We babysat Cooper the other night & had so much fun with him.  He’s almost 7 months old and such an easy going guy.  It’s been awhile since we’ve had a baby around and we enjoyed every minute of it.  I had just set up my studio lights and he was wearing the cutest outfit, so I just had to take some shots of him.  He was very curious about the whole deal.  I set up a strobe light to add to the little bit of natural light I had coming in through the window.

Cooper Baby

Aviator Baby

Monster Sunflowers

Having a garden has been so much fun!  It’s sad to see the harvest coming to an end.  We had peas, carrots, radishes, green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, corn, pumpkins, potatoes, herbs, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries & sunflowers.  I learned how to can and preserve some vegetables & fruit through freezing.  We purchased peaches, pears, nectarines & Gala apples from the church orchard in Yakima, WA & I was able to can peaches, pears & make applesauce & pear butter.  I have learned so much this summer!!!

8 feet tall

Fishing at Buck Lake

One of our favorite trips this summer was camping at Chewuch campground in the North Cascades.  Grandpa Hagel, Shane, Aaron, Kaden, and Garrett went on a 26 mile hike up to Black Lake & beyond…  took them 3 days.  Grandma, Seth, Joseph and I stayed at the campground and hung out in Winthrop.

Seth and Joe

My cousin Brandon asked me if I’d take his Senior Pictures & of course I told him yes.  He’s an awesome baseball player & at least 6’4″ – I had to stand on a ladder most of the time:).  I was also anxious for some subjects to photograph:).  On our property we have a chicken shed made out of corrugated metal & tons of old barn doors & wood.  We took all his pictures right here on our semi-farm.  I painted a few backdrops to use.  I used to love to go downtown Vegas (Freemont) & use the cool blue door back behind the Harley Shop.  I found the color & painted an old barn piece!

Brandon on his Dad's Harley

Brandon’s adorable girlfriend Samantha asked me to take hers as well & we had sooo much fun.  (I did anyways)  We went to my friend Daiatra’s property and took some great shots of her out in the wheat field.  I have always wanted to shoot pictures in a wheat field!

Sam

Last week I had an appointment with probably the best looking family in Cheney.  My buddy Laura had me take her family portrait & I was so pleased with how they turned out.  It’s not too hard though when they are all cute and well behaved too!

Handsome Boys

Door/Table

Gardening has taken over my life!  I have very ambitious ideas sometimes, but it was well worth the hours of rototilling & preparing the ground.  I decided on a 90×60 foot space & spent weeks getting it ready to plant.  It was hard work but I loved almost every minute of it.  I planted just about every seed I could find, not considering whether we’d eat eggplant, beets etc.  But… we have lots of family and new friends to share with.  These images are several weeks old & we’ve had some good growth.  We are finally getting some sunshine!  Yay!  I thought summer would never make it.  I used my Lens baby again on some of these shots.

Joseph Running through the Alfalfa

We have about 7 acres of alfalfa growing on the property & the boys have had a great time running through it.  They love to put on their camo & get out the air soft guns & play army.  The only problem is the ticks that live in the alfalfa have had fun jumping onto them & Kira.  I hate ticks!

Tomatoes planted in Tires

Peas

Rhode Island Red

Roosting

Crazy Chickens

Alfalfa

Indigo "The Rooster"

We thought we had all girls until Indigo started growing his head pieces & started to Cockadoodle DOO.  I took his picture through the chicken wire.

Free Ranging

Side view of garden and Chicken Coop

Joseph and Kira running down to the water

Seth

Kaden and Garrett

Like Father Like Son

Looking up at the back of Lake House

Miss Kira

Seth and his new bb gun

Beautiful View

One evening I took advantage of the beautiful soft light and took some pictures of the pretty dry beach flowers.   Hee Hee _ Don’t know what they are called.

Chicken Feet

It’s been several months now and our chickens are now starting to look like CHICKENS!  No longer do we have soft fuzzy chicks.  When I look at their feet I think of my days in Hong Kong when we were served chicken feet.  Kind of creeps me out!!!

We spent Spring Break this year building a fancy chicken coop.  Papa and Grandma Hagel came over for a few days to help us build.  The boys worked very hard and acquired some construction skills.  We moved all the chickens into their coop and they are very happy to be able to run around and peck at each other:)

During Spring Break we went out to Lake Roosevelt and I had my camera ready to shoot some more barns.  The weather has been very cloudy and rainy  Bad for us, but good for photos.

More Spa Models!  I am looking forward to Senior Picture Season.  The weather is getting warmer and I think we’ll have a beautiful Spring.  I have found some really great spots for photo shoots.  There are some wonderful backdrops in my own yard, but also some great farms nearby.  I really enjoy Senior High School Photo Shoots.  It’s a lot of fun to get to know who they are & what they are all about.  I love to hear the after graduation plans etc.  Their excitement and energy is inspiring.

Golden Sex Link

Ever since we moved back to the Great Northwest our boys have been talking about having a real farm.  They want horses, cows, goats, etc. etc.  We have all decided that it is probably best to start with chickens.  If we can handle the chickens then we might move on to bigger animals.  I keep telling the boys that right now is the easy part.  They stay in a big tub in the shop under a heat lamp.  All we have to do is give them food and water.  Pretty soon they’ll have all their feather and we’ll move them to a coop.  We hold them every day & have named most of them.  We have Little Hawk, Indigo, Shadow, Ollie, Princess, Cinderella & many more.  We read that if you hold them a lot as babies they will be more like pets and not give you trouble when we go to grab their eggs.  We have a total of 18 chicks & are looking forward to some good eggs in a few months.  They are so cute & so far so good!

Inside Photo Shoot

Banty Chicks

Indigo, Little Hawk & Shadow

Kaden's Indigo

Even Kira likes the Chicks!

Under the Heat Lamp

Spa Model

As I promised I am uploading more Spa model images.  This past week the motherboard in my PC died!  It has taken me a week to get back up and running.  So, excited to update today.  This Sr. High School Model is striking.  She has beautiful skin and I made sure I had an opportunity to get a few shots of her.  I love the awesome chair she is sitting on – shiny black leather with a really tall back.  I should have taken a picture of it on its own.

Spa Model

It was a windy and cool day in Palm Springs but the lighting out by the pool was so nice.  I really enjoyed the Portrait Session that day.