Weasel Bee Studios

I Heart Faces :: "Black" Challenge

2011-11-06T21:56:00.001-08:00

My entry for I Heart Faces' "Black" photo challenge... I had a lot of fun with this group, this was one girl of a group of four performers. They were all wearing costumes in various shades of black and white, using white flow toys on a low key back drop.

Enjoy making your Holiday Cards! :: Cedar Park, Texas Family Photography

2011-11-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

DUE TO A MECHANICAL FAILURE AT THE CLUB, THIS EVENT WILL BE POSTPONED. MORE DETAILS COMING SOON

Are you looking for a stress free and fun holiday portrait and card this year? Let me take holiday portraits of your family this year! I works with kids and families to make sure everyone is comfortable and happy to get beautiful and fun portraits for your family. More examples of my family portraits can be found on my portfolio. This Saturday, November 5th, mini sessions will be held at the Ultimate Moms Club, which will be decked out with holiday decorations and light refreshments provided by Rebecca of The Clubhouse Scene. All profits from this event will go toward improving the building and grounds of The Ultimate Moms Club.

What should you expect?

Families sign up for 15 minute time slots to get their portraits taken. A $25 deposit is required to reserve your time slot. Cindy will work with you to get a few nice image options of your family (or any combination of family members you prefer). Within the week, proofs will be available online for you to choose your favorite image and card template, designed by graphic designer Stacie Cary. Don't do holiday cards? Portrait packages will also be available. Email me now to reserve your spot!

Fine Print and Pricing:
Holiday card packages start at $18.75 for a minimum order of 15 cards. Price per card will be $1.25. Prints will be available a la carte, or as packages for a discount. Minimum print order will be $20. There is no minimum order for prints if you are also ordering cards. For more information email me at cindy@weaselbeestudios.com

Business time!

2011-10-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

I've been working on fun fun fun business stuff recently, like promotion.

I just submitted myself to Thumbtack.com-- I don't know much about it, but it doesn't hurt to be listed, right?
seriously fun photography

I'm on Yelp now, with a positive review even! http://www.yelp.com/biz/weasel-bee-studios-austin

Lot of work, but not with releases to share...
Here's a tiny sneak peek of some silliness--- have I mentioned I do photo booths on occasion?

In in the works... a shoot with a performer with a peacock inspired costume. Here's my pinterest inspiration board
http://pinterest.com/cindychapter/peacock-costume-inspiration/

That's what I've been up to, what about you?

Mini Sessions, Day Two :: Cedar Park Children's Photography

2011-10-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

The second day of mini sessions went wonderfully (for the first day's images, and a bit more about the sessions, see here: http://weaselbeestudios.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-mini-sessions-austin-texas.html )

Since this day was added because of the demand for the first day, it was a bit more relaxed and less busy. No less cute though! I love these kids. It's so interesting to see how their different personalities show up in the images.

These three did not want to sit where they were supposed to, preferring against the wall. A total photographic nono- but then they did this completely without prompting. My heart melted right there...

Want me to do mini sessions with your group? I'm available throughout Austin and the surrounding areas. Just contact me at cindy@weaselbeestudios.com for more information.

First Mini Sessions! :: Austin Texas Children's Photography

2011-10-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

For the first time this week I offered a few days of mini sessions--- affordably priced 15 minute appointments that included an 8x10 or 2 5x7 prints with more images available a la carte. I was very happy with the turn out, despite the horrible allergies that seem to have popped up this week.

I got to work with some of the sweetest kids!

...and then, at the end of each of their sessions, if they wanted to they got to jump on a mini trampoline, which I also photographed if they wanted me to. Those pics were so much fun!

I can't wait to do more mini sessions! I had fun, the kids had fun, and lots of portraits got taken in one day.

A bit of a Identity Crisis

2011-09-09T18:06:00.000-07:00

I'm having a bit of trouble with my personal dialogue about my web presence recently. I'm working on changing things on here and my website. Stay tuned for changes.

Also, Id love to hear if you have any feedback about this blog, my website, or my recently revamped about.me site. (click the links to see the sites)

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming---

A Tiny Tea Party :: Austin Texas Childrens Photography

2011-08-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

Working hand in hand with Rebecca of The Clubhouse Scene, I got some beautiful shots of a bunch of kids enjoying a tea party at the Ultimate Moms Club. The purpose of this shoot was to get some "stock photos" to use in the new Ultimate Moms Club magazine, Unfurling. My work is featured throughout the magazine, and I'd love if you'd check it out!

Anyhow, it was a beautiful party and the kids had a WONDERFUL time.

Inspiration through Art

2011-08-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

I was recently accepted to photograph with a charity-- Inspiration Through Art for their Little Heroes Project... and even better, I was contacted today about doing a session with a family. If you haven't heard of the Little Heroes Project, you should check them out. These children have some amazing inspiring stories! Soon I hope to be sharing some images and an inspiring story of a child hero with you all.

Water :: I heart faces photo challenge

2011-07-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

My submission for the iheartfaces photo challenge: Water

http://www.iheartfaces.com

Plus a few other cute ones from that day

http://www.iheartfaces.com

I Heart Faces photo challenge :: A touch of Whimsy

2011-06-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

One for the A Touch of Whimsy Challenge.

I HAVE indeed been doing other work, but the blogging has been taking a backseat to well, life! Things have been going beautifully, but it is a bit busy. My oldest daughter is about to turn 3-- her party was this weekend and two more of my images will be displayed in a juried exhibition at Dragonfly Gallery next month. There's more but... it's a lot more, and it's bed time!

Bright & Vivid :: I Heart Faces Photo Challenge

2011-06-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

This week's I Heart Faces challenge theme is "Bright and Vivid"--- totally up my alley!

My girls playing with cascarcones--- doesn't get much brighter than these!... ok ok maybe if the grass wasn't Texas colored, but such is the reality of living in Texas.

Together :: Simplicity Photo Challenge

2011-06-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

Sharing a beautiful moment from a wedding I was blessed to be able to shoot... she was my favorite roommate in college but we don't get a chance to see each other much anymore. The wedding was at Westmoreland State Park in Virginia. It's a beautiful park and I highly recommend visiting it. The wedding was fun, casual and so so THEM.

Right after the ceremony we took a walk to take portraits, just the wedding party and me. Next to them on the railing is their handfasting cord.

I heart faces challenge :: From a distance

2011-06-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

A beautiful day playing with my girls in a field of wildflowers~ I love my life!

...and baby makes 4 :: Austin Texas Maternity Photography

2011-06-01T13:54:00.001-07:00

Trouble!, a photo by WeaselBeeStudios on Flickr.

I went with the M family a little while ago and took maternity family portraits at Laguna Gloria. It was the first time I had been there, but it's not going to be the last! It's a BEAUTIFUL place.

This is my favorite photo from this session... it doesn't show much of Laguna Gloria, but shows TONS of A's personality.

I Heart Faces photo contest:: Best Face Photo from May

2011-05-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is my May Best Face photo for the I Heart Faces photo contest. I've never entered one of their contests before but it's high time I started!

Are you interesting? :: Austin, Texas Photographer

2011-05-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

Are you in or near Austin, Texas?

Do you have PASSION? Are you INSPIRED? Do you love to PLAY? Do you have a STORY to tell?

No matter what your passion or inspiration is... tell me about it and get a chance for a free photo session with me. I'd love to help you tell your story in pictures.

As simple as that. Pass it on, tell your friends!

What's the catch? No catch really... I'd like to add some eye catching portraits to my portfolio. I'd like to work with more fun interesting people. I will need a signed release so I can use the images in my portfolio, on my website, and possibly in print advertising but would never use an image you preferred not to have shared.

You can leave a comment on here, email me at cindy (at) weaselbeestudios.com or post on my wall on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WeaselBeeStudios
Make sure to leave contact information so I can get back to you.

Bluebonnet Season in Central Texas

2011-04-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again! Bluebonnet season in central Texas.

The bluebonnets are out, but it has been super dry, so instead of waist level for a toddler (knee level for adults) most places I have seen have been only about ankle deep for adults, with big bare patches.

This beautiful spot was at Old Settler's Park near the Dell Diamond.

A few hints if you cannot find a spot with a plain background like this (a lot of fields now have apartment complexes in the background)

Get HIGH-- bring a stepstool or ladder and shoot down into the bluebonnets

Get LOW-- crouch down and point the camera UP at the kids. If you are far enough away from buildings this often obscures them.

Find a HILL-- have the kids at the base of the hill, with the hill sloping up behind them.

Do you have any hints for good bluebonnet pictures?

Want someone else to take bluebonnet pictures for you? Send me an email-- cindy@weaselbeestudios.com and we can set up a session.

Annie's Maternity

2011-04-04T05:18:00.000-07:00

I guess it's time to share a tiny bit from Annie's maternity session since she had her baby a few days ago!

I love her great attitude and fun outlook... and to top it off, she was blessed with the "basketball belly"... all belly, can't even tell she's pregnant from the back.

I can't wait to get a chance to meet her new little man, and have a newborn session with him.

Tallulah Tallulah you don't want to lose her...

2011-04-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

I've been blessed to see this beautiful little girl grow up, I've known her since she was just a bump.

I took pictures of her two Christmases ago and looking back it's amazing how much my technique has improved... I'm too embarrassed to even show the old ones.

Death of a Camera

2011-03-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

While I have lots of photo sessions I still get around to sharing, something er.... interesting happened to me a few days ago. I was taking some pictures of the peach blossoms in my backyard, loving the way the sun was illuminating them from behind when I chimped a peek at one of the pictures I had just taken and was shocked to see a black bar through the picture. The next two also had black but then it was gone and I chalked it up to my hair or the strap blowing in front of the lens.

I kept shooting and then.. it happened again. Three more shots with the black bar and then my camera flashed up Err 99 and told me to turn my camera off and back on or remove the battery and then replace it. I tried both of those, no luck. Tried a different lens, no luck. Reformatted a different memory card... no luck. I think the shutter came apart.

I'm taking it as a sign--- a sign I need a heavier duty camera. So for this weekend's sessions I will be using a Canon 7D. I did some backyard practice with it yesterday and like it so far, so we will see how it goes this weekend.

Have you ever had a camera die on you? What happened?

If my baby could give me advice..

2011-02-25T19:59:00.000-08:00

She'd suggest a new coat of white paint for my little vintage rocking chair, and an iron for my new backdrop.

The power of Photoshop

2011-02-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

In an ideal world, kids would come in for a photo session, sit down and smile, be silly a little on cue, and stand right on their mark, right?

But this isn't a perfect world, it's the real world. Instead, kids come in and get silly or shy, they run around and refuse to sit in front of the camera. But then you get this one cute shot but--- the backdrop is rumpled and when their mom convinced them to sit for a moment they are sometimes too far from the backdrop. That's when editing software is at it's best.

Before-- cute pose, happy mom, sitting still toddler, but rumpled backdrop, huge drool slick on the chin

After-- Looks like they sat right on their mark! And looks like the drool slick was cleaned up too.

Nothing makes me happier than salvaging a pretty good picture and making it work-- except maybe catching the picture perfectly to begin with.

Learning to fly

2011-01-19T08:46:00.000-08:00

The other day I finally experimented with a photo type I had been meaning to try... on Flickr they call them "levitation photos"... but I like to say I'm learning to make people fly.

A little bit cheese and a whole lot of fun, this was a super quick living room try. I was all set to try another at a ... prettier location, but then we got a week straight of much needed rain. Yet another idea adds itself to my "to do" list...

It's my cleaning fairy--- I wish!

Hello 2011, you're good news so far!

2011-01-04T14:27:00.000-08:00

There are lots of things from 2010 I haven't gotten around to blogging yet, but I just HAD to mention that two of my images got accepted into a gallery show here in Austin.

"A Photo is Worth a Thousand Words"

January 18 - March 4, 2011

It will be at the Dragonfly Gallery in Austin near Medical and Burnet. I'm very excited for this opportunity!

(no, no pictures in this one... stay tuned though for some of my favorite Christmas season portraits)

Bokeh, a bit more to think about

2010-12-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Bokeh is a commonly featured photography technique around Christmas time, as a plethora of little fairy lights appear everywhere and make it easy to experiment with fun abstract images. The rush of getting ready for Christmas is over, and there is still time before all the lights are taken down, so this is an ideal time to play around with the technique.

This has been explained many times over on the internet so i won't go into how it all works, but here is a good, detailed explaination.

What I discovered on Christmas night, out on a walk with my family and my camera with my trusty 50mm lens, is that the size of the Bokeh can be easily manipulated without even changing the aperture or or shutter speed at all. Just change the focus.

All three of these were taken on the same fstop and shutter speed, and I was standing in the same spot for all of them.

Here are the lights completely in focus. Pretty boring, to me.

Here are the lights completely thrown out of focus. I was surprised to see how few of them showed up in the picture.

Turns out that bringing them a little closer to in focus made more of them show up, without changing anything else about
the set up.

Pretty neat, don't you think?

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-25T15:28:00.000-08:00

There's been lots going on around here, but haven't had time to blog it. But I do have time to say...

Holiday fun with Bokeh!

2010-12-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

Have you seen those images with the blurred lights in the background? Especially during holiday season this is a favorite of many photographers. It is often called Bokeh. In the last few years I started running across many photos featuring shaped bokeh, most often heart shaped.

I keep meaning to try it out, so finally did today. Here's a quick and dirty breakdown of the technique

This was a spur of the moment thing, so i made a "filter" out of spare card stock I had on hand. I have only seen it made with black before, but it would appear that is an aesthetic preference rather than a necessity. As you can see, mine is made of green card stock, and a few strips of scotch tape. It's not pretty, but it worked for getting it figured out.

I put it on the first lens I had on hand, my EF-S 18-55 kit lens.

So here's what happened.

Here are the lights, taken as a regular photograph

Here is a bokeh style photo of the lights (I just made the lights as far out of focus as I could, at the widest aperture available to that lens, which was only a 5.0) and took the picture

Here is the same set of lights using my star "filter" (and still having them out of focus)

How fun! These were just my test shots, but I will definitely have to do more with this soon!

Simplicity :: Austin TX Artistic baby photography

2010-11-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just want simplicity. A moment in time and development caught, without fancy props, cutsey hats, or gimmicks of any kind.

Capturing the shapes and movements of a stage soon to be lost to growth.
(Since I know you may be wondering, she has a strawberry hemangioma on the left side of her face near her eye. It is a part of her, so I didn't edit it out. If a parent wanted something like it edited from their child's photos I would, but I would probably inquire as to why.)

Simple chubby beauty of a healthy baby

A cute little fringe of hair soon to grow long and thick

The beauty of an infant holding the hand of her mother

Fall Special :: Austin Texas

2010-10-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

For the month of November only, I have a special for those who like seasonal pictures.

A mini session of fall themed pictures: $25

A mini session is enough time for one outfit, approximately 30 minutes, and a minimum of 10 full sized image files posted in a personal folder for download. A burned CD of your images is available on request, or for $10 I can put it on a thumb drive I provide (no additional charge if you provide a thumb drive)

Contact me to schedule your fall mini session!

cindy (at) weaselbeetudios.com

Session Pricing :: Austin Texas Family and Fun Photographer

2010-10-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

Since my website still isn't fully up and running, here is a rundown of my current pricing as of October 2010.

A full session, which runs about an hour, will cost $100 and include a minimum of 20 full sized images on disk (or as a download if you prefer) This is usually the ideal amount of time for baby and young child portraits. It allows enough time for a change of clothes or two, and it about the maximum amount of time that a kid can handle without a break.

A studio newborn family portrait

A mini session, which runs about 30 minutes, will cost $50 and include a minimum of 10 full sized images on disk (or as a download if you prefer). This really only allows enough time for one outfit --changing outfits takes more time than you may realize.

A mini session with newborn John

Also available is a deluxe session of up to 4 hours which can be both in studio AND on location, with all the images on disk or download. This kind of session is good for an interesting on location session like a walk around the south congress area and a visit to Hey Cupcake! and then a stroll around Lake Austin for example. It allows for a wide variety of background and situations and a really varied set of photos. I charge $250 for this type of session.

A candid day in the life style portrait

Where do I do sessions? I can do studio setups in your house, or mine even if you don't have room (but at my home only if you don't mind cats. I seem to be a kitty magnet so have a lot of them). I can do non studio sessions pretty much anywhere you can think of as long as there is some light. Parks, South Congress, downtown Austin and Lake Travis are all good options. Keep in mind that some local favorites (such as Zilker Botanical Gardens) do cost money. Due to my low fees I am unable to include location fees into my fees so they would have to be added on to session cost. There are plenty of free places though if you want to avoid extra costs!

Other ideas for photography by me are photo booths at parties, photographing birthday parties, makeover parties with friends with each getting a few portraits taken, or "day in the life" sessions. Contact me for pricing, I promise it will be reasonable!

I <3 doing photobooths!

A 365 Day Project

2010-10-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a bit of a personal project to keep myself inspired and really looking at the world around me. It's called a 365 project- posting one picture a day every day for a year. Not a new concept at all, but interesting to undertake nonetheless.

Here are a few of the photos I have already posted there:

If you liked looking at these glimpses of my personal life, I'd love it if you joined me over there http://cindy365.blogspot.com

~Cindy

Join me at Glam, Glitter, & Gore: A holiday shopping event

2010-10-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight Tonight Tonight! Open until 10 pm!

Come get into the Halloween Spirit at Glam, Glitter and Gore at Starving Art Studio on Cesar Chavez this evening. I've been there already earlier (taking a break for some baby feeding) and it's pretty awesome. I have a "gorey" photo booth set up. Ok not really gorey but Halloween themed.

My booth is completely free and I upload the photos to Flickr within a few days. Phil Janzen has a neat booth set up with a theme "a midnight walk on the red carpet." He's charging $5 for prints on the spot and $3 to have the digital files emailed to you.

There are vendor booths, there will be a fashion show, The Wonder Craft is there with a mask making booth set up... come out and enjoy!

Evan is 2! :: Austin Texas Toddler photography

2010-10-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

This sweet little monkey boy was a lot of fun to photograph. We went to a park in San Marcos and let him have a ball-- including a few games of "fetch" with his mom, which earned us some funny looks from the tubers walking by on their way to the river, but hey, he was having fun.

Newborn John :: Austin TX Newborn photography

2010-10-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to take portraits of sweet, tiny John a few weeks ago. It was a mini session in their apartment, with lots of milk breaks, and some play time with his big sister. We kept it simple with no bright lights or fancy props, just a cuddly blankey and a bright window.

Isn't he handsome?

Newborn sessions are so sweet and special, I treasure every chance I get to capture these fleeting moments.

Chasing Rhayne :: Virginia Children's photography

2010-09-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

When visiting family in Virginia I had a chance to photograph an energetic little girl named Rhayne.

We chose a local pond as the location and most of the session consisted of chasing Rhyane, and Rhayne and my little one Lorelei bonding.

Luckily Rhayne's parents are old friends of mine and they decided since the girls were enjoying their time together we would just let them play and see what kind of pictures came of it.

I'm glad we did, because we got some very sweet pictures out of the deal!

And our girls got some time to enjoy each other.

Emily and Peter :: Austin Texas maternity photography

2010-09-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of meeting Emily and Peter at UT campus to take maternity portraits. Emily's suggestion of location was perfect. There were beautiful old trees and buildings, and a lovely ambiance.

Emily and Peter were great fun to work with, and Emily was a great sport about schlepping all over campus despite being almost to her due date.

I hope I get to work with this beautiful couple again one day!

Waiting...

2010-08-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

I am so impatient. My new computer will be here in a little over a week and I'm chomping at the bit to have it. So much editing and sharing to do, including 4 sessions and countless family vacation photos. I'm so sick of seeing the robbery post as my most recent post.

Hopefully my bad luck with computers will be over with the arrival of this one, after one stolen, one borrowed lemon that died, and using basically the equivalent of a netbook for a while now.

I'll share some straight from the camera images of a few of our recent vacation adventures for now.

Lorelei checks out grandmom Grey's goats

Morning cuddles with grandmom Lewis

My mom's pretty garden was attracting lots of butterflies

Butterflies and swingsets while visiting grandad Edwards.

Where are YOUR pictures?

2010-06-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

Have you backed up your personal photos recently?

I hadn't, unless you count the occasional uploads to a Shutterfly share site, Flickr, and Facebook, which I don't.

Now I have lost...

first pictures of Lorelei meeting her baby sister
pictures of the funny so soft baby fuzz hair Ivy was born with. Cameras just didn't seem to catch this right but I finally got one or two of it. I was saving them to put on the birth announcement I hadn't gotten around to yet. She looked slightly like a little hedgehog in the pictures
almost all the newborn pictures I took, because I just hadn't gotten around to sharing them
Pictures from Easter, because again I didn't get around to sharing them
Almost every picture of me pregnant this time around
More keep coming to mind and I get a little choked up each time I don't have those pictures to look back on.

And then some lowlife scum decided to break into my house while I was at a freaking PLAY DATE. In the MIDDLE OF THE DAY.

They stole my laptop. My backup hard drive. My camera lenses. My vintage film camera that was my dads. Almost all my jewelry including my grandmothers pearls, and some silver pieces I fabricated myself. My favorite huge green mason jar, because I had been tossing my change into it.

...but most of all the images. The rest can be replaced (ok, not grandmas pearls, but most of it)

So let me be the poster child for online/offsite backup. Having them backed up on an extra hard drive is NOT ENOUGH.

Hopefully someone reading this will be saved the heartbreak I'm going through.

Lessons Learned: Product Photography with child models

2010-06-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

Product photography with children as models is HARD.

It is much harder to get an image of a child playing with something in a way that makes both child and product look good, than it is to just get a nice picture of the child. You can't distract them with something different because then they aren't modeling the product. Phew... this session only lasted 30 minutes and I was tired after! ...and no, these images aren't the best I got, they were just the most fun to illustrate my point.

Maybe it would be easier with slightly older children. I'll have to find out one day.
What would I do different next time?

1. Make sure I have a place where the background wouldn't distract from the pictures no matter where the kids ran off to

2. Bring out only one or two of the toys at a time-- the girls spent most the time trying to gather as many silks as they could and running in circles with the bunches.

3. Bring bribes! Like candy or juice or some little treat toy they could "earn"

Any other suggestions?

Baby Chloe :: Austin Texas Newborn Photography

2010-06-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

The lovely Chloe came into my studio at right around 10 days old. She was beautiful, and very very hungry. Any time her little cheek touched anything soft she tried to nom on it.

Behold, pretty little Chloe!

... and check out Chloe eyeing her parent's wedding rings. She was considering trying to get them into her mouth, but luckily was lacking the hand-mouth coordination to manage that feat.

I love love LOVE working with newborns and their families.

Candice's Maternity Portraits :: Austin Maternity Photographer

2010-06-11T14:22:00.001-07:00

Referred by a friend, I met up with Candice for some maternity portraits at a local park.

Sweet and softspoken, Candice was very nice to work with... and up for a little silliness too, which is always fun.

Maternity photography :: Austin Texas Photographer

2010-06-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

The lovely Michelle did a maternity session with me a while ago... a fellow homebirthing mama, she was very sweet to work with and we got some very nice images.
She brought her older daughter along to participate in some of the photographs.

It's always fun to talk with other people who homebirth.

She had her little one later that week, and everything went smoothly! Welcome to baby Chloe, whose newborn session I will share shortly!

Lessons Learned in Location Scouting

2010-06-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

One lesson learned today, try to get to a park you haven't been to in a while before the shoot to see if anything has changed. Sure it might have been done just on the day of the shoot, but I met a maternity client at a nice park in Wells Branch in North Austin, just to discover that all the grass had a liberal smattering of compost on it.

It being the City of Austin, I am fairly sure it was 'Dillo Dirt. Doesn't sound too bad until you read that last ingredient....

On top of that it had drizzled all morning making the 'dillo dirt about the same consistency as say... dog poop. There went a lot of the ideas I had for the photos because I didn't want to stand in the grass much, and I certainly didn't want to make her stay in it much, much less sit or lay on the grass.

Pictures are coming up... but since I just can't seem to leave a post unadorned, here's a quick fun shot from the session.

Schedule A Session :: Austin Texas Family Photographer

2010-05-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

The latest news here in the Weasel Bee house is that I am officially working on getting certified to be a Certified Professional Photographer. For this designation, I have to take a test on the nitty gritty of photographic technique including lighting, processing, composition and exposure. Also I have to pass a portfolio review. This portfolio review is interesting... I have to submit images from 20 DIFFERENT client sessions, and it must be different clients for each image. This means I can't use a photo from a maternity session and then one with the mom and baby in a newborn session, or a baby's newborn pictures and then one from a 6 month old session.

A studio newborn and mother picture taken this month

Long story short, I need a big variety of people to take pictures of (and they need to be the VERY BEST photos I am capable of) before I can get certified.

Want to help? I'm offering very reasonably priced sessions in an effort to have plenty of awesome images to choose from.

A candid day in the life picture (with admittedly, my own daughter)

A full session, which runs about an hour, will cost $50 and include 20 full sized images on disk (or as a download if you prefer) A mini session, which runs about 30 minutes, will cost $25 and include 10 full sized images on disk (or as a download if you prefer)
Also available is a deluxe session of up to 4 hours which can be both in studio AND on location, with all the images on disk. I charge $150 for this sort of session because of how involved it is and how much time goes into the setup and processing.

Where do I do sessions? I can do studio setups in your house, or mine even if you don't have room (but at my home only if you don't mind cats. I seem to be a kitty magnet so have a lot of them). I can do non studio sessions pretty much anywhere you can think of as long as there is some light. Keep in mind that some local favorites (such as Zilker Botanical Gardens) do cost money. Due to my very low fees I am unable to include location fees into my fees so they would have to be added on to session cost. There are plenty of free places though if you want to avoid extra costs!A newborn's tiny perfect feet with her daddy's hands,

from a natural lighting newborn session

This is an example from a photobooth I did a few months ago at a business grand opening

Have any other questions? Ask away either in comments here or email me at Cindy@weaselbeestudios.com

Wabi Sabi :: Austin Texas Nature Photography

2010-05-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

"Pared down to its barest essence, wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature, of accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. It's simple, slow, and uncluttered-and it reveres authenticity above all.
Wabi-sabi is flea markets, not warehouse stores; aged wood, not Pergo; rice paper, not glass. It celebrates cracks and crevices and all the other marks that time, weather, and loving use leave behind. It reminds us that we are all but transient beings on this planet-that our bodies as well as the material world around us are in the process of returning to the dust from which we came. Through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace liver spots, rust, and frayed edges, and the march of time they represent.

Wabi-sabi is underplayed and modest, the kind of quiet, undeclared beauty that waits patiently to be discovered. It's a fragmentary glimpse: the branch representing the entire tree, shoji screens filtering the sun, the moon 90 percent obscured behind a ribbon of cloud. It's a richly mellow beauty that's striking but not obvious..."

(Description found here)

The concept of Wabi Sabi is what I tried to keep in mind while taking my latest set of nature photos at the Zilker Botanical Gardens. They have a beautiful Japanese garden there that was designed by Isamu Taniguchi.

Prints of these images are available on my new Etsy store without watermarks if you like them enough, or just enjoy here of course.

More of my photography

2010-05-03T13:44:00.001-07:00

Just so you know, more of my images can be found on Flickr. Sometimes I update here more, sometimes more there. I've just added a Flickr side bar so it's easy now to see what I have there. Feel free to add me as a contact!

Sessions to come: Austin Family photography

2010-05-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

As it stands right now, I have two sessions to edit. I'm so looking forward to sharing amaternity session, newborn session and a fun toddler session in the studio, and a great set of outdoor toddler pictures.

I'm also trying to figure out what else to share on this blog. What photography related things would be interesting or helpful? If anyone has any suggestions, speak up. I'd love to hear from you!

Happy Family:: Austin Children's Photography

2010-04-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Last month I had a fun photo shoot with three kids-- two older sisters and a two year old. The result was chaos, but so much laughter.

Little Maddie: Austin Newborn Photography

2010-04-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

Just a few days before little Ivy was born, I got a chance to take pictures of the lovely Maddie. She was only 9 days old, and napped most the time I was there. We used natural lighting from windows in the family's living room for this shoot.

Isn't she a beauty?

I also caught this lovely moment with her big sister

Beautiful weather, beautiful spring

2010-04-11T21:22:00.001-07:00

A flower's appeal is in its contradictions - so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect. ~Terri Guillemets

A spring break for me: Austin Texas Newborn Photography

2010-03-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

While I was expecting the next month to be full of fun photo adventures, someone decided to come early. I'm still a little reeling about the things I didn't get finished before she came-- like the painting of her big sister's room.

Little bean doesn't have a name yet (I want to name her Ivy but her dad is less decided), was born March 22 at 5 pounds 6 oz and 17 inches long. She's a tiny little critter.

I have two great photo sessions to share bits of, and lots of ideas for more, but the editing and shooting will need to wait a little while while we settle into life with two kiddos!

In the meantime, here are a few shots from the photo session I did with my new little bean.

Like them and want me to take pictures your little one or want to recommend me to someone? I'm sure I can make room for that in my schedule so let me know!

It's spring!

2010-03-11T14:45:00.001-08:00

I'm so thrilled to say that it's SPRING in Austin now. Flowers are blooming, the temperatures are warming up and it's great weather to spend outside. Better get my fill of it now before the heat hits!

Here are a few pictures I've gotten of the spring-ness.

On March 6th I first noticed this tree blooming. There weren't many blooms open and it was an overcast day.

But not until several days later did it get really spectacular. The evening sun really brought out the best in this tree.

I love spring!

Family pictures at the park

2010-03-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

Early spring is here, and a few weekends ago I had a photo session with the Ashcroft family, celebrating their little boy turning one.

He got to meet some peacocks, try to jump in the fishponds, and generally just be an adventurous little boy who definitely had his own ideas of where he wanted to be.

Photo booth fun

2010-02-26T19:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I set up photo booth at a local business's grand opening/free party. It was a ton of fun with a great group of people. Check out how busy the event was!

... and a lot of the guests were game for a few silly photos.
One of my willing victims was Beth H, one of the owners of the Wondercraft, and her husband.

If you're into locally made craftiness, check out the Art Pad and Lapis Lane Beads on Burnet in Austin... and on some weekends you can find the Wondercraft parked behind the building. Most weekends won't have such a big party going on, but it's a very neat place with three local businesses.

More pictures from the event can be found on Weasel Bee Studios Facebook fan page, and/or on The Wondercraft's Flickr.

Want a photo booth at your next event? Drop me a line and we can set it up!

Snow Lesson

2010-02-22T11:54:00.001-08:00

We got to travel to Pennsylvania this last weekend and I got some cute family type pictures out in the snow. Anyone want a mini photo lesson? If you just want to see some pretty pictures scroll down until you see them.

The problem with taking pictures out in the snow is it fools your camera's sensor, making everything too dark and the snow usually looks blue.

Why does this happen? you might ask.

How a camera sensor works is by taking a reading of all the light in a scene and averaging it out. Then it computes what exposure is needed to make the scene "18% grey" This sounds complex, but really, it means that the exposure should be just about perfect for an average skin tone to come out perfect. Also grass tends to come out to be 18% grey. So for a standard subject, it's great.

Snow however (and sand), is white. So when the camera tries to make the image average out to 18% grey it will make the image far too dark. The best way to deal with this is to use manual settings and change your settings to where the camera is trying to tell you they will be a bit too bright, but some fully automatic cameras also have a beach or snow setting which can be useful in this situation.

Want a more in depth discussion of this? Feel free to ask, in comments or through email... it's nice to have a chance to discuss the technicalities sometimes.

Now on to the pictures...
My daughter was fascinated by the snow... and even though there was only a few inches, that was plenty for her. Shes so little that just a few inches to walk through was a workout for her.

Did you know that some Alpacas are afraid of little critters? These alpacas are terrified of cats and toddlers, but pay no mind to bears. My daughter was fascinated by them and even now that we are home keeps saying "pac pac" wanting to see more of them.

The snow and ice made some really interesting formations on the creeks, as the water melted the ice and snow on the bottom but left the top pieces. Some of them reminded me of limestone and sandstone formations.

Rainy day experiments

2010-01-28T16:46:00.000-08:00

Today was supposed to be an outdoor photoshoot day, but the weather had different plans.. so I tried out GIMP (an open source, free photo editing software similar to Photoshop) with some pictures I was experimenting with earlier this week.

Lots of experiments--- experimental software with experimental pictures for some very artsy type photos.

Here's what I came up with.

Beautiful day!

2010-01-22T11:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was beautiful in Austin- 73 degrees and sunny. Far nicer than my home town in Virginia where there was an ice storm taking place.

I got some great shots of a one year old's birthday party, and even managed to not get sunburned!

Unexpected views

2010-01-20T15:16:00.001-08:00

One thing i love about Austin is how you will be driving along somewhere that seems out in the middle of nowhere, and then you run across beautiful views of downtown. This one on 360 always makes me smile. This specific picture was taken last June.

Upcoming event!

2010-01-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

This Christmas season I did a day of Santa pictures for EtsyAustin at their CraftRiot. I had a great time and got some fun pictures. Here's the full set on my personal Flickr page.

Directly from that came an offer to do a photobooth at the grand opening of a store belonging to some of the great EtsyAustin gals in late February. I can't wait, and will be getting more information out to the internets soon!

Mayfield Park

2010-01-16T19:19:00.000-08:00

I'm getting excited because mid next week I get to do a few portrait sessions at one of my favorite places in Austin, Mayfield Park. It's a beautiful place and even has peacocks running around, as evidenced by this picture I took last year.

We went during what was apparently peacock mating season, and this particular one was attacking it's own reflection on my car. It was funny, but I got a little worried that it might perceive my little girl in her stroller as something to attack too.

Belly Shot

2010-01-14T10:46:00.000-08:00

I've been working on getting some photo sessions booked, but until then I have been playing with my camera a lot.

Here's the first picture I've taken of my belly since I got pregnant. Sure it's snuck into a few photos but usually it is hidden behind my toddler.

24 weeks

Bubbles!

2010-01-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

While my kiddo was napping yesterday I decided to take pictures of some bubbles... fairly basic but it turned out kinda pretty I think.

Now I need to figure out some kind of something interesting to do with bubbles for pictures.
I'd love to do some kids portraits with a bubble machine. That would be fun.

Last pictures of 2009

2010-01-04T20:44:00.000-08:00

I spent a little time in my backyard on the 30th of December, testing out my old Macro lens, plus my Christmas present to myself-- an adapter that makes it work on my Canon Rebel.

I LOVE using the old lenses when I'm not in a hurry. Manual focusing that has a long smooth motion. The new auto focusing lenses are so touchy and weird when you try to manually focus them. It was like going back to basics, but with the instant gratification of working with a digital body.
Flowers like this in late December are one of the reasons I love living in Texas in the winter. Such a cheery little flower, and it certainly would have been dead this time of year if I was still back in Virginia. Not that it hasn't been chilly though, but my brussels sprouts, lettuce and radishes seem to be surviving in the veggie garden pretty well.

Welcome

2010-01-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

Hello, and welcome! I'm Cindy. I'm a photographer in Austin, TX.

I take pictures of... well, whatever will hold still long enough for me to photograph really, and sometimes things that won't.

My current goal for this year is one post-worth session a week, though sometimes a session will be studio time with a toddler, sometimes it will be a simple long walk with my camera.