Let’s all just pretend like she’s laughing here….I wont’ tell if you don’t.

When Connor walked in with his amazing valentine tie, I almost squealed.  He’s just so stinkin’ adorable!  Take a look for yourself….

Thanks for experiencing your first photo session with me.  I hope you all enjoyed your trip & all the fun and exciting new things Kathi showed you!  Enjoy your photos!

Here it is….

Village Trip – Asossa, Ethiopia from Mandy Sroka on Vimeo.

And if you happen to know the information on this song, please e-mail me!  I’ve been trying to find it everywhere!  (hint:  it’s Ethiopian)

I took my camera to the high school girls bible study that I help lead last night, hoping to get my photo of the day.  I see these girls every Wednesday night and hadn’t blogged about them yet, so I thought I’d give it a try.  While we were waiting to start, I had Kelsey help me with trying to capture motion.  Kelsey takes photography in high school, so between the two of us we thought we could make it work.  We tried with this little jet plane.  First we tried having Kelsey roll the jet across the counter.  I couldn’t get the settings just right, so next we tried having the jet stay still & me moving the camera from left to right.  The above photo is what we came up with.  Pretty fun I think, even if it is out of focus.

And this next photo is a bonus!  Last night was also Trish’s birthday (she helps lead the study too) so the girls made her a birthday cake.  As you can see I didn’t expose for the cake, just the sweet faces that made it….

Photo:  John Waire Photo.  John is another local photographer…Baltimore I think…that I found through Twitter.  I really enjoyed his post today about his daughter Mady’s puddle jumping adventures.  Not too many words, but the photos spoke volumes.  I can totally relate.  And one of my girls has the same Hello Kitty rain boots!  Great work, John!

There, I said it!  And I’ll say it again, “Counting calories sucks!”  However, everything that is good for us doesn’t necessarily feel good for us at the time.  Like going to Zumba last night didn’t feel good, but it was good.  I’ve been wondering, with much naïveté, why I wasn’t losing any pounds when I was working out.  Well, now that I’m counting my calories, I know why!  I am simply maintaining my weight.  I put in so many calories that the workout only cancels out the extra calories that I am consuming.  What I should be doing is consuming less calories AND exercising.  I know that most of you bright people out there have already figured this phenomenon out, it just took me a little longer.  So, with the help of my LiveStrong.com app, I’ve been counting those stupid little calories AND trying to exercise.  The LiveStrong app is cool because you tell it how much you weigh, how much you want to weigh, and when you want to get to your goal.  Then it calculates the amount of calories you should take in per day to reach your goal.  And when you add exercise to that, you should, in theory, lose more quickly – but do it safely!

Now why do I want to lose weight?  Yes, to look nice.  But mainly because I want to live a healthy life & be around to see my children grow.  I also want to instill in them what it means to be healthy.  Not that it’s necessarily looking a certain way, but it’s feeling good in your skin, feeling comfortable, and having a healthy, properly functioning body.  So, as I embark on the last year in my 20s, I feel now is the time to do this.  This is one of my “New You” goals.  I feel it will help with stress, aches, pains, headaches, body aches, sickness, and overall health.  Wish me luck, because I’m a total food addict & I hate exercising!  If you wanna join me, I’ll be at Big Vanilla, in my basement on Wii Active, or running even when no one is chasing me.

Photos: Ansel Adams….ahhh!

Yeah, yeah…it’s a cheesy title.  It’s late – give me some slack.  Anyways, my husband and I came up with this idea around the Fall of last year to make an iPhone app for me.  I am constantly looking for posing inspiration before shooting a wedding, or a portrait session, or a newborn session.  I used to print out ideas & glue them into a mini spiral notebook so I could look to them when I had a brain freeze during a session.  So Josh & I decided why not put these ideas on my iPhone since I already had it with me?  That’s when “Live Click Capture” was born.  It’s basically a “look book” for the iPhone.  If you’re an amateur, a mom with a camera, a professional, or whomever, this app is for you.  It’s just a collection of my favorite poses that I’ve captured over the years that I’m sharing with whoever wants some inspiration.

So, once it’s downloaded, you have the loading screen, and then this screen comes up next….

Each cutesy little icon is a button.  Click on a button for the category you are looking for and it will bring you to the following screen…..

This is the newborn album.  The bottom row are  thumbnails that you can slide left and right.  Once you see a pose you like, simply click on it & the larger version of the photo will appear.  Voila!  It’s that easy.  Here are a few more shots:

I’ll be giving out 10 codes to download the app for free in the next few days.  So check back to see how you can win one.  Or, you can support my husband’s growing app business & go buy one for two bucks!  And, if there are any poses you don’t see that you’d like to see, let me know & I’ll work on them.  I’ll update the app with new, fresh ideas every few months.  I kinda feel famous now, with my own app and all.  Don’t worry though, I won’t let it go to my head.  I really like showcasing Josh’s immense talent in this area.  He’s the man who made it all happen!

What is a holiday mini-session?  Well, for me, it’s a way to meet new & fun clients, and provide them with a quick, cost-effective holiday photo.  For you?  It’s 20 minutes out of your Saturday to get dressed up, visit the beautiful grounds of St. John’s College, & have fun with me getting a few professional pictures.

What do you get?  You get 20 minutes of personal shooting time with me.  It’s much less than the traditional 2 hour photo session, but it’s just enough time to get a few poses for your holiday card or photo gifts.  In addition, after your session, you will receive a link to your own personal on-line gallery of about 5 to 10 proofs from your session.  From these proofs, you will be able to choose one for a high-resolution digital image for your own personal use.  Now you can take this digital image & use in it in your family’s Christmas card at places like Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc.  Or you can get it printed & have ready-made holiday gifts!  The only thing you’re not allowed to do is sell it!  Along with your high-resolution digital image, you will be given a smaller, web-sized image for use in e-mailing, Facebook, MySpace, etc.  (These smaller size images are not suitable for printing)

So, it’s that simple!  All you have to do is sign up.  There’s no need to be a previous client, and no need to purchase more than what I’ve laid out above.  Eighty bucks, 5 to 10 images to view, one digital image for you to use…the end!  Here are the times available…and keep checking back.  As slots get filled, I’ll let you know on here!  Thanks, and invite your friends!  I love meeting new people!

9:30 am

10 am

10:30 am

11 am

11:30 am

12 pm – Dapper Family

12:30 pm – Dapper Family

1 pm

1:30 pm – Saunders Family

2 pm – Klassen Family