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The Swine Flu Infected My Computer February 26, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Photography, Thoughts , 6comments

I downloaded a virus.

I was just minding my own business, doing a little search on google, and BAM!

I was infected.

I know!  I want to die!

I’m not sure how this mean little Trojan horse got past my anti-virus software, but David and I had a few loud words to share with Avast!

The only program this virus seems to have infected is PHOTOSHOP.

Now, I REALLY WANT TO DIE.

Photoshop to me is like texting is to a teenager girl.

It’s almost as important as my RIGHT hand.

I use it everyday.  My classes require it.  My work requires it.

So, I’ve obviously felt a bit handicapped since this nasty virus decided to destroy my life.

Today David is stripping our hard drives, and re-installing EVERY PROGRAM.

This is going to take a hundred years.  I just know it.

But, now we will officially be using Windows 7 (we’ve been using the trial version for six months now and it expires in a week) and I love it so much more than Vista and XP, so Windows 7 it is!

We are also the proud owners of two more terabytes.  That makes FOUR terabytes for us.

I can’t believe I just wrote that.  I remember (not too long ago!) when I first head about terabytes.  I was like, “WHEN IN A MILLION YEARS WOULD YOU EVER NEED THAT MUCH SPACE?”

Well, we do.  I guess it’s been a million years.  :)  We (meaning David) plans to stripe the terabytes and mirror them, so we will never suffer from a catastrophic hard drive crash.  Basically, we will have two terabytes of storage space and two terabytes to backup our stuff.  If you think I have any idea what I’m talking about, you’d be mistaken.  I’m creative, David is techie, so together we’re a good team.  :)

I wanted to post a couple images from yesterday’s shoot.

This little guy is getting baptized next week:

(More pics from this session soon)

And this fun group . . .

Well, lets just say it was “Nunsense!”  More images of this fun group starring in the musical “Nunsense” will be coming soon . . .

Opening night is in a week!  More details later.  (Meaning, more details, as soon as I know any, or where to find them, or whatever.)

Perspective February 25, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Family, Thoughts , 4comments

Please.

Excuse me while I take a minute to think about what really matters in life.

I tend to stress out a lot.

David on the other hand, doesn’t get his feathers ruffled too easily.

This makes us a good team.

But still.

I need a moment to think about what really matters in the long run and not what matters RIGHT.  THIS.  SECOND.

My New Studio February 24, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Family, Little Man Dallin, My Handsome Husband, Photography, Princess Hannah , 8comments

I know.

You can smell Dallin’s adorable face through your monitor.  :)

I shot this image of him in my new studio, in the garage.

Well, first let me back up.  I’m a student at AAU and I’m taking a class this semester called “Quality of Light.”

Sounds easy, right?

Turns out, it’s been a very complex studio class for me so far.

Basically, I knew nothing about light a few weeks ago.  Well, nothing about how to shoot in artificial light.

I had to order a bunch of studio equipment for my class, and now, I have a studio.

I still don’t know how to use everything, and when to use everything, but I’m learning.

And THANK GOODNESS David doubles as a computer/technical equipment geek because who would I direct all my geeky questions to if it weren’t for him? Plus, he can set up my studio and take it down in record time.  Maybe I should hire him to work for me for free as my go-to guy?  Oh, wait . . . he already does that.

This is my temporary studio for now . . .

It’s in the garage.  :)

I ordered everything from B&H and let me tell you, that is a very dangerous place for me to shop.   I could easily drop a lot of money there.

This is my assistant Hannah.  She is turning out to be quite the photographer herself.  She has her own director’s chair, and when my twin, Brian, lent her an ear, she told him all about the white umbrellas and the diffused light I was trying to produce to shoot his product.  (OK, so she may not have said that.)

I have black and white back drops.  My back drop is huge.  Let’s just say I was more than “shocked” when UPS dropped off my back drop paper.

I did several product shots for my brother Brian, (who’s launching something very exciting) and I hope to share a few images with you soon!

Since it was so much work for me to watch my husband set this up, I thought I would take a few pics of the kids before letting him take it down.

Hannah is wearing all of her most prized possessions: ballet shots, crazy tights, leotard, a skirt that twirls, and her favorite umbrella from my friend Cheryl who brought it all the way from Singapore for her when she visited last month.

Tigger is Dallin’s most prized possession.

And together, they can’t hold still for less than 1/60 of a second.  :)  On a side note: kids should never be photographed at less than 1/60 of second.  They are just too busy and inevetebly, you will get motion blur (the unintentional kind that looks sloppy and not artistic).  To photograph this, I set my shutter speed to 1/60 of a second and took a light reading from my Sekonic light meter to find out which aperture I should be shooting with.  (Never, I repeat, NEVER trust your in-camera light meter to give you an accurate reading.  It doesn’t see the whole picture and it can give you some pretty sad results.  More on that in a later tutorial.)  It said I should shoot at 2.8 (which is a very shallow depth of field – DOF) so that ‘s what I did.  If you’ll notice, the images of the kids by themselves turned out fine, but when you examine the images with both kids together, you will notice that Dallin is more in focus than Hannah (because of the shallow DOF) and in the future, I’m going to have to use strobe lights to get the lighting to the point where I can set my aperture where I need it to be (when shooting more than one person you should have your aperture set to at least F8 or higher so there’s not a chance of someone dropping out of focus when it’s not intended.) and keep my shutter at 1/60 as the slowest speed.

With that said, Dallin has had it.  No more photos, and no more talk about f-stops and apertures!

Milestone for the Whole Family February 23, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Friends, Little Man Dallin, Parenthood, Photography, Thoughts , 3comments

C-sections are not easy.

Planned.  Not planned.  I’ve done both.

It’s not the worst thing in the world, it’s not the best.

The most painful time of the c-section does not happen when you are getting your spinal.  It does not happen when you are being gutted like a deer either.

No.

That part is actually great because you don’t feel a dang thing, and if you’ve never experienced labor pains that accompany a vaginal birth, you might wonder what all the “pain” hype is about.

The most painful part of a c-section comes 24 hours after surgery.

You are well enough to get up and walk around the hospital like a little old lady with your new boyfriend, the IV, but IT DOES NOT FEEL GOOD.  And you keep having to get up out of your bed using abdominal muscles that don’t work because they have been pried apart.  Laughing, taking deep breaths, and sneezing are THE WORST.

You ban anyone funny from visiting you.  I had to ban Brian.

I met Emily on day two of my c-section.

Why do I remember this patient care tech so well?

She was helping clean me up after some serious blood loss (not good, Dr’s and nurses came in and I was all, “Am I going to die?  How much blood is too much to loose?) and in making small talk (I’m sure to distract me from the severity of the situation) Emily told me she understood how much pain I was in.  She had two c-sections, and it was her opinion that day two was the worst.

I asked her how old her kids were, and she told me they would be two and one, but both of them had passed away.

GULP.

What?

I was no longer concerned about my minor medical issues of losing lots of blood (nurses and Dr’s still scurrying around the room) and I was sick to my stomach that a young mother had lost TWO babies.

She had TWO c-sections to boot.

Both of her babies had heart defects and did not live longer than five weeks.

Six moths after my chance meeting with her, she and her husband adopted this little guy:

And I got to photograph him for his birthday.  He just turned one a couple of days ago.

This is a HUGE milestone for their little family.  She never knew if they’d ever get to see one of their kids turn one.

And he is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.

And a ham for the camera.  :)

Emily has such an inspiring story.  Congratulations to all of them!

Newborn Session February 22, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Family, Photography , 5comments

Please, excuse me while I catch my breath from a busy weekend.

For now, meet my new nephew, Jace. He is almost two weeks old and was born five weeks early.

This is my sister-in-law Sheri (Jace’s mom and David’s sister). Doesn’t she look good?

Who’s next in line for newborn pictures? :)

In Cahoots With My Siblings February 18, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Family, Photography, Projects, Thoughts, Utah , 2comments

What can I say?

It’s possible that I have one too many projects on my plate right now.

But I’m having fun.

Especially since I’m working on some exciting things with my brothers.

Ben (left) is a business mastermind who knows everyone. Brian (my twin on the right) is an artist and a master at product design and patent drawings. They are both well connected and brilliant, so I’m in good company. :) Check out Brian’s site here.

I’m only invited to this “all boys” project because I take pictures. Hopefully good ones.

They’re working on something really cool and hopefully you will see it (and be able to buy it for yourself!) in a Costco near you in 2011.

I’ll post more details later. :)

Happy Belated V-Day February 16, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Family, Holidays, Little Man Dallin , 1 comment so far

Happy belated Valentine’s Day from our house to yours.

I hope your kids got roughed up a bit and loved every second of it.

 

Sweet 16 . . . FOREVER. February 15, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Friends, Photography, Texas , 1 comment so far

This weekend I got to spend some time with one of my favorite teenagers from Texas who is no longer a teenager!

Does this mean I’ve aged? I’ve known her since she was 16, and I swear, she will always be 16 to me.

Sorry Talera! You can never be your real age (21) because that means I must have had some birthdays along the way and honestly, I haven’t aged! Plus, it seems like I just moved from Dallas. I may have moved from Texas, eight moves ago, but you know, it still feels like I JUST moved. :)

I had a great weekend catching up with Talera.

I have several new projects in the works, (like a tutorial on shooting in RAW, and when to use your flash and/or reflectors) and when I can find two seconds to rub together, I’ll post about them.

Until then, you might just see a few more shoots from this weekend. :)

$25 Head Shots! February 12, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Photography , 2comments

Everyone needs a nice, current, beautiful (or handsome) head shot.

Everyone.

No exceptions.

That’s why I’m happy to announce this crazy promotion where I’ll be offering head shots for $25!

These are the details:

You can order prints through me as well. These are promo prices for the the $25 Head Shot:

Not sure if you need a head shot?

If you fall into one of these categories you need one:

Did I miss anyone?  :)

This offer is crazy, so hurry and book your head shot before I change my mind!  :)

Look for more awesome promotions on family pictures and engagements/couples in March!

Please email me at lesher dot emily at gmail dot com or leave a comment at the end of this entry and I will get in contact with you.

* To all my Kansas Friends, I will offer this same promotion when we head back that way this summer!

On a Side Note . . . February 11, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Beauty, Thoughts , 6comments

I’m concocting something really, really cool and fun for Friday’s post.  You’re going to want to check back first thing Friday morning FOR SURE.

For some of you, it will be an awesome opportunity, and I’m pretty excited about it.

I can be crazy sometimes, and I have one crazy idea, let me tell you.  I have a feeling that some of you are going to LOVE me on Friday.  :)

Until then, lets love Nads, shall we?

Oh Nads, how I LOVE YOU!

I’m SO HAPPY you come in a facial wand that doesn’t have to be heated in the microwave.  It has prevented my upper lip from being scared of you!  The pain of each and every little unwanted pesky hair on my upper lip does not mind being yanked out from the roots.  My lip has always been scared of your regular formula that has to be heated in the microwave at temperatures that make my skin want to fall off!

Someone brilliant invented you.  Maybe it was Nad?

Thank you, Nad, for improving my personal hygiene.

Next . . .

Have you ever heard of five finger shoes?

Yeah.  Me neither.

David heard abut these shoes the other day at the practice he’s rotating at.

They sound very interesting . . .

And their customers are raving about them.

Any opinions?

I’m totally curious, so maybe I’ll be sporting a pair of these on my blog soon.  :)