I received some fantastic news yesterday!  I received a call from PPA and two of my photographs have been honored  at the 2012 international print competition! These will go on display  at the Professional Photographers of America national convention in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2013.  The titles of these two images are ‘Shadows & Light’ and ‘Tuscan Door.’  I hope Al and I can see them on the display floor at Imaging 2013!  🙂

Of all of the pictures I take,  I so enjoy the ones I take of my pride and joy, my children.  We spent tonight watching the Algona Bulldogs play a scrimmage against each other.  Bo is a sophomore at Algona High School this year and is the quarterback of the JV team.  We are so looking forward to watching him play football this season!

Today was spent, in large part, arranging pictures from our family vacation in July to St. Louis.  One of the activities we participated in while there was taking a photography lesson together with another professional photographer from the area, taking pictures of the St. Louis skyline at night.  It was a great time, sharing my love of photography with my family!  We each had our own camera and a total of 5 different cameras on the trip.  They are so excited to look at their final pics!

Abigail is a girl after my own heart!  She has an avid interest in photography and has done quite well with her photographs for 4-H.  We had a great time photographing her indoor senior picture session yesterday – I explained how and why I was using some lighting techniques and had her grab one of my antique cameras for this fun shot!  We are going to have so much fun looking through all of her pictures after her outdoor session next month!

Whether a baby is 12 days old or 6 months old, like these 2 beautiful little guys, taking pictures to commemorate these important days and milestones never ever gets old!  Such fun!!!

Busy, busy day preparing senior pictures.  What do Kyle and Christie have in common?  They are both amazing young women with great joyful spirits and wonderful-sounding laughs!  So excited to see the expressions on these girls when they see their pictures very soon!  🙂

Tip #2 – Turn off your flash!

Flash can blow out details in your photographs.  Look at the texture in the top picture vs. the bottom picture, the one where on-camera flash was used.  Notice the detail in the bricks, the barrels & the chairs in the top photograph.    Carefully consider the impact that flash will make on your photographs – more often your pictures will benefit from turning off your flash.  (For more tips & ideas check out our Portraits by Michelle facebook page.)

Today I had a great session with an amazing, talented young lady!  Taylor has incredible artistic ability – from the paintings that she has created, to carving, and ceramic work.  And she also has an incredible passion for baking.  This girl has an incredibly bright future in store!

This weekend I had the opportunity to photograph a couple who had celebrated 60 years of marriage together!  This has been the second time I’ve photographed couples with such a milestone this year.  It is such a privilege to photograph an incredible moment such as this in one’s life!

This is one of the first senior pictures I took for anyone – it was in 2007.   Today we are going to Amanda’s wedding!  Amanda and her sisters come from an amazing, caring family.  We were just at her sister, Rachel’s, wedding 3 weeks ago and just received her sister, Sheryl’s, save-the-date card for her wedding this fall.  These girls were our kids’ babysitters from the time we moved here.  Their mom, Kathy, was a tremendous help to our family when I went through chemo in 1996.  What a priviledge to be a part of these girls’ lives and share in special moments!  It’s going to be a fun day!