May 2014 Favorite

     This month has been full of baby, baby, baby. I don't think I've actually slept in 7 weeks. Our bodies are amazing that they adapt to a lack of sleep in order to take care of these new little beings! Kind of a gamble on mother nature's part, if you ask me haha... but it seems to be going mostly in her favor so far. I admit I miss going out and photographing freely, but I'm learning to look at the familiar and everyday in a new way. I ordered the Hoya close up filters for my Contax/Zeiss lens and was pleasantly surprised to see they fit my Canon 50mm as well!

     I ventured into my backyard with my new filters attached for the photo on the left, I love tri-colored sage and have it growing in bunches all over my yard, it makes a great low filler for a garden bed and is so pretty blooming or not.  

     The only thing I can say about the photo on the right is - WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT BABY'S ELEPHANT KNEES?? Ridiculously adorable. One (of many) of my very favorite parts of baby Jack at this stage. He's losing those elephant knees now that he's 7 weeks old and getting a little filled out, so I'm glad I captured them before they were a distant memory. 

     I hope you've had a wonderful May so far. The summer is right around the corner, hot weather, bar-b-q's and lot's of activities! It will be an interesting one with new baby in tow! 

     Until next time...

April 2014 Favorite

     I'm behind, sooo behind. But with an excuse to top all excuses.

     I knew April would be a special month. As it happens we didn't get too far into April before our little dumpling arrived, the 4th to be exact; 10 days early, 21 hours of labor and after 3 of those hours of actively trying to get this little guy to make his entrance into the world we moved on to.... one emergency c-section and finally our little sunny side up* baby, Jack, arrived. It's been a wild ride. From having major surgery (which I was not prepared for ... or ever even crossed my mind might be in my future) to caring for a little human being around the clock while recovering from said abdominal surgery to dealing with all the craziness that sleep deprivation and out of control hormones bring on. (I couldn't have made it this far without some truly amazing and supportive friends, fam and Chris, he's pretty much my hero/angel/rock). It's fleeting moments like in the photos above that make it all clear. In the haze it hits me, OMG I'm someone's  mom, life will never be the same! Life as I know it is gone. And for a moment I panic. And then the haze clears in the moments when I get a glimpse of baby Jack's  growing personality or I stop to take in a scene like the one above. I realize it's not about losing something, it's about watching a piece of my heart and soul sleep in my arms, cry, smile in his sleep and adding another layer to who I am as a human being and it's about the gift of gaining so much more in my life, more than I could ever imagine. 

My favorite photos for this month were taken on my iPhone and posted on my Instagram.  

     *A little side note - I was sunny side up as well, however my mom delivered me au natural... my respect-o-meter exploded when she told me this. Oh and she went on to birth 5 more kids au natural.... seriously. She is lion, hear her roar! 

March 2014 Favorite

     I have a confession, this photo was not taken in March. I actually haven't been out shooting at all this month, heartbreaking. However it's all due to a little dumpling that will be here soon, so I am not complaining too much, haha. I completely underestimated the power of month 9 of being pregnant. It's a demanding one. It demands I have no motivation for anything unless it's dumpling related. It demands close proximity to a restroom, which doesn't really go along with the rambling spirit of my photography process. It demands I sit down a lot more, bend down or bend over a lot less and run out of breath like I ran a marathon when really I've only walked from the couch to the kitchen to get water. Because it demands I drink lots and lots of water, haha... Three more weeks until his due date. And then I have a feeling there will be an abundance of photography going on around here. Stay tuned.... 

     But I didn't want to skip March for lack of shooting, so back to the Photo a Month project... this photo is always on my mind. I have a future project centered around this awesome guy, Mr. T and his owner. I took this photo during a photo shoot in November of a friend (who is more like a little sister), her dog and her horse. We went hiking, in the hills of Vacaville. We walked her horse on a leash. Who takes their horse on a hike on a leash?! We do! It was such a fun morning, Mr. T and I became fast friends and I can't wait to photograph him again!