Must Love Superheros! Maple Valley Children's Photographer | Gretchen Blair

Check out this adorable little man!  These eyelashes are to die for! Not only was this little guy super cute dressed in his Christmas plaid, he was absolutely sweet as sugar.  He loves superheros, his favorite being one that I am not very familiar with, the Green Lantern.  I definitely need to study up before my little guys reached that age.  When I asked him what his favorite movie was, his answer couldn't have been more adorable.  His favorite movie is Transformers, BUT his parents haven't let him watch it yet.  He was just overflowing with charm and that awesome energy that seems to power little boys endlessly.  I love you guys letting me in to your lives.  I get to work with the most phenomenal people.  This guys mom was the neatest woman...  I am pretty sure that most people wouldn't be able to pull off a pairing wonder woman t-shirt and pearls with the grace and southern charm that she did.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch that illusive boy/puppy combination.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

On this day where we count our blessings, I am not sure even where to begin.  I have had such a blessed year.  I am so very thankful for everyone who has supported me in this venture as I follow a long time dream.  I am so lucky to have family and friends who have supported me.  I am also so grateful for all of the new people I have met.  I am honored that you shared little bits of your lives with me.  I wish everyone an amazing Thanksgiving tomorrow with your loved ones.  Eat turkey, watch football, enjoy those close to you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Growing with a Family | Gretchen Blair | Maple Valley Family Photographer

It is so much fun to get to capture a family over time.  I got to shoot this Mom when she was pregnant with the adorable redhead.  I don't portraits of both boys so the next step was to try and capture the entire family.  This was during one of my mini sessions.  For my mini sessions, because the shortened time, I tell customers to expect about 5 images.  We were blessed that we got a few more in that short time period.  Here are a few... 

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Oh my gosh.... Can You Handle the Cuteness? | Maple Valley Family Photographer

This was from a minisession this morning.  I woke up to a dreary wet morning and was stressed that I would have to cancel, but I watched the radar and saw that we were in the clear.  And we had great light and look at the cuteness we were able to capture.  Jen...  I am daring you to only pick 3.  :) 

 

There are still a couple more openings next Saturday if you are realizing that you need some pictures for this holiday season.

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Take Pictures... Lots and Lots of Pictures...

My sweet cousin and her awesome husband experienced a devastating loss last week.  Their vibrant, healthy little boy was gone in an instant.  I am so glad that I flew down to take his newborn pictures.  He was a beautiful newborn and they just radiated with love and excitement for their new son.  I am so grateful that they indulged me as I was building my portfolio.  We always just assume that we will have a tomorrow with our loved ones, but there is no guarantee.  It is so hard to realize that the ones you love could be gone in an instant. 

 

I am a photographer.  I was a photographer long before I ever tried to do it as a profession.  My language is photographs.   Anyone who knows me personally knows that my husband and I lost our son 5 years ago.  I have tons of photos of my son and now that it is all I have, they are some of my precious items.  But even if you don't lose your child, and I pray that none of you ever experience that, they grow up so fast.  My precious three year old that used to dress up like a princess to dig up and collect worms, the beautiful little girl that had ringlets down her back, is now fourteen.  She is still beautiful and I still get to see her every day, but that three year old is long gone and sometimes I miss her. 

 

Take pictures.  Take lots and lots of pictures.  Take them with your phone or have them professionally taken... It doesn't really matter.  Print some off from time to time.  Don't let them all live lost inside of a computer.  I haven't found any better way to hang onto the past other than with photos...  but then again that is who I am.

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Newborn Sweetness, a Sneak Peek | Maple Valley Newborn Photographer

This Little Miss was not going to sleep for us on Thursday.  We tried and tried.  Mom tried, I tried.  We were both getting a little frustrated and her big brother, who had been so good, was done. Sometimes the best thing to do is just  to reschedule.  I came back again today and she was perfect.   Look at this sweetness!  I LOVE NEWBORNS!  I have got to become a huge success with newborn photography so I can keep getting my baby fix.  Mine are all growing up too fast.

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Catching Up on the Blog | Maple Valley Senior Portraits | Gretchen Blair

I realized that I had never blogged about this session.  It was ssuch a fun session.  Clarissa was an awesome subject and so great to work with.  She was even a great sport when we had to work around the rain.  Despite the rain, and the broken heel, I think that we got some great shots.  Our saving graces were the picnic shelter and mom's umbrellas.  Thanks you guys for letting me take your senior portraits!

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Catching up on the Blog | Showcasing a Beautiful Senior | Maple Valley Senior Photographer

This natural beauty was awesome!  She was great and very willing to try some of my harebrained ideas.  We had a great time together.  We shot these before the school year even began and now, going into the third week, it seems like it is in full swing. 

School has only been part of the reason that it has been busy here in my little chaotic world.  My five kids might be the other part.  I have had some fun doing some sessions with some great seniors.  I have been wanting to work on a better way of showcasing the images in my blog and share these guys with the internet.  It has taken my a while to get around to actually doing it.  This very well might just be a first draft.  I always reserve the right to revise!  Let me know what you think!

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Weather-smeather... Who Trust Forecasts These Days | Maple Valley Senior Photographer

For the last week they have been saying 60% chance of rain today.  The forecast for today has looked so bad!  Then there was some talk that it might dry up this afternoon, but my first shoot as at 9am.  At 8:30 I made the call to go ahead with the shoot.  As we arrived it was ever so slightly drizzling on us, but we pressed on.  By the end of the shoot we were urging the sun to go behind the clouds and trying to find shade.  Never trust the Seattle weather forecasts. 

 

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Something a little different for me | Tahoma Senior Photographer | GBlair Photography

When photographing seniors, my goal is always to incorporate something that has been a big part of their high school experience into their portraits.  When you are photographing a high school athlete, that is pretty easy.  You have sports equipment, uniforms and sometimes letterman's jackets.  What about a theater kid?  We decided to experiment with some off-camera flash in the auditorium a completely different arena than outdoor, natural lighting shots.  I am sure that I could have dinked around refining this shot for hours.  When I realized that I didn't have the brackets to hold the flashes, I had to improvise and use my helpful daughter.  I couldn't ask for a more awesome subject though.  He was great and I think that the shot worked.  What do you think?

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Something a little different for me | Tahoma Senior Photographer | GBlair Photography

When photographing seniors, my goal is always to incorporate something that has been a big part of their high school experience into their portraits.  When you are photographing a high school athlete, that is pretty easy.  You have sports equipment, uniforms and sometimes letterman's jackets.  What about a theater kid?  We decided to experiment with some off-camera flash in the auditorium a completely different arena than outdoor, natural lighting shots.  I am sure that I could have dinked around refining this shot for hours.  When I realized that I didn't have the brackets to hold the flashes, I had to improvise and use my helpful daughter.  I couldn't ask for a more awesome subject though.  He was great and I think that the shot worked.  What do you think?

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Sneak Peek from Saturday's Family Session | Maple Valley Family Photographer

Great family, good friends.  I got the pleasure of shooting some good friends this weekend.  We didn't let the dark gloomy clouds scare us off- and it was worth it.  I had to share this one.  If I posted it on a forum for critique, it would get picked apart.  Horizon through the head is a big no no.  But I don't care...  I LOVE it. 

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Tahoma Senior-

I had a fun evening running around with this beautiful girl and her mom.  Well, mom didn't really run, she more hobbled with her broken foot, good sport that she is.  I am glad we decided to make the trek down to the river area and get some shots in front of the grafitti wall.  We got a couple of great ones shot in between the distraction of the jumping salmon. 

Gretchen Blair

my photography blog...  gblairphotography.blogspot.com

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August 22-28: Faces

Things are getting pretty busy with school about to start back up.  I only got 3 shots that week.  This week the theme is "My Favorite Things."  I have realized that most of my favorite things are intangible and the things that are tangible aren't things that I have readily available at my house.  I am thinking that I should surround myself with more of my favorite things.  Of course the shots I got for the faces week could easily pass for both weeks as they are some of my most favorite things.

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Wall Layout | Gretchen Blair | Maple Valley Family Photographer

Look at what I am working on.  I went over to a client's house to help her figure out how to use her existing frames for an amazing wall gallery of her images from her family shoot.   This whole display is going to take up about a 4' x 3' square on her wall.  The combination of color pictures and black and white pictures, big pictures and small pictures are going to make for a fabulous display.  I can't wait to see it hanging up.  I do have it kinda backwards though, because her wall has color, the mats are all white and the frames are out of a nice warm wood.  I will try and post pictures of the finished project.

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Saturday Fun at a Great Workshop | Maple Valley Photographer

So last week I was kind of whiny.  So sorry.  Mom life had been wearing on me.  But then, what great luck!...  Through facebook, I found out that a photographer that I took a workshop from last winter was back in town for another workshop.  So, I messaged him to see if there were any available spots left.  I found out at 7:30 Saturday morning that they did have room.  They started shooting at 9:00...  In Everett.  Hmmm....  Hard decision.  Should I grab my gear and jump in the car for a day of shooting?  Should I abandon the 5 kids to the care of my husband who thought that WE were going to spend the day staining our poor weather beaten deck?   Not only did my awesome husband told me to go and practically pushed me out the door, he actually got the deck stained while I was gone.  I got to have a very enjoyable day discussing strobes and aperture with adults, envying everyone else's very cool toys and basking in all of the photographic knowledge that was there.  I definitely was the freshman of the group when discussing these complicated lighting set ups.  Don is a great instructor and his workshops (http://www.learntolight.com/) are a great way to spend a day.  

 

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Random Ramblings... | Maple Valley Family Photographer

I was listening to a very successful photographer talk about how she got her start.  She firmly believes in frequently updated blogs.  She also believes in putting more personal info in the blogs so that the reader actually gets to know you the photographer.  At this point almost all of my readers are my personal friends, but sometimes you guys are still amused by what I have to say...  sometimes...

I love this picture.  It's not like it is good or anything, but I really think that it is a picture of my life.  I have 5 kids running around my house.  FIVE!  I love them to pieces- most days.  The problem is sheer numbers.  When you have five, the chances that at any one point in time someone is going to need something are significantly higher than if you just have 2.    Most of the time there is at least somebody at my house that NEEDS something...  and  a good portion of the time those needs come out as a cry or a whine. 

Sometimes I feel like I need a vacation.  I mean, we DID just get back from 2 weeks visiting family in Texas, but I am not sure if that was a vacation.  I had five kids with me!  Don't get me wrong, we had a blast, but I didn't get to escape my everyday duties.  What would I consider a vacation?  Honestly, it would be some sort of photography workshop.  I love being a photographer.  Just getting out for a shoot is a little mini vacation for me.  I get to leave behind all of the things begging for my attention (the kids, the dog, the laundry, the dirty cabinet doors, the soap scum on the shower door...) and capture beautiful images for someone.  I get to spend some time doing something that I am actually good at (don't look at my shower doors-   I am not very good at that).  I get to complete a train of thought-  a huge luxury that I rarely get at home.  I get to awe people.  Nothing is better than that.  Nothing is better than to see someone get excited about an image that you have captured.   Love it! 

Maybe it is just a instant gratification thing.  Taking pictures is much closer to instant gratification, especially in the digital age.  You shoot a picture, you see it in the little LCD screen.  It looks promising.  If you are like me, you might even flip back through them if you are at a long stoplight as you are driving home (probably shouldn't admit that).   Then you get home, you see it on the screen.  You feel all warm an fuzzy.  Then you get to order it, hopefully big, and give it to the customer and see their smile.  Huge payoff.  Raising kids...  it take much longer for those pay offs.  My older two are turning into pretty awesome kids and we are so very proud of them, but the stakes are much bigger and it is a much more long term project.

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This week: Sequences/ Storyboards

I loved this theme.  It was a lot of work, but I LOVE making storyboards.  Two of this weeks creations are going to be album pages for an album I am going to make of this summer.  I only cheated and used old pictures on one day. 

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August 8-14: A Week in Your Life

This week's images were just supposed to represent a week in your life.

 

I think I did a fair job of giving a glimpse into my life.  I still am not as good at "lifestyle photography" as I would like to be, but you always need something to work on! 

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