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Hi

I arrived in Michigan last night and did not attend the workshop mixer as my plane leaving from Chicago was late.

I went to the workshop site this morning to find that it has been cancelled.  Amy Wenzel’s husband was in San Francisco on business this weekend and he fell, suffered a concussion, and was taken to the hospital after a resulting seizure.  The doctors discovered a brain tumor that they think has been growing for quite some time.  Amy found out last night that the tumor is most likely malignant and they are to perform surgery today.  She flew out from Michigan very early this morning to be there in time for the surgery.  Please be praying for Amy and David.  Thank you!  I will keep you posted as I hear news.

Jen

I’m excited about a photography workshop I’ll be participating in this next week.  The focus of the workshop will be child and senior portraiture taught by the very talented Amy Wenzel.

There are many reasons why I chose this workshop for 2009, one of which was this tag line -
getting 3 or more crying children to put their arms around each other and start laughing while looking directly at the camera for 40 frames with a 99.9% success rate every shoot. (Yes, I’m really serious on this one!).

Much of the time during my photo sessions with kids, I am capturing them as they are, capturing what they enjoy doing…most often this does not involve looking into the camera.  I’m talking to them while I’m photographing, so often all I need to do is just say their name or ask them to look at me.  But there are times when I’m photographing families or groups of kids where it is nice to have a more posed shot with everyone looking into the camera and smiling.

Yes, for these types of photos, my aim is to get eye contact and smiles, but my favorite photos are the ones I take before and after that “perfect” photo.

Here are some “out-takes” from a session earlier this year.  Mom really wanted a photo with all 4 boys looking at the camera, smiling if possible.

At first, Colin is crying.

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I’m taking my youngest out of school today and heading to Seattle for a field trip with the second grade class.  We’ll be going to the science center for “grossology” (right up my boys’ alley!) and for the Under the Sea IMAX presentation which we’re all excited about.

My boys only have two more weeks of school – can I hear an Amen?!  As often seems to be the case, these last few school days are so busy, but we’ll enjoy them and celebrate “graduating” to 1st grade and 3rd grade (wow!).

In other news, I had the privilege of photographing Cru last week.

Although I think it goes without saying, I’ll say it anyway – Cru is just too cute.  I can’t wait to share more photos with you a little later this week.

Any guesses as to one of Cru’s favorite activities?  Hint – Cru’s dad is a dentist.

Have a great Tuesday!

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