Photographs I've been taking

Many of you know that I have really started to get into photography; between starting my school's yearbook a few years ago and having C home I really thought that I should start to take my photography more seriously and see what I could do if I got a Digital SLR. So thanks to a great deal at Costco, I got a Nikon D60 back in May. Once I got this camera I knew that I needed to learn more about it as I loved it and really only knew how to use it on "auto" mode! Thanks to a friend who I met through adoption, I found out about the website jessicasprague.com! This friend acutally used her photography skills as a fundraiser to help bring her daughter home from Korea just a few weeks ago... I thought this was one of the coolest fundraisers I had ever heard of and vaguely wondered if I were talented enough to do the same...

Since the beginning of July I've been taking some of the classes on jessicasprague.com and I love what I'm learning! I feel that I have really increased my love of photography and my skills and that both of these things will help me to teach my students better this year during my Yearbook class! I also kept wondering if I would have the skills or eye to take pictures of others as a fundraiser... Luckily, I had a co-worker/friend from work that believed enough in me and convinced me to take pictures of her and her children as my first try. She told me that she had no expectations (although I knew that to not be at all true as she hadn't taken professional pictures with her kids in a very long time) and I convinced her that she would NOT pay me if she didn't like the pictures. Well, one evening we met up at Hilmar Cheese and I got to take pictures of her. I was so nervous at first, but ended up having the BEST time as I watched her interact and goof around with her children! They were such fun subjects to be photographing as they had so much joy while they were around one another- plus they were up to anything I asked them to do, which was GREAT! I ended up with around 300 photos that night and out of those ended up with about 100 that I loved! I kept hoping that April would love them also as I post processed them... and to make a long story short- she did! She was so pleased with them that it made my heart sing for joy at her joy while she looked through the pictures! So without further ado here are a few of my favorite photos from that photo shoot!

Welch Family Photos:



Aren't they the cutest?














This was the face they came up with when I told them no smiles! Too cute!






Beautiful family!


I truly felt blessed to get to take these family pictures for this family! The kids loved their mom so much and were so into taking the pics that I had a ton of fun just watching them and capturing the moments!

So... this was my first adoption fundraising photoshoot! I'm officially "open for business" so to say... I am currently trying to figure out a name to call this little endeavor- Allen came up with MAC photography (for Mandy, Allen and Calen) but I think I want a little something more- something that really shows the meaning of why we're doing this. Maybe something like "Blessed Photography"...??? So- any ideas would be welcome- leave your ideas in the comment section! And if you want photos taken at any time... just let me know as I truly do love taking them!

More pictures of others will be up soon!
love you all,
~M~