I’d bring the camera to the hospital? What kind of mom do you think I am?

So here’s the story.

Last Wednesday, Blaze was getting out of the car, lost his balance and fell. He hit the driveway pretty hard, and he usually brushes bumps and scrapes off, but he was screaming.

I took him to get x-rayed, and Blaze told them it was his left shoulder that hurt. I could have sworn it was the other, but he was serious about it being his left side. So they x-rayed his left side, nothing was broken, he got adjusted by the chiropractor and we came home.

Over the next two days he had a great attitude, but by Friday his right shoulder was totally slumping. He would cry if we changed his shirt or lifted him up, so we went back in for x-rays on the right side this time. And sure enough, his collar bone on the right side was broken. Poor guy, but smart guy. The doctor at the children’s hospital said that kids are super smart and will often say the opposite side hurts so you don’t touch the side that really is hurting. He fooled all of us!

So mom and Blaze hung out in the hospital Friday night for a few hours, getting more x-rays, on the right side.

And yeah, I totally pulled out the camera a couple times. Surprised?

Since you can’t cast a broken collar bone, Blaze is supposed to wear this sling for 6 weeks! Who are we kidding?! About every thirty minutes we put it back on him. I now know why the doctor was chuckling when he said “6 weeks”.

From the hospital, we drove to the Wine and Cheese Meet and Greet for our Advanced Workshop. I was so beat, emotionally/physically, and these women were so understanding. Some of the attendees brought gifts for the kids, and wow, what a caring group of people. I totally got to relax by the fire, have a glass of wine, and just be with these wonderful people while the kids colored and met the different attendees.

Despite the hospital–it was still the perfect start to our workshop. More on the workshop coming soon!

We had almost 100 pumpkin photos come in for the contest–from Georgia to Washington!! Wow!!! That’s a lot of pumpkin shooting!

I can’t tell you how COOL it was to here from each of you. The stories behind why you took the shots were so wonderful, and on top of that it was like sugar on top to hear what dvd exercises inspired you. We really are in the midst of a beautiful revolution!

So how do we choose finalists? Man, this was super hard! I looked at every image three times, and I went back and took the ones that stuck in my mind most. I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I did with all of them. They are totally inspiring!

Here are the Five Finalists! (couldn’t narrow it down any more than five–you’ll see why…)

Finalist 1–This image stuck out b/c of the endlessness I felt as the corn stalks stand high above the little ones. I can almost feel their curiosity. I also loved the lighting. Great job!!!

Finalist 2–I couldn’t get this little girl’s expression out of my mind. I love how her mom captured the pure excitement and filled the frame in her composition. Awesome!

Finalist 3–This mom really took a different approach, and I loved it. She shot down, and went an extra step by incorporating a sweet little head piece. Wow–beautiful!

Finalist 4–This image was well composed. I loved the big tree in the background. Remember how we talk about making sure your background accentuates your photo’s story? I love how the big tree makes this little guy seem that much smaller. The color is beautiful and composition is right on. Very cool!

Finalist 5–Do I even have to say? This mom totally nailed the unexpected moment. Talk about Documenting Your Child’s Life. Good for you!

Cast your vote and be the winning finalist or the winning voter!!

To vote for the winner, post your choice by clicking on “Comments” below (it’s in hot pink and under “Email This”). Leave a special note on why you love their shot. What a gift that would be even if they don’t end up being the winner.

AND, remember, we’re going to pick a random voter to win something special too!

TWO winners will be announced on Friday!! What is the random voter getting? Still trying to decide between three things. Just have to check back.

It’s the morning after our wonderful 2 day workshop. Brian and I didn’t want the weekend to ever end! What an amazing group of people. I can’t wait to show you images later this week! (If you were one our beautiful attendees, can you send us your favorite images from the weekend by Wed.?)

Contest Extension!

For those of you who have images to send in for the Pumpkin Contest, we are extending it until the end of today @ 5pm Pacific Time. We got SO MANY submissions that the mailbox filled up over the weekend!! And since we were teaching the workshop (or at the hospital with Blaze’s broken collar bone–more on that later…what a full weekend :)), we didn’t know the account had filled.

So Brian fixed it this morning, and if you couldn’t email us your image before, you can now. Send them to contest@merakoh.com.

We’ll post the finalists tomorrow!! And some lucky winner is getting a new Sony camera!!!

This is baby Ruby. She has stolen the heart of Colorado.

The day after Auntie Brittany and Uncle Greer’s beautiful wedding, Brian and I were given the honor of going to Ruby’s house and spending a few quiet hours documenting the utter beauty of her strong, little spirit.

I couldn’t take enough shots of how Ruby naturally tucked herself into dad. Made me want to cry.

And I still can’t believe that last July, I was taking photos of Rob and Shannon that looked like this.

Now they look like this. Don’t they glow with parenthood?

I especially love these two next to each other.

Wedding Day Kiss

Baby Kiss

And just when you think a woman cannot be any more beautiful than she is on her wedding day…

You see her as a mom, and I can’t help but cry at the transformation of beauty. The softness, the nurturer, the tenderness, the mother’s heart, it all pours out of Shannon effortlessly. Shannon you were created for this. You leave me speechless.

Two more to share. It’s so hard to pick the last two blog photos from a 100 plus, but here we go…

Can’t forget the toes.

And we especially can’t forget Grandpa.

I have to tell you about Sara!! She is probably going to die when she reads today’s blog, but she is one of many moms blowing me away and totally inspiring me with her willingness to just JUMP!

Last January, she took our Beginner Workshop for Women. She was a total beginner wanting to know how to make sense of her camera.

Well…10 months later she is GOING FOR IT!!! Her shots are getting better and better. And she told me about this fabulous idea that I had to share with all of you who are “toying” with the idea of doing photography on the side! This idea is perfect for newbies!

Sara posted on her blog that she would be at the pumpkin patch for two hours. Whoever wanted photos of their kids were welcome to come. This invite went out to all her friends (the best people to start with when your building a portfolio!). Sara told them it wouldn’t cost any thing, and she would upload all the images to her pro lab Pictage. If anyone wanted to purchase an image, they could do it direct from Pictage. (Brian and I use the same pro lab, and it’s wonderful!)

Can you believe 10, that’s right TEN, families showed up!!! Isn’t Sarah AWESOME!!! And here is just one of the many images she captured!! Yeah Sara!!

I had to share this idea with you because if your photography passion is growing, and you’re wondering how to get started with finding clients–It doesn’t get much better than Sara’s idea! Check out her blog for yourself!

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A quick word about the Pumpkin Photo Contest!

Deadline is Sunday Night for submitting photos.

Brian showed me a handful of the images you’re sending in for the photo contest, and the kids and I were going crazy looking at them!! These photo entries are just amazing, super sweet, and so diverse!!

Keep sending the entries in!! You have until Sunday Night (can you tell a lot have emailed asking me when the deadline is? :)).

Monday we’ll post the finalists for all of you to vote on. (How on earth are we going to pick finalists?)

FYI, we’re also going to pick a random person who votes Monday to be a winner of something else! You’ll see!! How to win that something else? Just vote for one of the finalists on Monday. Super easy, low maintenance–the way moms need things.

Little note, Brian and I can’t even tell you how excited we are by all of your responses from yesterday’s post!!! We had no idea how many women felt as passionate about this as we do!! I have a feeling big things are in the works for all of us!! I know that a couple significant people are reading your comments, so if you want to add you still can!

But let’s get this contest underway, shall we!!

It’s time to show your Pumpkin Photos off!! What better contest to have right now then one showcasing your fabulous pumpkin photos!

Submit your favorite pumpkin photo! It’s as easy as that!! It can be one you took of your child, a client or a friend. Just email it to contest@merakoh.com.

Get creative on these submissions! It can be any thing from a silly, fun shot—

–to a moment you caught. This was one of my favorites, Brian and Blaze wandering through the corn maze.

On Monday, we’ll post the top three images and let all of you vote on the finalist!! The winner will get something I picked up in NY!!

A brand new camera!! The DCS-W80 Sony Cyber Shot, with a Cyber Shot Station to view your photos on your TV.

That’s a $300 value!! Yippeeee!!!

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Recipes, recipes, recipes!!!

Photo #1 of Blaze sitting on the pumpkins

Aperture: I dialed it down to a 3.5 to get a nice blur of pumpkins behind him.

Shutter Speed: 1/320 of a second. Decent speed for the shutter b/c we had lots of light with the sun setting.

ISO: 400 (overall decent speed for action shots–Blaze was going to take off running any moment :).)

Photo #2 of the two kids together

Aperture: Brian stayed at a 3.5. If he would have gone up to a 5.0, both kids would have been in sharper focus b/c Pascaline is behind Blaze. (but it’s okay that he didn’t :))

Shutter Speed: again 1/320 of a second–hate fractions, but don’t let them get the best of you. Your camera may display the shutter speed without the fraction and just say 320.

ISO: 400 again–I think Brian kept the ISO at 400 (instead of our favorite preference-100) b/c the sun was setting, and he wanted to make sure he had enough light when exposing the image in his camera. Low light can be helped if you bump the ISO.

Photo #3 of Brian and Blaze in the corn maze

Aperture: I went up to a 5.0.

Shutter Speed: 1/250

ISO: 400

Best Kept Secret for Pumpkin Patch Photos

Go 30-40 minutes before sunset. I almost fell speechless with how beautiful the light was at sunset. The pumpkins seemed to glow because of the golden light from the sun setting. And the corn stalks and Blazey’s hair had incredible rim light. (Rim light is that nice bit of glow that you sometimes get that outlines the subject’s hair and in this case the corn stalks too. :)–We love Rim Light!!)

Have fun!! Can’t wait to see your images and have a wonderful winner on this new camera!!!

(from my journal on Friday night…)

Who voluntarily jumps off a cliff into the unknown? Yet any time I pursue my dreams this is exactly how it feels.

It’s 7:15pm. I’m supposed to be at a VIP dinner event that Sony is hosting. Starts at 7:30pm–fifteen minutes. Why am I sitting in my hotel room writing this? Because I’m totally nervous.

I hardly know the people that have invited me. They told me to call earlier today and we would connect, and I haven’t been able to get through. I’m basically going to grab a taxi, go to the event, and see what happens.

Was it silly to buy a plane ticket last minute and spend $1000 we had not budgeted to come to this dinner? Some would say yes, but I have to, have to, have to believe that it wasn’t. If you don’t jump off that cliff you’ll never know what you may have missed. I may go tonight and have nothing happen. I may be surprised or blown away. Either way, I know in my spirit that to experience this amazing adventure of life, I’ve got to be wiling to risk, risk being disappointed as well as risk being surprised.

The cab is calling me.

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This in essence was how I felt while in NY, but can I just say that even though these feelings overwhelmed me, they were short lived once I stepped into the cab.

I felt strong. I know it’s because I took all of you with me, everyone of you that has ever read this blog, got out of your comfort zone, taken a risk with your camera, and come back for more, you, you are the ones I took with me. You were the ones who gave me strength this last week.

Since I went to NY last minute, I didn’t have any scheduled speaking sessions, so I spent time on Friday wandering the tradeshow floor–trying to be open to anything and everything.

While wandering, I ran into Frederick Van at the Adobe booth. Frederick is the coolest cat and used to be with Pictage. He and I got to talking about what the latest was with me, and I felt this rising pulse of excitement as i thought of all of you! I told him about the DVD series, the blog, the workshops, and an idea Brian and I were considering–a city tour of workshops for women in 2008–shhhh…:). Without me even asking, without me even putting on a big proposal, he said Adobe may be interested in considering a sponsorship for the workshops! Woah!!! I looked at him in almost disbelief and said, “Wait a minute, I’m supposed to wow you and impress you and then ask you for something that huge.” Frederick said he’d been thinking about how Adobe could better reach women already, and this would be a great way to do just that! I walked away wanting to jump up and down!!! Adobe software is a BIG part of how we process our photos, to be able to have them support me and Brian sharing their secrets with you would be amazing!

I also had a spontaneous lunch with the Amit, founder of Photojojo. This is an awesome-awesome blog. If you haven’t yet, you have to check it out. Guess what we talked about? All of you!! We brainstormed ideas on how to better educate and equip women to feel empowered to use their cameras, start their own businesses, and capture their kids. There may be some very cool things in the works if we can pull it off.

That night I took a cab to the Sony VIP party. (The main reason why I had flown out to NY last minute.)

Try to picture this…

Five story, narrow building, in the heart of Chelsea, NY. Hip music, martinis and appetizers being served. A guest list of around 50 people. 12 Sony engineers visiting from Japan to discuss the camera’s mechanics. Four model stations set up around the building with strobe lighting, from the rooftop to the bottom floor. VIP guests made up of fashion photographers, Blue Pixel’s amazing team (the guys that invited me), editors from Popular Photography, and me.

I was given their latest Sony 700 DSLR and invited to walk around and photograph the different models, then give the engineers feedback on what worked and what could improve (specifically pertaining to women in my mind). My conversations with the engineers were fantastic. I talked about of all of you and our workshops, and what my dream camera body for women would look like.

Sony was very excited about the DVD series, most of them took copies home. I could tell they were wanting to do a great job in reaching women. One of the directors said he envisioned women being able to attend their kids soccer games and really capture the shots they see. They were even setting up cameras at soccer games, FOR FREE, for women to try the cameras out and get their help with the cameras. I was thrilled!!

I literally felt like I had been given this incredible privilege to advocate for all of you. These big companies want to reach women, but this is fairly new for everyone. Photography has been a man’s world. And any thing that is new feels a little vulnerable–how can we best do this, who do we have take the message, what do women need and want, etc.

And WOW, I got to fly to NY and basically say, “Yes, your intuition of women wanting to become better with their cameras is right on. Yes, your idea of women wanting to document their children’s lives is correct. Yes, their is a HUGE population of women that will be excited to hear you care! Yes, they are determined. Yes, I’m so thankful you’re asking!”

Next step? Too many to count.

It’s as if a revolution has begun. A revolution to document your child’s life and not let the intimidation of what you “don’t know” keep you back another day.

As I was leaving the party, I was given a gift of the the camera, DCS-W80 Sony Cyber Shot, with a Cyber Shot Station to view your photos on your TV. When Brian was looking at the boxes, I asked him if he would be open to an idea. Since we have 50 million cameras around our house, I wondered if he’d be okay with me giving the camera and cyber station away to one of you. He smiled and said “That’s an awesome idea!”

So friends, we want to give this camera away to one of you! Check back on the blog tomorrow to see what the contest is and how you can win!! Prize: Brand New Cyber Shot DSC-W80 with the Station!

Our way of thanking you for all your warm wishes, support and prayers!!

Now if you have a minute, post a comment and let Adobe, Sony and Microsoft know how great it is that they are wanting to reach women!!! I so want them to know that their desire is right on!

(This morning’s blogis brought to you by our special guest, Brian, AKA Me Ra’s husband!)

Yeah!

After her flight was delayed for two hours Saturday night, Me Ra’s back home from New York! She was glad to be back and the Kids and I couldn’t have been any happier ourselves.

Thank you everyone who wished us well and/or prayed for her trip. I can’t imagine it could have gone any better. Me Ra and I were up until AM Sunday morning, she had so much to share with me. It sounds like an amazing trip talking about it with her, though I’ll let her share those details on the blog Tuesday morning when she’s feeling better.

You guessed it. She woke up sick this morning and it only got worse as the day went on.

I bought her some chocolate truffles and what looks like a yummy dessert wine. I thought it would be fun to eat and drink these while we sat in front of the fire and watched a movie tonight after we put the kids to bed.

Since she wasn’t up for wine and chocolate tonight, I thought it would be fun to take a picture of what could-have-been and what-was. Can you guess what she did get to have in the picture below?

Well it’s 1AM, so I’m off to bed. I just wanted to thank everyone who thoughts or prayers were for Me Ra this weekend.

It was cool to read your comments or when talking with friends on the phone, to hear you were praying or thinking about her and wanted to know how things were going. That’s really cool. Thanks!

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Me Ra said I should also note my recipe for the shot above!!

Aperture: 1.4 (It’s night and this room has very little light. Also, I like it when a lot of the picture is out of focus, except for the specific area(s) I want people to notice.

Shutter Speed: 1/80th of a second

ISO: 800 (Again, I had very little light and images on my Canon 20D start to get noisy/grainy above an ISO of 800)

Lens: Canon L 80 mm

White Balance: Fluorescent (The lamp has an energy saver bulb, which is basically a fluorescent bulb. I didn’t want to edit white balance on the RAW image so I shot in JPG mode)

I set out the wine, glasses, Truffles, and Theraflu on a table by the fire so Me Ra could watch.

You probably can’t tell, but that’s Me Ra’s elbow in the foreground.

Since there wasn’t a lot of light, I moved the duraflame box by my little table of goodies and set the nearby lamp on it, so that the lamp was now closer to and in casting light onto the from of this stuff.

I laid down on my back and took this picture upside down.

I rotated the image 180 degrees. Applied an action (a photo effect) on it in Photoshop and voila…

Hope that’s helpful, if you were interested?
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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

To order our new DVD, Refuse to Say Cheese: Capture the Story, click the title!!

For information on Me Ra’s popular photography workshops visit “Documenting a Child’s Life.”

To see our day job, visit our website.

Okay, time to send some serious prayers my way. I can’t share to many details right now, but wow, I’m in for a ride!

I get this call Friday afternoon from Blue Pixel, the company I did work with earlier this year when Best Buy came out to Seattle. They ask if I’m coming to Photo Plus Expo, I say not this year b/c we’re taking some time off of tradeshows, they say that’s really to bad and will I rethink it b/c there is someone they’d like to introduce to me.

I can’t say the someone right now, but the someone is a billion dollar company that wants to know more about the DVD’s and me. Eeks! It’ll all happening at a private party Friday night in New York. American PHOTO and Popular Photography magazines are hosting, and they’re bringing in models to shoot!

Within the next 48 hours of booking my ticket (Monday!), I get calls and have four more appts. set up–all around the DVD series and projects we’re launching in 2008. It’s just crazy how fast every thing is happening in the last few days!

So I buy a plane ticket, and away I go at 5am this morning, having no idea what’s going to happen in the next 48 hours. But I feel like this is a God thing, and I need to jump. Plus, it helps to have a supportive husband push you off when you’re nervous to jump. How does he push me off, he smiles and gives me one of those looks when I tell him about the phone call from Blue Pixel. One of his looks that says “You were meant for this.” (love you honey–remember, no chocolate milk with their cereal!)

I’ll try and update you guys during the weekend!

Thanks for praying and rooting for me!! It means the world!!!

Oh, and if you missed last night’s post about a Christmas Special, be sure to check it out!! Couple spots still open!! And if you didn’t meet Megan the afternoon post yesterday, you don’t want to miss her!

When was the last time you had a great family photo for your Christmas cards and gifts? If it’s been to long, check out this special Gina Sook, our Associate Portrait Photographer, is offering starting tonight!

So here’s the details!!!

Gina is going to offer two days of “Minis”. We got this fantastic idea for Minis from Carey in San Diego!! Her clients love Minis, want more, and can’t get enough Minis!

What’s a Mini?

1. Four 30 minutes sessions for Four Families.

2. Location: Tacoma UW Campus.

3. You and your family pick the right time, sign up and prepay (must prepay to have your space held).

4. The session focuses on family shots of you all together (and of course other shots on top of those! :))

5. Gina turns the photos around at light speed (2 weeks)

6. You get the CD with all the images at a high res (best part of this special!), AND

7. 25 beautiful Fine Art holiday cards with your favorite photo from the session!

8. Price is $250, and that’s a mini!

Gina’s opening up two Saturdays and would like to ask you to keep Sunday open in case the rain chases the sessions into Sunday. If rain happens during your session, she is freeing up her calendar to make up those sessions during the week or evenings so all of you get your family photos back with enough ordering/card making time for the holidays!

Sessions Available!

First Saturday of Minis!

This Saturday, October 20th 2007

Session 1 at10:30am

Session 2 at 11am

Session 3 at 11:30am

Session 4 at 12 noon

Second Saturday of Minis

Saturday, November 3rd 2007

Session 1 at 10:30am

Session 2 at 11am

Session 3 at 11:30am

Session 4 at 12 noon

To sign up, email Gina direct at gina@merakoh.com. She is taking payment via credit cards. Let her know what session you’d like and the date.

Please be sure to show up 5-10 minutes early. Coming late will forfeit your session and payment.

To see more of Gina’s beautiful work, visit www.merakoh.com.

Or you can click here to see a recent slideshow she did!!!

May the best families book! xoxo, Me Ra

(all images on this post taken by Gina Sook)