Family Mini Sessions in Full Swing!!

My favorite time of year!  Holidays, families, and tons of mini-sessions.  :)  While we work on our current clients here are a few favorites from me taken this summer.  ~VICKI

**If you are interested in family mini sessions (Raleigh or Charlotte) send us a facebook message.  As of now we are almost at capacity through the end of the year.  Happy Holidays!

Back to School & Back to Blogging!

The Hautop blog is back in action!!  After a long summer break we are back on the blogging horse and excited to continue sharing our photographic journey with you all.  For our first post back we decided to showcase our little ones as they return to school.  In typical "Mom-arrazi" fashion we brought our cameras with us on those first few days.

Erin's School Pics!
School started for both my kiddos a couple of weeks ago and this year was a BIG one.  My BABY started kindergarten!!!!!  I have shed many tears and looked through tons of old pictures trying to figure out where the time went.  It truly feels like I brought her home from the hospital just yesterday and now both of them are in school and everyone tells me they will both be graduating before I can blink, ugh!!  Darn it, now I am crying all over again!!  Sometimes, I just want to freeze them right where they are so I can hold onto the moment.  Then I have to remind myself that the joy of raising little ones is watching them grow into amazing people.  So, for now I choose to pick up my camera and keep taking pictures of them...tons and tons of pictures!!  

Vicki's School Pics!
Yes, I was the Mom at the bus stop at 7am with 2 cameras, a kid in a stroller, a dog, a husband, a cup of coffee, and sunglasses.  Hi, my name is Vicki.  I have a kindergartner and I sat in the school parking lot for 7 hours the first day.  Well, I wanted to.  And I would have if I hadn't been editing the 150 images I took of my little girl that morning.  I'm sure many of you out there can relate.  :)  We are well into week 3 now and thankfully she loves it.  Truthfully I think little brother had a more difficult time adjusting to our new family routines.  He asks for her constantly, willingly jumps in the stroller when it's time to walk to the bus stop, and won't leave her side in the afternoons.

Over the summer I picked up my camera mostly for personal use.  Falling a bit lazy with my technical training and using mostly auto modes.  Eeekkk!  Did I just say "auto mode"??   No worries, Manual Vicki is back and looking forward to working with Erin on our creative challenges.  But for now here are a few of my school pics.

 *Disclaimer....I didn't actually take this pic.  The hubs did and I love it!  It was the moment she heard the bus coming down the street.  Davis is holding on for dear life.  :)

Thanks for the page views friends!  We will be back in 2 weeks!

The lucky one...

I love spending time with this family of 3.  They are some of the nicest people I have ever met.  Awesome for me because I met them many years ago.  :)  I pinched myself when they asked me to photograph their family again this month.  Miss Ella is growing so fast and it is a treasure to be able to save these moments in time.  She is gorgeous and totally gets it from Kristin.  Dustin is one lucky dude.     Enjoy! ~Vicki

And just that quick it's gone.

The challenge for this week (and I laugh as I type this) has gone by really fast.  Four times faster than any of our other blogging weeks.  It's like we transitioned into dog years because our last post was four weeks ago.  I'll be the first to admit that we've gone off track a little with our blogging habits.  Which is big no-no in the blogging world.  Take Two has gotten a little distracted.   It's ok, the first step is acknowledgement, right?  Never fear, we have remained committed to our love of photography.  It's just been one of those weeks.  ha!  I could go on and on listing all of the reasons why.....bad weather, personal commitments, family stuff.   None of which really matter or you probably care to hear.  But what this week's lesson has taught us really has nothing at all to do with the actual images taken.  It's taught us that the days are really stinkin' short and there is only so much room at the top of your list.  What resulted is that while we were waiting for that perfect moment of sunlight, we missed it all together.  Now is this blog and this hobby always at the top of our lists?  Of course not, we are mothers, wives, etc.  But what this shows us is that when something is important it must be prioritized accordingly.  And if it is not the hours, days, weeks, will quickly slip away.  I saw this image the other day that pretty much sums up our going forward strategy.  :)

 

 

 

 

You are probably wondering if we actually took any pictures.  We did.  Just a few.  Our challenge was to find light, either sunrise or sunset or just direct sunlight.  It was more of a challenge for our cameras really.  To see what these fancy devices are capable of doing.  Can we manipulate the actual environment to produce an image that is worth saving?  I often like the images with a sunflare or ones that are just outside of the normal exposure.  Something that adds a little character, tells more of the story.  So here is what we ended up with.

 

 

This image was taken mid-day on a very sunny afternoon.  I was shooting directly into the sun and was going for a hazy look.  One that would produce that dreamy feeling of a carefree day.  I certainly won't be enlarging this photo.  It turned out very grainy and I only caught a hint of a sunflare.  But I was pleased at how I actually stopped the movement of my daughter running enough to where it doesn't seem completely out of focus.  There is no filter or editing on this photo.  It was taken at ISO 800, 1/1250, and f 2.8.

 

 

These next two pictures were taken at sunrise and really speak to the power of prioritization!  I am amazed at my dear friend and her commitment to a healthy lifestyle.  Waking up before dawn to make sure her "list" is in order.  Carp-ing the hell of our her diem!

 

I was trying to capture the darkness of the morning just as the sun comes up.  And it was here that I realized the minutes went so quickly and how drastically different each minute was from the next.  To be honest I had never photographed anything that early before.  There wasn't a great shot of the actual sunrise.  But I love that these photos speak to the motto of "the time is now".   Don't wait for that perfect weather, or the 1st of the next month, or when you are in the mood.  Get out there and make what is important to you happen! 

 

 

These two images were shot at ISO 800, 1/80, and f 4.5.

Up next is the challenge of shooting at 50mm.  No zooming in or out with the lens.  They make lenses that are fixed this way and offer a lower f-stop.  It's been on our wish list of photography equipment.  And before most big purchases we like to try before we buy!  So we are renting lenses!  We will be back in 2 weeks to let you know how it goes!

~We've now passed the 3,000 views mark for our blog!  yeah!!  Our little project is building momentum all because of you!  So as always, Thanks for reading!! 







Emotion, it's so darn cute!

Emotion, it's every where.  Apparently so is Santa Claus.  At least that's what I've heard.  Which makes this week's assignment particularly easy.   We both decided this week to use the photos we had in our stash.  With our cameras constantly by our sides, snapping away almost daily, we called up a few images from the bench.  And I think we picked some real winners. 

 

Erin's Stash

It seems appropriate that the focus is on emotion this week because my week has already felt incredibly emotional.  There has been some personal news that has given me a heavy heart and then the events in Boston are beyond sad!  It is times like these that I find myself needing to adjust my view and focus on what is happy and right :-)  I hug my children a little tighter, love on my family more and give thanks for the multitude of people who chose to help those in need.  

For the assignment this week, I am going to use many of the images I have photographed for some wonderful families this week.  It has been a busy week for Studio BECK...5 family shoots, 1 event and 2 baseball games!!  As a photographer, I find so much joy in capturing a moment, a look or an event that brings others joy.  Below are some of the images from my family shoots that made me smile. I have many more on my facebook page (studio BECK) if you would like to see more.

And the two images below are from my son's baseball team.  The kid pictured below is not only an incredible athlete, but he is so very focused every play and moment of the game.  He is one of the most fun to photograph because that emotion and intensity always come through.

Vicki's Stash

I love the emotion between children.  It is so natural and unpredictable.  So when we chose that for our topic knew instantly I wanted to capture a playdate with Reese and her friend Abbie.  They were born just days apart, nearly 5 years ago.  Thanks to an instant bond between myself and Abbie's mom these two have spent a lot of time together!  They squeal, they laugh, they make up stories and games.  It's really, really cute.  :)

Spring Day Happy

And then came round #2 of babies.  The little sister and little brother just crack me up.  It's been fun to watch their personalities blossom.  It's very easy to see from this picture who's boss.  :)  Miss Cate keep Davis in line most days.  Can't you just see the emtion in this one.  She's totally telling him to move out of her seat or he's toast!

 

And lastly, a few that I just found too cute not to share.  :)

 

"Did that duck really just fly? "

 

 

"My little sister loves it when I squeeze her tight!"

So there you have it!  Emotion in it's finest form.  With those sweet baby faces.  Next week we are using the sun/moon as our topic.    Which one of us will brave a sunrise session??  You'll have to wait and see!

The first few days...

Anyone who is a parent can understand the serenity that surrounds those first few days of a new baby's life.  Those moments that are quiet and restful, filled with overwhelming joy.  While there is plenty of noise and long nights too, it is all worthwhile for times like these.....

Kelly, these boys are so fortunate to have you and Nick as parents.  They are going to have a fun-filled childhood!  Thank you so much for having me over to spend the morning with you.  Looking forward to watching your babies grow!  ~VICKI

NUMB3RS

You remember those activities from childhood.  The ones where there were 2 pictures and you had to tell what was different.  That's sort of where this weeks challenge started.  We began our conversation with "let's take photos of the same numbers but in different ways!"   Which quickly turned in to "that's gonna take forever."  lol  So we decided to just practice our manual shooting skills taking images of whatever numbers happened to come our way.  I had actually thought we would end up with another Sisters-from-different-mister post.  But turns out we did not.  Lucky you.  :)

Here's the latest from Erin:

I am so excited to finally share a few images from the baseball field.  I take so many pictures from every baseball game but tried to turn a little focus to the "numbers" for this week's challenge.  This weekend my son's team and my nephew's team played each other in what turned out to be a very exciting game!  And I was just as thrilled that the weather was finally cooperating, and we weren't frozen by the end of the game :-)  Here were a few of the fun number shots. 

And here are the cousins...

And we are thankful that they don't seem upset at the end of the game, no matter the outcome.

                                 

Here's the latest from Vicki
Ok first my nephews MUST stop growing up.  This is just to much to watch.  They are supposed to be little toddlers running around asking for juice.  Not these joke-cracking, uniform wearing, super talented little ball players!

Now onto the numbers pics.  So I thought for a few days about how to make this not so boring.  My backyard is not going to cut it.  Then I realized I had an upcoming trip to visit my twin (really my younger sister, but we like to think of ourselves as twins) at her place down in Wilmington.  Perfect, everything looks better at the beach, right?   So day 1 of shooting was beautiful.  The sky was crystal clear and I set out about an hour before sunset to snap a few pics of my kids at the marina.  Camera set to a "sunny 16" aperture, ISO at 400, and shutter speed at 320.

That pretty lady number 992071 is captained by my sister's better half, Mr. Mike White.  If you are in Wrightsville Beach this summer check out his sport fishing business, Offshore Account Charters.  They book full or half day trips all summer long.  You won't be disappointed.

However, I was when I started snapping the following day at the beach and didn't change my camera settings.  Drawback #1 to shooting manual, you ALWAYS have to check your settings.  None of this point and shoot business.  So I had a few blown-out pics before I realized my mistakes and took them all over again.  This day was super overcast and barely any direct sun at all.  My settings were 2.8 aperture, ISO 400, and shutter speed of 640.  I did do some post-processing just because they were so blah....and still kinda are.

That's all for this week!  The moral of the story here is that you must practice.  Find subjects, any subjects and just keep shooting!  Next time we are back with "emotion".  Should make for a fun post!

Write us anytime with suggestions or comments at, hautopblog@gmail.com