I’m so proud of myself.  I made it all the way through January with my 366 days of Kennedy project and I only cheated once.  Okay, fine.  I cheated twice, darn it.  But, that’s pretty good, right?  I know I will be super happy when I have a finished project.  Only 334 days left to go!

If you’d like to follow my 366 day project my username on Instagram is drewbphoto

If you’re already on Mpix’s mailing list, you may have recognized some super cute kids on their recent Valentine’s Day email.  Oh, and you might have spotted me too

You’ll be seeing even more of us in the coming months on Mpix.  I’m SUPER excited to be working with them and introducing you to their fabulous products.  I’ll also be doing some guest posting on their blog. And maybe there will be some giveaways here and there too!

Let me tell you, people.  I’m picky when it comes to my prints.  I always get asked where I print my prints and Mpix is the only place I will recommend.  See, they have a professional lab as well.  So you know you are getting the same quality as a professional photographer (if you’re a pro photographer check out Mpix Pro!).  I also love how cute their templates are.  Super modern, fun, and not cheesy at all!  You simply drag and drop your photos into their templates.  No Photoshop needed!

Not only is Mpix an amazing lab, but their customer service is top notch.  I think it’s because they are from Kansas.  And all people from Kansas are nice, right?

Be sure to check out Mpix if you haven’t already!

Exactly one year ago I did something spontaneous and crazy.  Well, not super spontaneous because I had been dreaming about it since they day I decided to become a photographer.  Exactly one year ago I signed the lease on my very first studio.  To say it was bad timing was an understatement.  I was pregnant with Kennedy, I was crazy busy with DrewB Photography and with Mom*tog.  But, I saw an opportunity to grow my newborn side of my business and I took it.

I was never really able to invest the time in that studio to make it what I really wanted.  I think maybe I knew in the back of my mind that I wasn’t going to be there for long.  I loved it and it worked for me, but I guess I just knew something better would come along.  Before I renewed my lease I decided to look and make sure there wasn’t a better space for me.  Low and behold I found the most PERFECT space.  It’s amazing.  AND it has EXPOSED BRICK!  That’s not something that you can find very easily in Orange County.  The building I’m in now is almost 100 years old.  It has character, charm, and gorgeous light (and a ghost, apparently).

Yesterday I went back to my old studio to pick up a couple of things that were left behind and I got so sad.  It was my first space and I loved it.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was mine.  I worked hard for it.  And it is fun to see your dreams become a reality.

I snapped these shots early the morning that we moved out.  The light wasn’t ideal (so don’t go Pinning these, people!), but I wanted to remember my first studio.

This is my client meeting area / hanging out area when I’m shooting.

I tried to have a cozy and kind of private place for moms to feed their babies.  This is the comfiest rocker.  It’s from Target and was cheap!

This is where I shoot my newborns (Kennedy says hi!).

And this is all of my props.  They are tucked behind a curtain, which you can kind of see in the first picture.

I wanted to go back and get a picture of me with the kids in front of my window, but my landlord took it down before I was able to do that  Here’s an iphone picture I took right after it went up last year.

I promise I won’t wait a year until I post pictures of the new place.  It already looks so great.  Everything fit perfectly, which I took as a sign that it was the right move for me.  Can’t wait for you all to see it!

I’m the type of person who likes to do everything myself.  I’m a control freak.  I want it my way or the highway.  Especially with my business.  But, there comes to be a point where you realize you can’t do it all.  You’re not super mom (or at least I’m not).  And you might just need some help.

With my photography business I like to outsource the things that I don’t like / don’t have time to do.  And one of those things is RAW processing.  It’s tedious and time consuming and I’m just not all that great at it to be totally honest.  In the past I have just shot RAW for my weddings.  I’ve used two of the big RAW processing companies and they’ve been okay.  My biggest complaint is that it’s just not consistent.  There are different people processing my images each time and it can be a bit frustrating.  Especially for a control freak like me.

If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter you probably heard me talking about editing a lot this past Fall.  Okay, fine.  I was complaining.  A lot.  I was drowning in my editing all while still nursing a newborn and taking care of my crazy 3 year old.  A very nice Mom*tog reader, Marissa Lynn, emailed me telling me that she wanted to help me.  To offer her services so I could start spending more time with my family.  See, Marissa is a Navy wife.  She’s the mom to a little girl and loves photography, but because they move so often she’s not able to really establish her business.  In the mean time she has started editing for other photographers just because she loves to do it. I decided to give her a try and I was so impressed.  She’s FAST, super great and accommodating, and her prices are so reasonable.  And she’s a mom.  So she gets that you would rather be spending time with your kids rather than sitting in front of the computer.  I’m so glad she reached out to me because her help has really freed up more time for me to spend with my family!  Really.

Marissa is looking to take on a few more clients and if you are drowning in editing like I was, I would really suggest contacting her.  Because she’s awesome.  And you’ll be happy to have more time to do what you love.

Check out Marissa Lynn’s website to learn more about her services!

No one said learning how to sit is easy…

Canon 5D Mark II, 50 1.2

F 2.0, 1/160, ISO 640

*** No babies were harmed during this shoot.  Kennedy thinks falling is funny

If you can deal with the traffic, smog, ridiculously high costs of living, and EARTHQUAKES, Southern California isn’t that bad of a place to live.  Especially when it’s 85 degrees at the beach.  In January.

This was Kennedy’s very first trip to the beach.  She didn’t hate it.

5 days later we drove an hour and a half and spent the weekend up in the mountains.  There wasn’t a lot of snow left.  But, the boy found enough to make a couple of snow balls.

And he loved hunting for pine cones.

This whole outing lasted for about 5 minutes and then he had to go back in the cabin because he was FREEZING.  It was in the high forties.  Thank goodness we don’t live in Minnesota or Alaska.  There’s no way we could survive!

Dear Kennedy,

Can you slow down?  Please?  5 months went by in the blink of an eye.  I want to freeze this stage.  It’s my favorite.  The “super happy, content baby” stage.  The “I can give you a million kisses stage and you won’t smack me (like your big brother)” stage.  The “I laugh at anything” stage.  The “Mom, you are the coolest person in the whole, wide world” stage.  The “non-mobile before the chaos of crawling and walking starts” stage.

I want to bottle you up right now.  Your cute babbles and your chunky thighs.  Your HUGE gummy smile and your sparkling eyes.

I know you can’t stay like this forever.  And I’m okay with that.  Because who is going to be my shopping and mani/pedi partner if you don’t grow up.  I’m just doing my best to cherish every, single second of this stage.  My favorite stage.

Love,

Mama

Happy Monday!

Canon 5D Mark II, 50 1.2

F 1.6, 1/100, ISO 1600

We have this song that we sing with Kennedy, “Kenny is the big girl, the big girl, the big girl.  Kenny is the big girl.  She’s so big!”.  The kid loves it.  She gets the biggest gummy smiles.  I wanted to capture it today, but had no one to take the pictures.  So, what does that mean?  Remote shutter time!

This shot was a little harder to set up.

-  First I put my camera on my cheapy tripod (got it at Best Buy a few years ago for $15) and opened up all the windows.

-  Then I had to frame the shot.  I laid on the bed and through trial and error I figured out where I needed to be.

I put a marker down (the remote) to remember where I should lay.

-  Then I figured out my settings

-  Next, I had to focus the shot, which was the hardest part.  I put a pillow in my place and then manually focused on it.  I did all of this while Kennedy was sleeping so everything was set up and ready to go before she woke up.

-  And then I got the baby in the shot.  I took a couple and went back to make sure they were ok.  It took Kennedy a couple of tries to figure out she should look at the camera.  But, when she did it was perfect.  I love it.

*** Shots of Kennedy taken with Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70 2.8

F 2.8, 1/125, ISO 640

Last year I attempted to do Project 365 and failed miserably.  Within the first week.

This year I’m doing much better.  I’ve made it to day 11 so far and I’m motivated to keep going because all of the pictures are of this cute girl:

I think it will be fun to document her and a lot of her firsts over the next 366 days.  Yes, because it’s leap year I have to do one extra day!

I’m posting all of my images on Instagram (username: drewbphoto) and I plan on putting all the images on this cute poster when I’m done!

Are you doing a Project 366?