Be sure to not regret this by years end

Is it time for your family photos?  But you're not sure when you should book the photographer and what time frame will work for the whole family.  What ends up happening? You put off scheduling the shoot and miss getting the kids frozen in time.  Thats time you can't get back, ever and those children will be gone in a short amount of time.

I don't mean to try to alarm you.  I just know what happens when years down the road someone asks to see what your daughter looked like when she was in elementary school.  You go for the class pictures.  Those are a great answer but....

Wouldn't you love to share and remember what the whole family looked like in that same time period?

I am a huge advocate of my family having photos done about every 2 years.  Sure I'm a photographer so we don't have to fit into an "outsiders" schedule.  But we all still have busy lives and those lives get busier as the family expands.

How do you find the time?

The first trick is to pick a member of your family, typically your mother works great.  Gift her a family photo shoot.  Why wait for her to set it all up.  Once its a gift she will be more motivated to at least keep it on her mind.  Plus what mother doesn't love gifts that always remind them of their kids.

Your second trick is to get mom to decide on the season they would like the pictures taken in (some times it works great to set it up around when the gift is received, especially if it was a Mother's Day gift).  Try asking her what her favorite season is, if she isn't sure.

And the 3rd and final trick is to book the session and make everyone commit to it.  Because really talking about what is the perfect time for everyone didn't get you to a photo shoot 4 years ago.  Just rip the band aid off and book now (we can talk exacts in a week).  Now is the time to freeze time.

Lake Retreat: Ocean Replacement

I am a lover of water, though I can’t swim and freak out when I can’t touch the bottom.  Since I love being around water so much I like to plan our vacations to large bodies of water (And I’ll at least get my feet in the water).

One of our recent trips was to Lake Tahoe.  Which if you haven’t been in the summer time I suggest you go (and I’m not being paid to say this).

I was in aw of the whole drive into the lake.  We had been in the Reno area for a different trip so I had an idea of what the area looked like.  What I didn’t realize is what the drive into the lake would be like.

The drive was up and up, then all you could see was the water and pine trees.  The crazy thing was after going up, we had to drive back down at least half the distance before we reached our hotel and the lake.

More on the drive later (be sure to come back for that, I’ve got some good stories).

This image was taken on the day we drove around the whole lake (which did not take as many hours are I had expected).  I sat down on a rock there at the shore and listened to the waves crashing at my feet.  Wishing I had a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine. 

It felt like I was sitting on a beach with the ocean stretched out in front of me.  If you’re looking for an ocean trip but for what ever reason you can’t make it to the ocean Lake Tahoe will be a pretty good replacement.

Would you like a lake to drink your coffee or wine by? Purchase this print here

Looking for something similar? Visit my shop.

Living space for the Selfie & Pro alike

There’s a time and there’s a place where I can choose, to take a selfie of my self or let a professional capture my best side. Are there any Barenaked Lady fans out there?  Me too!

Now days most peoples’ phones have great cameras so people don’t think about having someone outside of their family take their photo. Maybe its not necessary to have photos that didn’t come from your phone. 

 I am not here to stop all those fun photos I am here to add to them.

The biggest problem with those wonderful photos on your phone or Facebook is that, that is the only place they live.  Those photos of you and your parents do not have a life outside of the computer or phone sometimes.

The best life you can give one of your photos is a small piece of property in a frame on your wall.

Yes, even the selfie deserves some wall property.

The other problem with those cell phone photos is how everyone looks.  You know what I’m talking about. Your brother is tired of having to have his photo taken (even though a shot hasn’t been taken yet).  Then there’s your mom who’s trying to be sure she’s in the photo and Dad is trying to figure out how to work the phone.  Through all of that I’m sure you look Great! But how does everyone else look?  I can help you be sure everyone looks great in your family photos. 

 Email me to book your session now!

Birthday Tribute

Many months ago this world lost an amazing son, father, and friend.  Today would have been his 34th Birthday. JD Hume was a great friend who was always there when you needed someone to talk to.

Today on his birthday I wanted to honor him in my own little way.  This is my tribute to James Daniel Hume, a friend I will always remember.  Happy Birthday Man!

Holiday Musings

Leap day comes around once every 4 years.  But how many of you really understand why we get one extra day? Sure maybe we learned about it in school but that was awhile ago.

I won't lie to you, I had no idea why we get an extra day once every 4 years.  Except to give us another day in February and the tradition of women asking men to marry them.

I decided to do some research on why we have a leap day once every 4 years.  What I found is pretty interesting.  Come learn with me.

So whats the point to the leap year? Well it all comes down to the fact that the Earth's rotations (or its days) are not equal to or connected  in any way to the time it takes to get around the sun.  The solar year is approx. 365.2422 days.

Now that's a hard number to turn into calendar dates.

There have been many attempts to make nature fit with us.  The Sumerians, some 5000 years ago divided the year into 12 months of 30 days each.  But their 360 day year was almost a week shorter than the journey around the sun.

Then there's the Egyptians who just added 5 days of partying at the end of the year (first version of the New Years celebration?).

In Julius Caesar's time the calendar was off by about 3 months.  How did he solve this problem?  By giving everyone a 445 day long Year of Confusion (sweet a really long year, hope they got paid extra).  Then he mandated a 365.25 year with a leap day every 4th year.  And still this is not the plan we follow.

Now if a leap year is divisible by 100 its skipped unless its also divisible by 400.  Dropping 3 leap days every 400 years keeps the calendar on time with the Earth.

All my information comes from this site: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160226-leap-year-science-time-world-cultures-february/

Now you know why we have leap days (almost) every 4 years.  Hope you made good use of this "extra" day.  What did you do with your leap day?  Leave a comment below in the comments.