My Second Mile

Thank you! :)

Michelle Coleman — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:20:19 +0000

Thank you so much to everyone for all the great comments I have been getting about my new photo site. I so appreciate them all! I am really excited about branching out into Photography, I've wanted to for such a long time, but have been afraid to. All the support I have been getting though has really been amazing! :)

I finished painting my office late last night.. AH.. As soon as my body heals I will sit back and enjoy it ;) Today I am trying to put it all back together again.. And tomorrow I am on the hunt for some new curtains and a chair. I also decided last night to paint some flourishes on the wall. I've got it all drawn, and now I just have to paint them in, I think it's going to look really COOL! Or, at least I HOPE it looks really cool.. I will show you pictures when I am finished though either way .

So, I never posted any of my photos from my session with Jodi.. Honestly, I need to go in and save some of them for the web.. But I do want to share some of my pics from my latest photo session with the cutest almost two year old ever :)

Yep, he is a cutie :)

Ok, Now I am off to do some cleaning.. It's amzing how much junk you can collect in just one year, but I am looking at everything in my living room and wondering.. How does this all fit in my office?? Hmmm.

Can't seem to find my groove today..

Michelle Coleman — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:25:26 +0000

I am sure it has something to do with the fact that all the contents of my former office are now residing in my living room. Piles of product and magazines, books and well, just STUFF.. All over my house. See, I had intentions of painting my office the perfect shade of blue. (Aqua blue!) I tore it completely apart after we got back from Jackson, have the room all taped off and ready to paint then I took a little tumble down my hill in the back and I just haven't been able to get to it yet!! The mess is really messing with my mojo.. I am hoping to get it painted tomorrow, so I can re-claim my life ;)

Thank you to everyone for your comments on my new logo design! :) I really appreciated the feedback. I have decided on a final design. (For now anyway!) I may end up changing it as I go on, but this one should stick for a little while :) And I *think* I am ready to debut my Photo website. (Little Nervous!) It's still very much a work in progress.. BUT..

You can take a peek here :)
http://www.littledreamerstudio.com

And just a word here. I am still looking to book 2 or 3 more sessions at my portfolio builder rate (Un-heard of rate of $50!) If you are interested in scheduling a session please contact me! :)

A note on our caterpillars. They have all hatched? metamorphosed? into butterflies. We kept them around a bit so we could observe them and the girls released them today :)

All in all it was a good experience, the girls really loved their little critters, we'll probably do it again next summer.

I had a great photo session last night with the fabulous Jodi of Fancy Pants Designs. We did a few family photos but mostly some singles of her cute little kiddos. I will get those posted tomorrow :) Or, you can take a peak at a few by looking at my latest gallery on my photo site :) NIGHT!

Up and coming Scrapper :)

Michelle Coleman — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:59:20 +0000

So, I want to introduce you to an up and coming scrapbooker. She is VERY talented, and loves to scrap :)

This page was made by my 8-year-old, using ScrapBlog's online page builder.Brenna is IN LOVE with ScrapBlog. (Have you tried this yet??) I gave her a crash course on how to use the software and within 5 minutes she was off making her own pages. If you haven't tried this yet, you really should!! It's perfect for beginners and 8-year-olds with a passion for digi ;)

Check out some of Brenna's Pages!! She LOVES getting comments.. :)

Also, I need some help deciding on a logo design for my new photo website (coming soon!)

I think I have decided on using Little Dreamer Studio. (98% sure) I've got two logos.. Let me know what you think!! They are both completely different from each other, and honestly, I just can't decide on which one to use!! I am only photographing children.. I may dabble a tiny bit into families and seniors, but that is all :) So, with that said.. Which one do you like??

Version #2 of 1

Version 2 of #2

It is still very much in the planning phase.. I may still toss these and completely start over, I just can't decide what my look should be!! All CC is greatly appreciated :)

Took A Little Spill Today..

Michelle Coleman — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:22:49 +0000

I was setting up the slip and slide for the girls today. Being the first day of Summer we wanted to celebrate a little by playing in the water and having some fun. I couldn't get the placement right on our little hill. We wanted to have a slide that the girls could just sit down and slide on because they didn't like running and diving. We have a nice hill in the backyard, We used it for sledding in the winter :) Well, as I was trying to move the slide, I slipped. (*Note to self: Do not move Slip and Slide while water is stil runing) I landed flat on my back and as I went down I heard a nice little *POP*. Great. I totally jacked up my ankle. I can't put any pressure on it at all. You should have seen me trying to crawl back up my hill. (Apprently I am not a very gracefull hopper. ) So that was fun :) I am icing it and praying that I can walk on it this weekend.. I've got people to see, things to do ;)

I did have to laugh out loud though when I checked my email this afternoon. Lorynn (my four year old) has comendeared my laptop. Her favorite thing to play on it is is Photo Booth. A.K.A> Funny Pictures.. I guess Brenna showed her how to email them, because this was what I found in my inbox::

Not sure what's funnier, the fact that she copied her dad, myself and Brenna on the email, or the pictures themselves ;)

Hopefully these emails were also not inadvertently sent to anyone else..

A few images :)

Michelle Coleman — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:53:32 +0000

So tonight's photo session turned out pretty good. I don't think I was properly prepared for the rambunctiousness of little boys. Girls are so DIFFERENT! Girls like posing for you, will STAY where you put them, and generally.. well, I wasn't prepared ;) It turned out that I only had two babies because the third was sick. They are all cousins, and so tonight we just focused on the boys.

It was fun, and probably the perfect first shoot because they really made me work for it ;) I have two more sessions coming up this weekend. And please excuse the lame-ish watermarks on these pictures. I am still trying to come up with my photo logo. I had a really cute one designed, but then realized it was a little too grungy, because I wasn't really going for the biker chic tattoo that it resembled ;) OY! I am hoping to figure my logo out this weekend. I may just have to post a poll or something to get a little feedback on it. Logos are so HARD. Trying to put your entire business into one design that is going to stick, has to look great in color or black and white, and represent everything that you are trying to portray. Tall order?? I think so!!

Can't Focus Today..

Michelle Coleman — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:04:42 +0000

I have been having such a hard time focusing on design today. My mind keeps moving over to photography. I feel like I have spent the last 24 hours surfing the internet finding some of my favorite photographers. Man, there is a lot of talent out there!! I have a running list of favorites, but some new ones I found that just AWE me are:

Peta Mazey

Kate Powers

Amy Parrish

Just to name a few ;)
I think I am just anxious. Tomorrow evening is one of my first REAL gigs. Three babies under the age of two.. YEP. I may be a glutton for punishment. So today, I really tried to be productive and work on the designs I was supposed to be working on. But I just couldn't get this upcoming session out of my head. Tonight I brought the girls to the location I am going to be shooting tomorrow for some test shots. (I know, I should just chill, right??)

We were only out for about an hour and I got quite a few great shots of them, so that at least restored some of my confidence a bit :) I was using my 85 MM 1.2, but I am not sure if it will work the same for moving babies.. We shall see.. Bringing back-up lenses just in case ;)

And on the caterpillar front. Yikes. Turns out we need a little practice with these too.. Out of the 30 caterpillars only 16 have lived. We have moved the chrysalises into the pop up habitat and now we wait for 7-10 days for them to emerge. Even though nearly half of the little buggers didn't make it, the girls are still really enjoying watching them and taking care of them. I will keep you updated! :)

Now, off to actually get some designing done today.

Ready, set, GO!

Feeling Refreshed :)

Michelle Coleman — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:07:26 +0000

So we are back from a very gorgeous trip to Jackson Hole. It was magnificent! And I am feeling completely refreshed. So much so, that the first thing I did when I got home was to tear my office apart :) From the day we moved in, I have wanted to paint my office the perfect shade of blue. Since it will be a YEAR soon! I figured, it's now or never. Currently, my computer and the former contents of my office all reside in my dinning room. Yep, it's a mess. But I am so excited to re-do my office space :) (photos soon to follow)

So, Jackson. Wow..

And I thought MY mountains were beautiful.

MAN!

We saw a TON of wildlife!

Of course I had to break out the skirts ;)

Yep, that's snow!

One of my favorite shots :)

We really did have a great time. Just hung out, did some hiking, a little boat trip across Jenny Lake to hike to Inspiration Point, of course some photography, and lots of swimming. We went out on an early morning float trip down the Snake River, and that was pretty cool. Lorynn wanted more 'rapids' though. That girl is fearless..

Thank you all for your kind thoughts on Lorynn getting her first set of specs. I think I am over the shock of it now.. Will tackle that job later this week ;)

A Little Blue Today..

Michelle Coleman — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:38:38 +0000

Damn. Turns out my husband and I have passed our bad eye genes on to child #2.

Apparently she has pretty bad astigmatism in both eyes. She will need glasses. It kind of makes me sad. Both my babies in glasses at such a young age. I have been putting off her exam because I didn't want to admit she needed them. Aren't I a good parent? Denial is not just a river. Frrrruump.
Yep. now I am feeling blue.

Kind of over shadows the fact that I am supposed to be packing for our family vacation. Also over shadows my happy photos I snapped yesterday with my new lens.

My new lens is so pretty.

Still feel like crying though.

Will try to keep it together for the youngans.

UG.

And in other news. Sweetie is the first caterpillar to start forming her chrysalis. She was the fatest juciest caterpillar of all :)

And yes, they will all be joining us on our vacation. Should be interesting :)

We've Got Worms..

Michelle Coleman — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 05:43:49 +0000

Well, they look like worms. They are actually Caterpillars, or Callapithers as Lorynn calls them.
The gross peanut buttery goo stuff is their food..

We've decided to grow butterflies this summer.. We ordered one of those little butterfly growing kits. It comes with live caterpillars and all the goods to grow them into butterflies. The caterpillars were not as cute and fuzzy as I expected them to be.. In fact, they were kind of creepy, but the girls loved them. Except for the occasional scream when one would unexpectedly drop to the floor. The kit we purchased had 30 caterpillars and each fuzzy little guy (or girl) got their own mini container and food. The girls had to transfer each one from the main container to their own cozy living quarters. And of course each caterpillar got a name, followed by a kiss on the jar from Lorynn.

(Man, this child really needs her own pet..)

I am excited about these creepy little critters though, It will be fun watching them grow into butterflies. However, I don't think I planned their arrival very well.. Looks like our little friends might just be joining us on our vacation in a couple of weeks ;) Oh well.. At least we are not flying.

So tomorrow is a pretty important day in our lives. My DH is running his first half Iron Man up in Burley, Idaho. This guy is unstoppable. I am so proud of him. We were all going to drive up with him to watch but because it's so close to our family vacation (which we will be driving) we decided that he would go alone. I am of course wishing now that we had all just gone, and I am praying for some nice weather for him.. He has to start the race with a 1.2 mile swim through the Snake River.. And man, that water is going to be cold.. Then he has a 54 mile bike ride followed by a 13.1 mile run.. Wow. Good Luck Paully!! We love you!

Having some fun..

Michelle Coleman — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:34:54 +0000

So I bribed the girls to come out with this afternoon for a mock photo session.. I wanted to see what I was getting my self into.. Well, as best I could anyway ;) I had to test out some of the locations I am planning on taking a few clients to.. I think for the most part, they work! I got some really cute shots of my girls, but it's hard to know if I just got lucky because they are SO USED to being photographed by me.. or, if well. you know. I know it will be a different ball game photographing someone elses babies.. But, We were out for about an hour or so, and I have 40+ photos that worked out really well.. So that at least is promising :)

Ok, I'll stop bombarding you with photos.. I just can't help it I am excited :)

I am starting to feel pretty good about the sessions I have already scheduled.. things are just sort of falling into place.. I should have my spiffy new website up and running in a few weeks. I've decided to NOT try and build it myself. I am getting some help.. (Why re-invent the wheel??) It's going to be flash, and it's going to ROCK.. Can't wait to show it to you!!