KLC Portraits

Brand New Blogsite!

2010-09-15T15:08:00.000-04:00

I have a brand new blogsite. I'm thinking this feels like a better fit. So head on over and check it out.

www.klcportraits.com

One Man's Trash......

2010-08-26T08:27:00.002-04:00

I was riding down the street one morning and as I pass my neighbor's house, I find this bed sitting out by the curb. See, my neighbors have been moving all month and sitting trash out by the curb. Now, I always look at the things sitting by the curb. I can't help it. So, see my vigilance lands me a prop.

I get out and look at it. Then I peep at the other stuff beside it. And finally, I pop the trunk and stick it inside. I get inside the house and show Jerry my find. He wants to know did the neighbors see me digging through their trash. Ha! I didn't really think of it that way. So, I sand it and paint it red. And look what I have for a few bucks and some work.

So, I grab my little baby, who is 9 months old! I can't believe it! And we are off to play.

She fell asleep in the car, so I wasn't sure how she would act in front of the camera. We spent about 15 minutes out there in the park, but she was all smiles and this face. This is her excited face. It's hilarious when she does it! I was singing "Pat-a-Cake". She loves that song.

Look at my Sweet Rylie! You have two teeth coming in and are handling it like a trooper. You shake your her head "no" when you are asked what sounds like a question (and other random times). You clap and sing along when we are singing. You are not quite crawling, but you hate to be on the floor. So, who knows if you'll ever crawl if that's your attitude. You're a pro in your walker, though. You hate for someone to get up and leave the room. That will surely cause a melt down. I like how when we are eating, you will taste the first spoonful with a nibble to make sure you like it. Yeah, you have learned if you don't like it, then you can spit it back out. You are overall, a very happy baby with lots of smiles and giggles. We love you Little Rylie.

Briana is 6 months old....{St Petersburg Baby Photographer}

2010-08-13T07:52:00.003-04:00

I think I love this age. Six month old can sit up and babble. They really take notice of Momma and you get to catch glimpses of their own special personality. And a big plus is that they care nothing about the camera.

Meet Little Ms. Briana. I could have taken her picture all day; she was so content playing with the grass and lifting her dress.

More and more, I'm discovering that I LOVE black and white photos. This next photo just cracks me up. I wish I could remember what made her laugh so :0)!

Next, she changed into her Communion Dress. It was gorgeous and white and boy did she like playing with this dress.

Mom even brought her certificate.

Briana. Sweet. Quiet. Beautiful. Piercing blue eyes. I could tell she had her Mom wrapped around her finger. Briana just celebrated her 1/2 birthday with a party. I thought that was so cute!

It was so nice meeting you. I enjoyed hanging out with you all in 90+ degree weather. Ha! I hope I captured the true essence of your little sweetie.

I'm always a little excited....{St Petersburg Baby Photographer}

2010-08-11T08:23:00.004-04:00

I'm always a little excited to share at least one from photo sessions. So this time I thought I would share two. Ha! Two of little Briana; a sweet little baby with the most piercing blue eyes.

I'll be back soon to share more......

Brooks Family of 5 {St Petersburg Family Photographer}

2010-08-05T07:37:00.001-04:00

Sunday morning, I got to hang out with this lovely family at Clearwater Beach. I was a little nervous because of the morning sun. Thankfully it was an overcast day with peaks from the sun. This was my kind of session. It was really relaxed with very little posing. The day started with lots of playing and frolicking in the water. Enjoy your sneak peak!

I liked the color as well as the black and white, so here's both!

I had to post one! This Dad got a little crazy! So only one and a pretty relaxed One at that. Huh?

This is one of my favorites. Doesn't this photo just speak to you? Or does it just speak to me? Ha!

This is probably my absolute favorite of the day.

This One talked a lot about modeling. He's got a Young Tyson Beckford and Tyrese going on.

You are an amazing family, with bright and smart kids and I am so glad that we got to hang out together.

Just one for right now.....[St Pete Family Photographer]

2010-08-03T10:16:00.001-04:00

I have just one to share from my morning this past weekend with this fab family. You guys were great! Stay tuned because I have lots more.....

Nevaeh & Nalani/ St Petersburg Children Photographer

2010-07-06T07:08:00.008-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, we traveled back to my home town. During my stay, I got to hang out with these two beauties. They were cute as can be and just as sweet.

Meet Nevaeh. Look closely at her name. Did you get it? It spells "Heaven" backward. She was definitely not a stranger to the camera.

I LOVED this one. My absolute favorite from the day.

And now, little Miss Nalani. She's 7 months old (a couple days older than my little baby) , but she looks like she is twice as big. My next absolute favorite, I'm liking the baby drool.

And she sucks her thumb too.

Thanks you guys for letting us hang out with you. I LOVE your family and now you need one more little girl to catch up with us. Ha!

Summer Promotion

2010-06-07T10:51:00.004-04:00

Through The Eye of my Lens- {St Petersburg Photographer}

2010-05-21T12:25:00.012-04:00

I ended up downtown by the Pier last weekend. I was kidless for the first time in a long time. So, I took off my shoes, walked around, and explored all ALONE. My Camera and I took in the late afternoon. The day felt different. And you know what? I kind of liked it!

I used to like these birds when I first came to Florida, but after stealing my food from my

hand and flying so close that I was hit in the head with his wing. We are no longer friends.

I like to people watch too. I steal photos when they aren't looking.

This was the second day in a row, that I saw dolphins swimming pretty close to shore.

But after not being able to catch him on camera, I settled for this shot. Ha!

I think I'll be doing this again soon.

Subjects on Hand

2010-05-17T09:05:00.004-04:00

You know what's good about being a photographer and having children? You have ready-made subjects to practice with.

Sometimes they will scowl and howl when I pull out the camera, but.....

it doesn't take long

before they will get in to it and play along.

Sometimes, they even get excited!

Hands on her hip and legs crossed! I almost fell over when she did this.

I couldn't separate this little one from her thumb.

But when they say they're done. Then, I guess I'm done.

The end.

Dear Blog

2010-05-06T17:13:00.002-04:00

Sorry that I've neglected you. I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last posted here. I've had so many other things vying for my attention, but I'm back now (hopefully to stay).

Yep. I'm coming up for a visit and because I've had some requests, I've decided to offer a few photo sessions. If you're interested take a look at the Mini-Session details.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Demps Family

2010-03-03T06:33:00.006-05:00

All I have is one to share today from a (rather large) family celebration this past weekend. They were celebrating their Mother's 70th birthday. The place was Smokey Bones and even though there was plenty of sunshine, there was absolutely no warmth. However, there was plenty of food fun and laughter. And that's all you really need. Right?

What have I been doing you ask?

2010-02-26T08:36:00.002-05:00

Are you one of those persons that makes list? Well. I do. Grocery List. Dinner list. Task list. I believe I am a visual person and so my lists are a way for me to SEE what I have to do. The task list are the things that I plan on doing during the week. They usually include things like: the days I plan to exercise, days I plan to clean (wish I could say that I clean everyday), work days, photography, and etc. But man, I've been having a hard time checking off this list. My tasks are carrying over week to week. Makes me want to throw my hands up.

Anyway this is what we've been up to. About six months ago, I decided I was going to cut off my hair. I mean clipper cutting short. So I woke up one day a few months ago and decided that, YES, today was the day. Look at what I've done!

When she was cutting my hair, I felt free. Can't really explain it other than that. And since then I felt a little "lighter". Now I am just a shower away from starting my day. No more dryer, flatiron, or curling iron for me. Wish I could say that Jerry felt the same. Ha! The day after I done this, he called me during the day to ask if I was ok. He wanted to know if the kids and baby were too much for me (as I type this it makes me smile). He was genuinely concerned. I assured him I was ok!

My little baby has started (this week) to suck her thumb. She gets that thumb right in the mouth and curls up those fingers right by the lip. While I think it is absolutely adorable, I also know it's a hard habit to break later on. So I've been taking her thumb out of her mouth and giving her a pacifier instead. Only to find that she spits the pacifier out and puts the thumb back in her mouth. Ha!

This One was riding down the driveway on a Big Wheel and hit the garbage can. The impact through her from her bike onto the ground. She immediately came crying into the house and said her neck hurt. Now, I was thinking that she couldn't have hurt herself from the fall. After all, a Big Wheel is like 2 inches off the ground, but since she had just awoken from a nap, I thought she must have just slept wrong (gotten a crook in her neck). I took her to the doctor 3 LONG days later only to find out that she had BROKEN HER CLAVICLE (shoulder blade). I couldn't believe it! I was distraught and felt more than a little guilty. She was laying on the couch all day for 2 days and trying to tell me in her own way that she was indeed hurt. The good news is that the healing has to happen on its own and that it happens in a few weeks. And they would have done nothing for it other than tell me to give her some Motrin or Tylenol. The sling is for her comfort, but since that day she has discarded it and favors just keeping that arm securely to her chest, while she runs and jumps! How in the world do you keep a two year old still?

I can't believe it's been so long.....

2010-02-02T05:53:00.001-05:00

It has been over a month since I have last blogged. In truth, I've had a hundred blog subject ideas but no time to committ to them. I've been so busy. What have I been doing you ask? HOMESCHOOLING! So once I got past the mourning of the lost of my mornings, I then got to work on deciding exactly what I'm going to do to get this child of mine to get her back interested in learning. While most schools of thoughts suggest deschooling as a way to decompress. To totally give up learning at all is WAY too lax for my personality. However, we are in a sort of decompressing stage around here. Ours just includes a little Math, Language Arts, and Reading. We mix in a little Science and History. She wants to know about her History, so we've been reading alot about Africa and how we got to the U.S. We've been watching movies, visiting the library and cooking African foods.

My approach to EVERYTHING is to deeply immerse myself in to what I'm doing, most times to the exclusion of everything else and find out as much information as possible. So while I ordered book after book (to Jerry's dismay) on the subject of homeschooling and the different "schools of thoughts" on curriculum (or not to have a curriculum), I literally couldn't do anything else. So that meant, no photography, no extracurricular reading, and no watching Grey Anatomy or Desperate Housewives. It has been about a month and we are still finding our stride, but I have narrowed down our choice of study and I'm hoping it works out. Now I can relax and breathe and I have room to think of something else. So, I picked up my camera and recorded one of our afternoon escapades. Our afternoons are back sunny around these parts. So we are off most days to the park and different beaches, which is the best part. No afternoons and nights of frustrating homework. Now I will shut-up and show you some photos.

We love hanging out at this park because it's actually a park/ beach. I got a little funky in the editing of these pictures. Just trying a little something different.

We walk along the beach and Ariel is very in to looking at the different rocks and shells.

However because of Red Tide, there were a lot of dead fish washed up on the beach. I look back at Cailin to make sure she was still with us and she had a rather large dead fish in her hand. I was shocked and I screamed. Which made her drop the fish and scream. Ariel washed her hands off in the water. Which now looking at this photo, doesn't seem like a good idea, but she had fish scales and other sorts on her hand. I did have hand sanitizer in the car. Which she used right after the hand washing in the bacteria filled water....ha!

There are people that live on the water and until this day, I had never seen or heard them, until this day when I seen them out on their decks. And I kid you not we heard Shake It Fast. You know, the song by Mystikal.

Totally unrelated but I had to share. Rylie had dozed off to sleep in my arms and I was putting her down for a nap (yeah she looks really sleepy, right?) and she popped her head up like this. Please forgive the soft focus as I only had seconds to capture this.

The end.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T15:32:00.003-05:00

No words today, just photos of my little ones.

Ok, just one, or err.... a few words. Rylie says "HO HO HO!"

Merry Christmas!

Just one

2009-12-21T18:11:00.002-05:00

Just one to share right now, because I am lovin' this photo so much. And to keep my promise to family of sharing more pictures of the baby. Leaving you with another promise to post a whole lot more. Now off to cook dinner.

"E" Family again....

2009-12-15T07:11:00.005-05:00

"Why does Rylie get up so much at night?" That's what Jerry asked me one night. I just looked at him for a moment and then I explained (again) that baby's get up every 2-3 hours because they have to eat. Now, mind you, this is not the first time he has asked me this. I remember when Ariel was still a baby, that while watching television one night, we saw a commercial (can't really remember it now) with two exhausted new parents and a wide awake baby. And Jerry leans over to me and says, "I'm glad Ariel never got up at night." I look at him and say, "No, you never woke up at night."

I have no idea where his amnesia comes from. Especially, since with Cailin I worked night shift, which means that he actually had to get up with her and didn't just let her starve. Now, because of recent conversations, I hope the latter didn't happen.

Now, I remember the sleep-broken nights, but I never remember the exhaustion that comes with it. My little baby is up every 2-3 hours at night and sometimes just won't go back to sleep. We have been up tonight at midnight, 2, and 5am. Now, it is after 6 and she is still up. It's times like this that I wish Dad's could be the one to nurse the infant. After all, we have to carry the baby and endure the labor and delivery. What do you think?
______________________________________

It's not often that you meet a whole family that you can be friends with. Someone that you trust with your kids and that's a big one for me.We have the luck of living next door to this awesome family. Dad is handy around the house, just like Jerry and doesn't hesitate to lend a helping hand. And we are made extra lucky with the fact that Mom, runs an in-home daycare. I mean how great is that, to be able to drop your kids off next door. AND my daughters absolutely love it over there.

Meet the "E" family. They were real troopers because it was cold on this day. We were down on the beach with the wind blowing and the sun shying away from it's job.

They were even game for walking along the beach.

Hands inside the shirt but no teeth chattering. Ha!

After a while, the boys didn't even mind. We did though, as it took so minor pleading for Dad to get out of the car again.

You can barely tell here but, Little J just lost his first tooth at the bottom.

I love this little fellow's facial expressions.

I don't know why, but this photo makes me all warm and fuzzy. And look at those eye lashes!

And those round jaws. But it doesn't compare to the jaws of last year.

I had just finished a class on lighting last year and look who let me come into their house, with all my stuff, and rearrange their furniture to take Christmas pictures last year. This is my favorite of this little guy from last time.

And this was my absolute favorite of the session. He did this pose all by himself.

Once we were done at the beach, Mom and I walked laughing and talking back to the car. And the boys ran along without us.

Thanks for stopping by,

"E" Family

2009-12-07T06:54:00.004-05:00

I got to hang out with this special family this weekend. The Mom finally talked the Dad into a photo session at the beach. And it had to be the coldest day in Florida :)! Don't let the brightness of the sun fool you. the sun was definitely not doing his job. It was long pants and sweaters cold and my gloveless hands were numb and tingly.

Anyway this was Mom's suggestion for a shot and as I was browsing the photos, I knew this was one that I really liked. More of the "E" family soon......

Rylie

2009-12-02T08:34:00.003-05:00

This was the easiest delivery ever for me. We arrived at the hospital about 9:30pm. I had an epidural about an hour later, which made my legs feel like concrete, but took all the pain away. I slept off and on until about 3:30am. Then I was awaken by an intense pressure and the urge to push. I pushed about 3-4 times and she was out! The story takes another turn when I get home and have to take care of a newborn and a toddler while healing from the delivery. I have had lots of help from my mother, neighbor, and a family friend. Still the road is quite twisty.

She came out so cheesy.

See! Look at those eyes and she was just minutes old.

Snug as a bug.

Daddy and daughter meet. This is Jerry's first delivery that he got to see all the way through. Why? With our oldest, I had a c-section. and when the spinal didn't take they put me asleep in the O.R. and kicked him out. Next, with our second, I waited too long to get to the hospital. The delivery team met me in the E.R. and by the time he parked and came in she was out. So this delivery was a special treat. He got to see everything....ha!

In case you're looking for a photographer to document your own special delivery. Contact me, I would love to do that for you!

All bundled and coming to meet Momma.

Look at that belly button!

Always alert and ready to eat.

You know, when you look at newborn photography? And the photographer gets all the nice, sleepy, and curled shots. Not this baby! When I say she made me work for every shot that's what I mean. I had to nurse, cuddle, an hold her for every position change. We couldn't use about 10 blankets. They were ruined by poop, pee, and spit-up x10.

My own little tooshie time.

Going.

Going.

Not yet.

Going.

Gone!

Thanks for stopping by,

Tooshie Time

2009-11-30T08:17:00.002-05:00

The theme this week at I Heart Faces is I Heart Tooshies.

This summer I traveled back to my home town and got to meet my favorite little cousin, Ms. Khylie (sorry Ashley but babies always win :)!). And she was as sweet as can be and really performed for me. I liked hanging out with her so much that she is the baby in my header. If you'd like to see more of Khylie go here.
And if you'd like to check out more tooshie photos head on over to I Heart Faces.

Thanks for stopping by,

It's a Girl!

2009-11-27T09:13:00.005-05:00

On this day, November 22, it was a really nice day so we gathered a friend and we all went down to the beach. You ever look back on days and just wish you knew what was in store? Just so that you could go back and do things a little differently. Well if I knew that I was going to find myself in labor that night, I certainly wouldn't have spent the day doing 100 miscellaneous things and certainly wouldn't have spent the afternoon at the beach. Instead, I would have been at home resting for the upcoming sleepless night.

So, meet our newest edition, Little Miss Rylie. She's (so far) a sweet little baby. However, the most surprising thing has been how alert she is. I mean, look at those eyes! During the day, she is up for at least an hour or two, just looking about.

Thanks for stopping by,

Just Playing Around

2009-11-17T06:10:00.001-05:00

So. This was my favorite photo from our day roaming around downtown (click here if you happened to have missed my previous blog post), but I felt this image needed a little something.

First I tried a color version.

Then I tried a little Mocha Madness. And you know what? I like this alot!

Thanks for stopping by,

My (Almost) Big 6th grader

2009-11-16T06:40:00.002-05:00

We found ourselves on this day, just hanging out and walking around downtown. I always try and carry a camera, so all I need next is favorable lighting and a nice scenery and I'm ready for any impromptu photo shoot.

I keeping thinking I should have edited this image a little differently. It feels a little "old school" to me. Maybe it needs a little texture.....hmmm. Anyway, this is my favorite photo of that day because I think it shows her true character- quiet and reflective. And consientious. Those are words I would also use to describe myself. Isn't it funny that you can look at your kids and sometimes see yourself? And then you worry about all the mistakes you've made and things you've done wrong and think they could be hers too......or am I the only one?

This was the next image I got when (I don't know how we started talking about chocolate) I asked her was she thinking of chocolate. And she said, "Yes, chocolate ice cream!" This kid loves chocolate! I mean really loves anything chocolate. On the way home from Trick-or-treating, I remember wondering exactly what I was going to do about all the candy we had gotten that night. Well, the day after Halloween, I was looking through her candy and found about 20-30 empty candy bar wrappers left in her bag. Then, she had a friend over that weekend and they ate ALL the remaining candy left in the house. They even ate poor Cailin's candy as well!

A smile about stopping for ice cream on the way back home.

I love you, Sweet Ariel.

Thanks for stopping by,

My Almost Post.......

2009-11-12T06:42:00.001-05:00

On days that I plan on blogging, I get up real early to do this before my littlest munchkin gets out of bed. However today, when she heard me up and about, she yelled out "Mommy what chu doin'?" and got up too. So my long blog post with lots of photos has to be shortened to one picture and a few quick words.
________________________________________
Ariel made the comment that she was in the house with babies and adults. I didn't know what to think about that. I mean if I could have had kids closer in age (Cailin and her are 9 years apart) I would have, but I couldn't imagine myself with more than one kid in my early 20's. However I did make myself a promise to spend more time with her one-on-one and to get out and hang with her and friends more, because I realize that Cailin just requires more of my attention because she is a busy toddler and in a few short weeks a baby will steal the show away from everyone.

I have also been letting her pick out her own clothes and shoes. Which was hard because it seems that overnight she went from not caring to having an opinion about all the "ugly" clothes I insisted on her wearing. When she picked up these shoes the other day at the mall, I cringed slightly on the inside, and then we headed to the check out and bought them. She loves them and I have come to like them, I guess......

Thanks for stopping by,

I Heart Faces- "My Story in Thankfulness"

2009-11-09T07:09:00.002-05:00

This is the season that we reflect on life and cherish the things we are most thankful for. I am thankful for a lot of things.
-Love
-Life
-Family
-Friends
However, I am most thankful for the gift of being a mother. I love my little ones......
______________________________________________

This is hands down my favorite photograph of them. I plan to blow this up really big (like 20x30 big) to go on the hallway wall as soon as I'm able. I am in love with Cailin's joy and I love the way Ariel is looking at her. I think it defines their relationship perfectly. Cailin adores her big sister and thinks she can do EVERYTHING she does. Ariel is a good big sister (most of the time) and looks after her.

More thankfulness in photos can be found here. Now go and check it out!

Thanks for stopping by,