Wichita Falls Family Photography | Ty

November 17th had to be one of the windiest days we've had in a while!  Not only was it windy, but it was cold and cloudy (where's the sun when you need it?).

I was supposed to shoot Jennifer and her three lovely children -- but with conditions as they were, we opted to shoot Ty only - and reschedule the rest of the family on a much more accommodating day.

Now, can you imagine how much fun it wasn't -- being in front of the camera with your little sister and brother watching (and probably making faces)???  Ty was fantastic -- he hit his mark every time!

Thank you Ty for braving the weather -- and good luck on your new job and move!

Wichita Falls Family Photography | Doug, Ruth, Duke -- and Jewels

My creative director (yes, I've given Rick a job, it doesn't pay much, oh wait, it doesn't pay at all) and I arrived at Doug and Ruth's house and were immediately greeted by their very fierce (looking -- maybe I should have said fab -- because she is) guard dog Jewels.

We arrived a little early so while Doug and Ruth finished getting ready, Rick and I went out front to set up. Duke was all duded up and rearing to go so he followed us out.  He's one of the most curious (and totally cute) toddlers I've ever met!  He decided that Rick needed some help so he became my assistant #2.  If it weren't for child labor laws, Rick might be replaced!

Doesn't he look like he knows what he's doing (and he's only two year's old)!

Well, we laughed like little school girls throughout the shoot!  Duke kept us entertained the entire time.  Here are a  few of my favorites from Sunday's shoot!

When we wrapped everything up, sweet Duke brought us each a chocolate chip cookie on a plate.  He dropped Rick's on the floor and never skipped a beat -- we of course got tickled (again) and  had another wonderful laugh!  

It was truly a pleasure taking photographs of this beautiful family! 

PS -- Jewels never did warm up to me (I must be loosing my touch)!

Wichita Falls Pet Photographer | Sonny D, Patience is a virtue I don't own!

I've been trying to get a decent portrait of Sonny D -- but, sad to say, I've run out of patience. He's just not willing to cooperate!

I tried taking a picture of him yesterday, but he started shaking, and his nose started dripping like a leaky faucet. I thought maybe he was under the weather and started to feel sorry for him.

About 10 minutes later, some bicyclists zoomed by on the bike trail out back -- and everyone came alive -- including Sonny. No shakes, no runny nose, no poor ole me! He was back to his old self.

I told Rick about how weird it is that Sonny can come down with the "doggy vapors" when it suits him -- and then spring back to life when it's all clear!

So -- I was determined to get his 2010 portrait today -- no matter what! And guess what? The shakes started and the nose started running!

Well, you know, sometimes you just have to work with what you have! Here's Sonny D's 2010 portrait (runny nose and all - and yes, I could have been nice and edited the run out in Photshop)!

On the baseball front -- the Rangers aren't doing so well in the World Series.  Two games, two losses.  I'm chalking it up to nerves!  Let's hope they shake this before Saturday's game in Arlington!

Have a great weekend

Wichita Falls Pet Photographer | Hankidy Spankidy

Working my way through the pups! Day three -- Hank! He's my ham, goofball, trouble maker, dork, and believe it or not, patient! He's kindof like me (not the patient part), in that every morning, he wakes up with bad hair. But, unlike me, he looks great with bed head!

For his 2010 portrait, I thought he might be willing to sit for a while if I pulled out his trampoline.  Note -- I said "his".  I originally bought it for me -- to exercise on -- but sadly, the dogs have long since claimed it as their bed.

On a side note -- The Rangers will play their first World Series game tonight against SF Giants. Keep your fingers (toes, legs, eyes, arms) crossed that they win game 1 (actually, win the World Series)!

Have a great day!

( %~P) Frances

Wichita Falls Pet Photographer | Two Down, Two To Go - Lola

I had a brain storm (I'm allowed one a year). Instead of trying to get all four dogs' portraits updated in a day -- I'm carving it into a one-a-day project. I think maybe I'll sweat less, keep my blood pressure down, and keep my sanity in check (well, the sanity thing is up for your interpretation)!

Now up -- is the lovely Lola, probably the oldest of the pooches. She loves barking, chasing (and killing) squirrels and birds, and enjoys dinner time. Hates -- bathtime. Wow, sounds like I'm trying to get her a love connection.

Anyhoo -- here's Lola 2010.

Have a great evening!

[:}] Frances

Happy 80th Birthday - Joyce

We celebrated my soon-to-be mother-in-law's (Joyce Sims) 80th birthday on October 16, 2010 at the Wichita Falls Country Club.  We had a lovely evening of great fellowship, laughter, a wonderful steak dinner followed by yummy cupcakes and cake!

Cake and cupcakes made by Sugar Cupcakery and Cake Studio

Joyce is a beautiful lady, who loves and trusts in the Lord!  Joyce has become a good friend to me and I love her very much!

Ephesians 5:19-20

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

:+) Frances

Wichita Falls Pet Portraits | Blue

What a great week for Texas!  The Texas Rangers made it to the World Series!  We are soooooo excited and proud of the Rangers.  It just seems like this group of players really have heart, love and respect each other, and are committed to the team.

We were able to make it to two playoff games, and would you know it, they lost both games.  So, maybe we should stay put and watch the World Series on TV. 

Ok on to pet portraits -- all I wanted was to update the pups pictures today.  Did I get any cooperation?????  Uh noooooooooo!  I'd get the equipment set up, ask (ever so kindly) one of the dogs to sit and stay,  I'd get in place, and then  --- in a flash, the dog would take off.   After about 65 takes -- I had one that was worthwhile.

Here's Blue, getting ready to jump up.  Luckily (or is that skillfully), I got a shot of him before he left the stage.

I really need to put them through obedience training.  They know sit -- and that's it (hey that rhymes).  I watch  Cesar Milan the Dog Whisperer all the time so you would think that I could follow his instructions and get mine reigned in!  Oh well, at least I shoot digital -- so there's no cost in film processing.

Anyhoo -- here's to our furry friends!

Have a wonderful week!

; ~D Frances

Back from Colorado

Sniff, sniff, choke, choke -- we're back from our trip to Lake City, Colorado. My body loved the 30-70 degree temps and isn't real happy that we're back in the 70-90 degree temps of North Texas (or maybe my body isn't happy that we are now half a century old).

We've never taken a trip to Colorado this late in the year, so we weren't sure what to expect. We were totally taken aback by the leaves changing. Each day, as we made our drive to the streams, we oooohhhheed and ahhhheedd over the Aspen's beautiful colors. Our first drive up, the leaves were just starting to change from green to yellow. By the end of our trip, the leaves were anywhere from a vibrant green, to a brilliant yellow, orange and red.

Wow! It was amazing!

This is a picture (actually, it's blended from 5 bracketed exposures -- all hand held -- I wished I'd had my tripod handy for a sharp pic) I took after we arrived back at Dub's cabin after dinner.

Once again, the trout won! I fished five days and caught one itty, bitty brown. Rick, on the other hand, caught a number of trout, some around 15 inches long.

I'm blaming my lack of fish on having a somewhat impaired fly rod. One morning, as Rick was fishing, I opted to start out taking pictures of the cattle that were walking towards the car. Me, being the chicken, was too afraid to shoo them off, so they ended up at the car, nose-y-ing around. I was really worried that they were chewing on my waders and didn't pay attention to my fly rod. At some point, one cow took a bite out of my rod. So (wait for it, wait for it, here's my excuse) my rod wasn't balanced and I'm sure it adversely affected my toss (yep, that's my very lame excuse).

Can you see why I didn't want to shoo them away?????? Some of the cows had horns with points. I've seen videos of The Running of the Bulls -- and you don't want to be on the other end of those horns!!!

All I can figure is that my feet smell like cow food or something because every cow out there came by to check out my boots. They licked my boots and got slimy cow spit on them. Yuck! Quite honestly, I was more relieved they didn't pee on them!

The cows, while rooting around the car, scattered some of Rick's dry flies on the ground and coated them with slobber. A little bath in water and a quick dry on a paper towel cured the slobber coated flies.

We had a great time and can't wait until we return next year. I'll be posting more pics as I can.

I hope all of you have a great week!

;~D  Frances

Wichita Falls Family Portraits | Kayla 2.0

We were spoiled a tad bit (OK maybe spoiled alot) by our friends Mike and Marcia. They invited us to their Possum Kingdom Lake cabin for a little R&R. It was absolutely beautiful, and I loved, loved, loved riding around the lake in their boat! Actually, I think my (and Rick's) favorite thing from our visit to PK Lake was sitting out on Mike and Marcia's boat dock watching the stars. It was such a treat to gaze into the heavens and look at the stars. It is amazing that you can see so many more stars (including the Milky Way) when you are away from city lights. God is great! We are truly blessed and thankful for Mike and Marcia's friendship.

So -- 10 lbs heavier, and 100% happier and rested, it's back to the real world and back to processing the photos I took of Kayla Friday. OMG -- I keep thinking that one photo is my favorite, then I get to the next one, and then that's my favorite.

Here's a couple more of my current favs!

Anyhoo -- hope you all had a great weekend -- and are looking forward to another terrific week!

?:`) Frances

Wichita Falls Family Portraits | Kayla

Meet Kayla!  She's one busy high school student.  There's no such thing as a summer break for this young lady, between sports and band, her days are full.

We took pics downtown yesterday on what turned out to be a really cool evening (85 degrees) because a storm blew in and over (no rain, just heavy clouds).  What a blessing (temperature wise) it was!  Did I mention there was very little sunlight at 6:30 p.m. due to the heavy clouds?????  Eeeek!  What's a girl to do -- oh, grab the world's best assistant and make him hold the umbrella and flash!  Kayla's sister Cindy pitched in and held the reflector.

My camera is still in the shop (got word it will be two more weeks-what???? Are you kidding me????) so I'm bumming my daughter-in-laws D70.  I am so thankful I have family and friends that shoot with Nikon's.  I know, I should buy a backup camera -- but hey, I'm still a starving artist!

Anyway -- a shout out to my lovely assistant Rick and Kayla's sister Cindy for helping me throw some light on the very cute Kayla!

And nowwwwwwwwwwwwwww --- heeeerrrrrrrr'sssss Kayla!

Is she not gorgeous girl????

Have a wonderful weekend!

;`\ Frances

Wichita Falls Executive Portraits | Rick 2.0

I'm sitting here trying to shake a sun induced headache! What was I thinking? I figured I could go out to the lot and weed eat the edges in an hour or two -- easy! Ummmmmmmmmm - 5.5 hours later I was finally wrapping up!

I'm sure a seasoned lawn professional could have done it in an hour or two -- but not this weekend warrior! I kept getting stuff wrapped around it, ran out of gas a bazillion times, and kept running out of the cord that cuts.

Uhhhhhhhhh Rick, I may never, ever, ever volunteer on an almost 100 degree day. What was I thinking. Oh, I wasn't thinking!

Anyhoo -- back on track. I didn't like the picture I took of Rick a couple of weeks ago because I had way to much of the boardroom in it. So, I sweet talked him into letting me take another picture of him after church. This time, we used the first floor landing (entry -- not sure what the proper name of this area is). I placed him in front of a wall that has the states in which the partners are licensed painted on the wall.

I hope he never gets tired of me practicing on him!

Have a wonderful week!

:~\ Frances

Recreating a memory (and happy birthday Michael)

Yesterday, my friend Michael celebrated his birthday. For his birthday, my bff Carolyn wanted to give him a picture of their sweet poodle Cocoa. So off we went to her office with Cocoa in tow. Cocoa was very patient and worked with us like she's been posing for the camera all her life.

After we took pictures of Cocoa, Carolyn showed me some photos of her growing up.   I loved looking at Carolyn's photos.  What I found so cool is that she lives in the house she grew up in -- so as I was flipping through them, I'd say " ohhhh wow, look, you're in front of the fireplace; wow look, your in the den; or OMG look, your at  the kitchen sink".

I was so fascinated by her pictures that I asked her if we could recreate one of the pics.  She, being a good friend (and not wanting to squash my creative genius), said sure.  As a matter of fact, she was going to give the "recreated memory"  to Michael as another b-day present.

The picture we chose to recreate is:

Isn't she a doll?   I'm sure I had more fun than Carolyn recreating the scene.  Here's what the final of Carolyn at the sink all grown up looks like!

I don't have very many pictures of me growing up that I can recreate (well, I do have one of me in front of the barracks in Honolulu (I was born there -- does that make me a Hawaiian?  NO????) with no shirt and a diaper on.  Hmmmmmmm -- maybe I should keep looking for something to recreate!

That's my big sis Barb standing behind me.  Hey, I still have the same belly!

Anyhoo -- It was fun, and I hope I can recreate a memory again.

Happy Birthday Michael!

:-} Frances

Wichita Falls Family Portraits | Fun with Nick and Em

Nick and Emily's wedding is just around the corner (June 19th). I am so excited!!!!! These two have been together since high school - so it's about time they tied the knot!

I'm putting together a guest book for the kids -- so I needed to get busy and get some photos taken of them. We started out in the very green and lush Lucy Park.  It didn't take very long before the mosquitoes won the war  -- and we all ran for our lives!   I'm beginning to think that mosquito repellent is really a mosquito aphrodisiac!

We left mosquito park and headed downtown hoping the bugs weren't as hungry!   Luckily, the mosquito population wasn't as bad downtown.

My next hurdle to overcome was Nick!!!!!  I was hoping to get some sultry, sexy -- I can't keep my hands off you pics.  Nick could muster up a serious, sexy look for oh -- about a second!!!!   I can't blame him, as I hate having my picture taken too.

I got a number of great shots of the kids -- thanks to #1 -- the kids and #2 my well paid (ok -- he's free) production crew -- Rick!  Rick is such a trooper!  I hope he never gets tired of lugging stuff around  and being my VAB (voice activated boom)!

We're going to take more photos tonight -- just to make sure I have enough for the guest book,  Tonight's background will be the kid's pool! So -- any mosquito brave enough to come after me -- is getting wet!!!!

Here's to Thursday -- which is sooooo close to Friday and birds that eat mosquitoes (does anything else prey on those blood suckers)!

Have a great evening!

: ^) Frances

Wichita Falls Executive Portraits | Rick

Hola and happy Sunday!

Mother's have every right to brag - right???? Nick sent me a text last night letting me know that Twice Broken made it over the first hurdle of the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel's Battle of the Bands! They will be returning to Vegas in August for another night of competition. I don't have any details at this time (the band is on their way back to Wichita Falls as we speak) but will update you when I get the scoop! I'm thrilled for the band and am very proud of them!

My boyfriend Rick is such a good sport! Even though he hates being in front of the lens, he's never said "no" when I've needed someone to practice on! I wanted to update his website's photo of him -- so I asked him if we could go to his office after church and take some photos.

For this photo, I used two strobes -- one SB-900 in a Photoflex Lite Dome XS (camera right at a 45 degree angle to Rick), and a SB-600 bounced up towards the white ceiling (camera left).

I think the next time I take a "work" portrait of Rick, I'll get in closer for a tighter shot. I have no idea why I didn't do that when I was there. I think sometimes my brain disengages or something. Oh well - it just means that Rick will have to get out in front of the camera again!!!!!!!

Well, the weekend is almost over! I hope you all had a wonderful one!

:~} Frances

Marvelous Weekend

Hola and is it really Monday already? Where does the weekend go?

We had a marvelous weekend (except for the part when Michael and Carolyn called to see how the dogs were doing -- ooopppppsss was I supposed to feed them and let them out for a potty break?????)!

My soon (June 19th) to be daughter-in-law Emily received her Master in Education degree from Midwestern State University on Saturday.  She has worked so hard on this and we are extremely proud of her accomplishments!

BTW Emily had a 4.0!!!!!

Em getting ready to walk the stage

To make this day even more special,  our good friend Michael Bernhardt was appointed to the Board of Regents this March -- and was able to hand Emily her diploma!  Thank you Mike!

Em receiving her diploma from Mike.

Em's parents had a graduation celebration party later that evening at their house.  They were celebrating Em's, her brother Matthew's and her cousin Jessica's graduation (high school, college).  Emily has a wonderful, loving family and I always enjoy being with them!

Nick and Emily

Sometime during all  the graduation fun, we ran by Hastings to pick up Twice Broken's (Nick plays bass) new CD.  You can't imagine how excited I was.   If you live in Wichita Falls -- go by Hastings and pick one up (you will love it)!

The group will be heading to the Hard Rock Hotel - Las Vegas this week to participate in a battle of the bands on Saturday.  If you just happen to be in Las Vegas Saturday, please go to the Hard Rock and cheer them on!!!!!

To top off this marvelous weekend -- I finally got around to doing something with the fresh asparagus I bought the week before!!!!  I decided that soup sounded delish -- so I got busy and whipped some up.

After the fact, I sat down and typed out what I think I put in the pot!!!!  I think it's pretty close.  The soup came out extra creamy (could be because I churned that puppy up in the food processor until it was light and airy) and extra dreamy (hence the name of my creation)!  If you have a hankering for some asparagus soup -- give this one a shot! 

Well -- that winds up the weekend!  I hope your weekend was marvelous too!

Have a great week!

:<} Frances