Another Rainbow on the Way

When I first started this journey, it was because I was in need of a MAJOR creative outlet after the devestating loss of my first born daughter, Rosalynn. I needed something that made me happy, and encouraged me to get out of the house. Work was work, and unfortunately, there were days I was constantly reminded of my loss with the frequent visits from pregnant ladies, miscarriages, and the occasional woman in labor. I worked in an ER. I was also becoming bitter, because there would be 7+ month pregnant women coming through the doors drunk and high on who knows what. I needed something that took me away from that and made me happy again. This is why I picked up the camera.

I was blessed to have an amazing support from women all over the country who had experienced losses such as myself. Holly was one of the first women I came in contact with. She was well know amongst the community, and luckily for me, she lived less than 2 hours away.

We had met up once or twice, and when she gave birth to her first rainbow baby, I begged her to let me take a few pictures. I needed the practice. I know, you are probably wondering what a "rainbow baby" is....well, you can find the explination here: http://journeyoflifeandluv.blogspot.com/2011/03/post-everyone-has-been-praying-for.html (about 3/4 of the way down is the definition).

She agreed, and I made my way to her to take a few photos of her daughter, Lainey, you can see those pictures here: http://journeyoflifeandluv.blogspot.com/2010/11/another-beautiful-family-shoot.html

I still LOVE these photos, but I can definitely tell I have come a LONG way!!

Well, Holly is officially expecting her second raibow baby, Evanee!! And I am soooo blessed that she chose ME for her maternity session. She is absolutely stunning, and her girsl are soooo cute!! All 4 girls were present through this shoot, including her angel Carleigh.

Holly was also VERY brave!! Not only did she want nudes, but she wanted me to post them. She claimed they were beautiful and needed to be shared:-) Of course when you are as beautiful as she is, it is easy to get great "nude" shots (as she points out, she is more covered in these shots then in a bakini!! LOL

Thank You Holly, and I cannot WAIT for Evanee's Newborn Photos!!!!

This is What I Have Been Up To! (And Pictures)

I feel like an AWFUL blogger and online friend! I have been busy with Ava and getting into the groove of motherhood. I really need to write down a schedule:( Ex: 9AM:check email 0930: write blog, 1000: pick up house, etc). There is a BIG reason why I haven't been using my time wisely, other than Ava.

My Photography. It has kind of been going to the next level. I have been so busy shooting, editing, browsing for ideas and tutorials and other photogs' blogs and websites. I search and buy backdrops, and props, and fake floors, backdrop stands and lighting, lenses and even shopping for my second camera body (the Canon 5D Mark II) I use Pintrest for inspiration, and tips and tricks and suggestions for equipment from other professionals. . I use almost all of my computer time doing SOMETHING related to my photography.

I have to upkeep my Official Website, keeping up my facebook page and now just started scheduling regular posts for my Photography Blog. I am now trying to think of creative venues to market myself. I want to focus more on newborn and maternity, but shoot every category. Where should I even start marketing?!?! It is all overwhelming. However, I know once i figure it all out, it will come easier. I HAVE to get on a schedule though. I need to set aside time to edit and deal with the photography while still having a life...almost like a 9-5 job.

Ava makes it even more interesting balancing everything. And this is someone who once juggled work, school, non-profit, photography all at the same time! I hate sitting in front of the computer while she is awake..and that is becoming more and more. So I usually wait till Foster gets home to work on stuff. Like I said, it will all come together, and get easier the more comfortable I get, but in the mean time, things like this blog have taken the back seat, along with keeping up with others' blogs. Please forgive me!

Here are just a few of my recent pictures so you can see why blogs (mine and others') have been neglected lately. I promise I will figure it out:-)

A Lemon?!?!

I briefly mentioned wanting to throw my new computer out the window in my last post. What, so you ask, would make me want to throw a BRAND new computer out the window? Well, here is what happened.

My 6 year old computer started running EXTREMELY slow after I installed 2 photoshop programs into it. When I mean slow, I mean even my pregnant butt could have caught up with it! :-) It would take me 10-15 minutes to edit a photo from a shoot, and that is WAY unacceptable. I would never be able to do more than one shoot a week if I expected to keep up with the editing, and actually expect people to pay me for it.

Foster finally broke down and agreed that it was time I invested in a new computer. He talked to my mentor about what PC to invest in. He said none...and surprisingly told me not to invest in a MAC either. He said the best computer if I really wanted to make this my business was an IBM. A business computer would have enough memory and RAM to run large programs like Photoshop and never slow down. So, that's what we bought. I also had an additional 4GB RAM installed for a whopping total of 12GB!! This baby should NEVER run slowly!!!

Well, I was so excited about receiving my new laptop. I paid the $100 deposit and waited till the custom laptop came in to the shop before authorizing the guy to finish the rest of the transaction. When he called, I gave him the OK. I noticed in my bank account 10 minutes later that he had charged me the full price, and neglected to subtract the $100 deposit. I immediately called the shop. I wanted to see what happened. Well, turns out he forgot about the deposit, charged the full amount, realized he did, and cancelled the transaction. Okay, no problem. Where he screwed us, is he ran the card AGAIN. Now this is a debit card directly to our checking account. The first transaction, although cancelled on his end, could take 30 days to be cancelled in our account. So we had two LARGE pending transactions in our account that prevented us from using that money. Now, financially we were fine, but it still ticked me off that the guy would not think this COULD have caused a problem! COMMON SENSE!!

That was strike one. Strike two was when I finally got the laptop home. I plugged it in, and it would not turn on! I tried and tried, but was getting no power to it. I tried different outlets, made sure the outlets were working by testing other electronics, made sure all the "male and female parts" were matching up and completely engaged, and finally tried 3 times to reinsert the battery. I don't know what finally made it work, but after about 30-45 mins of messing with it, I FINALLY had power to it.

I should have known this would not be the end. Strike three, what almost had me chucking my new computer out the window, was the worst yet.

I had the computer booting up, and it would start loading Windows and then a black screen would come up indicating something was wrong and asking me how I wanted to load windows. I would select "Load Windows Normal" and then it would go to a blue screen explaining either the last hardware or software was not installed properly. I tried three times to bypass this screen when finally a last black screen popped up "Critical Error" and my computer would shut off.

I was livid. I called the shop and the same idiot who charged us twice. I was about to explode, so he got the brunt of it. He admitted to being the one who installed the extra RAM. I asked him if he even tried to load up the computer after installing it. He CLAIMS he did, but after seeing how incompetent he could be, I highly doubted this was the case. I talked to another guy from the company and he agreed to take a look at it.

Sure enough, two days later, the idiot called me back apologizing that it was indeed the RAM. The stick was bad, and had to be replaced with a different one. I was right, he never tried to load the computer after installing it the first time.

When Foster went to pick it up again, he was not so nice to the incompetent employee, and made it VERY clear that we were not happy about the inconveniences.

However, it is all water under the bridge now, because my laptop is up and running, and WONDERFUL! I can edit a photo in a matter of 2-3 minutes as opposed to 10-15. I breezed through 10 the other night in no time. This will allow for more photos edited in less time, which means more time with my hubby:-)

Baby and Photography and Auctions

I have been keeping busy. I have been TRYING to make the time go faster. I am torn between wanting to relish in every second of this pregnancy and wanting it to fly by in order to hold my beautiful Avaleen in my arms.

Foster is so busy with his new position at his unit, that he has been gone more than he has been home. He will be gone a total of 20+ days in August, and probably about the same in September. This just makes my time seem to drag by even slower, and makes me go crazier, because he has a nack for bringing me back to reality and calming me down.

To counter his absence, I have planned a little get a way myself. I will be visiting my aunt in PA. She is an actress, and performing in "Pride and Prejudice" at the Shakespearean festival in Center Valley, PA. Foster isn't thrilled about me traveling by myself for so many hours, but I HAVE to get out! I am going stir crazy!!

I am at this weird point in the pregnancy. Coming up on 24 weeks tomorrow, I WOULD have been starting to pick out furniture, and started nursery plans, but that is all done from Rosie. All of the things that usually keep expectant mothers busy I have had done for 18 months. I guess I will start deep cleaning and such around 32 weeks.

My photography is expanding by the day! I am so excited about this!! I purchased Adobe Lightroom for my new editing software, and LOVE it!!! It is so easy to use, BUT.....of course there has to be a but....my computer HATES it. My computer is going on 7 years old, and Lightroom takes up WAY too much RAM to run, and my computer craps out on me. Editing one photo took me almost and hour because of my computer freezing. I almost threw it out the window. So, my dear husband asked my mentor what computer to purchase. Yesterday I went in and put a deposit on a custom IBM. He had told Foster that if I was taking this seriously, and REALLY wanted to make this my profession, to avoid buying a PC and stick to a professional, business computer. Luckily, his brother works for a computer company, and we got a GREAT deal on this computer! I even had an additional 4 G of RAM installed to insure that no program will ever overload my computer again. I am ecstatic!!! I get to pick it up later this week.

Speaking of my photography, a good friend of mine is having an online auction. I donated a photo session to her cause. If you live near me, feel free to bid on it. It is a 1.5 hour session with a CD with the edited images on them. An approximate value of $300, and a great excuse to spend time with yours truly and donate to a good cause:-) This is the link to take you to my listing:

BID NOW!!!!

 but make sure to check out all the other great items up for auction!

AND, if you haven't already, make sure to check out my photography facebook page and "Like" it;-)

Irish Eyes Photography

Pomp and Circumstance....

Well, maybe not exactly. I am one online final short of FINALLY finishing my bachelors. For those of you who know me in real life, you know this has been a LOOOONNNNNGGGGG time coming. For those of you who don't know me, it has been about 11 years. Sure life has thrown my obstacles; money problems, military training, and the loss of a child, just to name a few. However, I have driven on and I am done in 24 hours. A lot of people would have thrown their arms in the air and given up. Some people would have lasted six or seven years before calling it quits. Not me! I refused to give up. I have been bound and determined to finish my education.

In true Erin style, I procrastinated and did not get my walking papers turned in on time. Actually, I was about a week and a half late. What does this mean? Well, I will get a diploma, but if I want to walk for graduation, I have to wait till June. At first I wasn't going to worry about it. I was going to happily accept my diploma and go about my life. The more I thought about it though, the more I decided that I WANT to walk. I have fought too hard and too long to idly sit by and not properly celebrate. Also, after finding out that Foster and I are expecting again, I want to make as many memories as possible with this child regardless of how much time I have with him/her. Rosie got to do soooooo much, remember this post? I know it is negative to think this way, but please don;t judge me, it is normal for a Baby Loss Mom to feel this way; I want this baby to experience a lot as well, in the event something happens. So, pumpkin seed and I will be walking in Ohio State University's famous horseshoe in June!!

Now, if you think for one moment I am done with school, think again. I have been a career student and my life would not be the same without classes. So, I have already signed up for my very first formal photography class. It also helps that my work pays for classes, so there are minimum expenses for me to continue learning. I have learned so much from my mentor and from the books I have read, however, you can never know too much about an interest. The way I have been taught so far is more of the "here is HOW you do it", and not necessarily the WHY. I figured a formal class will tell me the intricate details of shutter speed, apertures, and lighting. I will come out that much more knowledgeable and earn the respect of my clients and fellow photographers. Then one day I MAY be able to consider myself a professional.  I have the eye, now it is time to build on the knowledge. I guess it is safe to say that my education isn't over until the fat lady sings (hopefully whoever sings the national anthem at graduation isn't fat, b/c i am not sure I am ready to stop:-)

Welcome....

baby Logan!!! Here are the pics I could not show from my maternity shoot until today!!! They were my all time favorite from the shoot!! I am so excited!!
Stay tuned, I have another maternity shoot tomorrow w/ another pregnant belly!!! this time a girl!

MY FAVORITE!!!

Baby Logan kicked and the "O" and knocked it over!! lol

Ok....HERE They Are!!

So I emailed my friend last night and sent her a sample of the photos of the naked photos she was self conscience about. She love them, and gave me permission to use them online. She was just worried I would post the naked belly photos before she got to see them, and she wanted to make sure I didn't use her real name. I COMPLETELY understand. I don't know if I would want my name with my naked belly online either! Here are my FAVORITE shots from yesterday!!! (spcae being left for those who still have pregnant belly triggers, and I promise my website is being designed so I don't have to post these any more)
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Overcoming a Fear and First Studio Shoot!!!

I was going to wait until I had permission to post all of the photos from this shoot (there was a little confusion that needs to be ironed out), however, I was sooooo excited after the two hour session, that I couldn't wait. i came right home, did some MINOR editing (cropping, black and whits, etc) and am so proud of the products thus far that I just had to share.

This shoot was an important one. It was my very first maternity shoot. After losing Rosalynn, I have voiced my feelings on here about pregnant women and bellies. I was terrified that this shoot would be heart wrenching. In the past couple months I have gone from the BLM to the BLM who is now infertile club, and for all of you fellow BLM and infertiles out there, you know how pregnant bellies usually make us feel. Well, that wasn't the case. I was so excited about the shoot and the artistry behind it, learning to use the different lights in the studio, and creating photos that this couple will cherish forever, I completely lost the feelings of jealousy and resentment.

She was beautiful, he was handsome and their little man even kicked a few times and knocked the blocks off her belly. Unfortunately, you will not get to see the block photos yet either, because they have the baby's name in it, and they have not told a soul what the baby's name will be. That's right, I was blessed to be the third person on earth to know what this baby's name would be! What an honor!! Of course my mentor was the 4th person since he was there too.

My mentor, we will call him Phil M (get it...film...haha), was so helpful and informative. the studio was decked out to the max with lighting and backdrops and props. I could not even tell you what all they had, because the place was packed with stuff. I opted to go for simple. Simple backdrops, simple fabrics, focusing on the family to be and the belly. Here are the first few photos that I can show. I took some bare belly shots, and now my friend is having second thoughts of me posting those. It is my fault. I printed up a release form, but forgot to get them to sign it because I was soooooo excited and nervous about this shoot, then I was so excited about the photos that I forgot to get them to sign AFTER the shoot also. I emailed her, and hopefully within a few days I will be able to post those also. Note to self: DO NOT forget to get that release form signed! (The naked belly photos and the block photos take up 2/3 of my files!!)

So without further ado (I am going to leave a space here for those of you who still feel bad seeing pregnant bellies!)
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Need Advice for the Future ....and More Photos

I think it is time that I establish a website for my photos. I started this blog for my Rose, and although she is the one that inspired my photography and my new "live like today is your last" mentality which in turn has inspired me to pursue actually trying to make some sort of living off of my new found talent and passion. However, it is quickly turning into a photography website now. I know you all love my photographs, but as I was thinking about it, I realized that some of you are still in a place with your grief that seeing pictures of babies or (hopefully soon) pregnant bellies may be a little much. I decided it is about time to establish my Irish Eyes Photography website. Now, I am still working of finding out if I can use that name, and then I will have to pay for the rights, but in the meantime, I figured I could start researching website designs/designers. I want this to be a real site, not just a blog. I want a slide show as of my best work as when the potential customer first clicks on the link, and then separate tabs for Senior pictures, baby pictures, family photos, etc. That way they can get a feel for each individual category. Then of course I want a tab for pricing, for I am hoping to start charging for my services around May or June. Until I get the website up and running, I will continue to post my photos here, but I will warn when there are baby pictures involved (by the way, there are some way at the bottome of this post).

Here is where you come in. First, do any of you know a good website designer, or are any of you good at this? Second, what do you think are reasonable prices for a photographer to charge? I have been doing some research on this, and the prices seem to be all over the place. I find some charge per hours for a sitting fee, others a flat rate, some have packages, and others do ala carte style (so much for sitting fee, so much for each picture, if you want another hour or an additional clothing change, etc). what do you think? To give you an idea of what goes into a simple senior picture shoot, I recently had another shoot. She changed clothes three times, we went to three different locations (one of the locations we used 3 or 4 different settings...so I don't know if this counts as 3 or 6/7 different settings). It took approximately an hour and a half for the entire shoot. I have to admit, the more I do this, the more proficient I am becoming with my equipment, and the quicker these shoots are going. The majority of the time invested comes after the shoot. It took me about 3 hours to download, do some BASIC editing, and post the pictures to my facebook/blog. This does NOT include the burning of the disc, and the time it would take to order prints for the family. Based off of that information, what do you think I should do?
Since I KNOW you want to see the pictures, here they are:

 Can you see the improvement in my photos? I really can! Also, here are my latest photoshop adventures, I am becoming better skilled at it too!

Original

Photoshop

Photoshop

Original

Original

photoshop (softened, matte added, scratches and blemishes removed)

Original

Phtoshop (Softened, matte, and scrathces removed from face)

orignal

Photoshop! LOVE this effect!!!

Original

photoshop!