Thankful...

Well, it was a crazy weekend here! We had a full house of aunts, uncles, and cousins. I did get a chance to take some great photos of my brother Keith and his girlies. It was cold, but still fun! I can't wait to photograph Keith and Katie's new little one this spring! I can get my baby fix - then hand him/her back to mommy and daddy - yay!! ;-)

I'm so thankful for my wonderful family and friends. This was a hard holiday, as it was the first one without dad around. We cried a little, laughed a lot, and only fought a tiny bit. Now on to Christmas craziness...

~Kerry

A Tree Grows in Williamsburg.

Saturday afternoons activity was something that I was not exactly looking forward to. My father passed away this August, and his golfing buddies had a ceremony to honor him. They planted a tree, an October (something) maple (which apparently had leaves and looked much prettier a few weeks ago.) I bawled my eyes out in public once again (which is why I was not looking forward to it.) But it was beautiful and so nice of them to do that....thanks guys!

We wanted the kids to have a part in the ceremony, so we got them balloons, let them write a message to Granddaddy and attached them to the balloons. Then they let them go "up to granddaddy." (Not exactly environmentally friendly, sorry.)

I wasn't exactly focusing on the photography, just trying to remember the moments, but I just LOVE the balloon photos. Back to "business" next time...

~Kerry

Miss you dad

A day at the park...

So yesterday was a crazy day! I got to photograph the gorgeous Hanson Family in the morning. I got up bright and early and left the house to get some balloons that I had ordered....only to find that my order had been misplaced and it would be another 20 minutes before they could have them ready. I was running fairly early, so it wasn't a big deal....until I realized that I also forgot to grab my cell phone on the way out the door! Ugh!! So, I used the grocery store phone to call my husband to come to the rescue, and as usual he did. The balloons were ready, and Ewan met me at the park to give me my phone. Phew! I must say, things went a bit smoother after that! I had packed a backpack full of "emergency supplies" (stuffed animals, balls, that annoying parrot that repeats what you say to it, etc.) because the Hansons have 4 kids: aged 7, 5, 2, and 9 months! t turns out that all I needed was the balloons - and they even got away from us just a few minutes in. These kids were so sweet and well behaved and boy are they photogenic!! Below are a few photos from our session.

Thats why I brought the balloons!! I love that look!

Thank you Hanson Fam!! I had so much fun! Your family is so beautiful - inside and out!

~Kerry

Tomorrow I will fill you all in on the second half of my saturday.....it was a busy day....

Blasts from the past.....and looking forward.

Well, I was looking through my old photos from before I really learned anything about my camera. I found some that I love. The first one is from when we lived in Seattle and went on a field trip to the Puget Sound....it was so beautiful!

The last 3 are from a trip to Wallowa Lake in Oregon with our bestest buddies the Young Fam! That was THE MOST GORGEOUS place I have ever seen!

So, tomorrow I have my first "job!" Our friends from the bus stop, the Hanson's, are letting me take some photos of their 4 beautiful kiddos. I am so excited!! I hope it goes well....I will post photos asap!
~kerry

New goodies!!

Yay! Today my new "nifty fifty" lens came. I got a 50mm f/1.4G for my Nikon. LOVE it!! It has a short depth of field, which creates that super blurry background. I snapped a few pics of my sweet boys....still have lots of learning to do though. And it seems like the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know! Researching getting this business going is very intimidating.

Hello world! I'm really doing it!!

So, here I am......blogging!! First, I am not exactly the most "chatty" person around, and second I am not really a tech-y type person either, so blogging is a BIG step for me! Yay me! I have spent the last 8 years doing the occasional odd job, and having babies.  Our 3 gorgeous, sweet, adorable and fun kids are now 3, 5, and 7. Matt is in 2nd grade, Ryann is in kindergarten, and Cal just started preschool this year. So, I really wanted to figure out what I wanted to be "when I grow up." I want to have something that was "mine" and I could work hard at, and at the end of the day feel like I had accomplished something. Sure, raising the kids feels like an accomplishment (although some days I feel like I am failing miserably- but thats another blog for another day!) I wanted to show them that mommy does have other talents besides making the best PB & J and kissing away boo-boos. 
I was a teacher for a few years BB (before babies) but I just wasn't excited about trying to get back into teaching. I have a degree in biology and chemistry and thought maybe nursing would be the way to go, but again, I just was not that excited about it. So, I did a little brainstorming, and went back - way back- to my first vision of "what I want to be when I grow up." My first vision of "grown up me" was that of a National Geographic photographer - traveling the world and capturing "the shot." 
This is where the story begins......... Northport High School circa 1995.  I took my first photography class. I was lucky enough to go to a high school that had great equipment and a real dark room. I borrowed my dads old Nikon 35mm camera, bought a bunch of rolls of film and developing paper and started to learn the ropes. I took pictures of anything and everything I found interesting. I made my family and friends be my models, I even made my brother dress like a homeless guy so I could get some "photojournalistic" shots. (Thanks Keith :-)) I learned how to take the film out, roll it around the developing wheel inside that big baggy thing, and develop it in the correct chemicals (Looking back I can't believe they let us kids mess with all of that!) Then we made our thumbnail sheets in the darkroom and the pictures appeared! It was the coolest thing EVER! Even back then, my favorite subjects were kids. I would go "downtown" and ask parents if I could take some pictures of their kids for my high school class. I just loved the way they - for the most part- were not even aware that I was taking their pictures. They were just having fun, and I was capturing real expression, REAL moments. So......flash forward to the present, and here I am getting back to my first vision of me: photographer. They always say: if you do what you love, you will do it well (or they say something like that, right?) As of right now, I have some great equipment (thanks to my husband:-)) and I am learning and re-learning. I am practicing every chance that I get, and getting better with each photo shoot (if I do say so myself ;-)) I also have learned SOOOO much about photoshop thanks to my techie mom- thanks mom!! That has really opened up a new world. So, with some prodding from my businessman husband, here I go......starting a business - yikes! 


Tentative name: Kerry B Smith Photography (there is already a Kerry Smith and a KB Smith) I toyed with the idea of Williamsburg Family Photography or Williamsburg Children's Photography, but not only are those slightly boring, but they also limit me a bit, in case I would like to expand to do weddings, seniors, etc. So, I am including some photos. The "Beach Tower" here is my brother and his adorable family. They were my first family "guinea pigs" and boy did I learn a lot! This is the only pic from that shoot that I am really proud of. The rest were good, but not good enough.  I used photoshop more than I normally do on this one for several reasons....my brother wanted me to make him look good- sorry Sean, I did the best I could (he he:-)) Also, Theresa's face was behind Ethan in the original photo, so I took her head from another one and put her pretty smile in there! Cool, huh?!




Below are some of my favorite pics from a little impromptu session with my kiddos out on the golf course behind the house. I have some fun kids!

 Funny! Looks like Matt is really landing one on Ryann! Disclaimer: no children were injured in the making of this photo. ;-)

I LOVE this one! Just a little photoshop-ing and WOW!

Thanks for reading my first blog entry! Stay tuned for more to come...

~kerry