Peace and Pandemonium

I just got my black and white roll developed.

My Sophie is stunning in the morning.

Ilford HP5 Plus 400.
Shot on a super old and dusty Minolta SRT 200.

It's the day we make forts in the living room.

LOVED having these two stay with us.
My bother Michael has two beautiful girls waiting for him when he gets home from Afghanistan in July.
Lucky guy!

Candice and Mike's dog Chief, spent more than 2 weeks:
1. Slobbering all over my floors and carpets.
2. Breathing so loud that he nearly woke the neighbors.
3. Leaving dog hair EVERYWHERE.
4. And destroying random toys laying around the house.
While I cant exactly say that I miss him...
I do love him.

Until next time buddy...




And hey, my kids miss him tons!!!

My boy is growing.
Gerber baby, eat your heart out!

On the first night, Steven, Asher, and I just took it easy. We got take out food and brought it back to the condo, we watched movies together, and generally just had a chill evening.





The kids came up on the second day. They were so excited about seeing Asher after one night without him, and were ecstatic to learn that there was a hot tub on the patio. Sophia jumped for joy...literally.




We spent lots of time in the hot tub while Steven entertained us with his goofy impressions and silly poses. The cool mountain air combined with the hot, jetted tub were the perfect combo. So relaxing and fun! Sophia kept commenting on how beautiful it was. She was right.







After a long soak, we took the kids for a walk up Main Street. We ate, visited a few galleries, and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.
After catching Matias and Sophia with their fingers up their noses by chance, I tricked Isaiah into thinking that he had something in his nose so that I could get this lovely collage below. Aren't I a great mom?
Matias did parkour up and down Main Street and we got a family photo. Success!











After our walk, we returned to the condo so that Steven and I could get ready for our big 10 year anniversary date. My sisters Ashley and Tavia came up to babysit the kids so that we could have a few hours to ourselves.
I didn't bring the camera to dinner because it felt like a chore and I just wanted to enjoy my husbands company but I can say that the food was delicious, the conversation was enlightening, and the ambiance was luxurious. We enjoyed our experience at ToM very much!!

While the cats were away. The mice played...
Clue.











We had so much fun in Park City and cant wait for our next visit!
Here's to another 10 years Steven!!
xoxo

I just got my first roll of Kodak Portra 400 color film developed and scanned.
I've been shooting it for over a month.
I havent shot a roll of film in nearly 10 years.
I'm remembering how fun it is to shoot a roll of random stuff, then later on, when the roll is finally shot, the anticipation that comes after taking it to be developed.
Not remembering but wondering what gems you may have scored.
The following posts are all images from this roll.
Enjoy.

This is quite possibly my favorite picture of Steven. It so perfectly captures his humor.

Whenever I try to take pictures of Steven, he goes through about 10 seconds of expression changing. Meaning, he cant decide what mask to put on for his photo op. He thinks, should I be smiling? Serious? Smoldering? Silly? (Look at that alliteration!) Then of course he licks his lips a few times and by the end of this ritual, I'm usually still there, holding my camera in place, waiting for the real Steven to peek through. To say its difficult for me to get a great shot of my hubby is an understatement. He is so incredibly handsome, yet so incredibly difficult to capture.

In this shot, I was holding the baby and the camera. I was trying to direct him into a more relaxed pose. I was effectively trying to coax the real Steven out of him. To do this I showed him, with my body language, the exact way I wanted him to stand/lean against the wall. I told him to mirror my body language exactly.

It was at this moment that he decided to pull out his Steven wit and charm and sarcastically mirror my exact body language. He couldnt believe I "wasted" a frame on this picture.

I knew that it would be my favorite from the whole roll.




These are the other shots we got...





This last shot is my second favorite from the roll. Look at my two handsome boys.



Love you Steven! Happy 10 years to us!

Matias ADORES Asher.
He loves being a big brother.
This makes me happy.

For this first roll of film, I decided to mirror my digital shots for 2 reasons.
1. to ensure that I got the images I wanted. (Digital being my insurance.)
2. to use for comparisons.
(I did the same thing with my black and white roll that hasn't been developed yet. I am experimenting right now, getting an idea for how each camera and each film that I'm using, look.)

These are my color film shots of Sophia in my pearls. There is a definite difference in the look of the image. The grain, the tones of the color. Im not convinced that one is better than the other because I really like them both. However, I will say, I really liked the fact that all I did was resize and post these. No editing whatsoever. That is huge for a mother of four who can barely blog anymore because it takes so much time.








So what do you think? You can view the digital images HERE

We have been so busy with family over the past few weeks.
First my dad and Terrisa came into town. The my sister-in-law Candice and my niece Adia came into town. Then Steven's parents were in town.
It has been non stop family for nearly 3 weeks. We have had such a great time and I have a lot of pictures to post. Until then, here is Asher with both sets of grandparents.



Asher was blessed last Sunday. It went very well. Steven bought him this new outfit, that incidentally is size 9 months!! This occasion was one of the main reasons that Stevens parents were in town. This photo is the only one we got from his blessing day. #fail.



Im so thankful to my parents and Stevens parents for all the support and love they so freely give to our family. Its so nice to have loving, generous family around.

when he sleeps.

I insisted on taking some pictures of Isaiah in his "get up". What is Isaiah's "get up" you ask? Well lemme tell you. Its this button up shirt and these green pants. He wears them every day. This is what he lounges around the house in and what he sleeps in. In fact, if he is wearing a t shirt, he will change into this button up for bed. He makes me laugh.
Anyway, we went outside in the freezing air to snap these pictures. The wind was blowing like crazy! It made for some fun images.

and they are SPECTACULAR!

This session is gonna knock your socks off.
Literally.

I have yet to process the digital edits but I just developed a roll of film I've been shooting for the past month and these images were on it.

Why I didnt shoot the whole session on this roll of film I will never know. I will probably be kicking myself forever more because of it. Truth is, I havent shot a roll of film in a long time. I was using an unfamiliar camera and I didnt want my exposures to be messed up and risk the chance of not getting what I wanted out of this shoot. Therefore, I only shot three frames on film. I love each one of them.

The full session will be up shortly.





Kodak Portra 400.

Oh, and before you start thinking that I've jumped on the Film is not Dead bandwagon...I havent.
I love me some digital.
I will be shooting film regularly though.
To keep me sharp, to mix up my process, and to save myself time in front of the computer.

My name is Kiera and I used to blog.
Yeah, no more.
I have so much to post.
I am totally backed up.
I get overwhlemed if I think about it too much.
Blogging has become very difficult to do.
My time is not as free as it once was.
I have a couple of portrait sessions to post along with a ton of family stuff but sadly, I will probably never get fully caught up.
So for now, here is one of my favorite and most willing subjects to photograph.
Asher "Badasher" Leo .
Be warned. This kid will charm your pants off and if you're not careful, you wont be able to blog anymore either.




I promise some new stuff coming up soon.