Back in the good old days when we use to write letters on paper and put them in the mail with a stamp would you have ever written a letter without a greeting?  Or end a letter without a closing?  Maybe a “thanks for your time” or “have a great day!”.  Sometimes the internet makes me sad and the way we write to each other and talk to one another (or even about one another).  I think it’s so easy to not be polite when we are hiding behind our computer screens.  It feels safe.  Like you can get away with anything because you don’t really know the person, right?  Maybe be braver than you would be in person.  Say things you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.

I think we should all try harder to be more polite to one another.  Take the time to say “hi” and “thanks”.  Because even if you don’t know the person on the other end they are still a real person.  In every email I write I do my best to be nice, polite, and cheerful.  I don’t know what the person on the other end of my emails day has been like.  And if by taking the time to ask them how they are and to thank them can help make their day a little better then I will take the extra time to do that.

There are many thing that I want to teach Brayden, but one thing that I try to teach him everyday by example is to be kind.  To be kind to everyone.  To open doors for others, say thank you when others open doors for us, do my best to be polite while driving (which is a tough one for me!), always say please and thank you, ask a cashier how their day has been, give random compliments to brighten the day of a stranger.  While I am human, I do my best to lead by example because more than anything I want Brayden to grow up to be a happy and kind human being.

Happy Monday!

Canon 5D, 50mm 1.2 lens

f2.4, 1/400, ISO 125

- I am first and foremost thankful for the health of my family and friends.  

-  I am thankful for my boys.  All 3 of them.  They make me laugh and smile and without them I don’t know where I would be.  I am thankful to have an encouraging and supportive husband who loves me no matter what and understands that even after 4 plus years of marriage I still can’t cook.  

 

I am thankful for my little man who is growing and learning everyday.  I am thankful that I get to be his mom.  

I am thankful to my first born who still loves us even though we may not have as much time for him now and don’t get to go on quite as many walks.  He will still snuggle up next to me at the end of the day and he never seems to hold a grudge. 

-  I am thankful that I am able to be my own boss.  To take breaks to read books and walks and trips to Disneyland.  To be able to work in my pajamas.  To have my dream job.

-  I am thankful for my amazing clients who allow me to have my dream job and let me capture the special moments in their lives.  I am even more thankful to call them friends.

 

-  I am thankful for my friends who support and encourage me.  I hope I am able to do the same for you.

-  I am thankful to have a roof over my head and food on the table because I know that so many people don’t.

-  I am thankful for all of you who take the time out of your day to read my little blog.  I am especially thankful for those of you who send me emails of encouragement and thoughtful comments.

I hope you have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving as well!  Happy Thanksgiving!

I get asked a lot by both photographers and clients what my policy is on letting my clients post their images to their blogs and facebook account.  I personally love it when my clients post their family pictures on their blogs, facebook, etc.  It shows me that they truly love their images!  I encourage my clients to “steal” their pictures from my blog to use on the internet.  Here are a few do’s and don’ts that you should think about when reposting your images:

1)  DO ask your photographer what their specific policy is on taking pictures off of their blogs.  Some photographers encourage it and some don’t allow it.  If this is important to you this is something you should ask BEFORE you hire your photographer!

2)  DO include your photographer’s name and website under the images (a link would be super nice!).  That’s just the polite thing to do

3)  DON’T crop out their logo.  Unless you have paid for the digital negatives don’t alter the files in anyway.  Most photographers use their blogs to advertise their work and do so as a courtesy to give their clients a sneak peek.  If a client crops out the logo then how will other people know who took the picture?

4)  DON’T edit the picture in any way.  Taking the pictures is only half of a photographers job.  The other half is editing.  If you think you can do a better job or want to edit out some of your wrinkles or use selective coloring please don’t show and/or tell your photographer.  That is super insulting.  If you don’t like your photographers editing enough to want to edit it yourself than maybe you need to find another photographer next year.

5)  DON’T try to print from the files on the blog.  For me specifically I know that the files I upload to my blog are too small to be printed in a 4×6 size.  It’s not cool to invest in a family session and then print the images off of the blog and not pay for prints.  Make sure you know how much the prints cost before the session to avoid sticker shock.  Same goes for scanning prints that you already bought.  Not cool!  Some of my family members are guilty of printing images off of my blog.  It makes me cringe when I see them FRAMED in their homes with my logo still on there!  To be fair, I’m also not great at emailing them the file when they ask for it

ETA:  Please feel free to repost this on your blogs and facebook.  Just please give a link and a shout out to Mom*tog

And because I don’t like to post without pictures, here’s one from a recent family session that I’ll be blogging soon.  Sarah has her own blog and I’m excited for her to share these with her family and friends!

We’re back from our long weekend in Seattle and we’re feeling totally relaxed and revitalized.  We didn’t really have an agenda while we were there.  Our number one priorities were to relax and sleep, but we did do some of the touristy things and did some shopping.  I will say that I am so happy to live somewhere were scarves and uggs are a fashion accessory and not a necessity.  It’s fun to bundle up for a couple of days, but I was COLD.  Really, really cold.  If you follow me on twitter you saw how many time I complained I was cold!  Chuck made me walk to dinner on Saturday night and it was lightly raining on the way there.  By the time we came home it was a torrential downpour.  I was mad at the time, but it makes for great memories, right?  We stayed at Hotel 1000 and I highly recommend it!  Awesome hotel, accommodating staff, and beautiful views!  Everyone in the Northwest is so friendly!  I will go back to Seattle, but it will be in the summer.  When it’s warm!

Surprisingly I did not take my DSLR.  My camera and I needed a vaca from each other.  We’ve been spending way too much time together lately.  And to be honest I really don’t love shooting landscapes.  My passion is shooting people and their emotions.  I find that when I bring my big, fancy camera with me I spend more time trying to capture the memories than actually creating and enjoying them.  I did bring my point and shoot and my Diana, but I didn’t take too many pictures.  It was too cold!  And rainy!  I’ll have to wait a week or so to get my film back.  It’s always a surprise if it turns out or not!  That’s the fun of it, I guess.

I am the queen of self portraits because I hate asking people to take our picture.  

We both look really tired here, but we were just really freaking cold!  And wet!  The waterfall was misting so hard on us!

Here is what was behind us.  Snoqualmie Falls.  Amazing, isn’t it?  Unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.  I would move to Washington if it was so cold and rainy!  I want to stay at the Salish Lodge (in the upper left corner of the picture) next time we visit!

And, by the way, it was 75 degrees here yesterday.  I’m just saying  We may have a super expensive cost of living, traffic, smog, and EARTHQUAKES, but I get to wear flip flops and tank tops the week of Thanksgiving.  For that, I am thankful

I’m back!  Did you miss me?  I just couldn’t stay away from you all for that long

I’ve mentioned the Bloom Workshops here on Mom*tog before, but I wanted to let you know that their next session is enrolling now.  They only have a few sessions a year and a limited number of people each session and I don’t want you to miss out!  The Bloom Workshop is a 9 week online course.  They cover a lot including lighting, editing, and finding your own personal style.  The workshop is conducted in a forum format so you can work at your own pace and assignments are given out weekly.  It sounds like a lot of fun to me!  So, head on over there and check it out.  If it’s something you’re interested  in I would suggest signing up NOW before they fill up and you miss your chance!  And be sure to check out Brenda Acuncius’ blog.  She’s one of the photographers who put on the work and I just think her work is absolutely stunning!

Happy shooting!

Thanks for all of the birthday love, friends!  You all sure know how to make a girl feel good!  By they way, if you want to feel extra special on your birthday you have to go to Disneyland!  It’s so much fun seeing the other people wearing their birthday buttons.  And everyone says happy birthday to you.  It’s fun!  B and I were in line waiting to say hi to Pluto and there was a little 3 year old who shared my birthday waiting behind me.  I told her I was turning 3 too and her big sister called me out and told me there was no way I was 3.  So, I told her she was right and I was really 4.  She still didn’t believe me.  Kids!

I gave away 9 UNposing Guides yesterday!  How fun that we all have the same birthday!  And I think half of those were guys.  Who knew so many Dads read this blog too?  Interesting…

My hubby surprised me with a trip to Seattle this weekend so I’m going to be taking a blogging break to catch up on work and enjoy the trip!  I’ve never been to Seattle before so I’m excited!  Anything we must see / do while we’re there???  Oh, and if you really miss me that much I will be updating the DrewB blog with at least 1 (maybe 2) awesome family sessions before I leave.

Yes, it’s my birthday.  The very last of my twenties.  Which makes me sad.  So, let’s not talk about that.  Instead, here’s a present for you!  If your birthday is today as well email me at drew at drewbphotography dot com  (I need some proof, peeps.  A copy of your ID with the pertinent info blacked out?  A link to your facebook page?  Something that proves November 17 is your birthday!) and you’ll get a free copy of the UNposing Guide (offer good until midnight of the 17th)!  For all you  non-birthday peeps enter in the discount code “birthday” and receive a $20 discount good for today only!

I only hope I have as good of a birthday as this guy did on his birthday!  A girl can dream, right?

We waited until the very last second to get Brayden a haircut.  He needed one so bad for the last couple of weeks, but Chuck and I were dreading taking him after what happened the first time.  We learned a couple of lessons though from that first haircut:

1)  As cute as those little cars and airplanes are, Daddy’s lap is a much better place to be.  Don’t even attempt the cars or airplanes!

2)  NO SMOCK!  B definitely does not like the smock.

3)  A lot of suckers are needed.  Suckers and new Hot Wheels to choose from.

4)  Sit directly in front of a TV with Thomas the train playing.

He still cried a little, but he did much, much, much better this time around!  Thank goodness!  I love his new haircut, but he looks like such a big boy!  Kind of makes me a little sad!

This backdrop is from Drop It Modern.  I’ve been admiring their backdrops for sometime now, but I don’t have a studio and wasn’t planning on shooting anything in doors.  But, I’m planning on doing some fun and different (for me at least) newborn pictures soon so I decided to invest in one.  You all know I’m a fan of just plain old fabric backdrops, but the great thing about the Drop It Modern backdrops are that they are a really thick material so they don’t wrinkle.  Mine is a little wrinkled in this picture because I literally just pulled it out of the box.  It will be much easier to get the wrinkles out than thin fabric and I think it will store much easier than fabric.  I just pinned it to the wall really quickly and snapped a few shots of my crazy boy because that’s all the time he will allow me these days!  They are a bit of an investment (ie not as cheap as fabric), but the quality is great and they ship same day so I got it fast!

Dear Brayden,

Happy 21 month birthday, B!  This month I’m not even going to try to make a list of all the things you can say.  Your vocabulary list is so long now that sometimes I can’t even remember what you can and can’t say.  Your favorite words right now are “up”, “down”, “push”, “pull”, “flowers”, “more”, “water”, and “juice”.  You love your opposites although you sometimes get them mixed up.  I love how you say “yes” (“ha”) and I hope you never, ever say it correctly.  I think it’s just about the cutest thing ever.  That and how you add an “s” to a lot of your words.  Like “mores”.  I know we should probably correct you, but I actually encourage it because I think it’s so cute.  I love how in the morning you will stay in your crib and yell, “MAMA!  DADA!”.  Sometimes I will stay in bed and every time you yell “MAMA!” I will yell “BRAYDEN” back at you and see how long I can stay in bed before I really have to go get you.  I don’t like it when you yell for us in the middle of the night for no reason.  At least you’re not jumping out of your crib anymore!  Thank goodness!

You love to hide.  Sometimes when it’s just the two of us you’ll hear a noise and think it’s Dada (even though he’s at work) and say, “Hide!  Hide”.  You’ll hide for a minute before you realize no one is coming to find you.  You also love to be scared and surprised.  I think it’s fun to scare and surprise people so we have a lot of fun at that.

You will eat just about anything as long as you can dip it.  Tonight at dinner you dipped your fries in cranberry sauce.  That freaked me out a bit.  At Pretend City last week you dipped your pb and j in ranch.  That really freaked me out.  But, I did get you to eat carrots by letting you dip in ranch.  And you also tried hummus by dipping pita bread in it.  

You learned to kick really well this month.  And with your left foot, I might add.  Just like your mommy.  I think we have a left midfielder on our hands!  Or maybe a kicker for UCLA?  Daddy says you’re not allowed to be a football kicker.  Too much pressure.  I think you can handle the pressure though.

We took you to your very first UCLA football game.  You had the best day of your life.  Better than the San Diego Zoo.  Better than Disneyland.  We sat three rows behind the old man.  You learned how to boo.  You danced and did the Eight Clap and got the Washington fans behind us to be UCLA fans because you were so cute.  You said “mores” when the band stopped playing.  I will never forget that day.  One of the best days of my life too.  And we won.  First Pac-10 win of the season.  You’re their good luck charm.    

I love how you bite your bottom lip when you’re thinking.  You get that from me.  One of the only things you get from me besides your crazy stubbornness.  

Oh, and my boy can also say boobs now.  He actually calls them “boops”.  I guess he’s starting young.

I can’t wait to see what you will do next, B.  I’m so proud of you.  Every time you learn something new or do something different I am so unbelievably, crazy proud of you.  My heart hurts I’m so proud of you.  And although I’m excited to see you grow, I also hope you will never stop being my baby.  Never stop holding my hand, giving me moochies, snuggling in the crook of my arm.  I hope you always get as excited to see a choo choo as you do now.  I hope you never lose your sense of curiosity of everything that’s happening around you.  I hope you are always able to dance like no one’s watching.  And even when you’re taller than me I hope you will always know that you will be my little B boy always and forever.

Love,

Mama

*  All images taken with the Canon G10

This past week I had my fourth shoot with one of my very first clients.  They gave me a chance when I was first starting out, when I didn’t have a lot to show or a big fancy camera.  And they’ve stuck with me throughout the years.  And I love them for it.  I only get to see them once a year (well, I got to see Jen twice this year because she did a mentoring session with me over the summer), but every time I see them it’s like seeing old friends again.  It’s comfortable.  I love how the girls get excited to see me because I get excited to see them and hear all about their new teachers, the tooth fairy, and even boys this year (yikes!).  It’s the best part about my job.  Connecting with my clients and getting to be more than just their photographer.

Yesterday I shared this image that Jen shot of me during their session

Here’s what I saw

And I love this one that Jen took.  Sneaky Sydney was doing bunny ears behind my back and I love how I’m wearing Kendall’s scarf.  

Here’s what I saw

And I can’t go without posting a few of the woman behind the camera who looked absolutely fabulous!

I’m so lucky to get to capture families year after year as they grow.  I love my job!