Sunday, July 31, 2011

Baby Belly Kelly Preview!

Forecasted to be the hottest day of the summer, and only three days from her due date … braved sunrise and they pulled it off beautifully! 

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Complete gallery coming soon ….

 

~Kathy

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Happy 80th Birthday!!

 

 

 

My father in law turned 80 this past weekend.  He is such a fantastic guy – witty, funny & kind.  We all adore him so very much.

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The whole family came in to help celebrate.  Well, except for one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ma with her grandkids … minus the two college graduates!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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And one ‘fun’ shot – yeah!

 

 

~Kathy

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Location Scouting with my Flash

 

 

Perhaps this is one of my flaws, but I constantly want to change things up with my photo shoots.  I have had three sessions now at ‘the color wall’.  Although I adore all of the images, I feel perhaps a little ‘bored’ with it.  Restless.  I have changed angles & lighting, and am still thinking about how to change it up for my next client next week!

 

One night last week I declared as location scouting night.  We took the kids out for burgers and driving around downtown.  I also wanted to practice my new OCF (off camera flash) skills.  It was fun1

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I love ‘negative space’.  Still searching for that perfect top-of-the world location! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Love some leading lines and tall scapes.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we ate, and it got dark.  Flash time!

 

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Oh my son melts me – I told him we were going shooting, and he put on his best stripes for meSmile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Had my husband holding the flash up high & to the right

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the kids found this cool stairwell – mind you, it was 98 degrees out already and the sun had gone down.  This ‘cool stairwell’ was anything BUT cool – felt like an oven!

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Workin’ his Hollywood look Smile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I said something funny – love to see those crooked teeth!!

 

~Kathy

End of Year Swim Banquet

 

Hard to believe our swim season is done.  Every year the summers go by faster and faster.  Do you have this problem too?  Is it even a problem?!

 

 

So proud of my kiddos.  They kicked b-u-t-t on swim team this year Smile

 

 

 

My oldest and her group of awesome medley-winning friends (plus one admirer!)

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My youngest and her beloved trophy

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And my sweet boy, with all his pool pals … just screams summer to me!

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~Kathy

How We’ve Been Beating the Heat

 

 

My goodness it’s been H O T here – probably hot as heck where you are too!  This Friday we are expected to hit an ALL TIME HIGH ever of 105 degrees at the RDU airport, and that’s before the heat index. 

 

All this hot weather makes it pretty hard to kick the kids outside to play … !  So the other day I gave the green light for the kids to empty their piggy banks.  They ask all the time, and I tell them they can only empty them when you can’t squeeze one more coin in!

 

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This cute little piggy bank moved with us from Hawaii 7 years ago.  I still think she’s the cutest Smile

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Love a wide aperture.  Hides messy kitchens!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This kid ended up with 50+ dollars in his bank – cha ching!

Not sure what that thing is on his baseball, but he didn’t want to remove it.

 

Hope you’re beating the heat!

 

~Kathy

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Roumanis Portfolio Shoot Preview

 

 

I have LOT of blogging & good stuff to catch you up on … but for this moment head over to my KHP site to see the preview from my shoot this past Sunday - Click HERE!

 

Thanks for your patience during the summer juggle …

 

~Kathy

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Emotions Running High

 

 

Last swim meet of the season last night – our team was completely energized and fired up! 

I can’t believe I am going to say this, but I think I am going to miss a swim meet …

 

 

 

 

My youngest has come SO far this year – her confidence is high, thanks to a few blue ribbons – yeah!

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(that’s her in the pink goggles getting ready to dive in during the relay)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My son.  Strong and confident Smile

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My oldest (in the red cap).  Completely into the swimming now.  We’re signing up for year round this week!

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And YES, we won this relay race!

 

 

 

 

 

It’s gonna be 100+ degrees here today…. stay cool!

 

~Kathy

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Topsail Beach in July

 

We normally don’t go to the beach in the summertime – the heat and crowds are not much to our taste.  However, we had a nice stretch of weather last week & we decided to head to the beach for the day Saturday with some good friends.

 

 

85 degrees and breezy… can you feel the breeze…

 

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f/5.6  1/1000th  ISO100

(These were all taken with my trusty D60 and the kit lens!  D300 does not go to the beach, except for paid shoots)

 

 

 

 

This one wants to take surfing lessons.  But this day we settled for some good boogie boarding:

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It was time for our friends to leave, so of course I had to get some group shots of the kids.

 

Ahhh, I love a the old classic pyramid!

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And then we decided to go a little ‘Hollywood’ :

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Didn’t they do an AWEsome job with this pic?  I love it!

 

 

Off to our last swim meet of the season here shortly. 

I am also in the middle of an online speedlight workshop (click HERE for more info) that I am LOVE-ing,  and will be sharing some of my learning and practice here soon!

 

~Kathy

Monday, July 18, 2011

Her First Fashion Show

This week my now 8 yr old girl  attended a modeling/fashion camp.  According to her, dreams DO come true!  She loved every second of it, and wants more. 

She thumbed through the Sunday ads yesterday, and told me more than once she wants to be in those ads.  So, I am in the process of putting together her portfolio to email to a few agencies that have been recommended to me.  I am hesitant, but what have we got to lose? (for now, anyway!)

 

 

The last day of this camp they put on a fashion show.  I mean, they practiced their runway walk ALL week!  It was very cute and a true celebration of young girls and women (ages up to 18), all shapes and sizes.  Loved it!

 

 

 

 

It was very dark inside, and I decided not to use my speedlight and go for the motion/high grain look:

 

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f/2.5   1/160th  ISO1600

 

 

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f/2.5  1/160th  ISO1600

 

 

Look at that face – NO fear!!

She chose to be first, which she said she was a little nervous until she started walking.

Proud Momma I am Smile

 

 

~Kathy

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Behind the Scenes!

 

 

 

 

This day was like a dream come true … I almost had to pinch myself!  Beautiful model, make-up and hair artist on site … life is good Smile

 

Full blog post over on my KHP site … click HERE to read.

(I’m getting lazy, I know…)

 

~Kathy

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

June Fashion Shoot

 

I’ve blogged my fashion/modeling shoot from June … you can see the post on my KHP Blog HERE!

 

 

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If you like my work I’d love to have your ‘fan-ship’ on Facebook … click HERE.  I have a groovy new slideshow  - come check it out!  (If you are already a fan, click the ‘welcome’ tab on the left)

 

 

~Kathy

All Kinds of Fun

I suppose I should succomb to the fact that I just can’t blog a whole lot this summer!  Between having three kids home, shuffling them around to camps and swimming, and some COOL projects I’m working on for KHP … well, there’s just not a whole lot of time, or me, left in the day.

 

However, I have some great ideas brewing for this fall for my blog(s), including a series focused on easy techniques for taking better pictures.  Things that anyone can do to improve their photos.  I’m excited!

 

 

 

We hosted our last home swim meet last night. I am so extremely proud of my children, and their drive to do their best all of the time.  I’m a lucky momma!!

 

 

Here’s my son doing the butterfly (which I can’t do at all – can you?!)

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And then my oldest girl – she ROCKS the butterfly too!

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And then my youngest girl.  FIRST place in main event breast stroke last night!

However, didn’t capture that action, but this shot so typical of her…

 

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Have a great rest of the week … we’re off to the beach this weekend for a short, but necessary trip!

 

~Kathy

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

A 4th Without Fireworks!

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Hope everyone had a safe and fun day yesterday!  We had a great time hanging out at the house & playing with the kids ~ it was so nice to spend the day having family fun!

 

 

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In case you couldn’t tell, the 4th is one of our FAVORITE holidays!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t take a lot of photos – tried to concentrate on living in the moment.  However, I was inside checking on my baked beans (YUM) and saw this father/son scene unfolding …

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A wonderful much needed thunderstorm moved through about an hour before fireworks, dumping lots of splendid rain on us and our plants.  Sadly, we saw no ‘real’ fireworks, but will tonight!

 

Have a great day ~ more later!

 

Kathy