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Pansies, Verbenas & Berries | Photography

May 19, 2010 By Laura 7 Comments

I wanted to share with you some fun photography I did of my yard pansies, verbenas and berries.

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Yesterday morning, I found myself up wicked early.  And not at the computer, in my bathrobe, with coffee. But up, dressed, and outside with my camera, taking photos around my yard.  (With coffee.)  I had to wonder what in the heck was going on with me lately.  I have never-ever been one to  get up early, unless I absolutely-no-way-out-of-it-have-to.  This morning, I was not only up at the crack of dawn, but after a night where I had laid in bed during the night, for at least 3 hours, wide awake!  I thought for sure I’d be sleeping like a rock, come morning. But no. I was more than up-and-at’em.  I am becoming more and more convinced, that this means I am indeed ‘approaching elderly’.

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Doesn’t this sleep- pattern mimic the old folks?  I always hear many of these dear old ones talk about how they “just couldn’t sleep all night”.  And on the occasion that ‘I’ have had to be up and out early to be somewhere, old folks are everywhere.  Why? They are retired! They have no kids to get off to give breakfast to and get off to school!  It puzzles me. Ok, maybe there is a handful with a doctor appointment that morning. ; )   But not THAT many.  I want to go up to them and say, “WHAT, on God’s green earth, are you doing up this early?  Don’t you know, you can do anything you want with your time now!  Why aren’t you sleeping in?!”

4_verbenas Later in the afternoon, I was telling some friends about this new mystery of myself and sleep.  One girlfriend replied, “Maybe the spirit was a-movin’ ya.”.   Another said, “I think you have a condition called Spring Fever. No worries though, I hear it cures itself. ;)”.   A third friend just came right out and said it:  “I was going to say…..your age!”.  We all need a friend who will tell us the truth, no matter what. Don’t we?

3_verbenas So back to the photos I was out in the yard taking.  These gorgeous dark pink flowers are some of my verbenas.  I have some planted in the ‘window box’, that is actually sitting on a foundation wall, under the ledge of my front deck.   Upon the sight of little flower buds in my pots, boxes and gardens, I get little butterflies of excitement inside.  I love to watch them slowly open up, or happen-upon the surprise of sudden full blooms.

5_verbenas In the same flower box, in between the verbenas, I have planted shasta daisies.  I am not all that familiar with them yet, so I’m not sure if the little nubbies I see on them are almost buds?  But if they are, I’m excited.  There is also some white verbenas in there somewhere,  but for some reason or another, they aren’t blooming yet.

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Over at my bench seat in the front near the garden beds, I have a few pots, that contain some of the leftover pansies and verbenas, after I had filled my box, and other bigger pots on steps and such.  The white verbenas are in bloom here.   The verbenas, by the way, will grow to spill and hang long over the edges of it’s containers.   I look forward to them covering my heinous foundation wall under the deck. (Big plans for that coming up soon, to permanently take care of that! Very exciting project we’ll be sharing here.)

7_pot-of-pansies I really enjoyed, not only photographing the things I have grown around my yard, but processing them with textures.  Have you notice the textures on the photos?  Photographing whatever I am inspired to, and processing them any way I want, is often almost way more fun than I can take.  ; )  Especially without the pressure of time lines and deadlines, for clients, that often comes with the photos I take.

8_white-verbenas Here is a bloomed bunch of white verbenas.

9_pansies-variety I forget the name of the  variety of these smaller pansies, but if anyone remembers, feel free to enlighten me. : )  If no one does, I can always look at the pot tag I saved out there somewhere near the pots.  (And I might have to.) But I sure do love their colors.

10_strawberry-bed Let’s just get this out of the way:  Yes, the lawn weeds we have out front need mowing.  It’s not looking like it is going to happen for at least another week.  But anyway, this is our strawberry bed.

I have a confession to make, regarding the strawberries, and all of the planted flowers you’ve seen here:   Somewhere early t0 mid April, I was getting the gardening-bug so bad. I was just itching to get out there and get dirty.  We were having beautiful spring days, and I was convinced it was here to stay!  So I planted flowers all over the place, and raked most of the straw off the strawberry beds, since I could see green leaves popping up through.  All of this, despite the warnings that it was way too early for planting, etc., since there was still a good chance of frost, which could destroy it all.  The recommendation for planting is Memorial Day weekend.  Mother’s Day at the earliest.  But I’m a true gambler.   (O.k., not really, but I like how that makes me sound gutsy and tough.)

11_strawberry-bed Well, I’ll tell you where that risk got me:  Out in the pitch dark cold, at about 11:30 at night, on 3 different occasions, covering the beds and plants with large sheets of plastic, because a weather-check before bed said temperatures would dip that night, and frost was likely.

That should teach me, come next year.  But I can’t guarantee it.

12_ever-bearing-strawberry-plants Thankfully, everything survived, and we should be home free.  Although technically, Memorial Day is not until this coming weekend.  But look how the strawberry plants are growing like crazy!!  We are anticipating an abundance of strawberries this season.  Last year, the beds were new, and the strawberry plants were just planted.  But this year, they are more established, so we should have more strawberries than we know what to do with.  But we’ll figure it out.  In fact, I look forward to it!!

13_everbearing-strawberries  Strawberry jam…… strawberry shortcake…….. chocolate covered strawberries…… strawberries in our cereal….strawberries right off the vine……strawberries for our kind neighbors…..(Yeah, just the kind ones. Not the chipmunk-killing-outdoor-cat-owner ones.)

14_everbearingstrawberries If there was one thing I was noticing while I was out this morning, taking these photos, it was that….I was noticing everything! The moist dew in the air, the clean and fresh air, and the scents of new growing life coming and drifting away,  the silence……WOW….the silence.  I think the quiet, was why I could notice so much!  This Mama of 4 (home schooled) kids, is not used to such quiet.  I had all kinds of complete thoughts, running through my head.  Weird.

15_strawberry Quiet early early hours of the day have been so foreign to me.  I guess I never knew what I was missing. Come to find out, it’s rather nice!  Perhaps I’ll watercolor paint a little more often, with these extra hours in a day, too.

Yeah, maybe this old lady could really get used to this early morning thing.


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Filed Under: Gardening, Photography, The Homestead Tagged With: berries, flowers-photography, garden photos, pansies, photography, verbenas

The Results of that FUNKY URBAN EXPEDITION! | A Photographer + Designer Event for Little Girls

December 13, 2009 By Laura 5 Comments

Finally, the results of my first photography event, with my designer friend! You may have seen the planning, sample photos and announcement of the event HERE.  I have to say, this is one of the most fun and creative things I have ever done, as a professional photographer.

The title of the event says it all! FUNKY and URBAN, well describe the artsy visions I had for this event and these beautiful little girls! I am reminded, always, that the work I do is God’s work.  Yes, sometimes it helps support my family, but it is really always God’s work….through me.  There is no other work worth doing to me, if not for Him.  And it is clear, every one of these children, are the perfect work of His hands. It was an honor to have them smile, laugh, dance and giggle, in front of my camera!

So, for those who ‘get it’…and can appreciate the fun artsy side of things too, I hope you enjoy some of the photos  from this first event of my own.  As a reminder, a custom made tutu came with the cost of this event, but the moms were responsible for putting together the outfits for their own girls.  {O} took part in this event too, and had SUCH a blast, as you’ll see.  All of the little girls were ADORABLE.  They just loved being dressed up and showing their funky side.  They hung out all day together, giggling and having the kind of little girl chit-chat that little girls do, in between their turns for having photos taken.

Here’s a (very) small peek at the beauties me and my camera got that day…….

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Does God do beautiful work, or what?  What blessings each one of these girls are. Like ALL children…their beauty and innocence SHINE.  I can see the amazing craft of His hand in each one of them. Capturing that in photos, for them to have forever, is what I love to do.

The moms and girls LOVED the photos, and I am guessing this will be a day these little girls will remember for a long time to come.   I know I will.

Thanks for coming to see these little stars.

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Filed Under: Photography, Photography & Lettering Tagged With: Laura Lee Richard Photography, MA professional photographer, MA-childrens-professional-photographer, photography, photography-events, Stitch A Wish Designs

Photographer + Designer = Funky Urban Expedition! | A Fun Photography Event for Little Girls with Their Moms

November 15, 2009 By Laura 2 Comments

I had this idea that had been nagging in my head for the longest time.  As a photographer, I wanted to do a little girl’s urban expedition photo shoot.  I wanted my custom designer friend, Michelle, to put it on with me.  I knew we would be QUITE a team.  It would be an event/package deal, of sorts.  Moms would need to sign their little girls up, and they would come along too.

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I mentioned it to my friend,and she LOVED the idea!  So we planned it.   Little did I know, it was going into a crazy-busy time for me.  So the event was ON, it was OFF, it was ON and OFF again.  And THEN, it was ON again!

We needed to create an ad for the event.  So naturally, we needed photos to fairly express some of the kind of images we would be creating as a team, between my photography skills and her tutu designing skills.  (Although she does SO much more than tutus!)    The photos I would create of the little girls who joined the Expedition were going to be FUNKY, FUN and PLAYFUL in their attire, and also in my creative processing of the images.  We were going for urban and different.   The event itself was meant to be a grand girl’s day out on the town!

So to create images for the advertisement,  I took my own little model, {O}….

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Then I took some of the photos I got, and created an ad, which we put on our web sites, as well as a few 8×10 printed ads hung up at some places moms go.

Here is the ad, with the details of the event.

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The event ended up being postponed, but was held on the afternoon of October 25th.   I was glad it was a little more into colder weather, because I wasn’t sure I was liking the little tank top.  So we all went for a little more covered up look.

The event went FABULOUS!  God blessed us with a PERFECT weathered day.  We had 5-6 little girls (all we could handle!) and their moms.  We all had a BLAST!! All of the little girls were so sweet, all giggling with each other and having fun.  It was definitely a success!   I am still working on their photos, but I am thrilled with the results in the images of these BEAUTIFUL little girls.  I really got a lot of gorgeous shots of all of the girls.  Can’t wait until the moms see for themselves!

I’m planning a follow-up post on this event, so stay tuned!

UPDATE: You can see some of the resulting photos of this event HERE.

I am featuring Michelle, and her business,  Stitch a Wish Designs, right now in the Crafts and Creations section.  She is SUCH a gifted, creative and meticulous designer, so her work is classy and beautiful.  She makes a lot more than tutus, so go check out her amazing work!

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Filed Under: Photography, Photography & Lettering Tagged With: Laura Lee Richard Photography, MA-childrens-photographer, MA-professional-photographers, photography, photography-event, Stitch A Wish Designs

{A}’s Haircut: Before, After, and Even the Middle!

August 9, 2009 By Laura 18 Comments

So here we are at the big reveal! {A}’s haircut, before and after!  (I wonder who is already skipping the jabber and scrolling right to the bottom right now! lol) Patience, patience! (I test your patience, too, with my overdue posts…don’t I?  ;  )  Us girls just LOVE this stuff, though, don’t we?

I really AM going to get RIGHT to it!  But I just wanted to mention, very quickly, that you can expect to see most photos in this section of the blog, watermarked with my logo. Especially the portrait type ones.  It’s part of my work flow in posting portrait work on the web, and necessary for this new business blogging section, for all of the clients coming for whom I’ll be posting sneak peeks for here. (Awesome stuff coming up near the end of August or so.)

Ok, back to the intent here.   On the way to salon, I had to take just a couple more before photos.  In a ponytail, is how {A} most always wore her hair, every day.   So we really needed photos of her with her hair pulled back as well.  I loved it when she wore it down, and if I asked nicely, sometimes she would appease me.  But a ponytail was the typical daily style. Just like this…

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Michael took one look at this photo, and first said, “JCPenney”. Which made me laugh out loud.  Then he said, “Nice”.  So every time I look at this photo now, I think of both of those things, in that order.

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There’s the back.

And off we went to the salon.

Janine Cliffe is our family hairdresser, and has been for many, many years.  She currently works for Shear Creations on Long Pond Road in Plymouth, MA. (No web site.)  She was Michael’s stylist first, for several years, and I think became mine when she came to cut my hair when I was pregnant with the triplets!  I was on complete bed rest, so listen to this:  She cut my hair, with me lying down, on a full length reclined lawn chair, in our kitchen!  It’s true!  She passed that test, so I kept going to her.  Then around the time that the triplets turned 1 year old and needed their first haircut, she instantly gained 3 new clients!  It was then that we started hiring her to come to our home on a regular basis, and when she does, she does Michael’s hair, the triplets and sometimes gave {A} a trim.  Most times I choose to go to the salon, though, because I am often having something else done besides a cut, and I want Janine comfortable with the bigger jobs.

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Almost time for the cut!  YIKES!  It was bitter-sweet. It still is, actually. She has SO much hair, Janine divided it in 2 side by side ponytails, which I thought was a smart start.

No going back now!

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“Oh-my-gosh.”  (I think I said that 100 times when I was standing there, in between deep breathes.)

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What an odd little photo. lol

After the razor chop, Janine cleaned it up nice with her scissors. I just didn’t take more photos then. I was busy, recovering.

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That’s Janine (Cliffe) on the left.  She’s so pretty.  And the BIGGEST RED SOX,  PATRIOTS and CELTICS FAN you will ever meet. I’m not even kidding.   She’s very cool.  She didn’t charge us for this special cut, either, which was SO nice. (Thanks again, Janine!!)

A little while later, after some shopping, and some of my favorite comfort soup <sniff, sniff>, Panera Bread Broccoli & Cheddar, we stopped on the way home and got some after shots

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How do you like it?  Can you even believe the curl and waves now?  I knew before the haircut that her new hair was growing in pretty curly, and figured some was weighed down. But I didn’t expect this!  Michael has some crazy thick hair, and TONS of it, but he keeps it short and spiked.  I think {A} must get her hair from her Daddy (As well as the crazy long monkey- toes, but that’s another story.). No one would believe how heavy her hair was.  There was just SO much of it.

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She gets her crazy eye color from my mother.  Michael and I both have brown eyes. Mine are a medium golden brown, and Michael’s are more black-brown.  I really loved how her hair came out.  I think she’s a DOLL anyway!

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Another bizarre, if not creepy, photo, I know.  But here’s her hefty Locks For Love donation!  17 and 1/2 inches!  And about 17 pounds too.

It would be weird to end with that photo….so here is the before and after, one more time, one right after the other.

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JC Penney!

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After.

Tell us what you think! And was this fun or what?!

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Filed Under: Kids, Life In General, Photography, Photography & Lettering, The Big Picture Tagged With: before-and-after-haircuts, first-big-haircut, long-to-short-hair, photography, pre-teen-portrait-photography, tween-big-change-haircut, tween-portrait-photography

Changes Are A-‘Comin’! – A Photo Shoot of Our Oldest Girl

August 4, 2009 By Laura 8 Comments

These past couple of months have been slower with my photography business than any year in a long time.  Probably because of the economy and people cutting back some, a photo shoot is just not at the top of the list in families sometimes.  I understand that, and I’ve been more than content with this slower-summer paced, and just hanging out with my kids even more.  But it looks like that phase of summer is over, because suddenly the work for me has just started pouring in this week, and I am booking photo shoots left and right!  I always try to be careful not to book too much work, because our family and the kids schooling are my first priorities.  But we do need the income, and I do love my work. Balance is always my daily goal and challenge though.  Things are about to get a lot busier.  And that means, so is this section of the blog!

But this post was a mini-session photo shoot for {A}.  We decided we needed to get some photos, for memories.  Not only because she just turned 12 years old last month, but for another reason as well…..which I’ll share at the end of this post.  But here are some of our favorite shots of our oldest baby girl.  Looking at these photos just fills my heart.  We love her so much. She is such a good kid, so full of faith, with a loving and joyful spirit that shines every day. And man, has she grown A LOT in the past 2 years.  (She’s even taller than me now.)

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Michael and I really, really love this one above, because it is SO HER!  Always laughing.

When I am away from her, (which is so seldom), and I think of her, that is exactly how I see her in my head.

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Just look at how crazy long that hair is! And it’s heavy.

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Always digging her toes in the sand.

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She just loves, loves the seashore.  It’s part of her home.

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We were sure to get some photos, because . . . . . . she is getting her hair cut!   It’s always been very, very long.

Always. Not that getting it cut could ever change her beauty, that truly shines from the inside, out.

I did take some other before and after shots, too.  Would anyone like to see?  : )
You can see how her haircut came out, right HERE.

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Filed Under: Kids, Photography, Photography & Lettering Tagged With: beach-portrait-photography, long-hair-before, photography, portrait-photography, pre-haircut-photos, pre-teen-photo-shoot

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