Christmas traditions.. a reflection of Elf on the Shelf {Leander TX Photographer}

Now that it is the day after Christmas, I have a bit of time on my hands so I thought I'd write a little about holiday traditions.

There are certain things I can always remember about Christmas as a child.  I always got a Lifesavers book of candy in my stocking, for example.  I love traditions and have begun many of my own since starting my own family.  My children always get pajamas on Christmas Eve. Always.  They also get a Lifesavers book in their stockings, just like I did. We always read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible, because it's very important to me that they do not forget the true meaning behind Christmas.

This year, even though my children are teenagers, we decided to add the fun of an Elf on the Shelf.  I'm sure many of you are tired of seeing these elves on the internet, but we just couldn't resist. My kids decided they'd play along and follow all of the 'rules' of the Elf on the Shelf.. and so "Figgy" came to live with us.

Figgy got into much mischief.  He redecorated a few things, TP'd the tree, took a marshmallow bath in my gravy boat and so on.  I had a wonderful time coming up with new things for him to get into, and the kids loved seeing what silly thing 'Figgy' had done every morning when they got up.  I think a true highlight was when Figgy wrote "Go Blue" all over my husband's large Ohio State University wall hanging. You should've heard the gasps!  It truly kept a little Christmas magic around the house. That is something that I've felt slipping away as my children have grown up before my eyes.

So, in closing.. no matter how silly a tradition seems, it isn't. I've found many of my friends on Facebook looked forward to seeing my posts about our elf, and I really enjoyed everything to do with it.  Traditions are part of family, so embrace them and carry them on year after year. Your children will thank you for it and your heart will be full.

So until Figgy returns next year… here's a few memories of him!

7th Grade Basketball Season has Begun! {Leander TX Event Photographer}

Last night was the first game of my son's 7th grade basketball team.  They didn't come away with a win, but I'm very proud of the way my son played the game. He played harder than I have ever seen him play before!  I'm sure they'll only get better..

Miss B's Christmas Mini Session! {Leander Tx Children's Photographer}

A beautiful child with a beautiful smile and Miss B is just that.
I just love photographing children, especially around the holidays and especially when it turns out so well.  I know I say this a lot, but she truly did make my job easy!
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that Santa brings you all the things you ask for. :)

If only I had just one more..

Sometimes I think being in the photography business has made me much more aware of the importance of photos. Not from a business standpoint, but from a personal one. As I look through my personal photo collection from my lifetime, I realize more and more that I do not have enough memories captured of my family.  We put it off. We want to wait to lose another 10 lbs, or we simply can't find the time. Excuses.. that's all it really is.  We can make the time, and 10 lbs doesn't matter.

During a nasty divorce, my ex hid/kept all of the photos of my children. It was a malicious attack on me because he knew how much I cherished those, and he made sure I couldn't get a single one by telling the court that I had already taken them, when I hadn't.  He not only took prints, but he took negatives and even my computer and camera to make sure I didn't have any digital images either. Can you imagine not having any photos of your children from birth through 8-12 years? (the ages of my children at the time of the divorce). Not only am I missing important photos from my children's lives, but I look at my parents who are getting older, and I think of my grandparents who are no longer with us.. and I don't have nearly enough photos of any of them. The ones I do have are blurred, some are from the orange 70's film era, many are out of focus and you know what?  Each and every one is priceless.

Photos are important.  What you look like doesn't really matter once you look at the bigger picture (pardon the pun).  If you knew you were going to lose a loved one tomorrow, or next week.. wouldn't you like to have just one more photo with them? Would it matter what they looked like? If they wore make up, or had their hair a certain way?  No.. not really. Those aren't the things that matter. You'd want to capture them forever so you could hold onto their memory a little easier.

I have decided to start following my own advice.  I'm very uncomfortable in front of the camera and I rarely ever see a photo of me that I like, but it's really not about how I look.  It's about my kids.. and their kids.. the ones who will one day look back like I do, and wish they had just one more photo.

So today,  I set my camera up and handed it to my husband.. and lined my children up with me in front of the partly decorated Christmas tree. My hair is a fuzzy mess, I don't have any makeup on, and I'm wearing my pjs.  And I will shamefully admit that this is the first photo I've taken with them in years and I will not allow this much time to pass again. 

So take photos.. but more importantly, be in the photos.  Hire a photographer, or use your point and shoot camera and the timer to do it yourself.  Just take pictures, either way. No one will care if you aren't looking like a model. Because all in all..it's about family and those priceless memories. 

Sale!! Sale!! Sale!!

Small Business Saturday through Cyber Monday I am running a huge sale!

All Weddings & All Portrait Sessions booked for any available date will be 33% off!

Yep.. that's right. 33% off. You can potentially save $100s!  Now.. here are the details…

1. Session/Wedding may be booked for any available date that I have open in 2012-2013.

2. You must contact me to book and pay your non-refundable retainer fee between 11/24 and 11/26 of 2012 in order to secure your session.  I accept cash and all major credit/debit cards for your convenience.

3. Discount may not be combined with any other discount or coupon (except referral credits).

4. Discount only applies to professional fees.  This special does not apply to custom card designs or prints.

5. Special expires at 9pm CST on Monday 11/26/2012.

Contact me for further details! 

Ms. K's Baby Shower! : {Austin, TX Photographer}

I had the honor of photographing a baby shower over the weekend. Everything from the decorations to the cake was just beautiful.  Ms. K was surrounded by friends and family and she was simply glowing.  Best wishes to you on the arrival of your baby boy and I hope you enjoy your sneak peek!

Sweet Berry Farm! {Marble Falls Photographer}

What could be better than an afternoon at Sweet Berry Farm? Pumpkins, Mazes, Ice Cream (yes, it's still really warm here in S Central TX!), Face painting, flower picking, goat petting, and a zillion photo ops!  Here is a peek of some of the great shots I captured today…. along with quite a few pumpkins!

Homecoming! {Leander | Cedar Park Senior Photographer}

I love photographing teenagers.  They are always so much fun and the sessions just fly! The photos always turn out better than expected and it's a wonderful experience all the way around. These three girls are friends, and they went to the homecoming dance together.  I got so many great shots, that it's hard to choose!  Here are a few…

Adventures in Gluten Free Pizza {The Life of a Photographer}

So tonight I decided to let y'all into my personal life and another passion of mine, cooking.  I love to cook. I enjoy it almost if not as much as taking pictures.  The only problem is, when you're me.. it's difficult to find 'good' things to eat.  When I say good.. I mean delectable.  I'm gluten intolerant, and I'm also a pescatarian, which means I'm a vegetarian that eats seafood, but no other type of meat.   I also happen to be on a low carb kick because I want to drop some weight.. which means I pretty much eat like a rabbit, and that gets boring.

Insert new recipe.

Tonight I ran across a recipe for a low carb, gluten free pizza crust that I had saved on my pinterest and decided I would try it. So off we run to HEB to pick up some cauliflower.  Cauliflower, you ask?  Absolutely.  Cauliflower is a go-to for low carb junkies and it just so happens to be delightfully gluten free and good for you.

I rarely share recipes so, this might not happen again anytime soon!  But here goes.

Cook 16oz of frozen cauliflower in the microwave for 8 minutes, covered with no water added.
Drain and allow to cool.  Then 'rice' the cauliflower in a food processor, or run it over a cheese grater. You want it fine like rice.

Measure loosely (do not pack)
1 cup of riced cauliflower
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
1 egg
Italian seasoning to taste

This will make a personal size pizza, so double for a 12 inch.

Mix well and spread thinly and evenly on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake in a 450º oven for 15 minutes for a personal size, 20 minutes for a 12 inch.
Immediately top with your desired toppings (meats must be cooked completely) and put it under the broiler until the cheese is melted and browned as much as you like. Roughly 5 minutes at 500º. Watch it closely.
Cut and serve!

*Note: if you try to rebake the pizza instead of broiling it, your crust will be much softer and not crisp. Broiling is best.
* Note: Make sure to spread the crust thinly and evenly. Otherwise it will be soft. The darker the pan you use, the crisper the crust.

And here is the result!

Riced Cauliflower - Leftovers keep nicely in the fridge for next time!

Crust spread thinly, and sprinkled with italian seasoning. Ready for baking!

20 minutes later! I never expected it to look this great. It almost doesn't need toppings!

Fresh out of the oven. Wow!

Final product. I used veggies on mine, but you can top with whatever you like. It's delicious and you cannot tell it's cauliflower at all!

"Wait Until You See What I Can Do With This Photo!!" {Leander | Cedar Park Photographer}

"Wait until you see what I can do with this photo!"

A phrase that is a photographer's worst nightmare.

Unfortunately, this is a reality for almost every photographer at some point in their career. The day you wake up, look on Facebook, and see your photo made into something you barely recognize by a well-meaning friend or family member. Photographers work very hard to capture your moments to the best of our ability. We study countless hours, practice thousands and thousands of shots, and spend several hours editing your photos to deliver a finished product that we feel best represents you, in our own style. So obviously we don't want anyone else editing our work.  We can do that just fine by ourselves. Also, when our work is edited by someone else, it doesn't represent us. It doesn't represent our business; it makes us look bad. 

This is known as copyright infringement.  It's illegal. It's stealing. It's punishable by fines of up to $150,000 per image. You also most likely signed a contract or release that stated that you are not permitted to alter the photos in any way, but for some reason, people still do it.  They remove watermarks, they turn the photo black and white, they do selective coloring, and they crop.  None of this is acceptable. The photos must stay exactly the way your photographer gives them to you.. and you know what else that most people do not realize? Whether or not you even signed a contract, you are still bound by those laws. If you grab a photo off of google images, that is stealing. It doesn't have to have a name attached to it. It doesn't have to have the © beside of it. If you take it from anywhere without permission, it's copyright infringement.  If you save your friend's wedding photo to your computer without permission from the photographer, that is stealing. Just because they are on the internet, doesn't mean they are there for the taking.  The copyright belongs to the photographer alone, unless they give limited permission to the client to make prints via a 'print release'.  Even so, the photographer still holds the full copyright from the moment he/she clicks the shutter on the camera and is the only one authorized to make any changes to the photo or give away any permissions in regards to the photo. Just because you are in the photo, does not give you any right to alter the photo unless you have written permission to do so.

US Copyright Laws

These photos below are not just an example.  These photos belong to me. This actually shows the before and after of what was done to the photo.  After seeing so many photos like this I have to say please, save your artistic editing techniques for the photos that you take with your own camera. If you have an idea that you'd like to try to replicate during your photo session, talk to your photographer. If it's something we can do, we will usually give it a try. We want to make you happy. If you see a photo you'd like to share.. just ask the original photographer! The majority of the time we want people to share our work, as long as the watermark remains intact and the image is not altered in any way. We love word of mouth referrals, so just ask! It only takes a few minutes and could save a lot of trouble.

So please remember, you can do anything you wish with photos that you take, but the ones you have taken by a professional, you cannot.  Please respect your photographer by not editing their work.  It's illegal, it's damaging to our reputation, and it is stealing!

Meet the "S" Family {Austin | San Antonio Family Photographer}

I so enjoy family photographs! This beautiful location in San Antonio Tx was perfect for this beautiful family.  I couldn't have asked for a better session and a nicer family. Enjoy!!