If You Give a Girl a Hula Hoop (Personal Post) {Lisa Rappa Photography | Atlanta, Ga. Family and Child Photographer}

  This  year I decided to try to post one blog post a month just for me.  I have some bigger projects in mind for some of these, but this month's was much more spontaneous and just good ole "mom pics" once again. But when my spunky girl came home from school all smiles and pep, I suggested another super quick impromptu sidewalk session... and she was game. So when your own kid is willing to let you photograph her, you go with it and you don't stop to brush her hair, put on clean tights, or anything because this is what makes her just so HER.

    

   

  

         

Personal Projects and My Happy Place {Lisa Rappa Photography | Atlanta, Ga Family Photographer}

   So, I've been debating taking on more personal projects like a 365 or a 52 project where you stick with a theme, and have decided to stay with my attempt at my Daily (ish) Project through Clickin Moms and hopefully be a little more successful with this this year!

  I've never been great with keeping up a personal blog so my extra goal this year will be to post one blog post a month just for ME...whether it be a new technique or subject I want to try out, a personal post, etc.  I'm keeping it simple.

   I figured I'd kick this plan off with some photos I took on our recent December beach trip. This trip has become a tradition for the kids and I and this year was our 4th trip. My best friend joined us with her little boy this time, which made it even more special for us.

    It all started when my two were 1 and 2 years old and I was looking for a place that was as ON the sand as it possibly could be, because vacationing with a 1 and 2 year old has enough challenges without trekking back and forth to the beach.  I found the perfect place at Pirate Cove Villas and have loved it ever since! We discovered that December at the beach is much more enjoyable than I would have thought and so far the weather has been in the 60s and 70s, so we've been quite lucky. Everyday was overcast, but that actually makes it a little easier with kids and not needing to reapply sunscreen quite as often.
 
    After the busy fall photo season, I am always craving this time to focus on my loves and step away from the computer and my camera. Obviously it's impossible to not pick up the camera a few times when you are at such a beautiful place and of course my iphone got a lot of use too, but I keep my 5D Mark ii stored away the majority of the time and just take in the slow mornings and the beauty of the ocean as much as I can.

Here are some of the moments I couldn't resist capturing though! And I'm so glad my friend was there to take the camera and capture a few with me as well since I rarely step in front of the lens! I honestly rushed through completing these knowing I would never get to them if I waited, but they are for me and with my mommy goggles on, I sure do love them!
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Our first morning...the sand is like snow, but without being wet and freezing. We LOVE it and footie pjs just make it even more fun.

   

  

 We took a dolphin tour with Sea Screamer Dolphin Cruise and I highly recommend them.  They shot canons,  got to drive the boat,  touch a jelly fish,  and got to see a lot of dolphins!

Our friends joined us a couple of days later and the kids were so excited to have their buddy there to get silly with!

So thankful for the pics below that my friend Gini took for me! 

"Aunt Gini" and her sweet boy: 

Playing with fire ;) 

And just because she put her red dress on and  felt like dancing...

CM Blog Circle 2013: Creating Drama With Light (Personal Project)

I  participate in a monthly blog circle through Clickin Moms where we take on challenges to shoot something under a given topic each month and we all share what we did in our blogs and link to one another. This month the theme was : Creating Drama With Light. 

So, I think I have an excuse for procrastinating every time, but I'm determined not to miss a post in spite of that! I have had absolutely no time for personal pics this past month and I have tried to keep this project purposeful and not pull from my sessions, but I almost did that.  However, at the very end of Thanksgiving Day my two were snuggled on the couch together and I really just wanted to capture the moment b/c they are truly who I am most thankful for and the moments where they are close like this make my heart so happy.

 But anyhow, back to light-- it was a very dark in the room, but I decided to embrace this moment and turn more lights off and use only the leap pad they were sharing as the light source. It may not be all that dramatic, but I love how it captures the mood of the moment and draws you right to their happy faces. This was shot at 6400 iso and super grainy so I went with black and white, but also b/c I think black and white always adds to the "drama" of an image.  And here's my image! Hopefully I will have more to share in my December post. Oh wait, I think that topic may be selfies, so probably not, ha ha. 

Go check out Michelle's "drama" and talent   HERE

CM Blog Circle 2013: October's Challenge: Spooky

    

 I  participate in a monthly blog circle through Clickin Moms where we take on challenges to shoot something under a given topic each month and we all share what we did in our blogs and link to one another. This month the theme was : SPOOKY. 

    Ha! This theme is about as far as it gets from my normal subjects that tend to be adorable, cute and cuddly, so I knew that switching from fall family session mode to spooky-mode would be a challenge. I went to a Lake House with my mom and kids this month and although it could not have been more gorgeous, it is easy to create scary thoughts in your mind while out in the middle of the woods and there were definitely plenty of spooky image opportunities, but I honestly was trying to recharge and take a break from my camera and I only got one this time. This tree was outside of my bedroom window and even my mom knew what I was talking about when I mentioned I needed to get a picture of the spooky tree before telling her which one. There was just something eerie about it at night and even in the daytime a bit too. So there ya have it..be afraid, be very afraid ;)  

Check out Michelle's Spooky: HERE

2013 CM Blog Circle: "Beautiful Ugly" {Lisa Rappa Photography| Atlanta, Ga Portrait Photographer}

    Our Clickin Moms blog circle continues this month w/the theme "Beautiful Ugly." I love this idea b/c photography has truly taught me how to see the beauty in almost everything. If you get bitten by the photography bug you will soon learn that it's hard to not always feel like you are looking at the world through a camera. 

   But in the end beauty really is in the eye of the beholder anyhow. You may not even see my captures for this theme as beautiful, but I hope you see what I mean. 

  I didn't get too original, but focused on the overgrowth of plants mixed with weeds in our yard. The mix of the dying plants with the weeds that are creeping in from a distance is something that doesn't look so great as whole  (time to fix this part of my yard!). And some of the plants aren't what you would immediately think of as beautiful, but when you look closer you realize there is some beauty in there. Hopefully I captured that ok in my hurry while my son (in is pjs) and I walked around looking for "ugly" as the deadline was approaching for this month ;) 

Beautiful Ugly

(click to enlarge images)

Now go check out Michelle's awesome interpretation of Beautiful Ugly HERE

2013 CM Blog Circle: Shooting Through Glass: "Watching Our Sunflowers Grow" {Lisa Rappa Photography}

  Our Clickin Moms blog circle continues this month w/the theme "Shooting Through Glass." Now let me just say that every month when I hear the theme I think to myself "Oh Cool! I'm REALLY going to get creative with this one. And then life happens and I find myself taking my theme photos the day before in a bit of a hurry, BUT regardless, it's still been a great motivation to capture something for me and a reminder to get out and document a little bit of our lives too. 

   Back to the theme...We have been growing sunflowers! Both Ashlyn and Dominic have loved watching their flowers change each day and watering them especially. The pots sit outside the toy room window on our porch, so they are often looking back to see if they got bigger again. It has been so fun seeing how amazed they are when they go to look each morning. I think we'll be needing to re-pot these soon as they really are growing fast!  So I decided to capture the view from our toy room. This was not only shooting through glass, but also a screen and a whole lot of pollen...but I kind of liked the fuzzy effect that caused and even the yellowing a bit. I shot in manual focus to avoid focusing on the window dirt and angled myself to minimize some glare and reflection.
This was fun- and now I'm motivated to go do some more "through glass" shots! 


But till then...be sure to check out Michelle's interpretation of the theme (link below)!

               Waiting....

Not quite through glass, but I loved his wide eyed expression in the reflection so including anyhow ;)...

And of course a little (almost) 4 year old humor ;) 

Don't miss Michelle's "Shooting Through Glass" post HERE

2013 CM Blog Circle: Interesting Perspectives {Lisa Rappa Photography}

   I'm enjoying getting to know a group of talented ladies thru Clickin Moms by participating in a monthly blog circle with them. I enjoy getting to take a peek into their lives and how they see the world through their cameras.

    Each month, we are given a topic and can interpret it in our own unique ways and then at the bottom of each blog post for that topic you will find a link to the next person's take on it as as well. Be sure to check 'em all out. This month's theme should be very interesting. Although I was VERY tempted to go out and buy a new wide angle lens for this theme, I stuck with using different angles and compositions for my "interesting perspectives" and let my sweet Boone be my subject, giving my real kids a break ;) I liked how in the third image you can see me in his eyes- showing his perspective of me! 

Don't miss Michelle's "Interesting Perspective" HERE

2013 CM Blog Circle: Food Photography {Lisa Rappa Photography}

   As I mentioned in my January "just for fun" post,  I have joined a group of talented ladies thru Clickin Moms in a blog circle.  It's actually really fun going through and seeing what each of us did and how we captured the month's topic differently.

   Embarrassingly, I was a bit of a "failure" at this this month, but I promise to jump back next month. In all honesty, it's been a tough month for me personally and since food has been mostly therapeutically tossed in my mouth in moments of feeling overwhelmed,  I did not think to take the moment to stop and photograph the few times it may have actually looked good. Though if Reese's cups photograph well-I really messed up b/c there were lots of those this month ;) Ok- so no big woe is me or anything- I'm just fine- only wish I had put more planning into this!

However, I did not want to break the circle so I'm kind of cheating and since I happened to photograph a wedding this past month, I am sharing the few food shots I got while there. I was actually invited to partake in the dinner during this time as well (yum!), so mostly got cake shots (and drinks--if that counts?). Oh and I was injured just before, so only a few of those (long, almost funny story for another day). Like I said- interesting month for me!  So here you go...and please don't forget to go leave the other ladies some love on their blogs by following the link at the bottom..starting with Michelle's!

Check out Michelle's food photos HERE!

2013 CM Blog Circle: January-Close-Up Portraiture {Lisa Rappa Photography}

      This year, in addition to a few other projects/challenges (yes, I have a project addiction...let's hope I can complete all of these this time!) I have joined a group of fabulous ladies thru Clickin Moms in a blog circle. Each month we will all focus on a certain challenge for inspiration and post our interpretations and images on our blogs. I will link to the next talented lady at the end of my post so you can view her work as well and so on.


    The first challenge of the year was "close up portraits." Of course at the beginning of January I thought, oh I'll have plenty of time, this will be a slow month...ha! January got crazy to my happy surprise, but luckily my son allowed me to pull him to the side to snap a few quick close ups. And honestly I am so inspired to do more of these. I know I will love looking back at the details of his sweet face as he grows and changes. I know before long there won't be much "baby" left in these cheeks. I chose not to process these much. The light was pretty and I love viewing him just as he is, chapped chin, cheeks and all. He will always be perfection to me.

                          His tiger face ;) 

     

 Yep-  it's hard not to spoil this kid ;)

Check out Michelle Barnes' close up HERE

Perspective [I Heart Faces Photo Challenge]

  I took this photo earlier this year as part of my 365 project.  It's special to me for two reasons: 1.) Well b/c it's my son's feet of course, and b/c quite frankly he is growing up way too fast for my liking! And 2.) Because it reminds me to always remember to look at things from another perspective. Which of course is important in photography, but also in life.

Just For Fun (My 365 Project)

   I have been staying busy with portrait sessions each weekend, but have managed to squeeze in some time for my personal 365 project (on www.365project.org) each day too. I have mentioned it in my other posts. I signed up for it to experiment w/new things such as different types of shots, edits, etc and also to document my year and of course some fun moments with my kids. I am on day 68 today, so just under 300 days to go...oooh boy. There are many days that I don't have a lot of time to spend on it, but I love how it is changing the way I look at the world and enabling me to see potential photographs in things or from perspectives I never would have thought of before! I think it's starting to rub off on my husband too as he has begun pointing out random things that would make "good pictures" as we are driving. :-)
Of course I often can't resist using pictures of my own kids for my project and sometimes only have time to throw in something from a recent session, but every now and then I add some other stuff for fun. Here is a random selection of my personal faves that are NOT portraits ....