These are mine.

I got new blocks the other day from Amazon. I ordered them for me. Truely. I have wanted some for quite a while to use as a photography prop. Little did I know there are a gazillion choices in the wooden block department. I ended up choosing these because there are a few duplicate letters, they are a bit larger than the norm, and they are fresh font. 

I'm not a mean mom. I let the kids play with them....

The soft clinking sound of wooden blocks seems fundamental in childhood development. Rem built towers and knocked them down over and over again. He also lost the letter "m" within two minutes of me putting away the camera. The boy has a gift for losing things.

PS To get the very blurred background in these photos, I had my aperture wide open (1.8f) using my 50 mm lens, a high IOS (800 I think), and I focused on the blocks. These setting not only look cool and artsy-fartsy, they are also ideal for inside, no-flash photography on a cloudy day.

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Love your neighbor as yourself.

Teaching my children to act with civility toward one another is a difficult job. You would think they were auditioning for a reality tv show the way they carry on at times. I tell the girls constantly to talk through their differences, "Use your words," I say 1,400 times per day. The goal is to love your neighbor as yourself. I don't need them to be best friends, just civil. 

We have 2 basic rules in our house:

• Be kind. In action and in deed. No screaming, grabbing, or other rude behavior.

• No personal injury related activity or retaliation. That covers biting, slapping or hitting, sucker punches, hair pulling.

We have good days and bad days. A fantastic moment is followed by a moment worthy of the WWF. There are times I rejoice in the girls' relational progress and times I shudder at how far they have to go. And time-out and perhaps duct tape are appropriate.

On one of our sunny days, the girls were playing out in the yard. I was trying to read a novel -- a novel and crazy idea in anyone's book (pun intended). I sat and watched them while reading and they were fighting about climbing a tree. Emma could get herself into the tree and was hogging it. Mandy wanted to get in the tree, but couldn't get up. Fight, fight, fight. It's my turn, no it's my turn. I said, "Use your words," "Share," and "Be nice," a dozen times or more from my sunny perch on the front porch.


Eventually it was quiet for a bit and I read more than just a paragraph. I looked up to see this....

It was a proud mommy moment. Big sister helping little sister. It became far more fascinating to watch their interaction than my book about a street wise girl from NYC hiding out with the Amish. As interesting as it was.


Maybe we're making more progress than I thought. I pray for more of this...

I like this picture so, so, so much. I could stare at it all day. I'm thinking about printing it off as a poster for the girls' room. I added a quote to it. Which one do you like best?

A great quote from Anne Frank. "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." Ralph is a wise guy.

And there is always this Scripture: And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the great and first commandment. And second is like it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37-39




Leave me a comment and let me know which one you like the best. Or a different quote that you think would be perfect with this picture.

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Blessed Rainy Day

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the wedding. I even got in one...

Melanie is a beautiful girl, accustomed to working in rural Africa where makeup is definitely not required. She had fun dressing up for this special occasion. Her friend did her hair and I enjoyed being a fly on the wall -- a fly with a super big camera and jumbo flash. Don't mind me. Just act natural.

The wedding was at Black Lake Bible Camp in Olympia. It was a fantastic location for a wedding because all the out of town guests were close an stayed on site. Melanie and her family and friends shared a large house at the camp where all the girls got ready together.


Emma came over to get ready from my parent's house nearby and when I opened her bag, her dress and accessories were not inside. I knew, knew, knew I put them in there. I quizzed her and she didn't remember where they were. She had tried on the outfit every day since buying it a few weeks ago and I had no idea if she had taken it out after I packed it. My heart stopped beating. A quick call found the dress hanging up at my moms.

Next time I photograph a wedding, if there is a next time, my family is not invited. Whew.

The ceremony was at the Harmony Springs Chapel. This section of the camp is designed to look like an Old West town. I loved this location for a wedding.


The wedding started at noon in the little chapel. The family and friends who were gathered were all very excited for this event. Phil is working in Kenya and Sudan with Samaritan's Purse and Melanie just finished a project also with SP in Uganda. Phil and Melanie were engaged in December in Paris. Distance and time couldn't stop their love. This day felt blessed. I was in awe that I got to capture their wedding day.








Benton was the ring bearer and I love this look he is exchanging with his mom. "I'm totally good at this," he is thinking. Emma was concentrating hard on her role as flower girl. Too bad we didn't rehearse the actually flower sprinkling. The isle was clear, but she put them on the stage instead.









The ceremony included 2 beautiful songs, communion, and the exchanging of the vows. And there is Emma eating her flower basket.

Afterward I took pictures of the wedding party and the families. Phil and Mel chose to wait until the wedding to see each other, it is always so special when couples do that. It leaves less time for pictures, but who cares. The first glimpse as the bride comes down the isle is sacred.

It was still raining hard, but we escaped outside for pictures. This huge golf umbrella was a fabulous prop. Where was my umbrella? Hmmm. Getting soaked was worth it.

It was a terrific day. I'm very happy that I was able to go along for the ride. Phil and Mel are off on their honeymoon and will then return to Kenya to work with SP.

I put together a photobook of the wedding pictures, you can view it here: AlysunPetersPhoto.com

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Wedding photos... not yet.

As I process and edit all the images from this weekend's wedding, I will leave you with Mandy in her new dress and "parkle" shoes. She needed a new wedding dress too and we went shopping the other day to pick out something special just for her.

The wedding was Saturday and we arrived the day before, driving the 3 hours in the wind and pouring rain. The wedding was not planned for outdoors, but I was really hoping to do pictures at all the beautiful scenes around the camp and lake. Of all the anxieties that plagued me before the wedding, the bad weather was not one of them. It does no good to worry about the weather. Being struck blind, now that could actually happen. Thankfully we were able to find the location of the wedding, I remembered my camera and all the important accessories, and best of all, my sight was not impaired.

The wedding was so, so beautiful. Phil and Melanie carefully planned the details to reflect their love to eachother, their families and friends, and to God. A friend of Mel's sang "In Christ Alone," especially poignant with it being Easter weekend.

In Christ Alone - Keith & Kris...

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand...


My vision would have been impaired by tears as I was touched to my very soul by the lyrics and meaning of the song, but then I looked at Emma who was blowing her flower petals across the stage. Not my proudest parental moment.

It rained pretty much the entire weekend. It even snowed and sleeted the morning of the wedding. We took pictures outside under an umbrella and the bride froze. It was lovely and amazingly the pictures turned out too.

We got home late last night after spending Easter Sunday with my family. I've only loaded all the wedding pictures on to the computer, scanned through them to assure myself there are at least 2 out of 600+ images that are nice, and fell into bed to sleep soundly between being pestered by restless/hungry babies and children. I no longer question why wedding photographers charge so much. Whew! It was exhausting, but I had a lot of fun being part of this special event...

More later. There are 6 loads of laundry waiting to be wash/dried/folded/put away all with my name on them.

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Remington. Remington James.

At your service.


More pictures of my suave little man in black at AlysunPetersPhoto.com.



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New domain...

I'm in the process of changing my photography website and my photography blog. I want to have one site that reads like a blog, but navigates with tabs like a regular website. I would also love to have a slideshow in the header. That would be super cool. Can you tell I have no idea what I am doing? I looked into getting some professional help with this and it would cost from a couple hundred to close to a thousand dollars. Being the cheap skate that I am, I will be attempting this transition solo. Any advice or tips?

For now, my photography blog will be at the longest URL known to web-kind: alysunpetersphotography.blogspot.com. I will post my latest photography sessions there and any news pertaining to my business. The blog previously read "paradisephotography" and I'm ditching that name. Although I still think of a captured moment of beauty as paradise, it was too hard to convey the thought to others. My name is descriptive enough and won't limit the subject matter that I shoot.

This is a photo from a session I did on Saturday with a friend's newborn. I wanted to practice photographing a newborn other than my own. My friend was willing to share sweet little Ella for some pictures. She is 11 days old! I love this photo. I could stare at it all day. Newborns are so beautiful and it makes me want to have 20 more babies. Or I could just photograph other people's babies and eventually sleep all night long. That would be awesome too.

I've been busy enough with sessions. I'm happy with 2 - 4 a month, which isn't a lot by professional standards, but keeps me satisfied creatively without overwhelming my family life. I have 1 wedding in my queue for spring and I'm really excited. It is the wedding of my cousin, Phil to his fiance, Melanie. Weddings are the "big time." Whew. It's a big responsibility. I photographed one wedding before Christmas. While it was a huge challenge (should not attempt with a 3 week old nursing baby), I enjoyed it. I would love to do more in the future, but for now I will practice on my   family. :)

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New lens

I use a digital SLR camera and confess that I had no idea what "SLR" meant. I searched the web and found that it stands for, "Single Lens Reflex." That doesn't explain anything really. An SLR is basically a camera body + lens. The lens can be removed and exchanged for a different one for a different photograph. Like you would use a different lens for portrait than you would for a picture of a field. On these fancy SLRs, when you look through the viewfinder, you actually look through some prisms and mirrors, and you wind up looking through the lens. When you trip the shutter, the mirror flips out of the way, and the scene that is projected in the final picture is exactly what you saw through the viewfinder. If you put on a different lens, you automatically see a different scene through the viewfinder.

The pros to having an SLR:

• You can expand your system to match your interests. If you suddenly get interested in photographing tiny bugs, just get a macro lens, and you're in business.
• Upgrading is easy. If a fantastic new camera body comes out, you can replace your old one, and all your old lenses will continue to work.
• Almost every level of equipment quality is available -- you're limited only by your pocketbook. With a point-and-shoot, you get the lens and flash that comes with your camera, and that's it.

There are some disadvantages as well:

• SLRs is heavier and bulkier than the point-and-shoots.
• SLRs will probably cost a bit more.
• Most point-and-shoots are optimized so that anyone can use them. This is not necessarily true for SLRs
• The fact that the mirror has to flip out of the way just before each shot means that the actual photo is not exactly what you see through the viewfinder -- it's what's there a few hundredths of a second later. Usually this doesn't make any difference, but if you're photographing rapidly-moving objects, it can.

You can buy the SLRs in a kit and they come with a lens, usually 18 - 55mm. 18mm is a wide angle and works great for scenery shots or groups of people. And you can zoom in to 55mm for a close-up portrait. Like with anything you buy, quality is everything! I was ready for a better lens than just my kit lens and needed more versatility than my 50mm prime offered. I use my 50mm for portraits and it takes beautiful pictures.

My newest lens is a Sigma, 18-50mm f/2.8. The reviews online were great. I am always giddy when I see that real, professional photographers use the lens -- it must be good then. It has a large aperture ability which gives me the fuzzy background that I love.

I got the lens yesterday and wasn't even irritated when my girls wouldn't take naps. "That's it! We are going outside and taking pictures." I run a tight ship around here. "Ah, mom. Do we have to?"

Emma quickly warms up for the camera. I tried lots of different setting while trying out the new lens. All the pictures I have posted here are straight from the camera, no editing.

Fuzzy background? Check. Sharp image? Check. Quick focus? Check.

The ultimate test for me is Mandy. Nothing moves faster than a 2 year old. Especially a two year old on a swing.

This was taken on auto focus, auto setting. Not bad at all.

This cheesy grin warms my heart. I love her to pieces. Even when she won't hold still. Even when she refuses to be potty trained. Even when she skips her naps. I can't get enough of that smile with her cold, January nose.

The sun came out at 4 o'clock and it was perfection. There is nothing like winter sunshine. It's soft and warm.

Emma was game for a close up. She better not be batting those eye lashes at any boys.

I am very happy with the performance of the lens. It was quick and sharp and I imagine it will be the lens I keep on my camera body most of the time.

Happy pictures taking,

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Because you all love the out-takes...

Why go to a portrait studio when you can have this much fun for free? My sister and I dressed our children up for a Fall photoshoot today. Cute clothes can only get you so far. The rest is up to the obedient (or not) children, the photographer, and the production assistant. I hope to repeat this process soon with my kids + 7 cousins on the other side of the family. Because it is so much fun!

I should be concerned that my daughter is entertaining the boys by lifting up her shirt. They thought it was hilarious and soon everyone was showing off their beautiful bellies.

We are still waiting for a phone call from Gap Kids.

Who let the cat on set?

I know you are wondering if any turned out. Or at least if any are worthy of printing for Grandparents....

Viola!

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Peaceful newborn with teal-green flying saucer

I started my photographical journey after a woefully untalented studio photographer told my sister and I that is was impossible to make our newborns look good. Do I even have a copy of that picture? They looked terrible. After that, I decided that I could make a newborn look good in a picture and I started practicing on any little human I could get my hands on.

At first, I took pictures of Emma with my really bad point and shoot camera that I paid $400 for. The flash was too bright, but the camera wouldn't take pictures without it inside. Then I practiced on Mandy with a nice SLR camera, but a crumby lens. Now with Remi, I have an even nicer camera (Canon  EOS 40D) and a good portrait lens (50mm 1.8). I have no excuse if I can't take good pictures. Well, except that taking pictures of a quiet, sedate newborn is harder than in looks....

He is quiet. He is sedate. He is precious. But try, just try to take that pacifier out of his mouth. I dare you.

I moved on to his feet, thinking I could get enough depth of field to blur out the teal-green pacifyer. No such luck. Remi would like everyone to know that his deep sleep will end suddenly if that plug comes out of his face.

Cute toes. Nice flying saucer on the baby's face. This is one for the baby book.

The house is quiet. It is 80 degrees in this room. Let me just.... try and... ease the pacifier away.... 

It just means I have to keep practicing and I can't think of anything I would rather do.

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