the laura kay blog »

i know most photographers talk about how difficult photographing their own kids can be. my kids are so used to me having a camera in hand and they usually hate it when i try and put them some where cool for a few shots. mostly they just act silly. they do great with lifestyle type shots, but sometimes i just want to play and shoot them somewhere cool. so today i was out with josh, the kids and his parents that are in town. we went all over DC and then we stopped by the scrap metal bins over at the airfield at josh’s work. i decided after looking at this cool thing I wanted to get the kids out and try and play with my new 5d2. anyone that has shot with me before knows i love crazy weird places to shoot that most people think are ugly and strange. but i love it and it is my “thing”. so these are a few fun shots i got of them. it got me thinking. really, should i expect sweet little innocent shots of them all the time when they are not always that? just thinking out loud. so here are some fun shots of kate and will. and this is them acting just like them. perfect i think!

so i am so loving my new lens! this is so fun and i can’t wait until next weekend at jennifer and lloyd’s wedding to do some detail and ring shots! i can’t believe i thought i would never want a macro lens. i was so wrong and i am thinking this might be one of my fav lenses i have now!!! wow!!! i sooo love details and details of details is crazy fun!

this has been an amazing year! i have amazing family and friends and amazing clients that are now friends. thank you everyone for reading my blog this year. i know there was a lot of down time this summer while we moved from Texas up here to Virginia. i hope to blog another exciting year in 2009. i hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

the jacobsen’s are good friends of ours here in northern virginia. we met over the summer just after we moved here. they are from corpus christi texas so being texans and all we were automatic friends. these are stacy and joey’s  two sweet girls paige and hailee. last saturday they came over for dinner and we went out for 10 minutes in the freezing cold to take some quick pictures just for fun. it was past my normal point of sun setting picture taking. BUT with my new camera it was ok. i would normally not shoot portraits at 800 ISO but i did and it amazed me. this was shot jpeg with the mark ll 5D with the 24-70  lens. aperture at 3.5 and shutter speed of 1/125.  i love my new camera. 

so today was my lucky day! i got to ride in an army black hawk and flew all over DC tour guide style. josh’s unit here dose a spouse fly day each year. that is awesome because i didn’t think i would ever get to fly in one much less get a tour of DC! i think josh has such a cool job as a black hawk pilot! he is actually an instructor pilot now. sorry had to brag on him. i am so proud! so anyway, i am not an aerial by any means and the black hawk is quite bumpy but here are a few of my favs from today. enjoy!

national cathedral. amazing!!! now i just want to shoot a wedding there! 

good old 95

fort washington in maryland

look how low we got to fly by the capitol!!!

the bottom of the washington monument and the white house. look the christmas tree is up!

the memorial bridge

arlington national cemetery

the watergate hotel correction: georgetown water front…thanks emily!

not sure where this is but in between tysons and 95 i’m pretty sure. 

when i got home last night from nyc i had a fedex box waiting for me. laura and eric sent me these adorable texas cookies! first of all i love getting boxes and this box is my perfect favorite color combination! and finally these decorated sugar cookies are my all time favorite cookies! SO THANK YOU LAURA AND ERIC!!! and now my kids think you guys are the coolest. having a cookie and cup of hot tea was the perfect way to wind down from a crazy weekend. and for those of you that know me well you know i am going to try and find a hiding place for these so my family forgets about them.

last weekend when i went to annapolis to shoot laura and eric’s engagement session, josh and the kids came with me because our good friends now live there. the laughlin’s lived right across the street from us in texas and their kids are kate and will’s best friends. i am so glad they are not too far from us so we can see them often. i think we are taking all the kids to a museum this weekend in dc. it is rare to have such good friends close in the military. anyhow during my shoot josh took the kids over to watch their soccer games and after we hung out at their house and had some amazing fresh market seafood. yummy crab cakes and i know i am strange but i was the only one who did not have a huge lobster. while the boys went to get the food nikki and i hung out in the yard with the kids and i took a few pictures while we were supposed to be making pasta. oops. sorry kevin. good dinner with good friends. 

well this morning while i was on the phone with an old friend i didn’t even think to wonder what will was up to. he was being so good and quiet and i was actually having an uninterrupted conversation for once. well when he came down stair with his shirt off and a little mischievous look on his face i decided to go take a look and see what he had gotten in to. will is such a boy and he loves squirting out things just to watch how it works. well take a look at the pictures but our playroom is really fresh and clean. it got shampooed, microdermabrasion treatment, moused, hair sprayed, lathered up with shaving cream, and moisturized. YUP that is what will was up to. at leat it was all cleaner and easy to clean up. but that is will. on that note here are a few funny things he has said lately. never a dull moment in our house. 

1. since this week is the letter “H” at school and he wants to take the ipod he decided he was going to get away with it because it was not an ipod anymore it was an h-pod. 

2. he really thinks the national anthem is sang like so: jose can you see….

3. his favorite song is the soul buttah song. other know as “all these things that i’ve done” by the killers

on the less messy side of our family, kate ran 2.2 miles yesterday with josh. can you believe that i can’t even run 1 mile i don’t think. =)

well this weekend my sister in law nicki, brother in law jeff and my niece and nephew hannah and jacob came to visit from houston. we had a house full of kids and there was never a dull moment. it made me realize how un-baby proof our house is and how different our lives are now that we don’t have babies. we had a lot of fun and i really miss living in the same town as them. we went to the capitol and all over dc to see all that stuff and then the next day we went to mount vernon which i really liked! i didn’t take too many pictures because i was so amazed and loving just being there. history is so cool to me. i wish i would have liked it more in school and i wish i could remember it all. i guess i will have to re teach myself while we live here and see all i can see. enjoy the pics of the crazy kids. =) happy monday!

 
oh ya that pic of kate and will was when it was getting dark and i was trying to get the kids to sit together for my mom and kate was not punching will but this picture sure makes it look like that. too funny! =) sorry mom i did not get that picture for you. i will do a real session with them soon. XXOO

so on tuesday night we had a photographer dinner with over 20 photographers from the DC, VA and MD area. we went to gorden bierch brewery in tysons corner. armin defiesta organized the whole thing. it was a lot of fun to get to hang out with a bunch of other photographers. you can imagine there were lots of cameras and lots of iphones. i usually do not bring my camera to things like this unless we are shooting because i would rather concentrate on hanging out and eating. so when you don’t have a camera you get goofy shots of you with the crazy lens. so i thought i would share my dorky looking picture as well. =) Sorry i have not been blogging much lately but i am resting up for this crazy busy fall that starts now for me. so don’t you worry there will be lots of posts coming real soon. this month i am going to houston for glennie and benny’s wedding, patricia and ryan’s e-session, jeanie’s bridal session and then i am going to alburquque NM for jeanette and brandon’s wedding. but you want to know what i have been doing? i have been meeting with lots of brides booking up 09 pretty fast, i shot a wedding with a new friend up here kate triano, and i have been enjoying this beautiful fall weather here! it is amazing and i love it! it is so crisp in the mornings when we walk kate to school. the leaves are starting to change and i can’t wait for it to happen even more. well that is about it. Nicki, Jeff, Hannah and Jacob are coming up this weekend. that is my sis-in law and family. That will be fun. so have a great weekend everyone! i am sure we will take pics this weekend and i will post them soon!

and thanks to noah hayes for taking these pictures!