Ashby Sneak Peek!

So, you know those perfect days... the sun is just right, the temperature is perfect, it's been a good day. Everything's leading up to a perfect photography shoot and then when you arrive at your shoot you realize you forgot the most important thing... bug spray; and lots of it!! Everyone was itching like crazy, but we managed to coax the kids into some great photos. Here's just a sneak peek!

This next photo happened by complete accident. It was one of those that I looked at in my LCD screen and thought,  bummer... it's blurry. That could've been... And then I get it up on my computer and think, yes, that was exactly what I wanted. This cutie's Dad stepped in to make him laugh and I was already set up to take close ups of the munchkin so I completely spaced to change my f/s and still stayed focus on him. Dad ended up blurry, but his son was so crisp. It just showed his sweet laugh and that little moment he was having with Dad. This is one of my favorites.  And then there's this one. Seriously... I could eat him. It made me miss my little boy so much during the photo shoot! I had to laugh. Plenty more to come!! I'm so excited!

A Different View

So, I know a guy who likes dead things... a lot... While standing in Cabella's after refusing to go the Houston zoo, his wife curiously asked, "Now why would you rather stare at these dead animals on the wall than go see real animals at the zoo?" He sighed and said, "Because those animals at the zoo don't do anything. They just lay there!" And, now you can see this taxidermist's passion revealed. Gotta love it!

This was a very different project for me and I look forward to some more pictures that I will be doing. The post-processing of these photos is very different compared to editing live humans so it was a fun challenge. Tommy Cheney is amazing at what he does and he really does love his work. Heck, he retired to go back to doing his first love of taxidermy. If you hunt, or know someone who does, I highly recommend his work. He's awesome. I'll be posting contact info for him soon.

The Other Wilkins Family...

When Brad and I moved down to Texas, we came with no family or MAJOR support other than our church. Eventually, we found ourselves wrapped up into a family and adopted. They are now our pseudo parents and Tieg lovingly calls them Grandma, Grandpa, aunt, uncle, etc. Well, my dear "sister" and her family were leaving to Spain and so last minute-- really, last minute, they were flying out about 3 hours after this photo shoot I took-- we decided to take family photos because her husband and the family hadn't been together for months at a time. Jimmy's brother's pictures is the post previous...

To be completely honest, this photo shoot has been one of my fastest (total 30 minutes), but some of the best photos I think I've ever taken. Every time I look at these photos I think, "this is me. This is me as a photographer". The colors, the lighting, everything was perfect. So glad I got to take pictures of this fun family-- well, my rockin', awesome "sister". Also, I took these pics in August and never got around to posting them. Now, thanks to amazing pregnancy hormones I've been up since 2:45 am unable to sleep and gave up trying. So, I seem to have some extra time.

And I love that baby Clara is wearing "skinny" jeans. How stinkin' cute is that?!

This next photo just melts my heart...

Wilkins Family

"That darn wind!" was the first comment I made while I was doing this photo shoot. First off, we arrive at this awesome new location and then the wind picks up as soon as we unload everyone from the car. Us adults just looked at each other and shook our heads. Such is the life of on-site photography! We make best of the situation. But this family! I absolutely LOVE, get giddy, jump for joy, did I mention LOVE?, photographing their eyes. They are so big, deep and reflective. Love them. Despite the wind, I think we all had an enjoyable time. I think next time it's going to be an even bigger "play date" though!

And, I absolutely LOVE David's face in this photo. I always laugh when I see it. (He's the very far left...)

Adkins & Klausmeyer

Talk about a fun shoot with boys! Photographing children is one of those things that when I get to the shoot I think, "Darn, I should've brought more interesting stuff to play with." Hopefully as I progress with taking pictures I'll get to the point where I'll walk away thinking, "There's no way these two were bored." At least they had things to climb on and rocks to throw, right?


Dad was hiding in the old barn and scaring them. It was cute.



Notice the wet eyes? Brother had a good hold of his neck in the first picture. :-) Brothers!


These next ones are my favorite. Now that I'll have two boys it just melts my heart to watch these two with their parents. I can't wait.











I went to PTA school with Christy and when she called me to do a shoot with her sister's family, I was ecstatic.

Especially because she had some other good news to share...








Sisters... these two have way too much fun!