This is the photo before restoration.  You can see that I had my work cut out for me.

I honestly was dreading trying to restore this photo.  That was until I talked to Ileana’s husband.  He told me that all he really wanted to do was use this photo to get a tattoo of his dad.  Whooo…the pressure was off.  They didn’t want to print a huge print, they didn’t want it to be perfect, they just wanted it to look somewhat better.  So last night after my Girl Scout meeting (where Illeana reminded me about the photo) I sat down and tackled it!  In about 2 1/2 hours this is what I ended up with.

I discovered that photo restoration is more art than photography.  I actually had to draw in his shirt and pants since they were completely faded from the photo.  Overall I think it was a pretty successful restoration.  I know that the goal will be met…this photo can be used to help a tattoo artist create a tattoo.

I can’t believe how much I actually enjoyed this challenge!

Almond Joy Cake

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

½ cup butter

½ cup shortening

3 ½ tablespoon cocoa

2 eggs

½ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease and flour a 13×9 inch pan.  Stir together flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl; set aside.  Put water, butter, shortening and cocoa in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Let cool until warm.  Pour the water mixture into the flour mixture and stir well.  Add remaining ingredients and mix until combined.  Pour batter into prepared pan, bake for 22 minutes or until it tests done.  Cover with Coconut Icing, followed by Chocolate Nut Coating.

Coconut Icing

1 cup sugar

1 cup evaporated milk

24 large marshmallows

7 ounces shredded coconut

Heat all ingredients in a saucepan until the marshmallows are melted entirely, stirring until combined.  Cool slightly, then spread on cooled cake.

Chocolate Nut Coating

½ cup butter

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup sliced almonds

Melt butter and chocolate chips.  Add nuts.  Pour on top of coconut mixture.  Cool. Serve.

DISCLAIMER:  Robinwood Photography is not responsiable for any weight gain, sugar coma, or heart attack after consuming this cake.  Bake and eat at your own risk.

There was a little smooching

My husband joined in on the fun

Large groups enjoyed it.

As well as small groups (or in this case 1 person)

YOU need a photo booth at your event!

To see the rest of the TAG photos click here.  If you would like to have a photo from this event you can purchase one at a special price (way cool) or right-click save the image you want at no cost.

Having a photo booth at your party is guaranteed to be a fun time and hit for all of your guests.  Photo booths are perfect for wedding receptions, birthday parties, anniversary parties, office parties or other special events.  Contact me for pricing and availablity.

***All weddings booked for 2010/2011 receive a photo booth add on at no additional fee!

As a Senior Rep Hannah can earn her prints for FREE!  She will also have an extra session in the Spring, closer to graduation.  As the school year is approaching rather quickly, NOW is the time to thing about Senior Portraits.  My Senior Portrait sessions are designed to capture your style and personality!  I love Senior Sessions and would love to fill my calendar now that Fall is near and (hopefully) the weather will be getting cooler.

I still need a few Senior Reps.  If you know a Senior who would like to have a free Senior Session, have them contact me about becoming a Senior Rep for their school.  Read about the Senior Rep Program here.

Toys for the boys who don’t have the real things.

Classic

Hot Rods

and a random dragon fly

You can check out the rest of the images in my Gallery or by clicking HERE.

Moms and Dads were courageous and skated as well.  Many were left pulling their kiddos around the rink.

Laughter and Giggles

These girls created some wonderful memories at the skating rink.

You can see the rest of the photos here.

Man.  That’s tough.

I shoot my photos in RAW which means I must run all of my images through Lightroom or Photoshop.  At that time I can tweak the photo a little here or there for exposure, color balance, cropping, or any special finishes.

Another challenge is only using the 50mm lens.  If you want to zoom into the subject YOU become the zoom.  I love this lens and this challenge really showed me how wonderful this little power house is.

I’ve narrowed my entries down.  I’m having a hard time deciding what image to submit.

My daughter was playing in the mud after the rain this week.

She’s quite the ham and played the part well for the camera

The mud was more from the water their Daddy drenched them with than the rain from the previous day

And last, but not least….Our doggie Bubba and his snaggle tooth grin

I just can’t seem to pick on photo!!!  Is there one you like better than the others?  Please feel free to comment away!!!!

If you have a DSLR I challenge you to shoot the entire day at one focal length. It is a great challenge and it will really help you to improve your eye.  Also, try to shoot for a while and post some photos SOOC.  Too often we focus on grabbing the shot and fixing it later in our software programs that we forget that our cameras can do most of that work for us.

Happy Shooting!

The Black Sand Beaches

The surf crashing against the lava formations

The Blowhole on Oahu

This is a nature preserve.  They filmed “Blue Hawaii” here.  I wish we would have had time to snorkel there.

These are just a few of the 1300 images I took in Hawaii.  I was thrilled to see that the YOU CAPTURE assignment for this week was water, because I knew I would have plenty of shots for this post.   If you want to see more pictures of water head over to Beth’s page and check out the other blogs.

If you are interested in viewing my pictures from Hawaii I’ve posted them on my website in the Gallery.  You can see Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.  I’m sure it’s like any other slide show of vacation photos, I just hope they are more artistic and representative of the beauty of the Islands.

Beth’s assignment this week for YOU CAPTURE is Yellow.  I am dreaming of the Yellow days ahead when we head to Hawaii for our Honeymoon–pineapples and sunsets.  Things have been so busy lately getting ready for the wedding, finishing my last few photo sessions and cleaning the house for all of our guests that I really haven’t gotten to play with my new camera much.  Saturday we bought this pineapple from Sam’s.  I’ve been so busy I haven’t even cut it.  Tonight I plan on cutting it and having Yellow Yummy Goodness for dessert!

My baby girls—The first Easter ever that they weren’t wearing matching dresses.  I guess I can’t expect them to do that forever.

My sweet baby isn’t much of a baby anymore.

I can’t believe she’s 10 1/2…such a little lady.

I’m pretty sure they could rule the world.

And I’m so thankful that they love each other….

…..well at least most of the time.

We found a parked train on Sunday…don’t worry, it was in the country, not connected to any engine (don’t go calling Child Protective Services on me!)

I told my girls I wanted to do a photo shoot with them.  Which is special because I normally just take pictures of them on holidays are at home…they never really get a shoot of their own.

There was some cool graffati on one of the cars.  My oldest was worried that her clothes weren’t cute enough.  I told her go with it and to just have fun!

So we pretended like we were on American’s Next Top Model.  They had to pose in the wind and the sun and still “nail the shot!”

And their imaginations exposed their personalities in the captures.  Doing an impromptu photo shoot allowed us time together to play.  I was able to further practice my portrait skills.  My youngest overcame her fear of heights by climbing on the train car.  My oldest was reassured of her inner beauty and joy.

As a working mom I often get caught up in my daily tasks: work, laundry, bill paying, commuting and in doing so I miss the moments when I can direct my children to the things that amuse them.   So here’s to sunny Spring days and the musings of children.

Outside the Historic Lockhart Court House.

Inside the Lockhart Library.  We had fun with this little nook in the library.  Grandpa Tom “read” a Christmas story  while I took photos of the family.

Outside of the Library.  This family session was the text book “My Kids Aren’t Cooperating”.  I told the mom to hang in there and we would get some shots.  Were they perfect, no–BUT it was a session that ended up capturing her children’s personalities.  Sometimes a session doesn’t go as planned but great captures can still happen.

The main thing to remember when doing a family session is that I am here to capture YOUR family the way you are naturally. Sometimes that means that your little angel doesn’t want to take photos.

This Christmas was about new families…

And some old friends I was able to squeeze in for a quick session.

I hope your time with family was great this Christmas.  I am thankful for all of my clients and friends who helped me launch Robinwood Photography in 2009.  I am looking forward to capturing your memories in 2010!  Happy New Year

In honor of the Cowboys’ win last night

The family

Merry Christmas Boys! You were all so well behaved I hope Santa brings you a ton of loud, annoying toys!

ah, they are so in love!

We were laughing and talking throughout the shoot.  That’s the fun of shooting your friends.  April was very relaxed!

Aren’t they cute?

Going to the Chapel

Looking forward to shooting their wedding (whenever they set a date!)

Each week there is a You Capture assignment.  Shooting something quickly really tests your skills as a photographer.

This assignment was to capture Real Life.  Where do I start? There are so many examples of real life around my house.  I chose this photo to capture my real life today:

Months and Months of magazines that I haven’t even read!  I keep saying that I’m going to take a Saturday and spend the day catching up on my reading.  That never happens–what happens instead is REAL LIFE.  Instead of lounging in the Hammock with my magazines and a glass of tea I am taking children to Girl Scout Events, running errands, cleaning house, doing laundry, and taking photos.  My real life doesn’t have time for lazy afternoons for reading.  I now accept this as fact.  Today these magazines will be recycled.

Here’s the happy family

Bubbles are fun!

Sweet family

We had so much fun with a bunch of balloons

What a sweet Baby and Big Sister

I am happy to be working on the launch of my new photography company.  I look forward to capturing special moments for your family and building a relationship that will hopefully span years to come.   I promise more posts to come!  In fact I’m already working on the next one–The story behind my company’s new name!