Thursday, December 30, 2010

Photography blog!

I started a new blog to feature my photography. I hope you will follow it, leave comments and feedback. I'm excited to share my new passion with others as I grow and learn more about the art form, unique styles and industry.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Shots during Christmas

Christmas is busy for everyone. Who's with me? Along with Christmas, my birthday also comes on Christmas Eve, so my family does a great job making me feel special on my day! I did want to get some cute shots in, especially since this was Jordan's first Christmas.

Our babysitter, Jenny, who we have used for years, gave the kids some gifts. This pink hat she gave to Jordan and I just love it. I just wish she would keep it on. And I LOVE the way Reagan's blue/grey eyes pop in this photo as well.
Jordan is a girl with many faces. I love how scrinched she is after present opening time. Silly girl!

She was "talking" to me, probably screaming! :)
And here's a little collage of Baby's First Christmas! Grandma Diana came over to help celebrate the day, which the kids always love.
After downloading my Christmas pictures, many of my photos were distorted, overexposed and completely ruined and I had no idea why. I changed the lenses, changed settings and nothing worked. I was so upset that my new camera was broken. Luckily, Costco took it back and we were able to replace it. Phew! Crisis averted.

I will probably be starting a new blog for just my photography so be on the lookout! Thank you to all my wonderful family and friends for their interest and support. Love you all.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Business Cards

So I think that I'm going to look more deeply into turning my love for photography into a business. It probably will not be anything very time consuming, mostly just a word of mouth type of thing for now. I'm still getting people wanting to schedule shoots with me after the new year which I am SO thrilled about. My wonderful friend, Kat, gave me some money for a birthday gift with an ad attached that she wanted me to use the money to buy some business cards for myself, because she feels that I have talent and should start spreading the word. I thought at was so sweet and thoughtful. So I went on the site and ordered some. Granted, I don't have a website, a huge portfolio or even prices, but it's something I can hand people if they are interested in having me work with them. I asked my other friend, Aimee, if I could use an image of her and her daughter that I took at my first "official" shoot to use on the cards and she said of course. I love this photo because it represents the type of photography I love to do, catching people in a moment that reflects their lives and loves.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas Pictures~kaptured by koren

I took some time to grab the kids and put them in front of the tree for some cute Christmas pictures. They were all semi-matching so it worked out. :) I love the one of Jordan REACHING for that branch. She is pretty much crawling and even took a tumble down the stairs the other night, poor baby. But she's fine. Phew.
I love these ones of Jordan and Ethan. It totally shows his personality and what a wonderful brother he is to his little sister.

This is my friend, Beth's, little girl, who is about 3 weeks younger than Jordan. We were pregnant together so it's fun to get the girls together too. Jordan is much bigger than her little one though! :)
And this was about all I could get of her with her pretty bow, but it's so stinkin' pretty on her. I wish she'd keep it on!

The "O" Family~kaptured by koren

I had the joy of shooting another family this week. My friend, Ronda, from my MOMS group at church wanted me to get some good family shots for them fro Christmas cards. She came up with a great location that I never would have even thought. It was a new medical clinic in Battleground, WA, and it was perfect. There were great architectural lines to the building, plenty of light, and best of all, it was empty on a Saturday morning. I was nervous because this was the most people I've shot at once, and it was and indoor location. I'm more used to shooting outdoors. Another struggle I had was posing such a large group of people (I know I need much more experience with that). The kids were AWESOME, so well behaved and took direction great. I had to bring my brood along, too, so with trying to keep them in check and trying to think of shots to take, it was a bit harried but I think all in all we got some good pictures. Here's just a few:

I REALLY love this one of them all on the stairs, I just wish the parents in the foreground had been more crisp and clear.





Friday, December 17, 2010

Kids

Today I was able to catch a few shots of my friend, Stacey's, kids while they were over for a playdate. Her son is not one to sit and pose or even turn to me and smile so he was a little tough to catch, but still grabbed some cute ones!

Everyday life

Life is good, I can't complain. I believe I have ALL my Christmas shopping done. Woo hoo! I think all the Christmas parties are done *sigh*, and now we can just kick back and wait for the big day. The kids get off school today for their break and sleeping in is on the docket for me. :) Enjoy the season.


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Christmas Stuff

Here's a few pictures from some Christmas stuff we've been doing. I had a Christmas Caring party with some women from my MOMS leadership group. What a great group of women. We just got together, ate some yummy treats and played Catch Phrase. I was also able to have one of the gals, Angela, take a decent picture of Nick and I a couple great ones of Jordan. She's a photographer and helped me with some uses on my camera.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Haworth Family Photo Shoot

I had the privilege and honor of doing my first real photo shoot yesterday with my long time college friend, Aimee, and her husband and daughter. I was nervous and excited all at the same time. God really answered my fervent prayers of NO RAIN. We have been getting poured on lately and for that little bit of time early Sunday morning, not only did we not have any rain but it was warm too. Thank you, God. :) Aimee and I played college volleyball together, I saw her fall in love and get married, we shared in each other's joys of having children, and now she let me join in making family memories. Thank you so much, dear friend, for thinking of me for this, for trusting me to do a job to the best of my abilities and for being pleased with my work. I hope this is the first of many! So....enjoy. My first "real" photo shoot, the Haworth family, Aimee, Brandon and Brooklynn!

Such a sweet, joyful little girl!


Aimee is so great with Brooklynn, they're both beautiful women.

A great loving family!
She LOVES her daddy! And he's a great one, too!


My FAVORITE of Aimee and Brandon!

Friday, December 10, 2010

A Few More...and Opportunity is Knocking

I'm still experiment with my camera, finding angles visual points of interest, learning from those more experienced than myself and continuing to bug my kids to be my models. I'm trying a new photoshop download called Lightroom that a few of my friends have recommended to me. I'm just doing the free trial because it is pricey. I think I still prefer my picnik editing site because I can understand it better and it's much cheaper. :)

Since getting my new camera and posting more pictures some amazing opportunities have come my way. Three of my wonderful friends have "booked" me for photo shoots. And the funny thing is, they are for shoots that I really don't have much experience in: a family of 3, a husband and wife, and a maternity shoot. But it will cause me to grow and learn so much more. I'm so honored and thankful that these friends have trust and faith in me to give me a "shot", so to speak. :) I'm really excited to be stretching my tiny wings.

These are some shots from my upgraded picnik editing. I also have more collage options as well which I like putting together.
And here are some Lightroom edits. I really like some of their features.



Friday, December 3, 2010

Pictures with Daddy

Since getting my new camera and posting some pictures, I've gotten a lot of feedback from friends and family. I even have my first "photo session" with a friend of mine and her husband. Unfortunately, I'm used to shooting adults or really people other than my family. So, lucky Nick, he got to be my "big kid" test dummy. It's hard. I'm used to telling my kids what to do and they don't really care, but adults are a bit more inhibited. Uh, oh, now I'm nervous.

Anyway, I took him and the girls out and tried to grab a few shots of them funning around. Here are my attempts.




Sunday, November 28, 2010

Kaptured by Koren

So I had some friends of mine of Facebook help me come up with a name for my photography. Whether anything comes of this or not, who's to say? But I love it. My friend Trayc came up with "Kaptured by Koren". It's not too cutesy but not boring either. I thought it fit me.

Today I wanted to experiment with action and color. Reagan was wearing some very vivid red and I thought that would photograph nicely against the green grass. She wanted to jump again so I indulged her. She has so much joy and happiness in her little face.

Look at that girl move. You can't keep her still very long. My mom and sister say that when she does this it reminds them of me when I was little: "Joy in Motion".

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Photography


I have really enjoyed taking pictures of my kids. They are the most handy subject, because they're right here :), and they humor good ol' mom. But I've come to find I am really enjoying the art of capturing the moment, of finding good scenery and creating a portrait. I used to be a good artist in high school, but when you don't practice, you fall out of it. But this is another form or art that I never really explored back then. I'm loving it. Until now, I've had a good point and shoot camera, but I told Nick what I really wanted for Christmas/my birthday (a day apart so gotta lump it together) was a new camera, something I could take really great pictures with. It's hard for a mom with 3 kids to justify spending that kind of money on herself for just one item. Well, Nick got it for me and gave it to me early so I could take some photos at Thanksgiving.

Today I took the kids out today and just wanted to take some shots of them to see if I could get the hang of this much higher tech camera. LOVED IT! The kids were fun, the camera was easy to use and transition the functions, and I think the pictures turned out so great. I finally got some good ones of Ethan, he's a toughy, always being silly, but turns out looking nerdy.

I know I have A LOT to learn and practice with, but who knows, it may turn into more than a hobby someday. If any of my friends out there want a free photo session, let me know. :) I'd love your input on my shots. Thanks!
Reagan has the most beautiful blue/gray/green eyes. I love that I can finally capture how gorgeous the color is in them.

When I went back through these pictures of Ethan, I was so startled at how grown up and handsome he is getting. I just see him as a Star Wars nut with tons of energy. I'm so glad I was able to grab how he looks and acts. He's my tender hearted one.

And then just some sillies, so you can see how they REALLY are.
I didn't take any pictures of Jordan today because a: it was freezing out and b: we've already seen a lot of pictures of her. Wanted to get more of the other two this time. I need to get a really good one of all three soon. Thanks for looking. :)