Q&A week 6

I know, I know, I am just getting later in the week! Oops. I will try to have week 7 up by Weds as I had originally planned. Not that I suppose anyone is sitting impatiently waiting for these ;)

So, my question this week comes from my friend Nicole, who is also a photographer up in the Spring Hill/Brooksville area.

I admire how you can get kids to cooperate while you are snapping away. What are your secrets to getting a toddler to pay attention long enough to snap a perfect, sharp, amazing picture? I am not sure it's so much of a secret as much as just a general understanding of kids. From an early age, I was always described as a "little mommy", often taking younger kids under my wing. I love kids. I love their sense of humor and energy for life. I feel like in general, I can relate to most children better than I can an adult. I love studying what makes them tick, and what they respond to. That being said, there are a couple of tricks I don't mind sharing.
1. Get down on their level, right away. Have you ever thought what a strange adult must seem like to a child? We tower over them. Basically, they have spent most of their little life looking at our knees! It's amazing how differently they'll react to you if you greet them on their level right away. Suddenly, you have a face! And you've acknowledged that you think they matter. That's huge, even to a baby.
2. Let them come to you. Many times I am sure it seems like I am not DOING anything. I will hover on the outskirts for a while, just letting a child play and get used to my presence. This allows me to get some candid shots, and it lets them get used to the strange lady with the black box in front of her face! Eventually, they all warm up, or at least let their curiosity get the best of them, and they will come interact with me. Even the shy ones.
3. Know your camera. This is crucial for a sharp, clear shot. Shooting on auto, even with a good camera, is not going to produce consistant images because the camera has control, and it can't know what you need it to do all the time. I know my camera like my best friend. I know how to get what I want out of it in every situation, I am in control and that makes a huge difference!
4. Find Nemo. This trick is my favorite. I ask older toddlers and preschoolers if they can find Nemo in my camera. Never fails that they stop for a nanosecond and gaze right into the lens! That's how I got some of my favorite shots of all time, like these.





Nicole's question had a second part, but I will save that for next week since I have written a small novel already and it's bedtime here in the Vickers house. My husband needs reinforcements!
Here's my self portrait for this week. Nothing fancy, but I cut my hair a little shorter so I thought I'd show it off.

Do you remember....

Him?



Well, he's getting bigger! Even though compared to the size my babies seem to be, he looks like a peanut to me! Just as cute as ever, and such a happy boy. I can't wait to go back in a few months and see how much more he's changed. It's always a bit shocking to me! Ok, hold on for the overload. I just couldn't choose.




Boy, is that sign ever true!

Saturday Night {fever}

From a recent engagement session. J-I promise to have the rest up by the end of the weekend.

Q&A week 5

Yes, I am late again. I have been working like mad trying to catch up with everything that got pushed back while I was in the hospital. I am slowly making a dent, so I thought I'd take a blog break! ;)

My question this week is the last from my sister in law. She knows the answer to this one, but thought not everyone would, so...

Do you do weddings? Indeed, I do. I don't do many. I loev kids too much to make weddings my major priority, and taking on more than maybe one wedding a month would just overload me to the point of not being able to focus on every client in a very personal way. That being said, I have two weddings coming up in March, so be on the lookout for images from those. I'll also be posting some engagement shots from one of those couples here very shortly. And if you know someone who's getting married, send them my way!

I took my self portrait this week knowing what the question was....It's been working out so well every other time that I had to go with "the theme" :)
This is a shot of my engagement ring. I love it. I have always loved it. My husband once said I could upgrade later in life if I wanted something "better". I don't. He did a fantastic job picking it out, and it was exactly what I had always pictured. I'm a pretty simple gal, so the ornate is not for me. And it had to be platinum, because I am a klutz and I knew I would scratch/dent/completely bend beyond recognition a gold ring.

BIG. ;)

I wanted to address a question I get often. It involves why I push larger prints. Yes, I am a pusher. I don't have anthing in my house hanging up less than 11x14 in size. I know to many, 11x14 seems like a huge picture. But when you're comparing it to an entire wall, it's really not as big as it sounds! If you were to go looking for a piece of art for your home, you would not set out in search of a 5x7 or 8x10 oil painting, would you? No, you'd most likely go looking for something very large for impact. My portraits are designed to be printed BIG. They can be just as much an art piece as a painting or a landscape photograph. Really. If you want it 40x60, I can do that!
For instance....
This is cute.


But this is WOW.

Q & A week 4.

With all the craziness this week, I forgot to do this yesterday. Although all things considered, I don't think that a day late is 1/2 bad! ;)

I think it will be fairly obvious who asked the following question.

Who is the best aunt ever? Gonna have to plead the 5th on this one. My boys have two aunts that they love very much. Granted, one lives here and they see her at least once a week. She is a constant help to us and Grady especially has a very special bond with her. The other aunt we are not lucky enough to see very often, as she lives in Colorado. However, Grady says his prayers and remembers her every night, and he was the ring bearer in her wedding to my brother a year ago. She's kind enough not to hold his behavior at the ceremony against us. :)

And here's my "self" portrait for this week. It's not technically a SP since Grady actually took it with the aunt who submitted the previous question's camera. I think I have an assistant in the making! He was very happy to document my hospital stay!

Going home!

I am on my way outta here in the next few minutes! My levels are still high, but I convinced the Doc to let me go by promising not to do anything much today and just sit at home and go straight to the hemotologist in the AM for a blood draw. Hopefully the numbers will stabalize and we'll be on the road to normalcy. Thanks again for the well wishes. I'll be back to business soon!

Update: Monday Jan 26

Just a quickie update tonight as I am feeling a little discouraged, so I am going to escape into the world of a good book (how I had not read twilight before now, I do not know). I am still here. Bear with my next few sentences. I understand about as much as you do! Apparently, the coumadin and Lovanox they have been giving me have done the job....too well. A normal persons "numbers" would be like at a .9 or a 1. Mine need to be at 2-3 for discharge so they know I am not making any more clots. Right now, they are at 4.59. I thought this might be good, but apparently it's one of those "too much of a good thing" situations. At that number, even a small bump to the head or abdomen has the potential to cause internal bleeding which would be hard to stop. They have taken me off the drugs to stabilize my numbers and will start with a smaller dose soon. The Dr said that tomorrow, one of two things will happen. Either the coumadin will be coming down in my system and I'll be at a good, safe level to go home, OR it will continue to climb to a dangerously high level (as if a brain bleed does not sound dangerous). It's one of those drugs that takes a few days to work, so they need to see if I am peaked out at this point, or if it will be going up. If it goes up, I am stuck here at least until Weds.
So, that's the situation. I am trying to remember that this is all for my own good, but four days in the hospital has made me a little unreasonable. Thanks for your continued well wishes. It really does mean the world to me.

Update: Sunday Jan 25th

First, I want to send a shout out to my little brother. It's his birthday today! HAPPY 25th E!

I am doing well. Still in "lock up", but otherwise ok. I am hoping my blood levels will be where they need to be tomorrow so I can go home, but the nurse tonight told me she thinks probably Tuesday. I have found the nurses are usually more accurate than the Dr's when it comes to things like that, so I am preparing myself for a couple more days. Chris has been bringing the boys to see me and they are doing ok. Grady is confused and wanted to stay here with me last night. Fin is dong ok. He's normally a mama's boy though and when he came today he only wanted daddy. I know it's just because he's been with Chris more for the past 3 days, but it still made me yearn to go home and rock him to sleep tonight like we usually do. They have been charming the whole floor though. I am by far the youngest person up here, so a baby is like a breath of fresh air for the staff. They eat them up!
That's really all I have to report tonight. I am pretty tired as I have had a restless roommate for the past few nights. Thankfully she has been moved to a rehab center, so I am hoping for sleep tonight. Just praying they don't need to bring someone in at 3 am.
Here's some fun shots from a little mini session I had last weekend. These kids were so cute and personable. I could have shot them all day. It was the coldest day EVER, and the little girl only wanted to go get ice cream, she had me cracking up! All of their names start with "T". So here's "T,T,T and baby T"! Hope you enjoy your sneak peek, mommy! (And aunt L, because I know you're sitting at your computer hitting 'refresh'.

Update: Saturday Jan 24th.

Still here in the hospital and it is still the plan that I will remain until they can get my blood levels thinned to a level of 2.0-3.0 (not entirely sure what that means, but I am just running with it.) That can take 3-5 days. I am getting shots of lovanox every 12 hours and will be on the anti-coagulant drug coumadin for at least the next six months. My grandmother informed me that ALL her friends are on coumadin (yay, I have 80 year old woman meds).
Essentially they are still thinking this just came out of left field. The hemotologist has ordered genetic blood testing to see if this could be some kind of blood disorder. He still feels it is most likely just a freak thing though. I fit none of the profiles for pulmonary embolism: elderly(not yet), sedentary lifestyle(with two growing boys? Nope), smoker(nope), heavy drinker (some days I wish, but no) or just having traveled a long distance (again, some days I wish...). Everyone seems quite baffled by the whole thing. Even the ER doc who made the initial discovery saw Chris leaving the hospital last night and commented on how big of a shocker this was! I have also learned from the hemotologist that it appears there is not one, but two clots, one in each lung. Well, at least I'm keeping things even. ;)
Anyway, thanks to all for the calls and emails you have sent. I feel very lucky to have such great friends and clients. I know this isn't going to keep me down for long. I am already getting reeeaaaalll antsy here in the hospital.
And you didn't think I'd post twice in a row with no pics, did you?
Here's a delightful family from last weekend. They were one of my nominees for the giving is awesome contest I ran on my blog before Christmas. Their little girl, K, has a very rare disorder but she is a little angel. I am so so so glad I got to hang out with the entire "O" family for a short time. They really touched my life. Hope you like your sneak peek!



Mom and little "K"


The whole family. The two boys are twins. SO cute!


Little miss "M"