All of these shots were in manual mode. Theodore was awake for only a moment however.
He was just ...
too comfortable....
with his mommy.

Always curious and wanting to touch!

My two favorite guys to photograph!!!

Here's something different for today. Statues are much easier subjects to photograph!

I love the 50 at 1.4 but I can only seem to do it when Alexi is standing still. And he stand still for about 1 second.

It's too cold for May! That's why Alexi is still wearing a hooded sweatshirt - but we managed to have fun anyways.

I just love the shallow depth of field on this photo. I am loving the 50mm 1.4

When I was looking at Theodore's photos for the second time this image really stood out. Him, head-on, cradled in his mom's hands.

Alexi's first brush with a celebrity did not go so well. He loves to watch Christine Cushing on TV but in reality it was a different story. (We are guessing that he thought she was a doctor with the all-white or he didn't like being put down on the table.)

here's what I see a lot of times when I come home to pick up alexi from my parents. him just running around happy in the street and on the neighbors' lawns. thankfully they live on a dead-end street.
also, I find it ironic that just when I said I haven't scrapped in a long time I take these two photos (with my mom's point and shoot camera) and I feel like scrapping them.

I know that Mother's Day is just around the corner but I couldn't help myself, this photo just screamed "Happy Father's day". There were lots of photos of just their hands but alexi's eye peeking around the corner just got to me.

I finally got to have a photo shoot with Theodore this Saturday!
Isn't he adorable?
Coudn't you just eat him up?

Photoshop Fun - Black & White with Color

I had to capture this moment of Alexi playing intensely with his blocks. He was setting them up and knocking them down while we were getting dinner ready. So of course, I had to run over and snap away.
I had a request yesterday to give tips, and I thought "Wow, I feel so honored."
This will be a PhotoShop Fun Tip!
Alexi was wearing a red, plaid shirt, blue socks and the carpet is colored, it looked pretty busy color-wise. But I loved the sun and shadows streaming in.
So in Photoshop, I made two copies of the photo. One was black and white and the other I kept in color. I layered the two copies (the black and white one was on top) and then I used the eraser tool to erase over the blocks thus revealing their color underneath. It's always a good idea to save it in layers (PSD) in case you want to make changes later.
Hope this was clear and helpful.

Finally we got some warm weather and we went walking in the forest.

It was a rainy day yesterday and I'm thinking "No photos today" until I remembered that I bought Alexi the cutest froggy umbrella - so out we went for photos. He loved playing with it but didn't get the concept that an umbrella needs to be over your head, therefore he wore his hood.

Here's Alexi exploring and examining a dandelion. He really likes being outside.

Introducing Theodore Michael!!!!

Here are some photos of Theodore Michael. My sister's first child. He'll be 4 weeks this Sunday. In the one photo he's in his Easter outfit and in the other he's wearing his Monkey onesie. He's too CUTE!

Can you believe these almond blossoms? My parents have two almond trees in the back yard, that in addition to giving terrific tasting almonds in the fall they also give fragrant smelling blossoms in the spring.

Alexi has discovered swinging - and he likes it!

Happy Good Friday!

For all the Orthodox Christians out there, Happy Good Friday.
Here's Alexi with his new haircut and tie.
The last photo is Alexi hanging out in the backyard after church.

Spring is Finally Here!!

I couldn't decide on the double or triple storyboard so I posted both.

And some more T.O. photos.

Here are photos from the big city of Toronto. Alexi really enjoyed the people watching, hustle and bustle, and pigeon-chasing in the parks. We had a cool view of the city from our hotel room.

Finally it's warm enough to be outside. Not that Alexi likes to touch grass or anything else green!