S.L. Smith Photography

Team Up Thursday ~Pairs~

This week Amy and I decided to shoot "Pairs"...and we had to cheat a little bit.  This is one of those weeks for both of us...one of those weeks that you have to remind yourself to breathe...one of those weeks that we were each searching for a pause button so we could have just a minute.  Not bad, just full.  With that said, we used a homework assignment from the Picture Spring Workshop we are taking.

Amy has ladybugs all over her yard...lucky duck!  They are awesome for photographing and so good for your garden.  Her shot is fantastic and sharp.  I love how she composed it too...with the lady bugs a little off center.  I did tease her that it was a little "bow chica wow wow" for me, but I won't judge .  ;)

Mine is pairs of shoes for each person in our family.  This shot has been on my mind for a couple of years now, but thanks to this workshop, I finally got around to doing it.  Does anyone else store photo ideas in their heads for years?  I'm thinking about hanging this over our front door.

Please click on it to see it larger.

Head over to Melody's to see more creativity.

Inspired {San Antonio Photography}

Today's assignment for the Picture Spring workshop was :Inspired.  We had to take a photo inspired by anther photographer.  Well, Katie Sokoler  never fails to inspire me.  She is fun, whimsical, magical, and surprising.  She just makes me happy.

A New Look...FINALLY! ~San Antonio Family Photography~

I have never really liked my old business cards, marketing materials, or gift certificates...NEVER...so I finally got off my butt and designed some new ones and I think I. LOVE. THEM. ( I think, but I'll probably never be 100% satisfied).

Here is my marketing brochure (5x5 tri-fold):

and my new business card:

I also have matching stickers for packaging and gift certificates.  What a weight off my shoulders to finally have all of this done...it has been on my mind for awhile.

Team Up Thursday ~Dogs~

Amy and I both have fairly young dogs/puppies.  We are both in the throes of potty training, shoe stealing, toy eating dogs that we love to pieces despite what pains in the butt they can be. As you can imagine, we both have been taking lots of pictures of our new puppies too.

Amy is such a stinker...the first pic she sent me was of her big baby in what I thought was an awesome action shot.  He was flying through the air, ears both floating upwards, with a fierce look on his face...but when I put it next to my tiny Jack Russell, it looked like he was about to eat her...scary...turns out that Amy was tricking me and sent me some less scary ones right after. 

I LOVE the naughtiness in hers...a young dog trying so hard to get his boys attention by pulling on his shirt.  So cute and so puppy-like! 

A few months ago I got another (yes, now I have 2) Jack Russell and named her "Tink"...short for "sTINKer" and boy does she live up to her name.  I was playing ball in the yard with her.  This is her 'fierce' 'throw the ball for me, but don't touch the ball' look.

It's not over yet.  I have another set of pictures from the 2 of us (I told you, we love our dogs).  Here, Amy's pooch is eating a toy dinosaur and mine is sleeping with her lovey...she seriously snuggles it like that.  So cute.

Head on over to Melody's for more Team Up photos.

Lullaby

These lyrics are from a Dixie Chicks song and I have heard them a million times.  Just the other day I heard it again and these lyrics inspired me to do this.  Tonight I tiptoed into their rooms with my flashlight and shot these photos.  They are not the best photos and I think I will have to do them again and soften them up, but this idea was brimming at the base of my skull and would not stop bugging me until I let it out. Does that ever happen to you?

I think that after I re-take the photos, I'm going to print it on a canvas and hang it in the hallway that lead to their bedrooms.  I'll show pictures.

Team Up Thursday ~Strange~

This week our theme was "strange".  Amy shot those really cool rocks.  Again, her lighting is perfection. Here are Amy's words:

"These are a part of our rock collection.  Since Caden was a toddler, he has loved to pick up rocks wherever we go.  I kept them for a while then got rid of them.  A couple of years ago I started keeping them again.  So whenever we go on walks or hikes we all look for rocks that are strange or weird.  We look for different colors, textures or shapes.  We  do this almost everywhere!  A couple of weeks ago at my grandmother's creek we found a few fossils too!  And one big rock with several fossils in it.  I'll have to show that one some time.  I love all these rocks for their strangeness, but the weirdest one is the one that looks like a tooth!  It looks like it was ripped out of an animals mouth!  Very strange indeed!"

I had a totally different idea for strange, but ran out of time due to this crazy, strange week we have had at our house (I'm sure you can ALL relate).  I took this last spring.  Crazy lizards..I have no idea what they are doing.  I tried to do a little research, but really came up with nothing.  I found a different breed of lizard that does this as a show of male dominance, but I'm not quite sure if that's what they were doing.  Any clue?

They stayed like this for about 15 minutes...they would turn a little bit once n awhile, but hardly moved.  They let me get very close to them and did not run away so I decided to poke them a little with my finger.  No reaction, but they were as hard as the rocks in Amy's photo. Oh yes, this was strange.

Hop on over to Melody's to join us!

Cute and Sassy ~San Antonio Corporate Photography~

It's always an honor to be asked, by families and businesses, to take their photographs again.  It's one of the things I love about this job...when my clients become friends. 

I was invited back to Pure Posh to take more photos for their new website.  Seriously, every person who works there is cute and sassy. 

Catch Lights

I know I am not in any position to offer photography advice, but one thing that I think makes a portrait is trying to catch light in your subjects eyes.  I love sitting my kids in front of a window when we are at home.  When with a client, I will turn them and move their chin up and down and side to side while I stare at their eyes to find the light.  I just did this with 3 beautiful ladies I had the pleasure of photographing yesterday.  I always warn them that I a 'touchy feely" and will "stare into your eyes" so "don't think I'm hitting on you".

Coincidentally, our assignment for the workshop I'm taking was to capture catchlights in your child's eyes.  People always say "you get the best pictures of your kids"...um, no I don't.  I just don't post the bad ones...heh.  My kids, like an other kids will not look at me and make goofy faces the entire time.  I will show you examples of this below.

First, here is the one I picked to turn in for my homework assignment:

BUT, here is what I have to go through to get to that:

"Okay, Caleb, look at me and keep your eyes open" :

"Open them a little wider this time buddy"

"Now look at me...I'm right here...in front of you...follow my voice"

"Um, over here Boo...see me...over here"

"Okay, that's great.  Keep looking at me...but this time try looking a little less...um...weird excited"

"That's right Buddy!  Perfect!  That's just right!"

Sibling Sessions ~ San Antonio Children's Photography~

I have a very FUN and UNIQUE idea for these sessions.  Contact me for details.

Team Up Thursday ~Jump~

Amy Craft choose our theme this week : Jump!  Now all I have in my head is "Kriss Kross will make ya...."  please tell me that I'm not the only one old enough to remember this.  Van Halen also keeps running through my head.

Now that I am way off track, let me get back to our photos.  Amy took that cool one of her friend's son jumping off of the hay.  I love the way she caught the action, the position of his legs, and that shadow!  Way cool!

The photo I took is of my daughter jumping over me...I had fears of getting kicked in the face...or worse...getting kicked in the LENS!  Let's face it, my face would heal, but the lens...whew..thank God that all this girl does is jump and she knew exactly where those feet were going the whole time.  She is a little jumping bean.

If you want to see more great team up's. head on over to Melody's.