This is a sneak peak for Holly, of one of her soon-to-be four-year-old twin boys, Jack and Sam. Jack and Sam are as serious about Spider-Man as my daughter, Ada, is about 101 dalmations. They love to wear their Spider-Man outfits and I wanted to honor that obsession. Anyway, I’ll add a picture of Sam as soon as I can, but for now, here’s Jack, the up and coming face of Spider-Man.

I’m adding the image below only because my five year old walked by, saw it on the screen and said, “Let me look at that again!  How did you do that?!”  Using her as an indicator, Jack and Sam will find it equally amusing.

I’ve been moving my bee hives around and set up a new hive last week. In the process I threw out an old bee hive super because the corners rotted out. We burned the bee super in the firepit in our backyard last night and at the risk of making it sound like we’ve gone trippy down here in Bunnyville, I have to say that the bee box burned beautifully. I went and got the camera, figuring it was going to be interesting if I managed to melt or otherwise mess up an expensive lens taking pictures of a bonfire. Anyway, here’s our fire dog, and in case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t photoshop it to make it look more “dog-like.”

I know a lot of highschool seniors get too busy to have their photos taken before graduation, but really, I don’t think it is ever too late, especially with myspace and facebook, where seniors can show pictures to friends after graduation.

And high school senior pictures don’t have to be the last professional pictures you have taken before getting married. Kim scheduled a session for her three kids, Megan, Matthew and Jessica who are all in their early twenties. We shot group photos and individuals of each person.

I have so many backdrops and sets (I collect backdrops like some women collect shoes), but I have to admit that right now I’m addicted to one of my simplest sets. On my natural white set, my goal is to pose people as little as possible, to try to get them to stand like they normally stand or sit in a way that looks natural to them. On natural white, I really want them to look like themselves.

In senior pictures, I know there is a lot of posing and “pushing” the pose and that is all fine and well for the fashion look that is so popular right now. And I do that, to a certain extent, but I try to keep from going over the top with it, because my theory is that many of the senior poses that are so popular right now are the first things that will date the images five or ten years from now. In the same way that most of us cringe at the poses that were considered “cool” in the seventies or eighties. We can spot them a mile away, and many just look silly now. I think some pictures posed in current fashion are fun and a great addition to a senior session, but I also want to be sure I get some that look authentic to that person, because that, I maintain, will never go out of fashion.

Erika and Kurt are so much fun! I always enjoy spending time with them and am looking forward to their wedding this summer. North Clay is losing a wonderful guidance counselor as Erika is moving to be with Kurt.

I had a great time visiting with Amy and Rylan. It makes me happy to know that such good people have chosen to come back home to teach.

I’ve had several engagement sessions lately. I enjoyed spending some time with Seth and Megan as well as Megan’s sister and mother.

I loved the vintage look of Avril’s graduation dress. I think it suits her classic beauty. I have added this image to myspace as a sneak peak for the rest of her session which is still in the works. I’ve gone back in and added a couple of poses that Avril ordered.

My portrait and wedding website is not loading at the moment. I’m in the process of launching my new website for portraits and weddings, so hopefully I’ll have the new site up within the next couple of days.  Here is a screenshot until then.

We have new chicks hatched. We always have too many chickens, but Ada and I never grow tired of looking at freshly hatched chicks. We brought some in to babysit them a while before turning them back over to the “professionals,” otherwise known as the banties.

I have a fortune cookie stuck on my refrigerator from over a year ago. It was Ada’s fortune and it read, “A financial investment will yield returns beyond your hopes.” I laughed when I read it to her and asked her what she thought it meant.

She thought for a moment before replying in a very certain voice, “Chicks stay alive.”

Considering our banty population, I’d say we are very fortunate indeed.

And Ada holding chicks in the chicken shed as I handed them down from the boxes.