Hope you had an enjoyable weekend and I’d love to see what you did this weekend!  Comment below with a link to a photo of what YOU did, never know, might be a little prize offered to my favorite story!

The shootouts are generally geared for more of a Maxium??  style theme.  That obviously is so not my style, but I love to manipulate the angles and the lights to achieve a softer, feminine inspired photo.  One that embraces the model and empowers her beauty, while limiting the sexual undertones.

Here are  a few shots from the shootout.  If you are a photographer, hobbyist or semipro, think about joining the meetup.com group.  The experience is so worth it, networking, and the information acquired is top notch!

Here are a few examples of What to Wear, offered by Corina Nielsen Photography.  I love these combos because her winter in California is similar to ours here in the Pensacola/Gulf Coast area.  While it has been known to dip into freezing temps, we usually manage to pull up into the 50′s mid day so the layering is very important.

Enjoy these guides and as always I love to help in the styling department of your shoot.  I will help pick out outfits, hair, shoes and location to make the most of YOUR time and get the very best from YOUR session as possible!

First up!  RED!  Valentines inspired!  This is a great look for winter here in our area where the green on the trees is still very dominate.  Dark green from the evergreen trees will make these colors pop in your photos.  Mom sports a sleeveless dress, but notice the denim jacket ladies!  This is KEY!  When viewing a photo, the eye goes to exposed skin, it is how we are trained.  We want to keep the FACE the largest area of exposed skin (in  most cases…. there are exceptions to every single rule).

I really love this next look for TWO reasons.  The boots! (of course) and the little girls shirt.  I am pretty sure I need that shirt for my daughter.  I am a sucker for stripes.  You can see here that nothing is matchy matchy, the colors blend well and coordinate but it is not 4 of the same shirt or even same color.  And what I want to stress with you the most is do you see ONE white shirt and Khaki pants in this entire guide?  NO!  That combo is very cute but lets get creative and come up with something that will flatter YOUR style.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!  PURPLE.  I have a very strong LOVE/HATE relationship with purple.  It was my least favorite color when I was younger.  Now however I am drawn to it, like a moth to a flame.  It is so rich, it explodes warmth in a photo….  Look at the moms outfit, again layers, spaghetti sleeve top with a cardigan over it!   YES!  Dad’s shirt is a gray pinstripe and check out the boys outfit, they grabbed the gray and gave him a little tie!  How adorable!

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With this being said, I can not do a project365 because I know I would not keep up with it, sure the first few weeks, even months would be good, but then nope, I’d get really behind and just give up.  So instead I am going to try a project52.  It is a weekly project.  I figure I can find a few minutes each WEEK to blog my thoughts on that week, if nothing more then a journalistic type of project, enhanced with a theme and photos.  I am going to try to follow the one from My Four Hens.  I have also found some wonderful presets for LR that makes importing and processing my personal photos so easy, I have no reason not to upload them, as it takes only about 2 minutes and done.  They are from Courtney Yarberry Photography and really are wonderful for a nice soft process I prefer for personal photos.

So here goes…..

Week 6 | Emotion

So whoops!  I’m a little behind this week!  It is crazy here in my house. I am gearing up to go to Las Vegas with my fabulous hubby!  Who would have known that getting ready for a vacation is so stressful!  I am happy to say we will be child free, my Sister in Law is coming down to take care of my children (god bless her, ya’ll might want to say a few prayers for her this week….).  I did not really get too much into my camera either, but we did take a trip down to the beach on the weekend.  It was a wonderful day, not too cool, just about right for some fun in the sand and a walk on the beach.  It was very hazy and overcast, but honestly, that is how I like my beach weather!  I’m not really a fun in the sun type of girl.   I have a totally separate blog post about these photos so I wont bore you with more then one, but I really think this photo does show emotion.  It shows togetherness.  I have no idea who this couple is, but I am making them my photo for the week!  Enjoy!

Week 5 | Simplicity

The theme for this week is Simplicity.  My side theme this week is white. Yesterday I took my oldest son to Fort Barrancas with his violin.  He started participating in strings this year and so far so good.  He is working very hard and enjoys it.  I felt this is very simple.  My child, with my camera, no added lighting, no planning, in a very simple setting.  For white!   The light pouring into the two windows on the side, is simply white.  Enjoy!

Week 4 | Imperfection

The theme for this week is Imperfection.  I am also doing a side theme from Evoking You of Textures.  I used the LR presets from Courtney Yarberry Photography and the textures in photoshop from Jessica Drossin.  I used Lost Story (warm) from the Illumination set.

So Imperfection.  Whesh where do I begin.  This photo is a good place to start.  My son forgets his homework at school ALL. THE. TIME.  However he is still an honor roll student, so he doesn’t really need the homework… but he still gets in trouble for not bringing his books home because that is what I’m asking of him.  For his punishment yesterday he had to write “I will always bring my homework and reading book home” 50 times.  He is imperfect.  I love him for this.   I am imperfect.  I have imperfect children, I am an imperfect parent, wife, daughter, and friend.  Those who can see past those imperfections and still find a place in my life are the best ones.  Enjoy the photo!

Week 3 | Inspiration

The theme for this week is Inspiration, which is fantastic because I’ve been so uninspired lately it is really pathetic.  I feel like I’ve pulled my camera out about as much as I scrub the floors, because I just do not “feel it” lately.  I feel like every shot I have the opportunity to take is so predictable,  my gorgeous daughter, a back light sunflare of my kids playing, my cat… you get the point.  I decided I needed a challenge, I signed up to go to a local meetup where they have a little different style then I do.  Boy did I find some inspiration.  I had to search and step out of my comfort zone to get shots I was comfortable with, but I think I came away with knowledge and a renewed sense of inspiration.  Enjoy the shots from this event.  More can be found here.

Week 2| Life (low light, after-dark, no flash)

I have found myself in TWO project 52′s this year, and while I am trying to keep them separate, well, they are just going to merge together sometime, right?  The theme for this week at My Four Hens is Life.  So much thought for such a simple word.  L.I.F.E.  hum… ok put a pin in that and come back later…..  In my other online group the theme is Low, light, after dark, no flash…  Gah!  I have a D90, not the best at high ISO, pretty dang noisy past 800, but that being said, I embrace noise.  I really like grain in certain photos.

A few weeks before Christmas a lady at my husband’s job gave him a child’s tent.  It is a small tent, it fits fully set up in a corner in my daughters room.  Tonight, I walked by and my older son was reading her a book, with all the lights out in the room and only a small camping lantern inside the tent for light… OMG!  Totally fits BOTH Projects!  I ran and grabbed my camera, laid on the floor in MY room (so I would not be seen or they would totally stop reading and dodge the camera, ahhhh such is the life of a photographer’s child) and snapped some shots.  Yes, they are grainy, yes, they are under exposed, yes I have total MOMMY goggles on while looking at the photos, but oh well.  I love them and I hope you will too!

The second one, while not at night, is still shot in low light, while I was loading the dishwasher, and my boys were doing homework.  This is pretty typical life around the weekday in our home.

Week 1| Resolution

I never make resolutions at the beginning of the year, they are pointless and forced, for me.  This is the first topic in the Project52 though so I decided to make my resolution sort of simple.  To be less OCD about my house.  Now those of you that have been to my house, you might be thinking, but Crystal I’ve been to your house, it isn’t clean.  haha.  Yes, you are correct.  What you do not know is how much of that occupies my mind all day long.  Seriously I probably spend 1/2 of every waking hour thinking about what I can straighten and/or clean.  I resolve not to think about it so much.  Do the basics and move on.  Yesterday was the perfect opportunity for the photo part of this project.  My children were not home, my usual routine would be to take them to school and come home and clean.  Just straighten really, no heavy duty scrubbing.  Instead, I sat down for 30 minutes and read some of my Kindle.  It was great.  The day went on, and no one complained that their space was not neat when they got home.  So here ya go, this is the aftermath of my children being home for a few hours the night before and not cleaning/straightening their spaces.  I would NEVER be able to walk by that open train/car storage bin and leave it like that, seriously I would think about it all day until it was done.  Yesterday I left it.  It is cleaned now (I had the kids do it last night before bed… gasp!) but it did feel good not to do it.

The shoes by the door.  I have to have them lined up straight on that line, yesterday I just left them.  gah!  Really, wow.  Such little things I obsess over, it is bad, isn’t it?

Enjoy these photos from a wonderful mini session that took place in the urban downtown area of Pensacola.

If  you would like more information on how to book your own mini session, please email me at CrystalBellePhotography@gmail.com

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