Thankful

So November was pretty busy for me as people have been wanting to take advantage of the good weather and get some pictures for Christmas cards. Obviously, the winter months are going to slow down a bit for me, since I do most of my photography outside. I'm excited to be able to use the extra time I'll have to learn some new editing skills in Photoshop. Hopefully, you'll see some nice results soon.

Please note that I'll be increasing rates starting January 1. If you're wanting to lock my current rates, please contact me to set a date.

I'm looking forward to the new year. It looks like a new Macbook Pro will be in my future in the next month or so... and I'll be getting some business cards printed up shortly after.

Thanks for all the referrals you've been giving me. Your word-of-mouth advertising is much appreciated.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving... Here are some things I'm grateful for...

1. A car that works... I've only spent about $1000 on it this past month, but I'm so grateful to have transportation that I can call mine, and I am sooo happy that it is working again...

2. Awesome friends... You know who you are. Thanks for your encouragement and your thoughtfulness.  Don't know what I would do without you guys!

3. Amazing church family... You're my #1 fans, and I appreciate your willingness to let me love on your kiddos, sing and play for you, and take your pictures... and thanks for referring me to other people for photo shoots!...

4. My family... For a brother and dad who know how to fix my car, for my mother who makes yummy noodles, and for my grandma and aunt Nadine who make me remember not to take the time we have with them for granted...

5. My warm house... I am so blessed to have a roof over my head, especially in these chilly months when so many people are cold...

6. God's provision... God has always provided for me in every way and He will never fail me.  I am reminded every day that He is faithful and that He has an amazing plan for my life...

7.  A great job... Not only do I have a great boss and fun coworkers, but I actually like my job... and an added bonus is that I get to take photos on the weekend and get paid for that too. No complaints from me...

8. For music... I can't begin to explain how impactful music has been to me.  I can't imagine my life without it. It energizes me when I need it... it can be thought-provoking... it can make me laugh and it can make me cry... I get to sing and play for church every week with an amazingly talented group of people... It blesses me.

9. My health... so many people I know have medical problems that are rocking their worlds. I am so grateful that both me and my family are healthy. I hope I never take it for granted...

10. Creativity... I am grateful that people are positively responsive to my creative work. My photography, music, and artwork is just another outlet for expressing who I am and sharing with others the gifts and talents God has blessed me with. All praise goes to God, who is the ultimate provider!

Hope you are blessed today!

Kacey & David

Kacey is on the praise team with me at church. She and David have been married for a few years and wanted to get some fun pictures together. These two were so extremely easy to photograph! It's so obvious that they have such a good time together, and it wasn't hard at all to get some great shots. We had a chilly, overcast day to work with, but I think it was well worth it!

See more pictures here!

Drum Roll Please... Meet Lee Ellen Starks

Here is my good friend Lee Ellen, who is an amazing musician who has the voice of an angel... We wanted to get some shots of her and her guitar for some future publicity pieces for her music gigs. Ok. So I couldn't wait to sort through her 700 pictures to look for my favorites... so here are just a few of them that jumped out at me...

Where do I start with the details? We spent a few hours in a field on a brisk 40 degree-ish morning. Our artistic vision for her photos required me to find a field with tall grass... not too easy to do at this time of year, as most fields have been mowed for the winter. But I found a field on a hill at the Springfield Lake with some tall grass, and we found a fabulous tree as a bonus. Lee Ellen wore a fabulous vintage dress for her shoot that was not warm by any means...and she was barefoot. A brave woman she is, willing to sacrifice sanity for the sake of creative art. My kind of girl! After nearly escaping being kicked out by a park ranger, we grabbed a quick bite and headed downtown to get some urban-esque shots. She was willing to do some crazy things and she helped spot some great backdrops, like a cement circle cutout at a new parking garage. I can't imagine how funny it must have looked as I boosted her up five feet to get in place... Oh! And we couldn't resist getting some pix of Lee Ellen and her pooch, Tolmi for some Christmas cards. Aren't they cute?

Can't wait to show you the rest of the pictures!! I'll be posting more info about Lee Ellen and her music at a later date. You need to check her out!

P.S. My night of editing started out fabulously. I dropped my phone in the toilet. Say a quick prayer that I haven't caused it an early death...

See 120 more pix of Lee Ellen here and here...

Editing Time!

I had three photo shoots this weekend... One with my fellow band member, Lee Ellen, who is an extremely talented songwriter, singer, and musician. We got some shots of her and her guitar for some publicity shots for gigs.. and hopefully, for a CD in the near future! We spent a few hours in a field and then headed downtown for some more urban shots... Then I met up with a couple needing some portraits for Christmas cards, and we ran around downtown for awhile. I also met up with another fellow band member, Kacey, and her husband, David, for some fun couple pix, since they hadn't had any recent pictures taken. Theirs was the easiest shoot I've done in awhile! They were so easy to work with because it was so obvious they were crazy about each other. Mushy, but true... Anyway, I'll be editing these this week and hope to get some pix posted soon.

P.S. I took some pictures of a friend recently and she got some Christmas cards printed with her photos on them, and I have to say it was really exciting to see my photos in print! I also saw another picture I've done recently blown up to an 11 x 14. Exciting! If you do any fun prints of my pix, I would love to see them!

Greek Day 2008

I absolutely love this picture and had to post it. This is a photo of Greek Day 2008 that my church, River Bluff Fellowship, helps host for the Springfield fraternities and sororities. I am in our church's praise team and we played a few songs during the event (I'm there at the keyboard playing and singing vocals..). This year we had over 1,000 greeks join us. We were able to have Wayne Hagin, the former voice of the St Louis Cardinals, come and give an inspirational talk. Some of the greeks were also part of a blitz build for a Habitat for Humanity family, and we got to meet the family and honor them at the event.

It's been such a blessing to be able to a part of this for the past few years and wanted to share it with you.

Photo courtesy of Mike Wingo Photography

Erin's Belated Birthday Photo Shoot

I offered to take some pix as a birthday present for one of my good friends, Erin... and we finally got it scheduled, but it just so happened to be on a 40 degree day in November. Erin was a trooper though, and you can't even tell from her photos that she was freezing! I'm labeling these photos as Fashion, simply because she's wearing an awesome scarf and a fur-lined jacket that she could probably model in magazines.. I would buy them! 

and p.s. as you can see, I have beautiful friends!!

and p.p.s. as you can also see, I had a hard time narrowing down my favorite pictures, so there are a lot!! Enjoy...

See more gorgeous pictures here.

Richart Family Pix

Here are Sam and Kristy and their little one, Logan. We met on a pretty chilly day in the park--it was about 40 degrees and windy that day.. brrr! Poor Logan was shaking the entire time, so we had the quickest photo shoot I've ever done... in 30 minutes flat! But I think we got some good fall shots out of it!

See more pictures here.

Swann Family Pix

Meet Mike and Molly and their three adorable munchkins. We headed to Sequiota park for this shoot. The kids had fun "catching" seaweed on sticks and exploring the cave. We found this cool tree with some carvings on it, so I stuck in Mike and Molly's initials for a more personal touch. I did promise Mike I would photoshop at least one swan into their photos.. but unfortunately, I've run out of time for now... maybe later.. Enjoy!


See more pictures here.