Mt. Juliet portrait photography

Christmas Traditions

December 22, 2012

My family rocks. “I know”, you say. No, really. My family is amazing. Everyone should be blessed with crazy lovely people such as these. Yes, we fight and disagree. No, we don’t all attend the same church (or even all go to church) or vote for the same party. It’s not always pretty. We’re not perfect. We know we’re ALL a little nut-so. (except me, of course) But when it’s Christmas time, we put all our differences and disagreements aside and party. Plain old fun and lots of food. This happens on both my mother’s side and my father’s side. How cool is that? We get together and eat until we cannot eat anymore, then we smash together for a photo, play Dirty Santa (sometimes called White Elephant), and let the kids open real presents. Before we say goodnight we eat lots of desserts featuring my mother’s scratch red and green velvet cake with scratch whipped icing. The Dirty Santa game is a new tradition, and it has just added another layer of laughter and fun to our parties. I highly recommend this game. We let the kids play too, and yes, we will steal from the kids. They have to learn it’s war for the best junk. Christmas can be so very stressful, and family time can be difficult. Start a new tradition of love and tolerance for one another. Show your family and friends that you will support them through the good and the bad. My family is crazy and I am too, but I know that they are there for me. We are never alone when we give love to each other. Isn’t that what He came to show us? Isn’t that the point of life?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

New International Version (NIV)

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.⁸Love never fails.

Me and two of my cousins. LOVE these girls.

MeeMaw always gets the baby

My dad’s family. Serious Christmas picture

Randalls. Crazy picture. This one is much more accurate.

Dad loves beautiful wrapping.

Cathy was very excited about her Dirty Santa find. Hot Dog shirt!

Barclay’s Dirty Santa gift. The memoir of Flavor Flav. True literary masterpiece.

Proud moment of mother and son in their food shirts acquired in the Dirty Santa game.

Green velvet cake is sooo good!

Randalls!

Brittons!

Post red and green velvet cake sugar high!

My mother’s family. Crazy pic. Again, more true to life.

Papuchis family serious picture

Cruz wanted to read the book Josh got in the Dirty Santa game!

Ben stole the book as he is the “manliest”.

Can you believe my grandmother actually stole this in the Dirty Santa game. “I love big cats!” she exclaimed.

He loves this ornament.

Matching vests for the girls!

by MelanieG

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Macro Therapy

August 28, 2012

Admit it. Your life is moving faster than you thought possible. I’ve had my iPhone almost 2 years, and I am an addict. That device has become my business and personal lifeline with not only phone but email, calendar, contacts, personal Facebook, business Facebook, business credit card machine (Square), full web browsing, website and blog management, Twitter, Pinterest, and Words with Friends (yes, it is important too). It’s wonderful! And it’s horrible. I’m available 24/7 and everyone knows it. What’s my point? STRESS! We all have it. So, what are you going to do about it? If you don’t have a hobby that doesn’t involve your iPhone, then get one. Put it down and do something else. I am an artist who has dabbled in a lot of different mediums. My current obsession and stress reliever is macro photography. You should try it. Most point and shoot cameras have a macro setting, and if you own a DSLR, try renting or borrowing a macro lens to see what you think. I acquired my macro lens from Heather Manor of Girl Hearts Camera. This purchase was pure impulse as I was browsing Craig’s List, and it is my best impulse buy to date. Macro photography forces you to be still and quiet and breathe deeply. Most literature about macro photography will tell you to always use a tripod to keep the camera as still as possible. You could go for a hipod if needed. This is true! However, I like to go outside and stalk bugs and birds and other nature right in my back yard. Sometimes, nature is very close to the ground, and a tripod is more trouble than it’s worth. Really, I’m just lazy about getting the tripod out, and I don’t mind lying on the ground…or using my knees as a substitute. I have found that pushing the shutter button as I’m exhaling will also help with hand shaking. I watched the Olympic archers and Katniss on the Hunger Games movie exhale before releasing an arrow, so it must be sound logic. Being still and quiet, breathing deep, focusing on releasing your breath smoothly…gee, that sounds like stress therapy! I have always used art as a stress reliever, but I have discovered that Here is my macro therapy from this morning. The hummingbirds were very active, and I was determined to get some photos. You can see how suspicious he is of me sitting so close to the feeder. He never took his eye away from me, and he came up to check on me between sips.

My husband took this picture of me with his phone while I was being still and quiet trying to capture the hummingbirds on camera. He said I looked like a statue. I don’t think the birds were fooled.

One of my favorite macro subjects, the honey bee. My parents are bee keepers, and I have a soft spot for this insect that is purely focused on the job at hand.

Another pollinator that I love, the bumble bee. They are generally compliant subjects unless they think you are just in the way. I have had them buzz my face just to get me away from a flower they wanted for themselves.

Gardenia blossom

Dandelion

Morning fog on the spider’s web

Hydrangea

Japanese Beetle eating my roses

Dewdrops on strawberry leaves

snowflakes

by MelanieG

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The County Fair

August 17, 2012

The Fair is here! Can you smell the excitement and the fried food? In Wilson County, TN, we have one of the largest county fairs around. It is a perfect combination of carnival, craft show and fair. You can compete in hundreds of categories with your fellow county residents for the coveted blue ribbons. There are animal and livestock shows, talent shows, beauty pageants, hypnotists, magicians, and nightly special performances at several different stages. Many different artisans also come to show and sell their hand crafted items. There is more to see than time to see it, and I do attend the fair more than the average person. Here are a few tips from a seasoned fair goer like myself to make the fair more enjoyable.

1. Bring hand sanitizer. Seriously. Have you heard of the swine flu? You don’t want that.

2. Allow the kids and yourself to indulge in a few fair food treats (it’s only a fried Oreo), but bring your own water bottle to cut cost and sugar intake. Use the sanitizer first.

3. Buy the carnival “ride all rides” armband/hand stamp instead of buying tickets. This is much more economical and vastly simpler. Our fair offers these armband/hand stamps at a discount on opening night and before noon on Saturdays.

4. Go to the side shows, and support the artists and contestants in the talent shows, beauty pageants, etc. I love to find the winners later as they are carrying their trophies/crowns and congratulate them. The smiles you get in return are phenomenal.

5. Check out the animals, livestock and other competitions. See who/what won that blue ribbon. I am a much better judge of a prize winning chicken because of the fair. These are life skills, people.

6. Ride the ferris wheel and take a picture at the top. It’s beautiful up there.

7. Go through the vendors tents and see who can get the most pens and post-it pads.

8. I have found the best deals on food is usually at food vending run by charitable organizations such as the Rotary Club or Lion’s Club, and their burgers and sandwiches are usually better. This saves money for more fried candy. Use the sanitizer before you eat!

9. Watch the artisans such as the broom maker or blanket weaver, and let them show your kids how things can be made with your hands. Hands were not made for texting alone…although, there is a texting competition too.

10. Let yourself be a kid again! Have fun! Just think, this is WAY cheaper than Disney, and it’s so much closer. Don’t forget the hand sanitizer.

by MelanieG

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Goodbye, Summer

July 31, 2012

Tomorrow my kids go back to school, and my week day routine will begin at 5:45 am. For Wilson County, TN, the summer break is only 8 weeks long, and it flies by every year. The fact that I now have a middle schooler makes the start of this school year even more bittersweet. How did I arrive at this place in my life so fast? How much more quickly will the next few years go by? Why does time move faster as we age? I think this is one summer I wanted to last forever or maybe even just a little longer. For friends of mine who have a child beginning college this month, I know they feel the same. Time moves fast. Take all the pictures you can! I tried to capture this summer as best as I was able without having the camera permanently glued to my face. We went to the beach and to the mountains. These are two totally different landscapes with different requirements on the camera and the photographer. For beach portraits, you will want to shoot close to sunrise or sunset because the midday sun is brutal on the subjects as well as the camera. Investing in a polarized filter for midday beach candid photos is a great idea. It’s like sunglasses for your camera, and it will help the colors pop. Sunset is always better for portraits as it allows for your subject to actually look at the camera without squinting. Keep the sun behind them and focus on their eyes. Large landscape photos are completely opposite. Use a wide angle lens and keep the F stop high to allow the most clarity at different depths. This means you need to shoot in the bright of day to allow the most light into the camera possible. Am I beginning to speak French? I will stop now and show you some examples from my summer vacations. I can’t live in the past, and I can’t make summer last forever. I do, however, have the pictures to prove I was there. Goodbye, my summer.

by MelanieG

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I have a blog!

July 1, 2012

Hey, look! I have a blog! This is a big step for me, and I could not be more excited. So long have I waited to get this going, but as you will learn, I am kinda picky. It took me a little while to set it up between working and being a mom. I have so many sessions I want to share with you, but I also want this to be the place where I can share photos and events of a more personal nature. You will be able to find these “deep thoughts” in the Journal section of the blog. Get ready, because sometimes, those thoughts are just crazy and weird. But that’s OK. You will get to know me better this way, and hopefully, feel that we are a good photographer/client match. I love meeting new people, sharing a moment of their lives and capturing real smiles and emotion through my lens. That is my goal with every session. Those are the moments I know I am privileged, and I am so thankful to be a photographer.

LOVE,

Melanie G.

photo courtesy of Jaime Lackey Photography

by MelanieG

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