January and February Newborn Favorites {Tulsa Newborn Photographer} {Tulsa Newborn Photography}
Here are some of my favorite newborn images from January and February! Enjoy!
10,000 Likes Giveaway {Tulsa Family Photographer} {Tulsa Wedding Photographer} {Tulsa Newborn Photographer}
I have been SOOOO excited to announce the winners of this giveaway! Giving is one of my favorite things in life! There were so many amazing stories and the judges had a very hard time deciding. They chose one winner for the mentoring and we ended up choosing two winners for the free one hour session.
So without further ado the winner of the free two hour mentoring session is Ashley Christensen!
Her husband nominated her. Here an excerpt from his nomination e-mail:
“I would like to nominate my amazing wife, Ashley Christensen, for the mentoring session. She has been taking pictures for close to 6 months now, and has poured every free minute she gets into bettering her skills and practicing the trade. She works in a very low income, inner-city elementary school, and has set the personal goal of doing free pictures for the kids in her classroom that cannot afford to have photographs taken…”
I could not be more excited to work with Ashley and cannot wait to see all of the people she is going to bless through the gift of photography!
The first winner of a free one hour session is Shawna Dean!
Here is an excerpt from her e-mail:
“My husband and I got married in September 2005 after meeting in college at OSU in Stillwater. We both knew we wanted a family soon, so that is where our journey would begin. I have taught for the last 5 years. I’ve taught Pre-K, and infants and toddlers while at Tulsa Educare, substituted for Bixby and Broken Arrow for the last two years, and this is my first year at TPS teaching Kindergarten. 🙂 After a couple years of me being in a lot of pain on and off, and not conceiving, we decided to seek medical advice. We went to a fertility specialist, went through various tests for both of us. The tests supposedly revealed there was nothing “wrong”. But I was prescribed a fertility medication, had many Dr. appts, and even had an IUI. Nothing seemed to get us pregnant. Frustrated, we kept trying, longing for a baby of our own. After 3 years of marriage, we decided to seek a different opinion. I saw an OB/GYN, who immediately told me that things did not “add up”. He scheduled a laparascopy because he suspected endometriosis. His suspicions were correct, I was then diagnosed with Stage 4 endometriosis. Which meant, I had had it for a very long time, which what was causing me so much pain and infertility. We tried for another couple of years, watched other friends and family members conceive, while trying to stay positive. After 8 years of marraige, many years of Dr’s appts, many $$ spent and going to many, baby showers we were ready to raise the bar. At that point, I went back to the Fertility Clinic, had another laparascopy, and decided to preceed with IVF. We did one round of IVF in Tulsa, and decided to go to Dallas. After 3 rounds of IVF in Dallas, we finally conceived!!!! Our baby boy is definitely our miracle and gift from God! We are definitely proof that miracles do happen! I thank God everyday for blessing us with our baby boy Lincoln, who is due April 14. We could not be more excited, and more ready to meet him!!”
Experiencing a miscarriage myself, I know the pain that trying to conceive can bring. While it only took my husband and I seven months to conceive after our miscarriage, each day felt like an eternity. I can’t imagine what she has been through in the past eight years! I can’t wait to celebrate this miracle with her!
Our second winner of a one hour session is Adriane Jones!
Here is an excerpt from her e-mail:
“In 2012 I lost my triplet girls due to premature rupture at 19 weeks. I didn’t get to have maternity photos done with them just memory photos after they were born. I am now 17 weeks pregnant with a miracle baby that we thought would never happen without fertility drugs. I would love to win this giveaway for maternity photos with you!!!”
I will be contacting each winner by e-mail to set up their sessions! Thank you to everyone who participated!
Rock the Shot – January Photo Challenge – 2013 Favorite {Photo Challenges}
I love participating in photo challenges! It gives me a chance to reflect on my work and look past the subject and see the art. Rock the Shot always offers amazing challenges and I always love seeing the variety of submissions! My favorite of 2013 came at the very end of the year. It is from my beautiful friend Valerie’s maternity session.
We started planning her session months ago. She had her sister custom make this dress. We jumped in the car and headed out to the countryside in Oklahoma. This shot was taken at the very end of her session. The sun had set five minutes before. We were actually walking back to the car when I said, “Wait just a minute. Let me grab my 24-70 for something a little more dramatic.” I knew the sky was perfect for a wide angle! To get the sky and my subject exposed right I took two shots and did a composite. For the first shot I exposed for her skin which blew out the sky. For the second shot I exposed for the sky which made my subject extremely dark. I put the exposed skin picture on top of the exposed sky picture. I then used a layer mask to mask off the blown out sky to reveal the exposed sky underneath.
I then did a basic edit by hand in Photoshop with some soft light layers and clipping masks. Clipping masks allowed me to do a dramatic edit to the sky without over doing the rest of the image.
Some facts about the image:
Camera: Nikon Df
Lens: Nikon 24-70 2.8
Lighting: Five minutes after sunset
Post Processing: Photoshop CS5
Settings: 24mm f/2.8 ss 1/500 ISO 200.
If you love photography I HIGHLY recommend visiting the rock the shot forum!
www.rocktheshotforum.com
Or click on the button below to take you right to the site!
