Day 44 of 350

Jackson Falls

Ok, don't get shook up. This was taken February 12 at Jackson Falls. While I was taking pictures at the girls retreat, DeWayne took the D40 and went to Jackson Falls. It was the first day off he had had in several weeks and he just wanted to be outside. It had snowed and iced during that week so he saw some   wonderful ice and water. I love this picture. He's standing under an overhang of rocks. The sky is so blue and the ice is so white. Just a wonderful picture.

He got to go kayaking today. Not just to the St. Francis in MO like he wanted to. The water level was dangerously too high. They ended up kayaking at Lusk Creek down by Eddyville. They had a good time but he would rather go somewhere big. There will be other days! 

I worked today. I got very tired by 2:40. I didn't sleep all that well last night either. I hope tonight that I sleep soundly and deeply.

I have formulated a plan for Prom pictures. I will using a house and yard in Harrisburg. My friend Julie made a couple of texts and set it up and made arrangements. YAY!!! I am going to schedule appointments for every 30 to 45 minutes. I don't want to get rich but I want to take lots of pictures. Prom is May 7 (the day before Evan's 21st birthday!). If I book right I should be able to make about $250 in 3 hours or so. :D

I found out today that if Mr. Smith gives our PTO permission. They are taking the whole school to see a Miner's game May 11. EVERYONE!!! Pre-K through 2nd grade at a baseball game. It will either be fun or pure torture! The big kids will love it. The little ones, maybe.
Evan's spring break starts Friday. I am ready for her to be home for awhile. Her friend Beka is coming Saturday to spend a couple of days. 

More tomorrow!

Day 43 of 350

The many faces of Elias

This is an awesome template that I downloaded from a free site. All I had to do was place the pictures where I wanted them and attach them to the layer and Ta-da, it's done. Love, love, love free stuff!

I finished editing the pictures and even posted them to zenfolio already. All I have to do is burn Casey's disk and I am finished. 

I am thinking about taking pictures of prom kids this year. That didn't convey what I am talking about really. Several people have asked me to take their kids pictures for prom and I have been rolling around some ideas in my mind. The plan I have come up with is to use someone's house (& yard) in Harrisburg, schedule times for every 45 minutes, and have the couples/groups come to me. And charge them $40 per couple. I could make money and not have to stress over several locations, just have one location set up. I think it will work. (as long as everyone is on time and courteous to others :D )

It's supposed to rain - ALOT- tonight. DeWayne is so excited. He's going kayaking tomorrow in MO. The river is supposed to be way up!

Hopefully I'll have pictures of his runs tomorrow!

Day 42 of 350

Elias 1 year

Well, here's my little man Elias. We finally got our photo shoot in and it was COLD! The weather was promising me 55 degrees and it barely broke 40. Factor in the wind chill and it was still in the high thirty's. BRRR! is all I can say. He was a trooper though. Let me just say that 1 year olds have the attention span of a  flea. And props were a joke! One year olds are just cute! He smiled, he laughed, he cried. He ran, he sat, and he walked and climbed. I snapped almost 1000 pictures (between my camera and DeWayne's) and I have edited it down to 185. Not bad I guess. 

It's been a good day! I will finish up editing and get the pictures to Casey by early next week. Yay!

Day 41 of 350

Elias - 9 months

This is Elias at 9 months. He is now a year old and I am taking his pictures tomorrow. I am excited to be taking pictures again! I am ready to take a little person's pictures. He is so cute. 

I took a sick day today and just rested. I slept late and did absolutely nothing all day. I feel a lot better. I think if I had gone to work I would have felt horrible by this evening. Better to take a day and recover than to keep pushing and still be feeling nasty!

Time to gather my gear and my props and make sure I have everything!

Day 40 of 350

Jackie at West Side

This is Jackie. She was at West Side today with the other Dental Hygiene students from her school. Every February they come to our school and present a short lesson about taking care of your teeth. They bring a short video, a puppet, a book, or another short activity. She's showing the pre-k children how to brush their teeth the right way. She is really good. The kids like her and she likes the kids. She also knows her "tooth" business! I was a proud mama today. She did a great job!

I still feel yucky! My head goes from being stopped up to running like crazy. My head hurts sometimes. My ears hurt sometimes. My teeth even hurt sometimes. I sometimes feel like I can't hold my head up. I  am thinking that I might not be going to school tomorrow. YUCK!!!

I have pictures Saturday. I have to feel well!!!!

I bought Nyquil and Dayquil to take tonight and tomorrow! I'll keep you posted. 

Day 39 of 350

February Book Group here at my house! These are wonderful reading friends!

I haven't posted for a couple of days. I was really disappointed not to get to take pictures Saturday of Elias but we have rescheduled for Saturday. (The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm!) I was also getting ready for my friends to be here last night.

I made potato soup and DeWayne fixed chili. I also put together a huge salad with bread. Denise brought 4 different Larry's House of Cakes cakes. Chellie brought soda and Wendy brought ice. The perfect meal and the sides! 

We discussed Chasing Fireflies by Charles Martin. We are all becoming huge Charles Martin fans. We read When Crickets Cry last year. I have read a couple other books by him. Each book has some form of water in it; usually a river but sometimes a lake. He gives a lot of history details of the setting of each book. He does a lot of research and adds characters to fit the area. Very nice. He's also considered a Christian writer. So there is no worry of being offended by bad language of sex scenes. :)

Our book for next month is Divine Romance by Gene Edwards. He also wrote A Tale of Three Kings. This book was on Dane's reading list at IHOP in Kansas City. It's a quick read and I would recommend it also.

I have a full blown cold. I have the nasty nose, the sneezing and the just yuckiness. Maybe it's really the flu. I don't know the difference. My whole life I thought the flu was throwing up etc. But then I learn that's just a virus. The flu is chest, nose, yuckiness. Who knew?

I hope I get to feeling better before Saturday. I really don't like to feel bad!

Supposed to rain the next day or so. DeWayne is really excited. It will raise the water level of the St. Francis River enough to kayak! He's looking at Saturday as the day he and his friends will go. I hope it works out for him!

More tomorrow...

Day 37 of 350

UGH!!
Rain
No pictures today. Just cooking and cleaning
:(

Day 36 of 350

No picture today!
Sorry!
I just am not feeling it today.
Tomorrow - tomorrow there will be pictures. I am taking Elias' 1 year pictures. I hope the rain stays away! I am really looking forward to taking little people pictures again. I love, love, love taking kid pictures! Hope the weather cooperates and he is in a GREAT mood!
I also have to finish cleaning my house and fix potato soup for Tuesday night book group. I am excited about it being here. A lot of the girls have not seen my library yet!
More tomorrow!

Day 35 of 350

Day 35 of 350

This is Ally on her 2nd birthday. She is my great-niece. She was a princess for her birthday. (She is the princess!!!)

I downloaded some free actions for Photoshop Elements - frames, collages, background, etc. I was just playing around with it and tried it out on Ally picture. It's frustrating me, though, in some ways because I can't figure out (YET) how to open all the files and choose! I will get it though.

Today has been an interesting day. DeWayne had to go in 4 hours early so that made him work a 12 hour shift. Tonight he has to work midnights. Tomorrow was to be his day off. Maybe after he wakes up we can do something together.

I have to clean and cook for Tuesday. It's book group night and it's here. 

I also am gathering props and ideas for Elias' photo shoot on Monday. I have several ideas for him. I hope the sun comes out and it's semi-warm. He is such a cutie. Of course, I have laughed, and said he's one - he sits, he stands, he walks, and he does a great TA-DA!! I can't wait to take his pictures.

More tomorrow!

Day 33 & 34 of 350

Day 33 & 34 of 350

I forgot I hadn't blogged until I was already in bed last night and almost asleep! Oh well, I do like sleep better than blogging. :D
We only had to work a half day today. The kids didn't come at all. It's parent/teacher day. I worked in the lab and did troubleshooting all day for teachers. I had 3 people asking me questions at the same time today. After I solved everyone else's problems then I got to finish my work.
When I finished work, I headed to Evansville to hang out with Evan for a little while and to deliver Paige's wedding picture disks to her. She met us at Starbucks and we had a good time just chatting. It was good to hear her loving her pictures! She was excited to get back to her office and load her pictures on her computer. I am also excited about getting to take her newborn baby pictures in June!
I have been asked by 3 different co-workers who have girls going to prom to take their pictures for prom. I am thinking about finding a place (a yard maybe the park) and just setting up and having people come to me at different times. Then I don't have to rush around and I can take a lot of different people's pictures. (And make some money!!!)

This is the collage I put together for Paige. These are a few of the pictures Evan and I took while she was getting her hair and make up done. I made it square and put the title on it. Her mom LOVED it. I had it printed on a 10 x 10 canvas. It really looks awesome!

I like editing and post processing the pictures as much as I like taking the pictures. It's fun to see what you can do with an image!

I am meeting my niece Alayna tomorrow and delivering some pictures to her. She ordered some large prints of her kiddos that I took last fall. They are adorable! Can't wait to see her either!

Well, I better get busy on this Friday evening doing something!

Later

Day 32 of 350

Day 32 of 350

This is getting pretty fun looking through all the old pictures that I have scanned on my computer and finding one I haven't looked at in a while. (I really should do something with these!!!)

This is me, my sister Marsha and our cousin Julie.

We are in the kitchen at our Grandma and Grandpa Griswold's house. Funny thing about that house. It now is where my mom and Jim live.

I love those cowboy boots. I wore them a lot that summer. I have another picture of me wearing them with shorts! LOL 

Julie and her family lived in Texas. They usually made the trip to Illinois about 2 times a year until she and her brother started school and my grandparents moved to Texas. 

Oh well!

I received the software that I ordered today. Photoshop Elements 9 and Capture NX2. They are both for photo editing. I have messed with them a little. 

It was a beautiful day! The sun was out and it was warm. DeWayne and I actually took supper to Karel Park. After we ate, we walked around and looked at the park. I am going to take Elias' pictures there on Monday. I saw another friend who has twins while we were there. She wants me to take their pictures in March. So I have another job! YAY! I am excited! Oh yeah, and I'm taking wedding pictures in October for a girl at my  school! So I have another job.

Day 31 of 350

Day 31 of 350

So I have been at this for one month. I have only had a few times of "doubled up" days.
I haven't even picked a picture yet. I really haven't had my camera out much this week. I am trying to play catch up with laundry and dishes and just being a part of the family again since the pictures are edited and posted!
Ok, I found a picture. It's an old one again!

Jackie & Evan

These are my girls when they were in Jr. High. They were so cool thinking they were Charlie's Angels. :D They've grown up to be beautiful young women who love Jesus with all their hears. I am blessed to be their mom; by choice and by birth! 

More tomorrow!

Day 30 of 350

Day 30 of 350

This is a wonderful picture of DeWayne and I pretty early in our dating relationship (I think). We might have been married but I don't think so. And I am not really sure where we are. I don't recognize that couch or those curtains. LOL!
I chose this picture because today, Valentine's Day, is the anniversary of our first date. Yep, 30 years ago today, DeWayne and I had our first date.  I am so thankful that he went home after school on that Friday and called and asked me out. He was nothing like any other guy I had ever liked or chased. He was kind and fun and very polite and gentlemanly. (His mother raised him well!!!) God is awesome in knowing just what we need before we realize it sometimes! I am grateful for that!
Well, I posted the pictures of the wedding last evening and have had much response. All good!!! Yay! They are all pleased with the pictures. That makes me so happy. Friday I will deliver her disks and a price sheet if others want to order prints.
Did I tell you I got an iPhone for Valentine's Day? My husband is AWESOME!!! It is a miniature version of my iPad but takes pictures and video. I love it. I Skyped my mom on it yesterday. Way cool! Being a Mac user already it was pretty easy to figure out.
I guess I better go spend more of the evening with DeWayne. He's on Day Shift so he's home. (He grilled some very yummy steaks for us for supper!)
More tomorrow

Day 27, 28, & 29 of 350

Days 27, 28, 29 of 350!

I did it again. I got so caught up in other things that I forgot to post. UGH!!!!

This weekend (Friday and Saturday) was the Designed to Shine Jr. High and High School girls conference at our church. I, of course, was the official photographer. I really had a great time. My friend Terah and her daughter Moriah led the sessions. And two wonderful women from the east coast led the worship. The girls from North Carolina are leaders in a surfing ministry that moves up and down the east coast winning surfers to Jesus. Very cool ministry! The conference was beach themed. It was amazing!

The girls were broken up in to groups called PODS. They camped inside the church and had popup tents for their "campsites".  After each session, they went back to their POD site and added a charm. Each charm represented the theme of the talk. The pearl was a real freshwater pearl. It's a very pretty bracelet! 

My friend Mel put this all together. She can plan an event almost as well as my sister!

I promise I will post tomorrow!

Oh, and the pictures are DONE! You can view them:

http://lwhitlock.zenfolio.com/

Days 24, 25, & 26 of 350

Days 24, 25, & 26 of 350
I have nothing but edit for the last two evenings and all day today!!! The pictures are now edited to the best of my ability. (I think!)
I keep going through them and deleting the ones that don't make the cut even after editing. I will do that more and then get them ready to share with Paige and Addison.
Evan and I photographed her her getting her hair and makeup done. I processed a few in black and white. They look really cool.
I am as pleased as can be with the lighting. If I had $1000 lenses and professional lighting I would be even more pleased but I am not there yet. My theory is that they are getting the best I have to offer!
I am tired! And it was snow day #7 today! I've done laundry and sat here at my laptop all day! DeWayne is on second shift so we got to spend the morning together! It's been a good day. Makes me wish that I was home when he is all the time!
ok, now for the three pictures to share for today:

This is Paige, Leigha and Patti

This is taken front outside the door in the lobby.

This is taken front the balcony. The light was awesome I thought. I like the blue stained glass windows. They added a lot of natural light. Just very blue.

Day 23 of 350

Day 23 of 350

Here's my bride! I have edited about 200 hundred pictures tonight. This is one of my favorites of Paige. She is a very pretty girl and very easy to photograph!
So far I am pleased with the results of the color and quality. I was a little worried when the pictures were loading on my computer and I was watching the thumbnails thinking that they weren't going to be good. But they really look good.
The only thing that I am disappointed in is the background distractions of some of the pre-wedding photos. I would have liked the room to have been less cluttered. But you have to work with what you have.
I'll keep working tomorrow evening and hopefully I will get finished this week! :D
I was seriously hoping for a snow day this week to do nothing but edit pictures and get ready for the girls retreat this weekend.
Oh yeah, I am the photographer for the weekend at church with the jr. high and high school girls. It's called Designed to Shine. It's beach themed and going to be very cool.
I'll keep you posted!

Day 21 & 22 of 350

Day 21 & 22 of 350
Oh well, Looks like you get a 2 for 1 again. The wedding threw off my blogging by a day. Sorry about that. I will give you a little preview of the wedding.

These are Paige's shoes sitting in the aisle of the church before the wedding. I didn't have to ask her to take them off. She hadn't put them on yet. She was still running around in white gym socks because her feet were cold!
The wedding came off well. I was somewhat nervous but not to point of being sick! LOL The only hitch was the schedule and time. I don't think she realized how much time prep takes for the wedding (hair, nails, makeup, eating, dressing...) I followed her around for the morning and took pictures of her getting ready. We didn't get back to the church until after 1 and the wedding started at 3. Needless to say, all those pre-wedding photos that I planned to take were put on hold until after or taken very quickly. I would have liked to have had more time to take relaxed photos of her with her dad and mom and family but there was no time. Oh well, nothing to stress about! It's over. They are married and I got photos of the important part. :D
I've edited all day (since church). I'm ready to give it a rest and start again tomorrow evening! It takes a long time to adjust color and lighting and cropping. Just deleting the bad ones takes time. I probably won't be finished until late in the week with this. I am taking my time. I don't want to rush through the process. (of course there are about 1000 pictures to look at!!!)
It was really fun to work with DeWayne and Evan! We worked well as a team. Since we didn't have a lot of time before the wedding to get shots. Evan took the detail shots (rings, flowers, decorations, etc.) DeWayne took the guys getting ready. And I took the girls with Paige. Worked out great! And the best part is we have three angles on the ceremony with each of us seeing something different! Love it!
I think it's time to crash! More tomorrow

Day 20 of 350

Day 20 of 350

I was looking through my pictures again and found this one of my sister and I on the day we started our "Great Road Trip" to Texas and New Mexico together. We had the best time! Most people seldom take a vacation. And very few take a vacation with just their sibling. We made the trip to visit with our grandma in Texas and made a detour on the way home through New Mexico. It was a WONDERFUL trip.
DeWayne and I are in Evansville tonight. We spent about an hour at the church looking at the location and the lights. The only problem is that tomorrow there will be natural light in the church besides the artificial lighting. So anything I preset tonight will have to be reset tomorrow. We checked flashes and I have batteries charging right now.
I am READY! It is going to be great!

Day 19 of 350

Day 19 of 350

This was the view from our front door this morning! The geese were enjoying the ice and cold. It was COLD here this morning! There was actually a little snow on the ground. The sun came out this afternoon though and it got up in the 30's. There's a possibility of snow tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday! Oh well, it is six weeks until spring.
I'm gathering my stuff for picture taking. I made a list and I'm checking it twice! LOL I just don't want to get to Evansville and not have batteries or a charger or a power cord.
DeWayne went to SIU to practice kayaking. They let the kayak club put their boats in the old pool and roll around. He hasn't been since before Christmas. He can't wait for it to warm up so he can start kayaking again.
Tomorrow is his first day of in 30 days. He is very ready for a day off and I am ready to spend more that a couple of hours at a time with him! :D
More tomorrow!

Day 18 of 350

Day 18 of 350

Ok. I know this is an old picture, but I was looking through some pictures that I scanned while I was at grandma's this summer and this one caught my eye. It caught my eye because it seems like I blinked and these little people grew up! (And that really young dad is now very gray!)
This was right after we built the wooden swingset and added the huge sandbox. Dane got the backhoe digger for his 2nd birthday. Looks like Dane is probably around 4 1/2 and Evan is about 1 1/2. She always thought she could do whatever he was big enough to do!
I miss those kids but they are really fun now that they are grown ups too! There are many pictures very similar to this. DeWayne, Dane and Evan doing something together outside. I ALWAYS had the camera ready. Those were film days. It was always the hope that "I got the shot", because there was no way of telling until the film was developed!!! I love digital. When I took pictures then, it was always the theory that you better take two just in case you missed it! I still do that now even with digital! LOL! Better safe than sorry!!!
I rented a large flash unit and battery pack for the wedding Saturday. It will continuous fire for several shots!! I am so excited. It will be awesome for the reception and for the pictures during the ceremony that I can use the flash on. I got it out and played with it a little. I will mess with it some tomorrow too and Friday night I will set it when we check out the church! Only two days away!
We heard from Dane and he is in Terre Haute. Not too far away but still very cold to be working outside. It's amazing how much snow some places have had and are still getting and are getting ready to get again! All I can say is WOW!

Day 17 of 350

Day 17 of 350

This is me and my handsome son, Dane. He is an electrical lineman. He and his crew got called out today for storm duty in Ft. Wayne, IN. He is headed in to all this snow and ice to by on stand by in case the power goes out.  He really likes his job. And he really likes to work storm. :D He likes the overtime pay that comes with working the storm!
We just missed the storm here in Southern Illinois. We only got rain today. I don't even think we are going to get any ice now. Some say yay others wanted bad weather! I could have taken it either way. Snow day or not, didn't matter to me!
I am really surprised we didn't get more bad weather though. The kids have been acting really crazy the last two days. Their behavior usually reflects the weather.
I've looked at more wedding picture poses today. I am re-reading one of the wedding photography books that I bought. I am trying very hard to keep my mind wrapped around the details and the technical stuff of the wedding.
After this wedding, what will I talk about?!? :D