Veteran's Day and Baby Photos

Happy Veteran's Day! It has been an eventful day for Foster and I. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was going to have the opportunity to photograph a baby for the first time. The family I did it for were more than willing to let me use their daughter as practice and in return, I am giving them free photos. that is right!! FREE!!!

The photo session was bitter sweet. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but then realized that I should be taking Rosie's six month pictures and practicing with my own baby instead of with one of Foster's soldiers. Some of them came out beautifully! I am content with my first attempt at photography. I still have a lot to learn, but that is to be expected. I used all manual functions, no automatic. I have only done some basic white balance edits so far, and will do more in depth editing after I download photoshop. There is some photos I want to even out the baby's skin tone, because she has a little bit of baby acne/rash, and some advanced edits such as singling out the pink in the tutu and the red in the Ohio State pictures. I will post all of the finished pictures when I get them done, but until then, here are some of the pictures I have so far:

 She was starting to get really fussy (this is toward the end of the session,) but I love the mirror effect, and will try this again next time (hopefully she isn't so fussy)

 Sweet baby girl

 I love the contrast of the soft baby and the tattoo from dad

 sweet fall baby, sleeping in the woods:-)

 She was so content outside, she was so calm and sleepy in the park.

Had to represent the favorite football team:-)

I have a few naked photos of baby with ACUs, an American flag, and combat boots, but I have to crop a few of them before posting them on here (baby butt is for mom and dad only:-)

 All because two people fell in love

And of course I had to get a picture of the man I love in the park too!

Remember, ALL of these picture are mine and the family's. By the way, if anyone else is willing to let me borrow you, your family, or your kids for practice, I will gladly do the same favor for you as I did for them. Better jump on it now before I get good enough where I can charge. Yes, I am willing to do newborn and maternity photos.

I completely understand why professionals charge so much. It took us 3 hour, and out of about 300-400 photos, I only got about 50 usable ones. The baby would move, make faces, cry, wake up, pee, eat. All of the outfit changes take longer than expected because you want to be gentle so she wouldn't get upset and then cry for the next 10 minutes. Once we figured out she liked it outside, we moved all of the "scenes" out to the back patio so that she would be content. Thank the Lord it was 70 degrees out today. With all of the issues, I still had so much fun, and hope that they enjoy the end project!

Once the family took off, Foster, Reagan, Rowdy and I hopped into the car and headed to Hocking Hills. I took TONS of photographs there also, but those will have to wait to be posted, because I still have to sort through and pic the best of 250 pictures. 

We decided a hike in the hills would be healthy, quality family time on Veterans Day. We took a timed photo on a ledge by the caves, and accidentally left my Oakley sunglasses laying on the tree trunk I had propped the camera on. Foster and I had driven about ten minutes outside of the State Park when I realized my glasses were missing. Now, if they had been any other sunglasses, I would have forgotten about them and refused to turn back, but if you recall, I spoiled myself with these glasses, and spent WAY more money than I should have on them. I made Foster make a U turn, and he sprinted through the forest back to the scene of the crime. As I parked the car, I prayed that the glasses would still be there, and he would not find an empty tree stump. Foster was convinced that if any hiker came upon the sunglasses, that they would have picked them up. Luckily, they were right where I left them. If anyone had seen them, they were honest and left the glasses alone in the even the owners came back to claim them.

When we were safely back on the road, I received a text message from JJ. I had completely forgotten that her moms birthday was today. She claimed she tried to call me, but there is no phone reception in the hills, so I never got the call. I can imagine what a hard day this must have been for her. The holidays and special occasions are always the hardest. This was the first time she didn't get the chance to call and wish her mom a happy birthday. She wasn't able to give her a gift or take her out to dinner. Bug apparently met up with her and they enjoyed dinner together, but I'm sure it didn't come close to healing the pain she was feeling today. 

I still have so much to fill you in on, but it is going to have to wait till next time. I had my second therapy appointment, and Foster and I met up with Holly and her family. She is another BLM who is quickly turning into a friend.