It has been a very busy month. Here is one of my latest shots of my son. This was taken with my new Nikon d300. So far, I am loving it. I just wish that my two-year-old would be just a little more cooperative when I take the camera out to play! I am very happy with this shot, though! 

I am getting close to the official launch of my children's photography business. Hopefully, I will be ready to start scheduling sessions after the new year. Check back for more information and to see what special offers I have!

My how she's grown!!! My daughter is now three months old. I had to be quick to get this shot as her head is still heavy for her! She is holding it up pretty well, though!

Here is another image of that sweet newborn in her daddy's hands!

Let me know what you think of the new site. Please leave a comment!! Thanks for looking.

Sweet baby girl! 5 days old. More to come...

I am back from my trip and besides catching up on some sleep, I am trying to go through the hundreds of photos I took! This is one that I really loved. I love the expression on her face and the vintage colors. And I just LOVE the natural lighting!!!

Coming soon ... newborn photos...

I will be out of town for a few days, so I wanted to make sure I put up something new! This may be my new favorite of my husband and daughter... I better get him to start taking some pics of me with her, too!!!

My camera's in the shop! I am using my hubby's Canon. It's a great camera, I am just not used to the buttons, etc. I hope to have mine back soon, but I am very happy with the photos I got with the Canon today. This is just one of them. Can't believe she's already 10 weeks old!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This was a fun shoot with my son back in September.

One of my first attempts at a storyboard. I wanted to capture all his little parts - hands, feet, eyelashes, etc. Giving a toddler a project always helps to get them to stay still longer for pictures!

GOTCHA!! I finally catch my toddler looking at the camera! I love the blue backdrop!

Here is our sweet girl who will be two months old tomorrow. I took this photo while playing around with my new macro lens. She is constantly trying to get that whole fist into her mouth!

A recent pic of my son. I love the eye contact in this picture. He can be very difficult to photograph because he likes to ignore me when I have my camera in hand, but sometimes he surprises me with a look like this. Priceless!!!

Daddy's Girl

Daddy's Girl, originally uploaded by lmentler.

I just love this picture of my husband and daughter.

This was taken at about 3 weeks. She is growing so quickly. I can't keep up with the photos!!!

Here's my two little cookies!!! Best photo I have of them as of yet. My son is rather quick and will only do something once if you ask him to. Next time, I'll have to have everything else in the shot perfect, then ask him to give his sister a smooch, and SNAP!!

Here she is again!

Another newborn shot of our little girl!

I think that he likes his new sister!! Although it was almost impossible to get a picture of him with her!!!

Here's another of my daughter at 12 days old.

Introducing the newest member of my family...

Well, it is official. I have started my own photography business. I will be portfolio building for a little while, but I have taken care of most of the paperwork to create my business. This image was taken a couple weeks ago at Bond Park in Cary, NC. This little girl was a photography challenge for me because she has such blond, blond hair, fair skin and was wearing white. The shoot also happened to be in full sun. I am very happy with this picture and I think that her parents will be too!!

Overalls

Overall, originally uploaded by lmentler.

Another Boy in Box

Another Boy in Box, originally uploaded by lmentler.

So here is my try at sizing and sharpening for web . I like the picture, but composition wasn't my goal. I am working on sharp eyes and some basic post-processing on Photoshop CS2.

Boy in backyard

Boy in backyard, originally uploaded by lmentler.

Newport Beach

Newport Beach, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is an older picture that I took of my son at Newport Beach in December. I just like it and haven't posted in a few days. I am still working on taking new photos, manual, focusing, remembering to set my iso! I am also now shooting in RAW. I have lots to learn!

Smells Good!, originally uploaded by lmentler.

Ok, so today I decided to try to scout out a location and see if I could get any good pictures of my son. I was hoping to see if I could use this place in the future with paying clients (someday ... hopefully!) it was a nice place, but a little bit of a fiasco when you are big and pregnant, you have a toddler and a stroller and you take a path that doesn't lead where you think it does!

Anyway, I was happy with a couple shots that I did get, like this one. He likes to put flowers ritght up to his nose to see how they smell. I did not capture the wrinkle he gets in his nose, but I like this photo anyway!

Party

Party, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is a photo I took of my niece at my son's birthday party. She is only a few months younger than him. I like the look in her eyes in this photo. She is such a sweetie!

A Different Viewpoint

A Different Viewpoint, originally uploaded by lmentler.

I am going through some online photography lessons and this photo was part of an assignment for that. I was to take pictures of something from all different angles and viewpoints. I like this one of my son on the slide. Not the side of him I usually post, but still cute!!

By the way ... it isn't too easy to catch different viewpoints of a toddler when you are almost 32 weeks prego!

Strange Expression

Strange Expression, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is another picture from this morning. I was trying to get better clarity on my son's eyes. I used my 50mm lens and was still shooting in manual. I think that he has a sort of strange expression, but I am glad for two things. 1 - He actually looked up at the camera for me and 2. You can see catchlights in his eyes. It was originally in color - I chose to convert to B&W in Photoshop.

Shooting in Manual Mode!

Playing on the Deck, originally uploaded by lmentler.

I have purchased a book called "Understanding Exposure" by Brian Peterson. It is about time that I expand my skills and really figure out how this whole photography thing works. I am going to start shooting in manual mode as much as possible. This is a picture that I took of my son this morning while playing on the deck.
After reading about other photographers (on www.ilovephotography.com) and how they also try to take pics of their two-year-olds without too much success, I feel a bit better. I thought that I was the only one who had trouble getting him to actually look at the camera (or at least look up!!) Today I shot a lot less pictures and still came up with some that I liked.

Wesley, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is a picture that I took a while back. This little boy was having a blast playing in a cardboard box. I wish that I had better lighting, but I still like the photo. I want to get better at focusing in on the eyes and getting catchlights to show in the subject's eyes. The catchlights here are almost non-existent. As I said, I still like it though!!

Beach Bum

Beach Bum, originally uploaded by lmentler.

Here is a picture of my son playing at the beach. Even though you can't see his eyes - I love the expression on his face! Whenever he is working (or playing) with something his tongue tends to stick out like this!

Green-eyed boy

Green-eyed boy, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is a picture that I recently took at Ocean Isle Beach. We were visiting with some friends and we took the kids to the fire station. This little boy loved the trucks - especially the wheels. I took this photo while he was exploring the fire rescue boat's propeller. I love his eyes - they are beautiful!

Kids B&W, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is a picture that I took before leaving Fresno. These are some of my friend's kids. They were nice enough to let me practice some photography on them. It was hard to do this picture on the stairs because I am so short and the natural lighting was not great. Still I was doing my first shoot with my new flash. I enhanced the brightness a bit to give it that white glow. I am happy with the way it turned out.

Baby Boy in B&W, originally uploaded by lmentler.

Well, it has certainy been a while since I have been here to update this blog. My family and I have moved to North Carolina. We are getting settled into our new place and I finally have a minute to add a new photo to my blog. I took this picture of an old co-worker's son back in Fresno before we moved. I believe he was about 3-4 months old at the time. Such a sweet little face!

Ballerina

Ballerina, originally uploaded by lmentler.

I love this photo. I know that it is a bit against the rules to shoot down at a child when photographing them, but I like it anyway. I think that the photo shows her shyness and I think that the composition works in this case. I originally took it in color, but I think that it looks better in black & white with a little added contrast. I hope her parents like it! (Her aunt mentioned that she plays with her hair this way a lot!)

Red Head, originally uploaded by lmentler.

I love this picture of my good friend's daughter. I love her expression. I love her hair, her eyes and her perfectly placed freckles. I love the colors against the plain background (which is actually her house!). Enjoy!!!

GIrl on slide

GIrl on slide, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is a picture of another one of my old neighbors. I absolutely love her wild hair and her expression in this photo. I snapped this at just the right moment as she came down the slide. Adorable!!!

Day at the Park

Neighbor, originally uploaded by lmentler.

I took this picture back in the fall before my neighbors moved out of Fresno. This was their oldest daughter and as you can see - she wasn't camera shy! Her sweet personality is reflected in this photo! She and her sister had a great time in the park that morning. I'll post my favorite picture of her sister next time...

Baby Boy 2, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is another picture that I took of my friend's newborn. What a sweetie! I thought I needed to add some color to my blog again! I've been posting so many B&W photos lately!

Baby Boy, originally uploaded by lmentler.

Besides my own son, this was my first attempt to take some photos of a newborn. He was only about 1 week old when I took this photo. I didn't get to try too many poses as my 20-month old was running around with this baby's big brother (a toddler as well!). I have to say, though, that I am very pleased with how this photo turned out. It's amazing how expressive such a new baby can be!

Niece, originally uploaded by lmentler.

My niece was more than cooperative when I was taking pictures of her last fall. I took a number of photos of her where she is looking right at the camera and striking a pose! I chose to post this one because it is one of my favorites. I love the sweet look on her face and that her chin is just barely on her shoulder. I tend to prefer black & white photos of people because I feel like they are more classic looking.

**As a side note, I haven't posted in a few weeks as we were out of town looking for a new home. I am happy to say that we found one! We will moving to Cary, NC in March.

Mother/Daughter Bond, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is one of my oldest and dearest friends with her daughter. The beauty of their relationship shines through in this picture - that's why I love it so much.

What's Important

What's Important, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is the photo that really got me thinking about professional photography. I submitted this for my second homework assignment for Ken McCoy's photography class at Fresno Adult School. He was very impressed and said that it was a great stock photo. I haven't tried to sell it or anything, I just love this pic. The assignment was to photograph something important to you ... I think that the picture speaks for itself.

Sweetie Pie

Sweetie Pie, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This is a picture I took of my youngest niece back in November. I am drawn to her eyes in this picture and I feel like she is looking right at me. I like to get close to my subjects so that they fill the frame and I don't always like my subjects to be centered in the frame.

I am very excited because I will be taking some newborn shots soon. My friend is due with her son very soon!

Yummy!

Brandon's Birthday Cake, originally uploaded by lmentler.

This was taken right before Brandon's first birthday. It was the first time that I actually practiced my photography on anyone besides my family. He had so much fun with that cake. It was everywhere!

In Memory

Total Boy, originally uploaded by lmentler.

Brandon Everett Beatty
Sept. 2, 2005 - Dec. 26, 2006

I was sitting here for the longest time trying to find the best thing to write. Brandon was a very special, amazing little boy. He had the most beautiful blue eyes and was such a bundle of energy. I feel so lucky to have been able to see him so often and spend so much time with him and his mommy. He was my son's best friend.
Sebastian looked at this picture of Brandon on the monitor this afternoon and said three words, "Dindin" (meaning Brandon), he paused and then said "fwriend", and finally "bubbles". I don't know how he remembers the day this was taken in October when they were playing with the bubbles. Or maybe he just remembers that Brandon loved bubbles. I don't know.
I do know that we loved him very much, we miss him everyday and I will always remember and cherish the times that I spent with him and his family.