He had that look on his face when I first met him 365 days ago.   You know, the one of absolute fear masked by the huge smile of excitement.  He had just become a daddy.  His beautiful little girl was finally here.  We met at the check out line at Baby’s R Us.  If you have ever met me, you know I talk to everyone, including the man standing behind me holding something small and pink.  After I checked out,  I handed the new daddy my business card and we parted ways.

One year later, I am standing in his home, watching the beautiful little girl smile her daddy’s smile as I brought in her birthday balloons.   Balloons have a magical power, this I am certain of.  I can not explain how it happens, but balloons bring smiles.

Oh my goodness, I am a sucker for big brown eyes!

Her mom brought out these wonderful books for her to read.   I fell in love with them.   They are written in both English and Japanese.  One page is a solid color, and the next has a cut out of a fruit.   Another book had trucks, and another had animals.  How wonderful are they?

I hope you had a great birthday party, little one!

I found a photography group that has get togethers and they talk photog stuff.  The are right here in my area and they are quite active, with meetings every month.   The first meet up I attended was a “trash the dress” bridal session.   Trash the Dress sessions are common after the wedding, to give the bride some really cool, urban shots of her in the dress.  These sessions also look really neat in an album NEXT to the wedding album.  The grungier the location, the better the images.  In the woods, creek beds, or downtown city all make really great placed to hold a Tress the Dress.

This dress was never worn in a wedding.  The bride was never married.  That is a whole other story that only the ex-bride can tell, but she does look amazing in the gown!  We all met at Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati.  At last count, there were 32 photographers that met up.   We walked around several blocks, all taking turns snapping images.  The weather was perfect, 70′s with a breeze.  I had so much fun talking with people who understood when I say, “I shoot wide open with a 50.”

It is that time again.  Time for another 10 things!!  Three weeks ago, we took our little Missy Moo down to the pumpkin patch.  We went to Farm Haven in Union KY.  I had heard great things about their corn maze.    We only made it about 1/3 of the way around the maze, when we found ourselves back at the entrance.  I highly recommend checking them out next year!

In honor of this great pumpkin patch, I bring you 10 THINGS AT FARM HAVEN PUMPKIN PATCH:

#1: It wouldn’t be a pumpkin patch without pumpkins!

#2: Or a Missy Moo, who refuses to look at my camera!

#3:

#4:  The hay ride takes you around the huge farm.  In the middle of the trip, it stops to allow time to feed the cows ears of corn.  These cows walk right up and lick everything.  They are huge, and snotty!  They took the corn right out of our hands.

#5: Another cow close up

#6:  The farm piled hay up and made a little play ground for the kids.

#7: Finally!  She looks at the camera!!!

#8: One of my personal favorites from the day.

#9:

#10:  Last but not least,  A PUMPKIN!

Today is Monday.   I am writing that mainly to remind myself of what day it is.  This past week has been a very busy week and I have completely lost track of where I am going and what I am doing.   I am at least three sessions behind on my blog, and several 10 things blogs.   I am going to catch up on everything this week!

This past weekend, I attended PDN PhotoPlus Expo in New York City.  I volunteered at the NILMDTS booth.   I met the most amazing people and I am so glad to have been given this great opportunity.   I was in NYC for a total of 25 hours.   I pulled off seeing Time Square, Empire State Building, count less store for shopping, walked the expo, and working for five hours.  I do not advise visiting this busy city in such a small amount of time, and next time we go, I am planning for longer.

Bookmark my blog and come back and visit everyday this week.  I am going to feature a different session from last week.  These are a quick peek from each one.

 

Lori and her husband joined me for a Boo-tiful Mini Session:

 

Trash the Dress Meet up session:

 

10 Things at the Pumpkin Patch:

 

Lou brought her four guys out to visit me for Boo-tiful Smiles:

Karen and I belong to small business group, NKY Kids Connect.   She owns LaTeaLa.   LaTeala is a great birthday party option for your little girl.  They come to your home, or party location, and set up everything for the perfect tea party birthday.  Invitations, decor, food and games are all provides!  All you need is a birthday girl and a birthday cake.  I can not wait for my Missy Moo to be able to enjoy such a great party theme.

Karen’s family is wonderful.  We met at Devou Park in Covington, KY for their portrait session.  It is one of my favorite places to shoot in the fall.  The bright colors of the leaves, and the wonderful light, is hard to find anywhere else.   Her kids were great, and I really enjoyed photographing them!

They were open to all of my nontraditional poses.   What a good looking family!

and of course, I grabbed some traditional poses also.

 

Time is running out to have your family custom portrait session before the holidays.  Just over 60 days left before Christmas!  Call or email to schedule your family session.

 

As soon as I get home from a portrait session, the first thing I do is upload all of the images to my computer.  I create a new folder, and name it something that reminds me of the session.  For example, I have “Bow shoot”, “LaTeaLa”, and a few others that I am working on now.  This latest folder is named “Marsha’s girls”.   Something simple, and I will know exactly what the folder contains.

These two beautiful little women are simply gorgeous!  We met at Camp Ernest park, in Union Kentucky, right before sunset to catch some great lighting for our session.  The autumn leaves were great and added a nice touch to the images.   We bumped up the session date as we were afraid that all of the leaves would be on the ground before the original session.  SO GLAD WE DID!

I love the sassy pose that Emily did all on her own.

These next two pictures are my favorites of the session.  I absolutely love their eyes!

Boo-tiful Smiles Mini Sessions are being held this weekend!  Only 2 slots left.   Email me at simperexpressions@yahoo.com to reserve yours today.

Halloween has been my favorite holiday for most of my life.   The first Halloween I remember was 1st grade.  I was a punk rocker.  I wore a rainbow mullet wig and paraded it around the school with pride.   Some other great costumes that I can remember wearing were the old lady, a bubble bath, a baby, where’s waldo, and the lasest: summa wrestler.

This Halloween is going to be a little crazy.  I am volunteering at the PDN PhotoPlus Expo in New York City the days before.  I am going to be at the NILMDTS booth on Saturday Oct 30th from 12-4.  Come by and say hi to me!  I am returning home on Halloween.   Just in time to get the babes in her costume and send her off with her cute little face to get her momma some free candy!

 

I am super excited to be able to feature Kara’s wonderful hair bows on my blog!   I have been emailing her and talking on the phone for several weeks.  It was great to finally meet her.  Kara owns BOW PEEPS BOWS.    We had decided to work together for a local craft show and wanted to get some good images to have displayed around the booth that showcased both of our work.

We met at Devou Park in Covington, KY.   Kara’s daughter, and Megan’s 2 girls (check out their session from June!), and Lynn’s daughter all did a great job modeling  for me.   These are just a few of the 300+ images taking:

Click on the image to get more details!

I have the best moms, with the best newborns, EVER!   My luck has got to come to an end eventually.   Very rarely do I have a baby that sleeps the entire session.  Baby Khloe did just that.   She slept while I positioned her on her belly.  She slept while I changed her hat several times.  She slept while I wrapped her and moved her and moved her again.   I wish babies like Khloe to every Mommy and Daddy.

Khloes Daddy is in the service.  He is over 1,000 miles away from hugging his new little girl.  Some how, I am certain, she has stolen his heart even from far away.    I know how hard it is to be apart from the ones you love, for so long.   I hope that these pictures can bring a smile to his face, and fill his heart with pride, knowing his little girl did such a great job!

I can not stand how precious she is!

I was in need of just one more newborn to model a cute ladybug hat from Pink Toad Boutique.   This was the one that was sent to the stores website.

Bubble bee hat is also from PINK TOAD BOUTIQUE.

This is my favorite from the session.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE capturing baby smiles.

To see more of the images from Khloe’s session, Click Here.

The past year I have been asked one question more than any others.  “Do you offer the images on a CD?”   I have held a pretty firm position on this topic, so my answer has been this, “Not typically.  I feel that the quality of prints that I offer are much higher quality than the prints that are produced at a kiosk counter.  In order to preserve the integrity of my business, I do not offer a CD.”

While I still believe that the quality of my prints can not be reproduced at a 1 hour print store, I feel that with the right information and tools, digital images on a CD can be offered.

What is the right information? I have done research on several different print labs.  I looked at their pricing, quality of prints, and the ease of using their service.   With each digital package that is purchased, I will provide my clients with all of this valuable information so they can also obtain beautiful prints, easily, and at a very comparable price to Wallygreens.   The printing lab that tops my list is www.mpix.com.

What are the right tools? One of the biggest mistakes that I see when people are printing their images is incorrect cropping.  All most 100% of  my images are cropped to fit a 4×6 image.  This crop will also fit a 8×12, 16×24.  However, it does not fit an 8×10.  By printing the image as an 8×10 it cuts 2 inches off the longest side.  If not done correctly, it could be cutting off very important objects, like a head!  When a digital package is purchased, I will include some tips on how to get the most out of your purchased images.

You are not buying a “file”.  You are not buying “pixels”.  You are buying memories, a lasting image that can be treasured forever.   Please visit the new digital options being offered ON MY WEBSITE.   Also, yesterday marked the start of the $45 session fee.  This special session price is only available through October 31st.   It may be purchased during the month of October, but the session can be held any time before the end of the year.