Newborn Goodness

I had the wonderful opportunity to take photos of this precious little boy.  He's only a couple weeks old and having spent some time in the NICU, he's home, happy, and with his momma!

On The Road Again

This weekend, Husband and I will be traveling again.  I'm pretty excited because I'm getting to see my family AND finish up some Senior Photos.  What's really exciting about this is that we were able to get access to a grand piano and a concert hall with stage lights AND A CATWALK.  These photos could prove to be really exciting.

Additionally, I'll get to spread the word that I'm available and willing to travel!

Senior Portraits

Couples

My Family

A few weeks back, I had a family reunion.  I know, when you think of family reunions, you think of all the awkward get-togethers with family and you dread going, right?  See, my family isn't like that... or at least I don't think we are.  I enjoy getting the chance to see everyone. 

And take photos.

Senior Photos!

I had a BEAUTIFUL model for some senior portraits.  She put up with my antics and through several wardrobe changes, we came out with some AMAZING pictures.  I love it!

Bluff Creek Triathlon 2010

This past weekend was the Bluff Creek Triathlon at Don Williams Park outside of Ogden, IA.  Over the past few years, I've been invited to attend and photograph the triathlons by the couple that organize and put on these events.  I LOVE being there and having the opportunity to see these amazing athletes in all their glory.  Year after year, I've seen these events grow and am impressed by all the work that goes into them and the volunteers that diligently wake up before the crack of dawn and help make these events go smoothly.

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Homestead Happiness

Who could possibly not love this fur ball?  Our baby Guida Roo is finally home and adjusting well.  Love and I took a long weekend to prepare for her and then go get her in the Twin Cities.  She's an absolutely ADORABLE puppy that is mellow and curious.  She's been having a hard time tonight with going to bed.  Big ol' bedtime tears are SO hard!

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Spread A Little Joy!

How could you not spread joy with an ADORABLE face like this!?

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Like Daddy!

Thanks for taking great photos!

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Puppies and Prom!

This weekend was a great, long weekend.  Husband and I got to meet our new puppy for the very first time.  She is ADORABLE!  She's all snuggly and cute.  Love was laying on the couch and set her on his chest to just watch her, but in her snuggly way, she scooched up to his neck and cuddled in.  It was SO cute.

Saturday was filled with prom events and photos.  Oh, to be young again...  The ladies and gents were fabulous and I hope they had a GREAT time with dinner and prom.

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Celebrate VEISHEA at ISU

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Announcements Are Here!

I've been working on some backgrounds the past couple days for some STUNNING photo announcement options.  They are a little bit of everything and I LOVE the way they are turning out. 

These are great for graduation or engagement announcements and holiday family portraits.

Beautiful Sunday!

Today was just one of those beautiful days.  Husband and I rolled out the grill and spent the evening on the deck, taking photos and waiting for brats and potatoes to grill.

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Get It Started!

I want to THANK everyone for their AMAZING support.  I am still looking to build my porfolio and would LOVE to take your photograph!

If you have any high school seniors, college graduates, prom attendees, families, kids, or anyone else that should have their photo taken, please let me send them my direction!

I shoot all my photos on location - you pick the place and I'll be there.

Oh, and I have pictures here to view [copy & paste]:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Ames-IA/e-l-christensen-photography/111668178851812?ref=nf

BIG Shout Out!

I want to send a HUGE thank you to J. Donahoe for her FABULOUS logo designs.  I am in LOVE!

Changing It Up.

This blog is now going to be, in addition to my general thoughts and activities, a photoblog as I work on starting a photography business.

Not Sure If You Heard...

But, Guam, don't tip over.  K?

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In The Mail

Yesterday, after a fun trip to the city for Chipotle and chocolate, we all got home and tucked in the door was another Quilt for Kids fabric packet.  CUTE FABRIC!  Again, I'm pretty sure that if I saw this fabric at the store, I'd walk right past it, but it will still make a fabulous blanket for someone that needs it.

I also bought a little bit more fabric for myself.  Pictures to come later.

And aside from getting locked out of the house, I had a great time yesterday.  Had a great model for some portraits and they turned out fantastically.

PROM DRESS!

When my baby sister texted me that she was going to prom, I totally flashbacked and got EMBARASSINGLY excited for her.  I kind of feel that I'm reliving my high school days by being close to her, and this was NO exception.

I got really excited and asked her to go prom dress shopping with me.  Again, it should have been the other way around; either she would have asked me to go with her, or the realistic point of her just going with her friends.  Who really wants to go shopping with your older sister?  Isn't that like taking your dad?

But then one morning she sent me a few frantic texts of pictures, her wearing different dresses and which one should she get?  What jewelry goes with it?  What could her date wear if she got this dress or that dress?

OooOoh!  I was so excited that she was asking me.  Thoughts of beautiful dresses flashed in my eyes and my mind started reeling with things to add or do to whatever dress to make it super trendy and unique.  She had to bring me down a couple notches.

Being the classy chick that she is, she wants to be more "sharp" and "classy" and "sophisticated", rather than "I-want-people-to-remember-my-ultra-trendy-just-like-the-great-80's-poufy-sleeve" for prom.  She found this GREAT medium-toned, brown dress with pintucks all the way to the ground and a beautiful ribbon at an empire waist.  Only problem was that it was just a little too long and even though she's convinced she needs 5" heels, she still needed some alteration to the length.

We went shopping today for shoes for her, and even though she didn't find any, she got a few good leads.  THEN we found the find of the CENTURY: her date's tie.  It is my understanding that he already has a suit that he wanted to wear, but he doesn't know how to really coordinate with a girl's dress [makes sense... boys...], so he asked her to help him figure out what to wear.  I must say, I'm pretty impressed with the image in my head of these two prom-goers.  I'm excited for her!

So, tonight was all about the dress.  Who knew I could do alterations on prom dresses?

Wallow

Chocolate SOMETIMES makes it all better.

Pity Party: Long Post Ahead

Yesterday was a ROUGH day...

Love left early for work, so I started early on my sewing. 

I was already feeling alone and depressed; a little to do with being home and constantly working on things, but not really seeing TONS of progress.  That and my usual group of people that I talk to everyday have slowly been online less and less, including all the normal blogs I read haven't been updated as frequently lately.  So, with no one to talk to and nothing to read, I set myself down with a cup of sweet tea, an old black and white movie and got to sewing.  Only to spill the ENTIRE glass of tea on the spare bed as I swooshed fabric around the room.  Sad. 

So I took apart the bed and started the laundry.  And sat back down to sew. 

Now, the piece I'm working on now isn't high on the difficulty scale, but it sure is putsy and takes FOREVER.  It is slow moving work and after my machine decided to chunk its way through a few seams, I had to stop and pull out the seam-ripper. 

Frustrated, I checked back online to see if any blogs had been updated or if anyone was online to talk to.  Nope.  No changes.

Then, an idea hit me.  If I want to really get into the photography biz, I'm going to need somewhere else to print and help organize photos.  And then I found it.  A company that will sell, print, mail, and deposit photos and money for me.  I know, sounds too good to be true, right?  I did a lot of research.  It is a pretty solid company that has been around for YEARS and while I figured it would cost me something, I wouldn't have to deal with orders or money or CREDIT CARD FEES.  WhoOo!

I got really excited about it and REALLY wanted to spill my guts to someone about how excited I was, but remember?  No one was online.  Love was at work (and had forgotten his phone at home).  And so I sat there.  Wallowing in my own sadness that no one could be excited with me.

Pity party commence!

I turned back to my project I'm working on, but again, having problems with the needle and the ca-chunk ca-chunk of the machine made me stop.  I grabbed my computer and decided to Google solutions while watching some TV. 

In case you weren't aware, there is NOTHING on TV on Friday nights.  So, with nothing to watch, and nothing to sew, and no one to talk to, I was getting really frustrated.

And somewhere in there, my mind drifted to where I want to take a photography business.  What would I like to do and what would I need to start off with.  I'm pretty confident with my dSLR, but in my online searching last night, I TOTALLY fell in love with a new lens.  Then I thought, "Well, maybe I can convince Love that with some of our tax refund, I could get this new lens and get my photography business off the ground; make some actual money off of it."

And then Love FINALLY came home, but had other things on his mind.  So...  I find myself still frustrated and dreaming.

But I currently have a few photography gigs lined up, so... that's a bonus.  Senior pictures, family portraits and sporting events; here I come.

Moving Right Along

So, I got this quilt finished. I machine quilted it with inspiration from a few different quilters' blogs that I read. I did a triple diagonal stitch to the right and a single diagonal to the left and finished the borders with a nice 1/4 inch double fold and blanket stitch. I've discovered how much I LOVE the blanket stitch. Pretty impressed. Maybe someday soon, I'll try a different binding, but I just love the way these look.


Now, I'm moving back to this quilt. Quick refresher:

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Bugs {AND} Birds

I started this blanket a few weeks ago. My Mom has a quilt that is a bunch of blues and greens and other random colors pieced together, like this. The white looking pieces have the little birds on them; fabric that I found when I was up visiting my family in Wisconsin. I used this quilt as my teaching quilt for my friend who is learning to quilt.

I've also seen several quilts in the blogging world that really inspired me to do small squares. They can be so simple, but they really have an impact and can look so stunning. I don't think I'd quite classify mine in the "stunning" category, but it was definitely fun to make. It is a decent size baby blanket. I just love making them because my attention span usually ends at 50 inches square.