Yup, vacation!  Well, that and being a bit of a blog slacker.  Seems my camera has been sooooo busy I haven’t been able to keep up with my blog!!  Oh, well good problem to have right?  Anyway, now that things are settling down a bit, I promise to try to be a bit more regular with my posts.  These were all from our July vacation–we hit the beach in Florida and NC!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Love this shot of my parents…

 The kids did silly string on the beach…and yes, we cleaned it all up

 

 Beautiful light.

 Hard working boy…

 and it paid off!!

 

 Dinner!

 Be back soon with more photos to share!

Yes, this is our new little delicious puppy…Norman!  We just love him sooo much!

*FYI*–Engagement session contest is temporarily on hold due to personal circumstances.  Sorry! 

Hmmm…that’s gonna take a looong post for an explanation.  I do have a lot of reasons for sort of dissapearing for a while.  But am now back and ready to take on 2010!!  So without further ado…here is a snipet of what I have capture for the past 2/3 months:

An adorable family of four…

 

 

 LOOOOOVE the blue eyes on these kiddos!

 

 fun!!

 A very large family group!

 different perspective

 Grandma got these for all of her grandkids…priceless!

 We snuck away to the wine cellar for a few.  Love this! 

 And then the snow came…and kept coming!!

 

 

 Hahaha!  He LOVES the snow!

 

 

 Christmas came and went waaay too fast!

 

 

 Anxiously waiting to open!

 Showing off his new hat I got him.  handsome boy.

 I also had the privilege to work with Cindy and her son.

 Yes, it was snowing SURPRISE!!  But it was fun!  Isn’t she cute??

 Awww…

 A fave of mine.

 He was a great sport.  Photos are never a teenage boy’s top priority, but he was a trooper for his mama. 

 Got to meet up with some sweet friends from college:

 

 Even photographed my inlaws!  Great shot of them!!

 I also met up with this large family–before the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 They had a great barn/farm to work on!

 

 

 

 And, lastly a few of my own with their sweet little cousin.  We don’t have any of all three of them together, so it was time!

 

 

 

 And that is it…in a nutshell.  I am now off to my first maternity session of 2010!! Yay can’t wait to see what we create. 

A few things:  Don’t forget to become a fan on facebook for all of the latest news and specials: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Charlottesville-VA/Andrea-Shirey-Photography/262014121357?ref=ts

I need to get that darn application up, just haven’t had time–so there’s the link.

Also, very few spots still available before August, so call soon if you want one of them! 

She is by far my hardest subject to photograph.  My son, cake–my daughter, not so much! 

But, the other day, we received this lovely little dress in the mail.  Nervously, I showed it to her and to my surprise, she loved it!!!  She begged to wear it the next day and paired it with her bright orange boots she got for her bday and came out looking like this!  How could I not photographer her???  So, I nicely asked (okay, pretty much told her I was gonna get my camera to take a few pics.)  To my surprise she wanted to do it (okay, sort of…)  Anyway, we only had about 10 minutes to shoot these, so I was sort of rushed, but, am pleased as punch with how they turned out!!

I don’t know what it is about this last one, but I really love it–I even love our dog sniffing around in the background!

 

I was featured on this www.thesavvyphotographer.com webite after submitting some images of how I display photos in my home.  The photos there are of Will’s room–I had so much fun decorating his room and he absolutely loves all the photos!!  This is a GREAT website to get inspiration on how to display photos in your home.  Check it out!!

 Well, we are back home after a nice long break away.  I am glad to be home, but it is always hard to get back to the daily grind.  I wanted to post a few pics I took on vacation mainly of my kids and a few of my parents too.  They are by no means perfect, but I kind of prefer that.  Enjoy!

I love eyelash pics and am so glad I got a few of my own kids–already ordered this and the one of my son for my house.

Her, not so tiny, sandy feet

Love this shot of him.  I bout them both a cheap little shell necklace and they wore them the whole time–super cute!

A few with my parents…They have a super close relationship with them and I am so glad I am able to capture that for both my parents and my kids.

Look at that little guy all squished in there.

 Emma and grandma …

Will and grandpa…

A few of my parents…

 I really like this one–printed them one in an 8×10 and I’m gonna frame it and give it to them.

Captured this as I was leaving…just perfect!!!

A few more…Will and my mom–we were on one of our many quests to watch the shuttle launch that day.

Being silly with shells.

 

My sweet girl.

Being silly with grandma.

Yes, as if I didn’t have enough going on–we finally bit the bullet and got a puppy!  Whew…you forget just how much work they are!!  But all I have to do is take one look at his little whiskery, fuzzy face and it’s all worth it!  This is Finn…

 

 

 Okay, so I know most of you know we visited Turks and Caicos this past summer for a “relaxing” vacation…However, it ended up being anything but!  I am just now getting around to proofing and editing some of the photos.  This was the first day.  We had bought our kids some snorkeling gear–we had a ball seeing all the fish, coral, etc.  They did awesome!  Btw, the one in the background is his uncle goofing off as usual.

So after the first day, hurricane Hanna hit and all the fish we got to see were dead.  Example below.  I wouldn’t have let him pick it up, but he was with daddy and was very proud of what he brought home to show.  Have to admit it is a very beautiful fish!

This is how the kiddos spent the next few days…there were 10 of us total cooped up in the house for about 5 days–luckily it was a very large house!

 Finally, after spending several days closed up watching the wind and rain, electricity going on and off, we wake up to this–the calm between the storms.  We received a phone call that morning that we had to evacuate immediately, as hurricane Ike was coming and he wasn’t going to be as friendly as Hanna.  Needless to say, we were packed up in a matter of a couple hours ready to head home.  The next few were taken right before we left…

A very packed, unairconditioned airport full of sweaty tourists–ick!

Being silly in the airport.

Tired of sitting and waiting in line in the airport.

We finally got home and hurricane Ike did hit–as a category 4 –the very next day and nearly destroyed the island.  So, we were very lucky to have escaped, or else, we may have had to become residents for a while.  Anyway,  here are a few others from the summer, like I said….catching up!  My oldest turned 10–bittersweet!  I can honestly say it is a wonderful age–she is such a great kid–but her innocence and childlike ways are fleeting, and that is hard to handle.

A few at my parents.  It is so important to capture kids with grandparents–I am so glad I took the time to do this, and need to do it more!  Those little lips are just deliciously irresistible!

One with grandma…

Grandpa and Will

A favorite that will be framed in our house…

Love this shot too!

And yes,  I do allow my kids to torture my dog by dressing him in human clothes–one of my favorite memories as a kid–how can I deny them?  

 Take care everyone and enjoy the (hopefully last) snow!

So we are finally home.  And I mean FINALLY!!!  It was a very fun, exhausting trip, and I am sooo glad to be home!  I am now dealing with two very sick kiddos that are on the mend–but still not back to full capacity.  I start back to shooting regularly this weekend and the schedule for spring and summer and EVEN FALL is starting to really book up!  Anyhoo…..a brief synopsis of our whirlwind trip….

This was leaving WPPI.  On the way out, I realized I had not picked up my camera once the whole time.  I was sooo busy learning that I really didn’t have time.  But I couldn’t leave Vegas without any pics to prove I was there, so I shot these next few on the way out.  BTW, we were supposed to fly out to UT, BUT, my wonderful hubby accidentally booked our tix for March 18 instead of Feb. 18!!  So–road trip–and the stop @ Del Taco made it toally worth it!!  Why don’t we have those on the east coast?  We headed to Utah in our little rental car. . .

racing a train. . .

And oops!!  We did want to get there a bit too badly!!  We did end up with a ticket, but the officer was a very nice guy!

Park City was adorable and very quaint. . .I loved the support of art and creativity in the city.

This was a fence someone had made of old skis–very cool!

Park City @ night!

A few shots @ Canyons ski resort. . .

And this last shot….is a bit PG13–so if you are easily offended, consider yourself warned–and scroll through…

 

 

 

 

 

I saw these in several locations–must be all the rage!  I guess it’s for the man who has everything thing under the sun??? 

 

Well, our trip ended with our taxi NOT picking us up and making us miss our first flight, so we played catch up all day on all three flights home and finally made it home to see our kiddos around midnight!!  Not the best way to end the trip, but we got home none the less! I hope everyone else is enjoying these last few weeks of winter–I can hardly wait for spring!!  I’ll begin posting more regularly now that I am home–talk soon!

 

Vegas was fun–very exhausting, but very fun!  I learned sooooo much and met so many really nice people!  I found some awesome new products that I am really excited about that I will begin to slowly incorporate into my biz!  The best part of wppi for me was all the incredible speakers/photographers I got to learn from.  They left me feeling inspired and reminded me why I do what I do–it is my passion!  I feel more now than ever that I am going to be able to produce amazing work for my clients–because I have been reminded to shoot from my heart!  Something that can be hard to keep in mind when you are shooting so often!  For all the photogs out there that do read this, you really should check out wppi–it is a wonderful resource and a great place to connect with other photogs! 

Some the awesome photographers I was blessed to hear:  Mike Larson–sooo inspiring and stunning work!  Ron Dawson–and awesome video/film dude that does truly amazing and emotion grabbing work!  Jessica Claire a truly amazing wedding photographer and inspiration to me.  Joe Bussink–a truly gifted and inspiring photographer and leader in the industry.  David Jay an all around great guy with a an amazing heart, business leader and fantastic photog.  I also had the pleasure of having a wonderful mentoring session– which I WON through the Thirst Relief Auction–with the fabulous Millie Holloman–a simply stunning, business savvy photographer–thanks so much for your insight and time Millie!  So as you can see between all of this and the trade show, I was a very busy girl!

We are now in Park City, Utah for a few days to hang, relax, enjoy the scenery, and for the hubby to ski!  I will have some pics. to share when I get back!  Best to all!