Flower fields

I just love this hill. These flowers bloom here every spring, but only last about 2 weeks. This is our second year of coming here with the kiddos for a little photo shoot. It gets really tricky, because this hill is mere steps away from a busy 4 lane road (with no fence!!) Needless to say, we need to have one eye on the kids and one eye looking through the lens. This year {S} and I brought our good friend {B} and her kids with us. So the group shot is only okay (6 kids under 5=quite an ordeal), but the rest turned out well. ;) I had a chance to be "arty" with some of the photos, as you can see.

Fairy wings and flip-flops

Oh boy do I just love this little girl!! {c}'s oldest and dearest friend, and always willing to pose for photos. Just proofing a bunch photos from a recent trip with some friends to a wildflower field by our house....and I came across this one that I just had to share. *sigh* Love the polka-dots....and that smile. So sweet, so girly... so {a}.

Preschool graduation

{c} graduated from preschool today. *sigh* A new era begins for our little guy! I am secretly happy that we don't have to leave our beloved preschool.....{n} starts there in the fall. As you can see from the above photos, the teachers there are loved....loved big time....and they love the kids just as much. :) And that makes a mommy very happy.

{e}...revisited

Okay, how sweet is this baby??? She was a dream to photograph...she slept the whole time! Only 8 days old. *sigh* I still haven't finished proofing the session, but I wanted to share a couple favorites so far.

Thanks, everyone, for your kind words! They made my week!! ((Nikki, Blogger wouldn't let me email you back, so I will answer your questions now in the blog.))

I shoot with a Canon 30D, and I use my 50mm 1.4 99% of the time. I **love** that lens! I do have a Tamron 28-75, which I use on occasion, but only outside because the aperture doesn't go low enough to shoot inside my house. lol. As far as action...oh boy!...half of mine are blurry or the focus is off...I am still working on what works best for me. I have tried (with little success) back button focusing, so I usually always just focus recompose (and pray it locks on to the correct place!) I also make sure the shutter speed doesn't go below 1/60....and with moving kids, no lower then 1/125.

I also have a Panasonic Lumix FZ-20 that is my point and shoot, for when I just want to get documentation of an event (like my son's B.A.B. party), and don't want to worry about post-processing the photos.

If you email me at craigkarly at msn.com I will share the link to my favorite online photography forum. ;) I must also add that I have learned soooo much from Desiree (her business website is linked on my sidebar...and there are a few photos of my family in her gallery...) She is an awesome photographer, and I owe a huge debt of gratitude to her for helping me along the way... :) Thanks, {D}, if you are reading this!!!