Wedding cake

This past weekend, I photographed a wedding reception.  It has been a long time since I picked up my camera and it felt good to have it back in my hands too.  My baby brother went off and had a romantic wedding with just him and his wife.....  When they returned, the party started.   I hope you enjoy the photos.  I will try and get a few more posted in the coming days.

Love this shot

Here is another shot of the Pacific Ocean.  I love how the trees frame around the edge of the photo.

coastal shot

Sorry it has been a while since I posted things.  We have been getting back into the school routine in our house.  Hope you enjoy this shot.

Napa Valley

While in Napa, I had to take new shot for my kitchen. I like how this one turned out.

Update on Cuddlebug Photography. I have started a gallery here and you can view and even purchase prints. Feel free to check it out. I will be uploading more prints as the days go on.

I have been having fun learning and using new textures. It is a fun but different way to show off a photograph. I hope you enjoy the slight texture to this photo.

Pacific Coast

Here is one of the pacific coast I took while on our hike in Big Sur

Central Coast

Here is a photo I took while hiking in Big Sur. This was one of the prettiest places I have seen along the coast. The road itself was yukky but beautiful to get to.

The Courtyard

This is a courtyard in a Castle. We found an amazing place to visit and just look around in Napa. I am forgetting the name of the winery, but it is a castle. Beautiful place. Took quite a few photos there. I will be showing off scenic pictures for the next few days.

New Photos coming

Well I must apologies for not posting anything new for a while. I have been on vacation and actually I am still enjoying the Napa valley. I can't wait to get home and download all the great pictures I have been taking while gone. We have enjoyed the central coast in Big Sur and in Monterey, and Napa. So by mid week I will be posting some new photos.

black and white

Here is a photo I took a few weeks back and I turned it black and white.

An Update

Well I thought I would just share a few words today. I have been so busy working on getting certain things done around my house. I love summer and all the adventures that it brings. I hope all of you are enjoying your summer.
I am also in the process of working on the paperwork to 'relocate' my photography business to Southern California. I am trying to file the right papers with the State, the County and the City. Being a Corporation makes a move kind of hard. I am SO ready to get Cuddlebug Photography out there and start doing what I love again. I have to do everything right and legal before I can start the advertising. I am looking at trying to do some freelance work along with the portraits.

Wish me luck :)

Beach

This past weekend, I had my camera down at the beach taking some shots of the record waves. A storm from Tahiti brought in big waves all along the south facing beaches. We had some pretty awesome sets on Saturday.

This last one is my favorite. The tide was high because of the storm and I enjoyed getting shots of the water rolling onto the shore.

A Beach Location

I did a photo shoot last week around the town and we ended up doing some on the bluff above the beach. I really like how this one turned out. I like how you can see the end of the pier in the background.

Tropical Feel

I have been working on scenic photos and different ways to edit them. Hope you enjoy it.

Life at the Beach

Here is a photo I took about a month ago. I used a few techniques to treat the photo and I am just loving the final outcome of it. She is a beauty.

Wedding Ring

Here is a picture that I took this AM, I pulled out the tripod and the macro lens to caputre this picture. I wanted a crisp pic of the rings and I really like how I treated the photo too.

credits on the mask:JSpargue photo mask

a new one

I have been so busy this summer, seems like i havent had time to get a lot done. Well my daughters were playing in the yard yesterday afternoon and they were having a blast. So I snapped this picture. It turned out really cute.

Now, I have been taking a online photo editing class. I want to get better in what in my editing. Granted I want to take a great picture to where there is no need for editing. But who am I kidding, every once in a while you need to edit a photo. So here is my result for lesson 3 of my editing class. Hope you enjoy it.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to each and every one of you! I pray a safe and fun day for all.

Long Beach Sky LIne

Trying to get a picture of the sky line in Long Beach was more difficult then you think. I was aiming for no moving boats. There were so many yesterday out on the water. I did get a few, but I like this one with the pink flowers in the corner. It was such a beautiful day out there to walk along the marina.

Here is a photo from a shoot I did a while back. I still like this one!

A flower

Here is just a little something. I have been busy with the end of the school year stuff and not a lot of time to go out and snap some pictures.

a scrap book page from me.

While I was frantically scrapping this past weekend, I came across this photo and forgotten about them. I love her smile here and how the sun is hittiner her hair injust the right spot.

Credits: image is linked.

Well it is in the final weekend of the Queen of Scraps contest over at Scrapmatters.com and I am right now in the lead! It has been such a blast creating all of my layouts and getting things accomplished. I will make a push this weekend to finish on top, but if I don't then it will be ok. I sure did have a blast this past month of May> I am proud of all my scrappages I have finished. Things crossed off my list.

I will post more on Monday morning and maybe a layout or two. My favorite ones.

Well I have to say that I havent had my camera out in a while. I have been busy working on a contest called the Queen of Scraps over at ScrapMatters.com In the month of May who ever scraps the most pages, gets all this cool stuff. I personally am not a competitve person, but being in the top 5 (which is where I am), is pushing me to stay there. So I have been working on that. Here is a Link to my gallery if you want to see what I have been doing.

I hope to take my camera out soon to snap some birthday pics within the next few days.

The cowboy.

Well I pulled this one out of my archive. I did this photo shoot of my nephew last spring. To this day, I still like it. His expression is so sweet.

Flowers

I took my camera out and went to my neighbors front yard to take these pictures. I was doing a challenge on one of my favorite websites, so this is what motivated me to take the pictures. The roses I didnt know are actually in my yard. I used a spray bottle to make the water drops. I put my sigma macro lens on to get really closeup shots.

These shots are dedicated to my special friend-Shelby.. Hope you enjoy them.

Senior Photo Shoot

Here is a photo shoot I did a while back. We were at a really great park with lots of palm trees, and a pond. We were fighting the setting sun but I sure do like the way that the sun is hitting her hair and highlighting it.

Butterfly

This butterfly came and sat down right next to me and didnt move. I was able to take shots with my regular len, and then I switched to the zoom lens, but this one was taken with my Macro lens. I love this lens! I think Sigma makes the best lens' out there. This butterfly eventually took off. I like how you see some details on the body.

Today........

Today is the day! I am going on a walk with my camera. I want to caputre some things around my new town through the eyes of my camera. Today I am going to walk along the busiest street.

More from the driving range.

Well now, I just love this picture. It is such a candid shot and he didnt even know I was taking it probably. I like how he is so focused and sharp and the background is just slightly out of focus.

Day at the driving range

I love how this turned out. The orange outfit pops right off the green grass. I was playing around with the camera yesterday at the driving range & I got some really good candid shots of the girls. I had my camera in Manual mode for this, the sun was setting but was high enough, I really didn't need to use a flash. I set the ISO to 200 and changed the white balance a bit.

My new adventure

OK, So I am back.... I am hoping that now that I am mostly unpacked and ready to start focusing on my passion, Photography. We are hoping to make Cuddlebug Photography a success down in our new town.
But I must share with you what the last 2 weeks have been like. First off, the move went really well, and the movers only broke a few things. No biggie, we bought the insurance so it will all get replaced. The first night, we realized that some of the outlets upstairs didn't work, and the dishwasher drained into the sink and counter. We also couldn't control the temp on the showers. Made life interesting it was either blazing hot or ice cold! But all that stuff was minor and we were able to get it all fixed within days. The kicker was when I was in the shower on Saturday morning and my darling hubby came in to tell me that my shower water was running down the driveway. The clean out for the house is right there by the garage door. Needless to say, the trees here are so old that they eat at the pipes. Everyone on our street has had major problems for years. My nice landlady had a plumber out on Sat but couldn't solve the problem. Sunday she found the first plumber who supposedly fixed it. He was a joke, I would never pay that company to do anything! We had to wait till Monday when the joke plumber came out and said it was the city's problem. We contacted the city and since we had kids at home, and we couldn't flush the toilets or shower they treated it as an emergency. On Monday afternoon they dug up the sidewalk and the planter in the front yard. I am posting a few pictures to show what the city did.
We started our adventure off right!

This is tree root coming out of the sewer pipe.

The city excavating in the front yard.

Moving is drawing near

Well, I haven't posted anything in awhile because I have been busy packing my house up! We are currently in the process of relocating. Once I get settled, I will have many more photos to post. So bear with me and thank you for your patience during this time........

Beach shot

While sitting on the beach 2 weeks ago, I decided to take a close up of the shoe with the sand grains.

Sunset on the beach

I really like how this picture turned out. I lowered my shutter speed and played with the white balance and the ISO to make Hannah a siloutte and the sunset stand out more. I like the way the clouds changed a different color with the setting sun.

The bird on the Beach

This bird just decided to hang out by my chair. I snapped this picture of the birdie while watching the girls play in the ocean.

Footprints in the Sand

Well tonight I did a speed scrap over at Scrapmatters, and I was ambitious and did a 2 pagers. You will see a few more photos from this shoot in the coming days. While down in LA this past weekend, I had a photo shoot. These are some of the ones I ended up with. It was a perfect day to take shots down on the beach. 80degrees the end of February...... :)

Credits; Tikimama Designs-Shabby Beach kit

The Bride and Groom

Ok, Here is something I pulled out of the archives! I took this last spring of the happy couple. This was a fun wedding to photograph. The bride was glowing and it showed in her photographs.

another newborn shot

Here is another newborn shot I did a few weeks ago. I really like this one a lot.

Here is another one from yesterdays photo shoot.

Portrait Time

Happy Valentines Day to you all! I hope you are enjoying a lovely day. We had quite the time today. We celebrated Hannah's birthday with her school friends. Before anyone arrived, I decided to snap a few photos of the girls. This one I am really liking. Look how grown up she is......

Newborn Shoot

Well this last week, I did a newborn photo shoot. So maybe for the next few days, you will find a few here. I was very pleased with the way they turned out. I hope you find them enjoyable too.

Manhatten Beach

Here is another picture from our recent trip to Southern Cali. This was actually taken while stopped at a stop light. This is what I saw in front of me. Since I was stopped, I didn't have enough time to do a lot of fiddling with the camera, so it was put into the program mode, with out a flash. I cropped the car out of the photo too. I like how it feels in Black and White, makes it feel almost ol'time feel. I like the pier, and the crowd of people enjoying the almost 7o something degree weather.

Los Angelas

Well here is something new. After taking a nice trip to LA this weekend, My hubby and I just drove out of Rodondo Beach and stopped to figure out where to go next. I took out my camera and saw these people sitting watching the ocean. I thought it made a nice picture. It is peaceful to me. That is a city of Angels in the distant. By turning it black and white, you cant see all the smog that was in the air. It just looks hazy now. :)

The Hawk

Well now, toady's post will not have a photo attached. I have been busy working on getting stuff done and I haven't had much time with my camera in hand. :( Yesterday was a nice day -no rain- Vic was out cleaning up debris from the rain. Mostly dirt, mud, and stuff like that. A hawk flew in the tree and sat there for the longest time. It was so cool. I went in and by the time I got my camera, it was gone. Later i saw it again sitting in the tree. I went in again to retrieve the camera, and it was gone again. I was so bummed, it was a beautiful bird. It stood out in the tree because there aren't any leaves in them right now. Maybe today i might see this beautiful bird. :)

Birthday Cake

This was a photo that I took over the weekend at my Mom's birthday party. There is a new cake store in Los Gatos that make absolutly beautiful cakes! It was YUMMY too. I took some pics of it before we cut into it. I like the softness of it and the blurred background. I dont recal what i had the camera set on, but I know it was low and I had the ISO up to 1600. with no flash.

Well today I was playing while Vic was mowing the 'weeds' in the front. I caught the sun right before it hid behind the hill. I like the sun in this pic. I did use the cross filter on my 18-55mm lens. I had it zoomed in to 55mm.

Worm on the hook

This pic I took a while back when we were fishing at a friends house. I was scrolling through looking for something and it found me again. I love how you see the worm squirming on the hook and how dirty the hands are.

A beautiful sight

This is a scrapbook page I did as a challenge over on Scrapmatters.com. It was the 'roadmap to scrap challenge". I like how this page turned out, it makes my baby seem so much older. sigh.....
Credits:simply sweet designs-all in white kit.

Puppy Time

Well here is a shot I took the other day of one of my dogs. Actually she is my hubby's dog. He was outside and she was standing guard of everything. I will say that she is easy to photograph. The other one is very different, he sees my camera and he runs.

This year, I am going to try and do better at listing my camera settings when I post a picture. That way, it will help me when I go back and look at a photo. I also am going to try and shoot a series of photos on a daily basis if not every other day. It may be something as trival as the dog, or an object. Who knows. :)

Settings on my camera: f:5.6, 1/60s, ISO 100 @ 135mm

Working on White Balance

Well today I was outside watching Vic dig another hole in the backyard. He is building a fence and I had the camera with me to take some photos of his hard work. So I was lying in the back of his truck bed and was goofing off with the camera. I was playing around with this tree that is on the property line and seperates our house and the neighbors. There are 2 different pictures of the same tree, but with different settings. I like how the golden colors came out in the leafs. Believe it or not, the oak tree hasn't lost all of its leafs yet.

This one is set at the standard mode(my camera, i can tell it standard, landscape, neutral, or portrait-these are not 'auto' modes you turn on top of the camera.) I changed the kelvin white balance to 9100, dropped the ISO to 125 and set the camera at F.9, 1/25s, at zoommed in to 44 mm.



This one, i changed it to a neutral setting, changed the kelvin white balance to 8600, kept the ISO at 125, f.8 and 1/30s zoomed in at 28mm.

It is fun to play with the white balance. I did absolutely no editing on the computer. I simply downloaded. I think I am understanding it more and more I play around with it. I did some in the snow the other day, that was hard because it was too bright white.