Well, I did it!

I signed the lease on some new studio space. Technically, it's not any bigger than a guest room, but since I don't have one of those, and moving to a house that does have one is kind of out of the question, this will have to do.

Great light, great vibe in the gallery so keep your fingers crossed for us. Check out the Stairstep Kids Photography Blog to see some new props that I got today for the studio. Value Village is a great place for those kinds of things!

In the meantime, I'm hosting some mini-sessions to help get the word out. If you are in the neighborhood on the 7th of August, you should stop by!

Why I love the tub

It's because you can get great pictures. These were all taken with the lights off with light from a single window. The first of the JuJu uses a bounced flash. The rest are natural light.

Oh, and it protects clothes and floors from the destructive qualities of PhillySwirl Swirly Poppers which have the chemical properties of Krazy Glue when dumped from the height of a five-year-old boy onto hardwood floors and oriental carpets.

Mimi

Has been my subject of late. It's just the babies here tonight. Mom thought we could use a break and the older ones could use a change of scenery so they are with her, bless. (One overnight pull-up swung around on the fan until its insides came out all over the walls was more than this mom could handle gracefully this week. Ah yes, turning five is like turning three all over again.)

A Studio Maybe?

I'm looking into some small studio space. Check out the great natural light. Could be fun! Stay tuned.

Yay! Peanuts!

Yes, we found out today...drumroll please...we are allergic to them!! Not all of us, just the baby. Great. We now are that family, the one who drops off their kids like this: Oldest, fine. Second, fine. Third, fine. Baby...here she is, no peanut anything for her please and if you need help working her Epi-pen, please ask her brother. And here is her Epi-pen.

It's weird because yesterday she was allergic to peanuts, and we suspected it, but it wasn't a big deal. Today, she gets a welt the size of, well, of a peanut, on her arm at the allergist and suddenly we are on our toes about what can and cannot be consumed in our house. Apparently, and who knew, peanut oil is in the A-OK category, but cold-pressed peanut oil is a no-no (you know, like extra virgin peanut oil). The six hundred granola bars we have from Costco are not to be consumed, which is not that big of a deal because I'm the only one who eats them, but still. I think it would be a lot less of an issue if they didn't hand you a stack of papers, which includes a brochure for a Medic-Alert bracelet. She's freaking 14 months old.

Oh well. Now we travel with epi-pens and we are not afraid to use them.

Eddie Turned 5!!

When I'm down...

Should I tell you about the day when my car got booted and my computer freaked out and it made me feel just like this?: Or should I instead tell you about the fact that whenever I pick up my camera and get some good shots of the kids, I feel much, much better despite the fact that my car got booted. Did I mention?

On the occasion of my 36th birthday

From my kids. So nice.

On the cutting edge

So, since the twins, the Jolie-Pitts are ahead of us by two kids and about a bazillion dollars. I don't really care, you know why? My Vivienne was born before her Vivienne.

We have a little thing over here where our kids go by their middle names. Mila is actually Vivienne Camille don'cha know? All kinds of French without the mouthful that Marcheline is...plus we don't have to use the nickname Vivvy. For real? I can't imagine that's going to go down well but according to a baby-naming expert, it's likely to be the nickname.

I would totally take Mila over that any day. (I secretly like the name Marcheline though...)

And as a little treat...our Vivienne in a picture that is too good to be staged.

Life is just a bowl of cherries...

Actually getting this shot resulted in what could only be termed as a big fight in our house. But it was kind of half-hearted. I mean, we yelled at each other and all but I think we were too tired to actually even have a fight. I just couldn't resist the cherries...I took about 4 pictures in two minutes and it was still too many at 6:00 when kids are having dinner melt downs. (It was bad people.)

This idiom is the opposite of what life is at our house right now but if you just keep moving forward, all things turn 'round.

Oh, the love of city shooting

I love taking photographs in the city. You can get some of the most amazing shots and meet some really interesting people.

I got a new lens the other day. I sold two lenses that were a little redundant to what I already had and got this new glass. It's amazing but it is a Tamron lens. I've never shot with Tamrons and it is taking a little getting used to.

Today after processing some of my other shoots, I decided to walk around and take some photographs.

Sorry for the super boring text. I'm kind of fried and not feeling terribly witty. Perhaps I should make this just about the photos and shut up already. Eddie steadfastly not looking at me.
How much do you love this guy? Should I get a model release?
This shot was basically right out of the camera. None of my other lenses are like this.

Happy Fourth!

We got some fish...

I don't know if this is one of my brighter ideas (but after 4 kids in five years, I'm not exactly known for my bright ideas), but we got some fish. A neighborhood mom was giving them away and I've been wanting them for the kids for a while. And for me. Fish are relaxing.

Oops. One has already not made it. That's not terribly relaxing for me. Or him. And I'm guessing that having Mila peering into your tank at 3am isn't relaxing either. I'm only projecting because I find it unsettling when she's staring at me at 3am so I can only imagine what the tanked-in fish must think of it.

Do you love that bilious blue plant in the back (hint: it's not a real plant)? Eddie and Anna were each allowed to pick something for the tank. Anna's choice was the cute little snail with the "no fishing sign." Eddie's choice? Well, ultimately it's the plant, because it glows up (that means it glows in the dark). But first we had to convince him that the "no skinny dipping" statue and the "no pescar" (which literally means "not to fish", but hey this is Wal-Mart so we'll pretend it means no fishing) statue aren't nearly as cool as plants that glow up.