Happy Fall, y’all!
Category Archives: Photography
my love for photography
this moment is why i love photography.
we were watching mickey mouse clubhouse, like we do often in our house,
and snuggling together on the futon in the playroom.
she had no idea how sweet she was being and probably just thought
my growing belly is becoming the perfect armrest.
she was even oblivious to how squirmy the baby was being at that moment.
but, she melted my heart.
i am often guilty about worrying about having my phone with me at all times,
but i’m sure glad i grabbed it before we headed upstairs.
the picture isn’t great quality and i even filtered it through instagram,
but i will cherish it and that moment.
happy weekend everyone!
Michael + Karolina
I’m not sure if you remember my engagement photo session with Michael & Karolina since it’s been so long,
but in honor of their wedding weekend, I thought I would finally share their photos!
We had their session in Winter Park right off Park Ave. and at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market.
I had such a fun time taking their pictures and I am so honored that they put their trust in me for this session.
Congratulations Michael & Karolina!
the big ONE.
Turning one is the perfect opportunity for a little photo shoot.
I had high hopes for this one, but someone had another idea for how it was going to go.
I managed to get a couple good pictures, so I am pleased.
She was not thrilled and did put up a good fight.
It helped to have uncle Michael around, she sure does think he’s funny.
Now, there’s a sweet smile.
Kenley got this adorable outfit for her birthday, so that obviously meant we had to have take more pictures.
We all know how much Kenley hates headbands these days, so I am thrilled she actually kept it on.
The O – N – E letters came in handy.
Definitely got some keepers. Thanks for being a good sport Kenley!
Kenley’s First Birthday Party
We had an awesome time celebrating Kenley’s first birthday on Saturday.
In the last couple of weeks, I got a lot of questions about the theme of the party.
I didn’t really know how to answer them because there really was no true theme.
I wanted her party to be fun, girly, and dainty, and I also knew I wanted one thing: bunting!
I had a lot of fun fabric laying around thanks to Kenley’s Weekly Photo Project,
so I wanted to put it to good use. Plus, this fabric was an integral part of her first year of life!
We first started with the invitation. The insanely talented Isabel Ibanez with 9th Letter Press
designed our invitation for us. They are now available for others to purchase!
I absolutely love them.
From there, majority of my ideas came from Pinterest and other blogs,
so I will give credit where credit is due.
For the bunting, I followed a DIY bunting tutorial, which is apparently no longer available,
so I may have to write my own sometime in the near future.
I specifically searched for bunting placecard ideas and came across this tutorial. It worked wonderfully.
I purchased the O – N – E letters at JoAnn’s to take pictures with and my mom stuck them on top of the blinds. I loved it!
I spelled Kenley’s name using IKEA TOLSBY frames that I already owned
and I got the idea from this adorable party on Hostess with the Mostess.
I made the pink and white cake stands with some spray paint and a glue gun and they worked great!
The water bottle labels were a free download from Bump Smitten.
For the fabric wreath, I followed this tutorial and for the tiny bunting, I followed this one.
The menu consisted of light and dainty foods:
Petite Quiche
Pinwheels
Chicken Salad Croissants
Cucumber Feta Rolls
Individual Fruit Salads in champagne flutes
Beverages included:
Strawberry Lemonade in glass bottles with striped straws
(which I failed to get a picture of, but used recycled Starbucks Frappucino bottles)
Bottled Water
Gin Bucket
Beer
For dessert:
Chocolate & Vanilla Cake Pops
Cupcakes in various flavors:
Strawberry Lemon; Chocolate Peanut Butter;
Cookies & Cream; and Pumpkin Pie
Kenley had her very own smash cake: vanilla with ruffled pink icing.
Cake pops, cupcakes, and the smash cake were fabulous, and were done by Lindsey Bishop,
who I highly recommend to anyone in the Central Florida area!
Kenley wasn’t sure what to think about her cake. She was tentative at first but did eat some of the icing.
It was pretty uneventful. I think she was more interested in why everyone was staring at her.
She did not get as messy as I would have guessed, but that’s ok.
Watching Kenley open her gifts made me even more excited for Christmas morning.
I thought, for sure she’d get overwhelmed very quickly, but you couldn’t tell if she was.
She had one little break to see what the other kids were doing since they were playing with her toys,
but she was right back at it after that. She and daddy had a great time opening all of her new clothes and toys.
On the other hand, I am not ready for Christmas, becuase I’m not sure where we’re going to put all of this stuff!
I’d like to think that her favorite gift is her new chair, but I may be a tad biased.
She does love to climb all over it and will actually sit still while in it, which is not like her!
Getting introduced to Mickey and Minnie. They’ll all be best friends before we know it.
Kenley is one blessed little girl, that’s for sure.
The final piece I had seen floating around Pinterest, but wasn’t completely sold on until
Heather posted about Henry’s Little Man Mustache Bash… a DIY photo booth.
I knew it was going to be the perfect way to get pictures of everyone and not have to hire a photographer,
which I was highly considering doing at one point.
It turned out so well.
We borrowed the pipe and drape from Greg’s work and I added my bunting.
Ryan wasn’t able to come to the party, so he hung out the night before.
Grandma & Grandpa
Family
GG (Maggi) and Kenley matched on party day!
So thankful for the all the help of this crew!
Our little one year old. Kenley’s dress is from Etsy.
Uncle Michael
Aunt Ya-Ya, Uncle Papi, Greg and GG
Jeremy & Stan
Ann, Ron, Cooper, and Jackson
Lindsey
Kristen & Carly
Lindsey, Michael & Karolina
Jessica & Benjamin
All the mamas & kiddos
Overall, the day was a complete success. There was minimal crying and a lot of laughing.
It was so great to have family and friends here from all over the country to help celebrate this little girl.
We were even able to video chat with Kenley’s cousins in Colorado so they could see her play with their gift.
We cannot thank everyone enough for all the gifts, calls, texts, and well wishes over the weekend.
We are so incredibly blessed to have such amazing people in our lives!
Happy first birthday Kenley Dee!
Kenley’s Weekly Photo Project
The idea for Kenley’s weekly photos came from Young House Love.
Here is the tutorial on how to do the weekly onesie!
Surprise!
It’s the same onesie each week!
It’s amazing to see how much she’s changed each week.
Here is the entire album, for your viewing pleasure.
Kenley, it’s been fun!
michael + karolina [[sneak peak]]
I had a wonderful opportunity to take some engagement photos this week.
Here is a sneak peak of the happy couple.
Stay tuned for more from our session!
Pretend Photographer(s)
While my mom was here, we decided that we would
pretend we were professional photographers and take photos of Kenley.
It was pretty humorous and if you would have seen us,
you would quickly realize that we are not even close to professionals.
However, we did get a few cute shots. Take a look!
The adorable “K” onesie is compliments of my cousin Misha!
Check out her tutorial here!
SnapShops!
I was so excited when one of my absolute favorite bloggers
decided to put her SnapShops (beginner dslr photography workshop) online.
Previously she had only held face-to-face classes, which is awesome,
but not for me, since Tulsa is pretty far away.
I signed up and told Greg that this could be a birthday or Christmas present,
or whatever. I just knew that I needed to do it now because I have a
feeling that we’re going to be pretty busy in the coming months.
To be honest though, I kinda forgot about it until this morning
when I started browsing through my blogs… I got to Ashley Ann’s post
and was absolutely moved to tears.
Do yourself a favor and read …and the journey finally began…
God is good.
I am so excited to start this course today to learn how to better use my camera,
but even more excited that from this course TWO families are going to be able to adopt!
Amazing.
Happy Monday!
Fireworks & Sparkler Fun
We captured some awesome pictures this 4th of July holiday,
so I wanted to share how we did it and the settings on our camera!
For sparklers, I used the settings from this link.
I was most concerned that we didn’t have a tripod,
but I just held the camera super still and it worked out fine!
Make sure your camera is in manual mode (M)
Set the f/stop to f5.6
Set the shutter speed to 4″ (4 seconds)
Set white balance to Tungsten
and make sure everyone writes the letters backwards
(honestly that was the hardest part, haha)
Since the camera was already set for the sparklers,
we thought we might as well try to shoot the fireworks at the beach.
The only thing we changed was the shutter speed so it was longer,
so you really have to hold the camera super still,
or use a tripod.
Make sure your camera is in manual mode (M)
Set the f/stop to f5.6
Set the shutter speed to 8″ (8 seconds)
Set white balance to Tungsten
There you have it!
The Gilbertson Family 