life. photos. scrapbooking.

Visiting and Sharing

I'm in Columbus for a few days. Visiting my girl, Casie. Having some good quality girlfriend time. My little boo-boo's are at my parents while I'm here. It's been great. We have lunched, done some shopping, chatted until we can't even think of anything else to say, watched some late night Netflix, painted our nails and shared new music interests...

One of the things that Casie shared with me I couldn't resist passing along. I know, as usual, I'm probably super late to the party on this one... as these little girls have been all over You Tube, on the Ellen show, and even had a spot on the new TV show Nashville.

Either way - what they can do with their voices and a couple of butter dishes is truly amazing.

I would recommend closing your eyes for a portion of this in order to fully listen to just how beautiful their harmonies and beats are as they sing. Two sisters from Canada... one 13 and one 11.

Skillz, yo.

 

Lennon & Maisy Stella - "Call Your Girlfriend"

also available for download on iTunes.

Happy Wednesday!

52 Portraits - Week 2

For this week's installment - I give you my third little child. Actually - she was my first... and a lot of the time - because of her good behavior - she is my favorite (on the day).

My mom always said to us as kids.... "whoever behaves the best wins." - so if Roxy counts in that game... she's WAAAAAY ahead.

The kids picked out this fluffy dog bone at the grocery store a week or so ago for her. She doesn't have many toys around the house now... so we figured she might need something. Well - as you can see - she's quite taken with it.

I'm especially aware of her whitening beard... and making sure she gets a lot of snuggle time. She's the best dog I've ever had. Just wants to be loved and paid attention to. She loves the kids and always wants to protect us. At nearly 7 years old... she's entering her golden years. I'm trying to slow them down like I want to slow down the toddler years with my kids.

It's a shame time won't listen to me.

The kids and I are heading to Mimi and Grandpa's on Sunday - and then I'm off to visit a girlfriend in Columbus for a few days...

you guys stay outta trouble now.

:)

Gear for Sale.

So... around Christmas I switched to Canon. I got all ticked off at Nikon's repair service one too many times and I took it out on my credit card. I'm still wondering what the heck I am thinking.... but I've pulled off the band aid and I aint looking back now.

So here's my problem. I own a crap TON of Nikon gear. In fact I made some significant purchases less than a year ago...


D800 bought in June - it is an amazing body. Powerful in low light... 36 megapixels... it's the sh%*-nit.
SB-910 Speedlight (which is awesome by the way) bought in April... great power and recycle time.
70-200 f/2.8 - bought in July (BEST wedding lens and long distance portrait lens EVER... wicked compression on your background at 200mm)
105mm f/2.8 macro - bought in September, and love for all my baby details and ring shots, etc.

Yep - that's roughly 7k in new stuff right there that I have to get rid of....
I should just go ahead and stab myself in the eye.

I did a little research to find out what this stuff was selling for on Amazon USED... and I determined that I'd just go with what they had on the low end. I mean... I wanna sell it, right? Plus, when buying used - it's nice to know it came from a source who loved it and took care of it, right?

And I'd say by now - all of you know what a freaky freak I am. I buff my gear with diapers. I clean it regularly with Q tips and alcohol... I scream at my children if dare the enter the room where my gear is stored. You get the idea. And - I also keep EVERYTHING... original boxes, paperwork, every dang piece of plastic wrapping. So when you open these boxes - it will be like Christmas from Nikon. :) Just like new!

In fact - all of the lenses will come with Tiffen UV filters on them (they've been on since day one) - so the glass is perfect. :)

Nikon D800 (purchased in June 2012 for $3k) - 33,000 shutter count - asking $2200
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8vr (purchased in July 2012 for $2400) - asking $2000
Nikkor 50mm f/1.4g ($582 retail) - asking $440
Nikkor 85mm f/1.4d ($1300 retail) - asking $850
Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 vr (purchased in Sept 2012 for $900) - asking $775
SB910 Speedlight (purchased in April 2012 for $550) - asking $440

Send me an email at

katiepegher (at) gmail (dot) com if you are interested in receiving any further information on any of these lovingly cared for pieces.

xoxo
Katie

35

So I turned 35 yesterday.

Woot. Woot.

I'm now officially, Constitutionally old enough to run this country. (Here! Here!)

I had a nice weekend. It was fairly low key... lots of the usual stuff. Hanging with the tots. The best was their kisses and "Happy Birrrrrssssssdays" first thing Sunday morning.

Also sang with the choir at chuch yesterdat morning. Father Bill made me all misty eyed as usual. (We are a very lucky and blessed congregation. The man is practically spray painted head to toe in God's grace. Each week I look out at the faces in the pews... we all hang on EVERY. WORD.) I even finally remembered to put a tissue in my pocket so I wasn't up front being all silly and sniffling.

Clark did take me out for happy hour on Saturday night where we met up with some friends. We then went on to have a nice dinner with two other couples at a one of my favorite restaurants in town.

I went wild and had the cheeseburger. :)

Mind you - they make the best ever... I have it almost EVERY birthday.

And.... white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for dessert.

Worth every creamy calorie.

I thought I'd share my prize winner for best birthday card... The award goes to none other than Private First Class Smartass (a.k.a. my brother John) who illustrated the following card for me...

I love that the little bastard wished me a Happy 40th.

I love that he takes such an interest in my profession.

He does, actually. I did just switch from Nikon to Canon.

I love that he can thoroughly understand and use technical photography terms like f-stop and aperture appropriately. (not)

I love that he supports my mission to provide the best safety and security for all my newborn clients.

I love how inappropriate he made the lens look on my camera.

I love the JCREW gift card he and Liz so graciously enclosed!

The kid makes me giggle. Always has.

--

Clark wins the prize for best gift though. Something I had no right to ask for...

Excited to drag all my crap around in something so stylish!

Love that man.

And I had a great (longer than usual) chat with my parents on the phone yesterday. They sang happy birthday to me and I was my five year old self again. Misty eyed AGAIN. What can I say?

I'm one lucky girl. Blessed beyond measure. I have more GOOD in my life than I could dare ask for.

And just because I'm a total freak... I wanted to see what 35 candles on a cake looked like. So I asked Clark to up our stock of birthday candles. (Flame thrower, eh?) Not because I wanted to have a nice jaw drop... or be the butt of the joke... or generally feel badly about getting older.

Nope - we lit it up...

And as Clark and the kids sang, I looked at each of those lights as one lit path for each year.. I thought about all the people who have helped light my way... God... my parents... my family... my teachers... my coaches... my girlfriends... my Clark... my babies...

I looked at all those lights, soaked in that warm glow...  and I was happy.

xo

 

52 Portraits

I've been MIA, I know.

I doubt there are any of you left over here reading at this point.

I really haven't a clue what brought you in the first place.

It's ok really.... Less pressure for me to write.

I do have a GREAT explaination for my absence... but that will have to wait.

Coming back to this space and all the things I have to say seemed like such a BIG post to have to write... one that I was afraid I would put off forever.

So in the spirit of not putting pressure where there need none.. I decided to just go ahead and post something small... but important to my year this year.

I'm trying something new in 2013.

I always get on myself for not taking photos more often of my own kids. After all... I'm busy taking photos of everyone else's - at times I feel like if I have to process ONE more RAW file, I'll just curl up and die!

(*exhasperated, he he he)

I've always had a flair for the dramatic. ;)

So this new thing... It's a little project I heard about called 52 Portraits. One portrait - once a week. Seemed do-able to me. The kids, the dog, still life, self portrait... SOMETHING.

I feel like this project will remind me to pick up my camera at home and just snap a few. Also - it will give me an opportunity to grow a little as a photographer. Try new things without any pressure. Play with interesting light... take risks. Stretch what I know to be true in the technical realm. Fail. And fail some more.

Plus, I've always felt that some of my favorite images are the everyday mundane ones. The ones that you really never think to pick up your camera for... (besides the one you make calls with)... The last few weeks, I was able to catch a couple of these such moments. They made me smile when I uploaded them to Lightroom.

And I guess that's the point.

I really have SO MUCH to fill you in on... Christmas... wrapping up my 2012 in terms of work... ALL the sessions I have yet to feature here that deserve to be... and what's in store for 2013. A mountain of content yet to grace the pages of this sorry excuse for an online outlet.

But for now - I'll just leave you with two little portraits.

I call this one... "Spiderman pulling a dinner shift."

and this one...
"Chocolate Puddin' Head... with pink painted fingernails, naturally."

Miss me?

:)