True or False

We just got home, a few days ago, from a 5 day 900 mile trip.

Today is our one and only ultrasound. We are all going.

Eliza wants to see if the baby has girl or boy pajamas on.

We are not finding out the gender.

I fell off my no-sugar diet.

I am completely caught up on laundry.

I accidentally washed Ozzie's caterpillar in the washing machine.

I use apple cider vinegar as deodorant.

The boys were gone for 8 days at camp.

Grandpa & Grandma are moving to town.

I'm thinking about shutting down my facebook.

Ozzie and the girls caught 33 frogs in the farm yard yesterday.

Paul and I photographed a tribal adoption this past weekend.

We have 9 kittens now and we are keeping them all.

The girls sing "I love you" songs to the kittens... daily.

We ate at Burger King over the weekend & ended up throwing half the food away. yuck.

We were questioned by Border Patrol if our children were indeed all our children.

Dad was so excited to get his big boys back he arrived to pick them up 2 hours early and they were just waking up.

All 3 of the big boys have decided they want to be baptized.

I have never been baptized.

Half of my family doesn't like potatoes.

I am addicted to raw kale salad right now.

Ozzie says he is going to be a race car driver when he is "old enough"

All 3 of the boys commented that my belly was bigger when they came back from camp.

The girls think washing dishes is fun.

Ozzie left his collection of die cast tractors at the campground and we went back to get them.

I'll be back tonight or tomorrow with a baby update and belly pictures.

Everything is I wrote is True.

See you soon friends!

Can you see me now?

Well... it seems that coming back to my blog has been harder than I thought it would be.

My domain expired, Ooops!

We renewed, but it is only kinda sorta working off and on. sigh.

I have no idea what to do

...except ask my husband to fix it, please! {grin}

He is however insanely busy with planting

...so it's just going to have to wait. double sigh.

I did redirect my blog back to www.4littlemen.blogspot.com

and it should be showing up in google reader.

so, I apologize for the trouble and thank you for your patience!

and now...

for fun,

some random pictures.

Enjoy!

playing with the light

{back light}
...the sun was directly behind his head, I overexposed for his face & purposely positioned for glare
44mm 1/320s f/2.8 iso200

{reflective light}

...the sun was above and behind him, reflecting off of chrome. I manually adjusted for underexposure.

70mm 1/200s f/2.8 iso200

{filtered & reflected light}

...she was at the edge of the shade from the awning & had light bouncing off of the RV

55mm s/200 f/2.8 iso250

this now concludes the summary of my camera play time. {grin}

Winter RV trip

We're doing it,
we're taking our family of 8 back on the road
...and we couldn't be more excited!

Want to see what our trip map looks like?!
It's one big trip, isn't it!?





{photoshoot information}

I will be booking a small number of sessions in each area,
I'm not your back to back, hurry you through, get it done photographer.

My goal is to meet you and your family, enjoy our time together,
capture your families love and connection
& bless you with beautiful photographs to remember it by.

Just as I am not convention in so many other ways,
my pricing is also quite different. {grin}
I am letting you decide how much this is worth to you and your family.

Call it pay-it-forward or blessing because I have been blessed
...all I know is this has been a dream of mine, for quite some time.
And here it is, right before my eyes.


This is a basic list of Cities and areas I will be offering photography sessions in


Savanna, GA
East & West Florida Coast
Northern Florida
Mobile, AL
New Orleans - Baton Rouge, LA
Houston, TX
Dallas, TX
Fort-Worth, TX
Austin, TX
Lubbock, TX
Albuquerque - Santa Fe, NM
Tucson, AZ
Phoenix, AZ
Grand Junction, CO
Pueblo, CO
Durango, CO
Colorado Springs, CO
Denver, CO
Salt Lake City, UT
Reno, NV
Pacific NW Coast

If you are interested please click here to fill out the Contact Us form.
You will receive a reply with dates, further pricing information & more!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

For those of you interested in getting together to visit,
please use the same form. {grin}

Saturday words & photos

It was so warm on Thanksgiving
it is not warm today.
The boys are anxiously waiting for snow,
and lots of it.

I've been plagued with headaches this week,
today was no exception. sigh.

The house is littered with card games, dominoes, baby dolls,
blankets, puzzles, books & nerf bullets


{19mm 1/4000s f/2.8 ISO250}

I've been in a funk lately.

Maybe it's the headaches or missing my family
or just the ebb and flow of life.
Whatever it is, I'm ready to move on.

It was nice to have a week off school

...but I am SO ready to get back to it.

The routine, the one on one time with each child,

I love it.

{24mm 1/320s f/3.5 ISO250}

We ran out of dish soap.

Do you know what happens when you run out of dish soap

AND don't have a dishwasher?

We still see and hear the snow geese in the sky.

They travel East, West, South & North.

I think they're confused.

{20mm 1/8000 f/2.8 ISO200}

With the cold weather settling in,

and all 8 of us being in the house,

it's starting to feel very small.

We blew a fuse again

but this time it was to the big yard light.

Do you know how very very dark it is out in the middle of no where

with no lights to be seen anywhere?

PITCH BLACK.

{85mm 1/320s f/2.5 ISO200}

The leftovers are all gone,
which is a bummer because leftovers
...make really easy meals.

We're going to watch a family movie tonight,
probably Little House on The Prairie
and eat sticky popcorn.

oh, I almost forgot to add camera numbers.
I'd love to know if sharing my camera settings
is even beneficial for anyone.
Since that's why I started doing it. {grin}


Happy Saturday!

a photography post

I am not even going to pretend to be a photography teacher.
I know what I know because I taught myself.
I haven't read any books or even a portion of my cameras manual.

You're either rolling your eyes or whispering wow,
not sure which response is better. {grin}

What I do know is how to use my shutter, aperture & ISO settings
...to create the image I want.

Here are 2 photographs
taken in the same place, same time,
same lens, same aperture, same ISO,
but different shutter.


These photographs were taken split seconds apart
...while we were driving by.

I had my camera set on manual
...all I did was quickly change the shutter in between.

{above: 24mm 1/800s f/2.8 ISO500}
slow shutter = more light

{below: 24mm 1/6000s f2.8 ISO500}
fast shutter = less light

By changing my shutter {quite a bit}
I drastically changed these photographs

In my eyes one is very dreamy and soft
and the other is sharp and dramatic.
Both equally beautiful.

For me, this is one of the biggest advantages to shooting in manual.
You have so much control at your fingertips.

Then all you have to do is practice, practice, practice
until you can do it without thinking.

mmmm...

mama.
marley.
milo.
moby.


24mm 1/60 f/2.8 iso2000
{it was late at night, with only my bedside lamp on}

from the garden to the table

from seeds in my hand
to seeds sprouting underground

14mm 1/4000 f/2.8 iso 320                                                                            24mm 1/4000 f/2.8 iso320

from green plants above ground
to edible vegetables growing underground

24mm 1/1250 f/2.8 iso250
{should have used a lower iso and or faster shutter, it's overexposed to me}


from green tomatoes with no hope
to surprise red ripe tomatoes

24mm 1/640 f/2.8 iso400


from the fertile ground
to a bowl full of vegetables found

24mm 1/250 f/2.8 iso400

from covered in dirt
to clean vegetables in our sink

24mm 1/30 f/2.8 iso640


from the garden
to the table

24mm 1/60 f/2.8 iso2000
{I have a very dimly lit dining room, if you couldn't tell by the super high iso}


What did we eat?
boiled beets
baked potatoes with coconut oil, real salt & pepper
baked carrots with honey
tomatoes with olive oil, real salt & pepper
Spaghetti Squash with garlic
Cucumbers with dill, coconut cream, real salt & red pepper

he wrote his name

...on the newly painted wall
and the needed to be repainted chalkboard.

When I asked him if what he did was a good thing, he said...
"no it was bad, but I had to write my name somewhere and I couldn't walk into the school room to get paper"

24mm 1/80 f/2.8 iso320

he obviously had a lot of fun in 5 minutes

...with the dry erase marker

According to Ozzie, he was upset that he didn't write his name correctly

...so he decided to draw a "monster"

after he showed me his work and had the talk

...he helped me paint over his work.

He was excited to paint and disappointed he had to cover up his "monster"

24mm 1/100 f/2.8 iso320

Then we walked ourselves into the school room

...and got the paper and crayons.

...about those numbers above the photos...

I have many ways that I have been thinking about sharing my photography with you...

and one of those ways is sharing my camera settings for certain photographs.

I shoot entirely in manual and I am completely self taught

so I don't pretend to know anything by the book

but if you can learn a little from knowing what settings I use, here ya go!

I love

...taking photographs
...meeting new people and taking their photographs
...getting to know awesome families while taking their photographs

...traveling the country to take photographs
...creating beauty in photographs
...that you are asking me to take your photographs

...making new friends while taking photographs
...capturing your families love in photographs
...that my family is with me while taking photographs



...that you love my photographs
...I am actually living my dream of taking photographs
...that I can share it with you

it's their birthday...

::::contest still live::::

and this photo is crying out for a name {grin}



so have fun and give it your best shot

winner will receive a prize
from me
{and I promise you'll like it!}

a {glimpse} of Emily