Getting Creative

      Getting the creative juices flowing is a must for me. I have always enjoyed creating art in some shape or form. All through high school I found my love for sketching a kind of way to escape from whatever stresses a young high school student may have ;) Also sketching is practically free and that's about what I could afford! haha.

     When I was able to spend money I bought canvas and tried my hand in oil painting. I am not saying it's the most awful work I have ever done but it wasn't really my niche.

I painted this for my bedroom :)

So that was my first and last canvas painting :)

      Once I started my adventure into photography I realized that it too was like a blank canvas and was so much fun learning how to fill it! Each image can be a piece of art work. Editing is really where you put the stamp on your work and how you set your self apart from everyone else. I think it is extremely important to know your camera and how to use it first off though (but I won't go into that) This is about how I have grown with my art and how I plan to keep growing!

I thought it would be fun to share a picture from my VERY first paying shoot. It was at a client's home with window light and a small strobe a borrowed from a friend.

       To be honest I am still happy with the actual shot...there was little to no editing done here but her eyes are in focus and that's my main goal...always. This was shot in August of 2009.

      Fast forward three and half years later and now I know a little more about shooting and a lot more about editing. I say a little more about shooting b/c this is a HUGE area of learning. I think any other photographer in this world would agree that you can never max out your knowledge of photography. Especially since cameras are like iPhone and continually upgrading and getting better. (I do not own an iPhone...if I had the money for one I would purchase a new lens)...lol!

Soo that being said here is a more recent image...still using a small light (softbox) and natural window light. 

improvement much? :)

I love seeing the images come to life after editing...so here is the "before" of this one just for fun

Outside of photography, yet still very much A part of the photography business, I really enjoy graphic design. And when I say I have a lot to learn-I mean I have A LOT to learn there. However it's still another super fun creative outlet. I use it a lot for our business in creating marketing materials such at the business cards and price menus.

business card front

business card back

pricing menus

then just today made this little marketing package for a friend's Etsy store

I hope you find time to embrace your inner artist and create something unique whenever you can!

Boudoir

A friend of mine was interested in boudoir pictures for her man's Christmas present, well this was my first boudoir set and it was super fun. I think this may be something I could offer for Valentine's day :) These images are copyrighted, please do NOT download these as they are intended for marketing and client possession only.

Our Family Pictures!

I am so happy to have these images and I can not wait to print some canvases for my walls! A friend and buddying photographer took these images and they are very "us" :) love them!!!

Enjoy!

Not a press release

I will not have all of the facts to go along with these images. However I was hired on as the press photographer for this event and I will be sending all of my digital filed to Murphy Oil USA. This is a tee tiny fraction of the amount of images I got from today. I just wanted to share-this was a huge deal for me. My first corporate event and I was privileged to meet Congressman Chuck Fleischmann and his wife Brenda. Also I got to meet Council woman Carol Berz and the President of Murphy Oil USA Tom McKinlay. This was a ribbon cutting event where Murphy Oil along with Eaton Corporation introduced the first electric vehicle charging station. My husband was hired on to work security so it was a very cool experience to say the least!

I have to share that right as they were about to cut the ribbon I had to say "wait!" and replace my camera battery...Rookie! :)~

So here are a few images from this morning...

President of Murphy Oil USA Tom McKinlay

Congressman Chuck Fleischmann

Where to start...

I have decided to create a family blog. Alex is from Wisconsin and all of his family still resides there so I thought this would be a good way for us to share with them and our friends too. Facebook has been a great wayfor that until recently it's just become so crowded on there! Plus here I can put whatever is on my mind and you don't have to read it if you don't want to :)~

I was trying to think of a catchy title for this blog. I am currently working as a professional photographer in the Chattanooga area and my husband is a police officer. My first idea was "we shoot people for a living"...haha, so yeah that wouldn't work as my husband has never even fired his gun outside the shooting range :)~ He immediately debunked that idea. I agreed-but it was nice for a little giggle. So I am just going to stick with "{Shots} Fired" it can kinda go both ways.

I am a very proud police wife. It's actually the very beginning of a long journey as I plan to spend the rest of my life with my officer. I have met so many other awesome police wives. It's great to have that sense of knowing other people are going through what you go through. None of my other friends have a clue and it's just a job to them. They don't know those nights where we literally sit with our phones in our sweaty palms, a nervous wreck b/c our husbands (or wives for that matter) are still out on a call that should have only lasted 20-30 min and it's been hours and we've heard nothing back. When your spouse goes to work you most likely aren't worried about what kind of dangerous situation they may be in and sadly if they are going to come home that night. It is a very scary situation and sometimes a little overwhelming to say the least. However, I just KNOW Alex was made for this. He makes an excellent officer and he really truly enjoys helping people and "laying down the law" when need be. In the future I won't go into any details about his job as it's actually a pretty well kept secret-there are just some things I don't want to know. This is a crazy world we live in and there is so much out there we don't see on a normal day-like our police officers do.

This will be my longest post to kind of get everything out there...so if you get tired of reading-well I'll never know you stopped :)

I currently work as a professional photographer. I have a partner, Courtney Boyd, we work together as a team @ Boyd and Olson Photography, easy enough to remember! She and I started working together almost exactly a year ago, right after my daughter Willow was born. Courtney and her husband are now expecting their first child. They were trying and it's a pretty exciting time for them. So she and I are going to actually be splitting up some of our work to make time in our schedules for our family. Alex, my husband and Courtney and her husband all work full time jobs so the schedules are all wonky! Courtney and I have decided to finish up what we have scheduled on our books and from here on out work solely as a team only on our newborn shoots. Newborns are so much fun to work with. For the most part they sleep like crazy and let you curl them up and sweet little positions to make adorable {shots}. Unfortunately, out of all of the newborn shoots we have had I am always the poop and pee target! No joke, Courtney has never been peed or pooped on. It's kind of hilarious! :)~ Her time will come...haha. PLUG TIME! check out our work here boydandolsonphoto.com

Now for the good stuff! Alex and I have two absolutely amazing children. Our son's name is Deacon-aka Deke, Bubba, Deko or DB. :)~ He was our first child and he is now 3. He is the coolest kid of all time (sorry moms but you know what I'm talking about). He is so smart and funny. He has always been the one to make me laugh until I cry. He has so much love for his daddy and he has become so interested in all things police, which of course makes Alex super proud. He's in the middle of potty training right now so send up some prayers on my behalf! ha! Willow is our daughter and just turned one yr old. She has definitely changed our life in a whole new way too! I decided to quit my job of five yrs working in insurance so I could stay at home with her and Deke.

Willow has the most beautiful smile I have ever laid my eyes on. She has the cutest little giggle too. She will come right up to your leg and just squeeeeeze. She spends most of her day eating, napping and driving her big brother bananas :)~ I could go on and on about these two. But I will save my fingers and your eyes for another day!

Some coolness is happening tomorrow and I will be posting all about it tomorrow evening. This is going to be a great way for me to get my wiggles out when the kids nap :)