Last day of school!!!

Its here!!! My boys are so excited!!! I know its the few months off school that have them so excited but we have a tradition here on the last day of school that makes it even better! While they are finishing their last few hours this morning, I am working hard to get a few hundred water balloons filled to max capacity, perfectly plump so when you toss them, they burst on impact. See, I am an expert at this now - if you underfill, they bounce around the yard and the enemy can retrieve them and use them for their own ammo so they must be stretched to the max and gently placed in a laundry basket. I set up a few buckets full of balloons at the end of my yard...I keep a bucket for myself (and Jean is here sometimes too if work permits him to take an hour or so off). We stand to the side of the yard, behind the tree and when the kids get off the bus, we take aim and fire away! They know to drop the backpacks and run to a bucket. In the past, they have brought home extra kids (we have one today)....I always include them too....just buy more balloons!!! Its fun and memorable for them....and just like Santa and the Tooth Fairy, they dont talk about it, they just wait for the magic to happen. :)

Closeup photos are just my style....incase you can't tell from my previous posts, I enjoy taking close-ups and converting them to black and white. Well, I must admit that it has been some time since I posted a true black and white here, I prefer to add a bit of color to my b/w and call it chocolate. I did this engagement session (E-session in photographyland) last night at the beach for some friends of mine. They are getting married in July and I am photographing their wedding too. A good lookin' couple, huh, lucky me!!! I try to stay away from traditional poses and go for a sense of connection in my photos. I know that the guys are not comfortable having this kind of photo done so I try to keep it short and sweet. We really only need a few good photos and it only took me about 45 minutes with them to get about 30 good photos.

Im photographing a wedding this weekend (not this couple) so I'd like to ask that everyone put on their favorite grass skirts and do a rain dance for us. Its outside in the backyard at my grandmother's house. I think its an ideal spot for a wedding since the groom is my cousin and they love to camp near the creek behind her house. I remember when she (the bride) and I were talking about where they could get married and nothing seemed to fit them. She wanted to be outside...but the beach was not really their kind of place...they love to camp and most of the summer they leave their tent set up behind my grandmothers (we call her Minnie). I knew that Minnie wouldn't mind...she's great about stuff like that! Her home is old and has been in the family for generations and the stories that she tells are even better because you can place the people in the actual home where the stories took place. Anyway, Im excited to see them get married, thankful they chose me as their photographer and look forward to seeing how everything plays out.

Im off to get my water balloons and stock up on food now that all the kids will be here during the day!

Have a great day!
~kel~