Marla Laramie Photography

As soon as I bought the bright, rainbow-colored umbrella, I knew I had to have a black one for some moody kinda shots. I love moody shots. The hardest part was getting Sarah to give me her moody looks … she was just in too good of a mood today!! These were just crying out for black and white conversions, don’tcha think?

Sarah is my unpredictable one. Her moods change frequently … she can be smiling and laughing one minute, moody and dramatic the next. It certainly does give me an interesting model to work with for my photography!! One thing that is predictable … she is always my little drama queen.

A couple of weeks ago, Anna and I had a playdate with another photographer friend and her daughter. We took the girls to the children’s museum, then played in the nearby water fountains next door. The girls had lots of fun splashing around … although Anna would only get so close, then run away from the spraying water.

I was in desperate need of a new umbrella. I seriously have lost every umbrella I own, with the exception of this really ugly one my mom lent me (sorry, Mom). This time I decided to buy a really big one, especially for those days when we’re stuck at the bus stop in the rain. But, I will admit … I looked for one with really bright, fun colors because I knew it would look good in photos.

Note: Did you notice … I finally put up a new banner! Whaddaya think?

Recently I was tagged by Renee L., Stephanie, and Julie M to list 8 interesting or little-known things about myself. Ok, this is really hard!! I’m not that interesting. And, I’m pretty much an open book. Anyway, here goes.

1. I’m 35 and just celebrated my 18th wedding anniversary.
2. We waited 12 years to have kids.
3. I can’t stand to have the silverware in the dishwasher unorganized. It has to be grouped by like utensils.
4. I’m addicted to the soap Days of Our Lives, but until recently I hadn’t watched it since the early 90’s.
5. I love to sing … but I can’t carry a tune to save my life.
6. A perfect weekend morning is hanging out in my jammies and fuzzy socks, and staying in bed with a good book.
7. I used to show my two labs in dog shows.
8. I grew up completely uninterested in football … but now I’m a huge Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan.

And finally, Sheila has tagged me for a List of Fours.

4 Jobs I’ve Had
Business Analyst
Technical Consultant
Computer Support
Hm, can’t think of any others

4 Places I’ve Lived
Whidbey Island, WA
Japan
Monterey, CA
Tampa, FL

4 Favorite TV Shows
Grey’s Anatomy
Ugly Betty
Desperate Housewives
Days of Our Lives

4 Places I’ve Been on Vacation
Thailand
Hong Kong
Sonoma, CA
Kennebunkport, ME

4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over
When Harry Met Sally
Bridgette Jones’ Diary
You’ve Got Mail
10 Things I Hate About You

4 favorite dishes
Mac & Cheese (the homemade kind)
Lasagna
Fried Shrimp (fresh!)
Blackened Trigger fish

4 Websites I Visit
Profootballtalk.com
ILP, other photography forums
Favorite photography blogs
Recipezaar.com

4 Places I’d Like to Be….
Italy
Spain
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Maine

4 People I’m Tagging
Renee O.
Brenda
Julie B.
Lyndsay

A while back I posted some shots that I took of Sarah at my parents’ house. You can see the rest here. I finally got around to editing a couple more. She was really having fun with things, and being a bit silly in some of them.

Can’t decide if I like the b/w or the color version best. Any thoughts?

Recently I’ve been tagged by a few of my fellow photographer friends. I’m supposed to come up with 8 interesting or little known things about me. Renee L., Stephanie, and Julie M., I promise to get working on it!

Today Sarah found a lady bug on the way home from the bus stop. She was so excited because it was content to crawl around on her hands and arms. She is just fascinated with lady bugs. She asked me if we could keep it. She wanted to put it in a ladybug house and feed it grass. I told her we needed set it free outside in its own environment. At first this made her sad, but then she decided it was the best thing to do. We took a few pictures first, of course. It was about to rain, and we didn’t have much light, which made it hard to get good shutter speeds. In most of the shots the ladybug was a blur … darned thing just wouldn’t cooperate and stay still!! Still, I did manage to get a couple of quick snaps that turned out passable. See, if I had a macro lens …. hee, hee.

I just love shots like this. These are some more from a little mini session I did with Anna back at the end of June. I was shocked because she asked me to “takey picher”. Needless to say I was happy to give in to her request!! Of course it didn’t take long before she was uninterested and took off to do something else. I was just happy I got a few of her looking at me.

I’m trying out some different black and white conversions for fun. These are all the same conversion, but on the first one I warmed it up a little bit. Whatcha think?

I’ve got that ’80s song running through my head now … “isn’t she pretty in pink” … remember that teen movie with Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy? That was one of my favorites, back in the day. But, I digress. Here’s one from last month that I’m just getting around to editing. Doesn’t she look sweet in pink?

This week little Miss Anna had a few milestones of her own. She now has enough hair (kinda) for a little bitty pony tail. I thought it was really cute, Sarah squealed with delight that Anna finally had a pony tail, and even their daddy thought it looked sweet. Anna, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care much one way or the other about it! Typical. Anna is not a big fan of my camera most of the time. Sadly, the first shot is the best of the bunch. She flat refused to look my way and in fact went into full-out Toddler Meltdown Mode … crying “No takey pitcher!” and boo-hooing inconsolably. I promise, right after I took the picture I comforted her and calmed her down.

Her other milestone this week was the start of Mom’s Day Out. She was so excited about it she could barely stand it. All morning she kept saying “lets go schoooooool” and wanting to know if it was time to go yet. She’ll be going two days a week, for four hours each. She had so much fun playing with the other kids. It took her half an hour just to wind down after I picked her up.

One of my photog buddies’ daughter has started a fund raising venture! She has a new etsy store (where you buy/sell homemade things). Emily is an amazing ten year old kid who has made some adorable cards to sell. Her goal is to raise $1000 by the end of the year, with all of the proceeds going to the SPCA. What a sweet and generous heart she has!! Be sure to check out her store and do some shopping.

Now that she is in kindergarten, Sarah and I have decided to start a new routine. Every afternoon when we get back from the bus stop, we share a snack and talk about our day. I’ve always asked her about her day, ever since she was in preschool. We would start our conversation in the car, on the way home. The usual responses to my questions about her day have always been “Good” and “I don’t remember.” I find it hilarious that she can’t remember what she just spent the last four hours doing!! Of course to a complete stranger she will tell them every minute detail of her day!!!

Anyway, apparently the lure of a cold drink and a snack [and my undivided attention] is enough to get her to spill the details. She seems to be enjoying this little bit of our day as much as I am.

Today was the big day. My little girl went to kindergarten. She is growing up so quickly these days. She has been so excited about school that she can hardly stand it! For the last couple of weeks she has been asking me every day “How many more days?” … and then gets all sad that the day is not yet here.

We went to her Open House on Monday afternoon. She was really excited, but a little overwhelmed at how crowded it was (with so many kids, parents, teachers, etc. it was a little chaotic). She was pretty disappointed her friend from the neighborhood is in a different kindergarten class, but was glad to hear they will all be having recess together. And she is so excited about riding the bus with the “big girls” in the neighborhood.

I gave her a choice between riding the bus the first day or having me take her to school. Needless to say, for my independent kid there was no contest!

At her school the kindergartener’s are on a split schedule the first week. Group A goes Tuesday/Thursday, Group B goes Wednesday/Friday. Next week the all go the full schedule. Sarah is on the B schedule, so today was her first day (can you believe how early they go back to school here?!). Naturally, her friend is in the Group A!

Most mornings Elliot will probably take her to the bus stop, since that’s when he goes to work anyway. Anna and I will meet her in the afternoons. But for her first day, we all went to see her off! Of course I had to take my camera to capture the moment.

At long last I am finished with my photo wall!! I had everything framed while I was in Pensacola, and yesterday my canvas arrived. I am so thrilled with how it has all come together. It still feels a bit weird to see my own work displayed like this … but weird in a good way! I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner.

An overall view

Cloe up view of the groupings

Close up of the canvas, which btw, is my hubby’s favorite.

When I went to Pensacola last week to pick up Sarah, naturally I took my camera along. I set up a little mini-shoot with her in my parents’ backyard. I got in a bit of practice with that beautiful summer evening light. My mom has this really cute, fun bench in her backyard now … its lime green with ladybugs on it. Sarah decided her lime green headband was needed for this! Of course she got tired of it after a few shots! Anyway, she was in the mood to cooperate, so we had a lot of fun.