The Heart of a Champion

This week brings an end to a couple of chapters in our lives. More specifically, the end of my girls' elementary school years (soon to be in another blog post to come) and also the end of another baseball season for Chris. Because of the season his team played, the Indians got to participate in the championship tournament. Unfortunately, they did not make the big win, but they scored second place in the league for their division. It was a great team for Chris, and this was probably his best baseball season ever.

At our end of season party this week, the coach said a few kind words about each of the players while handing them their trophies. He addressed things like how well they played, their team spirit, tenaciousness, and how much they'd improved over the season. For each player, he picked one word that would remind him of each of them. I was curious to see which word he would pick for Chris. When I heard it, I was touched ... he said, "when I think of you, Chris, I think of the word 'heart'". And I knew immediately what he meant. For as tall and big as he is, my son is really kind of a gentle giant. He has a sweet, eager to please nature, and the coach said he was one of the most "coachable" (I know that's not really a word, but you get the idea) kids with whom he ever worked. He said Chris performed well as an outfielder, and that his batting could sometimes makes guys from the other team have to back up. His game improved a good deal this season, and his heart made him a great team player.

So Buddy, you may not have won the championship this time around, but you had a great season and should be proud of the way you improved your game. I think you showed you have the heart of a champion, and I'm so very proud of you!

Love,
Mom





Chris, at his last game of the season.



At the end of the night, at one of the last games. Go Indians!


Farewell to the ball park ... until next season! :)

Mike & Aileen's Wedding

It's official! My cousin Mike and his beautiful bride, Aileen, got married a week ago Friday. A sweet, simple, civil ceremony, followed by a fun backyard reception at the home of friends. What a beautiful way to start their new lives together!

Here's a little slideshow of some of the pictures from their wedding day (click on the image below). Mike & Aileen -- thank you again for inviting me to photograph you two. I was honored to be part of your celebration!

With love to you both,
-- S

Happy Birthday Annie & Kate!

Eleven years ago today, my beautiful daughters came into the world. I can't believe it's been that long, but yet it seems like forever ago that they were just these little babies that came home in matching pink preemie outfits. My baby girls ... I miss them sometimes. But what I really love, is who they've become.

Now that we're at a preteen stage, there's a definite change in them. Their interests have switched from little girl stuff to things more typical of teenagers. Gone are the days of Littlest Pet Shop toys, endless Disney shows, and pink and purple everything. We've moved on to Twilight, a mix of popular and classic rock songs on the radio, their musical studies, cooler clothes, and (eeek!!) friends that are boys. They're starting to want more freedom and independence. I know they're at that age in which they're ready to branch out a bit, but still need Jon and I to help them guide their ways. I can see that while they're still just little girls, they are growing and maturing into the wonderfully special young ladies I know they will be.

And you know what? Yeah, I miss my baby girls sometimes ... but I love who they are now, and I wouldn't change a thing!

Birthdays are supposed to come along with wishes. Well, I have one too, for both Annie and Kate. I read this quote once and made note of it, and thought that it so eloquently says what every parent wants for their kids. Happy Birthday, my sweeties! I love you more than words can ever say! -- Mom


I MADE A WISH ...

... that you
are always as kind as you are now,
that your life is always full of the people you love,
that your dreams are realized to their full potential,
that your heart finds its way to your soul mate,
that your eyes see all the things you wish to see,
that your feet lead you down the right roads,
that your hands make the world a better place,
that your arms embrace all the world has to offer,
that your mind always continues learning,
and your eyes always see just how much I love you.

-- April Herrell




Annie & Kate, at about eight months old.


Kate & Annie, just over a year old. June 2000



Kate & Annie, this past October.



This is one of my favorite pictures of the girls! Such sisterly love ... :)

♫ My Girl, My Girl ... Talking About My Girl ♫

Today, a friend mentioned to me how much my daughter Annemarie looks like me. Over the years, I've heard this many, many times. Since I see her everyday, I don't always see it. But I know they're there, our similarities. One look at pictures from my past and there's no way to deny it -- she's mine alright!

When Jon and I discovered we were having twin daughters, we decided to name each of them after our respective sides of our families. Annemarie is named after my side ... Anne for my mom JoAnn (and Ann is my middle name too), and Marie after my grandmother Maria. Out of our three kids, she's the only one that looks like me at all. But since I'm with her everyday, I don't always see the resemblance. I just see the bohemian beauty with a personality all her own. Strong musician (not like me), near photographic memory (okay, I have a good memory but NOWHERE near like hers), and sometimes tomboyish (so not me!). But she has my artistic tendencies -- she likes crafts, music, books, pictures, doodling, writing -- and it's like, WOW! She's my clone girl!

Anyway, take a look at the pics -- I think you'll get the idea. :) -- S



(On left) This was me at four years old, all dressed up for the Kitterick Show in Houston (anybody remember that?). (On right), Annie also at four years old, dressed up for ... well, no reason really ... just playing dress up!



Annie and I on our front porch, earlier this year.


Annie has discovered a new love! And I couldn't be more thrilled. And if there's any question left as to whether she's mine ... well ... take a look at these photos. I rest my case! :)

To Edit or Not To Edit? That Is The Question

As a photographer, I want my pictures to look the best they can. That means I spend a good deal of time getting my photos just so. Give them that WOW factor, so to speak. But getting those images just right can take time. Let's face it ... with the internet and digital files, it's easy for most people to send their pics along, and you can have them, like, yesterday. But as a photographer, I just can't do that ... it's not how I roll. Why? Two words -- Photo. Editing. Let me explain ...

I try to take images as best I can the first time around. I get the settings right (most times anyway!) for exposure, color, artistic effect, etc. But I also know what a wonderful invention photo editing software is, and with Photoshop and Lightroom, I can make a good picture even better. And maybe even put it into something really cool in the end. Check out the pics below and I'll tell you what I mean.

This is from a recent photoshoot I did for my daughters' band, Speed Limit 180. When I took this photo, I had a general idea in mind of what I wanted as the end result. The artistic vision I had was the five of them coming at me walking. I had Mason (in front) start walking on the count of 1, Taylor and Marley walking on 2, and finally my girls walking on 3, with me on the ground taking the shot. This is the original file I used:



So what's wrong with this photo? For what I had in mind, lots of things, really. Kinda dark, a little too far away, the fact that you could tell this was shot in a residential area (the kids had just had a rehearsal at my house). Just kind of blah, right?? But this was the best photo of the series I shot, and I knew it had potential to turn into something cool. With the magic of Lightroom and Photoshop, I made exposure changes to lighten it up, used brushes to lighten up shadows in certain spots, made the picture black and white, cropped in a little closer, and added a vignette effect on the sky to make it all look more serious and just a little ominous. This was the final edit:





Finally, I added it to some graphics that I created for the band's next concert playbill. Here is the final result:




Sooooo much better than the original, right? A lot more WOW factor going on in the photo, and put together with some cool graphics, it all came together nicely for this month's playbill. There are all kinds of cool presets and actions that make editing faster, but just remember less is usually more.

Have fun with your photos and make them into something special for you. Happy editing!! -- S

Engagement Photos: Mike & Aileen

Mike and Aileen met at work several years ago. Long story short, they started off as coworkers and friends, and then it grew to something more. Tonight, they got married!! During this past week, I got the opportunity to shoot some pictures of them for their wedding.

Weddings are always special events, but this one was particularly important for me as well. You see, Mike is my cousin. I'm very fond of both him and his brother Ed, and I could spend hours and hours sitting around with them just shooting the breeze and talking photography. So when he asked me to photograph his wedding, I said yes, of course!!

Aileen and Mike -- thank you for inviting me to be a part of your special day! I know you guys are going to be amazing together! Here are some of the pics from our photoshoot this week!


:) -- S

Developing From The Negatives

This weekend I helped shoot an amazingly beautiful wedding. Of course not every image I produced was a winner, but overall, I felt like I got many great shots and felt good about it all. I drew upon all my experience as a photographer and was able to put it all to use at the right moments. I was confident about what I was doing, and I felt like I held my own.

So very different from a year ago.

I have a confession to make. I've always struggled with feelings of insecurity about my photography. It was a hobby of mine for a long time, and I spent many years learning the craft. My friends and family would often say how much they liked my photos, but I always disregarded their comments as " they're just being nice" while continuing to pick at the mistakes I saw in my work. But after a while, I realized those nice comments were coming more and more frequently, and I thought ... maybe, just maybe ...there's some merit to this photography thing of mine and that I should try my hand at it professionally.

As I got going in my new venture, unsure of how to start, I still struggled with feelings of self doubt. I knew I had some talent, but I lacked confidence. I would look at others' work and think "I have such a long way to go" and would get frustrated. Jon and I talked about it many times. In listening to my insecurities, he told me "Yours is a profession that takes a requisite number of mistakes. Don't be afraid to make them in order to get what you want. I'd rather see you fail at something you love, than to succeed at something you don't."

So, I kept trying and made those mistakes along the way. While I still got upset by them, I knew they were easier to deal with after realizing it's all part of the growing process. I continue to learn from other's images, not from a jealous standpoint, but more in an inspirational kind of way. With a lot of self study, practice, the help of great mentors who have taught me well, and lots of encouragement from friends and family, I am excited to see how much my photography has improved in the course of the year.

As I was thinking about sharing this photo and this blog post, I was unsure if I should do it ... revealing my insecurities this way. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to shoot this picture, and the beauty of it really inspired me. Then a friend of mine posted this quote on facebook today (thank you Rene!), and I actually caught my breath when I read it, because it said everything I'd been feeling this morning. To me, the message was clear: SHARE THE STORY. Maybe it will inspire you to take a leap forward into doing something you love.

"Beautiful pictures are developed from negatives in a dark room ... so if you see darkness in your life be reassured that a beautiful picture is being prepared." -- unknown

Thinking of Mom

Another Mother's Day has come and gone. I love all the special hugs, kisses, and beautiful gifts and words from my kids, my husband and my family on this day. This year, I received the most beautiful handmade pictures and crafts from the kids, added a few charms to my new Pandora bracelet (very cool!), had some awesome wine and cheese, and had a wonderful luncheon with my family. It really was a nice day.

Still, celebrating Mom's Day is still a little bit hard for me without my mom. Even with the time that has passed since her death, there is still a bit of an empty feeling that comes along with the holiday. Several times throughout the day on Sunday, I remembered many other Mother's Days together with her, and wished like crazy that she could still be with me now. I took a lot of comfort yesterday in being with my Annie, Kate and Chris, as well as my wonderful mother-in-law (love you, Bonnie!).

Here are pictures from our family luncheon, along with a special photo of my mom and me. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day, celebrating with the ones you love. -- S


"Mother's Day is in honor of the best Mother who ever lived-- the Mother of your heart." --Anna Jarvis


This is a special photo for me, one of my favorites. This is my mother and I at a Mother's Day lunch, in May 1985. I have this in a special frame with a "mom and me" quote. Miss you, Mom!


Me with Annie, Chris and Kate. Photo taken by Fred Swain.



Me with a couple of very special ladies in my family, my sis-in-law Kathleen and my mother-in-law, Bonnie. What's Mother's Day without a few photos of the ladies doing the arm on the hip thing? I mean, we all do it, right? ha!


Chris still likes to nuzzle noses with me. I don't know how much longer he'll want to do this, but I will take as much of his snuggle time as I can get! So, here are my kids ....

Chris ....


Kate ...


... and Annie with her Uncle Fred.

Little Big League -- Indian Style

Well, here it is Wednesday and I'm finally catching up to getting some pictures edited and published. As you can tell from my last post, Christopher's Communion was one of the big things for us this past Saturday and Sunday. But, we also had a weekend of ... [drum roll, please] ... a baseball tournament! Christopher's team, the Indians, played one game on Saturday and THREE on Sunday. The ended up in second place for the tourney, losing only by one run. :(

Of course, I love photographing my kids during all their school related and extracurricular activities. But they really love it when I take pictures of all their friends as well, so they can look back and remember those days. I hope they'll treasure these photos for a long time to come. Here is a slideshow of the Indians during their baseball practices, the last several games and the tournament.

Go Indians! -- S

A Celebratory Day for Chris

It's been a long time in the making. Christopher has been preparing for his First Communion for an entire year. He's attended religious education classes every week, learned several prayers and all the rituals that go with receiving this religious sacrament. Today, he finally completed it all and went through his First Communion ceremony (or as his cousin first so eloquently put it ... "you know, the ceremony when you get the Jesus cookie!"). Only from the mouths of babes, right??

So today, we took a few pictures after the ceremony, and followed up with a reception at our home. It was nice to have Christopher's grandparents and godparents here to help him celebrate his special day. Here are some pics of my little man, and our family during today's events.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! -- S



Here's my handsome little guy!




Jon and I with Chris, just after the ceremony. Photos taken by my brother-in-law, Fred Swain.



"Excuse me, maam, may I have my Communion certificate please?" Yeah, he's all about process and procedure, my little guy. He saw that everybody else was getting theirs so he went up and asked for his, leaving me behind. I lost him for a minute in the crowd. That boy!!


"Wellllll, that's okay ...." (mom melting at this cute face and his proud smile). I guess maybe I AM a sucker for this pretty face.


The girls congratulating their brother, and then tickling him to get him to smile.



Chris with my dad and stepmom.



Chris with his godparents, his Uncle David (my brother), and his Aunt Kathleen (Jon's sister).


Kath and the girls.



After everything was said and done and we had a moment to relax, I asked Chris "so Buddy, what was your favorite part of the day?" Chris: "I'm happy everyone came to see me today." Me: "Cool." Chris: "Mom -- you know what else?" Me: "What's that?"

His answer? Take a look ...


Really, dude? I would have never guessed. :)