I’m just finishing up my last “studio lights” portrait assignment for the Folsom Lake College Portrait and Wedding Photography class I’m doing.  So, as usual, I called in the fam.  Pictured here are my headless oldest son, my son’s headless girlfriend and her little boy (not headless).  He’s been in many of my pictures before and I got a fairly decent picture of him without his mugging for the camera.  Now this is not the photo I chose for my formal portrait assignment, but it is one of my favorite photos of the session.  I used my new studio strobe and pocket wizards.  I feel so professional…

This is the photo I chose for the assignment.  There are several things about it that I don’t like…mostly technical (like the chair back, the shadow on my son’s chest, her “bolt upright” pose), but it’s okay for a formal pose.

I also had this one:

which is OKAY, but my oldest son has a really fake look on his face and Dino’s smile is beginning to wane.  (He was getting pretty tired of this picture taking business by then.)  Plus, the boys’ clothes are a little disheveled.  And, there’s a little space between her hair and her face that’s annoying.  Picky?  Yes, but we are talking about trying to make a photo that you would be proud to have hanging over your fireplace.  After a while these things would start to bug you…so, it appears I need a little more practice with formal photos.

Now you can see why I like the first shot.  Here’s another one I really liked:

Again, not a formal pose, but this type of shot is more my style.

And this one:

And this is much better of my son with Dino:

Both of them have a fairly natural look on their faces.  I think I still need to work with my oldest in order for him to feel more comfortable with the camera in front of his face.

So, thanks to my family who helped me out yet again.

My little friend came by to help me make some Mexican Chicken soup last night and he brought a school friend of his…Freddy the Frog.  He was Freddy’s caretaker for a week.  At the end of the week he returns the frog and turns in a one page story about his time with the frog.  So, I took a couple of pictures to help him tell the story.

Sadly, while my little friend was making the soup, the frog apparently got tired of reading the recipe to him and began to slide down the counter.  He’s apparently a rather lazy frog.

Alas, I wore out my little friend with all the cooking and picture taking, so he was a touch grumpy when I suggested he read a quick story to Freddy so I could take the last picture.  It was a tough day of going to school, caring for Freddy and visiting me.  It wears me out just thinking about it.

My dad, Richard M. Thomas, passed away quietly on January 4, 2009.  He suffered a stroke in November and his health went from bad to worse.  We celebrated his life at a funeral service on January 13, 2009.

It was a beautiful service in a little chapel in Placerville.  Since my dad was in the navy, he was honored by the VFW with an honor guard and a beautiful send off and the family was given a burial flag.  It was extremely touching and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  My brother’s good friend, Pastor Steve Moore performed the service, my brother and nephew played an echo taps on the trombone and trumpet.  I provided a picture video of my dad’s life.  It was very respectful and a celebration of the gentle, intelligent and funny man that he was.

As a surprise, my good friend Pam (background) contacted my best friend, who lives in Southern California, and encouraged her to come.  I was so surprised to see my beautiful friend Julie and darling Pam walk into the chapel right before the service.

After the service, the family, the pastor and his wife, and my good friends headed downtown for lunch.

Here, my two sons and my oldest son’s girlfriend pose for me before heading to lunch.

Here are my youngest son, my daughter and my niece…waiting for lunch.

I’m a very lucky and blessed woman to have had such a wonderful father.  He loved me, my brother and my mom very much.  We were his life.  He taught me to study hard, have a sense of humor and above all, there is nothing more important than family.

Thanks, Dad.  Rest in peace.

This past weekend, Thanksgiving weekend, was a time to visit with my family and spend some time at Tahoe with my brother and his daughter.  Although I love to take photos of people, there is no better photo opportunity for me than photographing my family.  This weekend was great for that.

My niece (above right) asked me to take a few head shots of her for a Christmas gift for her grandfather.  So, I took her outside and we just had a good time together taking some photos.  She’s quite photogenic (maybe aside from the above photo) and a fun gal to be around.  She and my daughter (above left) are close in age (6 months apart) and close friends.  They also look quite a bit alike…many people mistake them for sisters.

So here are a couple of my favorite photos that we took together.  Isn’t she just the cutest thing?

She also brought her boyfriend along.  So, I dragged him outside to do a brief photo shoot of him.

He was cooperative and fun.  It doesn’t hurt that he is very handsome.  I enjoyed getting to know him a little better.

But, the most fun was when I took my niece, my daughter and this young man outside to do a photo shoot with the three of them.  They found some old hats in the cabin and insisted on using them as props.  I’ll let the audience be the judge.  (I told them to pretend they were at a cowboy’s funeral.  This is the pose I got…snort.)

The other day my niece was getting ready to head out with my daughter for some shopping or beach or something fun.  She put her makeup on in the living room (which I found particularly fascinating).  I decided to practice my bride-getting-ready-in-low-light-situations photography.  She was my “bride” and totally ignored me as I sat not far from her snapping away. she carefully applied her lipgloss and eye makeup and all the other stuff that young girls do to look great.

After she was done, she waited for my daughter…

And waited…

And finally dozed off.

But she looked beautiful!