Autumn is Coming!

Today I'm feeling Autumn-y. It's drizzly, cloudy, and cool here today so I pulled out the long sweaters, the boots, and I can't wait to get home and make soup. I know we'll still have summer days before true Autumn kicks in, but it's fun to have a day that feels like Fall. September is my favorite favorite month. Golden light. Green Chile roasting all over town. Jacket weather. Beautiful skies. Sunflowers. I LOVE it! So, in honor of it feeling more like Autumn than Summer here today, I thought I'd show you 2 Fall Pinstrosities for today's post. 

We'll start with the shorter one. The Baby in a Pumpkin pin. We've seen this on here before, but these never get old.

The Original Pin:

In my efforts to find the original owner of this photo I traced this back to someone's personal Facebook profile. I figure I probably shouldn't link up and advertise her personal profile for the whole world to see. 

Cute baby in a perfect pumpkin. Charity said, "I fell in love with this photo op, and did the calculations when I was pregnant with my son, Tripp and knew he would be the perfect age when Halloween rolled around.  I obsessed with picking the perfect pumpkin and carving it just so, so that Tripp would fit inside just like the sweet little girl in the original pin.  To say the least, he did not have the reaction I had anticipated, but I will admit it turned out hilarious!"

The Pinstrosity:

Our other Pinstrosity today comes from Murielle. Here's her story:

"I have another example of my love/hate relationship with Pinterest.  I saw this cool thing with a pumpkin, a plastic fake kind of course.  The lady mod podged the whole thing with tissue paper. Simple enough right?!"

The Original Pin:

http://smithfamily-az.blogspot.com/2010/08/fall-craft.html

"I had a feeling that this was going to be an future Pintrosity for sure, just because it seemed too simple. Her blog is here if you'd like to read for yourself, but really, I followed her simple instructions.  I bought two pumpkins from the Dollar store and the tissue paper there too, knowing that I wouldn't break the bank for my future Epic Fail..."

http://inmansfromqueencreek.blogspot.com/2013/09/epic-fail.html

"So here is my beauty!!! Isn't it awesome.  I cut small pieces and did like she said, I knew that the orange would show through and I was right! And I knew that the paper wouldn't just lay flat on a round surface! I'm pretty crafty, I think I took this project on just to prove that I am smart too."

"So my hubby turned around and said "wow, the second one looks much better"...well yes, it's gold paint, after just two coats!"

"Luckily, I am a very smart lady, as previously stated, and the tissue paper I had bought for a whole dollar, had a pattern piece along with the gold ones I first used.  I recovered the whole thing with the pattern one, knowing that it wouldn't show the flaws and wrinkles as much.  This picture doesn't do it justice, it actually turned out alright."

"See, it's not that bad. Too bad the Dollar store pumpkins have a line in the middle of them, as if they were cheaply made, oh wait, they were. I sprayed them with Mod Podge after also, but the one I have is Matt finish, probably would have been better with more shine, but that will do for now.  I looked at Gold spray paint at Joann's the other day, and no way I'm paying $5.99 for it, I just used the paint for .99cents!

Now off to the next project, or maybe I'll just have a baby, we'll see!

PS: no, I didn't weave the wicker pumpkin, Mr. Target did a couple of years ago."

So there you have it. The first Fall/Autumn Pinstrosities for 2013. Thank you Charity and Murielle for kick starting our Fall season. What are you doing to get ready for Fall?

http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMy01ZjVjYWE1OGRlZjkyNTYy

Happy End of Summer/Almost Fall everyone! 

Watermelon Shoot

The Fourth of July is coming up here in the States (well...I guess everywhere has a 4th of July, but it's not Independence Day for everyone)! I LOVE Independence Day. It is one of my favorite holidays. I love the parades, the food, the fireworks, and the fun. I still don't know exactly how we're celebrating it this year yet, but it'll be fun! 

I went back through our submissions from this past year to pull out any 4th of July emails that we hadn't posted yet, and we don't have all that many! I was surprised. We must have used them all last year (I guess that means we need more 4th submissions!). But I did find a gem to show you today about a 4th of July photo shoot. Rebecca saw the pin below and used it as inspiration for their Independence Day picture adventure.

The Original Pin

http://fullerfun.blogspot.com/2010/07/baby-watermelon.html

Her happy baby couldn't sit up on her own yet, so they decided to modify things a little to fit the situation. Instead of having the watermelon sitting up, they hollowed it out and had it laying down. They left it out in the sun to warm up, lined it with a towel for comfort, and then they put their normally happy baby in...

The Pinstrosity

She just wasn't impressed at all, poor thing. But Rebecca did say "Luckily she cheered up as soon as we stopped, and the watermelon was one of the best ones I have ever had!"

At least the watermelon was yummy! For tips on taking pictures of babies (especially babies in pumpkins/watermelon), see our previous post, Pumpkin Patch Babies. One extra tip I can give with the watermelon is to cut a slice off the bottom so it stays in place better. That doesn't do much to help an unhappy baby, but anything you can do to make taking pictures with babies easier is a plus in my book!

Dandeflames

Em's with our friend Camille for her graduation vacation (we're so proud of her!). The poor things have to go to Disneyland and the beach. I know...I'm sure they wish they could have stayed here in the wind and dust, but they aren't as lucky as us. Oh well. ;) I wish I could post every day this week, but life has dictated otherwise, so I'm going to just hit Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We'll get back to normal soon we hope. 

Today's Pinstrosity is a quick one (the clutch went out on the car, so we need to go take care of that before work). It's another in the saga of "Don't trust all the captions you see on Pinterest." Behold:

The Original Pin:

http://pinterest.com/pin/207517495302754944/

The caption under the pin reads "Dandelion on fire. Bucket list for this summer... It burns all different colors! :) so neatttt." So Jesse decided to give it a go. 

The Pinstrosity:

"There were no general directions to follow, just light a dandelion on fire...so we did that and it burned super fast and just looked like any normal plant on fire, orange flames..so that pin is not true and dandelions do not burn in different colors."

So what did I do? I turned to Google and typed in "dandelion on fire" to see other people's results. 

The Extra Proof:

http://letoilenicoisedaphne.deviantart.com/art/dandelion-on-fire-211157791

http://favim.com/image/428127/

http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/334803823?view_mode=2

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26359084@N08/2556120263/

So....dandelions don't produce rainbow fire as they burn. But, they do produce fire when they burn and you know how we love fire (responsibly, of course). Only this time of year we don't hardly want to even look at a matchbox in fear that it will combust and set the countryside aflame. We had some rain yesterday (the first in a LONG time)...but not nearly enough. Maybe the whole town should get together and wash our cars. That should do it, right? 

Photo Fiascoes with Kids

Breakfast burrito from Mexico Viejo eaten. Check. Fudge from the Fudge shop downtown. Check. Mother's Day gifts purchased. Check. Stopped at the animal shelter to look at dogs. Check. Hair fixed...uh...we'll skip that one. Pinstrosity done for the day...just about. Here...we'll just check that off next. 

We have two photo fiascoes for you today! The first is this viral photo done by Emily Garrison Photography.:

The Original Pin:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=519516428085476&set=a.518068571563595.1073741837.157281664308956&type=3&theater

Isn't that cute? There is a lady at church who just had her first girl after a house full of boys and this made me think of them. It's a really cute idea. Sonya thought so too. People kept sending this pin to her for her to do with her 5 boys and new baby girl. She says, "so I set up and tried…yea this is the best shot we got. Lol."

The Pinstrosity:

I love the boys in the back...their faces are priceless! Especially the scowl. I think everyone has a picture with their siblings where someone has that look on their face. Oh this makes me smile and laugh, I love it. 

It makes me think of this Mother's Day video that I LOVE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhcA4Ry65FU

Seriously...that's how it works. I crack up every time. "Put down the yard stick!" Oh man. I love my siblings. Good thing I was never the obnoxious older sister, bwahahaha.

We also received a great photo fiasco submission from Molly. She said, "My sister and I wanted to take some new family pictures, and being amateur photographers we looked for ideas on pinterest. While taking her family pictures, I mentioned an idea I saw and pinned. I thought it would be cute since she is pregnant and has a darling two-year old."

The Original Pin:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alicegood/7808454234/

"We were taking the pics in my brother's back yard, whose neighbors happen to have horses. My niece was getting bored of the picture taking process so my sister decided to move over to the fence so she could be entertained by the horses while we attempted the pose. Well, one of the horses was a little too friendly. Not only did the attempts to get the pose right failed, but the horse actually came up and nudged my sister on the behind, as you can see it heading right for her. We had a good laugh over the whole thing, though. We certainly created a memory, even if the pic didn't turn out exactly right."

The Pinstrosity:

This is one of those poses that looks easy, but it doesn't quite come together as naturally as you'd think it would. For anyone wanting to try this one, have the dad kneel right in front of the mom (right in front...close). then the mom doesn't have to lean over as far, meaning the dad doesn't have to lean in as much to kiss the belly, and the belly is a little more distinguishable for the photo. 

As far as keeping kids' attention during a shoot...that can be hard. Many times I'll just let them run and play and do what they want for a few minutes (because they will get bored with picture taking and holding still). A site I have gone back to over and over again for tips on taking pictures of kids and family with small children is Mom*Tog. I even bought her Un-posing guide and I LOVE it. For all you Moms and Photographers out there, her site is definitely worth checking out (and just so you know...we never get paid to do these shout outs. If we give you a site or product on here, it's because we truly do love it and we want to share the things we love). 

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow. I'm sure thankful for my Mother, Mother-in-Law, and all the amazing women who have affected my life (my extra moms if you will). Give the great women in your life some extra love this weekend! 

Hanging the Family Photo

Anyone who has gone through the ordeal of family photos with little kids knows what a chaotic event that can be. They want to run around, throw rocks, pick on their siblings, untuck their shirt, look anywhere but the camera, etc. For the most part they just don't do "sit and look at the camera". Then that gets mom stressed out because she wants nice pictures. Dad gets grumpy because he doesn't want to be there anyway and this is now taking longer. Then the kids pick up on the rising tension and they get more goofy, and the cycle spirals on and on. Unfortunately, I think that can be a common experience for families.  

Luckily, photography styles and fads these days are making it a little easier on everyone during family photos. Getting out of the studio, just relaxing, and getting "lifestyle" portraits has really come into photography vogue. More and more people are going for the "this is us" photo rather than the uber posed photo with cheesy smiles. One such photo that has taken Pinterest by storm is this one:

The Original Pin

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=289633421058296&set=a.289630264391945.67048.231551313533174&type=1&theater

The kids are happy, Dad gets to kiss his pretty wife, and Mom gets a fun family photo. Win-win-win! I've seen this replicated in a number of ways with varying degrees of success. I've had clients show this to me and ask to try it, and I've had varying degrees of success. This week we had a family send us in their Photo Fiasco based off of the above photo. Here was their outcome:

The Pinstrosity

Bahahaha, I love it.  It's not what they had in mind, but it's still funny. 

A few things can be done when trying to mimic the original to help have a higher rate of success. 

1. First things first, the picture will work way better if the orientation is portrait and not landscape. Even if the child's head wasn't cut off, there is still a lot of background space distracting from the family. As this is a busy pose anyway, you want to focus in on the family and have fewer distractions in the background/setting. 

2. Don't tell the kids what you're doing before hand. You'll get much better smiles/squeals if you flip them upside down at the last minute. 

3. Know your children. If being held upside down will freak them out...don't do it (unless you want the terrified eyes or the crying face in your photo). 

4. In the original photo you'll notice that the girl, the older of the two children, is not being held upside down by her legs, the mom is holding the girl on her hip and leaning her over backwards. This is much easier for those older children who are just growing too much for mom or dad to be able to hold them upside down for long. And this means that the kids' heads will be closer to the same level. 

5. Mom and Dad don't often know what to do in photos. This pose is very dynamic and fun for the kids, but parents often don't know what to do once the kids are upside down. Kiss. Laugh. Tickle the kids. Look at each other. It'll make it less awkward and the family interaction will really help seal the photo. 

6. If it doesn't work, don't freak out. Not every pose fits every family. There are some families that this just doesn't fit. Parents, just play with your kids. You'll loosen up and enjoy the shoot more. Your kids will be much happier and more cooperative, and the photos will come out looking like your family and not the family that already came in the frame.  If you kid likes to be spun rather than flipped upside down, do that. Play ring around the rosy. Hold hands and skip. Hide and seek. Have a race. Throw rocks in the water. There are a lot of ways to liven up a shoot and to get personality in it. Photographers, don't stop shooting just because it's not an official pose. Grab some of those moments where the family is interacting.  Each family will be different...some are more reserved and others are all out...but get a family interacting and things will generally be more smooth during the shoot. 

I do photography as a hobby (I am by no means a professional and I don't have any plans to go big time with photography) and I try to use these tips when I am working with families. I love to see them enjoying their time together and just being happy. I know some of my favorite photos from family sessions are the ones where the family is playing and interacting and just being themselves. They may not be the most technically correct photos, but they show the family as they really are. Perhaps that's just my style and preferences, but there's my take on it. 

http://marquettephoto.blogspot.com/2012/12/chris-and-evas-family-photo-session.html

http://marquettephoto.blogspot.com/2011/12/weston-tiffany-and-jase-family.html

http://marquettephoto.blogspot.com/2011/11/kelly-teds-family.html

http://marquettephoto.blogspot.com/2012/03/zach-carolyn-and-wylers-family-photos.html

Water Heart Head Flip

Pinterest can be a great site for finding ideas when it comes time for family or best friends photos. There are boards and boards and boards out there of beautiful images, witty poses, and fun tricks to try. Some of them look so simple and easy that you think, "I totally could do this!". Today I have a photo Pinstrosity where that was just the case. 

The Original Pin

I've looked at a number of sites for the original, and I just can't say 100% that I found the original. A lot of people link to here saying it's the original, but I'm not completely convinced. Know the original site? Let me know and I'll put it in. 

Looks easy enough. Fling hair out of water at the same time as bestie and you have an instant water heart! 

The Pinstrosity

Not quite the results they wanted. These girls found out that this isn't quite as easy as it would seem. Let's take a look at the original again and see if we can pull any tips from it. 

1. Shallow water. You need to be able to get your head and body out of the water fast, and that doesn't quite work if you're up to your waist. 
2. It doesn't look like it at first, but the girls are not directly in front of each other. They had to offset so that they didn't clonk heads when they flew up. This allowed them to get the vertical pillar of water in the middle. 
3. You have to flip your head at the last minute in a small arc. Your hair will flip in a much larger arc (well...assuming you're trying this with long hair...short hair is going to be difficult) than your head. Think of a marching band going around the corner. The guys on the inside are taking baby steps while the guys on the outside are taking longer steps in order to have that nice clean corner turn. You don't need much head movement to swing your hair all the way around. 
4. Many many many retries. I'm sure this wasn't their first shot. 
5. And...I'm still not 100% convinced that this isn't photoshopped. It may not be...but they seem to both be awful straight for how close the vertical pillar is to their bodies. Maybe they just have super good timing for when they both were finally not scrunched over, but I don't know. 

So there you have my take on that. It's doable I think, but it will take some practice and work...and maybe an editing program. 

The Pinstrositeers

We have some exciting news coming up and in anticipation of said news we decided to update our About Us  page. So...here are some pictures from our photo shoot today. We had a ton of fun with this, and we're pretty sure we made it more complicated than it had to be, but that's what Pinterest and Pinstrosity are for, right? 

So, here was our inspiration for the shoot:

The Original Pin

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Hobby-All-Consuming-Diversions-Lifestyle/dp/B001O9CGJO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357232228&sr=8-1&keywords=hobbies
That's a fun book, by the way. Just in case you were wondering. 

And here are some of our favorites:

The Pinstrositeers

Christmas Card Creativity

I don't know about the rest of you...but I'm diggin' Emilee's awesome ideas from last night. After I type this up, I'm definitely heading over to Pinterest to put things into action. 

So...my last post before Christmas. I've had this on my list of things to stress over because I wanted to do something big and fun and awesome. Well, last night I sat finishing up photo shoot edits and staring at my still undecorated tree (seriously...it has no lights or ornaments...it still looks exactly as you last saw it) and worrying over how to finish everything I needed to before Christmas, and I made a decision. I decided that I'm okay with being average today. So this post may not be super witty or inspiring, but in a way it was therapeutic for me, so I count it as a win. 

What is one thing about Christmas that many women (and some men I'm sure...but in my experience, not so much) stress over starting in September? The Family Christmas Card. What do we do? What do we wear? Will Aunt June think it's too cheesy? Will the Donald's think it's too ostentatious? Do we do a classy picture or one that shows our true side? Portrait or landscape? How can we crop out that guy picking his nose in the background that the photographer didn't notice?

Here's an awesome little Calvin and Hobbes sequence that I think many people can relate to on this very subject:

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/12/14

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/12/15

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/12/16

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/12/17

 I made our cards last year, but this year I went quick and simple and ordered cheap ones online. The photo of us is from last year, but we pretty much look the same (I'll attach our card at the end of this post). Besides, it's not how beautiful, clever, or cool the card is that matters. It's really not a competition ladies. 

Rachel sent us her Christmas Card story and the adventure she had getting it. 

"I wanted to share with you my Christmas card fiasco."

"So the past few years my husband and I have done Christmas cards with a photo of us, and this year I wanted to make it a little more interesting by including our dog, Lexie. I saw this pin of 40 Christmas Card photo ideas with dogs and thought I'd try one of them."

http://www.hohumcards.com/2010/12/ideas-for-christmas-cards-with-your-dog-40-amazing-photographs-of-holiday-dogs/

"I decided on this one:"

The Original Pin

 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lamygrrl/3129803046) 

"because our Lexie is a fellow German girl like the pup in the picture, and I thought it'd be pretty easy to recreate since Lexie always has a stick in her mouth anyway." 

"The first part of finding a "Christmas Tree Stick" was pretty easy. We clipped it off a try and then stuck a simple ornament on the end of it. Next we rounded Lexie up, grabbed the camera and handed her the stick. Easier said than done! I swear to you Lexie is always gathering sticks, playing fetch and gnawing on them, but this time she wanted nothing to do with it! She would not keep it in her mouth long enough to snap a single photo."

"We gave up pretty quickly, but then I had the idea to put some peanut butter on the stick, so that maybe it'll heighten her interest. I wanted to be sure to get them printed in time, which meant I only had time after work to do it. My husband gets home after it's dark out, so I had to handle both posing Lexie and taking the photo on my own." 

The Pinstrosity

"As you can see, she finally held the stick, but it was so awkward and hard to get her to pose nicely with it. In many of the pictures her eyes are freakishly bugged out and in many other you can see the peanut butter on her gums." 

"In the end, I am grateful I have a husband who knows how to use photo shop."

The Pin Spin

"Our card wasn't exactly what I had in mind but still a big hit nonetheless. If you want to try this for next year, I wold recommend peanut butter, a second hand, and someone who can use photo shop!"

"Merry Christmas!"

Working with animals is hard...you often don't know what to expect (even if you think you). An animal can be well trained and still get camera shy. Just be patient, stay calm, be adaptive, and have treats on hand. Sometimes everything will go just as planned, and sometimes you have to adapt. I was doing a goofy shoot for fun at my aunts house, taking portraits of her chickens, when we came up with the idea of bringing in their "big mean pit bull" (Patch is the coolest dog) and posing him with the chicks. I originally had the picture in my head of Patch sitting up tall with the chicks at his feet, but he wanted to be down on the same level as the chicks. So we let him lay down and he let the chicks crawl all over him. In the end I loved that picture more than the one I originally had in my head. 

http://marquettephoto.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post.html

So just go with the flow and be adaptable...you might end up with something completely different from what you planned (as both Rachel and I did), but it may still be wonderful.

I hope your final Christmas and Holiday preparations are going well and that you have a season of peace and joy wherever you are. 

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