3wk. Baby Rhodes + Mini Session: Crider Youngsters

These little guys (and gal) were an absolute joy to photograph! They are full of personality and spunk, which made my job easy! ;) I was so excited about these photos that I just had to share a few. :) <3

I had a wonderful time with these kiddos and their momma. :)

Comment and say hi or tell me what you think of these photos!

Snap on!

~Emily

Improve Photography(.com) Presets Review: "Retro Modern" Collection

I purchased some new photo editing presets for Adobe Lightroom last night! 

It was a "Cyber Monday" discount deal. 91% off! :D

I'm having way too much fun with the "Retro Modern" edits collection. ;) Here's an example!

Guess I could'a waited for #ThrowbackThursday...but oh well ;) This is me, climbing my grandmother's pine tree (one of my favorites from my childhood) on Easter earlier this year.

Hey! It is #TransformationTuesday! ;) So here is the original photo. Using Lightroom 5.7, I added the "Pele - I.P." preset from the ImprovePhotography2015Collection and then added a radial mask in the top left corner where I adjusted exposure, temperature and inverted the mask to create a sun-flare effect. 

If you're interested in the preset collection from Improve Photography(.com) click HERE to see more info! There are over 75 presets, one-hour Lightroom training video and other bonus material in this bundle. 

Hurry and get the deal before it disappears!! 

I think it lasts through tonight...but I'm not sure on that. You'll have to check and see.

Snap on!

~Emily

Introducing: Fall Mini Sessions!

INTRODUCING FALL MINI SESSIONS!

Interested in a photo for your Christmas cards or school pictures? Then my mini sessions are for you! 

Check out the ad below for more information.

1,200 Miles From Home

Happy first day of October!! 

I am happy to have nice cool weather and pull out my scarves and boots. I love all the fall colors on the trees and in yard decorations.

What are your favorite things about the fall season? I'd love to hear them. :)


On Sunday, my paternal grandparents came to our house, from Florida, and on Monday morning we left for South Dakota. After two full days of traveling (through Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska), we finally arrived in Spearfish, SD. It almost felt like we had to regain our "sea legs" after such a long journey in the van. I didn't mind the trip so much, however...I took advantage of the down-time and read the book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." It is absolutely insane, but quite entertaining. It really did make me laugh out loud!

Having never been to the Dakotas before, I'm easily excited about most things the locals are used to. Mountains. The spacious view of the sky. People wearing short-sleeved shirts in 50 degree weather....(I still think they're crazy.)


Here are a few photos from our day today.

BIG HILLS. AREN'T THEY BEAUTIFUL!?

Main Street, Downtown Spearfish, SD

Since we were exhausted from traveling the last two days, we spent today relaxing and going to shops downtown. One of the stores was a neat little antique-type shop called, "The Junk Drawer."

Tub turned into a couch. What an interesting idea!

I truly would love to have an old-fashioned typewriter!!

At a DIFFERENT antique store, I found this little tote full of ollllllllldddd photographs and some even printed on tin!

When I go to antique stores I always look for three things. Cameras, old cameras, and ancient cameras.

Mirror selfie!

THEY HAD SO MANY COMIC BOOKS.

Thissssss is what I was looking for. Lots of photographer gold right there. There were some really fantastic ones that would have been a wonderful addition to my collection!

I almost bought this fez. Because...fezes are cool. ;)

Clara: "Some day, you could just walk PAST a fez."
The Doctor: "Never gonna happen." 

......one does not simply go to an antique store without bringing home a beautiful, musty book. ;)
It's a copy of Shakespeare's, "Macbeth." I can't find a date on it! It also has a huuuuuge appendix and "things we know about Shakespeare" section. Now I have some good reading material for the two day ride back home next week. Ha.

Absolutely lovely tea/coffee shop in the back of a health food store. Gluten-free peanut butter pie. OHHHH my goodness.

Lots of pottery!

The Black Hills. I like this place.
(View of Spearfish from back side of town)

So thankful for the opportunity to visit my cousin as she serves the Lord in this beautiful place!

~Emily

P.S. Here's a couple pictures of the sunset we saw on the road before we arrived in Spearfish yesterday!

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." 

Psalm 19.1

Eighteen Years Ago...

Eighteen years ago, Sunday, I entered this lovely world created by our Heavenly Father. It is difficult for me to believe that the years have flown by so quickly! I had a wonderful birthday, and here are some photos with captions from my instagram feed. :)

I love these boys more than life. They make me feel so special. The world would be so less colorful without them!! <3 They call me "old" now, but then follow it up with "but you're really only like four" HAHA







At Youth Orchestra rehearsal after church, our beloved conductor started fiddling which turned into the "happy birthday" tune :D Very lovely surprise! Thank you, Mr. Schaffner!

Mexican dinner after orchestra with my "little" bro (who will be eighteen as well, in a few short weeks), missed you, Lily! So thankful for your friendship, Aaron! It's quite funny looking back over the years to when we obsessed over Switchfoot and soccer. Oh wait...we still do...HA.

Gave Autumn her birthday gift...on MY birthday. Haha! Matching "BFF" nerd glasses necklace. You are so special to me, Autumn! thanks SO much for spending part of my birthday with me :) <3

Spent some real quality time with this one today as well ^_^ Crazy how when your best friend is also another friend's best friend, and then when the best friend leaves...you and the other friend really hit it off... :) love you, Lyssa, miss you, Maky :'-)

No birthday is complete without a Books-A-Million-hat selfie!!! ;D Love these two ladies.

This totally happened. We are cool. #iseewhatyoudidthere

I can't thank these two enough, for loving me all these eighteen years. They've taught me to cherish life, and most importantly, to follow Christ. I love you, mom and dad <3

Bahahahaha just had to share this one.......for some reason it made me laugh really hard. Thanks, Timmy x'D x'D

Quite possibly my new favorite photo with Aaron.









I am insurmountably blessed with wonderful friends and family to love and be loved by.
Thank you, Lord, for another year to praise You!!
~Emily

P.A.T.C.H. Class of 2014

I once again had the wonderful opportunity to photograph the P.A.T.C.H. High School Graduation this year! It was a beautiful ceremony and funtastic reception. ;) Although as I've said before...it's kinda hard to take pictures when there's tears running down your face. I am very excited for what the Lord has in store for each of them as they move on to college, but will still miss them terribly! <3

I have created a shutterfly site for the grad photos so that it will be easier for everyone to view and share the photos. The web address is: www.PatchClassOf2014.shutterfly.com

Harvest, Kelsey, Allison, Hannah......I am so glad to have you as friends. May the Lord bless you as you continue on to this new stage of life!

CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2014!!

~Emily

Tempus Fugit

Tempus fugit...time flies!

I really am sorry for not blogging on our trip like I had planned to. We were going, going, nonstop every day. And when I was having so much trouble posting from dad's iPad, I got kinda tired of trying to post something. But I should have at least given some sort of update when we got back!

So yes, we made it back across the pond...two months ago. As soon as we got back we had to jump right back into the normal routine of that busy thing called "life." So, now, two dances, two movies, a trip to Ohio, a photo session, game night, youth orchestra spring concert and two graduations later.......here I am, saying we arrived home safely. Ha.

I'm happy to say that the only thing I forgot to bring back from England was my toothbrush. But it seems a lot of my heart didn't make it back, either. It was an amazing, trip of a lifetime and I am eternally grateful to the Lord and my grandparents who made such an experience possible. I miss everything about it and would go back in a heartbeat!

I have literally thousands of photos to go through, but I hope to share some of them soon! Here is one photo that I will go ahead and share with you...

~The London Eye~

It is still quite surreal that we were in England. We lived there for a whole month. It didn't take long at all for it to feel like home! ^__^ Since we've been back, I sometimes feel like I'm on the wrong side of the road...or when buying something, think in terms of British currency...I have to laugh at myself sometimes ;) I hope we have the opportunity to return someday!

Cheerio!
~Emily

Quick Update~

Hello friends! Quick update. 

We've been running every day and I obviously haven't had much time to post on here. ;-P All my pictures are on dad's laptop, which we don't take with us when we stay away for a couple nights. 

We are now staying in Edinburgh, Scotland -- which is absolutely lovely!!

Bad news is that my camera stopped working on our way up here. I found a local camera shop as soon as we got in and the diagnosis is not good. However, it looks like I'll be able to rent one for tomorrow! Horray! God is good :) It was a nightmare there for a while! =P

Hope everyone is doing well back home!

Cheerio!

~Emily

First Two Days. . .Recap

Alright, time to fill you in :)

I tried to post this two nights in a row, but was having technical difficulties. So when I say "yesterday" I mean three days ago, Wednesday.

---

Yesterday was delightful!! We all got some good rest that first night. I was the only one who didn't wake up at 3 and 4 in the morning...I slept through the whole night. YAY.

We spent most of the day in Huntington yesterday. After we got some money exchanged we went to one of my grandparents' favorite little cafes (pronounced "kaf" instead of "kaf-ay", here) for brunch. The restaurant is owned by a Turkish man and his family (they were so happy to see my grandparents again:) and is a very nice, quaint cafe. The British breakfast contains eggs, bacon (which looks like ham), sausage (banger), baked beans, grilled tomatoes and toast. It is very, very good. Oh and chips. Can't forget the chips! There is even a chip restaurant. "Chips" are like American fries, by the way. And American chips are "crisps."


^^^^^ This little downtown area was absolutely fantastic. I could have stayed there all day. The streets were for pedestrians only (except for a few business vehicles) and you just walk to all the little shops everywhere! It was a lot of fun! There was a market area where we got some bananas, grapes, strawberries, blueberries and avocados. There as also a "99p shop" (99 pence/99 cents) right across the street.


We are staying in Great Gidding which is waaaay out in the country. Which is amazing. <3 Makes it feel a lot like home. Except for it being actually in a town though of course. We are in the middle of a village, but to get anywhere else we go through lots of open countryside. A couple people on horses have gone by our house, and even a few big farm tractors (which REALLY made it feel like home.)



Our little home for the next few weeks :)



View from my window:


View of my window: ;)


We've seen lots of hawthorn hedge rows, which I think are brilliant. Why don't we do that in the States? It seems like a much better fencing than typical fencing. I mean...back in WW1 the tanks even had to blow them up to get through.
There also seem to be a lot of sheep out in the fields. The local farms are absolutely gorgeous. We've seen a few cottages with thatched roofs...we heard that a lot of them used to catch on fire from their chimneys. Yikes! =P


First Royal Mail post box sighting..... ;)



Ten pound (£) notes



I think the British money is beautiful! But the exchange rate stinks. x-P My hundred dollars gave me 55 pounds and 55 pence. Guess I'll be looking for cheap souvenirs...



The "pound stores" are much better than our dollar stores!! It's so cool.





Everything is so different. I love it :)




I was so tempted to get this phone case...I mean, what could be better than a British Jack case FROM England? But I'm happy with my "Lifeproof", so I didn't get it.




First Doctor Who-y sighting...dad actually pointed it out to me.
Would have been fun to purchase...but it would be almost 26 US dollars. Sorry, Doctor...couldn't justify it.



Went to a lovely little coffee shop after a while! I had a ginger muffin in honor of Aaron S.
I've never been a huge fan of ginger, but knowing that he liked it so very much I thought I'd give it a go. And I liked it! I think I could get used to the whole ginger thing.



There are charity shops on nearly every street. They are all really great! We have found lots of little things to get :) There is even a charity shop that supports an animal shelter thing! There's one for cancer, lung, heart, etc., etc. Each shop gives their proceeds to whatever charity they are supporting. I like that idea better than consignment shops.



There are spikes and netting everywhere on store signs. Again...why don't we do that more, in the States??? I'm pretty sure it would keep American birds away, too.



Went in a music shop for a little while. I WANT ALL THEIR UKULELES. Except for the pink one...I could do without that one. But the others are so lovely!!



Another Doctor Who-y sighting. Kinda laughed when I saw this.




And here is a photo of your host.
I love being a photographer!!! The opportunity to capture everything is so spectacular.
The very heavy equipment bag is a con, however...


Dad got me these yesterday, he says they are the REAL gummy ("goo-me") bears. :) The kind he grew up on in Germany! I think we've just about eaten them all.



Jammy Dodgers are my new favourite biscuit (cookie) by FAR. :))))))

---

---

Here are a few photos from the plane and our first day here.


My lovely aunt and cousin were able to see us off at the airport :) <3 <3

(L-R: Mum, dad, Katy, Aunt T & me)


This is my "I'M SO EXCITED I'M GOING TO ENGLAND" face, and Katy's "Whyyyyy are you leaving meeeeeee" face. ;D



Small first plane....... ;-P



Oh look! The Doctor is flying! ^_^



Landed in Detroit, MI.



In the Detroit airport there was a reeeeally coooool lighted tunnel thing you walked through from one part of the airport to the other.



MUUUUCH larger second plane! :D They had little tv screen things where you could listen to music, watch movies or play games. I listened to some music for a while then watched "Thor: The Dark World", ate a diner of salad and pasta and then slept. When I woke up I had their breakfast of muffin, banana and orange juice, then watched "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" which is one of my newest favorite films :) :) :)



I'm always jealous of these guys' little mini lightsabers. ;)



Train station! Another first for me!



PIGEON. LOTS OF PIGEON.



We took the train from London to Huntingdon where we picked up a rental car and went on to Great Gidding.




I think everyone has a bicycle. I sure wish I had one to ride around here!

---

We ate at an Indian restaurant, which was really, really good.

There will be better photos eventually....these are just what I've taken with my iPhone and put on instagram (follow me: @kyshutterbug!;)

Hope it's not too cold and icy where you all are! We only had a spitting (sprinkling) rain here this evening.

Cheerio!

~Emily