Christmas Micro Mini's Event 2013!

This year I have had quite a few inquiries to book sessions that I wasn't able to make time for like I would have liked. I hate turning down sessions believe me especially to family and friends! So I decided this year to make a set date for my first annual Christmas Micro Mini's event. I wanted to do these sessions quick and simple so everyone could get a fabulous updated family photo with a quick turnaround compared to my full session workflow.

I had a very specific vision in mind for these shoots. As you know I am a natural light photographer, I am uninterested in faking real life in a studio because life happens away from the strobes and backdrops! So once I saw this image (below) pop up in my news feed I knew I had to take a crack at getting that style for the sessions!

Shared from Facebook Page: FatHead's Cuffs. Original Source Unknown

Unfortunately I did not plan ahead well enough to get to shoot at a Christmas tree farm this year (poo!), but maybe next year. I did however get extremely lucky and found a local friend with the SAME exact truck that is pictured above. Score!

Swoon worthy, amiright?

The mini sessions went fabulously of course! Without further ado, here is a look at some of my sessions from this year's event. You guys have no idea how thrilled I am with the way your sessions turned out. Thank you for choosing me to tell your stories and capture your images this holiday season.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas everyone!

Check back after Christmas for more images! Some of my favorites are being kept secret until after Santa comes! ;)

© 2013 Shelby Demo | Vintage Kiss Photography Design

Images edited with actions by Morgan Burks Photography

Denise & George

Welcome to the blog Denise & George!

 These two were a fantastic couple that I had the pleasure of shooting this fall as an anniversary gift from their daughter (and my occasional model for experiments) Amy! 

Denise & George, your images turned out beautifully and I hope you enjoy them for years to come. <3

Mason & Madilynn at the Pumpkin Patch

Making another appearance on the blog is Miss Madi with big brother Mason!

This was another session that I had at the local pumpkin patch this autumn. Miss Madi showed up to the session fast asleep and much to our surprise woke right up ready to flash that cute little grin right away. :D

Anyone else in love with the colors I got from this bright mid-day session? 

Actions by Morgan Burks Photography: www.morganburks.com

© Shelby Demo 2013

Estes Family at the Pumpkin Patch

Everybody loves a little fall pumpkin patch goodness! 

This adorable family happens to be quite special to me. :) The mommy of this session watches my youngest (and wildest) daughter during the day at her new daycare, and her little cutie pie and mine have become quite attached to one another! 

In case you were skeptical...yes little miss Blythe does look this adorable and cheesy all the time :) 

I hope they enjoyed their pumpkin patch mini session as much as I did!

Actions by Morgan Burks Photography @ www.morganburks.com

Images: © Shelby Demo 2013

My First Venture Into Dark Fine Art Portraiture

In the spirit of this dark and scary time of year, I was inspired to do my first experimental fine art shoot with my dear friend, Amy. We weren't sure if we would even get to shoot because my day was running way behind, but I HAD to get this concept out of my head at all costs!

The goal of this shoot for me was to venture into a darker, gritty, style of shooting and editing in post process. We started shooting when the sun was almost down and we were mostly in the shade of trees close to the Verdigris River. Amy's dress was borrowed from the Neewollah musical wardrobe and it was part of my inspiration for this "hauntingly seductive" shoot.

All images posted so far are different editing styles than I have done before and I welcome you all to leave some feedback on my work!

Merry Hallowe'en everyone! ;)

Laci + Cody = Engaged

Hey...

I've been slackin'. This busy Neewollah season is keeping me from blogging even more than I expected. On top of that, the festivities leading up to my big sister's wedding has begun! Woo Hoo! So it is only fitting that this micro blog is going to show some of the top pics from my engagement session with the happy couple. ;)

Enjoy!

Hello New Followers!

Happy Monday everyone! I've been seeing a lot of new readers coming through and just wanted to say a quick hello and thank you so much for coming to my blog. There has been a lot of changes going on with my work, my new job, and my family lately so today to hold you over I'm just going to post a little sleepy princess goodness. :)

Sometimes its good to slow down and enjoy my little beauties while they are still small.

Thanks for following the blog and keep coming back for weekly tips, photography, design, and more.

-Shelby

Madilynn | 4 Months

 Be still my heart. I can't handle the cuteness of Miss Madilynn! She's got the most perfect girly baby chub goin' on and I was so happy to be taking her 4 Month photos! You may recognize her from her newborn shoot that I posted a few months back and she did a fabulous job at this quick shoot we did together on Fathers Day evening.

This was my first shoot experimenting with the dreamy nightfall composite and I'm so happy with the way it turned out. It's a perfect fairy tale like image for her nursery. Thank you Megan for asking me to take your little cuties photo's again. :) Enjoy this little look into our session.

First Gymnastics Class

I can't believe my first baby is old enough to start adventures into sports and school activities! My Diem has begun Gymnastics and it is quite entertaining...well for the first 45 minutes. Her attention span can only last so long and then she just starts chasing after the other kiddos that are feeling antsy. Regardless...its cute.

Check out some of my snapshots from her very first day. I was THAT mom at the gym, he he!

Roll Call

Listening to instructions (rare moment!) and showing off those Demo calves during practice.

Shoot she's gonna be a natural!

Learning flips and her first try at the trampoline.

Big trampoline bounces!

My favorite :)

Thank you for being loyal to the blog despite my lack of posting lately! I promise I will get back on track because BELIEVE ME I have some good stuff comin'!

-Shelby

Just popping in...

Hello all! Just popping in to do a micro blog featuring some snippets of my family's lovely Fathers Day this year. To be honest, we were too busy enjoying time with one another to bother taking pictures of every moment.

Sometimes even photographers want to put down the camera and take it all in like everyone else, you know? ;)

Any-who I captured just a couple images to capture a bit of Andrew's dad day. The key things for any daddy in my opinion.

Enjoy and keep coming back because I literally have 7 blog posts in the works right now! AHHH!

We are so blessed to have amazing daycare providers for both of our girls. My oldest brought this present home from daycare for daddy.  You know her babysitter is awesome due to the KU tie on the flower pot! ;)

 What man wouldn't enjoy his Father's Day breakfast, if it didn't involve some greasy delicious BACON??!!

Nothing say's "MERICA" quite like bacon. I digress.

In case you were curious, we now avoid the chaos and mess of cooking bacon in a skillet by baking in the oven. It changed my life. Soooo much easier. Just line a baking sheet with tin foil, place your bacon on the pan, DO NOT PREHEAT, put the bacon in the oven cold and then turn it on to 400ºF. 17-20 minutes later...BOOM you've got a delicious bacon-feast ready to eat.

Maybe I'm getting a little over the top. Meh...oh well. Stick around for more blogs coming soon!

-Shelby

Where I began...

Where I'm at now. 2013 Portfolio Spread

In the mood for a little back story as to how I began? Don't mind if I do...

I started dabbling in graphic design in high school when I was sixteen. We didn't have a very good program for the work that I wanted to do back then, and lets just say my art class/teacher did not feed my inner artist. To be quite honest they damn near put the flame out completely. When I asked if I could design things on the computer instead of drawing plants, the response I received was along the lines of..."Ummm, why? I guess so for the last 10 minutes of class." I took what I could get. This was the same art class that I asked if I could be a part of the high school photography group (because my small town school didn't have an actual class, the art teacher just chose students that got the privilage learning some photography and taking photos at the athletic events and such)...anywho, that question was met with:

Teacher: "Do you have a camera?"
Me:"Yea, I guess but its just a little pocket camera..."
Teacher: "Well, there you go...teach yourself with that. It's the same."

Cue depressing sound effect.

Yep, my ART teacher had zero impact on my passion for graphic design and photography. But before you start thinking to yourself that my high school was crappy, think again. I wouldn't trade my small town upbringing for the world, and I give a ton of credit to my experiences through FFA that got me where I am now. Sure they didn't teach me how to use photoshop or a camera, but I got some tremendous building blocks through my Ag classes and FFA competitions that I know I wouldn't have been able to get anywhere else. Seriously folks, never underestimate the power of a former FFA Member.

Anywho...despite my artistic flame just about being put out I still knew that I was meant to be in graphic design. My senior year I was blessed to have been dating this crazy guy (my now husband) that had a mother running a sign shop through the local Anhueser-Busch Distributor. It was refreshing to have someone that encouraged my need to learn more about graphic design and better yet I got a job during my senior year in the work study program working right there with her as an assistant.

Thanks mother-in-law! I probably sucked then but you encouraged me anyway ;)

Following my graduation I moved to Pittsburg,KS to attend one of the best tech departments in the country at Pittsburg State University... and it was all pure awesomeness from there! I knew right off the bat that I was in the right place. Not many students can say they take such great joy in their major, but I did. The photography aspect came in as an extra with my course work and it ended up sticking with me enough for me to continue teaching myself quite a bit. I loved it and some day's I will miss the challenges. But I couldn't be happier with my decision to stick it out at PSU regardless of how hard it seemed at the time. And when I say hard, I mean get pregnant twice, move five times, commute the last two and a half years and over 100 miles a day hard. Yea I did that...don't ask me how because I don't have a clue. I survived and so did my amazing family!

Now I am here. Six months out of college and building my business slowly but surely and now I am about to start a new job with a local design group as an assistant designer. I'm so excited that things are panning out the way I had hoped. Although my husband was getting a little worried that I hadn't found a "real job" yet...I had faith it would fall into place. ;) My path has been a strange but blessed one so far that's for sure. Can you believe I am just now realizing after all of these years that it really is okay to call myself an artist? It feels good to be able to really think and say that after the hard start I had with "art". Take that high school art teacher!

I guess this leads me to ask you, my followers/friends/clients/artists...where did you begin and were your origins typical or expected? How many people told you along the way that you couldn't do it?

Thanks for sticking around to listen to my ramble. Hopefully my scattered brain isn't too terribly hard to follow. Until next week....maybe. ;)

-Shelby Demo

Our Backsplash DIY

So my husband Andrew got in this home improvement kick recently. Lucky me!!!

We now have a gorgeous master walk-in closet, new laundry room, rustic shelves in multiple rooms, and a B-E-A-utiful new backsplash in the kitchen. Before starting our kitchen project we both agreed that we were wanting a natural rock look rather than tile, however we were NOT up for heavy duty wet saws, grout, mortar, and the whole "9 yards" that come with it. *Light Bulb* I recalled having pinned a DIY blog post on Pinterest a few months back that talked about Airstone installation on the front of your typical bathtub. After some price comparisons between a higher end rock veneer and Airstone, we knew right away that this is what would work best for us and it was half the cost!

One trip to Lowes, clean kitchen, and we were ready to go no prep necessary. We started at about 10:30 in the morning and were finished by 5pm that night, even with our little ones running around! Unfortunately, we were just too much into the groove to stop for pictures as we went, but I did get some photos of the new and improved look of our kitchen!

We love it!

Yep there were dirty dishes. Get over it! It's to be expected after a full day of construction on the kitchen!

Close up shot of the texture.

Doesn't it look pretty with my new kitchen accessories?!

Well there you have it! It was seriously easy.

This product can be used indoor and outdoor just with different adhesives, no grout, and no wet saw. We loved it so much we've started covering our breakfast bar as well! Hopefully this DIY has inspired you to do a little home improvement too!

You can find more information on the product website here: http://airstone.com/

Goodbye May Hello June!

Well, I have been a terrible blogger lately. :(

In my defense, last week was my birthday week! Woohoo! In case you were wondering I am now 23.

Any-who, my most recent round of images that I have been working on have all been 100% for me and I love it. However, it makes for a hard decision as to which I should blog about and when, hmmm. So I will just start posting as much as you can handle for now, how does that sound?

Hopefully it sounds good...because I'm doing it anyway. Muahaha...

Oh my Ry baby! This is what happens when Ry and mommy eat supper alone. We make silly faces at each other from across the table...and mommy ends up making a dash to the camera to capture it. I love my little blondie!

No editing out Cheetoh faces here! I love my little ladies oh so much. Thanks to my husband Andrew for taking this photo on Mother's Day! I rarely get a good pic with these fast moving targets!

Don't fight my love Diem! I promise I wasn't torturing her. These edits were processed with Morgan Burks Photography's Radioactive Collection. It's so nice to play with something fun and different with these colorful images.

Aww my blue eyed girl was tired. Daddy makes for a good pillow at the end of a long day.

Meet my pretty stinkin' adorable family. Photo taken by my sister!

Look who's hubby can take a decent flower shot! I looked over between taking pictures and caught him standing all up in this bloomin' bushes business. ;)

Andrew strikes again! The horticultural paparazzi. Seriously though, I love it when he gets curious and starts taking actual photos with my camera. :)

We'll see how long it will be until the next time I get in front of my own camera! It's not an easy task, I will give my subjects some credit there. In case you missed it, all of the family images including the first flower image by Andrew, were processed with Morgan Burks Photography: Radioactive freebies. I can't wait to try them out in my upcoming engagement shoot! Until then, keep your eye out for another make-up post within the next day or so!

- Shelby Demo

Time to do the work...

We all do it. We dream.

We have these goals to be something fabulous, different, successful, and extraordinary.

We get inspired and pretend to be on that new path to everything we think we've ever hoped for....and then somewhere along the road, it slips by and just becomes another one of those silly failed attempts at silly dreams.

Who are we to have such outlandish expectations? It's ridiculous, right?! We should just listen to our family and friends and get our heads out of the clouds, right?!

Hell no. HELL NO.

Raise your hand if you're over it and you want to be a crazy ridiculous dreamer anyway...
*raises hand*

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” -Marianne Williamson

If any of you reading this blog know me, you know how stubborn I am. But I'm human and I have blocks, fears, and stupid excuses for not doing what I want or should do. I know what I want now ("now" being the operative word...because I'm also a woman and we always change our minds anyway), and after spending some extra me time lately on figuring out where I want to go and how I want to get there, its starting to feel a little bit more clear. It's going to be great. I could elaborate more but seriously, who wants to sit at their computer getting a numb butt reading a novel about my recent enlightenment. You know I will blog more about it soon anyway ;)

Until then, please take the time to listen to this video below of my most recent photog obsession, Sue Bryce. You don't have to watch it, just listen. It's long I know...but just shut up and LISTEN. You don't have to be a photographer to take something away from this. Now, its time to pull up the big girl panties and do the work!

-Baby Madilynn-

As you all know after graduating from college last December I decided to go on a break from booking sessions so I could focus on family and getting a grip on what direction I wanted to take my work.

I couldn't help but say yes, however, to my Zumba instructor Megan when she asked if I could take her ADORABLE new baby girl's photos in March. What can I say...I have a huge weakness for brand new baby girly-ness. It's just too good to pass up. ;)

We decided to meet at in their home and do a relaxed lifestyle shoot, focusing on baby Madilynn and her loving family around her. I've come to the conclusion, that the best and most real moments come from lifestyle shoots with the subject in their natural home environment. Real moments happen at home, not in a studio. A mothers touch, a brothers grin, the family gathered on mommy and daddy's bed, and bare feet. It just seems right!

Here is a little peek at our session together.

Megan decorated Miss Madilynn's room in a perfectly cute mixture of pink, teal, polka dots, paisley, and chevron. Big Brother Mason even wrote a letter to baby sister letting her know just how much he loves her. *Awwww!*




Those little fingers and cheeks! I die.

Thank you Megan, Jamie, Mason, and Madilynn for welcoming me into your home to take photos of your newly expanded family. I hope you enjoy your images!

Better late than never, right?

As you may know I'm still working on my personal photos while I'm on a little hiatus from booking sessions, this task has proven to become a long slow one after I got my new and fabulous Markiii. Maybe I should have read up some info prior to purchasing, but HEY, I didn't and we all learn better the hard way anyway right??

Well it came to my attention upon attempting to upload my first round of images from the Markiii that I would need to buy a card reader rather than the good ol' USB cable that came in the box. (I know I know it's easier that way anyhow, shush!) After solving my uploading issue and even talking on the phone with Canon about the lack of communication between my camera and computer, I then discovered that my current Lightroom Software (LR3) will not be compatible with this beautiful, beastly piece of camera I now own. *Sigh* So until I finally breakdown and install the update to Lightroom 4, I am currently working at an extremely slow pace because that major component to my workflow is not available at this time. Grrr.

Anywho, enough with the complaining, because that can be easily taken care of. What I'm REALLY here to blog about today is my adorable images from Easter time with my girls Diem and Ryanne. I may be biased, but my girls are just so downright gorgeous and their personalities are out of this world! I hope you can fully appreciate them through their images as much as I do. :)

2013 Neewollah Logo Contest

Well folks the winner of the 2013 Neewollah logo contest was chosen last night by a qualified, serious, and well versed group of ITSO professionals (*chuckles* due to this groups fun and laid back nature hehe!)...and the winner... was not I.

Awwww.

Oh well maybe next year! It was fun regardless and I absolutely can not wait for more of the Neewollah festivities to begin. If you are not familiar with this small town festival, I encourage you to check it out on www.neewollah.com and come down at Halloween time! I hope you enjoy seeing my entry for the contest below. This was my graphic minimalist style approach to this year's theme "It's Alive!" which goes along with the selected musical "Young Frankenstein".

Thanks for the support and Happy Monday all!

The Markiii is finally getting some action!

See those adorable "Jazz Hands" there?! These are my two gorgeous and amazing girls running up hill Easter weekend. My oldest in the pink is Diem (3yrs) and my youngest in the yellow is Ryanne (20mos). They are the typical pair of little ladies filled with drama, love of makeup, admiration of all things Princess, and beauty of course.

I'm not biased or anything, they are just that awesome.

Still playing with my first round of images from the new 5D Markiii and loving every minute of it! I avoided an upgrade as long as I could but the old camera was beginning to hold me back. More images to come as I edit and drink in the absolute adorableness.

Welcome to my new blog!

Welcome to my new blog! I'm currently attempting to become a better blogger after a couple of failed attempts. So, bare with me as I build on for my fellow photographers, graphic designers, and clients! If you already know me you know well I've got the Facebook side of things figured out so it has just been a matter of time before I move over to this outlet! Keep visiting and feel free to comment or message to your hearts content.

Just remember to be respectful and open minded, and we will get along just fine. ;)

- Shelby Demo