Growing Up Is....

... Well.....This morning came with a longed for surprise. Our daughter lost a baby tooth, a front tooth, this morning in the most unusual way. It goes like this. Last night, she noticed her tooth was very very lose and we spent several hours telling her ways she could pull it out but she just couldn't do it. I told her I'd even get her a cat if she did it herself (something she really wants) and she still couldn't do it! Well, this morning we were visiting on my bed and chatting and I was wearing a bathrobe and was fixing the tie on it and as I was pulling my tie my hand slipped off from it and wacked her in the mouth, right on her lose tooth! She gasped and wore a startled expression and quickly went to the bathroom to see what was the damage. And I quickly followed behind her wondering if I had hurt her. When we got there she pulled her hand away from her mouth and saw a hole where her tooth used to be! I asked her if she swallowed it and she said no. So, we went back to the bed and found it laying right there. She laughed and was delighted that the dreaded moment of pulling her tooth was now behind her and guess what!? She says, it didn't even hurt. So, what a lucky girl she was to get her tooth knocked out when she needed it pulled. :) This was the first time I have aided in helping someone pull a tooth. She has lost a total of three baby teeth now. The last two teeth were pulled by her Grammy and she was going to have her Grammy pull this one today if it hadn't already come out. Anyway, we just had to go out and take some shots of her new look. Wild huh! I'm still getting used to the gap.




and here's some of her bro.



We played at the park today and I had the camera out so that we could take some images of the M's new smile and of course I had to sneak some shots of my little guy. Here he is laughing for M. She has a way of getting the big squinty eye smiles outta him. By the way, I cut his hair today. He even asked for it to be spiked up! It's been awhile since he's wanted that and so here he is.



By the way ... I love how flickr allows me to share such large photos! Fun huh. Enjoy!

Inspirational Images

Inspirational Images
Originally uploaded by Angela Marie's Portfolio

A few days ago I went and looked at hundreds of photos on flickr and picked my favorites. I started to see that I am drawn to bright and airy styles. Fresh and clean processing. Anyway, it was fun to get a collection of favorite works. I then learned how to create a mosaic of all these photos on flickr. So cool. Now, this is my test post from posting from my flickr account to my blog.

Oregon Visit

We just returned from our visit to Oregon. Our kids had so much fun spending time with their cousins. I of course had to take some pics. Here's a few of some that I have proofed from the trip. I have many more to go through. Here's the kiddos.

This is a beatiful location with sweeping trees and lakeside walkway. The kids enjoyed walking the path and visiting with the friendly geese and ducks. It was a bit chilly this morning but they had fun and posed for some shots with the promise of hot chocolate. :)

Here's my brother and his family gracefully posing for Auntie Ang. Thanks guys.

And what could a boy love more than dirt? Not sure but my son adores it and the feel of it. He walked around my brother's backyard trail area and found lots of it. Everyday he was covered in it. I just had to take some pics while he enjoyed himself. Dirt that was powdery and flew out of his hands so nicely. See... yup, he tossed it into the ditch many times.

And here is little miss A. We all went shopping and found some cute little tube tops for the girls. They both got one and were matching on this day. Here she is kicking back on a bench infront of the Gap. The lighting was pretty sweet here.

And I just had to test my 24-105 lens now that it's back from the canon repair center in CA. This shot was taken on a tripod with my wire remote and was CWB and prefocused. I'm still thinking my lens is not focusing properly and so I must do further tests and perhaps return it to canon to repair or replace. Anyway, this was the best shot from the session guys. It's fun that it was taken on your front porch. :)

This is a "sister" mountain peak. We took this on our way into Sisters, OR and very much enjoyed seeing this field full of horses and what a mountain view backdrop. I wished that I could've gotten closer than street side but the owners of this field had a sign up saying no trespassing so this will have to do. I got in as close as I could with my 200mm zoom.

We had a great time visiting with you all. Thank you for having us!

Ladies at 'The Hood'

Meet the ladies in my family, the four generations! This was our ladies weekend that we have done a couple times before and it is a lot of fun. I enjoy the girl time and reconnecting with everyone. We stayed at a coastal side home and enjoyed the views from the house by a warm fireplace. The weather wasn't too cooperative and rain and clouds visited often but we didn't let it get us down. Here we visited a nearby lodge and ran out to the lawn by the docks to setup for our group shot. I didn't have my standard zoom (it's still in the shop) and so I had to use my big guy (70-200mm) on a tripod and run myself back and forth to set the camera up for the shot (I really have to buy a wireless romote!). So despite the cold, clouds and our jacket-less selves, we smiled and played for the camera. Thanks gals for putting up with my setup and for a fun time together. I really enjoyed visiting with each of you and just being together.

The black and white version.

Here we are all admiring the little ones...well, accept me as you can see I was watching the camera (oopps).

And yup, another conversion to bw.

Ok, time for some fun! I had to get us jumping and laughing and just enjoying the shoot. We had a good workout for this shot and worked up a nice appetite for breakfast at the lodge. Thanks for the wonderful breakfast Auntie G. (Sorry your face is covered in this one but I just loved the laughter and jumping of the others.)

Here's another take where we are all visable. :) I blurred the background for effect. I should've shot more wide open (For the photogs who are reading this, I was at f/5.6 and I should've been at 2.8 since my camera was like 20' from the group and then I would've had this nice bokeh. Also, I used my calibration target for this so the color is spot on. :) )

And this in bw.

We had a fun time. Thanks for the ladies weekend all!

And glad you stopped by to visit my blog. If you want prints of any of these let me know and I can get some for you.

Urban Photog Meetup

Yesterday my daughter and I met up with some local photographers and their children for an urban shoot. Here is a sneak peak at some shots I was able to work on quick this morning. I have many to go through. These just jumped right out and screamed - process me right now Angela. :) Thanks for the meetup everyone!

My lovely daughter watching me shoot. I saw her and quickly snapped some of her. I really like the mood it captured here. She was reflecting and deep in thought.


Meet one of our local photogs 12-year-old daughter. She was so much fun to shoot and had the faces down! I love this age. ;) I took this photo to a new colorful place for my style.

and finally, my favorite type of shot - a close up face. This little cutie was a busy girl and getting eye contact and the look was a bit of a challenge for me with the focus. It's not easy for the camera to focus on such dark eyes I have found. But this time I got her. In this shot, I love her lips. There's something about the way she's sort of smiling in a relaxed way. Just lovely. And of course, I love the little ringlets. :) Too cute.




I have many more pics all. I am heading out of town in a few hours. So I must go pack and get ready. Thanks for the fun time and for stopping by to view my work.

Edited: 4-7-08 to add more pics from this shoot.

More shots of Miss S. I just LOVE the yummy natural catchlights in this one. Mmmm.... natural light.





I just had to try this in BW.



Yah, and I had to try a vanilla process too.





And another shot of this wonderful 12-year-old. She asked to be photographed by the soda machine and so I ran with it. I actually like the mood this created. Reminds me a little of the early Cindy Crawford commercials. :)



Ya, I couldn't decide which picture I liked better. The lighting is lovely and the mood is fun.




Thanks for stopping by. I've got many more so I'll add them as I get them proofed.

Happy April!

This is a birthday month for my dear sweet mother! Yesterday, my kids and I went on a walk with Grammy (aka: my mom) and my daughter wanted to take our p&s camera and be "photographer" for the walk. So she took alot of pics (I will upload them miss M. and get them to you don't worry.). She also requested that I bring along my gear. So I packed all of my gear for the long walk and got my workout there. We headed to underneath a bridge so I could teach my daughter about soft lighting. My mom, the willing subject. Thanks for posing mom. Also, while on this photo venture, I managed to get a spec on my camera sensor... looks like if that spec won't budge I'll be testing out the canon repair center again - this time sending something in for cleaning.