new blogsite!

Hello everyone!!! You might be wondering why I have been MIA. Please click here, and you will know why! I have a new blogsite, so please update to the new web address and be sure to leave a little love in the comments section on the NEW BLOGSITE!!! Thank you.

newborn: baby hudson

There is something so special when a newborn baby is welcomed into the world. Everything in your life changes...for the better. And, that is exactly what happened with Nick and Lauren. They greeted us with happy hellos and smiles. The kind of smiles that says they are blessed to have such a perfect little baby boy in their arms. As I spent the session photographing sweet little Hudson, all that came to mind was their smiles. In between the feedings, the cuddling, the changing of clothes and the smiles, all I kept thinking about was how all of this fits Nick and Lauren. Perfectly. These two make being parents of a newborn look SO easy, and I cannot wait to see them teach Hudson to dream, love and hope. I have known Lauren since we lived in Chi Omega together, and I have known Nick for quite a few years. They are an amazing couple together. But, watching them love, glow and have pride over the beautiful baby boy they created together was a feeling that left me in awe. Their family of three is now complete.

Baby Hudson's nursery.



I think my heart just melted...



I love his little fingers sticking out.



I think that might be a smile...



Hudson, you are perfect.



Baby feet get me EVERY single time!



I love these next two for reasons I cannot begin to describe...



The sweetest and happiest family of three.



One of my absolute favorites!



Nick, I hope you love these next two. They are just for you!



Another favorite...



I love how peaceful he looks right here.



I will end with this sweet photo...a baby Jay.



Welcome to the world, Baby Hudson!

mini photo sessions 2012

There is no greater feeling than knowing what you love to do for a passion and fun can make a difference in someone else's life. I never knew three years ago when I met Stephanie that we would leave imprints in one another's lives. I would personally like to thank Harry Potter for bringing us together in a way. But, more importantly, it was a friendship that grew quite quickly and before I knew it, I decided over a sweet lunch we shared that I wanted to help make a dream come true. A dream that is so complex, challenging at times, heart-warming, eye-opening and amazing. A dream that is going to change two lives for the better. A dream that is worth fighting and working hard for because in the end, they get to hold a a beautiful baby in their arm. They get to teach a beautiful baby to love, to have faith, to hope and to never stop shooting for the stars. Awhile back, I wrote about mini photo sessions to help raise money for my wonderful friends. To say last Saturday was a success is an understatement. Every one of my families I photographed filled my heart with an extra dose of gratitude to be given the chance to do something I love while helping a very deserving couple. That is the day I made sure to count my blessings. Twice.

On to the sneak peaks of all my wonderful families that I was VERY blessed to photograph...

I am in love with BOTH of the photos below! They are so fun and in the moment of just being them.





These two were too cute for words!





Miss Chloe is quite the stylish and sweetest little lady.



I love love love this photo!



How cute is this little man?!





Hope is a doll.



That smile makes my heart melt!



These two gals need to head into modeling. Oh my goodness...

oh sweet carolina!

There is something to be said about the south. The sweet and ever so beautiful south. There are the memories that I never want to forget and therefore will write to always remember. Oh the memories. There were the ya'lls and delicious sweet tea. There was laughing, a lot of laughing; the kind that make your insides hurt in a really good way. There were tears and hugs. There was staying awake until six o'clock in the morning talking about life and love. There was bottles of wine and cocktails. There was touching toes in the Atlantic Ocean and laughing on the beach in the middle of the night. There was falling in love with southern architecture and eating gelato. There was curling up in blankets and pajamas while watching episodes of Whitney and Modern Family on the iPad. There was photographing for fun. There was being introduced to Jimmy John's "unwich" and eating it four different times within twenty-four hours. There was walking through Market Street and on cobble-stoned streets and eating fresh Charleston honey. There were men in uniform that reminded me of great history men and women in the service are making for our country. There was getting dolled up and closing down the restaurant with our laughs and never-ending flow of drinks. There was Sunday night football. There was a reggae band. There were palm trees and sand and cute surf bars. There was being swept off my feet with Charleston's southern charm. Most of all, there was my heart that felt full upon leaving the ever so beautiful Carolina.





Happy Friday, Ya'll!!!

who i am...

For so long, I have struggled with the question of who am I. I spent year after year trying to morph myself into someone else. Someone who was sophisticated. Someone who was soft-spoken. Someone who did not care so darn much about everything in life. Someone who was not complex. Someone who is the very opposite of everything I am today.

It was a long and hard path to get to this point. The point in which I finally understand the answers to the question I struggled with for so long. To be honest, I am still struggling, which is why I am writing this. To remind myself that I am learning. I believe the last few years of facing obstacles was to help me discover missing pieces of the answers I have been seeking for in my twenties. This became evident when I recently started my rebranding project with Amy at Candy Apple Studios. She is a phenomenal artist, and I cannot wait to see what she creates for my new brand! Part of her process is to answer a questionnaire; the part of the process I feared but had to face. And, it was a big piece to the process. Defining in words who am I. So, after a whole lot of thinking (and help from my sweet husband!), I landed on loud, colorful, whimsical, sweet, Indian, fun and a modern interpretation of vintage. A few questions later, she asked what I wanted my brand to convey. And, that took all but five seconds to answer. Me. The loud, colorful, whimsical, sweet, Indian, fun and modern interpretation of vintage me.

I want to build a brand that says who I am in the font, the design and the colors. After all, I want to be unique. And, I want to stick out. Because of the hundreds upon hundreds of photographers out there, all I have to set myself apart from the next photographer is me. And, for the gal in her early twenties who was wishing for sophisticated, soft-spoken, not compassionate and simple, I would advise her to not try so hard to walk in someone else's shoes. To be herself. To own every inch of herself. To embrace being a Type A perfectionist, caring and loving so darn much, being loud, for always bringing color into every aspect of her life and for stepping outside of the box and playing with fire. After all, that is what got me to this point in my life. For finally choosing to own who I am each and every day. And, for anyone else who struggles with this...just a sweet little reminder...there is not a better version of you out there than yourself. So, own it and rock it out! With a smile.

exposure, angles and determination

If you asked me if I knew what I was doing the first time I picked up a camera, I would have smiled, fibbed (ok, outright lied) and said yes. Because the truth is, I had NO idea what I was doing when I bought my first DSLR, a Canon Rebel. The manual was too wordy for my engineering brain. (Funny that I write this statement now since words, writing and reading are all a pieces of who I am today.) Seriously, the manual that came with the camera did not give me the information I wanted. If I had been patient and read through it like everyone advised, I would have learned a LOT more in the beginning. So, how did I learn how to use that lovely camera...I practiced, read books and practiced some more. And a LOT of determination. A lot. I wrote a post not too long ago about photographers who are starting from square one. I believe the focus of this blog post is step number eight: practice in manual. Now, I understand I do not know everything because really, I do not know everything there is about photography. But, I now understand my purpose in life (helping others in any way possible), so I intend on sharing my knowledge about this very subject to those who are learning either as photographers or hobbyists to use their camera. My approach may be wrong, but it is the way I learned. And, I am slowly learning much like anything in life, there is not a right or wrong way.

When I first picked up my Canon Rebel back in the summer of 2009, the first question I had was what everything on the dial represented. The abbreviations might be different from the different brands of cameras out there, but for the Canon these four modes were the ones I paid attention to and practiced in order from when I started into photography:

*P (portrait mode): the camera automatically selects the aperture and shutter speed
*A or Av (aperture priority): you select the aperture and the camera selects the ISO, white balance and shutter speed
*S or Tv (shutter speed priority): you select the shutter speed and the camera selects the aperture, ISO and white balance
*M (manual mode): you are in full control of the ISO, aperture and shutter speed

I had no idea what ISO, shutter speed and aperture to set in manual to make the photo come out, so I spent the first year only photographing in portrait mode. Yes, there were times where my photos were either under or overexposed, and I would spend hours editing my photographs adjusting all the settings losing sense of why I was photographing with such a nice camera. During the summer of 2010, I decided to start playing with the other modes and then finally turning the dial to manual. I had many days of frustration trying to learn how to photograph in manual mode. Then came that hot, VERY HOT summer day where I had a family of five (three of which were little ones under the age of five) to photograph. That same day is when Bryan asked me to turn the dial from portrait to manual mode. I'm pretty sure the heat was getting to him because surely he was out of his mind. But, my husband is my biggest cheerleader, coach and everything in between, so when he says in his "serious" tone a request as crazy as that, I respond with ok. Well, Bryan's request is how my style begun to be defined. Meaning, I was not spending hours in front of the computer in Photoshop fixing all my photos. Instead, I spent less than one minute on each photo to enhance the colors, make them pop, give them a little warmth and then turn the photo in black and white. Shooting in manual and never looking back has been the best decision I (Bryan too!) ever made!

I suggest playing with the other modes first when starting out because it will help you understand the settings more when you get to manual. Some tips when photographing in manual mode:

1. ISO: This is the speed of light that travels into your camera. It also controls how much noise (grain) you allow into your photos. Some photographers love grain while others do not care for the grain. Personally, depending on the emotions or mood you capture, the noise adds a little something to the photograph. As a rule of thumb when setting ISO, if I am outside on a sunny day, I keep my ISO at 100. If it is an overcast day, maybe turn it to 125 or 160. If I am inside (depending on the light source), I start my ISO at 1200+ until the photographs look how I want them to. Most of the time, depending on if I am inside or outside, my ISO is fixed.

2. Aperture: This is how the camera collects light into the lens and how depth of field is carried out in your photos. It depends if you want the background to be blurred out or in focus. If you want it blurred, keep the aperture at two to three f-stops from where you aperture begins. For instance, I photograph mostly with my 50 mm f/1.2. If I want my background blurred and my subject to pop from the background, I would set the aperture at 1.6 or 1.8. If you want the background to be in focus, set the aperture at 2.8+. For large groups, I would suggest 5.0+ so people in your photographs do not end up blurry (great for family photos during weddings!).

3. Shutter speed: This is how much time the shutter will remain open to let light travel from the camera lens to the sensor in your camera. For example, on a sunny day, I usually have the shutter speed ranging from 1/500 to 1/1600. For an overcast day, I would use a shutter speed of 1/300 to 1/600. My starting point with a shutter speed is usually 1/500. From there I can either increase or decrease. Keep in mind that your light will change from different spots or angles you use to create photographs, so your settings will constantly be changing. As another rule of thumb, I normally do not photograph lower than 1/125.

These three things are the ONLY things I manipulate when I photograph in manual. As I mentioned, my ISO is fixed, so the only two things I am adjusting are my aperture and shutter speed. Every time my camera makes its debut, I start with an aperture or f-stop at 2.0 and 1/500. From there I increase or decrease the shutter speed if the photograph is too light or dark. If I want more of the background to come in focus, then I increase the aperture or f-stop and adjust the shutter speed to its respective setting. It may be difficult to grasp in the beginning, but overtime it gets much easier with a LOT of practice!

Below, I have demonstrated what an underexposed to overexposed photo looks like. To keep it simple, I only increased or decreased the shutter speed. I wrote the settings I used for each photo. Please pay no attention to the fact that I used "Big L" (the teddy bear Bryan gave me as one of my Christmas gifts when we first started dating) or the ukulele or the picnic basket. Bryan was not around me to be my model, so I turned to these three things. We REALLY need to get a pup!!!

One angle:



It seems the photo with the best light and exposure was 1/3200.

A different angle:



In this angle, my favorite photo was 1/2000.

As for the other aspect when picking up your new camera is to get creative. Dig deep into that right side of your brain and start photographing objects and people from a new perspective. I always thought I was not allowed to cut off people's body parts or their faces, but then I discovered when I did that I created something far better with more emotion or mystery. My style became more and more refined when I started looking at people in a different light. Different angles. There is no right way to create an unique photograph. So, why not take a chance and let your creativity run wild. I challenge each of you with a new camera whether practicing to become a photographer or just learning for fun to take ten photographs of the same person or object in ten different yet creative ways. Trust your eye and let that right side of the brain run wild for a bit. You will be surprised with what you may come up with in the end!

Here are just a few examples of getting creative and/or photographing at a different angle:











Well, would you look at that. Another very long post, but my hope again is that at least one person walks away feeling inspired to tackle manual mode or ready to approach photographing in a new angle! Again, I am not saying that this is the right approach or that you have to do all of this to succeed. No, not at all. But, I have been asked numerous times these questions and could not think of a better place to help others understanding a very important piece of photographing and using those ever so beautiful DSLRs!

Here is to capturing beautiful memories and never losing determination to learn! Cheers and Happy Friday!

kitchen creations: roasted acorn squash and sweet potato soup

Let me start with there is never a dull moment in the Lindsey home. One of Bryan's goals for 2012 was to use every appliance we were gifted for our wedding, and one of my goals was to eat even healthier and incorporate new recipes into our weekly meals. So, I found this lovely Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato recipe on The Little Red House's Blog and decided what better way to combine two of our goals for 2012 together!

Well, let's start with the fact that I should learn what my vegetables are in the grocery store because as we began to prepare to make this recipe on Sunday evening, Bryan starts to laugh a little and informs me that what he was holding was not a butternut squash. Apparently they come in a long, cylinder shape and in a light yellow hue. What he was holding was round and green with a hint of orange otherwise known as an acorn squash. Lovely. Just lovely. Bryan being the most optimistic of us both in the kitchen, shrugged his shoulders and said we would improvise and use the acorn squash. So, we proceeded to follow the recipe and began roasting the vegetables and fruit.

Now, here is why things I create in the kitchen tend to burn or not turn out right. I have a tendency to not read directions. Something that has been a troubling factor since I was in elementary school. Apparently I have not learned by 27. So, when it said to roast the smaller vegetables and fruit for only 30 minutes and NOT 60 minutes, it tends to burn the little guys. At this point, I am nearly in tears and spouting out words like I did not inherit my mother's cooking genes and I am going to be THAT mum who feeds burnt dinners to her little ones. The next thing I know, Captain Optimism swoops in with his let's use this golden delicious apple instead. More improvising and two hours later, we made a pot of soup topped with Gorgonzola crumbles that had our insides begging for more. Moral of this story: cook with an optimistic approach (or a Captain Optimism), keep an open mind, learn to improvise and READ THE DIRECTIONS!

Without further ado, our very healthy and delicious GLUTEN-FREE rendition of Roasted Acorn Squash and Sweet Potato Soup (of course this recipe is mostly from The Little Red House with a few changes of our own)!

Ingredients:
1 acorn squash (or butternut squash), cut in four quarters
1 sweet potato, peeled and halved
1 shallot, halved
2 cloves of garlic
1 golden delicious (or granny smith) apple, cut in four quarters
2 onions, halved
1 tsp of sage
1 tsp of cayenne pepper (or less if you do not like heat in your soup)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
5-7 cups of vegetable (or chicken) broth
Gorgonzola cheese crumbles (topping for the soup)


Directions:

1. Line a baking or cookie sheet with foil
2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
3. Cut up all the vegetables
4. Pour olive oil in a bowl and use a brush to coat the vegetables. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper



5. IMPORTANT: bake the big vegetables for 40-45 minutes and the small vegetables/fruit for 20-25 minutes
6. Break out the food processor (Bryan's favorite part!)
7. Place all the vegetables/fruit into the food processor (if it is too much, place in batches)


8. Pulse and puree until it is a smooth consistency


9. Place the puree from the food processor into a big soup pot and add 5-7 cups of broth(depending on how much puree you have...since we used acorn squash, we had less puree, so we used 5 cups of broth)


10. Bring soup to a boil
11. Place lid on the soup pot and let it simmer for 30 minutes so it can thicken up
12. Pour some soup into bowls and add Gorgonzola cheese crumbles and other toppings such as croutons or tortilla strips for an added crunch


Accompanied with the soup was some gluten-free bread with Italian seasonings and red pepper flakes (for me only...Bryan thinks red pepper flakes are for people who are asking for their death sentence) and some sparkling grape juice to complete our Sunday evening meal! If your insides are not asking for more after you try the first bite, please contact me. We will need to chat.

Happy gluten-free eating, friends and many thanks to The Little Red House for this delicious recipe!!!