OH so cute Clara

First of all, I have to say that I love the name Clara. And Claire. Except that I think Claire is of limits for our future little nuggets. Claire Fair. Yep, it rhymes. But maybe we could get away with Clara...

Anyway, Clara lived up to her cute name in the photo shoot this weekend, only 6 weeks old and check out that smile! My heart is melting into a little puddle :)

Along with photography, I'm also introducing announcements! I love when my two passions meet--photography and design. What could be better, a one stop shop! This is one I threw together for Clara.

Photo Lesson #I can't remember: Explore (with permission of course) your photographic location. I got a little nervous when I first came to this clients home because the room that she said got the best light wasn't catching the best light at the time. So we explored, and we pulled back the curtains in her older daughters room, and wha-la! Great lighting, didn't even have to use the new studio lighting equipment that I lugged in!

Pete the Sweet...

Dog Woe #1: Not yet potty trained! What a frustrating process this is! As soon as we think he's got it, we turn around and he's popping a squat! And it's like routine, he's good all night, until after 9, and then he decided it pee in house time. We have tired treats, a kennel, yelling, jumping up and down and doing a dance on our head. Not working. Any suggestions are welcome.

Dog Woe #2: My home is starting to smell like puppy. I'm having a very hard time dealing with this. Again, any suggestions are welcome.

Dog Woe #3: He has me completely and utterly in love with him. It doesn't matter what I do, I still think he's the cutest, bestest dog ever. I honestly think he's the the greatest dog to ever live, which I know is what everyone thinks about their pups.

I've decided that God makes puppies cute because otherwise we wouldn't put up with their smelly, pee-ingness. Who can not love a face like this??

Anyway, other that potty training the pup, here are the Weekend Goals:

1. Have a great baby photo shoot
2. Put wheels on the file cabinet for our letterpress
3. Clean my house!
4. pick up the drink cart from craigslist man
5. Edit wedding pictures
6. Do something nice for my hubby

I figured I'd keep the list short, low expectations, low disappointment. xoxoely

Chips and Coca-Cola for Breakfast

I am so tired today. The kind of tired that makes you have a horrible perspective on life, the kind of tired that makes you believe that something catastrophically bad is going to happen today, and you're just waiting to get smacked by a bus. But you might not be that sad if you got smacked by a bus because you would probably get knocked out or at least put on some pain meds, and you would then get to sleep.

It's the kind of tired that makes you realize that you have too much on your plate, and you miss getting to do what you love. Right now, I just want to do something creative. And not "make a logo" type creative, but slathering some acrylic paint on a brush, and pouring out my feelings onto a canvas, a piece of art that is created solely for me, not to be critiqued or changed by anyone else.

But instead, I will slowly remove the things from my plate, and that blank canvas will have to remain in the back of the closet for a couple of weeks, I just hope that I will still have the urge to record upon it at that time. So for now, I'll make myself feel better by eating Doritos and Coca-cola for breakfast.

Personal Project

I was reading on one of my favorite blogs today (design crush, you should check her out, she's awesome), and she did a highlight of Amy Mortimer and her personal project, 365 days.

photo by Amy Mortimer

She's taking a photo of herself every day for a year, something new each day. I have been wanting to do a personal project for a while since I saw photographer Sam Lamb's series, faceless portraiture of a country girl series.

Anyway, I want to think of something creative to do...if i were as cute as this Mortimer girl, I'd think about starting my own 365 project, but I'm probably too lazy to take a creative picture every day. I thought about doing bicycles, or maybe doing an art/photography fusion, creating dream like scenes and photographing people in them, or a series on hands. I'll have to think on this some more.

Busy Weekend

What a jam packed three days! On Friday afternoon, the lady in laws and I packed up and headed to Dallas for a shopping overnight trip! It was so much fun, but now we are broke until the end of the month! Oops, sorry dear hubby...

When we got back, I had 2 photography sessions scheduled, and then our drain decided to get a clog and it flooded our garage :( But we have it all taken care of, nothing was ruined, just a little stress.

None the less, I still had two great photo shoots. I'm really excited, because I set up a home studio in my dining room, and I think it worked really well for this family portrait!

My last shoot was of J.J. & Seth, they've been married for almost a year, but wanted to get some wedding portraits done. They are so fun, just love them (background look familiar??).

Photo Lesson #4: Although it went well, don't schedule 2 photo sessions on a Sunday afternoon after you've gallivanted around Dallas for a day and a half...your legs do not appreciate you for it!

I'm Moving!

To a new website location! haha, got you good there! You thought I had bought another house after living in this one for a month.

I decided the time has come to start a real, professional, big girl website! Goodbye http://www.elyfairphotography.webs.com/, hello elyfairphotos.com! Hold your horses, it's not live yet :( But I just am so excited I couldn't wait to anounce it to the world! The world being you, my two followers...

So I'm currently working on sorting through all of the millions and billions of photos for the best to put on the site, therefore the posting may be to a minimal these next few weeks, just so you don't worry and think that I've flipped my lid, and run away to a secret, but exotic place with no bugs and weather that doesn't even feel like it's there all year long. Nope. I'm staying up to the wee hours looking through the Chronicles of peoples lives. Here's an oldie but goodie that I think I'll put on.

So be looking (my two followers) for www.elyfairphotos.com coming your way soon!

I am doing the happy dance. Next project, etsy shop...

The Appletons

The Appletons, doesn't that just sound so sweet? It makes me think of Ewan McGregor Standing in a field of Dafodills proclaiming his love to Sandra...okay, so it was Sandra Templeton...and it may have been tulips, but still, that is what I think of.

This couple loves their dog as much as I love mine, so we took him along for the session. He's a great pup, too, such a good attitude about sporting a tie :)

Photo Lesson Number Three: Don't leave your photo bag next to a tree when taking dogs on photo shoots-- we had some close calls there.

Meet Pete!

Say hello to our little friend! This is Pete, the newest addition to our family! I didn't think that I was a dog person, BUT I LOVE MY DOG. He is the smartest, sweetest, cutest, bestest dog ever! And ever so photogenic, don't you think!?

We got our pup on Friday, and I've been smitten with him ever since. I'm actually a little ridiculous. I worry about him when we leave him alone, or when he's sleeping that he isn't breathing, and I just want to cuddle with him all the time. This is a sure sign that we should NOT have children, because if I had a little person baking in my tummy for 9 months, I'd be even more crazy. Crazy, I tell you.

Originally we were going to name him Frank, but he just didn't seem like a Frank. And Pete is a much more awesome name because it rhyme with lots of things. Pete-meat-eat-teak-feet-keep-and the list goes on and on. Currently our nickname for him is SweetPete. If you knew him, you'd call him SweetPete, too. xoxoely

So Blessed

The Chamber 5 is what we've been coined. Okay, so we coined that ourselves, but still, these are the lovely ladies I work with, and who have continually blessed my life over the past year. Brought together by everyone's favorite teen vampire book, Twilight (new moon movie comes out November 20th, Hollar!), the unique dynamic of everyone makes for a great group of people that I love to hang out with, even beyond the walls of work.

The transition from college to work has been a really hard one for me, particularly not having good female fellowship. And, as always, God knows what I need in my life at the right time, even when I don't recognize that very often. As many of the co-workers that I started my career with were moving on to different jobs, He started to replace them with these girls who have helped me to find my place and confidence in my work environment, and adult life.

Today they gave me a housewarming gift (from pottery barn, they know me so well!), and I am just overwhelmed by what great friends and people they are.

And as I finish out my day, listening to the New Kids on the Block, and Hannah Montana drifting from my office mate's side of our corner office, I feel very blessed.

Dirty Laundry

What a weekend! It was relaxing and busy, all at the same time. I only accomplished 3 1/2 of the ten things on my list. But the most important, #5- do something seet for my husband, and #4 - have a great photo shoot got marked off the list, so those were the most important. I did get to go garage saleing (#1) and picked up some good stuff, and I got some of the floors cleaned (#1). We still have sawdust from the pergola EVERYWHERE!

The photo shoot went great, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the couple. They are super sweet, and super fun, and beautiful people (which makes my job easy), and love the Lord, which is apparent in how they were explaining how they want their wedding to be. And, they were such good sports when I trounced them all around OKC to take pictures. 

Our first stop was a cute little laundry mat, which leads me to my next photo lesson: 

Beware of the people you meet at laundry mats. We met some interesting characters while we were there taking some pics. I figured we could just hop in, take some pictures, and be out quick. But the very friendly man we met there was very interested in what we were doing...as well as my camera equipment...as well as our entire history of life...as well as showing us how well he could whisle...as well and telling us about being on the radio. Which was all good, it just made the experience interesting. And even more interesting was the lady to yelled at cussed at us for getting in her way. So, maybe we should only do laundry mats on weekdays when they aren't so busy.