A Year Ago Today...

I often have aspiring photographers ask me what workshops I recommend. Before I even tell them about my Photoshop classes I tell them about the workshops that husband and wife team Zach and Jody Gray with Gray Photography offer.

Their workshops are INCREDIBLE and absolutely FOUNDATIONAL for any aspiring photographer. Photoshop is great for when you need it (and yes sometimes it IS needed), but unless you want to spend your life in Photoshop you want to master getting the image right the first time- in camera. In fact, Zach and Jody almost never use Photoshop. If they need to adjust an image they do that in a program similar to Adobe Bridge, and pretty much what you see on the back of their camera is what you get. And what you get is amazing!

Check out their workshops HERE. Trust me, you will thank me later! ;-)

A year ago today, on Easter Sunday, my family trekked all the way to TN to do our first family portrait in almost 15 years. In the ten years I've lived here it was the first time we were all in TN together, so it was pretty special to have them here with me on my turf.

Here are some of my favorites from our shoot by none other than Zach and Jody...











Pretty sure this reaction was when Dad was skipping across the field trying to get us to loosen up for the camera. Since this is something we don't see everyday, it worked... ;-)


Again this is the kind of quality they get without Photoshop. They shot this by shooting a flash through a diffuser that was positioned parallel to our faces.




Just the day before a client had told me about doing the "fake laugh". Basically, you just laugh really loudly and it ends up making you laugh. So this is me trying it.... Sounded awful, but it made us all laugh "for real" in the end... ;-)




Zach told Dad and Mom to get up against the wall for this shot. Though Dad's never had any law enforcement tell him that in real life, he's apparently been watching too much TV because he took them literally...














Skipping through the field. Yes we do this every time we get together. Right...






With Zach and Jody. Love you guys. You're the BEST!! =)



Happy Easter everyone. I don't know about you, but I'm praying I don't "breeze" through today like I normally do. That I'll actually begin to grasp what Easter means. That Jesus died for ME. For US. That He died so we could live, and that He rose and LIVES. He really lives. It's not just a story, though so many days my heart and life reflects just that...

I pray that somehow this will sink so deep in me that it becomes more than a day where I complain about having to go to church at an ungodly hour. That it will become more than a day that's just an excuse to dress up, or eat an abnormally large amount of chocolate bunnies. That somehow I will begin to grasp the price that was paid for my freedom so I could have a relationship with the LIVING God.

He is ALIVE. He is risen.


Love,