Joy of Love Day 1

As you may know if you follow my tweets, I'm participating in The Joy of Love this February, a whole month of free photographic prompts and tips. It's for all levels of photographers, so if you haven't joined yet, go sign up! A bit of extra creativity never hurt anyone.

You may notice a busier blog schedule than in the past, so enjoy!

The first day today was What They Do.

Oh I could go on and on about this. It's the core of who I am, capturing the little happenings that make up our days and our lives.

Bella gets up with Dave in the morning and they snuggle on the couch until he's ready to wake up. Some time later she walks him out the door with a Have a good day!

Lia can crawl forward, but when she thinks about it she ends up pushing herself backwards, gives up and assumes the sky diving position until she gets rescued (or finds an interesting bit of trash to entertain her for hours on end).

She nurses with her hands in her face.

Bella writes her own Very Important Lists all over my lists.

She and Lillia could stay in the ball pen forever, especially when I'm making it rain.

When I got up from my computer this morning, Bella declared, Steps for you, Mama! And indeed she had laid out the red carpet for me.

And of course, what they do... well it's evident at the end of the day. They do everything.

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A Most Welcome Snow Day

Well, I had to postpone my class last week (it will now run until Tuesday, Dec. 6, so come join us!) but it was for a worthy cause:

That's right, we got a freak November snowstorm right before Thanksgiving! Have I mentioned just how much I love snow? Last year we had maybe one flurry, so this year we had better make up for it. Bella was a wee little babe last time she experienced snow, and she quickly realized that no matter how badly you want to run outside (naked), the snow is cold and stings. Oh, that treacherous snow.

Just before dark, we ran outside to make a snowman (Bella is slightly obsessed and it dawned on my she had never made a REAL snowman before.) and then immediately ran back in when the sky started chucking icy sleet pellets at us.

We thoroughly enjoyed the snow, inside and out.

Much to our surprise, the next day dawned bright and beautiful. Out here, snow is usually followed by clouds and rain. To have a clear day the following morning was magical!

The entire neighborhood took to sledding down our main road. They were sledders from dawn until well into the night. You never realize how many neighbors you have until something brings everyone out of their homes!

Sure, it was less than half a foot, but it shut down the town, brought out the sleds, and became a snowfest to remember. Here's hoping there are many more to come this winter.

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New Classes

I'm excited to announce a three part class to be held at the Artist & Craftsman Supply studio in the University District! They offer some pretty awesome art classes of all types for adults and kids, and I'm looking forward to taking part in them.

My three classes will set you up with a new perspective on taking photos, and the concepts you learn can be applied to any camera. With a 2 hour class you can come after work and not be overloaded with too much info at once. And if you sign up for the whole series, you get a discount. Sweet!

Check out the details below and contact me at
sweetriverphotography @ gmail . com
to sign up today!

Oh, and if you want to get the latest information on classes at A&C, be sure to let me know and we'll sign you up!

Better Photos
with any camera

Tuesday Evenings
November 16th-30th
5:30-7:30pm

$50 for all three or $20 drop-in.

Please bring your digital camera.

Class 1: Finding the story.
Class 2: Creative composition.
Class 3: Using perspective.

Artist & Craftsman Supply

4350 8th Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 545-0091

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Pumpkin Fun

What do you get when you mix a two year old and a field of pumpkins? Perma-grins.

We finally went to a pumpkin patch this year. I spent the whole time trying to remember why I could only think of Bella as a six month old. Then I remembered that we did go pumpkin picking last year, but I was full into the sickening pregnancy haze that I am amazed I even took photos.

This year I tried for a family outing. How cute would it be to compare Lillia and Bella at the same age in a pumpkin field! And, gasp, a potential family photo for once? But instead we did it as a Mommy Date. Bella was much in need.

Bella was in heaven - Pumpkin friends all around and a lengthy ride on a Wheeeee! (Bella's vocabulary for anything that can be dragged for her enjoyment, including -but not limited to- chairs and laundry baskets.)

The golden hour was around and beautiful families were everywhere. I had to resist the urge to stop every other family to offer portraits. This is why everyone needs a family photographer, seriously! So next year, when you start shuffling through your old photos, you won't come across unrecognizable faces squinting into the sun next to giant cardboard pumpkin cut outs. You'll have memories of the way your baby (I'll milk that word as long as I can) saw a field of pumpkins, put out her arms and said, "Want hoo? Pleeaaaz?" because she wanted to hold each and every one.

And how tiny she looked in the field when I finally convinced her to get off the Whhheeeeeeee! for two seconds. And the way she filled her arms up with gourds. And the way she stared at the various families, soaking them up, studying them in detail as she always does when we go out. And of course the way she played with her new friends all night as Lia looked on in amazement. Those are the memories I can't let go.

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Photography class recap!

September's Camera on the Go point and shoot class was a great success! Honestly, it's one of my favorite classes to teach because little cameras are so versatile. Once you get familiar with the buttons and learn a bit of composition, your photography skills improve dramatically during the few hours of the class!

I am finding, however, that the classes bring about the most interesting weather. For August's DSLR class we had an unbelievable heat wave and had every fan in the house going. Somehow we managed to survive while the thermostat crept up towards 94 in the house.

During the point and shoot class we had a quick little thunderstorm. We opened up all the windows because that is the one thing I miss while living out here: thunderstorms. We had a few close hits, some hail, some flash flooding, and then the power went out! Lucky for us, cameras are battery powered. We chugged right on through and were rewarded with gorgeous evening light when the storms passed.

In fact, this little man was kind enough to model for us:

If you ever find yourself disappointed in your photos or dumbfounded at all the options on your camera, definitely consider one of these super affordable photography classes!

We'll be having another round in early November to get you set for taking holiday photos. Email me at sweetriverphotography @ gmail .com (spaces removed, of course!) for more information.

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Photography Classes

How daughter number one felt after a recent photography class:



How daughter number two felt:



Either way, you definitely don't want to miss out!

There are a few spots left for totally laid back, awesome, and affordable photography classes.

Meet Your DSLR: August 15th from 10am til 2pm ($30 per person)

Camera on the Go: August 8th from 2pm til 6pm ($30 per person)

The Meet Your DSLR class will help you get to know your camera so you don't miss the shots you want, and even better, can start planning the ones you see in your mind.

The Camera on the Go class will orient you with all the options on your Point and Shoot camera and discuss composition of great photos. Point and shoot cameras can go with you anywhere and with a little extra knowledge, you can start making every photo better instantly!


Drop me a line at sweetriverphotography@gmail.com for questions or registration!

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