I spent the entire 3 day weekend being busy, yet relaxing as well. I had no sessions, but lots to edit and culling to do. I spent a much needed day of rest from my photography and just relaxed. I took Sam and his friend fishing and just enjoyed the down time I had. Here is my weekend through pictures!
As we wrap up our school year and wait for graduation I thought I should really start to show some more of my senior work. This is gorgeous Payton :) She will head off to Mount Union at the end of summer to play basketball.
Dear Justin,
My sister, niece, daughter and I all came to Cleveland on Tuesday to watch you perform. This was the 3rd time we’ve seen you in concert. It was a great show even with the screaming girls behind us, but I wanted to tell you how I saw you on Tuesday. I saw you in three different ways.
First, was that of a woman. You see even though I just turned 40 a few months back, in my heart and mind, I’m still a 20 year girl. I kept thinking how stinking cute you were! And the Calvin Klein ad....holy smokes! What a way to make the heart of every girl there flutter before you came out.
Second, was that of a photographer. Although I am by day a legal secretary I am also a photographer. I kept thinking to myself how I would love to photograph your beautiful face! Being at your concert made me want to be an event photographer at the Q! Lights blazing,
smoke circulating and your beautiful face all over the stage. What photographer wouldn’t want to shoot that, right?
Lastly, I thought of you in form of a Mother. If I may be honest, you looked so sad. For some reason I couldn’t shake the overwhelming feeling of sadness I got from you. I waited and waited for you to smile. You smiled at the end of the concert; that smile said to me “thank God that’s over”. I thought about you the whole hour drive home. My son, who is 10, kept coming to my mind as well and I said to myself I don’t want my son to be like you. I don’t know you, Justin. I could google you all day long and still not know you. But as a mother, I am hoping you livedyour childhood. I kept wondering if you enjoyed what my son will come to enjoy in a few years. Those Friday night football games, that wonderful smell of popcorn a half mile from the field. Those Friday and Saturday night basketball games, dressing in a theme and seeing which student section rocked it best. Storming a basketball court on a game winning buzzer shot. Getting that first text from a girl you thought was hot but was too shy to say a word to. Having to pose for picture upon picture on homecoming night, but having the time of your life because you were with your best friends. Hanging out with your friends after a sporting event at your local pizza joint. Holding hands with your girlfriend and just waiting for the right time to sneak in a kiss. Getting grounded for missing curfew. Having a hang over and hoping to God your mother couldn’t tell. Camp fires and s’mores. Fishing while
watching the sun set. Toilet papering your friends house.
Your life has been a life of fame, but did you live it?
Your Purpose album is on reflection, right? Living your dream and having finally found your true purpose and way in life. Your life is stardom, a big dream for many. For me, I can’t think I would want to live it myself or want my son to live it. Financial security only goes a short way. As much as we all dream to be you, I think I will keep dreaming to live my simplistic, modest little life to the fullest, in the small town where I live it. May yours be equally as happy and fulfilling, Justin.
I remain sincerely yours,
Natalie
Our weather has been just crazy lately! 70 degrees one day to 6 inches of snow the next! With an upcoming snow storm I decided to do some snow minis for those who couldn't get one this past winter. Such a fun session!
Here is Part I of my photos. I will reserve explaining more of our trip in a later blog post. I have more pictures and a video to share. All I will say is that for as poor as these people are, the children were so incredibly happy. Many dirty faces and big smiles :)
Salted Cocoa Nutella Cupcakes.
So my exchange student Leon is NOT a fan of generic Nutella, aka Hazelnut Spread. Sometimes I buy name brand, sometimes I buy generic. No reason why, it's really where I'm shopping that dictates what brands I buy. This recipe called for a few things I had in cupboard. Nutella (hazelnut spread) and unsweetened almond milk. While I didn't have the almond milk I did have a can of coconut milk in the cupboard (can't tell you why I had this in my cupboard, I can tell you with certainty that I've never, ever cooked with it before ha!) So I improvised and changed the recipe just a wee bit.
Second thought....maybe I shouldn't have :) While this recipe sounded delicious, my version needed tweaking a bit. I've tried recipes that stunk and would never make again. This one.....I would try again but would stick to the recipe. To me, it just wasn't sweet enough and real dense. If I would guess, it was the milk. Having never used coconut milk, I thought it would work, but I'm thinking it was too thick.
I guess I'll keep trying :)
Salted Cocoa Nutella Cupcakes
1 1/4 C Flour
1/2 C plus 2T unsweetened cocoa
1T baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
1 1/2T granulated sugar (this is where I would add more)
1 1/2T instant coffee
1/4C vegetable oil
1/4C Nutella
3/4C plus 2T unsweetened almond milk or regular milk
Preheat oven 350
sift dry ingredients; separate bowl mix the wet (except for milk), after mixed add milk until combined. Add dry to wet; do not ever mix.
place in prepared muffin tin, bake 350 for 15 minutes. yield 12.
Let muffins cool to room temperature.
In a bowl melt together 1oz unsweetened dark chocolate, 1/4 C Nutella, 2T Coconut oil.
Dunk each cupcake into sauce. Let set, sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
Recipe credit: http://offbeatandinspired.com/
With it being Super Bowl Sunday I thought I would share a simple recipe of misc. things I had in my cupboard. It's an Avocado and Chick Pea salad. Super easy and I used everything that was in my cupboard. I had left over avocados from this week; had an extra can of Chick Peas in the cupboard......no idea why they were there, can't even remember buying them ha!
Avocado and Chick Pea Salad
1 Avocado
1 can chick peas
1 can black beans
handful of cherry tomatoes
cucumber
onion (optional)
chucked cheese (optional)
Can of corn (optional)
Italian dressing
Mix can of chick peas, black beans (rinsed), sliced tomatoes, cubed cucumber and diced onion; add Italian dressing until lightly covered. Let sit for an hour or so for the juices and flavors to mix. You can eat this plain or pair it with chunks of bread or hard crackers. Enjoy!
I will admit.......I am a food hoarder. I like to buy groceries. Most of time all that I buy are used up. Sometimes I find myself throwing stuff away. Either I bought it when it was on sale or I saw a recipe that sounded good. Late last year I thought to myself, I need to stop. After I threw away almost an entire garbage bag full of stuff I knew I needed to get a handle on what was in my cupboard. So I thought, why not take an item that's been sitting in my fridge or in my cupboard and find a recipe for it. So I slowly started googling different items for different recipes. I decided I might as well blog them with "What's in my cupboard" . I'm doing a few things. .... mixing my love for photography and my enjoyment for cooking into one happy place :) Perhaps it will encourage you to do the same. I'm all for inspiration, so please share if you do!
Today, I had left over carrots. I didn't want to throw them away so I googled a recipe and found a small and simple recipe. Applesauce Carrot Cake Muffins. Simple and delish!
1/4C applesauce
1/2T vegetable oil
1/4C granulated sugar
1/4C light brown sugar
1 egg
1t vanilla
3/4 C carrots, finely shredded
pinch of salt
1t cinnamon
1/2t nutmeg
shake of cloves
1 1/2t baking powder
1C all purpose flour
Shred carrots; beat applesauce, oil and sugars until combined. Mix in egg, vanilla and then carrots. Add remaining dry ingredients, mix until blended. Divide evenly into 6 lined muffin. Bake for 20-22 minutes at 350 or until toothpick comes clean. Cool for several minutes before removing to a wire rack. Yield 6 ***I used a muffin pan with only 4 muffins and used the rest in a mini muffin pan***
Recipe found at bakedbyrachel.com
I have read recently about re-growing your fruit and veggie scraps. Seems pretty easy enough even for someone like me who doesn't have a green thumb. We will see in a few weeks if I have done this correctly! Today I began an avocado, pineapple, lettuce, sweet potato and a kiwi. I need to get better strawberries before I try my hand at that one. I will try a lemon and carrots some time this week. If it doesn't turn out at least they made a good photo prop, right?
Happy New Year!
May 2016 be your year to shine, be happy and prosper in anything you do !
I was very blessedin 2015 not only with my personal life but in my photography as well. 2016 is a new year with new ideas and a fresh mind. It is my hope to begin incorporating small video to my photography collection and finally do a bit more personal photography just for me.
We all have resolutions, right? I know in the past I've made resolutions that were just plain unrealistic. Who wants to set themselves up for failure before the year has even begun? My resolutions for 2016 are to give more and take less.....I want to recycle more and waste less.....I want to be a better person, wife and mother. I want to save more and spend less and have a better relationship with God. I feel I have suffered slightly with everything I've written above. A plan is in action and now all I have to do it follow it. I shall do it as 2016 is my year to shine :) May yours be as equally blessed!
Sometimes it's hard to photograph family and even harder to get to the editing part of the session :) Love this family!
A few pictures of my morning views
We've had such good weather lately I was able to squeeze in a family session without freezing :)
It was colder then than it is today but we managed to stay warm enough to photograph their gorgeous maternity session.
I work in Norwalk every Wednesday and every Wednesday I kick myself in the butt for not taking my camera. It never fails that there is something that captures my eye andhad wished to photograph. I decided to start taking my camera to work on Wednesdays to see if anything captures my eye. Welcome to the start of Mornings like these.....
A few pictures of my day on Thanksgiving :)
Happy 10th Birthday to this handsome Guatemalan little man :)
I'm not a food photographer and not much of a blogger either but I thought I would share this wonderful recipe I came by the other day. I would give credit for the recipe but someone shared it on facebook and I didn't write down the source, only the recipe :) It has been a few years since I've used my cast iron skillet however an old high school friend has inspired me to use my skillet more; what a better time than now! I'm unsure of the size of my skillet, but it was a small skillet about 9in. This dessert turned out much better than I expected and is definitely a keeper!
pre-heat oven to 350
4T butter
3/4 C Flour
3/4 C sugar
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
3/4 C milk
2 C fresh fruit or 12oz frozen fruit
Bake 50-60 minutes or until sides are brown and set
While oven is pre-heating, place 4T butter in skillet and melt in oven
Cut up fruit. I used fresh strawberries and frozen blueberries and raspberries from freezer
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until combined
Add milk
Remove melted butter from oven
Add batter to butter
Scatter fruit over batter; do not stir. Sprinkle 1 T sugar over top of fruit
Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, or until sides are brown and set
Enjoy warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
Who can resist this adorable face :) I wish more clients did cake smash sessions. It truly brings out a child's personality!
We made a quick trip to Portsmouth this weekend to visit Alex. Unfortunately the weather hasn't been any more favorable there than it has been here. Her games for this past weekend were cancelled and we thought it would be fun to just go and have a nice visit. The weather on the way there was beautiful and clear; the sun absolutely brilliant . The way home, we were under a Winder Storm Watch giving us freezing rain in Portsmouth and yet more snow on the way home. Downtown Portsmouth really is a beautiful area situated right on the Ohio River. We didn't make it over to the Kentucky side but with her upcoming schedule in the next few months we will for sure make it over and view the area. I'm trying to look at things with a different eye; new signage, different street lamps and maybe an odd color door....anything usual or unusual. I'm hoping to do this throughout the several trips we will make to watch her play softball. Maybe next time I will be able to photograph Alex, too!
