Michelle Enebo Photography

The Secret is Out

Yep.  Now I've done it.  I went to the Secret Workshop last weekend and now the secret is out.  What an amazing experience! 

Not only is Cheryl Muhr a great photographer but she is a truly inspirational speaker.  She views her job, as leader of this motly crew,  as 'quit prevention'.  Photographing memories and people is so important to her (and us!) that she makes  sure we know how valuable our skills are.  No worries kids, there is no way I'd quit something I am so passionate about.

I went in looking for specific areas I needed to work on in my business but I walked away with that AND a ton of motivation.  Motivation to come up with a plan for myself.  Motivation to rethink some of my current practices.  And motivation to make better images.

The hardest part of the day, by far, was the free shooting portion of the program.  This was a bit of a free for all.  Many of you will be surprised to learn that it stresses me out to be aggressive.  Since there were so many attendees and two photographers to shadow (Did I mention that Tara Whitney was the guest speaker?  How could I leave that crazy exciting bit of news out!?) it was a bit dog eat dog out there.  I did take a few pictures of the models but I decided that shadowing was more valuable to me than shooting.  Tara and Cheryl as so vastly different in their shooting styles, post processing styles and personalities that it was a great balance.  I loved seeing both sides.  Yin and Yang.

I haven't had a chance to fully digest all that I learned.  I'm sure I'll be savoring all those tasty bits for weeks to come.  (Along with the chocolate they gave us as parting gifts!)

Here are some of the images I got...

Jump for Joy

What's wrong with this picture?  Okay, too broad a question.  PLEASE don't email me with all sorts of ISO and shutterspeed imperfections.  What I meant was look at all those feet.  Shouldn't they all be in the air (or on the ground) at the same time? 

We finally found the jump ropes in the garage last night so we dusted them off and started swinging.  Ellie was so excited that she said she could do it from breakfast to dinner.  That's a lot of jumping!

Jill was busy teaching me how to play Mexican Train with dominos so she didn't join the fun until late.  That's why she's the one wearing the ear muffs.  (Nevermind that it was 96 degrees today.)  Apparently Kate made up a rule that you had to wear the iphones (ear muffs to you and me) the first few turns you had.  She originally had on gloves and a scarf that matched but they must have been weighing her down.  The funny thing is that Jill really didn't even fight her on this rule!

They really did all manage to jump a couple of times in the rope together.  My girls are so talented!

Effortless

When Kim brought her family to my house for pictures last weekend she apologized in advance for the outfits they had.  She said that the clothes she really wanted everybody to wear had been dirty so threw these outfits together that morning. 

Are you kidding me?  Look how coordinated these guys are?  Love all that pink! (Todd, was your pink shirt in the laundry?)  Then, for the black and white pictures the little white dresses are timeless.  The whole thing looked truly effortless!

Here are my favorites...

He laughs like a monkey....

and he smells like one too.  Okay the last part isn't true but that's what came next in my little word association brain. 

Last weekend I took pictures of Nathan and Jackie (and their parents too!). To get a natural expression on kids' faces I often ask them to tell me something funny.  This time I asked Jackie what the funniest thing about her brother was.  She said it was his laugh.  That he laughs like a monkey.  I'm not sure what that sounds like but it would crack me up too!

Leslie and Arnold (Mom and Dad) bought this gift certificate from the Bucky Beaver Preschool auction (isn't that the cutest name for a preschool?) before I switched to digital and color.  While I know Leslie prefers black and white, she just may change her mind when she sees these color pictures of Nathan and Jackie!

Here are my favorites...

Ellie's Night Out

Monday was Ellie's turn for school shopping.  Sparkle girl and I started our evening out with dinner at our favorite mexican place, Las Margaritas.  I was more than surprised at this choice as I was prepared for dinner at McDonald's.  As you can see from the picture below, Ellie's idea of mexican is chips and a grilled cheese sandwich.  It was her night, so her choice.

Ellie has tons of hand me downs (which she is fairly excited about) so we decided to look for a couple of things that didn't come from Jill.  Ellie loves jeans, unlike her big sister, so we needed some sparkle jeans.  She's also been lusting after a pair of boots for a couple of years, so in lieu of mary janes, we went with boots this year.

We ended the shopping with the usual stop at Claire's.  Contrary to the photo Nazi manager at the last Claire's, this assistant manager was much too busy texting her buddies to bother with the likes of THIS shutterbug.  Picking the keychain was the highlight of Ellie's night. 

Since the shopping portion of our evening was so brief (at least for Ellie) we decided to stop at 31 flavors for a nightcap (at 7:30pm, of course).  This is where Ellie's personality really came through.  This girl is a quiet little risk taker.  No safe choices for her!  Ellie tried the chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream but took a flier on the rainbow sherbert that did not work out.  At first she put on a brave face, but as you can see, the truth came out and we ended up dumping our ice cream.  (Mine was actually really yummy, but in solidarity I tossed mine as well.  My hips will thank me tomorrow.)

Real Dawgs

Allen and I are HUGE University of Washington Husky fans.  So much so that we planned our wedding day so it would be on a bye (we wanted everybody to pay attention to the nuptials, not the touchdowns) and we started our honeymoon at the Whammy in Miami. 

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Just watching that video gets us excited for this season.  Allen always says that it was the best week of his life because he married his best friend, saw his beloved Huskies demolish the Hurricanes, and he got on National TV in a purple wig.  Ahh.... to be young and have big dreams!

This weekend was Husky picture day.  Every year we do Husky themed Christmas cards that indicate how our season was.  We are so tired of coming with with pithy ways to say 'We stink!".   This year we have high hopes.  Because we are so optimistic we took some pictures we are hoping to use for our Christmas card.  Of course it is a State Secret so I won't be sharing those pictures.

You can, however, see these...

By the way... the numbers are their ages.

Overheard

Last week we went to Nick and Logan's house for dinner.  While the kids were splashing around we heard Nick (a bit timid about putting his face in the water) magnanimously offer "$1 for anybody who will put their head under water!"

Jill, ever the practical one said "That's a useless way to spend your money!". Very true but I'm pretty sure Kate and Ellie would have taken him up on the deal!

The hill I didn't die on

As a parent you really have to pick your battles.  Some things are worth fighting for (no biting, don't talk back to your parents, etc.) and other things are not.  Clearly this hairdo fell into the second category.  Kate was happily oblivious to the funny glances and comments from other mother's (commiserating with me) when we went shopping the other day.

After our brief shopping jaunt we went to lunch with my sister Joelle and little man Jack.  I could have called this post "Adventures in Eating" because Jack's a new and eager eater.  We all thoroughly enjoyed watching Jack try to grab his sweet potato puff and then his expression once it was in his mouth.  (Of course those crazy puffs didn't want to STAY in his mouth once he got them there!)  Wasn't it a happy coincidence that we sat in front of a nice plain wall?  Almost seems like I planned it that way!

All of these pictures were taken with my baby camera (Canon Rebel), my 50mm lens and ISO 200 for the outside pictures and 400 for the inside pictures.

Happy weekend!

Tell me how your really feel

Emily does not enjoy having her picture taken. She is very consistent in this attitude. I've taken her pictures since she was one (she turned four on the day I shot these pictures) so I ought to know!

The great thing about Emily's dad, Chris is that he can say goofy things to get her to forget how much she hates pictures. Tracy, Emily's mom has great patience and could easily talk an addict out of their latte. Between the two of them I ALWAYS get great expressions and pictures of Emily.

These guys just moved to Eastern Washington so I am glad they made a pit stop here for pictures on their way out of town. Good luck you guys!

Here are my favorites...

The Tradition Continues

Every year at this time during the summer I take each of my girls out for dinner and a school shopping date. Tonight was Jill's night. She adores mexican food so we started out at Azteca right by the mall. We used this first stop to plot our plan of attack.

Since Jill's the oldest she has no hand me downs. That means she needs the full meal deal. Pants, dresses, skirts, shirts, socks, shoes. Yikes! And this kid is very particular (read that as picky) about how things fit. Any unseemly seams and it's game over. For this reason we bring large amounts of clothes, in various sizes, into the dressing room and let the fun begin. We did REALLY well at The Children's Place this year. A pair of pants, four shirts, two skirts, a dress, a pair of leggings and six pairs of socks. Quite well rounded really. Her favorite outfit was the one in the first picture in the post. Jill loves monkeys so we couldn't resist that sweatshirt.

On the way to the Gap we felt a magnetic draw to the Apple store. The iPhone has been calling my name for a few weeks but I have yet to pull the trigger. Jill gushed to Allen that her favorite part of the evening was playing with the iPhone. Holy cow. We only looked at it for 10 minutes and she was WAY better at finding her way around the phone. Ugh!

We concluded our evening with a quick stop at Claire's to pick out some bling. As tradition dictates, we must get a new keychain for our backpack. Did you know it is Claire's 'corporate' policy that no pictures may be taken inside their stores? How ridiculous is that? Like I'm going to steal the plans for a Jonas Brother's necklace or some purple hairpiece? Surely there are better things to worry about. (It doesn't matter because I got what I wanted anyway!)

Stay tuned for Ellie's turn next week...