A few of my favorite things

Christmas is definitely my favorite time of year, and these are a few of my favorite things about the season:

christmas trees

frosty chilly sunday mornings

little girls named Kenedie with furry brown boots and fuzzy pink hats

Counting Blessings

I. am. blessed. There are so many things to be thankful for this year I could fill pages.

I love how a photo can mean so many things. And how it can mean different things to different people. {Everything} I am thankful for can be summed up in one picture:

To me this picture is {1} God - it is His will and grace that allows miracles like her to happen {2} Brian- our relationship and love for eachother is reflected in that smile {3}family and friends - everyone that is important in my life has shaped me and thus is shaping her {4} health and happiness- both written all over her face and too easily taken for granted{5}memories - i will always remember her this way and days like this, memories are so important because sometimes they are all we have

3 + 3 = 1

You are probably wondering where I got my college education but this equation can actually work, and work well it has. When Karen and Alan got married a few weeks ago: Karen, Brooke and David plus Alan, Hunter and Josh turned into one big happy family.

Karen and Brooke I have met before, but it was great to meet the rest of the family and take photos of every combination imaginable. We even included the adorable family dog Harley. I loved how entertained they kept eachother as we spent our time together. They laughed a lot at eachother and themselves, mostly conducted by Alan who kept me laughing too and was almost impossible to get to stop talking for a photo!

Meet the family

David

Josh

Hunter

Brooke

Harley

Karen and Alan (see he is talking, I think he was saying something about how gorgeous his wife is)

My favorite family photo

love, love, love this one

She is one!

She was born at 1:53 pm and she immediately changed our lives, she was sent from God and meant just for us, she has her father's eyes and my long toes, she has never been a bother but always a blessing, she laughs when I yell at her and sometimes I can't help but to laugh back, she is our sweet thing and she gives really. good. hugs. She has one year behind her and her whole life ahead of her. She is Kenedie Raye and she is one!

One word

There is only one word I can think of to describe today - Amazing! I got to spend all morning taking a class about photography from a photographer that has inspired me for, well, as long as I have been passionate about photography.

Her name is Sharon Clark and she is an amazing photographer and an amazing person!

I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to get out of this class since I had researched so much about the basics on my own, but I was sure that a class taught by her would pay off in some huge way and boy was I right. I learned so many little things about my camera and concepts that I would not have figured out on my own that have and will continue to improve my photos. Can I say: so exciting?!?!

So what exactly did I learn?

{1} I need a new lens! I already knew this, but what I didn't know was how badly I need it and what a difference it would make. I also have my eye set on a different one than I did before the class.

{2} and maybe my most exciting thing about the day was learning to do this:

{3} and probably the most important thing I learned all day was how to find the best light.

Sharon, not praying as it may appear, explaining this very thing and providing an example of someone standing in light that I would have never picked before as good light for a photo.

A few others while exploring the market outside

{4} Shooting subjects in motion with continuous focus

{5} Tips and tricks to fix my exposure problems.

A slide show of the rest of my favorite photos of the day: