’t say that all is always well, but one thing I learned in the last few months is that adversity REALLY is the mother of invention and catalyst of creativity. And don’t ever discount the power of art as therapy!

OK ENOUGH pyscho babble, let’s get back on track here! You might notice a stark contrast in my upcoming pictures from the pre-hiatus ones. Two things can account for this:

1. I’m doing some experimenting shooting outside my comfort zone often times in situations I know are beyond the capabilities of my current equipment portfolio. I’m doing this to push myself and hopefully develop my creative eye. Technically they may be more flawed then some of past work but I hope that I can start to see creatively in a wider scope. I encourage you if you have ever found yourself saying “I would like to shoot (fill in the blank) if only I had (fill in the blank) or (fill in the blank).” just do it anyway. Give it a shot. See what you get. You might love it. You might not, BUT at least you’ve started down the path! 

*For the longest time I refused to shoot anything if it required me to bump my iso past 400 on my little rebel, why? Because I couldn’t take the grain!!!!!!!! It made me feel like a subpar photographer. But you know what I was missing out on so many opportunities to take great pictures. So if need be I pump that baby up as high as it will go. Yes I still HATE the grain and DROOL incessantly over the 5D MarkII, but I am taking the pictures anyway!

2. My poor poor poor dying computer! It’s holding on for dear life but really is just a shadow of it’s former self! For that reason running photoshop with any efficiency is next to impossible. What that means is very little is being done to my photos short of converting from raw and minor adjustments in lightroom. I have to say I was beyond scared to post the first batch to my facebook profile feeling a good reaming coming on, but not the case at all. I now feel quite liberated knowing that I have come full circle in my love for my pictures. I love the ones I have photoshopped to the hilt equally to the ones I resize and sharpen for web. It’s like going out without your makeup ladies, it doesn’t make you any less beautiful it just shows another side. And all sides have a place.

My biggest frustration of the moment I know have to spend the money that should have went to my shiny new camera on a new computer instead! BOO! HOO! The upside is that computer=blog so

Here’s a few shots from my hiatus… Enjoy!

A Girl Without Her Pictures :(

If anyone out there is still reading my poor abandoned blog “hi”. I haven’t jumped ship but my poor computer has. Due to a little accident a few months ago it is dying a slow death. Unfortunately it’s condition has deteriorated to the point where all my picture programs are no longer accessible. It’s very sad for me as I have so much I want to share! 

Don’t fret I am continuing to take pictures and I will share them soon as I am back up and running! Until then stay tuned and get inspired!

 

LOVE…