Christmas Cards

After shooting everyone else's Christmas photos in November, I did manage to get our own little shoot done in a timely manner...even managed to order my cards with time to mail them out.

But alas, I ran out of time to address them all until today and then realized I was 10 short.

So I ask you...Am I brave (crazy) enough to run into Walmart to pickup those last 10 cards on the last Saturday before Christmas with my 5yr old in tow? or do I make hubby do it and risk him being confused when they make him sign those pesky copyright forms lol

Blessings Kelsie

Up and running...Ready or not...

I have spent the last week trying to get things in order for this new venture I am undertaking...I have had long talks with hubby and lots AND LOTS of second thoughts about whether I am up for this...Do I really have the talent to be a portrait photographer??

It is one thing to take photos of my own kid/s...but to get paid to take photos of other ppls kids??

Regardless I took the plunge...I ordered new software to help streamline and improve my photo editing...yup, after all these years I am finally caving in and getting an Adobe product again...Photoshop Elements 10....Actually pretty excited to get my hands on it...From what I have read in my research it should give me those functions that I have coveted about the new Photoshop that I do not have in my current Fireworks MX software..

 My first Family Shoot on Sunday went great...They were so much fun to work with and today I handed over her final Photo Disk...So feel really good about that...and have a few more ppl wanting shoots just have to lock in some dates...

I am going to host a Easter Photo Booth in March and do some mini photoshoots with kids and baby animals....Lil Sara helped out as a model in the booth mock-up today...

I started a separate blog/site for the photography 

http://photographyourcountryhome.blogspot.com/

Please stop by and show me some love :)

and of course Facebook.

Business cards and model release forms are next on the todo list.

So Ready or Not...HERE I COME.

Blessings Kelsie

PS: to all the dear friends that responded to my now deleted vent, thank you from the bottom of my heart...Sometimes we just need to get it out to a girlfriend or two 

A little Christmas Miracle ...

I have been meaning to do a Christmas tour of my house to share, but well, we got a little tired up with other things.

 In the living room are boxes that were supposed to be returned to the attic a week ago...The "Santa Chair" next to the tree is buried under clean laundry...I am nursing a sick chicken, oh and I just booked my first paying job doing a Family Portrait photoshoot this weekend...

I thought I better practice getting some pretty Christmas light photos...and as you can see, my model was so happy to help me...

She did perk up a little bit when I told her I would pay her for her work with a lolly-pop.

I am so excited to have this work come my way after many prayers about finding some work to help out, and will still leave me available for my kids and of course the day to day chores on our little farm...God truly does listen and answers us...Praise the Lord.

Blessings Kelsie


Sharing for Show and Tell Friday @ http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Lil Sara the Performer...

Lil Sara testing the set for yesterday afternoons Photoshoot...She is such a goofball.

"I am ready for my close-up now Ma" Says Sara

And of course her performance at Church on Sunday

Silent Night on the Bells

Singing Go Tell it on the Mountain

Blessings Kelsie

Special little visitors @ Our Country Home

This little man stopped by this morning to have his photo taken...

It is very hard work being this adorable, so he fell asleep on the job...Which made my job that much easier hehe.

I have 2 more kiddies (and this guy) coming back at 4pm to get the family Christmas Card photos taken care of...and 2 other Children from a different family on Sunday afternoon.

So sweet of my friends to allow me to borrow their kids to practice on :)

Blessings Kelsie

Final Answer....

After much thought and pondering I have decided the Nikon Coolpix 5700 is the camera for me...Because though the L120 has more megapixels and much larger zoom capacity...the quality of the image comparisons did not justify the extra $150 it would cost me...

And there was other factors in the 5700's favor...Separate battery and memory card compartments...More logically located dials and buttons ,plus better menu settings that I control and are not pre-programmed questionably named ones.

So today I returned the L120 for a full refund, ordered a second lithium battery for the 5700 and called my good friend whom I am purchasing the 5700 from to tell her the good news.

And snapped a couple of photos of a Eastern Gray Squirrel playing in my pecan tree..

Blessings Kelsie

Rainbow Sprinkler

Who does not love a rainbow??...No matter where I see them, they delight me.

Taken today of the larger (giant) sprinkler system across the road using the Nikon 5700

Blessings Kelsie

Which one do I keep??

Playing with the zoom on the Nikon L120

So I purchased the Nikon L120 on the weekend and now have the task of comparing it's photos side by side with the Nikon 5700....I have 30 days from purchase to return it if I do not what this one...It is a tough choice...

The 5700 is more of a bridge camera and has easy to understand (for me at least) menu settings since they are the named the same on my old Nikon 990 that I love....it also has more features than the L120...Better looking and more logical buttons (again could be because it is similar to the 990)...and I prefer the way the card and battery compartment are separate, making the card easier to remove..(I use a card reader not cables to remove files from my camera to computer)

BUT it was made in 2002 (though is in really good condition...I know and trust the person whom I could buy it from)..It comes with no warranty at all.

The L120 is a point and shoot... It comes with 14megapixels v's the 5 on the 5700...the L120 has 21x zoom v's the 8x zoom of the 5700...It comes of course with a 1 yr warranty...and has a fun continuous sports capture option....The settings are all pre-programmed which makes me feel like I have less control of my images...They do not use real photograph terms like Macro etc, but layman terms like close-up and it will take me awhile to work out what all 20 of these new names mean and the type of images they can produce...The battery door is similar to the 990 door that broke from wear and tear on my first 990, and since the memory card is also in this compartment this door is going to get used A LOT.

Now the biggest questions is will the L120 produce photos with so much better quality as to warrant me spending the extra $150 price difference....

28 days left to figure this out....Tomorrow I am going to be taking photos of a cute little baby boy, I will use both cameras and compare the results side by side...today I am play with them outside and trying to work out comparable menu settings.

If only I had $1500 to spare I could just skip all this and get the D300 hehe.

Blessings Kelsie

Getting to know you...

Today I have a little bit of a random assortment of images to share with you...As I have mentioned in a previous post I am trying out a Nikon 5700 camera to see if I want to buy it...Well as with everything around here, it got interrupted and delayed a little.

BUT, Yesterday I did manage to find a couple of moments to take it out into the front garden...Alas all the squirrels and birds scattered and I did not have time to await their return...So instead...

I took a new photo of my little Cherub statue...
Don't blink, he might cry
(little Dr Who reference for those of you are confused right now *grin*)

Change of focus, Cherub in the background and a lovely new Lavender stem in the front.

Then in the afternoon Lil Sara, her dolly Wil and myself took a little stroll to see what we could find...

Look we found Daddy working on his cars...So Lil Sara and Wil helped him out some.

Then Sara checked all the tires where good and tight....

The cows next door were very curious to see what was up...Who would have thought dust from them running to the fence could look so pretty in the afternoon sun light...

Talking of fence...Only our southern property line is fenced...We dream of the day when the rest is too and we can bring in more animals and really get serious about raising our own food.

The gate in the south fence...It used to get used a lot but alas our neighbor moved away and now his house stands empty and his fields are rented out.

I hope today to have more quiet time to work with the camera so I can try and make a decision about buying it or not...We have a hawk that hunts in the Sorghum field behind the house each day that I am dying to get some photos of.

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing this post at:
Farm Girl Friday @ http://www.deborahjeansdandelionhouse.blogspot.com/
Potpourri Friday @ http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/
Fall Farm Friends Friday @ http://www.verdefarm.com
Show and Tell Friday @ http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Country Princess Photoshoot

I have been wanting to do a Country Princess photo shoot with lil Sara and have been hunting for 3 weeks, a pair of cowgirl boots.

And wouldn't you know it...In the past 24hrs I was given 3 pair lol.

All three pairs are very different...

Later this week Sara will be joined for a photo shoot by her BFF Wil

And since one pair of the boots are brown with no princess sparkles...

He is going to be her Country Boy..
.

That grin tells you just how happy she is about that...

Happy Blessed Weekend

Kelsie

Joining
Pink Saturday @
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/
and

Outdoor Wednesday

http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

Playing Dress-ups

Had a little fun playing dress-up with lil Sara today...I think I had more fun than she did...Especially editing these fun photos..

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing for
PINK SATURDAY
with Beverly @ http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com
and
Mosaic Monday @ http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com