Another Beautiful Saturday

Click the picture — or click here — for the slide show from Claudia and Anthony’s day-in-the-life session. Scroll to the bottom of the post for a TREE-RELATED contest question and be sure to leave Claudia and Anthony a comment!

I love the image above — natural smile, beautiful background, rich colors in the dress and wonderful texture too, the headband flower — oh yeah, and SHE is beautiful too!



I usually get the best pictures of children looking right at the camera when mom and dad are preoccupied with something else. In this case, I took the older girls on a little walk around the duck pond.



Love this one.



In these shots, we are standing under an old train bridge in the middle of the woods. Not sure which element shows more “attitude,” the graffiti, or my model who took direction so well, but I really love the images! Notice how in the bigger picture, I’ve shot it so that the graffiti blurs out on one side for a seriously off-center picture. I do that because it makes a more interesting composition than a centered picture sometimes, but it can also add options to album designs. Since Claudia and Anthony booked a day-in-the-life session, they’ll be getting a coffeetable album. I was thinking of using that blurred background with another picture (or two) on top of it, sort of like I’ve shown here.



In this sequence, the little girl was watching a train go by, and blowing a kiss to all the commuters. How sweet.



If you didn’t watch the slide show yet, there’s a sequence around this shot that cracks me up. (She was looking for birds.)



Claudia, I TOLD you you looked beautiful! Remember when I was saying, “Hold it! Hold it! The light is PERFECT!” Here you go — proof!



I got a lot of pictures of Anthony playing with the children, but I love this one best because it’s such a real, unposed moment that shows connection and love.



I can’t resist the baby bottle shots! That moment will go away before you know it.



Sometimes when I’m shooting into the sun, the diffused flash can really make a difference in being able to catch both the sun and the child’s face. I love the sparkle!



She loves the monkey bars!



TODAY’S CONTEST: You can win Claudia and Anthony a free 8×10 print of any image from their full gallery by naming the kind of tree my model is sitting in. I’ll give you a hint: the splotchiness on the bark is not just from dappled shade. Have fun solving the mystery!