Nice to See You Again!

It’s been, well, a while since my last post and for that, I’m truly sorry. I’ve been quite busy since dipping my toe in the local photography scene and as everyone knows, a photog’s blog is the first thing to be ignored!

That will be changing (for now at least!) I have been trying to keep up with updating my Facebook page by adding to my ever growing online portfolio! Since I last graced your computer/mobile device screens, I’ve done quite a few sessions. From weddings, to maternity, to family and more! If you head on over to Facebook, you can check them out until I get some posts up for said sessions.

Until then, I leave you with a photo of a sea turtle from Sea World San Diego!

Thanks again!

Karen

Dogs Are Not Our Whole Life | {But They Make Our Lives Whole}

Title quote by Roger Caras

 

 

 

A tale of two doggies

 

I don’t think I’ve gone a single day in my life without having a dog right beside me. My first dog, Bubba, was my best friend. He was only a few months younger than I was, so from birth we were inseparable! From playing outside to going fishing, we did everything together. So it was no question when J and I started dating that we were going to have a dog. That’s when Scrappy Doo came into our lives.

Let me start off by telling you her breed; she’s a chiweenie. What on Earth is a chiweenie you ask? It’s a “hybrid breed” of dog that is a mix of Chihuahua and Dachshund. When we first met Scrappy, she was a wee 7 months old. All ears, no lie. She was actually owned by my neighbor, who wasn’t supposed to have her due to my apartment owner’s rules. He tried to get rid of her, but no one was interested. He even tried to dump her on the side of the road, but just couldn’t bring himself to do so. Terrible situation, I know. But J and I knew we wanted the little furball, so we took her in. Now here we are, 7 years later and she’s still my little baby. We knew we wanted to get her a playmate after we were stationed here in California, so we went on a hunt. I’m not one for buying a dog, so we were searching at local shelters. That’s when we found Honey.

 

 

Honey is the sweetest old Basset Hound you could ever meet! I always joke around about how she makes a terrible guard dog and would probably just lick someone to death. When we adopted Honey, she was 7 years old. She’s now 9. But you could never tell by the way she plays! She’s so full of energy and excitement! And she LOVES the fact that we have a toddler in the house. That’s because said toddler sneaks her snacks, throws her ball for her, and makes she she gets all her necessary pets throughout the day. We know very little about Honey’s past, but we believe she may have been mistreated. We’re just glad we could give her a loving home and family that she can spend the rest of her days with.

 

 

Do you have a family pet that you rescued? Thinking about getting a pet of your own? Rescue dogs might not be that cute, spry little puppy you think you’re looking for, but they make amazing family pets! Puppies and kittens are only puppies and kittens for a short time. Don’t get them only to lose interest when they lose their little-ness. I’ve seen too many cases where people BUY a puppy (for their toddler, mind you) only to chain the dog up outside all day everyday when it got older. Also keep in mind the type of dog (if you’re looking for a dog) that would best suit your/your family’s lifestyle before fully committing to one. Large breed dogs don’t do well in small apartments just as much as hyper/easily excitable dogs may not be very good for a family with small children. (Where personalities can vary breed by breed, they also vary dog by dog. Just something else to keep in mind.)

 

I was very happy to share my wonderful fur babies with you!

 

Until next time,

Karen

My Little Family | {Our Adventures}

This post is going to be a little bit different. I want to let you look into the life of my little family and see the things we like to do together. I’m sure it’s not much different than what your family might do. Here’s some visuals for you to enjoy.

Oh, and before I forget, check me out on Facebook at facebook.com/photosbykaren2010. Likes and shares are greatly appreciated!!

 

 

Little K and I like to “window paint”. I found it on Pinterest (of course) but I couldn’t tell you who from. There’s probably hundreds of tutorials/posts about doing this. Like this one. Or this one (who got it from this one).She was showing me the smiley’s eye and then her eye! How adorable is my little one??

 

Remember how I said I like the outdoors? Well so does K, A LOT! She loved feeding and petting the donkeys at La Purisima Mission in Lompoc, CA.

 

Donkeys aren’t the only animals she feeds. Well, actually, she’ll feed just about ANY animal… Anywho, we love spending time together at the duck park!

 

And we’re always up for a trip to the Ty Warner Sea Center in Santa Barbara, CA! It’s fun, interactive, educational, and let’s not forget inexpensive! K absolutely loves playing with the “shish” (fish). She also likes to splash in the water because she knows she’s not supposed to…

 

And splash in the water when she IS supposed to! I have a little shish of my own!

 

Oh how we love to spend time at the beach! Even though most of the time we’re dressed for a blizzard, there are a few days that are wonderful to play in the sand or go watch the sunset.

 

These are two separate trips, but see what I mean about K feeding animals? She likes to sneak her nacks (snacks) to our basset hound, Honey, any chance she can get! So of course she was all for feeding goats at the Santa Barbara Zoo!

 

What can I say, we like going to the Sea Center! She really does love to splash, and get everything soaking wet…. But you should always let littles be little!

 

Until next time,

Karen

My Little Princess | {Miss K}

“I’m going to go get my daddy!”

 

So, I lied. This post isn’t going to be about sunsets and whatnot. Instead, I want to show off my adorable daughter and give a shout out to an amazing photographer here in Cali. Her husband is also in the Air Force.

Others on base had raved about Melissa online and when it came time to find a photographer for predeployment pictures (J left us for the better part of a year and during a crucial time in K’s development) I knew who I wanted to take them. They were awesome! And Melissa is so sweet! She allowed me encouraged me to bring my own camera to her studio and K’s smash cake session so that I could learn some things. She’s the only photographer on base that’s showed any interest in allowing me to job shadow (which I still need to do). And for that, I would like to say thank you! If you ever need an experienced and awesome photographer here on the California central coast, call Melissa!

You can look at her work on her Facebook page at facebook.com/FolksPhotography

The first set of photos here are of K when she was a wee 7 months old. Melissa invited me over for a playdate/photo lesson. It was fun and I really learned a lot! The second set is from K’s smash cake session, which Melissa also encouraged me bring my camera. And I’m glad I did! Of course, my photos weren’t nearly as great as her’s, but I got some cute ones, too!

Crown and tutu made by yours truly, cake made by my friend Katie with Sweet Retreat ( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Retreat/123920771138539 )

 

We were doing a “Daddy’s Favorites” themed shoot. Daddy’s high school baseball warm up shirt, a St. Louis Cardinals hat (we’re from Missouri, if you remember), and Daddy’s baseball and glove.

She’s such a cutie! (If I do say so myself!)

And so chunkie!

 

 

 

 

And then she had a birthday!

My World

 

Let me get started by first introducing myself. My name is Karen. I’m 21 years old and currently live on the central coast of California. Why did I say “currently” you ask? Well, my husband is enlisted in the Air Force which means he and I, and our daughter and doggies, will move around more than the average family.

When I was in 8th grade, I met my husband (we’ll call him “J”) for the first time. I won’t get into too many details, but after getting to know each other over a period of months, we fell in love. Sweet, innocent, young love. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to spend my life with. We continued our relationship into high school where we both started to form our own passions and interests, supporting each other in whatever the other chose. For J it was a career in the military. For me, it was the hopes to one day turn a love of photography into something more than just a hobby. J enlisted in the Air Force when we were just 16 years old. It was a hard decision but one we both knew would be wonderful for our future. So on our 4th anniversary at the age of 18, we went down to our tiny town’s tiny courthouse, in front of our parents and two of our best friends, and signed our marriage license. We graduated high school a few months later and exactly one month after that, J left for Air Force Basic Training. This 5 month span to myself gave me the opportunity to invest in my blooming photography career. Or so I thought.

I decided not to enroll in college yet since J didn’t know where we’d be stationed until he was in Tech School. We had hoped we’d get a base somewhere in California since we were from a little town in the Ozarks of Missouri, aka the middle of scenic nowhere. Well, I shouldn’t say that. We do have some pretty cool scenery, but not much in the way of entertainment unless you’re into beer drinking, rafting, bon fires, backroad ridin’….you catch my drift… Anywho. We got our base, packed our stuff and our doggie, and ventured half way across the country to start our new life. Not too long after our arrival to the Golden State, we were excited to find out we were expecting a little one! This is when our daughter helped push back (yet again) me enrolling in classes. Not saying that’s a bad thing! As of right now, I’m happy to be a stay at home mommy to our wonderful 18 month old (we’ll call her “K”). She helps me to grow more and more each passing day!

One thing you’ll soon figure out is that I tend to go crazy with photos (and I suck in the writing department, I’m sure that rant will come soon). But hey, I did say photography was a passion! And I have the BEST subjects to use; my family and friends! I absolutely love to be a part of their lives and to help document all the important (and not so important) things going on. Just in the last 2 years, I’ve been able to make friends with 2 AMAZING couples and do various photo related things for them. For the first couple, I was able to help them with their wedding (photos and more, I like to be crafty. But that’s a whole other story…) and when he deployed, I was able to photograph not only his return but some adorable homecoming shots after they were settled back into a routine. For the other couple, I was incredibly honored to be there for the announcement of their little one as well as maternity and newborn photos, including a birth story. I love love LOVE that we all have become such close friends family and I love even more so that they allow me to record the memories they make.

I’m not the average photographer. I’ll tell you straight up that I don’t see myself as a “pro”. I’ll be the first to say that just because you have an expensive camera, it doesn’t make you a professional. I’m the one who will say that if you don’t like what you see, you don’t need to pay for it. I’m still learning. I’m going to make mistakes, I’m not perfect. Not that I believe ANYONE is, but still.

Through this blog, I hope to learn and teach and share to my little heart’s content. I hope to one day turn my hobby, my passion, into something more. I don’t “do it for the money”. I’m proud of what I do and who I can help. I hope you join me in my journey.

Until next time (which I’m sure will be quite soon),

Karen