Beach Photoshoot and Some Bridal Portraits
Photography by Kellee Whitehurst and Rebecca Rosin
Creative Editing by Marianne Elizabeth

Photoshop can be so much fun, and so time consuming. You can do such great things in it, however, I recently read an interesting quote somewhere that was discussing actions/textures "There is no action for bad photography". This is so true, you must start with a decent image, in order to achieve the best results in post processing.

~Marianne

Assistant Shooter

This weekend I was lucky enough to be able to be an assistant shooter at a wedding in Lusby, Md! I was in charge of shooting the Groom and groomsmen before the wedding and then I assisted during and after the wedding. Let me preface this by saying I was super nervous going into the event. I got this opportunity through Sam. He works with a gentlemen at his job that is a professional photographer. That is, when he is not taking care of a specific air plane.

David Robinson from aspect-photography.com was gracious enough to allow me to assist him on this wedding! All week leading up to the wedding, he answered my NUMEROUS questions, as I tried to prepare for the event. I have much learning to do yet still, I think I took a couple decent pictures (if you take 1000 you should get 1 or 2 good ones, dontcha think?!) I am very thankful for the experience I will be gaining while working with David!

In this pocket you will find
A teensy, tiny tooth of mine.
So while I sleep where dreams are made,
Let's see if you can make a trade.
-author unknown

Gracie has been complaining to her Daddy about a loose tooth she had. She came over this evening to spend a fun filled weekend at our house, and we are starting it off right!

Let me give a little background. I loved loose teeth--loved yanking them out. As a kid, if I had a tooth that was even the TINIEST BIT loose, it was coming out that day, NO MATTER WHAT. Melinda felt very differently about her teeth. They could be hanging by a thread and she would leave them in there FOREVER. Well one night, I had a tooth I had been working on for about three hours, it was a tough one. At the very moment I popped that sucker out, it slipped out of hands and right down the drain. Needless to say, I felt devastated. All that hard work and energy wasted, because the tooth fairy certainly wouldn't come unless she would find a tooth under my pillow. Well, lucky for me, big sister Melinda had a bunch of teeth saved up, and so I cried around to my parents and they made her give me a tooth for under my pillow. Whew-- tragedy escaped!!!

Now, I will get back on track. Poor little Gracie has been suffering with this loose tooth for over a week now. That would have been tortuous for me, so I felt it only in her best interest to help her with this little issue, since Daddy didn't seem so inclined to pull that little sucker out. I told Gracie with a little wiggle here and there, it would be out, and the tooth fairy would be visiting our house tonight! She is quite the little trooper, let me tell you, we wiggled once or twice, she grimaced once or twice, and then one little tug and poof DONE! So if the tooth fairy is reading this blog, please know you have one little girl here that wants the "paper money" for all that pain and agony she endured oh so bravely. Oh, and we all know that the tooth fairy has quite a soft spot for this little girl :)

09.12.2009

As a resident of the greater Washington, D.C metro area, I thought it my blogging duty to write an entry on the events taking place this coming weekend at the Nation's Capital. "Tea Party Patriots" are hosting an anti-BIG-government rally to show their upset and dissatisfaction with the recent bailouts, tax increases, big spending programs, and deficit spending. From the www.912dc.org website they listed some sign suggestions that I thought I might share.

Below is a good list of signs I’ve seen in pictures or at events:

• You can’t spend your way out of debt.
• Yes we can – stop the bailouts!
• Money doesn’t grow on trees, some of us work for it.
• Bailouts + Debt = fiscal child abuse
• Stop Spending, Start Cutting
• We Want Less
• Why don’t you cut my taxes instead?
• Promote responsibility, no more bailouts!
• Let the markets work.
• Stop rewarding failure.
• Save the children – stop spending their money.
• Stop Cap and Tax
• Who will bail out the government?
• I will not pay for someone else’s house.
• I don’t want your debt.
• Stop punishing success.
• You can’t multiply wealth by dividing it.
• Redistribution just means less for everyone.
• Your pork broke my piggy bank.
• We the people want our money back.
• Freedom – a stimulus we can afford.
• Let the failures fail.
• From each according to the IRS …to Pelosi, Reid, and ACORN
• Free markets, not free loaders
• Don’t mortgage our future
• Read the bills before you sign
• The more you tax, the madder we get
• Dead people may vote, but they don’t pay taxes
• We’ll all be sick when health care is free
• ObamaCare makes me sick
• Socialism: trickle up poverty
• Taxation cures incentive
• Government is the problem, not the solution
• Our wallets are not “shovel ready”
• If you’re not mad, you don’t pay taxes
• The best social program is a job
• Give me liberty not debt

The message this group wishes to promote is: ENOUGH We’ve had enough of the out of control spending, the bailouts, the growth of big government and the soaring deficits. And we reject the future tax increases to pay for all of this spending and debt down the road. We are gathering on 9-12-2009 to deliver our message in person that we’ve had enough!

I wish this group the best of luck!! I hope they are successful in their endeavors this weekend and in the future. I believe that most American's have had enough of the government spending and it will only get worse if they pass that health care bill.

~Marianne

Softball and stories of childhood memories

Growing up every spring I looked forward to one thing. Softball season. I started playing t-ball when I was 5 years old. At the time, we had recently moved to Dunnellon from Arlington. I started K-4, however I turned 5 years old almost immediately (which was the "magic t-ball number to get to play). I made friends with many of the kids in my class at Dunnellon Christian School. One of which is my best friend today. However, there was another kid in the class named Kayne, and his mom suggested we do t-ball.

Mom still tells the story today, how Ms. Martha told her she HAD to sign Melinda and I up for ball. It was just what you did. She was confused as to why this was such a good idea, but Ms. Martha talked her into it, and Kayne and I were signed up. Well it was all basically history from there. We were hooked. I played t-ball for two years, moved up to the minors, got drafted to the majors (where Melinda was), then played in the senior league, and a traveling team. I played on the traveling team during high school. All told, I played ball for about 13 years. I got to be pretty good, and I loved it so much, it is one of the things that I truly loved about my adolescent years.

While recently going though my pictures, I came across the top newspaper clipping above and thought it was blog worthy!

It is funny, the same mom who unenthusiastically signed us kids up for ball, proceeded to fall in love with it. She never missed a game. She shuttled us kids to three different practices (when Jason was old enough to play) to normally two practices per week each, at totally different locations, and then attended the games on different nights each week. Luckily for her, there were a couple times Melinda and I were on the same team, however more often then not, it was three different teams, one for each of us!

There were many a Saturday spent in the backyard at the "big house", as Jacob now calls it, learning to play. Melinda and I would practice together pretty well most of the time, however sometimes her crazy pitching or a bright idea of trampoline baseball led to her bloody noses and bruised shins. Dad even got me catcher gear to try and protect me from her pitching.

Many times Dad would be "catcher" for us. He would sit on a stool and tell us if we couldn't pitch well enough to hit his "strike zone" (which he said was about six foot arms reach) then obviously would be walking a lot of batters. And, not to mention, we had to chase the "wild" pitches, because he wasn't getting up off the stool!!! Those were such good times.

It was during my traveling team years, that I had my best season ever. We went on to the top team competition in the area. At one of the games in Crystal River, I pitched a no hitter, and hit two over the fence home runs. We shut out the opposing team 12-0. I definitely felt on top of the world after this game!

I encourage all parents to get their kids involved in sports. I played softball, soccer, basketball, and did horseback riding all through my childhood. I loved every minute of my sports and wouldn't trade those experiences for anything. Mom and Dad both deserve many thanks, if it wasn't for their willingness to drive me all over the place to participate in so many things, I never would have these wonderful memories. Thank you both for making it possible for me to get the chance to learn and love not only the game of softball, but also to develop some of the other passions/hobbies that I still have today! You both made it possible!

~Marianne

I think we have a new dog

Yesterday we took Bella for a haircut. They say "Doodles" aren't suppose to shed. Tell me why I have hair tumbleweeds in my house then...She was scratching a lot lately and her hair had been having matting issues, so we decided to get her a little hair cut-- or might I say-- a big hair cut. She is now naked dog! She looks like a weimaraner or something. She definitely doesn't look like our bella dog anymore. Poor thing might freeze if that hair doesn't grow back for the fall/winter.

Montana- remembering our honeymoon

Okay. Let's be honest. Montana. Not what you think of when you think of honeymoon now is it? When you think honeymoon, most people think somewhere with sand, ocean, sun, and warm weather. Maybe the Caribbean, maybe Hawaii (if that is how you roll), or Mexico. We have all seen the Sandals "romantic couples" ads. Number 1 honeymoon destination, so on and so forth. Let me just tell you, that wasn't us. After the wedding, we went to Kellee and Pug's condo in Daytona with Gracie for a week.




We soaked up some rays and enjoyed the ocean. It was wonderful. Really we got the best of both worlds. After that first week of honeymoon, we headed out for the wilderness of Montana.



Since Sam is in the Air Force, we got the best deal ever. We booked our week at Meadow Lake Golf Resort. It was $299.00 for the entire week. Two bedrooms and two baths, private outdoor Jacuzzi, grill, fireplace, full kitchen, and an indoor whirlpool tub. Our unit was on the ground level on the 9th green. The mountains were all around us and it was beautiful.

very good advice

I have always wanted to go to Montana. I figured when would I get another chance, so that is where we went. April is not the month to go to Montana. Skiing is finished for the winter and there is still enough ice and snow on the roads through the mountains to keep them closed. We didn't get to drive the "going to the sun road" that is famous for the Kalispell area.



There was only one negative thing I remember about the entire trip, and in hindsight, it wasn't that bad, and looking back at it, I laugh. Let me preface this story by saying the people of Montana are hard people. They live in a place where it is hard to make a living and the climate is tough.





Lot of snow and ice in the winter and a very short summer makes the outdoors a challenging place, and many Montanans make their living outdoors. So, when we found a few spiders crawling around our apartment unit, I got a little upset. There were about 5-6 little spiders in the bedroom. This did not make me happy. Well we called the office to alert them of this situation and they sent this woodsmen maintenance guy.



He showed up in his coveralls and boots, thick beard, and very rough around the edges attitude. He asked what the problem was, and when I told him I had seen spiders, he asked me to show him. Well, apparently, my idea of a spider and his idea were NOT THE SAME THING.



He was expecting something the size of a dinner plate I think, so when I showed him a spider the size of my pinky finger tip. He laughed. And then proceeded to tell us "WELCOME TO MONTANA" and hoped we enjoyed our stay. Okay, well that is all fine and good that he has seen some spiders that would carry me away, but any spiders in my sleeping location doesn't make me thrilled.



Well I survived, needless to say, and it was the only hiccup during the entire trip!! That was okay though. We hiked a lot, we ate so much amazing food. Everything in Montana is very fresh, probably because no one will deliver to those people in the middle of nowhere!

weeping willow

It was all very delicious though. There weren't chain restaurants really, everything was "mom and pop" unique and wonderful. It reminded me of upstate New York in a way.




The other thing that really is unique about Montana are the Casinos. There is a Casino in every gas station, mini mart, hair salon, deli, Wal-Mart, taco bell, and bowling alleys. The Casinos are small but there are so many of them. We spent al lot of our time at the various different ones. They gave you free snacks and beers while you played, what a deal! We really didn't win anything, but it was so much fun.


I would love to go back and experience some of the other parts of the state, such as Yellow Stone National Park- and get to actually drive the Going to the Sun road. I would like to go in the Summer! Maybe one day we will go back, but until then, I have so many pictures to remember the wonderful time we had in Montana.

Canada Day trip


I really do understand why they call it Big Sky country. The grandiose sky of Montana is unlike that of any other place I have ever been too. As you know the Adirondacks is my favorite place on earth, well if there had to be a second, Montana could be that place.

One of the many casinos in the area

The sky seems to continue on forever. I do not believe we could doubt that there is an almighty creator after experiencing the purple mountains majesty that Montana offers. It will take your breath away. In one word. Amazing.

-Marianne

A Sunday Afternoon

The other day after church Mom and me decided to head down to this little place called "Del Ray". Del Ray is a 100+ year old community within Alexandria, Virginia in the suburbs of Washington, DC. It has a main street (Mt. Vernon Ave) that runs north and south through the little community. There are many independent shops and restaurants. There is an ice cream and custard shop called "My Dairy Godmother" that has some seriously amazing deserts.

I need to put a little girl in this :)

After lunch at the evening star (which was pretty tasty I might say) I saw a children's boutique store with a fluffy white pettiskirt out front. I had to have it. I want to photography Valancy (my niece) in this so badly. If you go to a site called www.oopsydaisybaby.com you can see some of these skirts that are to die for!!! Oh my gosh the cuteness is just out of this world. Anyways, so I bought it, and due to a work week of about 68 hours, I have yet to put a kid in it!!!!!!!

While also down in Del Ray, I saw the perfect location for a photography studio. If I just was ready for that stage of my picture game, it would be perfect!