An Incredible Photographer!

Wow!  Life has been busy!  I have not had the chance to sit and write in far too long and I am glad to be back at it.  What I find funny is that the last blog post I wrote about was how to use tools to help you keep on track when blogging!  Goes to show that even with the best tools possible, if you are super busy, life takes over.  

Well, as I get back into things I really wanted to share with you a wonderful photographer with great talent that I recently had the pleasure to work with.  Well, work with is not really true, she worked and I watched ;)  

Recently she called and asked if she could use my Muppin in a photo shoot she wanted to do.  Now, I have always thought that in no way would I ever let my Muppin do modeling of any kind, never!  Modeling can be a slippery slope with lots of dangerous ledges for some people.  Well, once again I realize you should never say never!  I guess I didn't even think twice about saying yes because of the person doing the shoot! She is an amazing woman that I have had the honor to get to know over the last few years and I have no doubt about how she would treat my daughter. 

The photographer is Heather who owns Elements Photography!  To say the least she is incredible!  In few years I have known her I have seen her artistry just blossom and turn into something truly beautiful.  Heather is a a natural light portrait photographer and all her sessions are done on location, however, she is working toward a natural light studio and I can't wait to see that when it is done.

Heather's primary focus is children and high school seniors, though she does photograph newborns, families, maternity and boutique.  I have seen examples of all her styles and love her artistry within each area.  Her love of color is truly captured and there is a vibrant essence of mood and soul and she easily captures a true reflection of the individuals spirit and character.  Her motto is "Life in Focus" and I truly believe she captures that.

Recently Heather was featured in Dreamer - A Creative Sketchbook which is a collaboration between Shannon Sewell and Julie Martin (owner of Zozo Bug Baby clothing).  This is the feature that my daughter was blessed to be part of.  I am both proud of the kids and Heather for putting together such amazing work and sharing that talent with the rest of us.  If you follow the link at the beginning of this paragraph you can look through Dreamer and find Heather's work about halfway through.  Her work is titled "Ice Cream Social" and is on page 41-46 and the shoot turned out really amazing!  You can tell through the pictures she is truly great with kids.

If you live in the South Puget Sound area in WA State I highly recommend Heather with Elements Photography!  Follow her link to her website here and enjoy her works of art.  Her fees are also listed there and are very good prices.  Thanks Heather for your amazing talent!

Photos by
Heather @ Elements Photography

https://www.facebook.com/elementsphotography

http://www.elementsphotodesign.com/index2.php?v=v1#/home/

My Daughter, Writer and Illustrator!

My daughter is a lot like her daddy and her mommy in many ways.  First she has the love of drawing that is definitely like her daddy.  My husband is an amazing artist and writer as well and he loves to share his love of drawing, painting and creating with her all the time.  It seems my Muppin can't do anything without drawing or doodling to help her get done with a project. Oh, and don't forget the singing, wiggling, fidgeting, and dancing!

I love to write and so does my husband, so she was destined to love writing too.  Just like drawing and painting, writing is a creative process and she does such a great job.  She has now written at least 10 books and she has illustrated them as well.  Her newest one is called "Best friends forever."  It is about her and of course her best friend.  She loves her best friend like crazy and when she thought of making her a book nothing was going to stop her!

She captures in each picture all the things they love to do together and it is amazing to see the things she notices about herself and about her friend that are the same and different, and it is a blessing to see how she celebrates both those things. 

As far as homeschooling goes there couldn't be a better project for her to work on.  I guess it is kind of like notebooking, a method of teaching that gets the children thinking about what they have learned and putting it on paper, instead of having them just answer questions to see what they have forgotten.  She is thinking out the parts of the story she wants to tell, working out how many pages she will need, then drawing the pictures.  Once that is done she writes her story on a notebook page and I go behind her and correct her spelling and punctuation and she has to rewrite it correctly.  Once it is all correct and it says everything she wants it to say then she has to write it on the pages of her book.

What a fun way to learn about grammar, spelling, writing, penmanship and story telling.  Someday she wants to have her books published and I believe she will.  We may even do a study on how that happens one of these days too!  

Does your child love the artsy side of life?  What is their favorite way to express their artistic side?