my boys

Very often, when I put Sebi on the changing table, Max climbs on there to keep him company. Then they throw whatever they can find off it. And they look where it lands and what happened to the object. I'm pretty sure they're hoping whatever it is will break.

They hug a lot. Sometimes on my command and often spontaniously. They just like to be close. Even if it means they have to hit each other, they wanna be next to each other.

And then they laugh. Sometimes quietly and other times very very loud. Sometimes for a reason and sometimes just because. They cry too, but I did not wanna ruin that post by finding one of those pictures ;)

My boys make faces. Here some of Max's

And here some of Sebi's.

And while I wrote this post, I heard two voices giggling behind my back, pulling on the little bear that makes music, and playing with one cheap mc donalds toys we still did not hurdle getting rid off.

Yesterday life was hard with sick, crying kids. Today they are paying me back with extra love and giggles.

It all levels off, doesn't it?

share a little

I follow all kinds of photography blogs... I like to look at different style's and see what they "come up with"... I've always been a picture junkie.

Two of the blogs I follow could hardly be different in type. One is real life photography and the other super fake, though pretending it's real life. Hard to explain and rude to put up links, cause who am I to judge?

Anyway, both have one thing in common. They charge a lot of money to share their "secrets". Why? WHAT ARE THE SECRETS?

Now don't get me wrong I have never been and don't wanna be a MENTOR and I do not have those secrets they are talking about, but I've studied photography and know some things some of you might not know...

HERE ARE MY "Secrets":

1st : if you wanna become a photographer, do NOT underestimate the importance of the technical knowledge. If you don't know (and I mean know) what ISO, shutter speed, aperture, white balance, manual setting, focusing, bulb... mean and how they play off each other, you are NOT READY. look it up online, there is nothing you can't learn, but you have to before you can take pictures properly.

2nd : Learn to see what you want to get from a picture BEFORE you take it.: learn lighting, do you want shadows in your pictures or do you want an even skin tone... do you want to add the "cool" lens flare or do you want it crisp and clean? Do you wanna use reflectors and flashes or just use the natural light?

3rd : you can fix a lot in photo shop, but it'll be suckie work and in the end it won't look perfect either. TAKE THE PICTURE RIGHT AT THE FIRST POINT. take time to adjust the camera. re-adjust during the whole shoot

4th : don't over-edit in photo shop. unless people want a funky style, they likely just want REALLY GOOD pictures, they wanna look their best with a natural flair to it.

5th : get inspired by others, but do NOT copy one to one. it just does not turn out natural, i think. make the pictures your own. and use the personalities of your clients to guide you.

6th : make realistic and fair prices. if you get to a point where you "weed out" you may wanna up-do your pricing...

7th : never stop learning. there is no way anyone knows all the in and outs about photography.

If you are interested in knowing a little more detail about one thing or the other, leave me a comment and i'll try to blog about it...

Thank you, my Max for being an example in sharing. What goes around, comes around. Good luck all of you and enjoy taking pictures weather for a profession or as a mom, dad, uncle, sister, ...

Bedroom half done...

I needed to add some FUNK to our bedroom. The beautiful, green walls where just not quiet cutting it for me. Someone pin'ed something that i pinned from one who pinned and so, I got this idea to screw a few small frames together to make a large frame. I love it... mostly because it is big and because we put all kinds of random pics from our lives. Just little things we've experienced together... impressions, memories. little views of what we've done, what we wanna continue doing.

Here the before: (what was i thinking making the pillow coordinating with the blanket that my mother in law made for me. ps the blanket is white on one side and yellow on the other... and i love it ;)

Here the after.

The frames and prints, screws, sticks to hold it together, glue cost me less than 80 bucks.

The extra pillows with covers (I got them on sale) cost me 15 bucks.

The fabric for the "swiss" pillow cost me also about 15 bucks. (I got the heavy duty fabric cause i wanted that kind of look... and i got a zipper that is barely long enough to squeeze the pillow through).

Flower pot was 1.50 or so.

Markus got me beautiful flowers. THE FIRST FLOWERS he ever bought for me... justified, in the beginning of our courtship, i told him i'd rather have a new shirt than flowers. Well, things changed and so he caught on and got me theese... which by now i managed to kill. SAD!! I gotta get new ones and put them next to my bed...

Since Markus' mom is from Austria, I designed the pillow to have two faces... a swiss and an austrian. though of course, even though i love the austrians, the swiss will be showing most...

It would not have been my project if the pillow would have turned out crooked. the only reason the frames are so exact is cause i'm married to markus who out of all people is a total and complete perfectionist. what a combo,huh? ;)

Now I wanna find new side stand tables and finish the wall from which i took the picture ;)

Bill and Jayne

ill and Jayne are celebrating their 40th anniversary. 40 YEARS! Congratulations!
Those two are such a great example on how love grows with the years... and how important respect is in a relationship. And laughter too. Jayne is a total fire cracker! :)

Both of them are very traditional people, and while I tried really hard to focus on the traditional side, I just could not help but sneak in a few casual pics that really show their feelings for each other. Up first, my absolute favorite...

Isn't she beautiful?

Makeup by http://nicoledeanne.com/

Hair by Candice Palmer (her daughter)

Nichols Family in Arrowhead

How often does one get the chance to go to Arrowhead "just" to take some family pics? I loved the drive through the mountains, it reminded me of the few times I actually drove through my Swiss mountains, back home. I can not even express the emotion that came over me when I saw tree after tree - such a rare view here in SoCal. I wanted to go "home". Ride my bike through a forest, stop and listen to birds (other than crows). I took a few good, deep breaths while being out there, hoping it would hold me over for a little while. Now that I'm seeing the pics again, I wanna pack my car and leave!

Dear mountains, I love you! Trees, I truly wanna hug you!

The reason you see two individual families featured here is because they chose to have their pics taken in addition to the large group. Yup, It's a great idea - you are already all dressed up and the photographer is there too. (In case you wonder, yes, there is a special, lower price if you choose to take individual pics after a larger fam pic...)

Look at how cute those girls are.

Love that one, I told the parents to kiss and that is what happened (I got the kiss after that). You just can't beat an honest, cute expression like this one!

I absolutely love the connection between those three sisters.

So in love... so much laughter. So precious!

cute shoes - cute tippie toe..

I stopped on my way home. Ran across the traffic. Got honked on by more than one car (not cause I'm hot, only cause it was a bit stupid and dangerous where i crossed). Took a few pictures, ran back and kept driving. That view... I should have a house right where the street is. RIGHT THERE! I'd take the honking all day long ;)

Rick and Terry got married!

I feel honored that I got to shoot Terry and Rick's wedding... I LOVED to see how much in love those two are. How young they are together. How he looks at Terry with a mix of joy and admiration. How they laugh together. How Rick cried of joy. How Terry honors Rick. How they danced together all the time. How they kissed each other all day long. Truly in love.

Thanks for having me take your pictures!

Also, I wanted to shout out to my dear friend: thanks Chelsea for always being on my side at weddings - we are so much fun together ;) !