United Way Auction

United Way Auction
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

this is from tonight's session which was a donation for our United Way fund raiser. There were six adults and two kids which is ALOT for my little studio. Gosh, their red hair works perfect with my new backdrop.

Our Tree

Our Tree
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

Merry Christmas to all - happy Christmas Eve!

Ornament Envy

Ornament Envy
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

Every year my old homecare group has done the steal-it ornament exchange game. This was a hot one this year as evidenced by my friend, Cheryl's, face. Sadly, FHN has decided to close their Home Care business by the end of the year. It doesn't seem possible that I have been gone from there for ten years!

Ice Storm

ice storm
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

So much ice is on the trees in our yard but, so far, we haven't lost any large branches. I had a snow day today and was able to make good progress on my backlog of photos.

This is from our front porch looking at our Christmas (disco) ball "ornament" hanging in the birch tree. The lights at the bottom are one of the larger branches that is laying down on the sidewalk. You can see the lights on the house across the street, too.

4 - 2 - 0

That's the age of all the little boys from this past week. Last night was Grady and he's only 14 days old. He came a little before his due date on November 20th. What a blessing for me to be able to see these wee ones with their funny noises and wrinkly knees. There are a hundred cute photos of him but this has got to be one my favorites. He was super cute on the bear, au naturel, but then Mom pulled out the red hat and just made the shot!

All Boys this Week

I just realized I have three sessions this week and they are all boys - that does not happen to me very often. This little guy, Andrew, wanted to play with our toys more than pose for photos, but that's typical! Unfortunately, he started out by tipping off my big, Santa bag so, that didn't help much. Love these dimples!

The inspiration for this 20x20 storyboard came from another photographer, Sara Ulrich. I'm afraid I'm not that creative! The saying reads, "son - a noise often accompanied by dirt, full of energy"

Session from Last Night - Perfect Poser!

This cute four-year-old, Christian, has a perfectly natural smile. I didn't even realize how perfectly he had strung the train together in this photo. I am always so intent on looking at faces and eyes that I miss other things going on in the shot!

I'm ALMOST caught up from being gone and processing late orders. I would love to be able to blog my sessions in a timely manner like this! I cannot believe it's December 4th?

BTW - my husband and I have a routine with Our Daily Bread and breakfast each morning. Today, we didn't have the newest book so, we used the laptop and had a multimedia devotion. It was a very nice, calm and relaxing voice with background music. It's a wonderful way to start our days and we aren't very disciplined with many things but we have done this for about seven years.

Attitude of Gratitude

We had a very meaningful sermon by Mark today titled, An Attitude of Gratitude. He referred to Luke 17:15 - "One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice." We are SO very thankful and praise God for His grace. Dawn asked me yesterday why I thought that Molly had to suffer through all this. All I can say is that Molly has been inspirational with her strength and positive attitude. I'm sure that she has come into contact with many people and her light has shone brightly. She didn't dwell on the negative or blame anybody for it. She only worried and cried over her children. Her last roommate was exactly the opposite.

While spending all that time in the recovery room she made jokes with doctors and nurses. I recently had a colonoscopy and was quite a baby about it - needless, to say, Molly was on my mind the entire time. How many tests she has endured, trips to the ER, a burst appendix because she is so used to abdominal pain, no veins for IVs, fatigue and many other painful complications from Crohn's disease.

Just want to share a photo from my last day at Molly's - and also a slideshow! Nic and Jason played their version of one-on-one tackle football. They play until one of them gets hurt so, it's fun until then! Funny, Nic looks like the tough one in this photo, doesn't he?



If you'd like to see more, see this slideshow.

She's Home - Molly's Home!

She finally got to come home on Friday afternoon, with all her family. How great is that!!? I came home on Thanksgiving morning with such mixed feelings. I wanted to be home, at least for a while, but I hated leaving not knowing what was happening for sure with Molly. Her infection seemed to be responding to the antibiotics and then, by Friday morning, they knew they were on the right track and that oral antibiotics were treating the infection. In some ways, I guess, it was a blessing in disguise. Molly had more time to get stronger (which helped her fight the infection) and, more times to work with the stoma nurses. Her last text message from the hospital about her last night were: I journaled, I read, and counted my blessings instead of sheep.

I know Jason and Nic are so happy to have their Mom and Dad back and their life! I'm sure it was the first time that I ever drove to MY house on Thanksgiving. I watched "The Witch is Dead" movie with Erin, Kelby and Paige and Molly and I agree with Dorothy: "there's no place like home."

We thank God for all of the great friends and family that prayed, studied her medical chart, kept the nurses on their toes, sat by her bed, fanned her when she was SO hot, brought food, sent cards and flowers, drove and picked up Dinna from the airport, prayed, kept the boys, and prayed some more.

More Fall Photos from My Walk

Last Rose

Last Rose
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

Seems like all I do is sit and wait to hear the latest news from Cleveland. I did go for a walk today, and took a bunch of images of the beautiful leaves that are left on the trees here.

This rose seems pretty melancholy - like me.

Update - Antibiotics not Working on Infection

Right after I heard from Molly yesterday (and she sounded SO good) she learned that her white blood cell count had increased. Of course, that's bad news for getting home by Thanksgiving. This is hard on the boys - but they had been doing really good and were very optimistic up until this setback. They went to see her briefly on Sunday and I think that was good for Molly and for them.

Gotta' go and cook some hot breakfast for these boys - keep praying!@

Molly Still Isn't Home - Recovering from Emergency Surgery

Last Wednesday, I was on my way back to Cleveland when I got a call from Mark saying Molly had been taken in for emergency surgery. This turned out to be a major setback due to the unknown cause for the blood clot and excessive bleeding. Also, everything seems to move glaciarally slow at the Cleveland Clinic. Post-surgery, she remained in the recovery room for over 24 hours and the in SICU for another 24 hours. She was finally moved back to the nursing unit at midnight on Saturday night (after they said they didn't move people to the floor at night). There have been so many frustrating inconsistencies and delays but she is, at last, improving and supposed to return home by Wednesday.



I haven't really been in Delaware as much as I thought I would as Mark and Dinna and I have gone back-and-forth between here and Cleveland, a two hour drive. I did take a few photos here, driving to Cleveland and in the clinic which you will find in the slideshow. This is one my favorites, though.

I Miss Molly

I Miss Molly
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

My daughter, Molly, had surgery last Friday and hopes to come home tomorrow. Her cat, Nellie, misses her SO much. She paces around, sits on the stairs and whines. Here she's looking out the front door.

Molly was doing quite well but today has a fever, is vomiting and experiencing some other complications ... she's become a bit depressed about these developments and that's sad because she was really upbeat and focused on her quick recovery.

As you can see, I'm in Ohio and will be until the end of the week to help care for my oldest grandsons, Nic and Jason. They have been so great and getting along with each better than usual.

I'll get back to photo editing and ordering when I return this weekend - thanks for being patient with me!

Heather's Studio Session

Here are a couple from our studio session last night - it's so much fun trying out some cool effects on these photos of Heather. We had a great time.

I Hate to Say "NO"

It is very difficult for me to turn people away when they call and ask for photo session appointments. However, since there really is SO little time left until Christmas, I cannot accept any new clients until 2008. I have several orders still to process and also have a few family obligations that will make this time go even quicker.

I have been stunned by the word-of-mouth response since I started in February of this year. It has been a bit over-whelming to me in the past couple of months and find that I'm glued to my glaring computer screen most of my waking hours! I will need to make some adjustments in 2008 as I continue to work my full-time job at Highland while learning to meet the demands of this part-time photography business.

I have truly been blessed to meet so many new familes and children this past year. I know this is a bit early for such a relective post, but I feel that I need to share with all of you out there. Thanks for supporting me in this new endeavor.

witchey-dawn

witchey-dawn
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

This is Dawn in the witchey hat that Lars brought home for her to wear on the day of the party. I wore my Minnie Mouse hat, pink false eyelashes and my Minnie Crocs. Erin wore her MInnie Mouse costume - Jim called us Maxi and Mini. Not nice!!

Kelby and Jenny

k-and-jenny
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

Just one photo from Kelby's 6th birthday party - their sunroom is an awesome location for photos like this. He looked SO cute in this Halloween shirt. More photos to come on the creative decorations from the party.

October Wedding

Finally had a few minutes to post a few photos from Saturday's wedding of Amanda and Shaun. The deep red dresses were so gorgeous as was the bride! This is the link to their preview slideshow.

Molly's Family

These are a couple of favorites from our long weekend in Ohio over Columbus Day. We really got SO many great ones and the boys were very fun. On Saturday, they had football games and I didn't experience any "lens envy" this time using my 70-200mm. It was very hot in the sun but so delightful to watch Jason and Nic with their football teams. Molly and I got to do some antique shopping in anticipation of buying their new, old house (built in 1902).

Fall Session for Kelby and Erin

I have taken SO many family photos lately (as well as others) and just haven't had time to post. This is a quick slideshow from Kelby and Erin's session that we did a couple of weeks ago. I love Kelby's toothless smile! More to follow ....

http://www.nmbphotography.com/anderson%5Ffall/

More Wedding Photos and Video

Since Tiffany and Waleed are home from their honeymoon, now, it's ok to post the link to their wedding slideshow. Here are a couple more favorites from the day.

Wadi Wedding Slideshow

New Hat

New Hat
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

Doesn't this look cute on six-month-old Jaiden? It's a little large but I just love it on her. Guess I'll have to order a couple more from Deb at
http://www.nanabananadesigns.blogspot.com/ so I can give these away!

My Second Wedding

Last Saturday I had the privilege to photograph the wedding of Tiffany and Waleed. The ceremony and reception were in the bride's parent's backyard which is about a mile away from my house. That was handy when I discovered I had forgotten my second camera battery. My assistant, Kirsten, was able to jump in the car and run over to my house to get the battery which I definitely needed later on.

I was so very impressed with the love and emotion that this family revealed - especially evident during the ceremony which the bride's brother performed. I'm SO glad we stayed until the entertainment arrived. The hula dancers were just delightful and so was the time when the groom joined them on the "stage."

This photograph wouldn't have looked like this without the diffuser blocking out the afternoon soon. I really wanted to photograph them in this area of the park since we had taken some shots during their engagement session here.

Double Dip

double-dip
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

The bees are so intent lately on their pollinating process that they don't even fly away when I approach to take pictures. I'm totally in love with my new macro lens!

Another Christmas Card

Here's my newest template to choose from for Christmas cards this year. I just LOVE it! I know it would look better with a baby's photo but I'm really fond of the way my sister is looking at her husband of almost 50 years.
#9


And, this is a shot from our Sunday trip to White Pines State Park for the brunch.

New Podcasts, New Inspiration

Every so often I load up my iPod with new photography podcasts. A recent studiolighting.net podcast featured Jeremy Cowart. Check out his new website for some emotional photos of his Africa project.

My sister is gone along with her little bichon, Ellie, and Bogie is kinda' sad. They really got used to each and had great time playing. Ellie held her own even though she's much shorter and has quite a chubby little tummy. She is sure a feisty little girl.

Lightroom Workshop with Scott Kelby

Wow, I got to attend the Lightroom workshop with Scott Kelby in Chicago on Thursday. I've never been so focused for an entire day. He is brilliant and crazy funny all the time. Over 500 people were there and I had the pleasure to talk photography with Moira from Indianapolis during our fabulous buffet at the O'Hare Hyatt. It amazes me how many people are such serious photography hobbyies with all the professional equipment. Adobe's Lightroom is new software that helps photographers manage workflow and edit photos without opening every one of them in Photoshop. Awesome!

Now, I'm beginning a lovely three-day weekend and my oldest sister and husband are coming to visit. She lives in Las Vegas and is back in the midwest for a class reunion and family get-togethers. We will be doing a photo session of them for their 49th anniversary and I plan to use the flowers on the golf course in my backyard just like I did for my other sister's photo last fall.

This is a photo I shot last week on Monday - a totally perfect sunset. We drove out in the country to see the high river water and I had scoped out this tree on AYP road - knowing it would be a great sunset location. The second one is pretty natural, the first photo has extra vignetting and hue added in Lightroom.

Christmas in October Mini-Sessions

Are you thinking about Christmas cards yet? I am - especially since I've had my Fall, JCPenney catalogue for a long time now. I have set aside two days of 45 minute sessions to have your child's photograph taken and designed into a custom Christmas card. The $100.00 mini-session includes:

1. 50 custom-designed Christmas cards
2. one 11x14 portrait
3. 10% all other portrait prices
4. 20-30 images to choose from in an online gallery

So far, I only have time for eight of these mini-sessions. The available times are 9, 10, 11, 1, 2 and 3 on October 12th and 2 and 3 pm on October 13th. They are studio sessions only for this special. Call me or email NmB Photography to schedule your appointment. Must be paid for in advance to reserve your time.

Here are a few of the many designs that I have available to choose from. The cards are 5x7 and will be designed only from the templates that I currently have. Hope to see you for Christmas in October!

#1
#2


#3

#4

#5

#6

#7
#8

This is Love

This is Love
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

I'm crazy about this little pink girl and her pretty Mom from a recent session. She has the same name as one of my granddaughters, Paige. She is eight-months-old and was an absolute charmer.

Tiffany & Waleed

Tiffany & Waleed
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

This is one of my favorite photos from their engagement session. But then, I have alot so it's hard to choose.

Strong Jay

strong-jay
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

He's only eleven years old but growing bigger every day. My first grandson - I can't believe how tall he is now. I also couldn't believe how willing he was to pose for me. We took a bunch in the studio today and will take more outside tomorrow. Later ...

Beautiful Morning in the Park

Even though we had never met, Tiffany and Waleed and I didn't take long to get to know each other. What a beautiful couple! We rescheduled our session from last night to early this morning and we were so glad we did - it was about 20 degrees cooler than last night.

I can't wait for their outdoor wedding in September - here's a slideshow of some of their amazing images:

Tiffany and Waleed

Amanda and Shaun's Engagement Session

We decided on my college campus for the location of their session and I'm glad we did - the grounds really look beautiful this summer. We travelled around looking for various spots where we could get some fun interaction between the two of them. I find the engagement session allows the couple to become more comfortable with me taking LOTS of photographs and to learn what they like and don't like.

We were fortunate to have good, evening light which makes them look better than ever - here's the preview slideshow:
Amanda and Shaun

Tutu 2

tutu-2
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

We had to coax her into wearing this for the photos and then she didn't want to take it off. She wore it to dinner at Cannova's and afterwards rode the merry-go-round. Why, or why, didn't I take my camera to the park.

We had just been reading her new book, Puff the Magic Dragon, and listening to the music. This book is beautifully illustrated to describe the text which is the words to the son. The exclusive CD features songs performed by Peter Yarrow, his daughter Bethany, and cellist Rufus Cappadocia.

Anyway, Paige is very into this book so we had to visit the "magic" dragon in our park. She called the secluded area of the park, "The Dragon Cave" and insisted that we whisper while we were there. She also wanted us to circle the dragon while singing the Puff song. She's three - we did it.

Siblings

Siblings
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

I got several cute shots of Kelby and Erin while we were in Iowa City last weekend for Dawn's birthday. The guys got their hot tub running, put up a clothes line and installed a door bell in their new house. I mostly took pictures - what a deal.

garden-07

garden-07
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

It's good to be back home and out in my garden. Bogie and I took a walk on the golf course about sunset and I didn't hear any traffic or jets - just the birds. Sweeet.

It was a very informative workshop, though, and should make me more efficient with Photoshop.