Baby Fast Newborn Session

Yesterday, August and I visited Patricia and Anna Parsons to take a few newborn photos. (You may recall the shower we threw her here.) I am always surprised how tiny newborns are; I didn't want to put her down. Anna Parsons has the sweetest disposition and seems to be settling into life with Mommy and Daddy well. I feel privileged to watch her grow before God and man. You made a beautiful baby, Brian and Patricia.

Capture the Day Session: Summer 2014

A personal goal of mine is to do quarterly #capturetheday sessions each year. On July 17th, a Thursday, I picked up my camera and pen to document and detail our day together. Here is our ordinary and extraordinary day in the Summer of 2014:

5:50 am

August wakes crying loudly; I go in and he settles back to sleep immediately. I hold and rock him for 30 minutes longer since he so rarely sleeps on me. Brandon gets up to take over for a bit, but by 7am, we are all awake. 

7 am

August plays in our bed between us. We give him the remote for the overhead street lights and he sort of snuggles with us. After he throws the remote behind the bed, we show him pictures and videos on our phone camera roll. Once he is too antsy for snuggles, we put him on the floor and let him roam the upstairs. He takes the giant Chick-fil-A cup from my nightstand and drinks all my water. What he doesn't drink, he dumps out when he uses the cup as a sword by grabbing the straw.

8 am

We are out of prepped oatmeal so August snacks raisins, Cheerios and milk as I prepare more of our tried-and-true oatmeal recipe.

Boil water. Peel and cut the fruit (apple, banana, peach). Boil the fruit. Add cinnamon and old-fashioned oats: whole and milled. Boil until soft. Cool and serve. 

Brandon comes downstairs to make his lunch and coffee for work. He will be gone by 8:30 so we try to enjoy our time with him. After he leaves we eat breakfast, August and I. Cereal and coffee for me; oatmeal with blueberries for August. It's been blueberries or strawberries all summer long.

9 am

I light a candle and play worship music for calm serenity. We play with blocks on the living room floor. August normally hands them to me, I build a tower and he knocks it down. He spreads out while playing and makes a much larger mess than he did a month ago. I consider walking down to the park but it's already 90 and very humid. 

When August needs a new diaper we go upstairs to get ready for the day. I grab my phone and coffee and camera since I'm taking pictures today. I walk slowly behind August as he crawls up, up, up. We read books and play with Tonka trucks. August sets his jaw and tucks a stuffed animal tightly under his chin.

10 am

We share pre-nap snuggles in the chair to calm August's system. Set the room to "nap mode": Curtains closed. Both sound machines on- yes, two. Fan on high. Sneezy the Panda, Owlie the Owl, water cup and book in the crib. I continue to rock in the chair for a few minutes since he's extra cuddly. Reluctantly, I put August in his crib and go downstairs to work on Spice research. My desk requires a candle, coffee, water and two computers to aid the speed of research. 

11 am

August fussed after sleeping for half an hour but then settled again. I take a short coffee break to stretch when my dad calls to cancel tomorrow's lunch. Back to more Spice work until August wakes at ten til noon.

12 pm

We walk to visit with Mum who is working at Rutledge's house around the corner. August walks the entire way and even turns up the right path to his uncle's front door. I help Mum shift some boxes on the third floor and laugh at old, childhood memories. August meets my bear, Bubblegum Pink (nn Pinky) and the peg cobbler toy. We stay until our stomachs begin to growl.

1:30 pm

Mum joins us for lunch of last night's leftovers: Greek chicken on pita with cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. 

2 pm 

We dessert on iced coffee and visit for a bit while August plays with blocks and his spaceship. Mum brought pictures of August on the MG so we look and talk about her upcoming trip to New York for Rutledge's wedding. He gets cranky for a nap. 

3 pm

Nap time for August and Mumma. To unwind, I grab the iPad to read blogs and the news but learn of the Malaysian flight crash. 298 people. Gone. Torn apart in a Ukrainian field. For a long time, I sit and stare and pray. I eventually read Swistle to calm my nerves and doze off for 15 minutes. 

4:15 pm

August wakes after 30 minutes asleep. He's snuggly and wanting to be close. I give him two crackers and milk and pull the bread dough from the bowl. I've let it sit for 24 hours- I hope it still turns out nicely.

Oven on, pot in oven. Counter floured and doughed.

Waiting on the oven and snuggling on the couch with my favorite little man. He's been into the really soft things lately so he loves being on the couch and pretending to sleep. Why do kids find that hilarious? 

5 pm

Bread in the oven and dishes cleaned up from the day. August plays with his Tonka truck and our World Cup balloons. He watches on tiptoes as the neighbors splash in their kiddie pool next door. Brandon is home by 5:30; they play together while I bring in the diapers, boil pasta and set the table. 

6 pm

Dinner. August gets stripped to his diaper since we're having spaghetti for dinner. We all devour the homemade bread and fresh butter from Happy Cow Creamery. I sip a glass of wine because pasta calls for it. We discuss future travel plans, Brandon's work and August's big adventurous walk to Uncle Rutledge's today. We wipe August's hands, peel the spaghetti off his belly and the boys go upstairs for bath time. August crawls up slowly but happily. I clean the dishes, wipe the counters and sweep the floors. 

7 pm

After filling August's water cup, I grab a banana and head upstairs for stories. I meant to deliver the banana during bath time. We read stories and play a bit longer than usual. August is so joyful and thrives when both Brandon and I are around. Hugs and bed for August who continues to play in his crib for some time.

8 pm

After August is in bed, I try not to look at the clock until I am headed to bed. The rest of my day is so timed and monitored, it's lovely having chunks of time at the end of the day to lose track of. 8 pm until bed is an unmonitored mixup of exercise videos, blog posting, shower, laundry and reading. I'm in bed with my book by 11:30 pm.

View our other Capture the Day sessions here.

#onaLoywalk

I've been intentionally taking August on more walks. I'm not a summer gal and this 90+ degree weather is headache-inducing, but August loves being outside and getting my body moving is refreshing. To motivate myself, I've started snapping photos on our walks using the hashtag #onaLoywalk. Follow along here. 

Favorite Photography iPhone Apps: Brandon's Edition

edited with Aviary and Phonto

Last month, I shared a few of my favorite iPhone photography apps. Because my editing style and preference is so different from Brandon's, I thought it would be nice to share a few of his favorite apps so that you will know which tools to use to achieve and develop your own style.

edited with Aviary (focus and filters)
and Phonto (text)

edited with Aviary (stickers), Phonto
(text), and Split Pic (merged pictures)

Aviary is Brandon's go-to photography editing app. It is quick and easy to use; he claims it takes no longer than 30 seconds to edit and post a picture with Aviary. Aviary offers stickers (like hats and eye patches!) that add a whimsical element to your pictures. It features text and filter options as well as focus and sharpening features that are simple and straightforward. Do you notice the blur on a lot of the images here? To achieve a similar look, download Aviary.

For text, Brandon prefers Phonto. The font options are more extensive than other apps we have tried. He uses Pic Collage when he wants to group pictures together but not in the normal grid fashion that many other apps offer. Pic Collage enables you to angle your images. Split Pic allows you to blend two images into one. Brandon definitely has fun with that feature.

edited with Aviary and Phonto

Brandon and I both use A Beautiful Mess and Over for text and filters. You can read more specifics about both on my previous post. Interestingly, Instagram just issued a major update that now enables greater in-app editing including contrast, warmth, saturation and filtration intensity. If you've had a chance to use it, please let me know what you think of the new features.

As of the writing of this post, Aviary, Phonto, Pic Collage and Split Pic are all free in the App Store so start editing now!

Did you try any of the apps I recommended last month? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Favorite Photography iPhone Apps

edited with Obaby

About 6 months before August was born, Brandon and I bought each other iPhones. While the iPhone camera does not compare in any way to my DSLR, the quality is pretty close to a point-and-shoot camera. Because I keep my phone on hand throughout the day, I have been able to capture some beautiful moments of August's first 13 months of life. To give you an idea of our love of our iPhone cameras, the pictures on the front and back cover of our 2013 family photo album were both iPhone pictures. Capturing our days with our iPhones has been fun, entertaining and life-giving.

Brandon and I have a very different aesthetic with our photos. He prefers heavily filtered, vignetted and blurred iPhone pictures- the kind you get using Hipstamatic. I prefer all of my photos to look as close to real life as possible. I edit most of my pictures but if I use a filter, it tends towards mellow tones. We both enjoy adding text and doodles though. I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite iPhone apps for photography. Maybe I will get Brandon to do a guest post with his favorites. If you would like to compare our styles, check out our IG accounts: Claire & Brandon.

Taking the Picture

taken with Timercam

If you have an iPhone, please take all of your pictures using the stock Camera app. The quality of your pictures is drastically improved from using a camera in another app. The only exception is if you want to take a timed picture. I use the free Timercam app for this because I can set the camera front- or back-facing and choose the time delay increment to an appropriate time. Do yourself a favor and promise me you will never take another in-app photo outside of the Camera or Timercam apps. Thanks.



Editing the Picture

edited with VSCOcam (F2 and exposure)
and A Beautiful Mess (border)

If a picture needs editing, I nearly always use VSCOcam app. It is a free editing app that offers various pre-made filters as well as controls for subtle editing of exposure, temperature, saturation, etc. My favorite filters are F2 and LV2 though I will normally decrease the saturation a good bit to mellow them out. This is the best free photo editing app I have encountered.



Personalizing the Picture

edited with A Beautiful Mess

When I want to add text or a border or a doodle to a picture, I use one of three apps (depending on what I am going for). Over is an app that includes artwork as well as various font styles for adding text to an image. It appears to be $1.99 in the app store although it was free a few months ago when I started using it. A Beautiful Mess app is $0.99 right now. They have a few fun filters, borders that appear hand-drawn, fresh doodles and phrases. I love the handmade look ABM app adds to a picture. (I also use this app to create a white border around a taller picture for posting to IG since IG began forcing the square photo dimension. Sometimes a square just doesn't capture it! If you are on IG, you know what I mean.) The other app I have recently started using is made by the same developers as Over. It is called Obaby and is definitely aimed to parents. The app includes artwork for pregnancy, adoption, first and second year and other occasional pieces. I cannot figure out how to delete artwork once it is added which is super frustrating! The great news is this app is normally $4.99 but is FREE for Mother's Day! Go snag it now and start playing around!

edited with A Beautiful Mess (white border)
and Over (text)

It is worth noting that most of these apps have in-app purchases to expand the options available. I do not like spending money on apps so I rarely purchase in-app purchases- but the options really are limitless with what you can do. Also, most apps save your images at a lower resolution so keep that in mind too.

What are some of your favorite apps? Please share!

Taking Back {Photography}

To say that I have not taken photos since August's birth would be a lie. I have taken (probably too many) pictures of tiny feet, little fingers, crooked smiles and shifty eyes. I have worked hard to try to capture him on film. More than once said, "Why won't the camera take the picture?" only to discover my camera card is full... again.

But somewhere amongst the must-capture-every-moment, I forgot to look at other things. I stopped trying to find the whispers of the Spirit through my lens. It's easy to find God in the giggles of a baby. But where is God in the rest: on the drive to work, in the dirty dishes, on the computer screen.

In July, I decided to do a photo challenge. I knew July would be very hard for my soul; I knew I needed a practice to turn me heavenward. I used the daily challenge prompts to find the wooing of the Lord in the ugly-beautiful around me. Here are a few of those moments:

July 5: Love

July 6: Favorite Smells

July 7: Where you are

July 8: a path

July 11: I wore

July 12: A bad habit

July 13: 4 o'clock

July 14: Edible

July 15: Bottle

July 26: The everyday

I am doing a similar challenge for August but incorporating written moments in addition to photography. I am interested to see which I prefer.

The History of Us {Celebrating Life}

I have known Ali since I was 3 years old: over 25 years of friendship! For her 30th birthday, I wanted to give her something tangible to show how much these 25 years have meant to me. Mum suggested a photobook...

                                        

The spine of the book says, "to love a person is to learn the song in her heart & sing it to her when she has forgotten." This quote* embodies my friendship with Allison. She seems to ground me and bring me back to a "better me." She is so many things that I am not... generous, laid-back, carefree, adventurous. I treasure our memories, laughter, and friendship through so many seasons of life.

Thanks to Emily, Mrs. A and Mum for helping gather photos, give input on layout and arrangement, fill in dates, places, etc. Mum especially laid out several of the pages herself which pretty much saved the project. Such a huge help! Boy, do we have some crazy photos of us!?! And like Ali said, "What a variety of hairstyles!!!"

*I adapted this quote slightly from Winn's blog.

Lightroom Love

When Emily asked me to help with Brandon's wedding, she recommended I try her 50mm lens and Lightroom. I am head-over-heels in love with both of them! Her lens doesn't shoot in auto-focus on my camera and my Lightroom trial has expired but let me tell you... I am saving my pennies to purchase both in the VERY NEAR future!

Just to give you an idea of the delights of Lightroom:

SOOC

After slight Lightroom Adjustments

Can you see the difference? The before shot looks nice capturing the blues in the waves and the child-awe for father and uncle. But, it also seems to have a haze over it. It is just not crisp and clear. After really slight adjustments in Lightroom, the image is a truer picture of the Florida wedding beach day. When I say "slight," I mean it! I hardly had time to learn the program. I am anxious to buy the program so I can see what "intense" adjustments look like :)

Thanks, Em, for pushing me into this and for encouraging my passions. Thanks for the advice and tips and camaraderie.

Brandon and Mandy's Wedding

Emily!

During our first few months of dating, my to-be-husband turned to me one evening and said, "Not only do you have an enormous family with a lot of brothers, you also have a second family." He was referring to the Andrews family, and he was right. Each, in their own way, put him through a test, watched him closely and nodded their approval or dissent. I love them dearly-- like my own family. Brandon Andrews and I have an old friendship based on travel, laughter and dancing. This winter/spring, Love struck him fast and hard in a stunningly exciting way. When Emily, his eldest sister, asked me to help her photograph his wedding, how could I refuse? Although I doubted my skills and knowledge, I knew I would enjoy the extra time with Emily as we planned and coordinated and with Brandon and his new bride. Emily did a fantastic job shooting my wedding, and I learned much from her this Spring. She asked me to shoot details and to try to fill in for places she could not be. It was a fantastically tiring and glorious day. Here are a few of my personal favorites:

Allison and Lilah Claire at Rehearsal

Ring aRosie w/ abundant nieces and nephews

    

my B aboard the boat

West Palm