last call!

last call for Christmas cards! all orders must be in this week.

don't forget that portraits make a great gift! we still have some time if you would like to get a photo made for that special someone (you know what i'm talking about!). i also offer gift certificates if you would like someone to get a portrait made for you to enjoy!

inspire your photos!

are you stuck in a rut?
out of ideas?
creative juices all dried up?

check out the photopreneur blog for a list of 60 sources of inspiration for photographers.

family ties

i feel very lucky to be photographing such beautiful, kind and loving families lately. here is one more i can add to that list.

i'd love to know the secret of how this woman managed to get all of these men to pose for pictures while one of the biggest football games (Florida Gators vs. Florida Seminoles) of the year was on! it's a good thing the Gators won or i'm sure she would've been blamed. fortunately there were some friends yelling out the score as it happened. hopefully i didn't keep them away from the game for too long.

check out the beauty in the next photo. this little almost 1 year old is going to star in her own photo shoot very soon. just wait until you see a close-up of her eyelashes. they are to die for!

thanks again to this family for their hospitality and the warm welcome you gave me into your gorgeous home. happy holidays!

the spitten image

i had a wonderful time taking photos of this mother & daughter. Annie & Amber are both beautiful and full of life, as well as looking so much alike. there is definitely no denying the relation!

i am in love with the spot where these were taken. i loved the old fence that you can see just behind them in a few photos. i joked that the tree in these pictures is the only evidence of fall in the whole state of Florida. i am so glad we were able to document it.






just in case you aren't familiar with the phrase i used as the title of this post here is an explanation as given by The Phrase Finder:

Meaning

The exact likeness.

Origin

One of the very first questions that was asked at the Phrasefinder bulletin boardMade in England: was about 'spitting image'. There have been numerous such queries there since and some ask if the term was originally 'splitting image', i.e. deriving from the two matching parts of a split plank of wood. That's a plausible idea. The mirror image matching of the grain of split wood has long been used in furniture and musical instruments for decorative effect. The technique is known as book-matching and the resulting pattern is called fiddleback - for obvious reasons. The theory has its adherents and dates back to at least 1939, when Dorothy Hartley included it in her book

"Evenness and symmetry are got by pairing the two split halves of the same tree, or branch. (Hence the country saying: he's the ‘splitting image’ - an exact likeness.)"

As so often though, plausibility isn't the end of the story. The numerous forms of the term 'spitting image' - spit and image, spitten image, the dead spit of etc., appear not to derive from 'split' but from 'spit'.

Some commentators have suggested that 'spit' may be a corruption of 'spirit', but that appears to be fanciful and isn't backed up by any early examples of 'spirit and image'. The allusion is more likely to be to someone who is so similar to another as to appear to have been spat out of his mouth. That idea, if not the exact phrase, was in circulation by the end of the 17th century, when George Farquhar used it in his comic play Love and a bottle, 1689:

"Poor child! he's as like his own dadda as if he were spit out of his mouth."

family in the field

here are a few favorites from a holiday portrait session that i did this weekend. what a beautiful family and a great backdrop!

if you want photos like this for your Christmas cards this year you only have about a week left! CALL ME! :)

black friday

well, the biggest shopping day of the year is almost over. did i take part you ask? no way, jose! after about 15 years of working in retail i have had enough "day after thanksgiving" sales to last a lifetime.

wondering what to get the photographer in your life for christmas? check out this blog:
http://www.photoinduced.com/
not only do they have a great wish list for photogs, but they are also doing some giveaways!

if you are looking for the perfect gift for a female photographer about 34 years old, mother to one, with long brown hair and a hell of a laugh may i suggest a new camera bag from jill-e designs?

photo property of jill-e designs

the medium black leather bags are fantastic! maybe even add on a fashion lens cleaning cloth for that little extra touch. just something i heard. not that i know anyone matching that description.

check back for some more gift ideas for photographers throughout the next month!

gobble gobble

*warning: shameless self-promotion about to occur*
{this photo was chosen as one of the Top 4 in November's Best Image Photo Contest at 411marketsource.com! 411marketsource Art and Design is a place for professional photographers, artists and designers who have demonstrated knowledge and talent for their industry.}

i hope everyone had a safe & happy holiday with family & friends. ours was very nice. as usual we had way too much food! such is the southern tradition! haha.

i had originally hoped to go to Cracker Barrel. they have a very good Thanksgiving meal. i found that out firsthand a couple of years ago when the move to our current home fell on Thanksgiving weekend. the past few weeks have been quite hectic and with the baby being sick we decided not to go out of town for the holiday. since our home is part construction site right now in preparation for our kitchen remodel i really didn't want to cook. my mother had different ideas. she felt that my grandmother would "roll over in her grave" to know that we weren't all having a proper Thanksgiving together. after several discussions on the matter i found myself at Publix on Thanksgiving eve to buy all of the fixings for a proper Thanksgiving feast. it was just me and 500 of my closest friends all brandishing shopping carts as weapons to make sure we grabbed the best turkeys, sweet potatoes and french fried onions.

oh, and did i mention that i made this trip after taking my son to the pediatrician for the cold that wouldn't die? turns out it was spreading into his ear, so it was a good thing i took him before the long holiday weekend. he is on his first ever prescription. the good old pink stuff you keep in the fridge. hopefully this will knock it out for good.

i would like to give kudos to the Pioneer Woman. i read her photography/everyday life blog and only recently started reading her cooking blog. i took 2 recipes off of there for the Thanksgiving meal- her sweet potatoes & mashed potatoes. mmmmmmm. the sweet potatoes were out of this world! i wish i had taken a photo because they had the most yummy delicious crust on top of pecans & brown sugar. it's making me hungry just thinking about it.

for 3 adults and one baby we had 1/2 a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cream corn, green bean casserole, butter beans, rice & sweet potato casserole. and gravy, of course. actually it was just for 3 adults. my son decided he didn't want any and ended up eating a PB&J. then we topped it off with cake & pie. needless to say we will be eating leftovers all weekend.

amid all of the craziness and food i did want to take a moment and say that i am so thankful for my beautiful, healthy son and my wonderful family & friends. i would love to know what you are thankful for. leave me a comment and let me know.

happy thanksgiving everyone!

shirley temple reincarnate...

i met the most adorable little girl this past weekend for her holiday photo session. her beautiful curls and sweet smile reminded me of shirley temple. as a child i loved shirley temple. i watched her movies all the time. every time i would appropriately sit on the edge of my seat for the inevitable scene where she and her father/grandfather/mother/grandmother/aunt/uncle/whoever she was estranged from this time would be mere feet away from each other in a crowded train station/market/street scene, but miss each other. oh i would cheer for shirley to turn around! he is right there! but, alas no such luck. and the movie would continue for another 30-45 minutes. how i did love shirley temple movies.

i digress...

little miss 'g' was a perfect model for her first big photo shoot. she recently turned 1 year old. happy birthday! this session was a mix of birthday and christmas, with a lot of super cuteness thrown in.

i hope we can make this a yearly occasion because i just can't get enough of her!

a sneak peek just for you!

sorry i have been absent from the blog lately. my husband had eye surgery this week with a difficult recovery. i am sure you wives out there know how it is when your husband doesn't feel well. ;) on top of that the baby has his first cold. this is one of the "firsts" i could have waited awhile longer on. haha. being the sweet little boy he is he decided he would share the love and gave his cold to me. awwww. so, not a lot of free time or energy right now. hopefully your week is going better than mine! on a good note i was finally able to finish the design for my new business cards. here is a sneak peek for you. now i have to get back to recuperating because i have some shoots this weekend and i must get better!

play for free rice!

check out this site-

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

when you play their vocabulary game (which adjusts itself to your level as you play) you earn rice which is then given to United Nations World Food program. go play! my vocab level was a 38. what was yours?

the secret workshop

there is a fantastic workshop being held for photographers in Orlando, FL in mid-January. if you would like more info you can check out http://www.thesecretphotographyworkshop.com/

and the card goes to...

Melissa Koehler , ranjy , Cocoa Crusty

thanks for the comments! please send me your email at kristen@lanierstar.com and i will forward the card template to you!

free free free!!!

that's right. i said FREE! for the first 3 people that leave a comment i will email you a template of a Christmas photo card i designed for use with Photoshop. the text and fonts can be edited. i can't wait to see who gets it. :)

a session on the stairs

Here are some photos of a lovely family I had the pleasure of photographing! Unfortunately right before I arrived their son fell asleep. So, the parents and I had some fun with the camera and tried to let him get a nap in. I was able to get some great photos of them and their first children; 2 pugs! Finally they decided naptime was over, but their son didn't think so! Poor guy is just like my son and only wants to get up when he is ready. After a snack & juice he decided that he would allow me to take a few photos. He is such a gorgeous little man! Mom did a beautiful job of coordinating the outfits. Everyone looked great! They have a beautiful house cut out of a little spot in the woods and it made a beautiful backdrop for the photos. I can't wait to see which one they choose for their Christmas card!

Happy Halloween!

We decided to let our little monkey be himself for Halloween- haha! I took some photos of him in his costume a few days before just in case something happened on Halloween. Boy, am I glad I did! Typical Florida weather meant that it was so hot on Halloween that he was only able to have his costume on for 15 minutes before he was dripping with sweat. And, he only had on a diaper underneath! We brought him inside, stripped him down and put him under the fan. Of course the AC was also on. Oh well. Better luck next year.