To see more lensbaby images, please continue our little circle to see the gorgeous work of Elle Walker!

And though we at first jumped at the chance to participate, I admit that as the deadline grew closer, I realized I had no idea how to proceed. I didn’t know how to come up with suitable costumes, and I had no idea where to shoot. But then suddenly a glorious location popped up, and I remembered a little costume rental shop that I’d always intended to investigate. The shop had two dresses that we made minor adjustments to (I made her an apron and kerchief to transform a pioneer woman into a maid, and we didn’t use a portion of a Renaissance dress in order to make it look more like Cinderella’s magical blue ballgown).

A dear friend helped me with the shoot, and Emily felt like a movie star in this gorgeous location, so she was easily able to channel her inner Cinderella, and everything came together just as beautifully as I had dreamed it would. That day was a memory we will cherish forever!

Here is a link to the Issuu publication:

And the other participating photographers are:

Marie Asbury—Sioux Falls, SD
Aseel Aziz-Gomez—Lexington, KY
Monique Duke—Albuquerque, NM
Lori Fowlkes—Fredericksburg, VA
Lauren Harms—Boise, ID
Heather Lickliter Larkin—Athens, GA

Emily woke up early (“-ish”—we are not morning people) and made a favorite recipe from my Mom: “Paris Puffins”—these little muffins that are rolled in melted butter and cinnamon sugar right when they come out of the oven. And while she was making them, I got to stay in bed with a cup of coffee reading my current favorite photography book, written by one of my two favorite photographers: The Luminous Portrait by Elizabeth Messina (my other favorite photographer has a similar style, Jose Villa). And I adore the card Emily made me…

We ate breakfast outside and I took pictures while our breakfast got cold, but they indulged me… ;-P

And then we headed up to UC Davis (where Tom and I met) to go to the Whole Earth Festival. We go every year, and I am not sure what we like the best: the music, the music, the people-watching, the shopping (though this year I didn’t find anything I had to have…), or the food (vegetarian, but the homemade lemonade is spectacular, as is the fried zucchini, although this year we discovered the pesto fries—which I think might have put the zucchini to shame!). It’s like a hippy art and wine festival minus the wine. (But with the sickly sweet aroma of pot instead–LOL!) And I get to take lots of pictures!

There was a series of huge murals you were encouraged to add to:

My addition—I am no artist, but I can draw a flower, and write:

Every year Emily gets her face painted. The mother and daughter team who do it are amazing!

And then we just sat for a while on the grass alongside the creek, and Emily made daisy chains for everyone—even for my camera—LOL!

And then I set everything up and asked Tom to take a photo of us.

Finished out the day at our favorite restaurant in Davis—Seasons. It ended up being a late day, but fun!

The last two were taken with the Lensbaby. I am having SO much fun with this lens…

And this one wasn’t backlit, of course, but as we were sitting in the car deciding where to go for dinner, I saw the light on her face from the now really low setting sun, and it was so soft and warm and beautiful that I made her get out of the car to try for just one more image… Good thing she is cooperative! (And then we didn’t even let her pick where to have dinner—poor kid…)

As always, please continue on in our little circle to see what Kimberly did this while shooting with flare and backlighting!!

Now please continue around our little circle to see what Jodi came up with while shooting through glass!

But this year in particular (maybe because I’m all too aware that she’s approaching a huge milestone soon—my baby is entering high school), I found myself still awake at 2:52 am, long after balloons, thinking back to the night she came into this world so fast and furiously. Much of that night is still a blur as it was anything but a calm and peaceful birth and we both had difficulties afterwards, but I do remember one special, amazing moment. One of those moments where you just know in your heart that the world couldn’t be more perfect, where you wish time would stop, just for a second, so you could savor the fleeting perfectness. I remember being wheeled to Labor & Delivery from the ER (where she was born after an ambulance ride because after 13 weeks of bedrest for preterm labor, I was one of those women I used to roll my eyes at who didn’t know that, this time, it was the real thing). While Tom and my doctor walked ahead, I felt like time did stop for me for a moment, and it was just her and me alone in our little world. I so vividly recall holding her in my arms on the gurney, just…staring at her. At her perfect little sweet rosebud lips; her gorgeous, deep auburn hair; her tiny little fingers with their itty bitty, perfect fingernails grasping my hand so tightly as she slept so peacefully, as if she understood how intensely special our bond would be before I even did. I knew only that I loved her so completely, so fiercely—a love so intense and powerful that I felt like it might consume me. I remember actually being afraid that night; I was taken aback by just how deeply I loved her. I knew I would love her, of course—I already DID love her, from the moment I saw those two lines on the stick. But it was the intensity of it that took me by surprise. It felt so much more primal than any love I had ever experienced. That love made me feel more vulnerable that I ever had before, simply because she existed. I’ve used this quote before, but I just have to repeat it as it so perfectly states what I felt that night, and what I will feel until the day I die:

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous.
It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
—Elizabeth Stone

From the moment I first saw her, my heart walked outside my body. Emily is the most amazing creature I have ever had the pleasure to meet. She is smart, kind, joyful, and wise. She is my greatest muse. We are so lucky to have her as our child. Happy Birthday, my darling Emily!

And I know this one is weird, but I have to include it just because I think she’ll think it’s different and cool:

Emily’s kitty helped us pack before we left…

I am not much of a food photographer, but to celebrate both our 17th anniversary and Emily’s birthday, we had dinner one night at the amazing Napa Rose at the hotel, and this was one of the best fish dishes I’ve ever had, so I had to give it a shot. And I am not a huge fish eater, so that is saying a lot!

She’s growing up so fast—sniff, sniff…

I just love how beautiful the gardens are at Disneyland!

And I adore the almost iridescent quality of Cinderella’s castle, especially when the light is so pretty…

I know this is technically a terrible shot, but I love it just the same… All three of us were laughing so hard, and I couldn’t keep still enough to lock focus. So it’s perfectly imperfect, to me!

The World of Color—absolutely spectacular!

This was the first (and I am certain it will not be the last) time she beat me at Toy Story Mania, so I promised her I’d post it!

This time we visited the Animation Academy (in California Adventure) for the first time, where they teach you to draw Disney characters. It was FUN! Tom and Emily are of course much better at drawing than I am…

I hope she will always stay so focused on her driving!

A common sight…

From our balcony just after World of Color:

Just a snapshot, but still I love it—see how they are holding hands?

The second time, I attempted it too:

And finally, dinner at Big Bubba’s Bad Barbecue on the way home!

We already can’t wait for the next trip!

Since I am determined to master my Lensbaby, I decided for two days of our trip to Disneyland to use ONLY the Lensbaby. I chose the Sweet 35 optic so I could more easily change the aperture on the fly, and then I practiced, practiced, practiced, for two solid days. My close-up vision isn’t great, which I didn’t even realize affected my photography because it normally doesn’t matter with an autofocus lens, but I was frustrated with my inability to focus reliably with the Lensbaby until—DUH—I adjusted the diopter on the camera itself by autofocusing using another lens, and then adjusting the diopter until my eyes agreed that the object was perfectly sharp. The other thing I learned was that I really need to pay close attention to where the Lensbaby is “aiming”. If it’s even a little off from the part of the image I want in crisp focus, then the focal point of the image becomes ambiguous, making for a weak composition.

At any rate, I’ve loved the Lensbaby system from the day I first borrowed one from a friend to play with, and my love for it is still growing by leaps and bounds! The softness and dreaminess is such a perfect match for my style…

At the California Adventure side of the park you can get champagne—my kind of amusement park!

This is the look I got when I discovered that I needed to change the diopter—the bemused “what am I going to do with you” look—I seem to get this from him A LOT…

And the way I often see my not-so-little-girl these days—makes a photographer Mama’s heart sing!

And you can now get Starbucks in California Adventure, so we were able to do our usual Wednesday-morning-coffee with friends, if only in spirit! (And I love how even a Starbucks cup gets an extra dose of “Happy” when it’s in Disneyland!)

And reading the paper while we enjoy a peaceful coffee break…

I am so deeply honored to have been invited into this blog circle by my incredibly talented friend Emma Wood, so please continue with us to the gorgeous work of Celest Pav to see the magic she created with her Lensbaby this month!

For these two, I shot from up a little higher, to just have the cement floor as the background.

And just so you can see how truly lovely our garage is, here’s a pullback!

As always, please continue on in our little circle to see what Laura did this month to capture garage light!

Now please continue around our little circle to see what the fabulous Christina came up with for her unique perspective!

Our room and its view (Alli probably thought I was nuts when, on the last night, I leaped out of bed in the dark because I realized I hadn’t yet seen the view at night (since the maids shut the windows when they did turn-down and it hadn’t occurred to me to open them!); but since she is a photographer too, she understood…):

The Bellagio is absolutely beautiful, and felt far less smoky and full of drunken partiers (one of whom was impressed enough with Alli and I to show us both his skipping finesse AND his cartwheels—LOL!) than the other casino/lobbies we visited. The lobby ceiling was a glorious display of sparkling Chihuly glass, and the conservatory was a fun, eclectic combination of a beautiful springtime garden and greenhouse dotted with kitschy decorations that reminded me of parade floats. There was even a butterfly house! There was also a gorgeous bakery that held the distinction of housing the world’s largest chocolate fountain and some of the most beautiful cakes and desserts I’d ever seen! Next time I want to spend more time exploring the shops in the Bellagio.

Our days consisted of lots and lots of walking and cabbing from place to place, lots and lots of sightseeing both indoors and out, and lots and lots of photography information. And we managed to meet a number of ClickinMoms too, which was such fun! There were even a few more that I’d hoped to meet up with but we never managed to sync our schedules…

Night life in Vegas is, of course, amazing. We got to see Love, the Beatles Cirque du Soliel show, and though we hadn’t even meant to go (it ended up being an add-on to our Expedia deal that we couldn’t eliminate), it was definitely a highlight of the trip! And the Bellagio’s fountain show is just breathtaking, night or day…

Other highlights were the Candy Bar at the Canon party (Emily would have loved it!), seeing my image on the slideshow at the CM booth, having lunch and frozen hot chocolate with fellow CMers at Serendipity, the TVs in the restroom at the MGM (which Emily also would have gotten a kick out of), and hearing Elizabeth Messina speak at the best class ever. I have been a fan of her work for such a long time, and it was so gratifying to know that she seems to be just as wonderfully beautiful a person as her work implies. And she left me feeling truly inspired and like I am on the right track in my own work, which was tremendously comforting as I have been in such a creative slump lately that has left me feeling quite insecure about my work and unsure about where to go from here.

We spent our last night treating ourselves to a wonderful dinner at Olives at the Bellagio (thanks again to Dawn, both for her recommendation of the restaurant and for her suggestion to get a Cable Car—my new favorite drink that I am determined to make at home!), and I even did a little gambling—and won a whopping $32.24 on a bet of $1.20 (which I promptly lost, but still the momentary high was worth it!).

On our final morning we again had to get up early to check out and get to class, and by then we were both tired and ready to get away from Vegas and back home. But we had a wonderful trip, and I am so glad I went! I’m also looking forward to returning and doing it at a slower pace with my little family. We didn’t get to see Caesar’s or the Venetian, and there are more restaurants I’d love to try and shows I want to see. Vegas has so much to see and do!