Photographs By Darlene

Oh Gosh, I'm Bad...

2009-05-26T16:52:00.003-04:00

...at this blogging thing! And I used to have a fair share of faithful followers. Sigh.

Well Spring is in full gear, Summer is on the way...and things are seriously picking up! I was beginning to worry, with the economy looking the way it does. But things seem to be on the same pace as last year, and then some...so that's a great sign!

I am working on a slightly new layout for the website, new colors, updating some photos. That should be up very soon with any luck! And I'm devising some BLOG contests for you faithful followers, so stay tuned!

Injuries...

2008-11-11T21:37:00.003-05:00

That's us. My daughter cracked her eye on the corner of an AC that was on the floor, look at the poor baby! We had a nice little trip to the hospital, I was worried it'd scar if we just left it. This was after all of the swelling went down, it looked pretty crazy there for a while! Then I sliced my pointer finger pretty badly, and yeah, on my dominant hand, just super. So snapping the ol' camera was a challenge today. I can't edit with a bandage on, it's just not comfy and quick, so I keep reopening the wound and bleeding all over as I edit. Good times, good times.

Regardless, I will truck on...and I am getting through a chunk of things. 4 weeks until my Vacation, so I will be kicking it into high gear for the remainder of my sessions this month, so we can have everything done, or nearly done, by the time I leave! There will be plenty of time to place an order when I get back, and still have it here for Christmas, but I'd like to have the majority finished by December 9. Whew, It's gonna' be a blast!

Pretty

2008-10-27T12:59:00.005-04:00

I promised a few people I'd post a shot from their recent sessions, so here they are! Things have been busy, to say the least. Only 6 weeks until I go on Vacation, so it's time to kick it onto high gear. I left myself a couple of days here to edit all day, and also get the holiday card designs posted. So look for those within the next couple of days!

Long Time...No Post

2008-10-19T13:09:00.004-04:00

Things have been hectic to say the least! But I've been having lots of fun with my sessions, despite the late night editing. I left the next two days open, so hopefully I can catch up on a big chunk of my editing. Here are a few of my recent favorites, look for more soon as I get through my chunk of editing!

This is a repeat client who I recently saw, and she always gives me some of my favorite shots! This one if no different, I love everything about it.

The eyes on this girl are amazing!

My new "foliage" spot that I found recently, the ducks and swans that always show up are just a bonus!

You simplay can't NOT smile at this little guy, he had cheeks to die for!

I don't get to photograph too many kids that are a little bit older...which is too bad, I love to!

These Kids Rock!

2008-08-29T10:33:00.004-04:00

Not sure whose kids these are...someone just dropped them off on my doorstep with a note that said "Please photograph". But wow can they take a photo! Sorry, I just need a moment to gloat, tee hee! I'm very lucky to have such willing subjects. The little one is still a bit of a hassle, but my son would do this every day for me, I think he loves it as much as I do! Okay, I'm done...back to work...

Sneak Peek

2008-08-20T20:10:00.003-04:00

Just popping on to add a couple of new ones from yesterday's session...

Time Is Flying...and so is he!

2008-08-18T12:50:00.006-04:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've managed to update here. My camera was out of commission for about 2 weeks. The silly thing konked out at the end of a session with out-of-state clients, but we had fortunately taken most of the shots we needed! So now it's all fixed-up and cleaned, and we're back in the swing of things! I can't belive the busy season is upon me now, and both of my kids will be starting school again in 2 1/2 weeks. Where does the time go?

So can you get over how HIGH this child is in the first photo!!!

Soon I'm going to figure out how to make these images larger on here, they look so tiny. But if it's your photo and you want to see it larger, click on it!

Quick Teaser

2008-07-09T13:43:00.006-04:00

Just popping on to post a quick teaser for a session from yesterday. I just love this photo! I'm mad-editing right now after a big rush of sessions this past week, so more to come!

Busy Weekend

2008-07-06T20:10:00.004-04:00

Here are a few from this weekend's sessions, or some of the ones I have edited anyway! Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July!

On a Roll...

2008-07-02T22:57:00.002-04:00

I was just saying to my sister-in-law tonight that I feel like I've been on such a roll lately, and getting such great shots! These first two were of my niece, she had her dance recital a couple weeks ago and I do her photos for her. We had a few great ones, but I may use one or two of the others to update my website with, so you can't see them all yet!

And the third is of my own little cutie-patootie. I'm very fortunate, both of my kids really enjoy having their photos taken, and usually cooperate...for the most part! I literally just "sorta-brushed" her hair and plopped her down in the ivy with a flower she had just pulled off in my garden...and this is what resulted.

Fun fun!

2008-06-30T22:44:00.006-04:00

I had a visit from an old college friend, and here are just a couple of the shots from the session! I think we did pretty good, considering there were 4 kids involved!!! The one of the four of them together just cracks me up!

Until next time!

Holy Cow

2008-06-24T13:17:00.003-04:00

What an insanely successful session this was! I'm sitting here mass-editing sessions, and had to share a few from this one. I may have to share more of this session later...I have a feeling there will be more great ones!
(If you click on them, you can see them larger)

Busy!

2008-06-23T22:00:00.002-04:00

Things have been borderline nutso lately. Luckily, school is out for the Summer as of this past Friday. Baseball, soccer and ballet have ended within the last week as well...so now it's just the daily grind of Summer! I've been having some great sessions lately, and now that extra-curriculars have ended, I can catch up on everything else!!!

By the way, have I mentioned that I am so not crazy about the way these photos look on Blogger? They just look way better to me on my computer and when printed out than they do here...but maybe it's just me being anal!

Happy Fathers Day!

2008-06-15T09:02:00.002-04:00

Just popping in quick to post a couple shots from recent sessions!

More teasers!

2008-05-24T20:46:00.006-04:00

What a weekend it has been so far! My last few sessions have been so fun, and so productive! As some of you know who have been coming to me for a while, I like to run inside and download all of my images right away, then edit one or two that I remember as being solid images. I can't do them all right away (sorry!), because I try my best to stay in order of when I take them...but it's fun for me to run in and see a couple! So here's a couple from this weekend!

I mean seriously...does it GET cuter than this?

Okay, I'm a tad biased here, because this little man reminded me a lot of my son when he was one. But every so often an image just grabs me, technically and emotionally, and this first one is one of them, I just love it! I wish you could see the color and clarity in his eyes here as well as I do, but Blogger never seems to make these photos look like they do in person.

Busy Weekend!

2008-05-19T12:19:00.004-04:00

Just posting some "teasers" from a couple of this past weekends' sessions. Saturday ended up with lots of sun and wind, 2 of my worst enemies when it comes to photo sessions! But we did well for this session!

And this 4 week old little girl came on Sunday...I'm not sure, but she may have had thicker hair than I do!

Happy Mothers Day!

2008-05-11T19:56:00.003-04:00

Just a simple Happy Mother's Day to any and all Moms reading out there! Hope everyone had a wonderful day! I had a great day, my son had a soccer game, which is one of my absolute favorite things to watch! We stopped at a plant sale at Casey Farm, then went for chowder and clamcakes at the Pier with Kyle's Mom and Grandmother, and then stopped in to see my Mom & Grandmother. A full, tiring, and great day!!!

Spring Has Sprung!

2008-05-01T14:02:00.005-04:00

Thanks goodness! And with the influx of good weather has been an influx of calls for appointments, which is fun for me...I've been going stir crazy always having to shoot indoors!

Things are booking up quick this year, quicker than I remember, especially weekends. If you plan to schedule something in the next couple months, you may want to set it up soon...at least that way I have you on the schedule, and you'll have priority in case of rain, etc.

Here are a couple of a recent session...

Can you even stand the cuteness of this shot?!!!

Birthday Girl

2008-04-22T12:41:00.007-04:00

I finally finished up 3 year photos of my little monster today, so figured I'd jump on and share a few! We did some in her bedroom a couple weeks ago, I always need to think of creative locations for my own kids' photos, since the poor things get their pix taken so often! Today we just went outside and jumped on front of a blooming PJ rhody for some color in the background!

These are from a recent session. They came for some 1st Communion photos (from the Monthly Special I'm running, if anyone is interested) and it was such a beautiful dress! She looked like a little bride. Her little sister jumped in for a couple too...the photo of the two of them may need to be recreated 20 years from now on her actual wedding day!!!

Time Flies

2008-03-15T11:22:00.007-04:00

Who can believe it's mid-March already?! I can't. Mid-March means that my baby girl just turned "3", and my son turns 6 next month. My daughter's cowgirl birthday party is this weekend. I actually haven't done her 3 year photos yet (Geez, what's her Mom do for a living anyway?), but I will share her invitation which shows her in her snazzy cowgirl outfit! Pretty cute, huh? The little talk bubble says "Don't make me come after y'all".

I also had another killer maternity session yesterday, so SO much fun! I just love sessions like this, there are just too many incredible shots to even show them all to you. We did a lot of different things, she just completely rocked it! This is her 4th baby, and I swear I didn't edit a single stretch mark. Sigh.

Sneak Peeks

2008-02-17T15:20:00.005-05:00

In case you know of anybody, I am going to be looking for several "Senior Reps" come Springtime. These will be local high school students who are willing to "play model", get lots of photos taken at no expense, and then help me recruit people from their schools for Senior portraits for the Fall. This would have to be someone who likes to "play dress up", considers themself photogenic, and isn't scared of the camera...I have lots of ideas in mind that I want to try out! If you know of anybody in any local schools, please forward them my website and/or email address. This is a niche I'm very excited to start doing more of!

These are from a couple of sessions from the past 2 days, just quick little sneak peeks, and then I'm off to edit some more of them! I had another ballerina in the house today!!!

Happy Valentines Day

2008-02-14T19:26:00.009-05:00

I was weeding through some albums tonight, and thought I'd post some of my personal favorites of the past year of my own little Valentines. Some of my favorites are on my website already, so I'll spare you those.

Stay tuned...I'm going to be posting my favorite client images of 2007 pretty soon, with a poll attached to see what everyone's favorite is!!! The owner of the winning image will get a FREE 8x10 of that image, and a gift certificate for another free 8x10 of their favorite shot from their next session!

My son and one of his good friends this past Summer.

A girl after my own heart, she loves her Sox hat!

Slacking

2008-02-05T14:40:00.000-05:00

Keeping up to day with my blog was seriously one of my New years Resolutions. But you know how those things go, right?

My daughter started ballet recently, so I of course had to put her the grueling process of some snazzy photos in her ridiculously cute little outfit. This first one is my favorite, even though it doesn't scream "her" to me...the 2nd one does that moreso!

This little guy had the funnest little personality!

I have more to add, but this is about all the time I have for now...check back soon!

Happy New Year (and my favorite Holiday card)!

2008-01-01T22:32:00.000-05:00

What an insane end to the year it was, lots of fun! And a tad of stress, I'll admit to that. I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday, here's to a Healthy & Happy New Year for us all!

We had an oh-so-exciting night last night, we stayed home with the kids and fondued, played Connect 4, and watched a movie together. I woke up at 10:30pm, and all 4 of us were konked out on the sofa together, kind of cute...kind of pathetic! Such is life, and I'd have it no other way!

The year started off with a "bang". Let me explain first, before I get reported to the "Bad-Mom-Police". My Father-In-Law was one of the first Jamestown "Penguin Plunge"-ers, some 32 years ago. My husband has been going in for maybe 25 years now. If you are unfamiliar, a very large group of fruitcakes jump into the freezing cold ocean on 12 noon New Years Day...to raise money for the Special Olympics. For those of you wondering, I've only done this myself once, in high school, back when a bathing suit and I went well together in 35 degree weather. I have always told my husband that when my son turned 5, I would agree to his doing the Penguin Plunge IF and ONLY IF he wanted to. (Between you and I, I had my doubts that a 5 year old, let alone MY 5 year old, would actually choose to do this).

But today my 5 year old chose to...he went into the water, did a cannonball, and came back out. Oddly, he didn't complain of being cold...he was more annoyed with that itchiness you get after being in the salt water. I was more concerned with warming my little man afterwards than taking my camera back out in the rain to get an "After" shot, but here is the "Before".

Sorry Santa! Wow did he get an earful that day. She wanted a kitchen, some cinnamon toast (yes, toast), and some clothes for her baby...and she made sure Santa knew all of this! Doesn't she kind of look like she wants to backhand him here???!

One of my final clients of 2007, such a precious shot!

And DRUM ROLL please............
My favorite Holiday card of 2007!!!

I obviously changed the names for privacy reasons. This card just cracks me up every time I look at it! It kind of summarized what the session was like, and Mom said it summarizes what their house is like...so we ran with that, and I LOVE how original it is!

You just have to love people with a great sense of humor! Happy 2008!

Hustle & Bustle

2007-12-08T16:45:00.000-05:00

Don't panic, but there's only 2 1/2 weeks until Christmas! What the heck, when did that happen?! Monday is officially my very last session, so I'll be kicking it into high gear, getting orders done and to everybody. For those needing cards, we should get cracking and have them ordered by midweek this week. For those needing prints before the Holiday, I'd like to have everything ordered by the end of the week. If you had a session the second half of this week, I'm almost done!

Just a couple to share, then I must edit a few more, shower and get to a Christmas party!

Had to share this because it's festive...and she has some rockin' baby blues!

For those of you that stalk my blog (you know who you are, and I still find it hysterical that anyone even reads/looks at this), you may recognize this as the 34 week pregnant woman who I said I wanted to kick in the shin because she looked so good pregnant! This is her new baby girl, just a few weeks old!

And one my favorite clients' little ones! The younger one is the baby on my home page with the beautiful blue eyes...just a little bigger now!

Bring It On!

2007-11-30T00:10:00.000-05:00

That's (had to be) my motto lately, as I sit here in the wee hours, yawning and working. The good news is that my Christmas shopping is now 95% done, thanks to venturing out on the dreaded Black Friday with my sister-in-law. Can I just tell you that the line at 5:15am at Kohls was a complete one and a half times around the store?!!! This was us: walk in....see HUGE line...walk out.

Ooh...first of all, check out the Elf link off to the top right here. I was up working this past week, and laughed for a good 5 minutes straight after making that at 2am. My daughter's hips were just cracking me up!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Holiday cards? I love making them, sending them, receiving them, just love them. I'm feeling some pressure this year, since I had so many compliments on last year's card. Not sure I can live up, but I did manage to tackle my kids last weekend to attempt their photos. I got fantastic ones of each of them solo, but I just don't have the energy (or desire) to attempt one of them together. I'm MUCH more patient with everyone else's kids, my own get the brunt of my impatience, poor things. I'll post my own card here once I send them out (and oh yeah, order them). And I may pick a couple of my favorites and post them after the Holidays as well! I already know who's winning so far (initials PB!!).

These could be my easiest clients ever, and this is the second year I've taken their photos. I don't think they are capable of photographing poorly, I really don't. And if anyone wants to know how to dress their kiddos for photos...check this out! This is sheer perfection, look at that alternating brown and pink color scheme working! Love.

Also, SUPER easy clients, made my day when they came! And look at the outfits, loving that! I'm always up for some winter hats and scarves! In fact, that's what my own kids are sporting in our Christmas card this year!

And this is purely for comic relief. I chopped my daughter's hair to a bob today, so her bangs can have a fighting chance at catching up to the rest. And as I'm snapping a picture of it, she jams the ol' finger up there.

Arrggghhhhhhh

2007-11-17T22:33:00.000-05:00

Okay, got that out, I feel better! Things have been crazy busy, to say the least. If I didn't have 2 kids, I probably wouldn't be up late every night working...but you know how it is, packing lunches for school, cold season is here, etc etc etc. Can you BELIEVE it's Thanksgiving this week?

I have to share this one snapshot...this is my son and his "real-life hero", who is the captain of the high school soccer team that my husband coaches. He just worships this kid, and he couldn't have picked a nicer kid to worship. They won the Division 1 State Championships last week, after a totally Undefeated season, and this was following the Big Game. Congratulations North!

These are my highly cooperative nieces, love them!

I want her hair. Sigh.

This kid just CRACKS me up in this picture! I feel like he might be trying to sell me a car with the pose, and the jacket!!!

This was just one from a family session today, I have lots to edit, but this one popped out at me as I was separating the keepers and the non-keepers. I wish I had a photo of my daughter and I having a good time like this, I love it. Self-timer????

Bring on the Holidays...

2007-11-08T11:29:00.000-05:00

Halloween's over, and I'm one of those that "jump the gun" with Christmas, you know the ones that other people complain about! I LOVE Christmas, and start listening to the music on November 1. My shopping is 90% done (because it has to be with this being my busy season), but no...we don't decorate until December, and we don't get our tree until a week or so after that. But my thoughts are this: If it puts me in a good, relaxed mood...bring on the Holiday music!

Okay, first photo is my son on Halloween. You can't tell me he's not the coolest looking vampire! Love that kid! Don't ask about Miss Thang (aka Snow White), she was anti-camera that day. We're putting her costume back on for some pictures, (today, hopefully).

Probably one of the more photogenic kids I've taken pictures of in a while!

I LOVE this shot! They just look so comfortable and relaxed with each other. And it was a self-inspired pose, they made it up!

Love the content look here too, as if it wasn't at all forced (ahem...and it was...well, a little). :)

For those that have been to my house, I have a photo of my son and husband like this on our front wall. This was an attempt to sort of recreate it...except not with my husband...or with my child! I think we did pretty well!!

Edited to add: "Snow White" didn't do too badly today! This was my favorite, even though it didn't show her costume too well.

Busy Busy

2007-10-26T13:59:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here drilling away, trying to get my editing caught up! It looks like rain tomorrow, which will be alright...gives me some time to catch up! I'll just share a couple recents, then I'm back to work!

This little girl was a gem to photograph, look at her...the camera loves her!

And this is another shot of my little thing!

What TO Wear

2007-10-14T19:29:00.000-04:00

I've been silly busy the past week, and this coming week looks even moreso...so bear with me if I haven't posted your entire session yet. I promise I'm getting to it, I'm almost done with most sessions (except the last couple). However, I do have this little OCD moment after every session. I have to run inside, download them all, and edit 3-4 shots right then and there. So I'm sharing a couple of those tonight before I go back to this mountain of editing.

Also, today ended up being "What TO Wear" day. I had 2 families that just really rocked the coordination of clothing! And since I often have questions about this, I thought sharing one shot from each session would be good, so others can get ideas. I am always willing to help with clothing choices, so please ask away! Better clothing = better photos.

Clothing Tips:

1. White. Usually NOT a good idea. I know you all see the photos (not on my site, but elsewhere) of the families all wearing white shirts and khakis. It makes me cringe a little when I see that. Not only is it waaaay overused, but white pales people, it makes the average person looks sickly. Unless you're, oh let's see...the Salma Hayek type with olive skin and dark hair, then white is probably not your best choice for a family shot. Some white is manageable, definitely, just use it sparingly.

2. Matching. Don't go crazy with the matching...coordinating is better! You could find a print in one person's outfit and work off of that. Or have some shades that are similar, but not exact. Or just keep it simple, with not too many patterns, and not even worry about the color shades. Unless you have a lot of patterns, it really should be alright. Although, obviously if you have little girls with matching dresses, and then the parents just match some simple colors up...that of course totally works too!

The clothing choices here totally work, even though you can't see the older one's dress well on here. She had on this awesome polka dot dress (see 2nd picture) that ties everyone in together...love this!

How ridiculous is this little girl, and her dress? Cute was not even the word for her.

And everyone's clothing matches her pretty little dress!

This one WOWED me! No, we were not on location in the Caribbean...good Ol' Westerly RI! The three little girls had on matching dresses, and Mom & Dad coordinated off that.

And this one I just LOVE as well! This may not be everyone's style, but I think it completely rocks...simple, but unique.

Catching Up!

2007-10-06T12:34:00.000-04:00

I'm finally catching up, after the setback of figuring out the new proofing setup last week! How about this weather, geez?!!! I have to admit, I'm ready for the nice cozy Fall sweater photos! I realized I hadn't posted in a while, so figured I'd quickly share a couple today!

I'm not necessarily a fan of the traditional "cheese" shot. Look at this little one, is she not silly cute?!! The biggest eyes, cheeks galore, such pretty eyelashes! She's not smiling, but I love that all those features just pop out at you in this shot!

The wonderful age of 2...where we often contemplate using duct tape in order to get them to sit and take a decent photo! But this shot wows me, I love that she's holding her favorite blanket tightly, and her hair looks so perfect with the little tousles falling down! She had on a little ballet tutu (which you can't see, and it was the point of the photo)...but this is still my favorite!

Editing Mania

2007-09-29T17:32:00.000-04:00

I needed a little breather from editing photos. For those waiting for their proofs to be rehosted, or to see their session from the past week...I promise I'm working on it! I had to find a new way to host client proofs after my old site closed its doors on Thursday, and now I'm attempting to link it to my site. Over my head. Totally. But I'm all over it! Here's a couple from the past few days of my editing madness!!!

This is actually not MY daughter, although they do look similar in ways, don't they? Either way, super CUTE!

This is a family who had a session with me for the third year in a row. The twins are my daughter's age, and they added a new one in there this year! It's always SO fun for me to see how much kids have grown, since I usually only see them 1-2 times per year!

Okay, (deep breath) I'm back off to edit and play with some more "web stuff".

Maternity...Wow!

2007-09-24T19:43:00.000-04:00

I had the first grabber for my "Maternity Session Special", and boy was she NOT messing around! This was some of the most fun I've had during a session in a while! She showed up more prepared than I ever imagined and we had a blast, despite the heat!

And not that I wanted to slap her or anything, but can you believe she only has 6 weeks left?!

A, If you're reading this, all kidding aside, look at yourself...you ROCK! This was such a successful session, I can't get over how many awesome shots we got! Thank you!

Happy Allergy Season

2007-09-20T22:17:00.000-04:00

Is it even Allergy season? I have just been wiped out the past few days with allergy-type "stuff", it's actually pretty annoying.

Things are getting busy in my little world. Lots of calls and emails for appointments in response to the new site, which is encouraging! Thanks for all of the kind words about the new site, and to those of you who obviously forwarded it off to your friends and family..."You rock!"

This is a little guy who I took newborn photos of earlier this year, and again now at 9 months. I just LOVE this photo, it's so classic and simple to me! The little outfit couldn't have been better for this shot! On that note, I'm off to finish up editing his session!

Hello...Is This Thing On?

2007-09-17T14:07:00.000-04:00

Well, if someone besides myself is reading this, it looks as if I've entered the world of blogging! How I think I'm going to have time for this on top of the hectic season that in coming at me...beyond me. But lots of photographers are doing it, so I figured "What the heck, let's give it a whirl!" New website, new ideas, I even bought some nifty new packaging, so hey, new blog too, why not?!!! I'm thinking it will be kind of fun...and it'll give me a way to keep my clients updated, to share a couple of shots from recent sessions, and to completely overwhelm everyone with photos of my own children (because I REALLY did try to limit how many of those I put on my actual website). It's tough, ya know, they're really pretty darned cute (even the little one with the attitude).

Okay, here's where I'm supposed to share some photos with you, let's see...

This is my baby boy, who started Kindergarten 2 weeks ago. I was sure that I would either hyperventilate or curl into the fetal position on Day 1, but I'm happy to report I did pretty good! Notice how proud of himself he looks here on his way to the bus. He spent the first week thinking he was "Joe Kindergarten", but things got a little emotional on Friday...he had his first "I want to stay home " episode.

This is a friends' wedding that we went to last weekend, which was so so beautiful! I've hit her up to let me practice with some less traditional bridal shots, so you may see more of her on her soon! But doesn't she look like she's having the time of her life here? I just love this photo!

And this is my "little one with an attitude", need I say more, look at the little hellion. Believe it or not, she's the same one who is on the opening splash page of my website (LOOKS cute, right?)