So did Dad do a great job on Mother’s Day? If so, time to return the favor (if not, time to show him how it’s DONE!)

From May 17-31, come take the cutest shot there ever was for Dad’s big day! Bring your little ones, some of dad’s shirts and ties (or borrow some of ours–we have plenty!) and put on the fedora!

Dad will be sure to love his kiddos playing dress up just for him. Mom, feel free to jump in a shot too!

This special costs $45 and includes a 5×7 of your favorite shot for Dad’s desk. Feel free to bring other outfits if you need other portraits done at the same time.

Appointments are any day Monday-Saturday, including several opportunities for school-aged siblings to jump in and get shots together during the special:

Saturday May 17
Saturday May 24
Monday, May 26 (Memorial Day)
Saturday May 31

Email Deanna or call her at 512-347-0081 to reserve your slot!

One small note: oh, man, did spammers take over my email address. I’ve been getting as many as 1,000 “mail not delivered” and spam hatemails a DAY. If I do not seem to return an email to you, first check your spam filter as I’ve probably been blacklisted and thrown there with the other scoundrels (and victims). Second, CALL me. I may have accidentally deleted your email in the torrent of junk I’ve gotten. I’ll be creating a new clean, unstolen email address shortly, but it’s a long process to switch over. (OOOOH, those dirty rotten spammers!)

I am probably getting near the end of bluebonnet season (although my newest patch is pretty packed with blooms still, and I’m shooting Sunday.) If you’ve waited to call, it’s your last chance, as I think most of them will be gone by the end of next week.

I took my very first bluebonnet baby shot a very long time ago, when I was pregnant in 1998, by taping a sonogram image to a bluebonnet. I was so jealous of everyone nestling their little ones in the blooms that I couldn’t wait! It’s a good memory, before the bad ones came, and I still have the photo framed on my wall with bluebonnet shots of the girls.

My next baby, Emily, arrived at the tail end of bluebonnet season in 1999. I dragged her out into the bluebonnets for a squinty unhappy newborn picture–but yes, I had it! My baby in the state flower!

Elizabeth arrived just after bluebonnet season in May 2002, so by the next year, I was ready for a spectacular shot. I had seen many professional images by then, and I knew exactly what I wanted. This was a stellar year for the blooms, and they prolifically filled a spot in Zilker Park. We did an amazing shot of Emily’s entire playgroup joining hands, and I also snapped the one of Emily and Elizabeth laughing at the tea table.

The next year, Zilker mowed the field and it didn’t bloom at all. Then they began using it as a shortcut, so tire tracks wrecked most of the blooms. While this year wasn’t stellar, they were enough that I returned to that spot to take portraits of the girls. Those blooms waned quickly, so I’m not using it for others at this point, but I have always loved the trees at the edge of this patch and it is a good memory for me!

I’ve felt very honored to take so many family bluebonnet portraits this year. It’s is such a wonderful tradition.

We are having a GREAT time in the bluebonnets! They’ve been slower to bloom than last year, but they are coming all the same.

I have opened up a second weekend for portraits. (Click to see schedule.) I haven’t even photographed my OWN girls in the flowers yet!

These shots were all taken last weekend. The photograph of the triplets has been rendered as a painting instead of a simple photograph, one of my favorite techniques with bluebonnets. I inserted a close up as well, so you could see the detail. These make ideal enlargements for fireplaces or dining rooms or entry ways—classic, timeless, and a sweet memory of our children when they were little.

A little history: the bluebonnet officially became the state flower in 1901. The name comes from its resemblance to a woman’s bonnet. The two primary species of bluebonnets grow natively in Texas and nowhere else in the world.

Bluebonnet seeds are carefully made by nature to only germinate 20% of the time. This way, if one year is bad for the blooms, the majority of the seeds are still waiting in the ground for the next season. This is why the patches cannot be predicted. Too much rain in the spring is actually bad for bluebonnets, as they rot easily, although extra rain in the fall is exactly what the seeds need. Fall rain is a better predictor for a good patch than spring.

Scarified, or specially treated seeds, can be germinated in ten days for those who forget in the fall, but it is too late and too warm now for them to bloom. Buy your seeds in September, rake a sunny spot, and lightly cover the seeds with 1/2 inch of soil. Don’t just scatter them as you will be feeding the birds!

At last! I finally got to practice the new “holds” I learned at the Babies and Bellies workshop in San Antonio. Camille was a great sport as I fumbled around and showed her (while referring to my spiral notebook) the new poses.

And boy did they work. I mean amazing. Easy to hold baby. Easy to maneuver to just the right spot. Easy to light perfectly so mom looks as beautiful as new moms do (yes I know, everyone thinks they look awful, but just look at Camille! She didn’t even know she was going to have her picture made!) I only took maybe ten shots and almost all were keepers. I am so pleased!

It almost makes me want to have another baby! (Okay, maybe not. Tomorrow, I get another year older…)

The first pose is called the “Bird’s Nest.” The second is the “cradle.” The third one, where showing mom is optional (and looks awesome if dad is willing to hold baby without a shirt and we print it in black and white) is called “the football.”

I still have two more new holds (designed for newborns) to try!

So today I stood in the shower for five minutes, shampoo bottle in hand, trying to remember if I had already washed my hair or not.

I’m sure I’m not the only person this happens to. Right now I’m trying to process at least sixteen tasks at any given moment, and I feel like my own personal whirlwind.

But the new studio web site is up! I have spent about sixty man-hours (woman hours?) on it. As of this posting it has a few little things that bug me (move that table to the left…no…the right…) I’ll fix them by morning.

I thought I could leisurely create it during this slow month for pictures, but then I got an opportunity to put up a show of images at Amy’s Ice Cream in Westlake. I will be hanging it hopefully Thursday, and I wanted the web site to be up and running before then, especially since the show involves images that could potentially drive traffic to the site. I’m very excited about the Babies Are Butterflies in the Garden of Life Series, and I’m sure the mamas who have babies in the collection (who are all about five years old by now) will be glad to see I’ve resurrected the images. I’ve designed three new posters for the series and I’m having great fun with it!

There’s a lot more going on–a special on the horizon, edits to Jinnie Wishmaker, a new email service to learn, but it will all get done. One thing about being a whirlwind–you move fast!

You know, now that I think about it, my hair does feel extraordinarily silky. Maybe I conditioned it more than once while I was worried about everything I have to do. Must be that silver lining my mom always talked about.

Go to Amy’s this weekend or during the next couple of weeks and take a look at the show! Or view the collection online. It’s fun!

Ha, the dress didn’t *really* fit. I was, after all, 22 when I wore it! But it was pretty darn close–good enough to model for a practice shoot for my photography group.
Such talented people I know! These were shot by Suzanne Jenkins.

Last night my photography group met at Dunvegan Keep, one man’s backyard turned architectural and landscaping mecca. The images in this post are from there–Kurt standing in the doorway of the Knight’s retreat, all dragon windows and swords.

This amazing piece of land has been featured in national magazines and on Good Morning, America, which seemed like a good idea, since the owner rents it out for weddings and photo shoots. But this also caught the attention of the neighborhood association and the tax assessor, so he’s dealt with unending battles with both. Lawyers have threatened to tear down his tower and send him the bill. It’s not pretty.

But the grounds are gorgeous. He’s done all the work himself–immense stone structures, carefully inlaid mosaics, doors and artwork brought from Africa.

It’s funny and ironic and terrible that someone can create something so beautiful, so intricate, so well planned, only to find so much controversy. Life isn’t about art, after all, it’s about resell value.

Good restrictive covenants make good neighbors.

Today, I was at a rehearsal for an Easter pageant I am involved with. I have been in the cast for 10 years, was chairman for a stint, and still do all the photography and publicity for it. It’s been a rough year, as last-minute construction at the Burger Center shoved us out of our home with only a month to go. We had to scramble for a new location and then reblock the whole pageant as well as retrofit the tomb, the garden of Gethsemane, Pilot’s palace… everything. The rehearsals are still pretty ragged only 6 days out on the show. I sat on the bleachers with my daughters, as since I have young ones not allowed in the arrest-trial-beating-crucifixion scenes, we only go out at the very beginning and end of the production.

I make up the program, so I am in charge of the cast list and memorials to have loved one’s mentioned in print. A man I know well, let’s call him Billy, came up to me and said he’d like to make a contribution to have his mom’s name as well as his mother in law’s name placed in the program.

Billy is around 60, but looks older, other than a dark shock of hair. His is missing most of his teeth, and he stoops as he talks, so his face is often inches from yours. He rambles in conversation, seems to stumble to follow a line of thought, but is awkward about it, as if he realizes his shortcomings and is embarrassed to make you suffer through them. He is humble. I adore him.

I touched his arm and said I was very pleased to put his family in the program again. These ladies have been dead many years. He pulled out his wallet and I assumed he’d hand over a small contribution of a few dollars. Billy eats only out of the grace of Meals on Wheels, does not have a car, and often misses rehearsals because he can’t afford a bus pass or even a daily fare.

He handed over a check for $33. I looked at the sum and felt mild shock. How could he afford this? He said, “I’ve been in the pageant for 33 years. I wanted to make a donation that showed that. $1 for every year.”

I squeezed his arm and told him, “That’s a wonderful way to look at it. And we’ve been very blessed to have you here all these years.”

He smiled, face reddening. “This is my family,” he said.

He got called out to do his part, a role reserved for him each year as the high priest. I sat on the bleachers again and watched the cast fumble through the complex blocking. I worried about what that amount of money had cost him to contribute. We ran through the Palm Sunday scene, and Jesus, played by Benjamin, who had been in the pageant since he was an infant, related the story of the Poor Widow. It comes from the book of Mark, chapter 12.

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything–all she had to live on.”

And so did Billy.
And when I watch Benjamin play his role, even when it doesn’t come off just right, he is transfigured to me. I get a chill when they throw him against the whipping post, and whether or not any of it is true no longer matters. It’s all about how I feel, and how I believe.