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Getting Creative: High Chair Cover

Posted on July 29, 2010

The color orange puts a big dopey smile on my face. Unfortunately, I wear the color with little success – something about skin tones, I am sure. I may not be able to wear it but that doesn’t stop me from trying to surround myself with this happy hue. I was quite delighted with the orange patterned oilcloth featured in this post at Made. I ordered the fabric right away and after it arrived it sat for months as I tried to come up with a project that would merit its use.

Several weeks later I threw our high-chair cover in the wash and  it ripped. Maybe the tag that said not to machine wash actually knew what it was talking about, go figure. Anyway, I can’t claim this upset me  because it was boring, plain, and the color of putty.  Plus, this was the  the perfect chance to bring my neglected oilcloth out of hiding.

After weeks and I do mean WEEKS (professional seamstress I am not) it became this…

I still have over half a yard left. Any ideas?

Littlest Heroes Project : Amarillo Family Session

Posted on June 19, 2010

I was very excited to get my first email notifying me of a family in Amarillo that had requested a session through the Littlest Hero’s Project. If you don’t know about the LHP, go here to check them out. This was such a great experience and I loved meeting Misti and Tim and their awesome kids Sidney, Adia and Lucas.

I also want to say a special thanks to Kembra of the Uncommon Twists for opening her beautiful garden for our shoot. Not only does she have a plethora of well-tended plants for sale but she also has an gorgeous, manicured and landscaped area for weddings and special events.

The family…

Adia was born with Down Syndrome and a heart defect. She had open heart surgery when she was 4 months old and weighed only 7 pounds.The surgery was successful and she is now two years old and soo amazing!

Aida’s older brother, Sidney was diagnosed near a year ago with Burketts Lymphoma.He had a large tumor wrapped around his small intestine and by the time he was diagnosed he had stage four cancer. Sidney has completed six months of aggressive chemotherapy. The majority of that six months was spent in the pediatric intensive care unit. His prognosis is wonderful and the doctors expect him to carry on with his life cancer free.

Sidney with his little brother, Lucas…

After the family session we went into downtown to get some images of Sidney. I always get a bit intimated when shooting seniors, because I am a major geek and seniors are ALWAYS way cooler then me. Not only was Sidney one cool cat but he is also super smart and ambitious and plans on teaching music at the university level.

Mitsti and Tim, thanks for giving me the opportunity to celebrate with your family by taking your photographs! Watching you with your kids was such a treat as I could see how proud and in love you are with each of them!

Keeping it in the Family

Posted on May 5, 2010

I think Dustin may lose his place as my second shooter…

Some of Gavin’s work thus far. I think it has a very avant-garde feel with just a bit of neo-expressionism…

Not bad for a three year old.

And look, a picture of me! Our household has the common problem of Missing-Mom-Sydrome, as I am usually the one taking the majority of our pictures. Problem solved by my new over-eager under study!

Finally, I will have pictures of myself with at least one of the kids! In all honesty though, it made me very happy to see him so excited about finally being able to take pictures. I hope it becomes a passion for him just like it is for me!

Houston Family Photography

Posted on April 24, 2010

It is crazy how creative I have been with my blog post titles lately. For real.

I’m going to be brutally honest. Family photos are not what I consider my greatest strength. I am always on the fence if I should continue shooting them. Props to those photographers out there like Bobbi and Mike, The Image is Found, and Pastel Photography, they can rock some serious family sessions. It takes major determination, skill, and patience to photograph a family. But then I get families like Heather, Marc and their two boys and it makes me think, “I love families! Why would I want to stop photographing them?”.

These guys were ideal clients. Relaxed, patient, easy-going and nice. Really, I couldn’t have asked for better.

Their boys are Nathan and Morgan, and like boys their age, they are very much interested in not having their pictures taken. Especially when  surrounded by a plethora of farm animals…

Nathan is three.

Morgan is about a year and a half.

Heather and Marc, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and  your precious boys and I hope to see you all again!

If you are in the Houston area and interested in a session, please contact me at leah@thesaltedimage.com.

Class of 2010: Missy

Posted on April 6, 2010

Missy and I tried several times to shoot her senior portraits but the weather was against us. If it wasn’t snowing, then we were plagued by severe wind. Finally, after numerous attempts, we met up in her hometown of Hereford to shoot her portraits. I had a blast and it was well worth the wait. Seniors are the best, and Missy was no exception!

Missy has total mermaid hair, which the wind was loving. Thankfully, the breeze was somewhat well behaved and not attempting to blow us into another time zone.

Missy, I had such a great time with you! Thanks for giving me the honor of photographing you and thanks so much for showing me all around your hometown!

Adalay is One!

Posted on April 5, 2010

Our sweet, mellow, little girl is one today!

I need to find a new cliche to sum up; “They grow up so fast”, and “I remember it like yesterday”. I do remember her birth like yesterday and it does go SO fast!

I just knew that this day was our last as “Pre-Baby #2 McLean Family”, so of course we had to get a picture! 12 hours before arrival (and don’t be hatin’ my lounge wear, what else could I fit in?)…

The timing of Adalay’s arrival could have been better. We were waiting on the birth of Baby Mc ver. 2.0 before we could move to Amarillo. Movers were coming that week to pack up all our belongings and our new home was wating expectantly to be filled. After much thought, I decided I would rather have our families help once we got to our new home (where I did not know a soul) instead of at the baby’s birth. Our families graciously waited while we enlisted the help of our church family for the birth. When we headed out to the birth center, our cherished friends arrived to pick up Gavin. When they heard I was already 8cm dilated they decided to hang around. I am so glad they did because Gavin was able to meet his sister just minutes after her birth, he was enamored and he has been ever since.

Adalay’s birth was about as good as extreme pain and suffering can be, thanks in large part to my extraordinary midwife Katherine, who works at the Nativi Birthing Center in The Woodlands. The Birth Center beat the socks off Gavin’s hospital birth. It is really even unfair to compare the two. When they set Adalay on my chest, I asked if the baby was a boy or girl and found out no one had checked , so I was the first to find out we had a girl to go along with our rough-neck little boy.

One of the greatest things about using a birth center was that we were home and in our own bed several hours after Adalay was born. The next day I helped get lunch ready for 20 of our closest friends (because I seriously felt that good, really I did not feel like I had given birth 12 hours earlier. I am still waiting for it to hit me) and we had a”Welcome to the World Adalay” celebration.

It consisted of eating great amounts of food and lots of baby gazing. It was great.

Life was full before Adalay, Gavin was busy keeping our lives packed. Adalay added to that fullness in a way that only a happy-go-lucky, calm, and content baby can. She is such a sweet, sweet, gift. We are so thankful for every minute of her life and so proud that she has been given to us!

A year in review…

Happy birth sweet-girl! I can’t wait to see what the year has in store for you!

The Windy City {Amarillo Senior Photographer}

Posted on March 30, 2010

I know Chicago carries the title of “The Windy City”, but really I think it should belong to Amarillo.

I had a session last Saturday that we ended up postponing. Missy the Senior, and I showed up as scheduled, but the wind and cold had us running soon after. I mean it was REALLY windy! Seriously.

Before we retreated to the warmth of our cars I cajoled Missy to stand under some bare trees. They will be blooming soon and I wanted to take advantage of their winter moodiness…

Missy! We will try again, with or without the hurricane force gales!

At Long Last…

Posted on March 12, 2010

I am not sure why it has taken me so long to write this post. It has been sitting as an unpublished draft on my blog for close to two weeks, really I am amazed that I finally pushed the “publish” button!

I think my hesitation comes from the fact that I tend to freeze up when given too many choices (don’t take me to Subway please!). At the end of February I attended my first photography workshop. The “Life as Art Workshop” was taught by Nichole Van and it was worth every penny. The amount of information she packed into three days made me feel like I had a piano strapped to my head. Processing it all is going to take awhile. There are a ton of things I want to do differently and figuring them all out is making my head want to explode!

Not only was it a great workshop,  full of information, resources, and tons of goodies to take home but I also left with some great new friends (enter “Awwwww” here). Not to mention that I won the roommate lotto with Karyn. Karyn is a fellow Texan transplant and a total peach. You can check out her site at In Bloom Photography.

Here are some images from our mass photo shoot…

It was such a great experience and if you have come upon this blog post while researching Nichole Van’s workshop I encourage you to 100% go! You wont regret it!

So now I have a lot of choices to make and maybe, just maybe I can break out of my deer in the headlights stance and start moving on all the ideas I have. I can’t wait to get started!

My Book Shelf

Posted on February 23, 2010

I love when I open my front door and see a box from Amazon sitting there expectantly. I can almost hear the angels singing from the Heavens (I get the same feeling EVERY time I walk into a library. It’s magical.)

What is better than a box of books?!

I make it no secret that reading is one of my favorite things to do. There is not much better than an unread book just begging to be opened.  I love holding a book for the first time and imagining what is inside.  I love the smell of the pages and the smooth texture of the spine. Dare I admit, that I will often take a deep breath of the dust jacket with my eyes closed in eager expectation before I even open the cover? 

Ahhh, books.

So the new additions to my bookshelf…

Half of the books are business related (how else can I justify my book habit?) and honestly I was not super excited to start reading them. I am a bit surprised that Word of Mouth Marketing (one by Silverman and another by Sernovitz) is actually an interesting subject.

Dale Carnegie’s classic How to Win Friends and Influence People should be read and practiced by every single person on earth. The world would be a better, sweeter, and happier place.

I saw the book  A Million Miles in a Thousand Years refereed to on a peach of a  blog, and was reminded that the author,  Donald Miller, wrote one of my favorite non-fiction books ever, Blue Like Jazz. So why haven’t I read his newest work? I was tempted to peek in it the other day but decided instead to hold off for my flight to Salt Lake City. The anticipation is killing me.

I read Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell several years ago, right after finishing Blue Like Jazz. I remember not being that impressed with it, but I think that may have had something to do with the fact that I had just finished such a fantastic book and nothing else could come close.  Dustin requested it recently, and when Dustin wants to read a book (a rare occurrence) I will jump through hoops to make it happen. 

My guilty splurge was Making Children’s Clothes by Emma Hardy. Truth is, I bought this at a fabric store because I had a 50% off coupon. So far I am loving it, not only are the patterns simple enough for a novice like me to grasp, but they are also very cute clothes. I have learned that simple and cute don’t often go together in the sewing world so I am very pleased with this.

So while I am out of town over the next couple of days, for my long-awaited, first ever, photography workshop, you can bet I will be opening a book every chance I get (flying without my kids, are you kidding me!!).

And by the way, what’s on your bookshelf?

A Warm(er) Break

Posted on February 14, 2010

So yesterday was actually pleasant, not exactly balmy but no snow, wind, or freezing temperatures.  That makes taking pictures much easier for me, I do love the snow but I can’t stand being cold. Really, I detest it. Strongly.

Anyway, it was a perfect day for a photo session!

We were lucky enough to have two great Randall High Seniors booked  and I had such a great time with them both!

I will be posting more of their images over the next couple days. For now, here is a peek at Madeline…

 

Check back soon to see more !

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