Out with the Old!

I'm a few days late with this - I had every intention of publishing this post on December 31, 2009 hence the cute title. So much for that plan....
Please meet me over at my new blog:  kellynphotography.com/blog

While you're there make sure you check out the Gallery, which includes the highlights of my 2009 sessions.  I won't be posting here anymore, so please update your bookmarks!  I look forward to seeing you at my new "home"!

Trying to SOAR!

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while might remember a post I did earlier this summer about learning to jump.  In it, I talked a bit about all the things I was scared to do, and how I'm learning to get over myself and do them for the sake of being a good role model for my boys and not instilling the same fears in them that I have in myself.  Another example of that occurred for me this month in the form of a photography scholarship opportunity.  Me Ra Koh, whose photography workshop I went to earlier this year, announced a scholarship called SOAR!

After a lot of consternation and sleepless nights trying to figure out the perfect thing to say in the video, I created something that I think sums me up pretty well.  If you'd like to take a look at my SOAR! video, I'd love to have your support!  Hope you all had a great holiday.  More to come soon!

The Calm AFTER the Storm

Was it the "Snowpocalypse"? Or was it the "Shopper Stopper Storm"? Whatever you called it, we had a whole lot of snow here yesterday!
I first heard mention of snow on Thursday morning. I overheard a shop keeper mention 5 inches while I was out on an errand. By the time I was running on my treadmill on Friday morning, they were talking about 8-11 inches starting late Friday evening. My parents were supposed to come on Saturday morning to celebrate an early Christmas with us before they left for their vacation. They changed their plans to arrive Friday and try to beat the storm. I spent Friday running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying find boots for little C - Target only had rain boots, but they worked better than him wearing his only pair of shoes with sandwich bags over his socks.  After realizing that the snow was going to impact our Saturday dinner plans (going out!) I had to face the fact that I needed to go to Wegman's to get some groceries... I've always prided myself on not rushing out to the grocery store on the day before a storm. But there were extenuating circumstances right?
So we survived that, and I spent the afternoon creating my video submission for MeRa Koh's Soar With Mera Scholarship.  It shouldn't have been too difficult to do, but I let the pressure of it get to me and got myself worked into a tizzy about it.  My wonderful husband came home early to help me record it and edit it, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up for our early arriving company.  My parents arrived about 20 minutes before the first flakes began to fall, and we spent the evening enjoying their company and watching the snow pile up.
When we got up yesterday morning, there were already 6-8 inches on the ground and it was coming down like crazy.  We bundled the boys up and they set out to help shovel the driveway.

Like the boots?!  He sure does.

 

Big C decided that it might be a lot of fun to try his off-roading remote control car in the snow.  Turns out, the snow sticks to the wheels pretty quickly and jams it up.

About an hour after these pictures were taken you couldn't even tell anyone had shoveled.  Another 10 inches came down during the course of the day, giving us a total of 19" officially.  Last night I took a few pictures looking out the front window.  These aren't totally in focus, but I like them.

After a restless night of sleep, punctuated by the scraping and beeping of plow trucks, (can't say the plow guys here aren't thorough) I woke up early and took my camera out to document the peace and beauty of the fresh snow.  This is what the sunrise looked like today.

This is my Dad's car that spent the day in the driveway.  The drifts were amazing!

Our neighbor's back yard.  Care for a picnic?

Back to work again this morning!

So that was our weekend.  In between the snow, we had a lot of fun celebrating with Noni and Pops and Uncle Kev.  Hope you stayed warm and have managed to dig your way out!

Sibling Session

This weekend I got the chance to do something a little different than my usual family sessions.  As I have a five year old and a two year old, so far my circle of clients has included many classmates or mommy friends with similarly aged kids.  My sister-in-law asked me to come down to Hampton Roads Virginia this weekend to take some pictures of two of her friend's teenagers as a Christmas surprise.  I was a little worried about how we'd do - especially since it was about 30 degrees, but we had such a blast.  These two were so well mannered, so much fun, and clearly love each other (and their dad who we were surprising) a whole lot. 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't usually post the slide show from the session on my blog, but I'm so happy with how it came out that I can't help myself today.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Miss S is 6! | Ashburn Children's Photography

Last year when Big C was in preschool, his best friend was Miss S.  The two of them were huge fans of "doing Art" and would bring each other pictures to school each day that they had made.  I think S had a big influence on C's artistic style as every picture he makes to this day has a flower in it.  Unfortunately, now that they are in Kindergarten, S goes in the morning and C goes in the afternoon, so they don't get to see each other too much anymore. We did run into them at the park last week so they got to see each other again, although there wasn't much art at the park.  S is the youngest of 6(!) kids in her family, so Mom wanted to get some special pictures taken of her to mark her 6th birthday in style.  I got to spend a little time with S and her Mom at the park on a beautiful Sunday morning.  It was a little chilly and she was a little shy, but after some jumping, she got into it.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

 

 

 

She's getting ready to do a big Cheer Jump in this one!

The B Family | Northern Virginia Family Photography

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of photographing the B family at their home in Arlington, VA.  I met Lisa, a graphic designer, at the Me Ra Koh Confidence workshop that I attended in September.  She agreed to help me create a new logo in exchange for a photo session with her family.  It turned out to be a great deal for me, as she created a logo that I love!  I hope to reveal it along with my blogsite redesign after the holidays.

She and her husband have been in the process of renovating their home for a long time and have finally finished it up.  It was very cold on Saturday and she was really worried that I wouldn't get good light or pictures inside their house.  When I got there I couldn't believe how beautiful the light was.  It was like being in a studio!  They had two adorable girls - Miss A (4) and Little Miss C (2).  Miss A was a natural model.  Her sister is stuck in that "cheese" stage, so we had to work a little harder to get some natural looking faces from her, but I think we caught a few!  I hope you love these as much as I do!

 

 

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Car

Car Who?

Daddy Car!

Repeat (20 times)...

This is what's been going on in our house for the past few days.  Little C (and for that matter Big C) have learned about knock-knock jokes.  Neither one of them really seems to quite understand the premise of how they're supposed to work.  Little C has been incessant with the jokes.  We all were driving home from an adventure on Sunday when he trotted this one out on us:

Knock Knock

Nobody's home. (me frustrated after repeating the above scene over and over again)

Pause

Ding Dong!

I guess maybe he does understand them...

It's been a long time since I've done a post about my two favorite boys.  I can't get over what big kids they are.  In fact right now the three of us are sitting together on the sofa.  Big C has decided that Little C needed to be introduced to the movie Cars and he's explaining it all in great detail as we watch the race scenes from the movie.  It's really cute listening to them together.

They both are doing so many new things that just amaze me.  Every morning now when we get down stairs Big C has written and drawn something for us.  Yesterday it was "I like my toys to be in a box", with a picture of a box with all his toys in it. The day before he drew a picture of each day of the week, and wrote the names of the days.   The words may not be spelled correctly, but he's figuring out the sounding out part of reading and writing.  His little bro, meanwhile is talking up a storm, has just started eating at the table with the rest of the family instead of with his high chair tray, and has sort of mastered using a spoon.  He also suddenly has very strong opinions about everything, and he's much more vocal about them than his brother ever was.

We are all looking forward to the holidays this year, and while Little C has no idea about what's about to happen, his brother has made his list multiple times.... I have some work to do...

We've had a lot of dreary weather lately, but last week I took my camera out to the bus stop and caught a few cute ones of the two of them while we waited for the bus.  They love to walk on the balance beam, play red light green light, and chase each other around while we wait...

 

The J Family Mini Session | Ashburn Family Photography

I had the opportunity to photograph a family mini session this weekend with three super handsome and super well mannered young men.  These three made my job a lot easier.  They took direction well, and didn't have any complaints about posing for pictures.  We knocked their session out in 30 minutes and got a lot of great shots.  Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

A bit of housekeeping

Those of you who are used to coming here through blogspot.com may have encountered a warning message before you came here today.   I just wanted to let everyone know that the blog will now officially be located here at blog.kellynphotography.com.  Apparently there's already another "Kelly Nelson Photography" out there in the world and she beat me to the domain name.    As I mentioned in a previous posting, I'm in the process of developing more of a brand identity for Kelly Nelson Photography, so you'll probably see some more changes in the coming weeks. 

G Family | Reston Family Photography

I've rekindled a lot of old friendships in the past 6 months through Facebook and made some new ones as well.  One of those people that I reconnected with recently is Jen G.  She was in my sorority at Virginia, and we lost touch after graduation.  When we reconnected, she and her husband were preparing to bring a new member info their family.  Within days of catching up with her, they were off to meet and welcome Mr. K into their lives.  I have seen the pictures they've posted on Facebook of this cutie, and the way their family has grown, and was thrilled when they asked me to document this stage in their life.  He's not quite one yet, but already taking those first tentative steps, so he was a lot of fun to photograph. 

He didn't want to do anything with this chair except to try and "Strong Man" it.  He didn't have much success with that, but was adorable in his attempts.

 

 

 

 

The weather wasn't great on Saturday, we actually spent 15 minutes hiding in a picnic shelter to avoid the rains, but I'm thrilled with what we got.  G family, it was great to see you again and meet Mr. K.  I hope you enjoy the previews here.  It was a privilege to take your photos.

Fall Mini Sessions

The holidays are approaching, and it's a great time to start thinking about holiday photos.  I'm going to be holding a weekend of Mini Sessions on October 17 and 18.  Mini sessions are ideally suited for capturing the holiday card shot or for that perfect gift for Grandma and Grandpa.

• Price: $75
• Location: Legacy Park in Brambleton
• 30 minute photo session for up to 5 family members
  
• 15-20 photos available online for proofing
  
• Includes one digital image for use in a holiday card OR one 8x10 photo
• Prints available at standard pricing (contact me for price list)

Full service sessions are also still available for several weekends this fall.  Regular session pricing starts at $150.

Workshop Review

As I said in my previous post, I had the most amazing weekend at the Me Ra Koh Confidence workshop this past weekend. One of the most exciting parts was the opportunity to do two different styles of photo shoots while gaining feedback and constructive criticism from not only two renowned international wedding photographers, but also working with and observing the 19 other women in attendance. The first day, we focused on moms and babies and learned how to better take advantage of low lighting and difficult surrounding situations. Can you believe that these shots were all taken in a hotel conference room, and that mere feet away was a table with left over lunch dishes on it? I have to say that of all the shots I took this weekend, this first one is far and away my favorite. This beautiful baby was only 6 weeks old, but her mom seemed to already be so in tune with her. I don't think I ever managed to look this comfortable and beautiful at 6 weeks post-baby.

There were actually a total of four babies and moms who came down to help us out on Saturday. One of the moms is actually a neighbor of mine who recruited her friend to join us at the last minute. These shots of their two babies together make me laugh every time I look at them. He was really putting the moves on her...


This final little guy was a miracle baby - born very premature, but at 9 months he's thriving and was super flirtatious with all the ladies that were taking his picture.

On Sunday we had another opportunity to watch Me Ra in action as she lead us on a series of family shoots. There were only three families that came, so it was a bit more challenging to get good shots without stepping on the other ladies toes - or winding up in their picture. For these we headed out to the streets of DuPont Circle. There is so much variation in the architecture down there it's hard to believe these were all taken within 100 feet of each other. I only had the chance to get one shot of this little cutie, but I really like the dynamic that I caught.


This family was just great. The two little boys reminded me so much of my own, both in their coloring and demeanor. The older brother was so serious and not happy about being there until we got him to loosen up and have some fun, then he started smiling for us. It really helped when Dad made some crazy monkey sounds. One think I took away from the shoot is that if I act goofy the kids don't really care, but when Dad and Mom go crazy, the kids can't do anything but laugh.

What a weekend!

Wow. I had the most amazing weekend. I had the privilege of attending a Confidence Workshop with Me Ra Koh and her hilarious husband Brian. I met such a diverse and amazing group of women - each looking to better herself and her photography for both personal and professional reasons. We covered so much material - from shooting in low light to coaching families to post processing to the meaning behind it all. My husband and friends have asked me several times about how my weekend was and what I learned, and while I was able to rattle off info about my light meter and editing, I still don't think I've been able to process what I really learned about myself. I think that's going to come a little later.

Here are a few images from the weekend. These are shots of Me Ra and her husband Brian in action.


We had two different groups of models come in over the weekend, Saturday we did Moms and Babies, and on Sunday we had some families come down. Those were great and I got some shots that I'm very proud of, but I'm not quite ready to post those right now. Instead, enjoy some colorful shots from the DuPont Circle Farmer's market that I stumbled upon on Sunday morning when I went out looking for breakfast. There were so many beautiful colors and textures, I was so glad I had my camera. These people take such pride in their produce, it was fascinating watching them set everything up and stage everything just so.

I'd never seen purple peppers before! I was fascinated.

Pop Quiz

Which of these kids has a Mom who takes too many pictures of him?

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. Things have been a little crazy personally here as we get used to our school and sports schedules, so I've been letting photography things slide a bit. I am working towards a total overhaul of my brand, and a more official business site in the coming months. My biggest news right now is that I'm going to a workshop this coming weekend here in DC that I am so excited about. I know I'll have a ton of photos to share along with my experiences there.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures that I took over Labor Day weekend, when we went on a surprise trip to Cary, NC to see my sister-in-law and her family. We had other plans which fell through, so we called them up on Friday and invited ourselves down for the weekend. My niece HC is the exact same age as Big C, and my nephew G is about 6 months older than our little guy. The older ones have such fun playing together, and it was fun to see the little ones try to keep up. I was hoping to do a real family shoot with them, but we since we were total pop-ins, we didn't have the chance. In spite of that, here are a few pictures of the cousins having fun together.

My beautiful niece HC

My nephew G rocking the sit-n-spin.Snacktime on the big bench

How stinkin' cute are these two? Apparently I didn't get any of Little C. He was there and had fun, I promise.

The Wheels on the Bus...

So today was finally the big day. The first day of school. Finally. We were so excited this morning we could hardly stand it. Big C couldn't sit still. This is what he did all morning. He was running laps in our bedroom, and practicing his sliding. Here he is mid-slide.

He's in afternoon kindergarten, so the bus comes for him at 11:20. Which means we started eating lunch at 10:45. I think its going to take some adjusting to that schedule. We were ready by 11:05 and took the obligatory pictures on the front steps.

We measure Big C every three months on the 8th in order to track his growth (yes, we're ocd engineers), so this morning happened to be a measuring day. I knew he'd grown a lot this summer, but I was shocked that he was an inch and a quarter taller than on June 8th! Here's my big guy walking up to the bus stop.Being the first day, the bus was running a bit behind schedule, so we had a little time to kill. After running up and down the street about 10 times, he tried to do a handstand....

The bus was finally coming! We all had our hugs and kisses and then the bus turned the wrong direction and went down the wrong street. We were a little dismayed, but they figured it out.
Finally coming!
He climbed right on with a hello to the driver Miss J and never looked back.

And off they went... He had a great day today and skipped the whole way home from school. I think he's going to like it...