sisterly love

We absolutely love this photo for its colors and the love and humorous interaction between the Brown sisters.
This photo was made around 10:15 in the morning in late September. { 100mm, f/3.2, 1/160 }

tech specs: tierra at the park

23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec.

tech specs: cloudy skies at quail ridge

28mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec.

tech specs: megan at quail ridge

100mm, f/4.5, 1/250 sec.

tech specs: becca at quail ridge

100mm, f/3.2, 1/200 sec.

happy accidents

Ahhh, posing. Good when it's good. Bad when it's bad (ahem, see Awkward Family Photos). And then there are those awesome accidents that come about when you're just out having fun. Like these guys. We love this shot!
About the photo: 50mm, f/4, 1/160, ISO 250. No flash.

tierra's mini-session

Photo sessions. Sometimes you need just a handful of shots -- 10-12 images for Facebook, family and friends -- and a 45-minute mini-session achieves just that. Take Tierra, for example, who just wanted to experience a professional photo session for her Sweet 16 (Happy birthday, Tierra!).

Like for her 16th birthday, practically every image we create is in celebration of some milestone... a newborn baby, a high school senior, a first-ever family photo. It's always cool to take a step back and remember that the photos we make are not only important now but also fun, valuable pieces of history 10, 50, or even 100 years from now.

Lenses used: 50mm f/1.8; 17-40mm f/4

... and we're back.

... Making a blustery December 23rd look all sorts of warm and cozy with a little help from the Lewis fam.



Shot at Quail Ridge Park in Wentzville on a mostly cloudy day. Edited in Adobe Lightroom with a little inspiration from Totally Rad Actions. Cheers and looking ahead to a bright 2012!

we're headed west ... out until 2012

The last shoot of 2011 ... Looking good, Lewis Fam. It's been a pretty good year.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

all grown up

When Hannah asked us a few months ago to create senior portraits with her, she made a special request: Any chance you can find a grand piano to use in the shoot? Good question, we thought. But after some brainstorming we pulled it off, thanks to our neighbor and friends, the Meiers. (Thank you, btw, for letting us take over your upstairs music studio for an hour!)
(Sorry if this next part is embarrassing...) So, Hannah and Ben go way back – all the way to when he was in high school and she was in the nursery. Good family friends dating back years, I think it was an especially fun and enjoyable shoot for Ben (even if it made him feel a bit old). It clearly meant a lot to him to get to see Hannah’s sister, Joanna, during the Quail Ridge portion of the shoot.

And now, Hannah’s all grown up. A superb student. A talented musician. A great person. And about the same age as Ben was when the two first met. Crazy.

a long time coming

We've been waiting a long time to meet back up with Ally to take her senior photos. We first met her what seems like forever ago (it was in April) and were excited when we got the call in August to go work with her again. Here's a look at some of her photos from Quail Ridge Park:

ally and our favorite field.

Took our favorite flowery field and stripped it of color -- a reminder of what will soon become of that little roadside patch of gold as the cold moves in and the trees go from green to red...

Color or no color, isn't Ally beautiful? We absolutely loved working with her -- such a fun, warm person.

Hailey Rae

This has been a week of firsts. And by firsts, we mean first birthdays. First it was Nora, then Gage, our very own Peyton was next, and now it's Hailey Rae's turn. A year later, it's still hard to believe that four friends, including Ben's sister, had babies in four consecutive days last September. But it happened. Sept 20th-23rd.

playing catch-up

... Speaking of busy, this fall has been just that. Becca's got a seemingly never-ending stack of books to read. Ben's got a constant stream of photo collections to edit. That comes off negative. It's anything but. We're busy. And enjoying it.

Remember to love life. We sure do.
* Technical Specs: 1) 1/40, f/4, 85mm, ISO 200. 2) 1/160, f/3.2, 50mm, ISO 200. 3) 1/100, f/7.1, 85mm, ISO 200. 4) 1/125, 85mm, f/6.3, ISO 800

If you don't like smiling, look away.

We warned you.

The love of a family is life's greatest blessing.

From the moment we met little 2-year-old Rhythm last week at Quail Ridge Park he was smiling, his big grin setting the perfect tone for our first "For the Love" photo session of the year. (What exactly does that mean? In summary, later this year we'll carry out the rest of our special "For the Love" photo project -- essentially a fund raiser for our church's girls camp and Scout camp that consisted of families purchasing photo gift certificates to give away to a deserving friend or family member. The big day is set for Sept. 10... More on that later.)

Back to the shoot... Each of Doug's kids had his own awesomely unique personality, which was fun to see play out through the lens. Two minutes into our shoot, we knew one thing for sure: they all were super-comfortable in front of a camera. (Dad, you've taught 'em well!)

No question, we were blessed that day. For starters, it was practically a miracle that we got the shoot in that evening... The day's sun had been nothing short of scorching. Near-record temps put things into question early on. And then the rains came in the late afternoon -- thunder, lightning, the whole nine yards. Turned out, the storms were just what we needed leading up to our 6:45 start time, cooling temps off in the ballpark of 15 degrees.

With the help of a few good friends on set, we breezed through the shoot. It's amazing what a few extra hands can do (Thank you to everyone who pitched in!).

We are so excited to finish editing this round of images, along with the Schmutz Family images, which we made that same night (see the previous post). Now that our hard drive is back up and running (another miracle, indeed), we're ready to get things moving again.

A beautiful sunset -- in black and white.

Just letting the clouds speak for themselves today.

grab a stick

Okay, so it's probably bad luck or something to talk about proud favorites and what-not -- sort of like saying a pitcher is well on his way to a no-hitter or a perfect game after 5 or 6 flawless innings. Just one of those things you just don't do, right?

Meh. No yielding to superstitions today. I mean, how many cracks have you stepped on in your life only to discover, to your relief, that it did not, in fact, break your mother's back? Precisely. So, with that in mind, we proudly present the Rodabough clan. Or, well, some of them.

Now, the heart of this post is about image #4, our dear friend who is secretly a ninja warrior and/or stick-wielding tyke. Either way, we have long thought this little snip of a man to be one of the funniest chaps we know. Full of character and of life. The one who's first to point out which kid has the smelly diaper in a room full of 2 year olds. The one who quickly but politely turns down a carrot stick after asking, "Where's the ranch?" and discovering there is none. The one who's growing up so quickly we can't believe it. Point of it all: it's so rewarding when a person relaxes and his personality transcends an image, as it has here.

And whether it ever makes it onto a wall or a Christmas card is truly beside the point. The point is, we absolutely love the shot. And hope you do, too. Hope it inspires you to go ahead and be yourself. You know, grab a stick or a leaf and just start swinging.

Sweaters and Hairbows

One of the last warm days of fall brought us these beautiful family pics at Quail Ridge Park in Lake St Louis. Looking precious J, J and J!
And about the photos? Image 1: 50mm, with about 10 feet of separation between foreground and background and an average f stop of 5.6. Image 2: 120mm and fill flash to compensate for the sun's positioning. Image 3: 70mm and 200 ISO, with the sun at about 11 o'clock overhead.

so soon, the snow

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It's fall. And for the most part, it's felt like it. Occasional warm days, occasional cool ones. Breezy, sometimes gusty. Sunny, with sunsets that glow. But from the looks and sounds of it outside right now, that's all about to change. The cold is coming. Winter's still 30 days away, but somehow I don't think that matters.

So, here's to hot chocolate and happy holidays!* Glad we squeezed in a few more sessions over the past few weeks. Here's a sneak peek at some of the shots ... (Too many to discuss lenses and lighting and cameras, but if you have a question about one of them, don't hesitate to ask!)




* Here's to Becca and Marlie, as well, for standing strong for a string of shoots when I was, well, let's just say, less than healthy. Photo #9 is one of M's shots.