I had my first maternity session last night with a wonderful young couple.  I’ve known A’s husband, T, for a few years now, through work, and I met A a couple of weeks ago, also through work.  There are lots of good people in the ag industry, let me tell you, and these two are amongst them.  They brought with their young son, E, and at two years old he has tons, TONS, of energy.  Such a bright young little guy, too, able to carry on a conversation.  Did I say he was just two? 

I wanted to get a sneak peek up for them today, so these are just some quick edits.  The sun was causing me some issues, as you can probably tell here, but I love A’s smile – she doesn’t just smile with her mouth, but with her whole face.  Love it!! Lots more to sort through!

I’m now done sorting through and processing those 800 images from the photo session last weekend.  Man, was that ever hard!  Such cute kids and cute photos, it was hard to eliminate some of them, but too many photos for the client can be a bit overwhelming, so eliminate I did.  I think there were still 94 photos of the kids when I was done, but I figured two families, so hopefully that will be okay for them. 

Next week I have a maternity / baby belly session, to which I’m really looking forward.  It’ll be a first for me and I’ll be building and diversifying my portfolio.  The last few days, in addition to the photo processing, I’ve been listening (and trying to watch) an online workshop with Jasmine Star – wedding photographer extraordinaire.  The workshop is being held by creativeLIVE, who also did the recent workshop by David duChemin that I blogged about.  The creativeLIVE team put together a real live wedding in four weeks time, with the help of a wedding designer and a whole bunch of people.  The wedding took place yesterday and we watched as Jasmine shot it live.  Today and tomorrow wraps up the workshop.  I’m learning lots, let me tell you.

One final thing before the next photo, I’m now on Twitter – you can find me @dailyvignette or http://twitter.com/dailyvignette

Join me tomorrow – Sunday – in the land of dreams and dragonflies as it will be my day to post over at Vision and Verb.  While you are there, stay a while and read some of the other fabulous posts by the fabulous women (and the occasional man) of Vision and Verb.

I had a portrait session Sunday afternoon for a very good friend of mine at her fruit and veggie stand.  She wanted some photos of her adorable grandchildren, T., A., and D., not necessarily in that order.  They were just a T.A.D. bit of fun!  (Get it? T.A.D.?) These are just a quick edit for a sneak peak for them while I sort through 800 images!  Holy cow, what was I thinking?

Don’t forget your apple for the teacher when you’re out buying school supplies.  My co-workers were discussing the huge list of items that they had to buy for their children to bring with on the first day of school.  It was astronomical!  We decided that they were bringing supplies for those who wouldn’t or couldn’t bring for themselves, and providing supplies for the teachers – I can’t image students needing dry erase markers and red ink pens.

On a totally different note, are you looking to expand your skillset in converting your images to black and white?  Then you need to get the third installment of The Magic of Black & White - Part III that launches today at CraftAndVision.com.

“The Magic of Black & White – Part III, Nine Photos, takes us through nine gorgeous black and white images with the goal of teaching more advanced techniques to give our images more subtlety and power. Clearly taught in Photoshop, and 5 of of the lessons in Photoshop Elements, Andrew takes us through Toning, Split Toning, Exposure Blending, Textures, and the creation of Diptyches and Triptyches, all without losing sight of the idea that our work should be driven by intent with the goal of creating photographs that honour the Artist’s need for expression and the Geek’s need for excellence of craft. And all that without getting mired down – the examples and the illustrations Andrew provides compliment his clear teaching style and make this book a pleasure to read.”

I haven’t had a chance to read the entire ebook yet, but within the first couple of pages there is a really good set of exercises that will help you figure out what kind of photography you like.  This ebook also builds on the the previous two installments of The Magic of Black & White, with additionals methods of toning, including step by step instructions.  I can’t wait for the weekend when I can finish reading the ebook and start playing.

There’s a special offer (of course):

For the first four days only, if you use the promotional code WHITE4 when you checkout you can have The Magic of Black & White (Part 3) for only $4 OR you can use the code WHITE20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more eBooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST August 22, 2010.  If you are new to the CraftAndVision.com site, there is a BUY ALL option where you can get all 16 ebooks with a permanent 20% discount.  Cool beans!

Today is my day to post at Vision and Verb.  Head on over to see what lesson I learned from this little moth.

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Speaking of V&V, don’t forget about our first contest at Vision and Verb, compliments of HelloCanvas.com.  One lucky winner will be the recipient of a large 24″x36″ gallery wrap print and two runners-up will each receive a 16″x20″ print.  I can’t tell you how excited I am about it! 

What does one have to do to win?  Just post a photo and a quote to go along with it on our Facebook wall.  Let us know in a separate comment on the wall post why you chose the quote and what it means to you.  By submitting your entry, you agree to let us post your photo and quote on Vision and Verb and you get an entry into the contest.  One entry per person! 

Deadline for entries is August 18th at midnight, EDT (that means August 17th by 11:59 p.m.).  Judging the entries will be Bob Towery of Dream Tomorrow, Live Today, Cherish Yesterday.   Don’t be like Cinderella, get your entry in early before the stage coach turns back into a pumpkin!  Men – this includes you, too!!