Surprisingly, we had a nice afternoon here. A couple of days ago i had purchased some new vibrant colors of sidewalk chalk and my girls were begging me to out front and play with it. It was a great chance for me to play around with some of the fun images I have seen on Pinterest. Definitely a first attempt, but I had so much fun that my brain is just flipping through new applications for this idea. I have to admit that I think that my crabby photog mom side came out while I was in my creation mode, but I think the girls had fun anyway. Little miss worked on her Harold and the Purple Crayon city. I just got all crabby with them smearing my picture and the biggest ordeal was getting her to trust me that the sun was behind the clouds and that it wouldn't hurt her eyes to open them and look at me. Silly girl. If she can't look up at the cloudy Seattle sky, we might as well blindfold her for the move to Texas. :)
A Day of Sunshine with a Tahoma Senior - Class of '11 | Maple Valley Senior Photographer
Saturday was the first gorgeous day in western Washington in a loooooong time. It shouldn't have surprised me that when I went to go meet this senior and her family at Coulon Park that the place was crawling with photographers. Crazy considering how challenging the direct sun is. Last senior shoot I did at Coulon we were running from coverred area to covered area to stay out of the drizzle, this time we were trying to find some shade (and great reflected light.) As we tromped all around (in the mud) we took all of the strange contrasts you have in the Seattle area when the skys clear and the temp hits 60. We saw one guy sitting without a shirt trying to get some sun and nearby was a girl all bundled up in her fur edged hooded sweatshirt. It was a great people watching day down at the lake. Meanwhile, we got some great images of this beautiful senior.
These are the first ones that I have edited... I might have to share more as I edit more.
Waiting for baby...
While the rest of us are just waiting for spring here in the Northwest, this family is waiting for their spring baby. You would think that the arboretum in the second weekend of April would have blossoms and fresh spring green everywhere. Well, after this winter, I shouldn't have been surprised that we were in coats and that the only green came from the evergreens and the moss. We endured the cold and got some great shots of this beautiful mom to be. Can't wait to meet their little girl next month!
Waiting for Spring with an Awesome Family | Maple Valley Family Photographer
The winter her in Western Washington seems to be going on forever. We were lucky enough that it was relatively warm a couple of weeks ago for our session. It was cloudy with a few sun peeks, the trees were still bare, but it wasn't raining and that has been rare lately. I met with this gorgeous family along the Cedar River, a favorite place of mine. These guys were so great... and the 4 year old... with those eyes and just his overwhelming cuteness... It was just too much! Not that there was any shortage of cuteness going around. The baby girl stole the show with all of her smiles... and a little bark eating. Both of these guys are so lucky to have a big brother who is truly awesome with them. Great family! Too bad we missed the beautiful blossoms.
A Spring Senior shoot | Maple Valley Senior Photographer
I love high school seniors. It is such a exciting time of life. It is the perfect balance of ends and beginnings. They are celebrating the completion of a stage of life while there is so much excitment and anticipation over the next stage. It is also so intriguing to talk to the parents of senior. They seem to be so torn between pride and excitment for their kids, but struggle with a little bit of sadness that it has all gone by too quickly. Spring senior sessions are fun because that anticipation is building and they are so close to their goal. This session was fun! Daniel was awesome. Despite many signs of spring the river park still made a great backdrop. I loved getting a chance to incorporate a trumpet and a mossy tree in the same shot. What is the thing that you think makes your Senior Year of High School such an exciting time?
An overdue blogpost of an adorable baby boy| Maple Valley Newborn Photographer
We have been working so hard to get our house ready to go on the market and March was full of activities for my older kids and birthdays for my younger kids. I had so much going on that I have gotten so behind. This little guy has one of the best big sisters ever! It was so adorable to see how much she LOVES her baby brother. He was such a great sleeper for me too!
My Girl... Where did the last 5 years go...
It is birthday season in the Blair family. Between the middle of March and the middle of April we have 5 of the 7 birthdays in our family. Our three youngest children's birthdays are all within a 11 day period. I need do photo shoots of all of them, but as we get our house ready for the market, I seem to be short on time. Here is my 5 year old. She looks so grown up. Five years has gone so fast!
Day after Valentine's | Musings of a Family Photographer
Most of the people who know me personally know that I am a pretty pitiful housekeeper. Don't get me wrong, I love a clean house. It is just that I am too distracted to focus on keeping my house picked up. I guess to prove that opposites attract, I tend to be drawn to super organized people. They are these people who tell me about their physical inability to go to bed with dishes in the sink. Hmmm... Yah. I don't get that. I can sleep like a baby with dirty dishes in my sink. Granted, I am a MUCH happier person in the morning if I wake up to a clean kitchen, but sometimes that isn't incentive enough for me to get the cleaning done beffore I go to bed. I truly didn't get this. I couldn't comprehend it. I had nothing similar to relate to it. ...then came Valentines Day. You see, right now my life is pretty crazy. I have 5 kids, a small business and a house that we are trying to get on the market in 2-3 weeks. Valentines Day rolls around. It would be so much easier to just go buy a pack of Valentines at the grocery store. I passed them countless times. I only had one to really worry about and she only needed 10 valentines. She didn't have to address them, just write her name. Easy Peasy... Well, actually no. Not easy. Why? Because I cringe at the thought of handing out store bought valentines. It pains me to do something so... so... generic. So I spent an hour in between helping put in a shower door and grouting a floor to cut out hearts and arrows... AFTER I had spent a half hour looking online for inspiration... AFTER I designed the hearts on photoshop... AFTER I had completely failed at our homemade, multicolor heart shaped crayon making. I had probably lost hours when I could have just thrown a box of Valentines into the cart the last time I was at the store. Then, I realized, I am like that across the board. I HAVE to be original. I strive to give unique gifts. I can't fathom the idea of my kids wearing store bought Halloween costumes. And I should appologize to my friends who had scrapbooking parties only to have me sit in the corner, ignore any instruction and come up with my own little wacky creations.
That is when it hit me. That is what the people are talking about when they say that they can't go to bed with dishes in the sink. It is THAT feeling. I do have a comparable quirk. I get it now...
What about you? Is there some weird thing that you are physically inable to do?
A Little Sliver of Peace | Maple Valley family photographer
I have 5 kids. CRAZY! ...but in a good way!
We are trying to get our house ready to sell. CRAZY! ...but worth it to get closer to family!
I am trying to actually launch this photography gig and make a name for myself. CRAZY! ...but something I have wanted to do for at least 11 years now.
I can define most aspects of my life with one word: crazy. The good sort of crazy. The trying to carry 3 bags of groceries into the house while balancing a kid on each hip sort of crazy. Although I am often reminding myself that this craziness is an abundance of blessings, I am usually pretty content that this IS my life and, for the most part, peace and solitude are not a big part of my life at the moment. But every once in a whie, when I am very lucky, I find those moments, hidden like the little jewels that they are. Imagine my suprise when, with the oldest 3 off at school, I managed to get the 2 year old and the baby to nap at the same time. I had 2 hours of peace and solitude. Even better, it was a beautiful sunny day here in Western Washington. As I am getting dinner started, the sun is streaming through our south facing windows. There is something about the light coming in on days like today that make me LOVE my house. It was so beautiful. I tried to capture it. I just thought I would share. It would have been nice if I had picked up a bit. In my artist brain, I was taking a picture of the LIGHT... not the stuff.
Wednesday Ramblings | Maple Valley Portrait Photographer
I am a consumer of information. I am always trying to stuff my head with new knowledge. With the internet, it gets overwhelming. I am always trying to better my photography... trying to better my shooting, my processing, my business skills... the amount of learning resources are almost limitless. It makes someone like me a little overwhelmed and stressed because I would really like to consume as much of it as possible. There just aren't enough hours in the day!
Today I stumbled across Don Gianatti's Project 52 and decided it was a great challenge for me to take on this year. The first challenge was to write your vision statement. Don's point in doing this as the first assignment is the idea that clarifying your direction and goals will help you focus your photography and really refine those skills that will get you closer to where you want to be. Earlier this year, after participating in another workshop, I was challenged to come up with 3 words to descibe me and my work. I came up with Real, Relaxed and Refreshing. I figured this was a good starting point to come up with my vision statement.
What IS my vision statement? How would I describe my goals with my photography. It is easy to say that I want to create beautiful pictures for my clients. Duh! If you are trying to do this professionally, THAT is a given! So I started to think about what I strive for... How I want my art to be perceived.
I strive to capture emotional images. In my mind there are documentary photos and emotional photos. The documentary photos are things like school photos, passport photos and church directory photos. "Stand here. smile. snap." They document what someone looked like at that particular moment in time, which is great and necessary, but not what I want to be known for. I want to be known for REFRESHING, unexpected images.
There are so many people who dread having their picture taken. You say photographer and they think stuffy studio with a hard metal stool and turning their head to some unnatural angle. That is not what I want to be known for. I want people to be RELAXED. I love shooting people in settings of their choosing. I am always striving to find ways to help people assume comfortable, natural poses that also help them to look their best.
I want to be able to capture REAL emotion. There are lots of photographers that have a huge storehouse of amazing props and fun costumes. Although I will make some use of these, I want my images to focus more on the subject and less on the extras. There are photographers, primarily commercial photographers, that create these fantastic creations that take hours to plan out and set up. I love to look at these, but it doesn't fit my personality style. My favorite images are pretty simple, but I love it when I capture someone's personality.
Now how do I refine this into a stong vision statement? Hmmm....
I capture distinct moments in your life and the emotion that surrounds them.
Now I just need to strive to do it better!
--Gretchen Blair
my photography blog... gblairphotography.com
Look back over 2010 | Newborn Photography
I hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday season. Ours was a quiet celebration. Well, as quiet as you can get with five children. I grew up running from celebration to celebration, surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I know that there are a lot of people who find those kinds of Christmases crazy, but it was my normal.
With the coming of the New Year, comes a time of reflection. I am so blessed to have collected some of the most amazing clients. Many were friends that believed in me, but I love that my customers become my friends.
I love newborn sessions. Partially just because I love newborns, but I also love the privledge of documenting such a precious moment in a family's history. I have gathered some of my favorite images. I hope you enjoy them!
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