Hannah Gamble [Senior Prtraits]

Miss Hannah was such a pleasure to work with, she is a beautiful young lady with a very bright future. I have known Hannah for years and it doesnt seem like she should be a senior this year...I must be getting OLD !

Hannah, thanks again for calling ME to capture this special time in your life. I hope to hear back from you for all your future photography needs !!

A few Logo Designs

I have been a jack of all trades here lately...As iff I didnt have tons of shoots to edit and blog. I have Tons of Logo orders as well. Why cant there be a clone machine in my office or atleast a few more hours inthe day !!


Here are a few !

New Welcome Page for FB

I know yall get tired of seeing these... and so do I so thats why I keep making new ones !!

Shooting in Full sun at any time of the day !

So as most of you know I HATE shadows, and what better time that in the middle of the day for them... I usually book Inside, when its overcast outside or late after noon to shoot. It just makes since, most of the time its cooled down by then AND you dont have harsh shadows... I read an awesome blog today over at MCP Actions! The topic was JUST THIS...Photography Tips ~ Shooting in full sun at any time of the day!  Click that link and check out a Fully deatiled Forum on this topic and I hope it helps you as much as its helped me !!!

This Video is halarious !!!

For the past week, I have done nothing but quote this little 2.02 min video...This aired on the news upin Huntsville, AL last thursday or friday and besides the topic. The people are histarical to watch ! Im not sure how to post videos to the blog just yet... and I could Hyper link it, but I thought Id share the link just incase you wanna snatch it and share it yourself !  ENJOY !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua-OqYZC1DA&feature=youtube_gdata

What do you wear on your photo shoot ?!?

Guidlines for couples, family, children, graduation, business & how to look more slim !


Many Many times, I get asked this question over and over again... well I have writen it all down for you and I hope this will help and answer most of your questions when it comes time to Dress for the press !! LOL ~ A little of my humor !

GUIDELINES FOR ALL PORTRAITS
• Cloths, colors & shoes: decide if you would prefer a casual or more formal portrait
• Coordinating clothes: the night before your portrait try laying out all the cloths the couple will be wearing. Be sure they match and that they are not too distracting.
• Hands: ladies hands are often included in portraits, they add femininity and elegance. Having your nails done is important; hands usually are included with couples engagement and anniversary portraits to show off the ring.
• Makeup: remember to bring along some makeup (lipstick and powder) for touch ups.
 Contact lenses: some people who wear contacts tent to blink on a high percentage of photos, it might be a good idea for you to wear glasses and then take them off for the photos.
• Last but not least: get a good night nights sleep so you will have a fresh look.

COUPLES PORTRAITS
• Cloths, colors & shoes: decide if you would prefer a casual or more formal portrait
• For Casual: consider Denim, similar sweaters or turtle necks, Pick matching colors or at least similar tones
• For more formal: stay with Dark, solid colors. Feel free to bring a couple of tops if you are not sure which will photograph best. Try and avoid large areas of light pastels, bold striped, bold patterns or anything that this too distracting, a subtle pattern is fine. Also avoid short sleeves; upper arms always tend to photograph wider than they are in real life. Keep in mind that dark colors are slimming. Keep jewelry simple, a conservative is always a safe choice.


CHILDREN PORTRAITS BABY PORTRAITS
• What to bring: Please bring a couple outfits, Denim overalls are always cute, and white, off white or pastels are also nice. It's a good idea to bring a couple favorite toys. Sometimes with younger babies its smart to include mom in a couple of the shots, so you should bring a casual white, cream or off white top too.


BUISNESS PORTRAITS
• Women & Men: when it comes to cloths keep in mind that you want to appear professional but friendly. When in doubt about what to wear, a slight conservative look is best. A jacket in blue, navy, grey, burgundy, or black are always safe choices. Try and avoid large areas of pastels, bold stripes, patterns, and anything that's too distracting. A subtle pattern is fine though. Avoid short sleeves if you are not wearing a jacket. Remember dark colors are slimming, business portraits are just head and shoulders so don't worry about your shoes, Keep jewelry simple, again conservative is always a safe choice.

***The psychology of color: For business portraits you must know that:

1. the don't trust me color is GREEN, Avoid it !
2. the cheap image color is purple, avoid it !
3. the Unsophisticated or slob color is brown, Avoid it !
4. the Colors that say SUCCESS AND TRUSTORTHY are navy and black

Think about the image you want to project in your picture, conservative, friendly, artsy, approachable. I would be happy to discuss ideas with you.

GRADUATION PORTRAITS
• What to wear: bring your cap and gown and a whit dress shirt and tie for the guys or a white blouse for the girls. You will only see from the waist up so don't worry about the shoes and you can wear jeans if you like. For the casual shots wear what ever you would like, if you are not sure bring a few things and I can help you pick out what looks best. A nice sweater is always a nice look. Jeans and a white T-shirt are very Popular for that CK look.
• Bring a Friend or mom and dad: see family portrait guidelines for dress ideas


PICTURES IN THE PARK
• Cloths, colors and pets: most people prefer their pictures in the park to be casual sitting on the grass type poses, denim is always popular. When it comes to colors in general, try and dress everyone in similar colors. Psychologist says it shows closeness. For fall portraits a nice fall sweater looks great. Khaki pants or Dockers with white shirts are also a very popular combination

• Try to avoid; white socks and running shoes, they are very distracting. Feel free to bring the family pet if you like. Be sure to avoid cloths with LARGE logos DESIGNS, and team names ect.. The wind is unpredictable so extra hair spray is usually a good idea.


DRESSING TO LOOK SLIM

Colors and ideas ;
• Most people prefer to look a little slimmer that they are, yes its true that a camera adds ten pounds (at least) but most photographers can correct that with proper posing, turning your body to a better angle and adjusting the camera angle or height. But it makes a big difference if you do the following…
• Too look slimmer try these:

1. Darker colors are slimming
2. Solid colors
3. One color head to toe
4. Vertical lines are slimming; consider vertical pleats, v necks or a long chain

Instant flatter stomach:
• Try pants with a flat front. No draw stings, pockets, zippers, or decorations
• NO POCKETS, avoid pants that have a lot of pockets that draw attention to your waist area
• Use Eye catching shinny jewelry or objects to avert attention away from problem areas
• Simple lines are slimming; consider A line skirts, collared blazers and blouses
• Heels add height and therefore are slimming
• Good posture always makes you look slimmer
• Wear your proper size clothing. You will look slimmer in cloths that fit you. Other than cloths that are too clingy or too baggy.
• Consider pantyhose with whatever foundation you feel comfortable in, lycra, control top, or body shaper.



TO LOOK SLIMMER AVOID THESE

• Lighter colors (white, most pastels) make you look heavier
• Bold patterns, plaids, shiny fabrics, heavy fabrics.
• Short sleeves and your upper arms look bigger than they are
• Horizontal lines make you look heavier, avoid belts and wide collars or wide lapels
• Double breasted jackets or blazers add weight also.

Alot of new thing are happening over at JC Fotography Facebook Page !

Im starting off the month of august with several changes, this particular one will only take place on Facebook though... Every day I will have a designated task for "fans" or "likers" to participate in or to learn from... (hopefully) I want it to be a ton of fun and I also hoe it gets everyone involved and Im hoping it develops everyones Eye for all the beautiful things around us on a day to day basis... If you choose to participate with everyone on JC Fotography FB. Then I cant wait to see what all you come up with, Looking forward to this week, and kicking off the main events each and every day !!!  Holla ~ JC

Cullman, AL Portrait Photographer { Eden Laird }

Eden is absolutly Beautiful, She needed some Portraits made for a beauty pageant and we took the opportunity to be creative and have a little fun. I tried to make her look as young as I could, but as you can see that was not the easiest thing to do... I wish I could post All the great shots we got, but instead Ill leave you with this little taste of what they were like...


Eden, you are so beautiful and such a nice young lady. You have a sunny dispotion and your so much fun to be around. I cant wait for "the nest time"

~ JC

Cullman, AL Family photographer { The Myrex Family }

Well here they are, the Fabulous, Fun, Photogenic MYREX family!!! I love these guys! (we took tons of Photo's but here are just a few)
 

  What a beautiful family... Koral and Paylee are absolutly beautiful and I know that Lee and Ginger are so proud of them!
 

Benson is too funny, I had to YELL bull frog to get him to stop what he was doing to look at me, Half way though the shoot he decided he would get in the swimming pool to cool off !!!  he is a mess...

I had some fun with this photo... Photoshop does wonders and I just couldnt resist the sun set I added in !

Palyee is going to Alabama & koral will continue to go to Auburn (bless her heart, lol)
We got a bunch of cute shots with them in their "school friendly" colors !!!

This is one of my favorites, Palee and Koral almost look like twins, they are what I would call the all american girls, ABSOLUTLY BEAUTIFUL !!!  This photo has me wishing I had a sister too.

Another on of my favorites, its a fun shot !!

Ladies,

   Thank you for asking me to do this for you! It was such an honor to photograph 2 of the most beautiful, strong, and driven young ladies! You guys have made me laugh and truly ...grateful for your friendships! I had an amazing time laughing with you and I hope this will be a semi-regular event!!!!!

Tired of hearing "Your camera takes great pictures"

So next time you are thinking, “I need a better camera…” or “I need better lenses” remember that while quality camera and photo editing equipment certainly can help your photography, it is the photographer and skills behind the camera that matter most.... Chech out this AWESOME post on this very phrase, blog written by Erin Farrell Photography

New JC Collage for Facebook

I Hate to SPAM you guys with this post but Im working on YET another Welcome Collage for my Face book wall... SOOOO enjoy this or disregaurd it.... thanks for yall continued support too !  JACK

Figured it out !

Ok so I know yall dont care to see this, but I have figured out that I can use the HTML from this blog to post the Facebook FBML on the JC Fotography !! So just over look this post !

New JC Collage...

I knew I should have paid attention in that class...

Well I have the new website up and running... Check it out "HERE"
I'm super dooper happy with it, but I'm tired of changing colors and layouts...There are not many photos in my portfolio just yet, but each album has a hand full to look through !  Needless to say I'm happy with it for now...

On the other hand I'm still working on the "FACEBOOK" page for JC Fotography. You see... there is this "welcome" page that I should be able to insert HTML in...I have converted the "text" and It looks fine, but now I have converted a photo and I'm trying to put it in place, BUT all I get is a red X... I have tried several different web hosting sites and I get nothing...this is sooo frustrating. I have had a fellow photographer friend trying to help me out, but I am stumped....with that said...I should have paid attention in that website building class...dern it !

Mayhem in May

I cant believe I haven't posted in almost a MONTH...

That just proves how busy Ive been...LOL...so anyways there is so much new stuff going on here in the calvert corner.

First, A few weeks ago there were several storms that came through MS and AL... they were devastating. Several people lost their schools, their homes, their belonging and even their lives. The Clean up is still going on till this day... We continue to pray for those who lost loved ones and Hope for a full recovery on their towns ! Luckily we didnt have any damages and we made it to the storm shelter just in time. Looking up, you could literally see the clouds rotating, I was scared to death !!!

I had the opportunity to photograph some of my favorite people ever... the Barbaree's. If I had to describe this family in one word, it would be PURE BLISS...ok so two words! Dison just fell in love with Kiera the fist time he ever met her, but THEN....he met Clara, the rest is history. Maci bug is my little blond hair blue eye'd Doll! Then theres Rhett, I have known him for years and years, and he has ALWAYS been there for me, I like to call him, My brotha from anotha motha. lol, And atlast Amy, she is honestly the most precious lady I have ever met, they are all a mess and alot of fun to be around... I love you guys !!!

Needless to say spring/summer is in the air & everything is blooming...I SHOULD be booking left and right, but I have been working on my website for JC Fotography... I have transferred my Domain name to a new host as well as my website... so I have had to reconstruct everything from the ground up. And Im not super dooper excited about my final selections but im honestly sooo tired of changing colors and templates...so what you see now may look different then what you see in a few weeks or months...LOL Go check it out http://www.jcfotography.com/  and let me know what you think !!

Now that we have broke out the lawn mower for the first time... Im happy to announce that Darrin CAN cut the grass... There were soo many things that we both had already put limitation on due to his accident, but GOD never seizes to amaze us and prove us wrong...Even though He does get worn out doing it. We have also been trying out our green thumbs...o_O...We are a little late on the whole "plant in February" but we went and bought several plants and flowers to spruce up the outside of our home. Even the kids got into it. Keira LOVES water and so does Clara belle, so anything they can help with that involves the "water" they are ALL about it. They seem to enjoy being outside with darrin and I too, wanting to show us tricks on their scooters and such!  OH MAN... I almost forgot. For Mothers Day, I got a Hammock, FINALLY !!!  The two tree's outside my carport have been screaming "hang a hammock" and so we finally did...Only to realize the dang tree's are about 5 inches to close together, Its comfy, but it sags alittle...The girls don't seem to have a problem with it though!

We have also been enjoying this awesome weather by going  fishing... I LOVE IT...but once the kids catch their first fish they are done for the day..not to mention they catch theirs with in five minutes of getting there. The bream are on the bed already and we can see them in the pond we fish. I lucked up and got a new reel that I decided to fish with and not adjust the settings on...well I caught about an 8lb catfish that my drag wouldn't allow me to reel in... so i just started walking up the bank and I drug that bad boy in...LOL... We should have kept him and ate him !! Check out Keira Ann's face, she is NOT digging the "big" fishy at all....haha

Let me see...what else...Oh the Oil Rig that blew up, OK, so I have some venting to do here. First of all its NOT anyones fault, thats why they called it an accident, I mean Im all about not polluting the oceans, littering our beaches and killing animals/fish...but come on people. My deddy worked on this same "deep water Horizon" rig AND he is a driller, It just so happens he wasn't working this particular time. He has alot of insite and knows exactly what happened, with that said do you really think the employee's of BP planned to blow themselves up and kill people...NO...Gripe Gripe Gripe... but thats part of the risk of the job, YES its horrible that we have tons of oil leaking out and it will probably make gas prices spike, but not because we are lacking any... we have oil reserves FULL, that we have not touched. ughhhhhh, i get so irritated hearing about people running for some political position saying "I'm for this" or "im against that"  SHUT UP, we got to have it, and that's how we get it, we will all live to tell about the oil rig blowing up from a natural gas bubble that couldn't be stopped in time...get over it and move on... THERE IM DONE...

 If your wondering about darrin, he is still wearing the bone growth stimulator, and since his work schedule sucks, he pops muscle relaxers more than normal...His memory is really the only think that you can "notice" a difference with, Due to being put to sleep so many time in such a short time he has an issue with processing thoughts. Like he will say to me "dont let me forget to get the oil changed tomorrow" and Ill have to remind him that we did that yesterday...He remembers then, but he has to be reminded. The Dr said this may or may not get better...

Well that pretty much sums everything up, Again Congratulations to my BFF Lydia Wade for graduating UAB this past Saturday !  On her way to UA vet school in the fall. ~ Here's to new beginnings Lyd ~

Back to the "Real World"

Well we are finally back from the mountains...Wow, we had a blast ! Keira Ann was sick a few days and ran a low grade fever, but once we got some motrin in her she was fine...Now that we are home (you guessed it, NO FEVER) so anyways, we enjoyed our much needed vacation with Darrin's brother Brian, and his family...Heather is one of my best friends so its always nice to get away and spend some time with her. 

There was so much to do but one of our favorite things to do was to go to cades cove, BUT they were closed due to construction... Im figuring they are fixing the road though there...who knows, so we didnt get to go there. We did how ever go to Gatlinburg, we shopped and stopped in to visit the Ripley's Aquarium...it was gonna cost over 50 bucks  for all 4 of us to go, BUT since Darrin and I had our Military ID's we got in for 3.99 and the girls got in for 1.99....I mean how awesome was that. So that way i didnt feel guilty about  getting something "over prised" in the gift shop for the kids...

Lets see, we also Hiked up a mountain and We are still feeling the pain today from it... the Water Fall was beautiful. There was a sign that said " DANGER Falling deaths have occured, closely control children..High vertical drop offs ahead along trail at falls area."  haha, I had to take a photo of the kids hanging all over that sign...but for real~ There were area's that there was no slant down, it was literally a DROP OFF... i took pictures but you cant even tell..so im not gonna share them.. All 8 of us headed up for a photo op, then back down...

When we were leaving we saw a momma bear and her baby...YES!  I was hoping to see some kind of wild life, even if it was just a snake or something, LOL... These guys were just hanging out right off the road so we pulled over along with everyone else and broke the camera back out and started shooting... they were not very close to each other, so I dont have any photos of them together. Oh well maybe next time ill see more. We also went to one of the mini golf courses to play, and Drove ALLLLL the way to cherokee to eat at a burger king, only to decide it wasnt that great, Cherokee, NOT the burgerking....LOL... so we headed back....

Oh and there was this Biker that would NOT get out of the middle of the road. I called him lance, and I seriously thought darrin was gonna run him over. there were times that I couldnt see his back tire cause darrin got so close to him, and instead of riding on the white line he was all over the road...FYI:  IF YOUR A BIKE RIDER... YOU DONT OWN THE ROAD... GET OVER, dang...

Oh yeah, we also took my nephew to where his cross country friends were staying. It was a Pent house for sure, on the TOP of a mountain. the view was amazing. We had to dive zig zag up the mountain and actually spun a tire at one point..you could see the strip in Pigion Forge, The house has windows allll the way around it and EVERY bedroom faced the sun rise, Oh and let me add that it slept 24 and had 7 bathrooms, a HUGE living room, with bar, kitchen, fireplace, pool table, and lounge area, flat pannel TV above the fire place. it was Heaven !!!

Bottom line, our vacation couldnt have been more perfect (EXCEPT for the Well  water we had to bathe in) EKKKKK....I took Well over 1000 photos not including the ones darrin and clara belle took... Ill have to share them with ya some time soon !!!  Back to the real world... I hate unpacking, putting away, washing clothes, and spring cleaning... good thing clara is on her spring break...she can intertain Keira Ann while I try and get some of this done.....Bye for now !!!

Project is Up to date...FINALLY ~ And here's whats new !

Some New things.... Keira Got to dye Easter Eggs for the first time that she remembers, lol... they turned out great, Darrin and I dyed a few too...aint they beautimous ?!?!?!

 Ok so Keira Ann informed me the other day that she was in my belly and clara was in Darrins belly when they were babies, and thats how they became sisters! She is growing up fast and will argue with you on ALL her many theories...and both clara and Keira are supper excited about their caterpillars forming cacoons and all their sea monkies have hatched ~ They love the out door life and enjoy looking for bugs and BRINGING THEM INSIDE FOR ME TO SEE..... EEEKKKK !

Darrin works, works, and works some more, The Lord is transforming him into an AWESOME man of God. The latest Dr's apmt we went to last month was very encouraging. Dr Okor looked at Darrin's X-ray's for what seemed like an hour only to come back and say " you see this area here is already fusing, it normaly takes a good year" What can we say except THANK YOU ALL for your many prayers, God Heard every one of them and is healing him! Praise the Lord ~ He is one stubborn individual as some of you may know, but Im sure thats why he is determined to prove to himself that he can do ANYTHING...with in reason of course, LOL. There are some things we never thought he would do again, so there is alot of trial and error going on with all these "firsts" ...like mowing the grass, carrying a 30lb bad of dog food on his sholders in walmart..riding his four wheeler (in the above pic) I cant ever steer that thing, i cant imagine how he does.. but he did !  baby steps though right yall...

OH guess what, My best friend, since middle school got accepted into AU Vet school... She has been working toward this day for as long as I have known here and we are sooo proud of her. Everything she has done and sacrificed during this whole process...She has become a wonderful young lady and Im truly at a lost for words when I try to explain  how inspiring she is because of her dedication ! Lydia,  Im proud to call you my friend, We love you girl. Oh and Dont let that acceptance letter turn you into an Auburn Fan...We wouldnt want that now would we... ***ROLL TIDE ROLL***

As for ME...

I have enjoyed moving back into our first Home together and we have had a few of our very best friends come to visit. There were alot of toxic relationships I had to rid myself of but it was for the best. We look forward to having some cook outs and get togethers this summer so we hope to see yall ALL here...(there are more of you out therethat promise to come, and you know who you are)

........  JC FOTOGRAPHY ........

Now that everything is starting to settle down I have more time to start marketing JC Fotography. I had such a great customer base in birmingham, and It grew so fast by word of mouth and Im hoping that is how this time around witll work as well...keep your fingers crossed for me !

ALSO... I know some of you have a Facebook page and you can see updates on my progect "365 days of 2010" , but There are some of you that steer clear of the social networking sites, so for those of you who want to see the up to date images take for this project, go check it out Here . Comments are always welcome and I would love to have some followers of my blog IF you can figure out how to become one, LOL...

We are all looking forward to spring break next week, and cant wiat to head to the mountains tomorrow for a much needed vacation, Darrin had to go and mess the last one up for us....falling out of that tree and all... Way to go babe....LOL

Until Next time...

Have I shared our latest additions to the family with you ?  Darrin and I have been meaning to get the girls " sea monkeys" for a while...however I'm not so sure what to do with them now. The booklet says its a type of shrimp...sooooo now amongst all the things around me, I have something else to try and keep alive....(sigh)

jackie

Testing Testing...making sure I have my phone verified through my blog...I can now share photos and short stories with out having to be on my computer to get online, cause let's face it...I forget half the things the kids do, that's too funny not to share. Its beautiful outside...everyone needs to ride around with their windows down! Hope everyone have a great day...now to tackle that mountain of laundry !

Wow Wee...its been a while

Ok, So Im wayyy behind on uploading the Photo of the day...Im NOT behind taking them or editing them, I just hate having to upload one at a time here on blogger when I can upload them all together on my other websites. SOOO I will start uploading all "365 days of 2010" photos Here


>>> CHECK THEM OUT <<<

I can only upload so many per month,until I upgrade...so since im starting now, It will be behind a little until My upload allowance resets next month !