Posted on September 29, 2009
.
This morning I got to sleep late as Bianca is off school (teacher’s and parents’ meetings today and tomorrow). When I eventually made my appearance both girls were dressed in pretty dresses, hair lovely. Gorgeous.
So what does a mother do? Horded them into the studio for some pictures:) Erika was not completely happy, but it truely was a momentous occasion since I have no pictures of them properly together.
I have been waiting for this forever and now have my picture for my next 16″ by 20″ canvas. Going to order tomorrow! Here is the result:
Posted on September 27, 2009
.
I’m posting now since tomorrow will be full day. An ordering session in the morning, Bianca’s ballet in the afternoon and in between all that its Erika’s first birthday. We have already had the party but she still needs extra special attention.
Where has the year gone? How is it possible that my little girl is already one? She’s my last baby so its bittersweet. She’s walking comfortably now, and she is just so cute and always friendly its truely been a blessing to have her in our lives.
The funniest thing she does at the moment is going crazy when Teletubbies comes on the video. We have only introduced her to them during the long week end and already she goes crazy when the 4 chubby tubbies say “E-o”. Her favorite is the baby sun. Its a good thing I saved al 4 the stuffed toy tubbies from Bianca, as they will surely become her best friends.
Here is a little collage/storyboard I made of her party. (for fellow photogs – most of these were taken at ISO 5000! The 5D II surely handles noise so well)
Posted on September 25, 2009
.
I had the pleasure this afternoon to take pictures of these handsome boys. The shots came out amazing, and we have enough even though it was a short shoot. Thank you for having me in your home. You were so game to try the funny poses I asked for. I loved that dad came home specifically for ten minutes, and we got some gorgeous family shots.
It was fun to see how different they approached the session. The eldest was so serious even though he was the perfect model. We tried everything though, he remained serious in the pictures. They are handsome in real life and very photogenic too. I get a little worried since they happen to be neighbors, hmmm might just have to start locking up Bianca soon.
Look at these handsome two gentlemen!
A fun pose..
And a family shot, I love this one.
Posted on September 22, 2009
I had the pleasure to take pictures of siblings this afternoon. When I got there the brother was all tuckered out and first had to take a nap. That left the sister to model for me. She loved smiling (her sometimes very fake smile) and very soon turned into a very funny girl. I laughed out loud when I was downloading the pictures as there surely was some funny poses. The strangest that come to mind is when she said “Hi Yeah Matey” with a proper pirate accent, eyes raised as if the one is in a patch and arm to the side (I think to symbolise a hook hand?)
It was a short photoshoot and we didn’t get so many workable ones (in between the funnies), but the ones we did get is stunning. Here are three for your sneak peek, hope you enjoy!
I love this one. I enjoy editing everyone’s pictures and always notice little things like brother and sister have different colour eyes, gorgeous.
Isn’t she just stunning. Her eyes could floor any boy, parents beware!
By this time they were tired and just goofing around, but I still like this one.
Posted on September 18, 2009
I couldn’t wait to meet L. When his mom (and dad and brother) came to take the maternity photos just 2 days before his birth I started to count the days until I meet him. It was so lovely to visit you today. You have a little angel baby, he was such a good sport! I must say little K seems a wonderful big brother too since he was full of smiles and never bothered his little brother.
We had a lovely session with so many adorable pictures that I couldn’t just choose 2 pictures for your sneak peek, therefore I decided to spoil you (and myself since I love editing them) and show 6! I hope you enjoy them.
May I introduce Mr L, born on the 09-09-09 during Ramadan, doubly blessed!
Another that just make me go awww.
Grandma looked so very beautiful in her sari, I just loved the patterns. I love this photo of the older generation and the youngest addition.
Who can resist some little feet.
And lets not forget big brother K. “who let the dogs out, woof woof woof” I have some gorgeous dancing ones of him!
Lastly for your sneak peek I wanted to add the silhouettes.
Okay since I’ve been told the parents are missing, here they are. First Daddy, look at L’s expression!
And Mommy.
Posted on September 17, 2009
I’ve ordered two canvas prints both arrived this last week. It felt like Christmas. I can’t understand why I have never had canvas prints made before, every house should have at least one, and if you can afford it, a lot of them, they are so gorgeous!
I specifically ordered two different kinds to get a feel for the quality and how it appears.You can order basically any size and thickness you would like. They come ready to hang with dustcover in the back to protect the canvas. All I now need to do is decide where they must be displayed. Easy, beautiful, something special!
Here is a combined picture (with explanation below)
Explanation:
Top left and bottom right is the of the 16 inch by 20 inch canvas. This canvas is very textured and glossy. It almost looks like. I love this texture, the quality is superb and its personally my favorite. This is the standard thickness of 0.75inches. They do also come in 2.5inch thickness, to make a true statement! The 16″ by 20″ is quite big, yet not too overpowering. If you have a huge room then I’d suggest going even larger. The sizes really are your decision – they can go as big as you can imagine, just contact me for a quote when your gallery is ready!
Top right, and bottom left is a 10 inch by 20 inch canvas. I decided to choose a black and white for this one. This canvas is much more mat with a finer texture for a different feel as the first. This is the 1.5 inch thickness. Again sizes are completely up to you.
These will create a wow factor in your home. Dare to go as big as your home can handle. Now just to decide which photos to convert to canvas next! I do think I will have to figure out how one can ship these to South Africa since it will make a perfect present for grandparents…
Posted on September 16, 2009
I love my new computer and things are so much easier and faster. I even had time to go back and have a browse through some of the sessions I’ve had this past month.
It has been a wonderful new venture to meet all of you and thank you for all the fun times, I enjoyed each and every session. In the month to come we’ll be seeing at least two newborns, some more pregnant mommies and some lovely children.
Here are a glimpse of just two of the past month (more on my facebook fan page):
{Little Sweetheart}
{Kate}
Posted on September 14, 2009
…And I’m back. Didn’t take long, had some troubles with the internet and vista but Etisalat were very helpful and all is sorted. My photoshop mastersuite is almost finished downloading and then I can activate it and be a go again! Can’t wait to see what the difference in speed is. I also have a state of the art video card in now, so I should be able to sail through editing.
I can really recommend Al Wadiah Trading computer shop, they were fast, efficient and gave us exactly what we asked for. They couldnt get me a built in lightscribe, but will get an external one later.
Posted on September 13, 2009
Hi there everyone, just a quick note to say I am in the process to move everything over to a new computer since the old one died. Shouldn’t take more than a few days though. I decided on a PC in the end.
This week will be fun and exciting, a corporate shoot, siblings and a newborn, so soon there will be lots of sneak peeks.
I just updated my website’s pricing section to add in some generic packages, so head over if you are interested.
Have to rush, Erika has a very early morning playdate…
Posted on September 10, 2009
{First of all I wanted to mention that I will be off -line for a bit. I will check mails sperodically but my computer completely gave way and I am in the process of changing over to a new one. Luckily all my photos were backed up onto external hard drives. Even though I can still access the old computer, it takes forever just to copy a file. I can’t do any functional work on it any more. To those of you affected by having to wait for your on-line galleries, I apologise. I didn’t realise the computer became slower and slower because it had decided its at death’s door:) At the moment I luckily have hubby’s laptop to use, for the whole week end!}
Several people contacted me about just having pictures taken for a christmas card. As I do mini sessions occasionally (if my time allows for it), I thought I’d prepare a little christmas and birthday special. It will be by appointment only and first come, first served.
Christmas package: (valid if booked for a session before 1 November)
Mini session at my in-home studio of 15-30 minutes in one outfit. We basically shoot a few pictures. I will upload those to an on-line gallery and you could order photos as per usual. There will be a minimum of 3-5 photos to choose from (although I just did a mini shoot and there were 15 photos. If time allows I might even edit all instead of just 5!)
I will select one of the best photos and design a christmas card. You will receive this card as a web-sized digital file to distribute to friends via email.
Also included is 25 printed christmas cards. We do need to order these, so be sure to book your session well in advance to ensure you receive your cards in. Clients who already have photo’s with me is welcome to order cards from those, just let me know which ones and I will get on it!
Price for session + print credit of Dhs 50 and cards all inclusive = Dhs 350
Here is a quick example of a christmas card:
Birthday Card Package:
Same concept as above but with birthday cards. These specials will be valid till 1 November 2009, for any card packages. Unfortunately we will be too late for Eid though.
Here is Erika’s birthday invitation as example:
Posted on September 8, 2009
I haven’t posted a blog message in some time since I am quite busy with editing on a rather slow computer (to be upgraded this week-end, woohoo!). I just had to sneak in these pictures since this very special family have only 2 days untill they welcome there brandnew baby.
Thank you for coming, I loved our mini-session. You look so happy and relaxed about the pregnancy and the soon to be baby girl or boy. I am looking forward to train my camera on the little darling, can’t wait!
Here are two pictures and a little something different from your session as a sneak peek. If you’d like to share this on facebook, just click on the share button below the post and it will place a link in your facebook account.
Such a happy family. The new baby should be very lucky indeed!
Big brother loves giving baby kisses, even though he was a tiny bit shy today. He kept wanting to play with Erika and sadly she went to the park. Please come play one day, we’d love to have you!
A little something different. I love these, wish I’d thought of it sooner as I would have loved to have 9 silhouettes of the nine months I’d carried the girls.
Posted on September 1, 2009
So often an event occurs that you just have to capture. Usually snapshots will be the way to go, as you cannot always focus on perfect composition or see to perfect settings of apertures/ ISO’s and shutterspeeds when your little one goes to big school for the first time, for example. These are the times I take snapshots, I am even relaxed enough to take the camera off full manual and move to Tv setting.
Using the Tv setting one sets the shutterspeed (stay above 1/125 for children) and put the Iso on auto. The camera will then automatically change the Iso and aperture to try to get to the best exposure. You don’t have as much control as before and your pictures as a result might not be as perfect, but for those snapshots occasion its far better than trying to struggle with manual settings and then missing a special moment, or worse, having a crying child to attend to.
When you do have those snapshots and want to do something different with them, I’ve found collages to be lots of fun. You could even process the pictures differently (here I added a teensy bit of paint effect and used another OTSS action called “a little sweetness”) and combine the pictures together. If they were to go in a home album or journal why not add a banner bar with the title.
One can go so much more elaborate (and all the scrapbooking ladies could make these collages look super, even if its digital and not physical paper) but since it is Bianca’s first day of school after all I don’t want to be late to go pick her up, therefore I only did a quick collage as example.
For photogs: The top left picture was taken at 3200 Iso! Not a perfect shot but I am well impressed with how the Canon 5D Mark II handles noise. Now I don’t have to miss any snapshots because of a lack in lighting (seeing as the 5D does not have a built in flash).
