BVE 1st Grade Musical

So I'm not sure I can top the Rock Star pictures of Zach but on Tuesday all of the 5 first grade classes put on a music program. It was called "Getting Down with Mama Goose." Each class had a different costume. My friend, Traci, put together Z's class. They were spiders and the costumes turned out darling. Zach loves to perform and I had a number of my friends tell me to get him into acting classes. Here are a few pictures from that performance.

Our Rock Star

I finally did it.....Jason has been wanting this for a long time........I had Zach's hair cut short again. Zachary really does have pretty hair. As far as the color and the shine. But his hair is straight as a board (just like Jason & I) and so you just can't do a a whole lot with it. Jason said that Z was going to be so mad at me when he looks back at the pictures of him with a bowl cut. :) As pretty as his hair is it just doesn't work long. When we got home from getting it cut I told him I wanted to take some pictures in front of the azaleas that are in bloom in our backyard. He said he looked like a Rock Star with his new haircut. So he insisted on posing like one. This is ALL him. I gave NO prompting what so ever.

Sophie & Addie

Sarah asked me to take some pictures of Sophie so I tried out some of my new backdrops. Of course Addison wanted to have her picture taken as well. I posted the better ones on Facebook but I will put all of them on here. Like always, the colors just don't show up as good in the slide show as they do on my computer. Strangely they show up great on Facebook which is good since that is where a lot of potential clients see them.

Addison's 4th Birthday Party

Last Friday we celebrated Addie's birthday with her friends/classmates. Her birthday is actually tomorrow but the place we had it at wasn't open on Mondays. She had a GREAT time!! She got a little shy when we all sang Happy Birthday to her but other than that she ran around like crazy playing with all of her friends. Here are a few pictures from the party...

New Website!

I have officially launched a "temporary" Erin Rollins Photography website. I designed one from a site that offeres templates for free. Some time I need to figure out a permanent one but I really wanted to get my prices and information up so people could view it online. Anyways, if you haven't seen it already check it out!

www.erinrollinsphotography.com

The girls

Sarah came over today so I could take some pictures of little Will. When I got done with him I had the girls come over and sit down for a few. There are two of Sophie that I think are just gorgeous. I wish you could see them bigger because the colors are beautiful. I need to figure out how to make pictures bigger on blogger. Anyways, here are a couple of Sopes and one of her and Addie.

Destin, FL 2011

Wow, I am doing a horrible job of posting to the family blog!! Sorry about that. Now that I'm taking pictures of other people I haven't been taking as many of my own family. The kids and I went to Destin, FL a couple weekends ago with Jason (he had a business meeting there). Martin & Linda were also there. We stayed at a fantastic hotel, Sandestin Hilton. The kids and I got there on Friday after school (Jason went with his parents on Thursday). On Saturday the weather was absolutely beautiful. It was so warm that we were able to get in our swimming suits and go on the beach. I've been to Destin before for this meeting but it has always been too cold to go on the beach. The water & the sand were absolutely beautiful. The kids had so much fun playing. Martin & Jason braved it and got in the very cold water with them. I used my camera as an excuse to stay out of it. Yes I know, very smart. Anyways, I'm glad I did because I got some great shots. The colors were gorgeous (although I don't think they translate as well in these pictures because they are small). On Sunday we woke up to a ton of fog. We couldn't even see the water from our balcony. We had such a great time. If you haven't been to Destin, FL you really should go sometime! Here is a slide show of some of the pictures I took while on the beach...

Shelley's Kids

Normally I wouldn't share images from a session gone bad but the kids are so cute I wanted to. The reason the session went bad was my fault. I am trying to learn how to take pictures on manual and I some how got the Shutter Speed way off. Most of the pictures are dark and grainy. Anyways, I wanted to share a few since, like I said, the kids are so cute. The two below, Arley & Orrin, are my friend Shelley's kids. The little tot down below is her niece, Sonora. Hopefully we can do another session and I'll stick to what I know!

This one cracked me up because of the finger. :)

New colors!

Obviously I have changed a few things on the blog. I have been researching templates for my Erin Rollins Photography blog and decided to play around with this one. Anyways, I hope y'all like it!

Rounded Corners

Here is another trick I've learned just by surfing the web. I am obsessed with a website called ILP.com (I Love Photography.com). My friend, Kelly, who is a professional photographer told me about it. It is perfect for all photographers but especially green ones like myself. You can learn so much from other people. If you have a question you just ask it and people will give you all kinds of advice and information. You can even post pictures on there for constructive criticism. Anyways, I've been searching other photographers websites trying to get ideas, trying to figure out if I want a blog or a webite for my business, etc. I noticed that most of them have rounded corners on the pictures they post. A lot of people (me included) have no idea how much time it takes to actual edit pictures. Anyways, I wanted to share the two that I practiced on. I think it makes them look even better. Oh and I also learned out to smooth out skin. Not that precious baby Lexi needed much but still. :)

Sweet Rebecca and the dog that was walking around that day.

Texture

I am slowly learning how to add texture to my photos. Here are three that I've played with today. Now that they are loaded up on the screen it's a little hard to tell with the pictures being so small. Maybe you will be able to click on them and make them bigger. Anyways, hopefully this is something I will get better at with time.

You can see it around the edges in this one. This one is very subtle. I put the original picture below it so you can see.

Zachary turns 7!!!!

I can't believe it's taken me over a month to blog about this but our sweet Zachary turned 7 last December. I can't believe he's getting so big. We let him choose between having a small group of friends spend the night or a big party with lots of friends. He choose the small slumber party and had the time of his life. He was SO excited about it all. Martin & Linda kept Addie that night so that we could give Z & friends our full attention.

The boys played 'Pin the mustache on Luigi.'

I decided to splurge on his cake since we weren't spending a whole lot on the party. My friend, Sue, owns a bakery so I had her make a Super Mario Bros. cake. I bought the little figures that are on it but she did everything else with frosting. I took Zachary with me to go pick it up. I didn't tell him anything about it. He was blown away. When we got home he kept saying, "I just can't stop staring at it - it's so awesome!" And it tasted as good as it looks - money well spent!

The boys played Wii & XBOX, pinball and colored Super Mario Bros. pictures. They ended the night by all of them getting in their sleeping bags and piling in the game room to watch Kung Fu Panda. The next morning Jason made pancakes and I made scrambled eggs and bacon. They all had such a great time!

Location Scouting - Gulf Islands National Seashore

My cousin-in-law, Amy, told me about this place when she took her son, Hutson, on a field trip last year. I have been meaning to go over there and take a look but it's kind of a drive (it's in Ocean Springs, MS). Today is a very gloomy day here in Gulfport and we didn't really have any plans so I took Addie along with me. She always loves to get in the car and go somewhere. It is a really neat natural park that is a great place for camping. Maybe in the spring when it warms up we can take the kids there and stay one night. Maybe. :) I'm not much of a camper but I could probably handle one night (with bathrooms nearby). Anyways, like I said it is very cloudy and gloomy but I went ahead and took a few pictures. A couple turned out okay. Hopefully I can talk a client into making the drive all the way over there.

Erin Rollins Photography

Well it's official (on Facebook anyway).....Erin Rollins Photography is open for business! I created my Facebook page last night because I posted some pictures of a precious girl, Rebecca, that I took yesterday and I've had a number of people ask me how much I am charging and wanting to set up sessions. So I am just going to bite the bullet and jump on in. I'm pretty nervous about it but excited at the same time. To see the two sessions I have had you can go to the Erin Rollins Photography blog I created. Obviously I will be getting a more official looking one sometime but this was just something I created so my friends could show their friends and family who weren't on facebook. I need to have a website created and all of that but I'm still figuring out how to get all of that done. Anyways, I just wanted to share the news with all of you!! Here is the link to the new blog:

Erin Rollins Photography

Mardi Gras decor

I took all of my Christmas decorations down only to put up Mardi Gras ones. I pretty much just decorated the outside of the front door, a little tree in the entryway and the glass vase type thing in my kitchen (which I didn't take a picture of). My friend, Heather, and I went to Gordon's in Mandeville again (we went for Christmas decorations) last week and I was so excited with what I got I put them up that day. I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself!!

I made the wreaths too.Had to get my fluer de lis in there somewhere.

If any of you non-coastal people want to see a Mardi Gras parade.......come on down!!

Old Hatten Property - Location Scouting

So I tried a new location today with the kids. This piece of property was in Martin's cousins family for a long time. They eventually sold it and the company who bought it has yet to put any housing on it. Neither Zach nor Addie was thrilled about taking pictures again but I got a few I could work with. I wasn't very happy with the pictures in their raw form so I used the new program to make some artistic touches on them. Here are a few that I was actually happy with once I doctored them up.

Will & Sophie

I told y'all I was obsessed!!! Okay, I just had to go back over some of the pictures I took recently of my niece and nephew. I know some of Sarah's family checks my blog so this is for you!!! I do wish my other nieces and nephews were close by so I could take pictures of them as well. I'll start off with little Will. I am so in love with this picture of him. If y'all could see it big like I do on my computer you would see what I am talking about. His eyes are absolutely stunning in this picture. I did a little ACR magic on this pic....

This is my absolute favorite!
Had to convert to black and white of course...
And a little sepia...

Little Vignette around the edges.

And now Sophie Diana. I tried taking pics of the kids for Sarah & John's Christmas card but didn't have a whole lot of luck getting a good one of them together. I took Sophie outside and although it was a little chilly she was a trooper.

Look at those curls. Precious.

This is my favorite picture of her.

I did two different black and white pictures. Couldn't decide which one I liked better so I put them both in here.

Very subtle difference but there is one!

Favorite Pictures - retouched

I am in love! Jason doesn't need to worry because it's only with a computer program but it is SO awesome. My friend, Kelly, who is an absolutely amazing photographer has mentioned ACR before and I never knew what she was talking about. I decided to Google it (gotta love Google!) and found that I could try it out for 30 days for free. ACR is Adobe Camera Raw - for those of you who don't know what it is. It's an Adobe program that helps you do different things to your pictures. Enhance them I guess you could say. I doctored some of the pictures that I took today of the kids on the beach. I cannot wait to try it some more!!!

In this one I did a Vinette around the edges.

I did the same to this picture although you can't really tell. I thought this was cool.
Absolutely LOVE how this one turned out...

I told him to say "peace." :)

What a handsome boy.

So I'm sure y'all will be seeing a lot more of these kinds of pictures!!!