“You are more beautiful than you think” -Dove

When Alicia chose “Self Portrait” as our focus for Click of the Wild, that quote from the Dove Commercial came to mind. If you haven’t seen this video, watch it…You won’t be disappointed. (there is also a longer version.. you can google it)

I believe in beauty, and I believe it comes in many forms. I love to capture the beauty of laughter and love and relationships and so many other emotions with my camera.

But, believe me, beauty is not easily captured in a self portrait! ha.
Okay, I was under no illusions that it would be easy. But, I was excited to give it a try. Excited and nervous. In fact, I was planning on suggesting ’Self Portrait’, but Alicia beat me to it, and I am kinda glad she did. Because I might not have had the guts to do it.

For me, it was hard to get myself in focus. That was the hardest part. Then, when I managed to get myself in focus I looked like such a dork! Because I can’t see exactly where I am in the shot, composition was tough…. Clearly, this was a hard one for me.
We have two weeks to work on our focus, and at first I approached it as I do most of my photography. I captured moments as they happened. I was folding laundry, so I set my camera on my dresser and took a picture (focusing on the laundry and letting myself be out of focus on purpose, which I liked). Another day, I had a few minutes, so the girls and I jumped up on the bed and (because I don’t have a tripod) I set a package of diapers on top of a stool, set my camera on top, and set my timer and ran to the bed – over and over again!
I finally borrowed a tripod from Molly, and that is when I got the awful out-of-focus/in focus dorky shots. I had actually showered, fixed my hair, and wore something besides a t-shirt and yoga pants for this attempt. I walked outside, feeling good. Then…the wind was blowing my hair all over the place, I couldn’t seem to get my focus right, (even though I had grabbed a sheet of paper on my way out the door and drawn a smiley face on it to use as something to focus on – then I would set my timer, remove the paper and stand exactly where it had been.. but, it didn’t seem to work for the focusing issue’s I was having) I finally decided I would just give up and use one of the shots I had taken over the past few days. Even if it had to be a mirror shot, which I felt like was a little ‘safe’… possibly lame. (they are included in this post!) Anyway, just when I gave up I saw my reflection in the door and thought that’s kinda cool … so I took a shot. Then, I held the camera up at different angles and got a few different shots that I liked. Really liked. So from there, I managed to get the shot I am happy with

All in all, this focus was tough. But, I am happy with the images I ended up getting (as a photog and Mom, I don’t get in front of the camera enough), and I love that some of the images are simple real-life images of my girls and I. And, I learned how to use my self-timer on my camera! Score!
This is the image I ended up using….

My laundry folding shot

My girls and I….

A little iPhone shot of my set up! Stool, box of diapers… who needs a tripod?!

Mirror shot…

This is us. This is the norm. And for that, I love it.

Here are the two door reflection shots as I was walking back inside after deciding to give up on trying to get anymore.. right before I started getting shots I liked. Glad I saw my reflection and was inspired to try some more

When I started trying different angles this is one of the first I got that I really love…

And these are a few others I got after that shot…

One more mirror shot…

One more shot where composition and focus didn’t work out for me, but I still kinda like it…

Thank you for looking! Please head over to http://clickofthewild.wordpress.com/ to see the full post on “self”.  Happy Tuesday

Are you ready to win a photo session with me? Well, it’s that time of year again!

For the past 3 years I have kicked the new year off with a free photo session, and I am doing it again this year! It’s not hard, all you need to do is leave a comment

Here are the nitty gritty details:

What: A photo session with me

Includes: Session fee and disc of images

How to enter: Comment on this post. That’s all you gotta do

Deadline: I will count all comments on THIS post till midnight Friday, January 24, 2014.

Fine print: Anyone can enter. If you choose to do a family session, only you and your immediate family are included. Weddings excluded. However, I will do engagement session, bridals or Day After sessions. Session must be done before September 1, 2014. One entry per person please. Not transferable to another person. Not transferable for money. Winner will be chosen by random.org. If you have a session booked with me already, and you are the winner, you can use this towards the booked session. Session must be local to Monroe, NC area. (while I’d love to travel, it just cannot happen right now!)

And please, spread the word about this Giveaway! Feel free to share on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media. Or just good ‘ol word of mouth I’d appreciate it, truly.

Thank you and best of luck!

This Mother/daughter (and doggie!) session was a whole lotta fun! Girls, thanks for being awesome in front of my camera and trusting me to capture you

When we talked about their session, one thing Keeley mentioned was that she would love to have a few pictures of her doing a little makeup for Keelyn. It is something new and she knows it will pass quickly, so we captured it

Thanks for looking!

I love second shooting weddings. For several reasons, but one being that when the wedding day is over, I hand my images to the main photographer and I am done! In fact, I did just that more than a year ago when I shot alongside Mallory of Mallory Dawn Photography, and I had not even looked at the images again till now. Not even kidding! The file has been hanging out on my computer for more than a year un-touched. I decided to start the New Year off by digging into that folder, pulling a few out and sharing them here with you

A peek into Dana and Ryan’s wedding day…

When I saw the goggles and the apron, I knew we were in for a treat!

and they did not disappoint!

I’ll end this post with a little photo booth fun

Mallory, thank you for asking me to shoot alongside of you – I loved it!

The latest post over on Click of the Wild was focused on ‘Night’. Mallory chose our focus, and while I love night photography I never shoot at night. So this was definitely out of my comfort zone! Which is one reason I love this project, Click of the Wild. It makes me shoot what I typically would not.  (sorry, but my links don’t seem to be working… feel free to go Google Click of the Wild to see the full post on Night)

Honestly, when she first said “Night” and especially when we knew it would go live Christmas Eve, this shot I took with my phone a few weeks ago came to mind:

My living room after the kids had gone to bed and I sat in there with the Christmas lights, the fire and my book. So cozy But this was taken with my iphone, and before we were focusing on ‘night’, so I moved on to trying to capture night some other way… this is what I got…

Thanks for looking, and Happy Monday to you all!

It’s true. I’ve been a lousy blogger lately. Every year I have good intentions to stay on top of it, blog – at least - a little bit. But nope, I find myself all wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of the season. And suddenly, I’m not blogging at all!
I am happy to say that it wasn’t all hustle and bustle though. I did make sure to set aside time for just being present this year. Present with my family, my friends and taking time to just sit by the fire and read by the light of the Christmas tree. It felt so good. And I loved every minute of it.

I am back and will be blogging on a regular basis now – so please stop by often And I will be doing my yearly Giveaway soon too!  Here are a few pictures from sessions that I will be blogging….

And, just for fun, and because I like it… a little video I put together using Flipagram with some Instagram photo’s. A 30 second flashback on 2013 with my family

Flashback on 2013 from Bobbie Brown on Vimeo.

That video makes me a little teary. They are growing up SO fast! Friends, pull out your camera’s (even if it’s just your phone!) and take pictures. Capture your moments, the little and the big. It only takes a second and you won’t regret it. Also, hire me this year to capture your family. I’d love too

Need a last minute Christmas gift? Give the gift of pictures, in the form of a gift certificate!

Call or email me to get yours
bobbiebrown5@hotmail.com

It’s Click of the Wild time again! Linden chose food this time. And ya’ll, food is hard to photograph! I knew this already, but I found out how hard it really can be with this focus! When I thought of capturing food, I thought of having a gorgeous display of herbs scattered on a beautiful wood cutting board. Or maybe a pretty dessert with a fun napkin and a fork laying nearby… but, I just worked with what I had on hand. One day I had a salad, so I took a few pictures of that in the making… (one of these is what I ended up using)…

I am not so sure that this falls into the ‘food’ category. But, it’s edible, and delicious, and fits the season — Candy Cane Hershey Kisses! If you haven’t tasted them, do yourself a favor and grab a bag. They are oh-so-good

The lighting in these next few leave a LOT to be desired. But, I tried! When I saw Bristol walk in the kitchen and reach up on the counter for an apple slice, I grabbed my camera and just worked with what I had.

This one makes me cringe a little. Honestly, if any food photographers saw this they might would laugh. Or shake their heads in disgust. Not sure which. But I am including it to keep it real. And also it gives me the opportunity to talk about how much we LOVE these sliders and share the recipe with you! Really, they are SO good, and always good leftover the next day for lunch too I’ll post the recipe at the bottom of this post.

Two apples stacked on top of each other… another attempt that I really didn’t love.

Lastly, a couple of pictures from my sisters Christmas themed bridal shower. I thought these cupcakes looked pretty delish, and I like the Christmas lights twinkling in the background.

Now, the delicious recipe for the Mushroom and Swiss Sliders. By the Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 Tablespoons Ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (less If You’re Sensitive To Spice!)
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/2 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
• 8 ounces, weight White Mushrooms, Chopped Finely
• 1/2 cup White Or Red Wine (optional)
• 4 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
• Kosher Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 2 pounds Ground Beef
• 4 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
• 4 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 4 slices Swiss Cheese, Cut Into Four Squares
• 8 whole Dinner (or Slider) Rolls, Split

Preparation Instructions

Now, go over to Click of the Wild and see what else got posted for ‘food’

Over on Click of the Wild our focus has been “Happiness” for the past two weeks. We went live with our images today and I meant to have my blog post done by now! But here I am 10 minutes before waking my Kennedy up for school trying to get it done.

It was my turn to choose our focus word again, and when I thought of happiness I thought of SO many things. Of course I think the first thing that comes to mind is a person….laughter….huge smile…seeing happiness in their expression and on their face. But I also felt that happiness could be seen in so many other ways. Things that make us happy. Places. Activities. Whatever! If it fit ‘happiness’ then it fit this focus!
I had a couple of idea’s bouncing around in my head, one that I really wanted to shoot was my family all sitting around the table eating. As if you were seeing it from the outside looking in. But I never got a chance try and capture that image. (This time of the year is busy for us all, we are sorta just getting by on our personal work right now!)

Lucky for me it snowed. Yes, in Monroe, NC it snowed in November! So, that definitely made some little girls happy. Which made me happy just seeing the excitement on their faces! I went outside to take a few pictures of them playing in the ice/snow mixture that was on the ground the next morning and when I looked at the images I realized they fit perfectly into the ‘happiness’ focus

I have more images, but no time to post them right now! So, I promise to post more later. Meanwhile, you can head over to Click of the Wild and see how the other girls captured happiness.
And today, I hope you find and see happiness