Mickie 2010 "BOYD CO."

Oops......I totally missed posting Mickie's images from his senior session a couple of weeks ago!! I am so scatter brained these days with Christmas stuff and having to cope with the idea of my Daughter & her family getting ready to move to Australia. Knowing that we won't get to see them for almost a year is really hard, but hopefully the time will go by quickly. Thank goodness for webcams & "SKYPE"!!! Okay, well I said in an earlier blog that I was gonna try my best to make shorter blogs & make a sincere effort to limit my ramblings. So I'm not off to a very good start,am I?!? LOL!!!! Now back to Mickie's images, he was just a SUPER nice guy and had such a pleasant personality & so easy to be around. Also he was extremely helpful during his session, everytime we changed backgrounds or were moving props in & out.....we just might have to keep him around!!! LOL!!! The ones of him with his hunting stuff turned out GREAT, it's just kinda' weird thinking how that really was a couple of deer head skeletons. Also I thought the ones of him in the black shirt turned out really good, especially loved the one with the smile! He better get ready because I have a feeling that all of the girls will be in line to get one of his wallets with "NO SHIRT" on! Well if I don't stop before long this blog will end up being like my typical posts that go on forever. So once again, I sincerely apologize for not posting this sooner but my poor little pea brain kinda' got lost in baby "Isaak" mode for the last couple of weeks!! LOL!! I hope that everyone enjoys this little sneak peek of Mickie. :)

My Best Christmas Present " E V E R " ! ! ! !

This was something that my kids did for me & Bill today on Christmas that made us happier than anything else possible!!! I just now heard from my daughter & they have made it over half way back to Wilmington N.C. tonite & the baby slept all the way. It is the preferrable way to travel for them these days, when Isaak is sleeping and understandably so. He is so full of energy and doesn't like to be confined to a carseat for long periods of time. I am missing that little guy already and can't hardly wait for him to come back in a few days. We want to share every moment possible with them before they move to Australia again in a couple of weeks. I want to say Thank You to all of my family for making this happen for me & Bill today. It was sort of a group effort to accomplish this.....first off I want to say thank you to my "HUBBY" for being such a great photographer & having all the knowledge to set the camera & lights. Then thank you to both Jason & Natalie, our beautiful children for their loving smiles & helpful caring ways. They were so good at co-ordinating clothes on the spur of the moment. Also I want to say thank you to my son-in-law who was suffering with a migraine headache for being so gracious to allow us to do this while he wasn't feeling so well. Also thank you to Isaak for being just so "STINKIN' CUTE" and doing so good when he was really tired from his nap being cut short today!! Then thank you to my Mom for actually being the one to push the button on the camera & being the photographer for the day. And doesn't she look great?!?! I look like I could be her Mother. LOL!!! And then last of all thank you to my Mother-in-law who was such a good sport for going along with all of this when she had "NO IDEA" that we were even gonna do this. Actually we didn't either. LOL!!!! But that's how our family tends to do things.........we just go with the flow and we're very last minute, spontaneous kind of people. We have tried for nearly the last 5 to 7 years to do our family portrait so I am just thrilled that we could finally make it become reality. That is why this is the best christmas present "EVER"!!! I just want to take this time to wish everyone a MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS from our family and hope that your family is equally blessed as ours was this beautiful holiday season.

T.K. "BOYD CO." 2010

We had such a good time photographing T.K. for his senior portraits last week!!! He brought in some neat things with him, but most of all he brought that FABULOUS smile! With it being Christmas and all, we had some Christmas CD's playing in the camera room. I enjoyed so much hearing T.K. singing along & harmonizing with the Harry Connick Jr. stuff. He is sooOOoo very talented in the music dept. and I think he probably gets that from his MOMMA!!! Cindy actually taught our daughter in choir at BCHS quite a few years ago, and it was good to see her again. Plus it was actually too funny because we were wearing the exact same shirt, we sorta looked like twins!! LOL!!! T.K. had lots of really nice poses, I especially loved the close-up serious one. I hope that everyone is having a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS today and is spending it with family & friends while enjoying this little sneak peak of T.K...... Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

"BCHS SR" Emily'10

Here goes with my attempt at a shorter blog...since everyone is so busy right now with all of the last minute Christmas stuff. Meet Emily, I thought her session turned out GREAT!!!! She has one fantastic smile and it just lights up any room she walks in. I especially loved the close-up pose in the orange top, that is such a good color on her! And don'tcha just love the one in the santa hat?!?! I hope Santa brings her everything on her wishlist, but idk seems like she told me she might have been a little naughty this year, so we'll have to see. LOL!!!! Emily was worried about not bringing real dressy type outfits for her session. I assured her that wasn't a problem & told her that basic simple things like you wear everyday always photographs the best. In other words simplicity never goes out of style. Well I better quit rambling or before you know it this will be my typical, long, on & on sort'a blog! Enjoy this little sneak peak of Emily's senior session. :^)

Suzanne "BCHS Sr.2010"

Suzanne came in for her senior session last week. She had never been here before but she brought along her BF Hannah, who has been here numerous times. It helps to have someone with you who makes you feel comfortable, not to mention, if you bring lots of stuff with you they can help you carry things in. LOL!!! But Suzanne just went for a smaller session so Hannah didn't have to do that, but she was great at helping with her hair & offering ideas for poses & backgrounds. Suzanne said something about not being very photogenic, and I don't really know what she was talking about. I mean look at how cute & adorable, she has such a beautiful smile! Often times people base their opinions on not being photogenic from years of typical school pictures. But senior portraits are "COMPLETELY" different than the ones taken at school. They are usually under such a rigid time frame & aren't really able to make all of the necessary adjustments. Whereas we try to devote 100% of our attention to you & create poses & background choices that make you look your very best!!! Plus I am a very detailed person & I try really hard to notice all kinds of stuff & most girls really appreciate that. Well I'm gonna make this one a little shorter than normal, I know here lately I have been rambling waAAAAy to long. My blogs keep getting longer all of the time and probably make no sense whatsoever, but hopefully some of you can figure out what I'm trying to say. Shorter blogs & posts, that may just be my NEW YEARS Resolution!!! Ha-ha! I hope that everyone enjoys this sneak peak of Suzanne's senior session. HEY, if anyone is wanting snow pictures I think we should be able to work that out with what I just saw outside!!! :^)

Laura "BCHS 2010 Sr."

Winter Wonderland was what Laura woke up to on the day of her Senior Portrait Session, well almost, or at least as close as we've had so far! Even though we had very little snow last Saturday morning it really photographed so pretty with all of the different evergreen trees we have here at the studio! The ones of her in her black & white coat, gloves & hat were amazing!!!! In some of them you can look closely and see snowflakes in the air, since it was actually snowing while we were outside. The only thing was, Laura was wearing some super cute high heel boots with peep-toes, and we didn't want her toes to get tooooo cold! I had never seen any of those before. I think she is a girl like myself.......she loves her shoes & all of them were so fashionable!!! I just wish I could still wear the heels & cute styles but unfortunately comfort has won over. Laura decided to do her session in 2 parts so that she could wear her hair straight & then curled. This gave her a variety of different looks and she looks goregous now matter how her hair is fixed!!! Her younger sister came along as a special request from their grandmother to have an individual head & shoulders portrait as well. After doing that we decided to take one of the 2 of them together and I just had to post it, they were both extremely photogenic & had fantastic smiles!!! I thought it was neat how they were wearing "big sis" & "little sis" necklaces. Laura also brought along some magazine photo ads & some images on her phone of several poses that she liked & asked us to try. This is very helpful when someone takes the time to do that, and the end results are designed or custom created just for you. It isn't absolutely mandatory but we like it when seniors have some idea's of their own. We may not be able duplicate it exactly but we will put our spin on it plus it makes our job more fun & keeps things fresh for us. Plus I think it will make your session just a little bit different than the next senior that comes along. Well we didn't ask Laura to do the famous "WHITLOCK SQUATTY/KNEELY" pose, however we did have her to do the next best thing the "PRETZEL" pose! LOL!!!! I thought that whole series turned out so GREAT, and especially with her being barefoot! Well I better quit rambling so much and post a few more images. Sorry I am a little bit behind right now but we've been extemely buzy over the last several weeks. Also we have be enjoying our little 22 month old grandson who is here visiting before he moves off to Australia in a few weeks. Well I hope that everyone likes this little sneak peak of Laura's session, ENJOY!!! :^)

Kamryn is " O - N - E " ! ! !

What a precious little angel "MISS KAMRYN" was for her first birthday session last week! I know she has been sick since her session, so I hope she is feeling all better now! She had so much fun with getting to wear her Christmas outfits and pushing around the bear in the sleigh. I thought she was wearing a matching Santa purse but as it turned out that was a muff. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's something that you put your hands into to keep them warm (another option like gloves or mittens except it hangs around your neck). Also when she wore her Christmas dress she was such a big girl and climbed up into the big chair all by herself, with only a footstool to help. Mary brought along a little bit of "BLING" for her session, a Rhinestone Christmas ornament shaped like the letter " K" for Kamryn. And then it was time to get the party started......birthday cake, party hats, noise makers, ballons & even a present!! By the end of the party things got a little messy, especially when Kamryn wanted Kasey to join in on eating cake with her. Or I don't know, maybe it was really Devon who started the smearing of the icing first. LOL!!!! All I know is that Mary probably used a whole box of her wet wipes to remove as much as possible. Or at least enough to be able to get her dressed to go home, I would say bathtime shortly followed! Her going home outfit was just a cute as everything else she wore during her session, it was leopard! And then her coat was a dark red fur with all of this leopard trim...TOO CUTE!!! I hope that everyone enjoys this adorable little sneak peek of Kamryn's one year old session. And as you can tell the images are posted in reverse order of how they were taken, for some reason I have never been able to figure out how to correct that with this blogger site. Since I had such a hard time choosing only a few to post I decided to put up several of my favorites. But HEY, it's not everyday that a girl turns " O - N - E " now is it?!?!?! We look forward to photographing this little princess again over the next several years & anticipate watching her grow and go thru all of the cute ages & different phases. And oh yea, by the way Kasey was so nice & such a gentleman by helping out with all of the clean up, Thanks so much! :-)

Thankfull Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving and the Whitlock family has been blessed this year. Several days ago Theresa started getting ready for Thanksgiving. This included new exterior doors, having the reception room and hallways in the studio painted, new light fixtures for the kitchen and livingroom, painting the livingroom and hauling off several loads to the dump, plus she gave several loads of useable items to Mr Hall. Mr Hall works with several local churches that provide things to those that need it. While the above list seems short we have worked really hard to get everything done.

Jason and his girlfriend came in from Lexington, Natalie and her family came in from Wilmington, NC. We enjoyed meeting Jason's girlfriend Ashley, she seems like a truly great person. Jason cooked a great Thanksgiving dinner for us yesterday. We will be having dinner with the Whitlock family this afternoon and are looking forward to an enjoyable time.

Our Thanksgiving will be complete when they return home safely.

Natalie and the family will be moving to Townsville, Australie in Jan of 2010. She has gotten a really good job at James Cook University. While teaching there she will also work on her Phd. I can see how excited she is. This is a major move for them. Townsville is in the hot northeast corner of Aussie. It will mean that Theresa and me won't get to see them but once a year, but we understand what this move means to them.

We hope that everyone has a Thanksgiving with as much love and joy that we are having.
Bill

"FHS" Matt 2010

Here is such a super nice senior guy from Fairview who came in for his session a week or so ago. Matt definitely works well in front of a camera, I think he could seriously be a model for Abercrombie!!! I especially loved the ones when he put the hat or toboggan on (not sure if that's what they call it or not). There are several others in this series that turned out GREAT! His Dad brought in a framed 16x20 of his older sister and wanted us to do something to match up with hers. I think the close-up pose will be perfect and look awesome in a black & white. I am sorry that I have been kind'a slow in getting these posted but we have been in the middle of a really big painting & redecorating project at the studio and also at home as well. So I really appreciate everyone being patient with us right now and hopefully in just a few days things will be back to normal. I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to do this right in the middle of our busy season, you might say my timing was off a little bit!!! LOL!! Our Son & girlfriend, Daughter & family will all be coming home in just a few days for Thanksgiving & I can't wait to see them all. Well I have so much to do and it's getting kind'a late so I'm gonna make this one short & sweet.....ENJOY the little sneak peak at Matt's session everyone!!! :)

Winter Camera Equipment Care

Summer has come and gone and now the cold of winter is coming. Taking care of your photography gear is slightly different than in summer. Your gear will be exposed to wider temperature ranges. Unless your camera gear is kept in a moist area there should be no problems taking cameras outdoors. Most modern camera equipment works just fine at local temperatures. Keeping the batteries warm is important because as they run down the cold will affect them. If you get things wet, do not store them in your camera bag. Anytime a camera is exposed to moisture it is best to place it out in the room and leave it there, until you're sure that it is dry. Moisture inside a lens will cause problems. Sending the lens to be repaired may be required. Where I use my gear on a daily basis I very seldom have anything stored in a sealed space. Also since I use it frequently I don't go on vacation with gear that hasn't been used for several months. Please try to avoid touching any contacts with your bare skin. Your body oil may cause problems with the contacts. While it's probably not the best advice, a pencil eraser lightly rubbed across a contact has been know to clean contacts. Winter is just as good for taking photographs as in summer. So bundle up, wait for a snow, find a water fall, go out and take some pictures & enjoy the greatest hobby in the world!

Austin "BCHS 2010 Sr."

Last week Austin came in for his senior portrait session, and we had such a good time during his session!! He was just super easy to work with and was just so nice & helpful the whole time he was here. I think we have photographed him many times over the years,ever since he was in JFL football or little league baseball. But the senior portrait session is quite a bit different from all of those sports type pictures and for dances like Homecomings & Proms. We actually get to spend so much more time one & one and get the chance to have a little bit more fun! Austin brought in his motorcross/dirtbike with him & I don't know who enjoyed that more.....I think Bill probably did! LOL!!! I know as they were unloading the bike Bill was really taking such an active part in helping Austin & he even suggested they bring the bike inside the studio. That was definitely a FIRST!! I think Austin said the battery was run down and they weren't able to get it started but that didn't stop Bill from tryin anway.....I think it brought back so many good memories for Bill of all of his days of dirtbike ridin' in the strip mines and all over Boyd & Carter Co. Well I think Austin has sooOOOo many really good images, I especially loved the one in the white & navy striped shirt. I think that was the very first pose Bill took of him too, and normally it takes several minutes before people begin to losen up & feel comfortable. But I guess Austin has been around us to know us a little bit and he was ready right from the start. I also loved his famous "WHITLOCK SQUATTY-KNEELY" poses, the one in the t-shirt plus the one with his dirtbike. This is just a pose that I have given that name to and most everybody that comes here is asked to do it. So everybody better practice that pose, and if for some reason I forget and don't ask you to do it, just remind me! LOL!!! It doesn't matter if you're a guy or a girl wearing stilletto heels..... I know that Austin and Zack were leaving going to EKU right after his session and I hope we didn't make them too late getting there. Also his Mom Debbie was just so sweet and helpful too & we really enjoyed talking with her. I hope everyone enjoys this little sneak peak of Austin's senior session. :)