{the many faces}

This little guy was a riot. I kid you not – he made so many faces during our session that I just couldn’t resist pulling this collage together for fun.

This makes me smile.

And some thought I was kidding about the faces!

{M session revisited}

I couldn’t resist posting some more from this session! It’s always a great feeling when you have so many pictures you like that you just can’t stop yourself from sharing.

The quintessential family picture. I like this one because it’s the traditional, everyone is happy kind of look but with a contemporary twist.

{brothers}

Now, this is my kind of picture. I like that it’s off beat; that one can see how little the kids are compared to their parents; that it’s casual and real– something that might happen on any given day; and that its sweet. I also liked the texture look on pictures like this but that’s just a personal preference. This is more of an artsy picture in a style I enjoy. But I am also aware that not all clients like something like this so during my sessions, I make sure I mix it up. I balance the desire for artistic expression against what the client expects and wants and then I make sure I shoot a lot of pictures that satisfy both!

:: The M Family session ::

This morning I shot a session for the wonderful M family. They are such a fun, easy-going and loving family that it made for a great shoot. Big brother Zay was such a lil’ goofball. He loved making faces for the camera. The challenge was to capture him without the silly faces (fun as they were) and I’m happy to report that we succeeded. Little brother N was happy to toddle around, kiss his mom & dad and dance with his big brother. And then the parents- what can I say? E & S have always been great in front of a camera and today was no exception. I was able to capture some of the loving moments between them and with the kids. I can’t wait to share all the pictures with you but for now here are a few to tide you over. Hope you like them! Thank you for allowing me a peek into your family!

Such a handsome little guy!

I love how his smile lights up his eyes!

I love this shot. One of my favorites for sure.

{CSL fun}

A few weeks ago I got to volunteer at Jayden’s preschool. It was such a fun and different experience for me to be on the inside interacting with the kids and playing with them as opposed to where I’m usually at– on the other side of the observation window, watching.

I know I haven’t mentioned it on this blog before but I love the preschool program Jayden attends. He goes to the ASU CSL (Arizona State University Child Study Lab). It’s affiliated with ASU and is housed under their Department of Psychology. CSL is a developmental based preschool. They believe that a child’s natural curiosity leads them to learn and that play is instrumental in the process. And as such everything they do is directed towards providing opportunities for the child to discover & learn.

Their director, Ms. Beth, along with the rest of the CSL staff do a phenomenal job. Beth just happens to teach Jayden’s class. She is just so good at what she does that I am in awe sometimes. Seriously. There is a reason behind every single thing they do at this school, big and small — and it is always focused on teaching the kids skills they’ll need later in life. And they come up with the neatest ideas for imaginative play. For example, one of the teachers told me about a manicure/pedicure station they were setting up for the 3 year olds where they planned to use finger paints for nail color. Or the hair dresser salon complete with a pretend hair dryers, combs, brushes and empty boxes of hair color. I never realized quite how much goes into teaching and I learn something new each time. Jayden is truly lucky.

As I was in class that week, I got the rare opportunity to take some pictures of the kids as they were busy doing what they do best– play! I managed to get some fantastic portraits of the kids and also quite a few fun ones of them playing and going through their daily routine. I love so many pictures that I will probably spread them out over a few posts. Here’s a few for today:

This is a common sight. The kids tend to flock to Ms. Beth.

Group time towards the end of class.

J’s Slideshow…

… is now up on my site.

To view it, go to www.sriluviene.com and you’ll find it under Slideshows.

This is a custom slideshow that I created using a few images from her session. Her mom and I picked out the song together. All my clients are offered an add-on option of a custom sideshow set to their choice of music. I have found that it makes for a fun way of viewing and sharing pictures with friends and family. In my opinion, having your favorite pictures set to music definitely elevates the whole viewing experience. I have started doing this a lot with my family pictures as well. If this is something you are interested in, I encourage you to add this option. You won’t regret it.

edited to add: what’s a post without a picture (or 2 or 3)?!

:: quiet pride ::

There has never been a day when I have not been proud of you, I said, though some days I’m louder about other stuff so it’s easy to miss that. — the storypeople

I discovered the storypeople a few weeks ago and absolutely love their work. I ran across this quote and it instantly reminded me of something that happened about a week ago. Often times we get so busy with the day-to-day grind that we forget to take a step back, breathe and soak in the moment. To take note of the simple and not-so-simple things that kids do. They are constantly growing and learning new things and as a busy mom, sometimes I let life get in the way of acknowledging it.

Jayden has been building train tracks for some time now. It started with him observing his dad and soon he started building alongside him. I remember how proud I was when a couple months later, I walked into a room and saw that he had built an entire track from scratch, complete with turns and a ramp or two. That was on July 10th last year. About 6 months ago. I know this because it was so important to me that I took a picture (don’t I always? ). In fact, here it is.

He was a little over 2 1/2 at the time. I thought it was a truly impressive feat at that age to be able to think through the logic of putting it all together at a time when fine motor skills are still being honed.

A week or so ago I walked upstairs to find that my little guy has now taken track building to a whole new level! In 6 months he has come so far that he has more than surpassed his mom. Take a look:

Was I flabbergasted? Um.. you could say that. He built this on his own…in it’s entirety! I did not help him. His dad was at work. I studied the train to make sure the logic would work — that there weren’t any loops that he wasn’t using and sure enough, he had it built right. Now I don’t know if got lucky or was smart but regardless that’s an impressive feat. What’s even more impressive to me is that it doesn’t take him very long to build something like this. It probably takes him an hour to an hour and half.

Am I bursting with pride? Most definitely.

Another favorite picture

For those of you that missed my last post, my website is up and running.

Check out my work at www.sriluviene.com

I was working on J’s slide show and ran across a picture that I really wanted to share with you. As a photographer, there are times that you know the instant you release the shutter that the picture is it. It’s a keeper. It’s money - if you will allow me to steal a word from Swingers. I liken it to when I used to play basketball back in school, and there would be times during play that you know the instant you release the ball– it’s good. It’s going in. You don’t even have to wait for it to reach the basket. You just know.

Well, for me, this picture falls in that rare category. I remember the second I took the shot, I walked up to J’s mom and showed it to her on my LCD. Now this is usually not a recommended practice for a professional photographer because you can’t be a 100% sure by looking at the LCD just what the quality of that picture will be. While it may look good on the surface, there could be a slight shake or a closed eye or a bad expression- and it wouldn’t show up till you zoomed in or downloaded the picture. And then you run the risk that you won’t live up to the client’s expectation if the picture doesn’t make the final cut. Just like J’s mom wondered when she asked about it. But no worries R — this shot was money. I just hadn’t had time to process it till now. And here it is:

{photo notes} :: Now, there are many reasons I like this shot. Besides the exposure being right on, her expression is natural. She has a huge grin. She is having fun and it shows. But artistically, too, this is a shot that appeals to me. It is out of the ordinary. The pillar (and the reflected pillar) frame her and her reflected self perfectly. It’s hard enough at times to get one half of this shot when it’s not posed, what with her joyous expression, but to get it so that her and her reflection are both visible, in focus and symmetrical is rare — given that this shot was not set up. Or it is, at least for me. This was not a posed shot. This is not a cropped shot. It’s is the shot as taken (plus some post processing to make it b&w).

Srilu Viene Photography — Website launch!

It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here!! I am so excited! After a ton of work, my website is up and ready for you to visit. Check me out at:

www.sriluviene.com

Let me know what you think!

:: Stay tuned ::

I will have some exciting business- related news to share in the next couple days so stay tuned. Right now, I’m up to my neck in proofing so I’ll leave you with this interesting picture while I get back to work.

On first glance this might look creepy to some. This is a close crop of a picture that I was editing earlier today. I thought it was really neat how you can see John and my reflection in Jayden’s pupil. Just thought I’d share!

:: let’s talk details ::

It’s been a while since I discussed photography tricks and tips so I figured we could talk about it today.

Often times when I look through pictures, I find that I am drawn to ones which show details. Not only are they interesting but they go a long way towards capturing that precious memory. A child’s tiny little hands coloring, working with play-doh, painting, building trains, a solitary tear rolling off a child’s face, little hands decorating cookies, tiny feet riding a bike and endless others that you encounter in a child’s daily life.

{photographer notes} :: The key to capturing interesting detail shots is to use a shallow Depth of Field (DOF). Depth of Field refers to how much of the image is in focus. A shallow (or narrow) DOF means only a portion of the image is in focus while a high DOF means that all of the image is in focus. In a detail shot, leaving only a portion of the image in focus and hinting at the rest can really increase the wow factor. To do this, you need to set your camera on Aperture Priority (Av) mode and use a low f-number. The lower the f-number, the more shallow the DOF and thus less of the image is in focus. This draws your eye to the focused portion, making it important.

When I take pictures, I always make it priority to capture those details that I want to remember. Moms — Try shooting detail pictures if you get a chance – years from now, you’ll be glad you did!

I’m not crazy and I can’t explain it, but I just love this picture of my baby girl’s rear end.

A good friend of mine, Monica, gave us this ornament the year John and I were married. She gives us an ornament every Christmas and I treasure them all.

For some inane reason, my girls LOVE Elmo. So we are now the proud owners of many things Elmo!

Jayden loves building trains and has gotten rather good at it, if I say so myself. I intend to dedicate an entire post to my little engineer but for now, this picture shows him doing what he loves.

And my personal favorite, little Nia perched herself on her big brother’s bike. My style is normally very clean and contemporary but every now and then I love what texture can do.

Whew! Those were a lot of pictures! But I love documenting what my kids do on a daily basis so I had a lot to share.