Now that the dust has settled, literally, ( it was a bit breezy) I can not express how grateful I am with such a phenomenal turnout for portraits at the patch at the community day of giving back !  We were blessed with a great weekend of weather, sunny and 70 degrees in October !

I am so ecstatic that we were able to put together this event and give back to the community with discounted family sessions.  I hope to make this a yearly event.  We captured 89 families !  Holy smokes !

I could not have pulled off this great weekend without the help from some pretty awesome people.  We were hsutling on Saturday, there were ZERO breaks in the action !! Thank you to My husband, who took the day off on Saturday from cutting beans to help, Kim Ingle who ran my table for me all day Saturday and Jase who came out on Sunday to help me with equipment and assisting with the scrim ( shade) 

I will share a few cell photos from the day.  We were right in the middle of the patch.  It was gorgeous out !  At one point the wait was over an hour !

Josh, Mandee and their clan, also known as the #JMandtheEW3 visited our farm for sunflower sessions a few weeks ago.  I have known this phenomenal family for some time.  Josh is our extension educator in Howard county { #GO PURDUE}  and I have spent a lot of time harassing him throughout my daughters 4H career. I can not say enough good things about Josh, he rocks the Extension office, is strong in his faith, a great teacher, cheerleader and a wonderful father and phenomenal husband.  He is probably one of the most patient men I know, and for that I am grateful.  #IMessUpStuffSometimesAndHeFixesIT  :)

I had the pleasure of spending some time with Mandee this summer working the bicycle rodeo, a 4h project, and I truly wish I had gotten to know her more sooner.  We need to hang out more often, for sure.  She made the day sail on by and she was a riot.  I was not familiar with the project so I had ZERO idea of what I was supposed to be doing to assist running it.  Mandee to the rescue.  She also taught me that I should NEVA EVA leave my phone on a table, because she will take  selfies with it, it was hilarious, it was awesome, I needed a good laugh.

Thanks for coming out to the fields Winrotte's.  It was a pleasure to capture your family!  Here are some of my favorites from your session.

I truly miss the sunflower fields ( in bloom).  They are still there, naturally, but they are now brown and drying out to be harvested. I was in their adorning yellow daily for almost two weeks straight.  Loving the aroma, the bee's the wonderful clients and the gorgeous views.

I photographed Caitlin a while back for her senior session.  I was able to get to know her during that time and came to discover that she loves sunflowers.  So much so that she brought some with her to her senior shoot.  A beautiful little bouquet.  At the time of that session our fields were not blooming yet sadly, so we completed her session and on we went.  Finding out that she had a love for sunflowers so much I knew she absolutely MUST come out to our fields when they are blooming, on me.  I mentioned it during our first session and we made sure to make it happen. 

Caitlin works at our local, very awesome, Hydration Station.  If you have never been there for a float or scrumptious ice cream, perhaps an orange slush float ( my husbands favorite) you need to, it is a must.  I ran into her a few times here and there at the good ol' station after our session and she always has a smile on her face.  Caitlin beams with beauty inside and out and is strong in her faith.  I was excited to get her out to the studio and into the sunflowers fields so she could bask in the acres of god's beauty.  We had a great time at sunset in the fields, which always gives us phenomenal light to work with.  Here are some of my favorites from her session.

Good luck with your future journey after high school.  I am excited to see what God's plans are for you ! 

Where do I even begin with Har and her momma Stacy.  I have know these ladies for some time now, way back to the zumba days.  Say what, yeah, we all used to Zumba together..Weekly

Harley has grown into such a beautiful, talented wonderful young lady..sniff...snifff..It is cliche I know, but man do they grow up fast..It is truly hard to believe. #IAmOld

We had a lot of fun during Harley's senior session.  It wasn't without hiccups though.  When we arrived at the gym to shoot some of her senior banner photos there was no way to turn on the lights...HA!  We made it work and moved forward to shooting outside on the softball fields, where we, FORGOT SOFTBALLS.  I mean, I am a coach and I didn't have one stinking softball in my truck LOL.  Thankfully Stacy lives close.    It was a beautifully overcast day, god's wonderful sofbox given to us, a gem for photographers, but it did threaten rain.

Ok it did rain!  What was supposed to be about a 2 hours session, kinda turned into 4 and we lost light fast.  Stacy had everything mapped out for us, for which I was very thankful.  We went to 902315 locations, JUST KIDDING, but we did hit up about 12 or so, awesome spots that Stacy had scoped out a few days before.  It did not pour on us thankfully, but there were times I was using my reflector on my head as a rain barrier while we kept shooting.  Naturally this made for very flat lighting and a darker than normal sunset, but we were able to recover some of that in post.

We got through the bugs and crickets on the ground, ( do I have to sit in that...Yes, yes you do) rain showers, weird honking trucks, No balls, places I didn't think my truck would fit ( but Stacy's car would) and parted ways just after dark.  We were all a sweaty mess, it was so very humid, by the time we were done, but I was so thankful to get this session in, with the impending weather and grateful for Stacy being ultra prepared.

Here are some of my fav's from the session.  Really I could share all 60, but I won't...I promise...But here are MANY :) #PantherPride 

I've know Tori for some time.  My husband grew up with her father and they played football together.  She is a phenomenally talented artist, painter, cake maker...you name it, this young lady is very good at what she does.  I'm positive I have forgotten to list something ! Creative and full of personality.  I have enjoyed following her journey throughout 4H.  The amount of work she puts into her projects is second to none.  Thanks for coming out the fields ladies, it was also great meeting you Lilli.  Good luck with your senior year ladies ! #Eastern2020

I really enjoyed this family at the studio.  We spent several hours together starting with Giovanni's session then moving right into the family session.  They brought their little yorkie with them and I was happy to oblige in adding him into their photo session.  He listened very well and did everything we asked of him.

Last year was such a success that we will once again be offering session with Santa.  This is a great opportunity to have a one on one photo session with the big red man himself !  No Malls, No madness..

This years set will include this awesome new sleigh that we just acquired and all sorts of awesome holiday goodness.  We are in the works of painting it an adorning it.  Stay tuned for the finished product !

I have had so so many clients ask me when the dates will be in  2019, even though we are not ready just yeat and still getting the sleigh ready, we have released the dates.

I have already opened up booking if you want to get in early to make sure you have a spot with Santa.  There are two listings on the booking page, one for each date.

We will once again have an interactive time with Santa, with books, candy canes and lots of opportunities for great images.  Sessions are 15 minutes in length and are only $25

We hope to see you at Sessions With Santa.

Sweet Makenna Came Into the studio a few weeks ago for her newborn session. She was a delight to photograph.  Here are some peeks into her session with us.

Perhaps twin baby chicks from the same egg

This is a pretty cool and rare thing

I am sure most of you are like, what the heck is that !!  This is a chicken egg that I pulled out of the incubator today to look at it more closely.  It is called candling.

I have hatched hundreds of chicks here at the farm, so why is this one so special?

This egg has twins developing in it.  How cool is that.

Its is also pretty scary as it is un heard of to hatch two chicks from one egg.  This may go sour quick, but we think it is pretty cool they even made it this far !

I have 28 eggs in the incubator, and upon checking them this morning they were all moving around and doing well inside their eggs.

Tuesday is Lockdown day, that is tomorrow.  I will lock down the incubator, no more peeking or taking eggs out.  We will raise the humidity and we will wait and watch with anticipation to see when they start piping through their shells.

​I will keep everyone posted on this adventure !

It's your time to shine

I truly enjoy senior sessions and getting to know these kids as the are preparing to embark on a new, exciting and sometimes scary journey as they graduate.

Learning what their future plans are.....
Colleges they are looking at.....
​Boyfriend status....all the important stuff  ;)

It was a pleasure getting to know Caitlin during our time together.  We were blessed with great weather, which had not been the norm just a few weeks prior.  We had been stuck in and insane heat wave, thankfully it gave us a reprieve.  We were not dripping with sweat at the end of our session, which is always a giant plus !

It was a pleasure meeting you Caitlin and I look forward to following your journey of Senior year and beyond !