The Forum Shoot- Day 2

This is a continuation from last Tuesday's post.  As I mentioned before, I shot for the Forum on three separate days focusing on children of different ages each day.  The second day, we took a group of school aged kids to a local park and got several photos to represent the after-school programs that the Forum supports.  This was probably my favorite shoot.  The kids really had a great time "playing" for my camera.  They kept coming up with ideas of other activities that they do in their after-school programs, which made the brainstorming part of this job much easier... they did it for me!  We "worked on homework", climbed a rope tower, swang on the swings (is "swang" correct English?), turned cartwheels, played the trombone, shot hoops, and so much more.  It was such a fun "day in the park", and I am so grateful to have had this opportunity!

Here are a few of my favorites from this session.  It was hard to narrow it down because I have so many!

Thankful it's Thursday!

The Forum shoot- Day 1

So I am finally sitting down to blog about the Forum shoot that I did back in October! Phew morning sickness is a killer! All day everyday! I'm glad that is behind me! I have just now finally caught up on all the housework and photography editing/designing that had backlogged while I was so under the weather. In the meantime, I went to Nicaragua, Central America for a friend's wedding and we got an offer on our house. We closed last week! YIPPEE!! Off to Spartanburg we go... and more importantly, Dada/hubby here we come!

Anyway... getting back on track... when I was down in Florida in October I did a shoot for the Florida Children's Forum. Their graphic design artist was tired of the forum spending bundles purchasing individual stock photos for their publications, and since she's a long time family friend and is familiar with my work, she came up with the awesome idea of having the Forum employees bring their kids to different locations for me to photograph them "doing what kids do." The Forum paid a lump sum for me to take, edit and deliver the photos for their unlimited use. We both made out well on the deal! It was definitely a HUGE challenge coraling so many kids at one time and trying to get shots of all of them (and at the same time avoid including the parents who were all standing around observing). I have definitely learned to have a little more backbone and say when I need adults to "vamos" from my shots. (Sorry I know.... that's horrible Spanish!)

The first day we went to a local day care center and I got photos of children of all different ages doing everything from reading, playing dolls, and building with blocks to climbing on a playground and riding bikes.  It was a crazy fun-filled day, but it went off better than I could have ever imagined!  Check out some of the fun photos from Day 1 below.

Happy Tuesday!  ;)

REWIND... L. Gwartney 15 months

This next installment in my REWIND series features a friend's little girl. This was a fun photo session that we were able to work into my schedule when I went down to Florida to photograph a graduation last May. Little Miss Gwartney is too cute for words! I was chasing a moving target as she ran all over this little park pointing at "dis". There were a LOT of "dis" 's! We played with pinecones and sticks, checked out a rail fence and a fallen log, and played on the swings, slide and jungle gym. It's so much fun to watch her grow, especially because she's one week older than my little guy, and we have fun comparing the stages they are in. Hope you enjoy browsing through these fun photos!

Happy Monday!

The find of a life-time... well, close anyway!

Today little man and I ventured over to Cowpens, SC, where one of the major battles of the Revolutionary war was fought. Here, there is an old train depot that they have relocated from one block over and have turned it into a museum. Outside is an old railcar that little man enjoyed climbing on. This is a photographer's dream shoot location! (What! No location shots? Nope, other than the few I took of my little buddy, I am going to keep you in suspense until next week when I post photos of all the locations I found!) There is the depot, the railcar, railroad tracks behind the depot, a veteran's memorial park/garden across the street, and just past that is an old abandoned brick building that is perfect for senior photos!! After a rather disappointing day yesterday finding almost nothing that would work for senior shoots, my find today completely made up for it! I am hoping to hold a senior session there with a friend's son tomorrow! Can't wait! Enjoy some sweet photos of my buddy below, and please excuse the discolored last two. I don't have photoshop on this computer to fix it!

Here's to a Terrific Tuesday!

Is that a "ta-tor"? Why yes it is! Let's go check it out!

Madison & Ava... a precious pair

What precious twin girls! A friend of mine is their nanny during the day so when I took photos of her daughter, Eden, for homeschool this year, Madison and Ava tagged along, and I got to snap shots of them as well. They tolerated our little outing so well, especially considering that it was naptime. We walked all over and they were in and out of the stroller half a dozen times- walking on the walk path, sitting on the big wooden swing together, sliding down the playground slide, swinging in the baby swings and playing on the grass looking at flowers. At one point, it was so sweet to watch Madison take a yellow flower that Eden had offered to her and give it to her sister who promptly showed Keri (my friend) her new treasure. They are so precious together! It makes me think back to those sweet years growing up with my sisters, who are still my best friends. I hope it will be the same for Madison and Ava now and forever! Ohhh.... it's enough to make me want another baby boy so my little guy has a special playmate and friend too!

Thank you for sharing the simple beauty of sisterhood with me for a few hours!

Ally

Thus begins the sweet flower exchange...

Madison decided to take matters into her own hands and get out of that stroller! Unfortunately... she got stuck about half-way out! Haha! I love capturing a shot that tells a story!