The "300" look.

Here's the deal, I LOVE editing photos! I love to enhance the color to make them POP.

I finally bought a program called Adobe Lightroom.... I. Am. In. Love!!! I spend an over-exaggerated amount of time editing 1 picture and with the new program, I've spent an extremely over-exaggerated amount of time editing 1 picture! I can make the picture look like a Polaroid pic, I can lighten, darken, sharpen, saturate, clarify, luminate, and lots of other 'ens, 'fies, 'ates that you can add to a word!

Lightroom has "presets." I can't really tell you the meaning because I still haven't read the manual, but I can tell you what a preset does. It's like putting on sunglasses. It can change colors and shades. If you put on rose colored glasses, the world looks pinkish. These presets do the same thing. They just change the outlook of the picture.

These pictures were edited with a preset that changes almost everything to a brownish/black color. It does, however, keep any kind of red. It's called the "300" look. If you've ever seen the movie "300," which I haven't, but I've seen previews and pictures, then you will understand why my pictures have the "300" feel to them. It's a dramatic effect to a picture and I'm addicted to it!

The Smiths

The Smith's wedding was a blast to shoot. It was chaotic with kids running around, last minute preparations, the July heat embracing all of us! I was referred to the Smiths by the mother of the groom in my last post..Mobley Wedding I'm glad they enjoyed my pictures to share my information. As it turns out, I actually knew the bride and her family. We played softball together a long time ago! I was happy to have had the opportunity to reconnect with them and share in their happy day!

Mobley Wedding

Talk about being nervous. WOW! Lots of anticipation in the air. Will the ceremony go as planned? Will there be any surprises? Is that a rain cloud? It won't rain! Gosh darn it...that was a rain cloud! Sweaty palms, rapid heart beat, deer in the headlight look. And if I was this nervous, I can only imagine what the bridal party was feeling! This was the beginning of my jump into photographing weddings. The pictures turned out well for not knowing what I was going to shoot, where to stand, should I use flash, etc... It was a fun and exciting experience. Things were a bit hectic in the beginning, but that's the fun part of a wedding! Recently, I had a Mother of the Bride ask me if all the weddings I've shot are just as hectic. My reply "Hectic is my normal. Put me in a wedding that goes smooth and calm, and I'd be like a fish out of water!" Hectic is a good thing! It provides the best pictures -no stiff stance and a fake smile, just pure chaos!

After this new adventure, I knew I wanted to stay in this new area of photography. I went out and bought a new camera that would allow my pics to pop more and look a little more professional! Thanks Mobley Family for letting me shoot you! : )

(Above) The cows finally came home! And they wanted a front row seat at the wedding. We all thought it was funny that all the cows lined up at the fence to watch the festivities. So we thought it neighborly to take a picture with them!

Ryan and Tammy's Engagement..from 2 years ago!

It all began in Kindergarten with show and tell and a stuffed brown and white puppy named Webster. She was so excited to show her friend the toy she got for Valentine's Day from her parents! He was excited for her! And they played all day with the toy. Jump to 20 years later..he doesn't remember the toy !!! But this post isn't about me and my friend Ryan and him not not remembering my favorite toy in the world! This is about Ryan and his wife Tammy and their engagement pictures that I've never posted! They've been married for 2 yrs!

These pics were my first engagement pictures to capture. It was a learning experience for all of us. I think we all did very well with the smiling and posing and snapping of the camera.

(Above) I told them to look like supermodels...unfortunately,
this is how Ryan thought supermodels posed. (Above) There's really no explanation other than they're goofballs.

Cowboys

They said momma's shouldn't let their babies to grow up to be cowboys, but lets get serious, who doesn't want to be a cowboy/cowgirl and ride a horse? I know I do! Being that I'm from a cowboy kinda town, my family and I have friends that are cowboys. Every May, my brother looks forward to being a cowboy for a weekend and helps to brand cattle with one of his buddies that has a ranch. This year, he took my nephew out to ride a horse for the first time. My sister-in-law and I tagged along. These are some of my favorite pictures I've taken and I hope you enjoy them as much I enjoyed taking them.

(Above) My brother Roby

(Above) Roby holding his son, Jacoby. He wouldn't let go of his puffs!

The pictures below are of our good friend Chris. He's been a cowboy for as long as I've known him, which is well over 20 yrs. (And wow, that statement just made me feel old..sigh)

The End!

(Get it? The backside of the horse..the end? Oh boy, I crack myself up sometimes.)

Mother's Day Geranium

I went to my parent's house for Mother's Day and decided to take pictures of my mom's pretty geraniums. Little did my mother know, I plucked the pretty flowers and laid them in her empty bird bath! As mothers always do, she knew I was up to mischief and found the flowers in the bath...She was not too happy about this, however, she enjoyed my pictures( at least she enjoyed the original colored photos and not my "artistic style" of pics!

(Above) My "Artistic Style."