Pfann Photography

Snap Shots

2011-07-21T17:24:00.000-05:00

So I was playing with Samantha today, and she had on her wings and headband...I decided since she was dressed up and lookin cute, I would get some pics of her playing outside...in the flower pot...well here they are...sorry I'm not more talkitive tonight I'm exhausted and headed to bed in just a few...

Unique to England

2011-07-14T16:15:00.000-05:00

Jason had the day off yesterday, so we went to London for the second time since we've been here. I want to start a collection of pictures with things that are unique to England such as the double red bus, the red phone booth, and the underground signs, London Bridge, Big Ben, ect. you get my drift. Well I don't just want snapshots of them, I want really nice pictures that I can use as decor in my house. That was my mission yesterday was to start this collection. I got a super awesome picture of the underground sign, and once I tweaked it, it was AMAZING.... and I got a decent one of the red phone booth. that one was pretty difficult because of how busy London is. Well here they are I'm gonna show off my shots!!!

I added this picture just cuz I finally got it...my family name on my mom's side is Harlow. I love the fact that there is a town here so close to me with my mom's maiden name. What makes this even cooler is that this is the area my family originated from!!!

Military Tribute

2011-07-06T09:29:00.000-05:00

So this is my first 4th of July overseas (Great Britian to be exact) and it was a little odd to think about celebrating our freedom especially since I'm living in the country we gained freedom from. Anyways the base out here always does a huge carnival and fireworks ect. I was excited to go, but then found out Jason had to work. I have gotten pretty brave with taking both the kids out by myself, but I wasn't brave enough to take them out for the 4th by myself. So for the first time since I can remember I didn't get to watch fireworks, but instead we had a small BBQ with some friends.

Anyways, I was wanting to have a patriotic picture to post for the fourth, so I thought I'd share some that I did at my newborn session with the Hartford's. Shawn just got back from deployment about a week or two before his daugther was born. We had discussed patriotic newborn photos because they really wanted some. I love seeing baby pictures that show mommy or daddy's uniform and other military equipment. So in honor of the 4th of July I thought I would honor those who serve our country. Without these men and women and the families that serve along with them we would not have our freedoms, and the 4th of July would be just another day instead of Independance Day.

THANK YOU TO ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE SERVING FOR MY FREEDOMS AND THE FAMILIES THAT SACRIFICE

God Bless The USA

by Lee Greenwood

If tomorrow all the things were gone,

I'd worked for all my life.

And I had to start again,

with just my children and my wife.

I'd thank my lucky stars,

to be livin here today.

‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom,

and they can't take that away.

And I'm proud to be an American,

where at least I know I'm free.

And I wont forget the men who died,

who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,

next to you and defend her still today.

‘Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,

God bless the USA.

From the lakes of Minnesota,

to the hills of Tennessee.

Across the plains of Texas,

From sea to shining sea.

From Detroit down to Houston,

and New York to L.A.

Well there's pride in every American heart,

and its time we stand and say.

That I'm proud to be an American,

where at least I know I'm free.

And I wont forget the men who died,

who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,

next to you and defend her still today.

‘Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,

God bless the USA.

And I'm proud to be and American,

where at least I know I'm free.

And I wont forget the men who died,

who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,

next to you and defend her still today.

‘Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,

God bless the USA.

Madalyn Hartford Newborn session

2011-06-26T17:46:00.000-05:00

Kaye and Shawn had a beautiful baby girl last week, and I had the honor of taking her newborn pics...this was so much fun because well I'm adicted to photography, and newborns are so cute and fun to photograph. They can be challenging for many reasons...the baby wants to constantly eat, wake up during positioning, not want to be positioned, and the favorite peeing and pooping during the diaperless pictures. I went over to the Hartford's and not only got to hang out with friends, but enjoyed posing Madalyn for her portraits...she didn't want to stay asleep, and she didn't like being moved around. We took our time kept it relaxed and had fun chatting inbetween the times when she would let us pose her and the times when she wouldn't. Here are some of my favs so far from the session...I'm still working on more but wanted to get some up...not to mention I wanted to show off this beautiful little girl...

Maternity Portraits part 2

2011-06-17T01:09:00.000-05:00

So I met with Kaye and Shawn again to do some more maternity portraits because I didn't feel like I got what I wanted with the first session...don't get me wrong I got some amazing shots, but I just wasn't fully satsified with how they all turned out, so we met at the river walk in Mildenhall and here's a few from that session...it was a beautiful day, warm weather and a bright sun...perfect!!

Hartford Maternity Portraits

2011-06-07T18:09:00.000-05:00

I did some maternity portraits today for Kaye and Shawn who are expecting their first baby girl, third child...I had a blast doing these. It was suppose to be rainy and nasty today, but the sun was shining so we got some beautiful shots...I don't have many pictures edited yet, but I did get a few done so here they are, and I cannot wait to do the newborn portaits and to meet this beautiful baby girl....

Children

2011-05-29T16:29:00.000-05:00

So I have been doing a few pictures of Ava each day when she's sleeping... I don't want to over do it each day, so I only do a few poses... I still have alot of pictures to edit, but I thought I'd share some more of what I've edited...

I love how she's pushing her lips out and tilting her head...I believe she was stretching when I took this...I was very surprised she kept her hand right there...

I love the pictures done in the slings like this...I have just started playing with these types of pictures...

My 19month daughter...who will actually somewhat pose for me...although it litterly is long enough to snap maybe one pic...

The colors in this turned out amazing I think...I love her eyes in this one...

I was only able to get two decent pictures of the two of them together...I wish Samantha would have been looking at the camera...

This one kind of cracks me up...it looks like Samantha is trying to kick Ava...

Children pictures are very difficult to get...Newborns don't always cooperate, and 90% of the time you will get peed or pooped on...I believe Ava has pooped twice with her diaper off... and Samantha is so active she doesn't like to stay still long enough to get many pictures...

Ava's First Pfotos

2011-05-27T17:03:00.000-05:00

So I finally had some energy to attempt Ava's first photo shoot. I also decided to play with my green screen too for some of the pics... I am still editing a bunch of them, but I've also finished editing a few of them and thought I would share them...

I love this one...I think it looks the most natural for an inserted background...

I love the pics of her in the sling, but I'm s till not completely happy with the green screen backdrop insert. It doesn't appear completely natural to me yet...Hopefully I can get it where I'd like it...Any one who has any tips or ideas I am completely up for it...

Avalene Rane Pfannenstiel

2011-05-20T09:17:00.000-05:00

We woke up at 4:30AM Monday morning to get ready for the hospital. I called to make sure they were ready for me, and they said I could come in. I was suppose to originally be in at 5AM, but they said I could take my time because they had a busy night. We finished packing the car, and headed out. It was about 5:30 when we got there, and went back to my room. They didn't rush getting me set up. it was about 6 when they started me on the antibiotics and the OB came in and checked me. I was dialted more than they expected, so the waited to start the pitocin. They waited until I had four hours of my antibiotics. At that point they broke my water and gave me an hour before starting the pitocin. I wasn't dialating, so they started the pitocin. Only a few short hours later they came back to check me and I was fully dialated, but Ava had not fully dropped. The OB decided to have me do a trail push to see if I could push her down. With one push I had her crowing, so it was time to start pushing. It took longer for them to get me ready to push than it did for me to push her out. First contraction...ready push...she was already out to the shoulders. Second contraction...push....out came Ava. Much easier than with Samantha. Avalen Rane arrived at 3:45PM May 16, 2011 weighing 9lbs 3ozs and 20in long.

Soon to Welcome Avalene Rane

2011-05-15T15:40:00.000-05:00

So I haven't been on here in awhile because of getting ready for my expected baby girl. I am being induced at 5am in the morning, and will have my little girl in my arms soon. Once out of the hospital I will def. be posting newborn pics of my new addition to our family. Keep us in prayer as I get induced and go through labor.

Crocker Family Portraits

2011-05-02T06:34:00.000-05:00

Saturday afternoon (after our Ely trip). I had another family portrait session in Mildenhall. Billy, Mollie and Tucker came over and we did a few poses using my black backdrop and a few of Tucker's favorite toys. Then we ventured outside to a field nearby and the riverwalk in Mildenhall. The sun was s till out, and this time the wind was dying down so it made it a little easier to get some great shots. Here are a few of the shots I took. I hope ya'll enjoy them.

Book a session now...Time is running out.... I'm two weeks away from my due date...

contact me through facebook...

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pfann-Photography/139970489407121

or email...

pfannphotography@yahoo.com

~Marilyn

Daigle Family Portraits

2011-05-01T13:16:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning, we ventured up to Ely for the first time, and did family portraits for Brandon and Megan Daigle. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and the only thing I had to adjust for was the wind. It was actually pretty windy, but other than that I could not have asked for a better day to take pictures. We met at the Ely Cathedral which was absolutely amazing. I am still amazed at how beautiful this cathedral is. I was so excited to see how these pictures turned out. Quincy was such a sweetie, and she has a beautiful smile. She really seemed to enjoy having her pictures taken when I did her portraits. Maggie Mae is such a beautiful baby, and I got some sweet pictures of her sleeping. I wished I would have had more time to do some newborn pictures of her, but as all mother's know we don't run the show...the baby does. Well here are a few of the pictures I've finished up. I hope y'all all enjoy them.

After we finished the session I stayed around and toured the Cathedral, and there will be pictures of it posted after I finish editing the pictures from this session.

If anyone is interested in family portraits or any other type of session please don't hesitate to contact me. I have a few more open sessions before I have my baby so book quickly or wait until I'm back from maternity leave.

Contact me by email: pfannphotography@yahoo.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Pfann-Photography/139970489407121

Have a great and blessed day,

Marilyn

First Attempt at Pregnancy Portraits....

2011-04-27T10:08:00.002-05:00

So I decided that I can no longer put off my pregnancy pictures....I'm in my 37th week, so if I want any I need them done now. I put Samantha down for a nap, and then set up my backdrops in the bedroom. This is the first time I've used the timer on my new camera, and so it was fun to play around....

I can honestly say though I wasn't very happy with the pictures....I know alot of that has to do with....well they are pictures of me...plus it was more of a lame attempt than a creative one. Also Avalene has already dropped down pretty low so I don't have the cute "round" pregnancy belly anymore. I have some ideas for outside pregnancy portraits I think I might attempt tomorrow....we shall see how it goes...Here are a few of the ones from today....

I think this might be one of my favs....

along with this one....

The Malone Family Portraits...

2011-04-25T07:16:00.000-05:00

Saturday I went out with Gene and Ladonna Malone to take family portraits....it was the perfect day for them. The sun was shining, it was warm, and not to windy....(I could have spent my entire day outside). We went to Historic Bury St. Edmunds which was my first time going, and it was beautiful...what a perfect location for pictures. There were so many awesome places for portraits, and it gave me a chance to have fun and be creative...here are a few of the pictures I have finished editing...just some of my favs so far...

If you enjoy these and would like to have your pictures done contact me through my facebook page...

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Pfann-Photography/139970489407121

or my email address...

pfannphotography@yahoo.com

Hurry up and book your appointments...I will be having my baby soon, and will be taking a 6week break to recover...

A Walk Around Town

2011-04-21T11:05:00.000-05:00

A few days ago Megan and I decided to take the kids for a walk into town...well it was more we wanted to get out and enjoy the weather. It has been so beautiful lately, and walks seem to be so relaxing. Anyways along our walk we saw some beautiful flowers blooming...

So after we finished smelling the flowers, we kept on walking, and after a little more we decided to stop and take pictures of the kids. William and Adrian did great and I got some amazing pics of them, but Samantha decided that she didn't want her pictures done at that moment....

I absolutely love this one of Adrian....

Later that afternoon when Samantha was playing in the back yard I was finally able to get a good picture of her...I guess she decided that she wanted her picture taken...

Captivating

2011-04-13T14:55:00.001-05:00

I have really been enjoying the long walks I've been taking lately. Feeling the sun on my back and the wind in my face. It is definitely springtime. This is by far one of my favorite seasons because of all the beauty around me. Flowers blooming, baby animals being born, and so much more that just captivates me. I am drawn to the earth's natural beauty and being outside. Of course being in a new country I get to explore even more and see a different side of spring. The other day, we were driving down the road and passed a field of sheep, and I got to see all the cute baby lambs. I have never wished I had my camera with me more than that moment. It was so precious, and something I haven't really seen in the states (at least the area's I grew up in). The beauty of this country (England) is just astonishing. It leaves me speechless and captivated. Here are a few pictures I took on my walks in the past two weeks.

...and just because my daughter always makes me smile and has to show off for the camera I thought I'd add her picture...She can always leave me speechless....

I'm Back

2011-04-12T15:56:00.000-05:00

So we finally have internet again at the house...yay!!!! I had no idea it took this long to get internet connected over hear, but apparently we got ours hooked up quickly...and we were here three weeks waiting for it. I am happy to have internet, and my desktop back. It is good to be back on my computer for many reason's but one of the main ones is that this computer is the one with photoshop. Don't get me wrong I have been enjoying picnik for the past two or three months, but there is nothing like Adobe Photoshop. I have spent most of the past two days just going through my pictures and playing around with a few of them. I had taken a few of Samantha in the back yard (or garden as it is called in England). They turned out so cute, and I got to edit them in photoshop which just made them stand out even more. As far as lighting and everything I didn't really have to do anything, but as little toddlers are, there is always dirt or drool or something on their face so I was able to get rid of all that and make it look like I litterly just put her in that outfit for pictures. Here's a few of them....I will be posting more again along with getting back into some of the contests I was entering.

Spring is in the Air

2011-03-29T06:10:00.000-05:00

Spring is in the air...it's here finally!!!! Samantha and I took a stroll down the road to enjoy the new flowers popping up everywhere. We wanted to see the beautiful colors and enjoy the warm sun on our backs.

All these new flowers budding got me thinking about all the new beginnings and new things springing up.

Spring is a time of new life and new beginnings. We have a new baby girl coming in a few weeks, and what a better time than now to bring a new life into the world.

Spring is when you can truly see all of God's creations. Everything is so beautiful and wonderful. Amazing colors and the smell of flowers in the air. It really makes me think about how amazing God truly is.

So what new beginnings has God brought into your life? We are enjoying a new base, new friends, soon to be new baby... It's definately spring in my life, how about yours?

Last Night in TLF

2011-03-20T16:31:00.000-05:00

So tonight is our last night in TLF. I am super excited to be moving into our new house, but there are a few things I'm going to miss. Samantha and I had started a little morning tradition while we were here. This pregnancy I have not been able to eat cereal. Ava apparently really hates it, so I've got to feed Samantha, and I need food to, so we would walk across the street to the BX. We would go sit and eat at Burger King, then sometimes walk around the BX before heading back to the room.

I figured since we were coming to an end of our time here I would take some pictures of our morning trips...

So this has been my morning meal....Sausage biscuit and hashbrowns. Yummy...

Samantha has been indulging herself with a blue berry muffin and juice.

She loves her muffins in the morning...I guess we should work on manners next...

But pretty soon she sees my hashbronws, and this is the look I get....

how can I not share my food with her when she uses those beautiful big blue eyes for evil....I swear I think all little girls know how to do the puppy dog eyes to get what they want....

So Mommy gives in and gives away her yummy hashbrowns....

So after eating for a little bit, she has started to goof off and talk to me and everyone else around that will show her attention....

Oh and don't forget the silly faces she keeps making at me lately....

I am going to miss this little tradition that Samantha and I have started, but it will be nice to start cooking breakfast and starting a new morning routine. Well I guess the next time I get on here and blog I will be living in my new home....

The Many faces of Samantha

2011-03-19T04:29:00.000-05:00

So yesterday we spent the day at my friend's house. It was a beautiful day, a little chilly but still beautiful. The sun was out, so we opened the door to let the fresh air into the house. Well an open door and a toddler means play time, and Samantha LOVES being outside. Thankfullly it's a fenced in back yard, so I was able to let her play while I helped finish making all the wonderful goodies for Rebecca's pedicure party. I took my camera outside and followed Samantha around and got some beautiful outside shots of her.

Samantha was being a little ham and giving me great poses, but the winning picture for the day comes next...She decided she was have lots of fun climbing up the steps inside just to go back outside. So even as big and pregnant as I am I got down on the floor and captured her face as she was climbing back inside, and I got the best picture of my little girl.

I love her eyes in this picture. They are so amazing. I mean she already has the most beautiful big blue eyes I've ever seen. When I was editing this picture I wanted to make sure her eyes stood out, so I decided to try the eye bright effect in Picnik. It just made her eyes pop even more, and that's where I wanted to focus with this picture. I then decided to see what it would look awesome in black and white, so here it is...

I can't decide if I like the picture in color or black and white better.

Contact Therapy

2011-03-18T16:18:00.000-05:00

I spent the day at my friend's house helping her get ready for her pedicure party she was hosting tonight. She started her own business of massage therapy, and makes all of her product herself. I was helping her (well more like watching her) make her ice candles for the boxes she was taking. Once the candles were done, she showed me how she was going to set the table up for tonight and asked my opinion. Well I haven't really done any pictures lately, and she had her table set up so nicely I thought I'd pull my camera out and go to town. I was in a creative mood, and ready to take pictures. She had also mentioned that she didn't really have pictures of her product and had people asking about the size of her samples.

Well I finished my pictures, and walked back into the kitchen where she had started making a foot soak. I cannot tell you how amazing it smelled. She used Eucalyptus in it. Oh my goodness I was in heaven just by the fragrance as she was mixing it. I felt my entire body starting to relax just by smelling it, so of course I bought a sample size of it so I can try her wonderful stuff.

Anyways when I got home I pulled my pictures up and started playing with them, and this is what I came up with.

Anyone who is more interested in the product can visit Rebecca's website.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Contact-Therapy/145875902130748

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T17:03:00.000-05:00

So I didn't get out and take pictures today like I wanted to, but instead I reflected on my "Pot of Gold". St. Patrick's Day is all about green, leprechauns, shamrocks, luck, and pots of gold. At least that's what we see it as today. Well it got me thinking about how lucky I am not just on St. Patrick's Day, but everyday. I started thinking about all the things God has blessed me and my family with in the last year, and how lucky I am to have such an amazing family. Even more than that I started thinking about how lucky I am to have Christ.

Anyways during all of this, I started playing with two photos I took with my family in them and used the effects in Picnik to give them a St. Patrick's Day twist. I also added some sayings to them that go along with the theme...

I am so thankful to have such a beautiful loving daughter and a husband who spoils both of us. They are my "Lucky Charms". Who needs a four leaf clover when they have a family like mine...

My daughter is my Pot of Gold... She is everything to me.

So what is your Pot of Gold? You're Lucky Charm? What makes St. Patrick's Day special to you?

TLF Adventures

2011-03-15T05:56:00.000-05:00

So it's been quite the adventure staying in TLF (Temporary Living Facility). We have been here for three weeks, working on week number four. Don't get me wrong it's alot nicer than a hotel room. We do actually have a kitchen which hasn't been used much simply because the fire alarms are super sensitive here.

So Samantha doesn't like showers, and our TLF room doesn't have a bathtub. This has made life interesting... but her fear of the shower has not stopped her from using the shower as a play area. She climbs in the shower and plays with the sliding door. It is so funny and cute until you try to take a shower and she tries opening the doors.

So in Samantha's world...Showers are playtoys, but not a good way to get clean...hehe

High Contrast & Dramatic Lighting

2011-03-10T17:40:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone, so I haven't been on at all this week. Part of that is because we were without internet for a few days, and the other part is because I've been pretty busy this week with appointments and everything. Anyways I thought I would do a Pfoto Pfixing this week focusing on high contrast and dramatic lighting. I seem to be in a black and white phase this week. I love black and white pictures especially when they have high contrast or dramatic lighting. I guess that's my artistic side coming out....

HIGH CONTRAST

Before After

With this picture I did a high contrast. Notice with my final picture how it's mostly true black and white with some grey's in it, but not much. I personally love high contrast because I think it makes the picture stand out more. So the key here is to get the picture as vivid as possible in color first, so I used the vibrance effect. This brings out the green in the grass and the color in the tree. Next I went under edit and added contrast. This made the tree stand out more from the rest of the picture which is the key focus of this picture...I mean this is a really awesome looking tree.

Next I added even more color to the picture by using the boost effect followed by Lomo-ish.

So from here the picture has beautiful color. Very vivid and bright, and the tree does stand out as it's almost a true black, but I wanted it to stand out more from the grass, so now I'm going to focus on making the tree dark and lighting up the grass a little at least in some areas, so I added a gritty effect which also sharpens the image also. Then I played around and used the Infrared film effect. I really liked the way these two effects lightened the grass some and let the tree stand out.

So from here I love how white the sky is and how dark the tree is...everything else seems to be the perfect, so from here I changed it to black and white using the Holga-ish effect. I used this one over the black and white effect because this one gives the image a higher contrast when going from color to black and white.

DRAMATIC LIGHTING

Before After

This picture is more of a dramatic lighting picture than the first one because if you notice from teh original picture there is one area where the lighting is coming in, so I wanted to enhance and focus on the lighting of this picture. This will give the picture a high contrast, but you can see how it's focused around the one spot where the light is coming into the room. So first things first....I cropped in the picture and used the clone tool to get rid of the people who walked in the middle of my picture. Then I used the boost effect to bring out the natural color of the stone and brighten the lighting area.

After getting the beautiful coloring in the stone to pop, I used Lomo-ish to up the contrast level. I followed that up by going to edit and uping the contrast so the natural glare from the lighting pops more and the shadows tone down the middle tones.

Then while I was still under the edit tab, I went to color and clicked auto color to get rid of the redish tint so the picture has a more natural color to it. After this, the picture is ready to be turned into black and white. I did this with the Holga-ish.

Finally I finished this picture off with the gritty effect to sharpen the image. I didn't have my tripod when I took the picture, so it's not the sharpest image.

So here are the two finished pictures...I have been drawn to black and white this week and making everything high contrast or dramatic lighting...it seems to be my thing for the week....

Foto Friday...Shapes

2011-03-04T09:16:00.000-06:00

I am sad that this will be the final Foto Friday...I have really enjoyed going out and focusing on specific themes through the week and sharing them with other great photographers along with hearing what others think of my work.

This week was shapes, and again it's been a very busy week. We found a house decided to get it, then after we were settled with it, found out we couldn't get it, and had to start all over again. But anyways, I decided to take a walk this afternoon and focus on shapes within things I saw... Hope you all enjoy them....

This would have been an amazing picture last week for shadows as well. I love the way the stairs distorted the shadows and created such beautiful shapes...

Playgrounds are a great place to find shapes and patterns, so I took several pictures at the playground near our hotel room, and these were my two favs for shapes...

I love this angle, but it's not easy getting a picture like this when you're 30weeks pregnant. My flexibility is limited, so to have a shot like this is amazing for me right now...

Nature has some great natural shapes everywhere. I was walking through one of the trails and tripped over a pine cone, and that gave me the idea to bunch a few together and get some shots of them. Funny how something that almost makes you fall ends up being a really cool picture.

I found a park bench along the trails, and normally I just use it to rest on, but today I got to looking at it, and saw so many unique shapes within it, so I had to take pictures instead...

My cravings turned into a great photo opportunity.

Photo Tutorials...anyone can do it

2011-03-02T17:23:00.006-06:00

Ok everyone want to know a little secret? You can turn just about any snap shot into a professional looking photograph. I will share the secret with you, and you can do it using Picasa Picnik...shocking isn't it? This time I will not be sticking to the free version of Picnik, but picnik is very affordable whereas Photoshop is much more expensive. I took a snap shot of a street in Mildenhall the other day when we were meeting at a rental agency (or letting agency as it's called here).

Not a bad picture, but it definitely doesn't look like something a professional would advertise does it? I was just standing on the street and took a picture down the road. There are several elements here that are distracting in the picture that bring down the quality of the picture...

Notice the areas that I've put the red arrows...these things just seem to junk up the photo and make it non pleasing to look at. I used the clone tool in Picnik to get rid of these things (now you'll notice as I start posting the steps that some of the things I waited to get rid of because it was later that I thought they were to distracting in the picture.) The clone tool takes alot of patience and time to get the results that you want. It has taken me several times of using it to really understand how to use it and make the picture still look natural. Anyways...I got rid of the traffic cones, the yellow cross walk lights, the random antennas above the houses, and some of the street lamps in the distance.

Notice that here where I got rid of the the lettering on the bottom sign because the traffic cone was blocking part of it, so this way it makes the picture look better and is easier than trying to correct the lettering.

Next I used the Gritty effect. It toned down some of the color and gave a cool look to the picture. I faded it down some because I wasn't happy with how it looked at full capasity.

Next I decided to experiement with cross process and then played with the amount of the effect.

Then I decided to use the vibrance effect which I think made the picture look cool.

Next I went to the edit section instead of create and played with the exposure. I upped the contrast.

Then still under the edit section I went to color and used the auto color.

Next I used the soften effect and used the brush tool to make certain things stand out. I used it on the sidewalk and roofs.

I added my waterseal and a frame...making this the fnal product.

I wanted to have some different versions of the picture, so I used the Infared Film effect and faded it down to let alittle color through.

Here's the final product of this picture.

Then for the heck of it I decided to make the picture black and white because honestly I love black and white and if done right it can just about make any picture look professional.

So there's some tips to help turn an ordinary snap shot into a professional shot. It just takes some patience and a few stylish effects too...

My Sick Baby...

2011-03-02T12:04:00.001-06:00

As all mother's know, when your baby is sick life is misserable. Samantha got really congested which I expected after the flight out here, but it got to the point that she was coughing so bad she ended up gasping for air. At that point I decided it was time to visit the doctor, well like all military bases, you don't get in right away. My appointment was for the next afternoon. It was a rough night's sleep for my little angel as she coughed all night long. She woke up and spent the entire morning sitting with me on the sofa watching TV. All of you that know my little trouble maker knows this is not her. She doesn't snuggle anymore, and that's all she wanted to do. She wouldn't eat which again is not like her. I swear I never thought a toddler could eat me out of house and home. Well she finally decided to get up and play a little after two hours of cuddling. She walked around with her stuffed animals and found other toys. Not long after she got down and decided that playing was to exhausting, she laid down on the floor. She does this on occasion to "rest" but gets up after a few seconds or a minute. She picked her head up looked at me and laid it back down. I didn't think much of this cuz it's part of her pretending to sleep...well after a few more minutes she was still just laying there on the floor by the door. Her head was turned away from me, so I got up and went over to her. She was dead asleep. Out cold...Again anyone who knows her knows she does not voluntarily take naps. She looked so precious laying there...I felt so bad cuz I knew my baby girl really didn't feel good...So knowing that my baby is growing up and I don't get to just hold her and sleep I picked her up off the floor and just held her while she slept...remembering the days when she would always fall asleep in my arms.

At the doctor's office they said she has croup, and gave her a steroid that would reduce the swelling in her throat and help her feel better...well today she was a completely different child than yesterday. She was playing and laughing and for the first time in three days she had her appetite back. She still has her moments where you can tell she doesn't feel good, and she's still coughing, but it's nothing like it was. Yay or modern medicine and doctors who take the time to be thorough with stubborn children.

Picnik editing....

2011-03-01T13:05:00.001-06:00

I have several friends who have started using picnik...some of them know the program really well, and some are new to the program. I thought it would be helpful to do a tutorial on basic editing and adding a watermark to your pics. Some of the tutiorials I will do in the next few weeks will be using the free effects within picnik.

My original picture....it's a good picture, but lacks a good contrast and vivid colors...

The first thing I did once I opened Picnik was I used the boost effect. This one can add to much color and make the picture look unrealistic, so what I did was lovered the strength to 32%. This brought out the orangish/yellowish coloring from the sun set in the background and gave the flowers that are out of focus in the background more coloring to.

The next thing I did was to use the Orton-ish effect to give some more contrast and a soft glow to the picture. Again this effect at it's highest adds to much so I faded the effect down to 51%, but I didn't mess with the bloom or brightness at all.

Next I used the HRD-ish effect to get some of my detail back from the Orton-ish. Again I didn't use the full effect. I faded the effect down to 64%. This gave the picture back just enough of the detail within the flowers.

At this point I was happy with the color and contrast within the picture, so from here on out I will focus on adding a watermark seal and a frame to the picture. I have just recently created a watermark seal using Picnik that I like for my photography logo.

I typed out what I wanted my watermark to say and placed it where I wanted it. I just used the text kept white and faded it to 50% so that it is a little transparent. Then I went into the stickers and found a floral design that I liked and rotated and flipped it until I liked the way it flowed with my lettering and I also faded it down to 50% with a white color. This part can be really fun to just play around and find a mixture of fonts, stickers and placement that is appealing to you.

Lastly I added a frame to my picture to make it stand out. I used the museum matte because I wanted something simple to enhance the way the picture looked instead of taking away from the beauty of the picture. I made the inside matte thicker moving it to 61, but I left the outer thickness as the preset.

Now you have my final picture....

All of the effects and editing I did this time is within the free effects of picnik. Have fun with the program...don't be afraid to just play around and find effects and combinations that appeal to you. That the quickest way to learn and have fun with it...Every picture will be different when adding effects to it.

Foto Friday: Shadows

2011-02-25T09:32:00.000-06:00

It's Friday again, so it's my weekly excuse to have a reason to post pictures... The recommended theme this week is shadows, which I somewhat followed. We have been super busy this week, so I wasn't able to really focus on shadows or even going out and taking pictures. In processing to a new base is very tiring, but I've wanted to explore the area badly, so my compromise to that was snapping pictures from the car window as we drove from place to place. Today was actually one of the first days we were able to just get out and walk around. We went into Mildenhall to look at some houses, well the reality company didn't have any morning openings for viewings, so we got to walk around town. There is this amazingly beautiful cathedral in town. It looks very old and historic, and the sun was giving some parts of it beautiful shadows (yes the sun was actually out today one of the first since I got here).

I did some research on the church as soon as I got back to the hotel room, because I don't just want to have pictures of beautiful historic buildings, I want to know about them. Because of how old this church is, I didn't find much but the info I did find on the cathedral came from http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2104040
St. Mary's Cathedral dates back all the way to the 13th century. Parts of it's original foundation date back to 1220. There has been a church in this spot since before Doomsday (dang that's a long time). Most of the church was built in 1420. The latter was refaced in 1864. The architecture on the roof consists of angels which most have lost their wings over time, some of it due to damage from Cromwell's men.

This tower stands 112feet tall.

I decided to get fancy...

Exploring the UK

2011-02-24T03:05:00.000-06:00

So Jason and I haven't been in the UK very long yet, and most of our time has been spent doing in-processing and all the fun stuff that goes along with a military PCS. We've been so super busy, but I've wanted to get out and take pictures and explore. Unfortunately we haven't had time to explore yet, so I've just taken pictures from the car while we've run from place to place trying to get everything done. So far we have set up a pounds account and gotten cell phones, and we started house hunting. Jason has gone into work and processed into his shop, so this still leaves tons more to do. I think we will be medically processing in today, so I can get into the OB as soon as possible because I'm over due for some of my testing. I personally still need to sign up for the New Parent Support Program, and WIC, and I want to get involved with PWOC to start getting to know people. Also once we get a little more settled I want to start back to college and finish my bachlor's degree.

Anyways I have taken some really nice pictures on some of our outings. I was able to take a walk around base, and got some beautiful pictures down one of the trails, and when we go off base I've gotten some random pictures in some of the surrounding towns from my car window, and I thought I'd share them. We got a rental car when we got here and the Airman and Family Readiness Center let us borrow a GPS, so we can go around and not get lost (well sometimes anyways...TomTom has tried taking us down roads that don't exist then gets mad when we don't take them...hehe).

The fire alarm kept going off, so we got to see the fire trucks three days in a row...

Jason's friends Mini....

No parking sign...

Adventures to London

2011-02-20T11:02:00.000-06:00

We left Tinker AFB at 0900 Friday morning to start our new adventure to Mildenhall. Samantha had fun playing in the airport. There was a spot between the window and a support beam that had just enough room for Samantha to hide in. She would stick her head out and yell BOO....then she'd hide again....she found it so funny to play in that spot...well at least it kept her content while we waited to board the plane.

We got on a small jet that had two seats on one side and one seat on the other to Chicago. It was a short flight and Samantha slept through it which was good. I took some pictures from the plane of Chicago...it was the first time I'd ever seen Chicago. Thankfully I had my super nice Nikon with me and got some amazing pictures...I tweaked them on Picasa and Picnik and here's what I got...

We had a three hour layover at the Chicago airport, so we decided to waste some time and eat at Macaroni Grill. The food was amazing, Samantha didn't eat much, but she enjoyed throwing her spaghetti on the floor... Then we went and waited to board the plane...It was the biggest plane I've ever been on...

We boarded the plane and our seats where in the middle. There were two seats on the sides and five in the middle...Samantha had her own seat, so we put her in between us. It wasn't long until Samantha was doing this.....

She slept the entire 9hour flight to London. We arrived Saturday morning at 0700 which was actually 0100 from where we started in OKC. Samantha was happy and had almost a full night sleep, so she hasn't appeared to be jet lag. Unfortunately I wasn't able to sleep, so it was hitting me hard. We made it to base and got our hotel room. After lunch when Samantha went down for her nap, I decided to join her. It was nice that she ended up taking a three hour nap, so I was able to get enough sleep to hold me over until night time to help with the jet lag.

Foto Friday...Butterfly Kisses

2011-02-17T17:40:00.001-06:00

Most of my friends know that I grew up without my dad, and my step-father was verbally abusive. I always struggled with the fact that I never got to have that father-daughter bond that all my friends had. I never got to experiance the love from a father that my heart desired...that my heart craved. When I found out that I was having a baby girl, I knew my daughter would be loved in a way I never was...she would be loved by her daddy. Part of me was jelous that my little girl was going to have something I never got, but that quickly passed because I relized that my daughter would never have the heart break that I had. She would never wonder if the reason her daddy wasn't there was her fault; she'd never wonder if her daddy was thinking about her; she'd never wonder why her daddy didn't love her. She would have the love that I always craved, and that just melted my heart. I told Jason that his love for Samantha was extremely important, and in a way I would get to experiance the father-daughter bond through my daughter. I would get to see what it's like being daddy's little girl. I would get to see what it was like to bat your eyes at daddy and get everything you wanted. I would also get to see a new side to Jason, the side that is sensitive to his precious little princess. I would get to see the kind of love in his eyes that only a father and daughter can share. My daughter is so lucky to have a wonderful daddy who loves her with his entire heart, who would do anything for her, and who is not only a great influence but can teach her how a girl should be treated and loved.

Today while we were at the park I got a picture of one of those precious father daughter moments. It was so sweet, and I can't believe I was able to capture it. So when I got home I immediately pulled this picture up and started playing with it in picasa and created a few different versions of this picture. I mean you can never have to many pictures of a father and daughter together....

Here is the original Picture....

Some slight editing...I airbrushed Jason's face and added contrast to the picture

A little saying I came up with...

Black and white...because I think there's something so artistic and beautiful about black and white...

Some fun effects with partial lyrics from the song Butterfly Kisses...

I did finally get to meet my father when I was 20, and now have a relationship with him. He's straightened up his life, and is trying to make things right with me. I'm just happy to have a chance to get to know him and to know that my daughter will have her grandfather too.

I find it kind of ironic that I posted this yesterday not knowing that the foto friday contest was about love, and the love between my loving husband Jason and our beautifl little girl melts my heart everytime I see it, so I will be using this entry as my foto friday entry. This is actually perfect for me because in about an hour I head to the airport with my family to complete our PCS to England...we will be on planes or in airports for the entire day, but I am excited to see what this adventure holds for us....

Partial Black and White

2011-02-15T15:52:00.003-06:00

I have had several friends ask me how I keep one color in a photo and have the rest of it in black and white. Normally I use photoshop which I know most of you don't have, but since we have been in TLF I haven't had photoshop. I've been doing all of my editing through picasa and picnik (which is part of picasa). This is a free program offered through google. With Picnik you can get some of their features and effects free, but some of it requires a membership which if you pay for the year it's only 2dollars a month. Anyways the black and white filter effect is offered free through picnik so it wouldn't cost anything to do this. I will be going through a step by step for anyone tha wants to do this with their pics.

When you first open picnik with your photo it should automatically take you to create and be set on the features tab which will be your specialized items that focus on what's going on. Right now it's all valentines day stuff. You will want to click on the effects tap just to the right of the features tab.

The second step is to click on the black and white effect. It should be the first filter effect you can add to your photo. Once you click on it then your photo will turn black and white and there will be options that you can use show up underneath the black and white effect.

Third you will go to the tab just to the right of the options bar where you have choices of the black and white filter. You will choose your brush strength. This chooses how much color you allow back into the photo. If the brush strength is at 100 then you will let 100% of the color back in on the area that you will be working with. I generally move mine down a little.

The fourth step is to choose the brush size. This is how big or small you want your brush to be when adding in the color. The bigger the number, the bigger your brush is. If you are working in a large area like I will be then you will want a larger brush size.

Step five is adding your color back in. Once you've gotten your brush to your liking then you just use your mouse and color the part you want back in. You have to be careful with this step because as far as I can tell you cannot undo a mistake unless you start all over. I haven't figured out if you can, but if I do figure that out then I will add that to this blog later.

Finally once you are satsified with what you've added back then you just click apply under the black and white effect and it finalizes what you've done. The picture is complete. That is if this is all you are doing.

I used a picture that I took of the flowers Jason gave me for valentines day for this demonstration. I did other effects to the picture to but I thought I would add the before and after picture to the blog just so everyone can see how it turned out. I hope this helps all my friends who are interested in how to do this to their pictures. I know I've had several of you ask me how to do this, and photoshop is extremely expensive so this is a nice free way to get that effect without paying an arm and a leg.

Here is the before picture. This was straight out of the camera. A beautiful picture that really doesn't need any work, but I wanted to have fun with it.

This is the finished product. I added several other effects and finished it off by using the stamp frame to give it the textured edges.

Coming up with Pfann Photography

2011-02-15T00:04:00.000-06:00

This will be short and sweet...it's late and I'm tired. I've been trying to come up with a photography name that is unique and will stand out. I thought about using my name photography, but I have a long complicated last name. My last name alone is twelve letter and it's German. With that being said I figured Marilyn Pfannenstiel Photography was to long and complicated to remember. Laying in bed trying to go to sleep I started thinking and Pfann Photography came out of nowhere....I thought it was cool cuz it's a play off my last name and if I create a facebook photography page people will become a fan or pfann...hehe (anyways sorry the jokes are lame it's late and I'm tired...) I thought that would be the perfect name for my business, so I figured first thing in the morning I would change my blog to it....well the more I layed there trying to fall asleep the more different ideas came to me...along with the saying "making moments pfann-tastic" I thought the spelling would be a cute play off of the word fantastic...plus it would help people pronounce it correctly...well the more I tried to push it out and go to sleep the mroe awake I seemed to get. Well like all good ideas generally if you don't act on them right away they tend to disappear and you cannot remember them later. I then talked myself into getting up, I figured it was God's way of telling me that I needed to put this into action before I forgot about it. So anyways that's my story and my moment of rambling...now it's off to bed and hopefully this time some sleep....

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-14T16:48:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentines Day to everyone...I hope everyone is having a great day and enjoying the reminder of how we should treat our loved ones everyday. I love Valentines Day because it's an excuse to spoil my husband and daughter and let them know how much I love and appriciate them. Also it gives me an excuse not to cook and go out and just spend a nice evening with the family... not having to worry about cleaning the kitchen after dinner or tripping over Samantha cuz she loves to stay under my feet when I cook. Here are a few pictures I took throught the week just to kind of get in the mood and just be a reminder of Valentines Day....

Just a simple I Love You....

Here's one for the more modern love...

Don't be afraid to just dance...let lose and have fun with each other...

Having fun with the Roses my wonderful husband surprised me with today....

Always gotta have your chocolates on Valentines Day....it's a woman's weakness....

Happy Valentines Day from me and my family....

Wedding...

2011-02-12T20:06:00.000-06:00

I figured with Valentines Day just around the corner it would be the perfect time to post some of the wedding pictures I did back in January. What is more appropriate than two people starting their life together and pledging their love for one another. I'm sure everyone is thinking about love and their special someone these days...thinking about what they are going to do for Valentines Day...thinking about how to surprise each other... thinking about that romatic night that is soon to come...

For this one I couldn't find a poem that I thought suited our friend...I wasn't happy with the poems I found for the groom from family, so I wrote this one specially for them.

Foto Friday Edit this...

2011-02-11T11:03:00.000-06:00

This week's theme is Editing...I will admit that photoshop is my weakness...I love getting on photoshop and playing around with my pictures adding more contrast, making the colors more vivid, getting rid of blimishes, and just using their cool effects. I could spend all day infront of the computer on photoshop and feel like it was a productive day.

Unfortunately right now we are in the middle of moving to England, so my main computer is on a ship out of reach for me. That means no photoshop until we get reunited with our stuff in England which I believe won't be until March. What am I going to do? It's going to be torture. Well until then I am stuck to copying my pictures from facebook or using anything I take between now and then and only being able to use Picasa which isn't a bad program but isn't photoshop. So what I did was pulled one of the pictures I took of my daughter this summer in West Virginia when we were visiting my grandparents. They have all this really cool old timey stuff which makes for great portraits. Samantha was 8months when I took these pics, and because I was on vacation they were uploaded straight from my camera with no editing. Well anyways I pulled one of those pictures and used picasa to edit it and add some cool effects.

The original photo taken with a Nikon Fujifilm S2 Pro

This one I edited the blimish or dirt on her cheek and added a vibrant color effect. Then I did a focal effect on her to slightly blur and dull down the surroundings to focus on Samantha.

With this one I did a sepia tone. I figured what better way to make this old timey photo look old than to do it in sepia. I also cropped the picture to move samatha more to the side to keep to the rule of thirds.

For this picture I took it back to original color then added what Picasa Picnik calls Orton-ish. I twicked the settings a little bit and came up with this which I thought was unique. It makes the background really dark and adds a glow to Samantha which is what I wanted the focus on in this picture.

Again I took the picture back to the picture back to the orginal except for the crop and then added what is called a Lomo-ish effect. It gave the picture some vivid color and added a warming effect and slight glow to Samatha.

This one I just wanted to have some fun with. I took the original photo added a vivad color effect to it. Then i framed it with a reflection frame. After that I added a poloriod effect to put the entire thing within a poloriod. I added the title then put a cinemascope effect on it. I thought it turned out funky and unique.

I guess I can still have fun without photoshop, but there is nothing like photoshop, and I cannot wait until I get my computer set back up.

Pregnancy Cravings

2011-02-10T16:08:00.006-06:00

So all you mothers out there understand cravings... We all have them, and they are different even with each pregnancy or trimester. Mine with this pregnancy has been yoohoo. I swear I can't get enough of them. Everytime I drive by the shoppette I have to stop in and grab me one. And it has to be yoohoo. One morning Jason went to the main shoppette and asked me what I wanted...obviously I wanted a yoohoo well he couldn't find one and returned with a nesquik chocolate milk. He has been so sweet and gets me practically anything I'm craving, so he thought it would satsify my craving. Unfortunatly it did the opposite and made me sick. Avalene obviously doesn't want anything but yoohoo...go figure she'd be picky already. I have to admit yoohoo is one of my childhood favorites...perhaps it's because yoohoo isn't really chocolate milk but a chocolate drink. I've never been to crazy about milk and I think it goes back to the fact that dairy products have been a triger to my ezema breakouts. Well I'm starting to ramble which happens to be a side effect of being pregnant...so...

I surprisingly haven't had any really weird cravings with either of my pregnancies. The weirdest thing was that with Samantha the only thing that would not give me heartburn was spicy food. Ironic I thought cuz normally it's spicy food that trigers heartburn...so what are some of the craziest pregnancy cravings any of you have had?

Playing around with different effects on my camera....

Happenings at the Hampton

2011-02-09T14:22:00.002-06:00

So our appartment is now cleaned out and our stuff is on it's way to England. Thanks to the snow storm our reservations on base got bumped back, so we were forced to stay off base which isn't that bad. We are staying at the Hampton Inn, and oh what an adventure it has been. We are staying in a room with a microwave and small fridge. There's an indoor pool and hot tub. We get breakfast everyday and have an HD flatscreen in our room.

Well even with all of these great things, a toddler can always find something to get into... Monday morning I was exhausted and Jason was at the appartment with the unaccompanied movers, so I was watching Samantha. I turned the TV on for her and layed down in bed to get some rest. I must have dozed off for just a few minutes but when I woke up she was standing by the bed talking to me with toilet paper in her hand. I looked at her and it strung along the bed and turned down towards the bathroom. I sat up and she smiled at me. "What did you do child?" She giggled and took off running towards the bathroom. There was a line of toilet paper leading out of the bathroom and around the bed. Even though I was frustrated with the mess I would be cleaning up I thought I'd grab the camera and take some pictures of her adventures (after all this is her first time staying in a hotel). By the time I got some pics she had already moved the toilet paper back towards the bathroom, so I followed her in there just to find more toilet paper all over the floor. I looked at the roll and it was completely empty. Although it was quite amuzing that she was trying to put it back on the roll.

Unfortunately thanks to sharing internet with the entire hotel I cannot seem to upload my pics right now, but I will put them up as soon as I can....

Nikon D3100

2011-02-09T12:02:00.000-06:00

I finally got a new camera...I am so excited about it... I orginally had a Nikon Fujifilm S2Pro...it was a good camera, but was getting old and the quality of my pictures was starting to reflect that...although with the use of photoshop it was getting me by (plus it gave me a chance to really play around with PS). So with tax money (and for a birthday present) I got the Nikon D3100. Based on all the research I did this is a really good camera, and I've really enjoyed it so far. I know there's many more camera's I would have loved, but for the price and the features it includes this was the best buy for me.

I have really enjoyed playing around with all of the features this camera has to offer (which my other camera did not have). It has such vivid coloring in the pictures that is just makes everything stand out. I obviously use my daugther as my model majority of the time...not only because she is always with me, but because I love taking her pictures and capturing as many moments on camera as I can...I mean they are only young once...

The original picture SOOC (straight out of the camera)

Using the Monochrome enhance feature on the D3100

I added contrast to this one using the levels feature on PhotoShop CS3

I love my daughter's blue eyes she gets them from her daddy, but boy do they make for a beautiful picture. In this picture it does help however that we were at the playground and the ground was a deep blue. It helps pull the blue out in her eyes. The only thing about this picture is I wish she would have given me her pacifier so I could have gotten her beautiful smile too.

Here is another before and after picture using my new camera...with this one I added contrast using the levels feature then I turned it black and white and using a layer mask I added the color back to Allison's face. These are pictures of my daughter's best friend....

original SOOC picture

Edited picture

Winter Blues

2011-02-05T13:10:00.000-06:00

So all of this cold weather and snow has me missing the warm summer weather, so I thought I would post some of the pictures I took in West Virginia to remind me of what is to come this spring...

Playing in the snow

2011-02-04T14:26:00.000-06:00

So I took Samantha out in the snow to play and see what she thought of it. The first time she stood there about thigh high in snow and just looked at me. I was able to make her laugh a little, but she was still unsure about the snow. I decided it would be cute to get some pictures of her sitting in the snow. She really didn't like that. She started fussing and crying, but as soon as I stood her up she was ok, not happy but ok. I thought I would get her to feel the snow, but when I lefted her jacket sleeve to put her hand in the snow she lost it. From that moment on she wanted out of it, so I took her inside and discovered she didn't like the snow.
The next day I took her down to Colleen's to play in the snow with Allison, thinking she would have fun playing in the snow with her friend. Boy was I wrong.... She enjoyed walking on the sidewalk, but as soon as I set her in the snow with Allison she lost it. I guess we will have to try snow again some other time because right now snow is not something she likes....although she looks cute all bundled up out there...

Moving Out.

2011-02-04T09:30:00.000-06:00

So with the PCS so close we have been getting very stressed lately, but it seemed like we finally had some releave the movers were coming today...No more stressing over the house and everything. Well thanks to the Oklahoma weather, it started snowing again, and that stress free day of no longer having to wonder when our stuff was going to be taken away has disappeared. As we sat there waiting finishing up the last few things we needed to do this morning the movers called Jason, and had to reschedule for tomorrow. That would be a sign of releave, but according to the weather it's suppose to ice and snow even more...grrrr...

Although through all of this, the wonderful adventure it has been, I am begining to realize how real the move really is. Laying in bed last night I realized it was our last night in our appartment. It was kind of a sad thought because this was the place we brought Samantha home from the hospital to. It was the house I trained Scotty in, and the house I survived my first deployment in. There are so many good memories in that tiny appartment. I had such great neigbhors that led to wonderful friendships.

The last night in our appartment was quite an adventure all in it's own. Jason and I went out to eat because the snow storm had us couped up all week, and we were itching to get out. So after a really good dinner at Santa Fe with Colleen and Allison we headed home. Walking up to the empty appartment complex because we are the last ones living there, I noticed the concrete was soaked. At first I thought it might have just been from all the snow and everything, but noticed it went all the way up to our neighbor's appartment door. Jason was standing there looking because water was coming out from the bottom of the door. Nobody lived there anymore and it was just pouring out. He got closer just to hear water pouring down. He opened the door and the entire place was covered in two inches of water with more pouring in. It sounded like a rain forest. What a last night for us, we were focused on finishing all of the packing, and we got sidetracked with this little adventure. We called emergancy maintness to come check it out, and they were there in less than five minutes ( Iswear i think that's the fastest they move). He looked in and then told us to get back because the water was coming through the electrical fixtures. Of course at this point I'm calling Jamie who use to live there and telling her all about it, so she and Blaine drive over from their new house to take a look at what could have been their ruined stuff. It was obvious the water was coming from upstairs so Jason who was eager to know what was going on ran up there, but the door was locked. The maitness guy didn't have a key so he was going to kick in the door, well because of the action movie buff my husband is, he went ahead and kicked it in. I think that single act made his night. It appeared a pipe or hot water heater burst. Both maitness guys stood there trying to figure out what to do because they were afraid of being electricuted since it was all through the electrical sockets...there was talk of calling the fire department...Oh what a night, but all was ok the guys got the water turned off and headed home...

Our last night adventure was over and it was back to finishing packing up stuff in the house....by the time we went to bed, the place looked so barron. Everything was off the walls, and the house echoes now...it was the realization the hit me, we are going to temp housing tomorrow and this was our last night in this appartment.

Even though the movers are not coming tonight, we already took the bed apart, so it was still our last night living at 8120 C Brown Ct.

Samantha's Words

2011-02-01T15:43:00.005-06:00

Samantha is talking so much now...it's hard to keep track of all the words that she says, so I thought I would try to remember them all and put them on here...maybe that will help me keep track of how much she can really say...ok here goes...I will try to remember all of her words....
1.Mama
2.Dada
3.Bye bye
4.Night Night
5.More
6.All Done
7.Up
8.Down
9.Milk
10.Juice
11.Eat
12.Eye
13.Nose
14.No
15.Stop
16.Yay
17.Uh Oh
18.Poopy
19.Snack
20.Nana
21.Papa
22.Doggie
23.Please
24.Boo
25.Shoe
26.Cookie
(of course many of these words are partial attempts, but for an infant if they continually use the same sound for the same thing and you understand what they are saying it's considered a word...she generally gets the first syllable of each of these words)
In addition to this she will sign cracker, but doesn't say it yet....the other signs she does are
milk
juice
sippy
eat
done
more
cookie
snack

Hopefully that's everything...it's hard to remember all the things she can say or do especially since I'm pregnant.

Samantha....Growing to fast

2011-01-31T21:01:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that Samantha is already 16months old. She has so much personality. I've been teaching her baby sign language since she was about 6months, and I am so glad that I did. Not only can she sign what she wants, but it has encouraged her to start talking early. She can say almost twenty words. Just recently I tell her it's time to go night night, and she waves and says bye bye to Jason and walks back to her room and waits to be lifted into her crib. Normally she will lay right now and go to sleep some nights she'll cry or play for a little bit, but this makes bed time so easy. As much as I love how easy it is for her to go to sleep, I miss when she was tiny and I would hold her on my chest and she'd fall asleep in my arms. I was looking at her hospital pictures earlier today and can't believe how much she has changed and grown. She has these really cool magnetic blocks and will sit there and play with them. I was watching her and she'd pull them apart and then put them close enough together for the magnets to finish pulling them together. One of them got turned around and it wouldn't go together, and I watched to see what she would do. She looked at the block and immediately turned it around and continued to play. It amazed me that she was able to figure that out so quickly. She amazes me everyday with the funny things she does along with how smart she is.

Starting Back....

2011-01-31T19:11:00.003-06:00

So it's been quite a year....very busy and I kind of forgot about my blog (again). Well we survived our first deployment....it was rough at times, but it just made me realize how much I love my husband, and how much he does to help me out with Samantha. He got home in August, and we got pregnant pretty much immediately which was kind of shocking it happened so quickly. We wanted to start trying, but I expected it to take a month or two. So because of that, we bought a family car and not even a month later Jason got orders to England. It was a dream come true for him. Mildenhall has been his dream base since he joined the military. Well we are two weeks out from leaving, and it's getting very stressful. We move out of our house this week and into temporary housing (that will be an adventure all by itself with a toddler and pregnant me). I have tons of stories about Samantha and how much she's grown in the past year I will tell a little later when I have more time to write. I just wanted to get on and post something while I was actually remembering that I had a blog.

New Photography Stuff

2010-02-24T22:18:00.005-06:00

So tax season is better than Christmas (as far as present wise). Jason and I each got a certain amount of money to spend on ourselfs...oh what to buy? Just kidding I knew exactly what I wanted...more photography equipment. I mean photography is my hobby and honestly I'm such a nerd when it comes to photography. Jason's always looking at me like "your kidding you're gonna take a pic of that?" He also just shakes his head when we are looking at something really cool and all I can say is why don't I have my camera with me? Or I might look at something and say that would be the perfect picture can you see it? Anyways...I had already spent all of my money before it even came in. I got new backdrops, new lenses, and of course props. What photographer is complete without props? So the day we got our money I ordered my stuff and was worse than a kid waiting for Christmas morning. So when my stuff arrived I was so excited I immediately started setting it up (it was after 6 when the backdrops arrived) So what to take pics of? That's the easy question I have a beautiful little girl who is just adorable in pictures (plus she can't crawl yet so she can't run away from me) Yep I use my daughter as a model and the funny thing is she can't talk back cuz she can't talk yet so I don't have to listen to her complaining. Although it does help that she loves the camera cuz that means she gets extra attention. Playing with the lighting and adding in the backgrounds from my green screen has been consuming my evenings. I put Sammy down for the night and run into the computer room upload photoshop and go to town. Here are some of the pics of my beautiful daughter...

Of course taking pics of Samantha is fun, but I wanted some family pics, so I begged Jason to let me take some pics of him and Sammy (he's not to crazy bout the camera). So after begging and giving him the sad face he let me take a few...although the entire time he complained (and that is why I'm glad Sammy can't complain she doesn't take the fun out of it). But the ironic thing is when I showed him the finished product he loved them and immediately wanted them of facebook...so I ask myself why not skip the middle part (complaining) cuz he loves the end part, and I love the beginning (taking the pics)...what can I do...anyways here are the pics of Jason and Samantha....

And of course I can't stop there....I decided to play with the timer on my camera and get some of me and Sammy (I don't think it's fair that I should have to pay for pics of me and my girl...so I found a way to get pics of us)

Samantha's 3 1/2 month pics

2010-01-27T22:28:00.006-06:00

I can't believe that Samantha is already three and a half months old. It seems like yesterday that we got back from the hospital and she was this tiny (well not so tiny) newborn. Now she is rolling over and holding herself up. She is close to sitting up on her own and trying to crawl. She loves to talk, and I swear I can never get her to stop smiling now. It is so cute.
Well anyways I was realizing that I didn't have any recent pictures of her. Sure I take them on my phone pretty much every day or so, but those pictures aren't very good. My everyday camera broke, so I am trying to decide on a new one to get. Well today I grabbed my big professional camera and set a background up. I posed little Sammy and just started taking the pictures. Of course here I am trying to get her attention at the camera making weird noises and faces. I still haven't figured out if she's laughing at the noises or me in general...of course if I was her I'd laugh at me too. Here are some of the pictures....

So happy

look at that smile...it just melts my heart

She is so annimated...I love it!

She looks surprised in this one...

She has her daddy's beautiful blue eyes...I'm jelous

Samantha rolled over!

2010-01-13T22:00:00.002-06:00

So I haven't posted anything for awhile, but I have stayed very busy with baby Sammy. Today she successfully rolled over!! It was so exciting!!! She first attempted earlier in the day by rocking back and forth, but she got tired and started crying so that was the end of that. Well then tonight while Jason and I were sitting infront of the TV watching the American Idol tryouts (which had us cracking up) Sammy was playing on the floor. Well as soon as I start to eat she got fussy, so I put my plate down and wet to talk to her. I decided I would put her on her tummy to give her more practice. I turned my back to grab my food and in the few seconds I was turned around she rolled over... WHAT! I missed it....not cool...so determined to see her do it I put her back on her tummy and she instantly rolled over again!!! I was so excited!!! My little girl is on her way to being mobile....so of course I needed to document this event and I reached for my phone and hit the record button. Thankfully she rolled over again for the camera!!!!

Christmas Portraits....

2009-12-01T13:50:00.005-06:00

I wanted to have some family pictures done for Christmas presents for the family, and since it's very dificult to be the photographer and in the picture we went to JC Penny....I normally don't like going to studios because there aren't as many options for backgrounds ect. plus I've always been a bigger fan of outside pictures...there's nothing quite like natural light...but I had a coupon and decided I'd give them a try. The photographer was very good and they had the cutest little Christmas background....Here are the pictures...

They also took and made some cute collages with the pictures which I wasn't really expecting, and since I grew up without my dad in my life I was naturally a sucker for the daddy pictures...

She sure does love her daddy....

This is my favorite!

Samantha River

2009-11-30T09:16:00.008-06:00

So I haven't really had any internet time lately...a newborn really keeps you busy....but she's 7weeks now and so beautiful! So since she's taking a little nap I thought I would use this time to update my blog... She was born on Oct. 8th and her weight was 9lbs, 3ozs and measured 19.5" long... In just 7 short weeks she can already hold her head up, and is trying very hard to sit up... She has laughed at me, and loves to smile! She has rolled over once, but doesn't seem to interested in it right now....here are a few pics from the last 7weeks....

October 8th

1 week old

3 weeks old

4 weeks old

6weeks old

Smith Family Portraits

2009-09-07T14:41:00.011-05:00

Nikki asked me to do some family portraits before Eric deployed, and me being so obsessed with photography jumped all over it. It's always fun doing family portraits especially with little kids because they don't like to sit and smile for the camera (at least most little kids don't), so you get some great expressions from them. Plus I get to play with photoshop and create collages, and do different crazy photo effects.

Homemade Bagel Bites

2009-09-02T15:59:00.003-05:00

So I've been on this cooking high lately trying to find new recipes that are quick and easy and remind me of growing up. I use to always buy bagel bits (especially in college when a microwave was all I had), and lately since I'm not working and Jason works nights I've been wanting some easy to make, can pretty much just pull it out of the oven meals. Well we have been buying pizza rolls and corndogs...things like that for me to eat during lunch. Well not to long ago I found an amazing homemade pizza recipe that is to die for....it's so much better than anything I've ever tasted....including papa johns, pizza hut, dominos, ect. Well today I was hungry didn't really want anything that we had frozen, so I decided to experiment and make my own bagel bites...I used the pizza sauce I make for my homemade pizza and put it on a mini bagel with pepperoni and cheese....then I cooked it in the microwave.....they were pretty good...tasted close to the real thing....I only wish I would have used the oven, but hey I'm pregnant and when I'm hungry...I'm hungry...so afterward I thought I'd look up some different recipes on making them and came across this website...all I can say is that I'm trying this for dinner cuz I'm in a lazy mood today...
here's the link....she has so many awesome recipes on here...I'm gonna have to start trying all of them...
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/pizza-bagel-bites.html

Bored...

2009-08-24T14:09:00.004-05:00

So Jason went to help a friend move, and I was getting really bored...so I started playing with my camera...again. I never really got any pictures of my and Jason's rings, so that 's what I figured I'd take pictures of. I got my black cloth and headed outside with some of the sunflowers we picked earlier today. I set up stuff and started having fun....Jason always makes commits when I'm doing things like this so I generally do the creative pictures when he's not around. Although after I edit them and all he thinks they're really cool...guess you gotta look like a dork at times to get some interesting pictures...

Our Wedding Bands

My Wedding Band and Engagement Ring

Our Rings and Eph. Chapter5

A Pot that the neighbors gave us

The Different Effects of Photoshop

2009-08-24T12:00:00.003-05:00

I took another walk today down by the ponds because I wanted to get some more pictures. I got so many beautiful pictures full of color, so when I got home I got on the computer and started playing with photoshop. This has to be the coolest program ever. I could spend all day on here just playing around. I took one picture did all these crazy looking effects. Just changing the color or effect of the picture brings a new level of life to it....here are some of the things I did... (I know I'm such a fool for photography)

The Original Picture

Photo Filter applied

Solarized

Invert

Gamma correction

2009-08-19T11:18:00.000-05:00

I've really been wanting to work more on my photography, so this morning I took a walk and actually took my camera with me (which being into photography you'd think I'd always carry it around). I was walking through some of the trails on base and found some beautiful picture opportunities. It was so relaxing and inspiring. Being in nature always makes me see the beauty that is all around us, and Ican see God's glory. Nature pictures are some of my favorites because there is not other beauty like it.

This one I thought was really cool because it's just the start of a lilly pad...and the colors the way the sun was hitting it just made it pop out to me...

This one is interesting because a bobber isn't really nature, but the color of the water behind it just makes the picture...leave it to me to see that someone lost a bobber fishing and think about taking a picture of it...

I love the bright bold color in all the pictures that I took this morning...I know part of it is my camera, but the other part was the sun. It was the perfect time to get such amazing pictures because the sun wasn't directly over the sky, but it was up high enough to give me such magnificent colors....this is why I don't understand how some people don't believe in God. How can you see stuff this beautiful and think we don't have a creator.....

Samantha is close....

2009-08-18T10:14:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that in just 8 weeks I'll get to hold my little girl. I've been waiting so long for this. Jason and I are really excited, and even though I am terrified of the pain of delivery I keep wondering what Samantha will look like. We have been so blessed by friends and family to provide us with so many of the things we need to take care of a baby. Also a few weeks ago Sarah came over and took some pregnancy pics for me and they turned out amazing...here's a few of my favs....

My forgotten Blog....

2009-06-12T08:29:00.000-05:00

So I totally forgot that I started a blog when I moved to Oklahoma...until Tegan reminded me that I hadn't posted anything in a year.....well alot has changed...Jason and I are going to have a little girl. Right now I'm just relaxing in Sc while everyone else went to take the trash to the dump...not a place I wanted to go.

Our vacation started out heading to WV to see my family. It was a very long trip that took us 22hours (google said it was 17hours). I guess you have to add on alot of time when pregant...I think we stopped every 1.5hours for me to use the potty. I got some fun pictures on the trip though.She was trying to go to sleep....I think the flash annoyed her.

Jason thought it would be cute to put Delilah in the back window...it was funny...she didn't know how to get down.

Delilah did surprisingly good. She slept pretty much the entire time. I never knew a dog could be so good in a car.

The Adventures of Marilyn and Betsy....

2008-08-04T11:31:00.000-05:00

While Jason and Kyle were on TDY....Betsy and I decided to stay together and get to know eachother more....the week that we spent together was crazy and full of great times and many memories...it started out with laughing as Delilah reacted to Betsy's babies...Radar's head was bigger than Delilah, so it was very interesting watching them interact, but Delilah soon became friends and not caring about her size would attack Radar to play...then Betsy and I decided to have a baking party....we made cookies, brownies, and banana bread....it was amazing...not to mention we are both big Harry Potter girls so we watched all 5 Harry Potter movies...the rest of the week was pretty much the same thing...watching the dogs play and watchin movies....on Friday things took an interesting turn....Betsy got sick...I was takin care of her and we thought she was better, but Saturday afternoon the fever returned....so when things got even worse I drove Betsy to the ER...it's about midnight and we're on the way to the ER...when the nurse calls us back to take Betsy's fever and blood pressure, I asked how long it was going to be and she was very snapy and said there were five people before us....well looking around the ER no one seemed to be in as much pain, but whatever....a few minuets later we were called back (before the others!!) Our nurse back there was really sweet...she actually just got married in May (go figure all of us were married in May) she gave Betsy some medicine to help the payin and took some blood samples and ran some tests....so while we're waiting for the doctor we're really getting some great bonding time I mean it's 2am at this point....the doctor comes and talks to us and told us that He thought it might be her apendex....then he turns to Betsy and askes would you like me to get you some stronger pain medication? Betsy turns to me and asks do I really look that bad? The next advent of the night was at around 3am when Betsy was taken to get a catscan...apparently the doctor was kind of a creep...Betsy tells that story better...so she gets back about 30mins later and we're just waiting for all of the results...then in the hall we hear this very upset man start yelling at the doctors and nurses...he was yelling about getting his brother some sevice...the nurses tell him to calm down or they'll have to call the cops...then without missing a beat the man yells back "call the cops I don't care if I go to jail I've got bail money...get my bro some M*****F***in help..." so at this point Betsy and I wanna laugh but are afraid that he's gonna come around the corner and shoot us...which would then put me in the bed beside Betsy....so around 4:30am the doctor comes back in to tell us that she passed a kidneystone....Betsy looks at me and says I'm so glad it wasn't something stupid like gas...so we take the perscription to Walgreens to get it filled...the next moring we find out that Kyle is being flown home to be with Betsy, so our next adventer landed us at the airport at 11:30 at night....what a week....

Writing

2008-07-17T00:05:00.000-05:00

I've always been one for writing...I love poetry and when inspired can sit for hours and write...I remember hearing a sermon on James Chapter 3 at my grandmothers church and it really convicted me...during this time I was a freshman in highschool and was hanging out with a bad crowd...I was cursing and behaving in a way I knew was wrong....later that night when I was back at my house I sat down with a notebook and the sermon still on my mind....I started praying and writing and shortly I had a poem that portrayed how I felt....here it is....

Can a wild horse be tamed?

The arrow has been aimed.

With poison that stains my heart,

Not able to be portrayed in art.

The evil voice lingers near,

While my heart trimples in fear.

Help me tame this wild beast.

Help me understand this priest.

Your tongue can't be tamed alone.

It cannot change; it's like a stone.

But with God's help it can transform;

God will help mold a new form.

The tongue can still stumple and slip,

But the Bible gives a valuable tip.

James Chaper three,

Will help set your tongue free

Again I ask you,Can a wild horse be tamed?

Can your tongue be honest and true?

Will yours arrows be aimed,

With words of poison,Or words of His son?

The tongue can corrupt the entire body.

It's a fire from the pits of hell,

But with God's help your tongue can be free.

It can ring with words from Heaven's bell

Don't let your tongue ruin you.

Stop it's evil; be honest and true.

Most of my poems are writen when I'm having a hard time or am very emotional...this past year at school I was dealing with alot while trying to get over all of the problems that my stepdad caused through his abuse...I still have many issues to deal with, and some that will take many years to completely heal...but while I was working through the issue of why he just left without any reason (don't get me wrong I know I'm better off) but it really hurt that the only dad I had just up and left my life (this was before my real dad contacted me) I was really dealing with feelings of abandonment...I wondered what was wrong with me and why I didn't have a dad that wanted to be in my life...I wrote this poem one night when I was sitting in my dorm room upset...

You were a stranger to me

Abandoning me after my birth

So many times I asked

What am I really worth?

For years I hated you

I didn't understand why you left me

But as God granted me wisdom

I knew you were setting me free

My heart was still incomplete

I longed for a daddy

And on day he came

Putting me on his family tree

As the years went by

His tree turned dark

And the abuse he caused

Could no longer be hidden by the bark

The very thing I always wanted

Was different than I thought

I prayed for a Dad

But an abuser I got

His words were daggers

Breaking my soul

My entire life

He had to control

My dreams were crushed

My heart was broken

My life was no longer mine

It was his to win

For years I lived in denial

Pretending to be fine

Going day to day

Believing my life was mine

God opened my eyes

When I pushed everyone away

I knew I needed help

So to God I pray

Still shaddered and incomplete

God is slowly mending my heart

And I thank Him every day

For not letting me fall apart

Delilah

2008-07-14T22:40:00.000-05:00

Most of you know that Jason and I got a puppy...I was going to post this earlier with some pictures, but I decided to wait so I could tell stories about my crazy little girl...and sure part of it was because I haven't had a chance to write...Delilah is a Chihuahua mixed with a Rat Terrier...they are known as Rat-Cha's....she'll be about 15 pounds full grown, but her size doesn't stop her...Delilah is one crazy-hyper puppy...she loves to chew on things fingers, hair and feet seem to be her favorite...Tonight she ran around crazy for about an hour...she just ran circles around the coffee table...which is great because she tires herself out and curls up beside me...she loves to cuddle which is something I absolutely love...I'll lay down on the couch and she'll come up and lay across my chest and neck....she likes to cuddle into small spaces...another thing she loves to do is crawl under the couches....I don't like this because when she gets in trouble she runs under there....not to mention she drags stuff underthere...I found a pile of toys and some of Jason's boxers and other clothes that she drug from the room...she's also a big scardy cat....she sees people walking by when she's outside and she runs under my legs for protection...today we were walking to the mailbox and there was a lady walking her dog infront of us....when the dog barked, Delilah freaked out and tried to run back to the apartment...

Meeting My Daddy

2008-06-25T21:52:00.000-05:00

Growing up I always wanted to know my real dad...My mom use to tell me stories about how he was a drug addict and an alcoholic...she use to tell me that he would spend all of the money on himself and Nichole and I never got anything we needed....when I was younger I use to hate him for not being there...for leaving me and wanting drugs more than me...it took me a long time to realize that it wasn't my fault that he left...in December he called me for the first time...I was out shopping when he called...we talked and text messaged for the next month and a half...then he told me he wanted to come see me...my dream was coming true....I was finally gonna get to meet my dad...He came down the weekend before my birthday...when he got out of the jeep it was crazy how much I took after him....we have the same face shape, same eyes, same body shape...when we were at dinner I even noticed where I got my long fingers from....it sounds kinda weird and little but I always knew I didn't fit in with my mom....she always tried to tell me that I looked like her but I knew I didn't...meeting my dad made me feel whole...it sounds weird but I felt like I didn't know who half of me was...I always wanted to know what he was like...now we have a great relationship and talk all the time....he's going to try to come see me in December...I'm really hoping that he can make it...

I also found out that I have four siblings I didn't know about...sometimes I almost feel like a proud mom the way I show their pictures off...Rainy is 9 she only gets to spend every other weekend with dad...she has a different mother than the woman he's married to...dad and Julie have three kids together....Riley is their oldest and he's almost 6....from what she says he's very strong willed....then there's Rianna...she's very emotional...Julie said she gets upset about everything...and there's Regan....he's about 2...she's trying to potty train him....

A new begining

2008-06-17T14:29:00.000-05:00

I just got married and moved to Oklahoma. I thought it was going to be hard leaving my friends and family in South Carolina, but it was the easiest decision of my life. I love my husband with all my heart and will follow him anywhere. So this is the start of my life as a military wife, a christian wife, and just a wife in general. I'm excited about the new adventures I'm going to encounter.