Monday, November 12, 2007

Jeff, Julie, and Family

I was so happy to hear from Julie when she emailed me about doing some family pictures this fall. I was even happier to hear that they had an addition to their family! She and Jeff used to take care of my Wesley at their preschool when he was a baby and toddler while I was still teaching at Eminence. Good grief, how time flies!

We missed the light on our first attempt, but the second portrait session turned out to be the charm. We had a beautiful, crisp fall morning and the light was perfect. (It is an interesting contrast to note the "temperature" difference of the light--the group photo below where they were holding hands was taken in the evening at the first shoot. The morning light is so much warmer in the rest of them!)

I love how all the pictures turned out, but the real star of the show was lovely Liliah, the newest member of the family. She was so cute, running after her two big brothers. She was a bundle of energy for sure!

Jeff and Julie should be proud of such a beautiful family!


























A Quick Disclaimer

Jeez Louise! The formatting on this blog drives me crazy sometimes. For the life of me, I cannot get the spacing to work on the post below. I hate it how it makes my paragraphs run together in some posts. Other posts it works completely normally. I'm sure it probably has something to do with the operator...sigh.

Ok--rant over. The English teacher in me can't stand to see all those paragraphs running together like that though! Urgh!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Christopher

I had a lot of fun taking Christopher's senior pictures--once I found him, that is! I kept thinking surely I was lost trying to get out to his house. I thought I knew Henry County pretty well, but I'd never ventured into that neck of the woods before. I enjoyed the drive, though; it was a perfect fall day and the scenery was beautiful. I took my time on the way back and stopped at a little church that had an old stone fence around the cemetery, and took several photos there too. One of my former students and I did a project on Henry County's stone fences a few years ago, so I was surprised and happy to come across another one that we didn't discover before.



Christopher did a great job, especially once his mom and I figured out we only needed to say a certain name to make him smile :) He's a great looking guy and I love how his pictures turned out. Here are a few favorites...
Christopher looked great in his tie
But I think he felt much more comfortable in his John Deere and hunting gear :)
I loved his hat:










Thanks for being such a good sport, Christopher! Best wishes for a great senior year!
And now, here are a few shots of the old stone fence I found on the way back. These historical structures were primarily built in the mid 1800's by Irish stone masons. There is a common misconception that they were built by slaves, in fact, you still hear them called "slave fences" in some places. You can find very similar fences still in the countryside in Ireland today, and they can be found in rural Henry, Shelby, Fayette and Woodford counties, as well as around the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky in general. There is actually an organization dedicated to the preservation of these fences, I believe it is called the Stone Fence Conservancy...Dry Stone Conservancy? I'll have to look it up to link it. Many of these fences are in danger due to neglect and land development.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Red River Gorge

Well, today hasn't been near as productive as I'd planned; I've been transferring all my stuff from my old laptop to my new, and I've had a few bugs to work through today. I planned on spending an hour or so this morning getting these Gorge pics done (Sean has been begging me for the G-wagon photos), but that turned out to be all I got done by the time I worked through my technical issues. It's always something!

But I'm glad to share these pics from our wonderful trip. I wish we could have spent a week instead of just a weekend! Wesley had his backpack full of hot wheels on and was sitting on the couch waiting for Sean to get home. He was ready!




Our cabin was awesome. Way off the beaten path, it was about 4 miles up this little gravel road to the top of a ridge. It was small, but perfect for the 3 of us. Nonnor stayed in E-town with the grandparents for this trip. Here is our little "treehouse cabin", as Wesley called it. It really was too!



There was a fire pit in the woods below the cabin, and we roasted marshmallows both nights. A big treat for Wesley! A very friendly raccoon took this picture for us.




Like I said, it was tiny! Sean couldn't stand up straight in the kitchen.



Ok, folks. You have to indulge me with all the foliage pics. It must have been peak color when we were there; the trees were spectacular. And no, I didn't go crazy in photoshop with the color either! Just Mother Nature and my polarizer, for the most part.









Wesley enjoyed having his breakfast in the hot tub. Au Natural, of course.






We stopped at this fine establishment for directions. I found it very picturesque. I think they were wondering why I was taking all these pictures, though.








More trees




Ok, so we found the entrance to get back into the trails in state forest. We met some nice guys at the bottom of the ridge and I told them I'd post their truck on the blog. Every time I've been to the gorge area off road, I've always met friendly people.





So here's our awesome G-wagon doing what it was built to do! We were so excited to get it off road. We probably should have turned right at the top of the hill (we were told that was probably easier), but we thought we'd take our chances and see what the left had to offer. We did just fine....







The trees along the trail were gorgeous. I love this shot--it is taken through the windshield--my camera lens isn't THAT dirty




So here's where the trail ended for us. We bent the muffler on a big rock headed down this hill, and below that, there was a huge stairstep that we had no chance of making. So, we turned around and went back. I was kind of nervous for a while there; we had a pretty hairy time getting back that far, and I was just hoping at that point we could get back ok! But we couldn't have asked for a more awesome turnaround spot. This huge rock ledge was incredible, and there was all kinds of sand and soft dirt for Wesley to play in. We took off our shoes and scooted around barefoot for awhile.





Here's Sean bending the muffler back with his big stick.







My guys




Ok, just for fun. I had a ball playing around with the fall colors and my new Lensbaby. I think the results are pretty cool. Maybe I'll print some of these for the new studio space.









More leaves










Sunday we took our time leaving the cabin, and headed for the Natural Bridge State Park. I was very glad our cabin was out of this area, it was pretty touristy. I hadn't been in probably 8 years or so, and the area has developed some.

We had just enough time for a late afternoon hike up to the bridge, Wesley's first hike! Thanks for carrying my camera backpack, Sean :)




Not the most flattering pic of me, but Wesley looks cute. It was the only one Sean took of us all weekend that was in focus (hee hee)



Oh, the light was spectacular by the time we reached the top. I was in heaven!










The above pics are from below the bridge, and the below pics are on top of the bridge :)



We settled in and Wesley played in the sand. We also scooted around barefoot some more :) We were blessed with the most beautiful sunset, and we sat and watched it until it fell below the next ridge, then hiked back down quickly in the dark.




Now that my computer problems are hopefully solved, I can get back to it tomorrow. I've got several events I'm working on now--I had 3 family sessions this past week, and one senior. Plus, I've got Heather and Earl's wedding I'm working to post as well. I'm very hopeful that I don't have to waste hours tomorrow dealing with computer glitches!!