I'm Jodi, and I try to celebrate life each and every day as a military wife, mom to three, and full time photographer.
Jodi Hattery Photography
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From Busy to Bored August 29th 2009
It looked like I had a zillion placed to be each day for a week... but then it all came to a screeeeching hault as I picked up my cell to hear, ''Jodi, it's Ms Runnion from Franklin. Chris was complaining of chills and has a 102 temp. Would you please come get him?'' Of course I was out of town and two minutes away from a senior session, but, naturally, I turned around and headed home. I was so looking forward to taking those pics too. A trip to the ER that night and he was all better the next morning (gotta love that modern medicine stuff).
Then I'm up bright and early today and head to the studio. Phone rings again... The senior I was taking pics of today is now ill. Waaaah! Well it could be worse - I could also have a high fever and strep throat. I was so bummed I called up the first girl who I had to cancle on to see if she were available for today (which of course, didn't work out. Like how can you expect a girl to do senior pics last minute? lol)
I went from a busy schedule to bored today. Yes, laundry, dishes, and basic cleaning and organizing, but nothing as fun as taking photos. I did finish up my pics for the fair I'm entering. I've never entered anything, ever, in any type of fair, so this is a first for me. Should be interesting to see everyone's interpretations of the rather odd categories. Here are my entries with their categories...
- One Is The Lonliest Number
- Purple Haze
- What a Wonderful World
- Time Stands Still
- In The Shadow of Your Smile
- Time Stands Still, b/w
- In The Shadow of Your Smile, b/wI have no idea what the competition will be like, or what the judges will be looking for with each category, but it should be interesting. I'm volunteering tomorrow with my camera club to take the entries in. It's totally selfish - I just want to be able to snoop at everyone else's stuff. :)
School and Such August 27th 2009
It's hard to update the blog after such cute puppy pictures. However I've gone long enough now. :)
School began, and while I didn't do the 'pic of the first day' photos (when you take pics so much of your own kids, some of the traditional shots get missed) but I did take photos on my NEW, fabulous cell phone with a much better camera. Ok, it's obviously not professional grade, but after throwing the kids up against the wall, I am rather impressed with the quality -vs- my old phone's camera.
So for those keeping track, Christopher is now in 2nd Grade, Joshua is in 1st grade, and Nataley starts kindergarten on Tuesday.
And just because this is too entertaining to keep to myself, Nataley is right now playing kitty cat, and is having babies. She goes ''pop'' and says, ''OH! Another one came out. Awww, do you like my kitty?'' hahahahaha
Seriously Easy Session August 22nd 2009
Two dogs, who don't get along, came for photos today. It was one of the easiest sessions yet! The well behaved pups were such good listeners that I wished I had a little puppy treat for them. Somehow I don't think picking out a toy from the treasure chest was gonna be of any excitement for them.
Silly Studio Session August 20th, 2009
Today I got to photograph some kids I've know for a very long time. The oldest was Chris' first crush (and he still likes her pretty fine now too). Next comes a cute little guy I taught in prek at church for a few years, and finally the little gal, who turns one next week! WOW! The session was bumped up by request which meant my kids were coming. Since they were friends, we weren't too worried, though certain silliness was all but garaunteed.
At 11 months and 3 weeks you know she wanted to crawl everywhere and not be still for any pics at all. This shot was taken while on the run (or crawl rather). She thought it was so funny when I would lay down on my belly and stop her in her path.
I try to photograph my clients so long that they are out of their cheesy grins and I can capture their true selves. I would say I managed to do that here, but I assue you this little guy is not as innocent as he may appear!
But Miss Sassy here is all about the fun, and I do hope she enjoys this photo. I'll have a DVD ready for you three real soon!
Last Week of Holiday August 19th, 2009
It's the last week of our summer holiday, at least for the boys (Nat starts later). I'm going to miss them. I'm trying to spend every second I can making it memorable and given them warm, happy thoughts of their summer. It didn't start so well Saturday after spending 5 hours at the pool with them. As soon as I noticed Christopher turned pink, we left. Sunday he was burnt.
But that didn't stop my two little men of faith from getting Baptised Sunday evening. Chris had wanted to get baptised since he and I talked about it many months ago and I told him to wait til the next one this summer. Josh I had no clue he would consider it, and really wouldn't thought of it for him yet, until he wanted to join his brother. At first I dismissed it thinking it was because he wants to do whatever Chris is doing all the time, but after daddy had some time to talk with him it was determined both were ready to take the plunge ;)
Josh was first and his response was - ''I NEVER WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN!'' he's not a 'real' swimmer, and does NOT like getting his head wet - even in the shower.
Chris was next and while Pastor was going to say a little ancedote he interjected, ''Let's do this at the count of three'' which caught Pastor so off guard Chris didn't even get the traditional ''in the father, son, and holy ghost'' clause. ;) I think his dunking was still valid. We won't tell Christopher otherwise!
By Monday Chris woke up much worse of with blisters on both shoulders - nasty looking, huge, horrid things. Yes, OF COURSE I applied sunscreen, and YES, I am very aware he is very fair and can burn easy. I did keep track of him. But the difference between the 50 SPF I had used last time and this silly 30 SPF because obvious as he began to blister. OUCH. It got bad, and we ended up getting Rx for his poor back (which worked wonderfully) I'm not showing pictures of it, though I did take some to shoot an email off to see if it was ER worthy - which a wonderful, amazing, DR saw and I am so grateful to for calling in our Rx rather then make me take the three kids to the ER (THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!)
So while at Walmart picking up the Rx Nat and I took a short cut through sporting goods, where we passed a refridgerated case of night crawlers. She got some for her birthday from her favorite person in the world (Daddy) and ended up letting them go in the garden after about a week of cuddles and kisses. I know I'm biased seeing as she's my little girl, but I find it hilareous the boys want nothing to do with bugs or anything gooey, creepy or crawling, but she loves her little friends. Here's a few shots of her in a dress she picked out for the day, and high heels (she's in a dress phase - loves wearing her dresses)
We then took off to the far away land of Gramma Beth's for a mid week mini break. It's ALWAYS fun at Gramma Beths, and this time was no exception. Nataley tends to live in the sand when we're there, and then takes record breaking showeds in ''Grampas Shower'' full of the funniest little giggles because his special shower head tickles.
And that wasn't the only fun. While the boys were glued to the TV with Transformers animated taped for them, Nat and I took a little trip down 50 yards to where I saw some young colts at an amish farm. I've often told people that I grew up in the middle of nowhere with amish neighbors, but I've never appreciated any of it until my own children. No wonder my parents moved out to NoWhere, Ohio when I was younger. The colts ignored us, but Nataley made friends with two cows. Not all happy cows are in California, because these two seemed to enjoy Nataley just as much as she did them. They sniffed her dress up, with a little nibble (yes, I said cows, but I wonder if somewhere in their ancestry is some goat mixed in) and they liked her toes like crazy. It was too much for me and I ran to get the camera in the van (hahaha, yeah, 50 yards was too far to walk). Sadly it was just enough time for a cow to take a nibble on her hair and make her cry - so no pics of Nat with cows, just this shot of Gramma's front yard and little bitty road in front of their house.
There was also fireworks and fishing, though not in that order. Chris caught a few fish, before his conscious got to him about the feelings of the worms and the fish. Oh yeah, and that's the best part. Nataley's first thing she said to Gramma when we arrived was, ''Can I let my worms crawl around your house?'' Yup, her tub of nightcrawlers made the trip with us. When gramma Beth squealed and said no, Nat decided later that perhaps she could let the fish have a few worms. It'd been years since I had fished, and it took a trip to Walmart to buy a sponge bob fishing pole for me to teach the kids a little. But it was so fun. :)
The next day Nataley wanted back in the sand, and promptly got filthy again. While throwing some bread to the little fish at the beach I noticed this monster of a fish scaring the others away. I grabbed spongebob and got him with my first try. Unfortunately he was so big he broke the line and went off. A few minutes later he was there again, terrorizing the poor little blue gills. I tried again, giving a nice tug this time as he bit down, and caught him. Hahahaha, that'll teach him to... well that probably won't teach him anything.
Nataley decided to use some more worms and fish some too. With quite the distance from her I let her cast her first line.
She did awesome - far better then the boys (shhh, dont tell) She also caught, with no help at all, one blue gill and one bass.
After more cleanup on Nataley's part we headed home. Dinner was Taco Bell, and then when a little boy just couldn't wait any longer for a potty break, I stopped in to Bob Evan's halfway home. We sat at the bar and ordered sundaes. Nataley took a long time to eat hers, to the boys and I ordered another round. They thought they were something else sitting on the bar stools and ordering their second round of sundaes. It was about that time they reminded me that Gramma gave them fudge popsicles. wooops! No sugar for a few days for us.
And alas, that has updated you on our week with tons of photos to take up your bandwidth. Sometimes a mom just has to gush!
I'M ON AMAZON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! August 17th, 2009
Wow this is SO exciting!!! I'm on AMAZON!!! Visit Forest Secret's On Amazon!
So I had told yall that I didn't know how much they would be charging at amazon.com, and it looks like full price for now. After Amazon's take I think I end up making about $.20 per book, lol. There's definately no getting rich off this adventure, but I am still jumping up and down excited. I still have a couple books here that I can sell you at $50. My first book order through Amazon.com came in yesterday though I noticed, which I must say is super exciting. I know, half of yall might think this is silly, but it's a big deal for me :) So, I'm just gonna smile and go about my day now.
NILMDTS August 15th, 2009
I can now say officially that I have been accepted as an affiliated photographer for NILMDTS - Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. This is really an incredible organization that helps promote healing in the grieving process for families through the art of photography. The short term allows for professional, artistic portraits to be taken on a newborn child that will never have the chance to leave the hospital before passing, and therefore the families may never get a beautiful photograph with their child. I urge you all to learn more about NILMDTS from their website, but make sure to get yourself tissues first!
Sort of Senior Session August 13th, 2009
Last night I had a 'sort of' session with a senior. Alyssa is somewhere between a sister/niece type of relationship with me, and she's been 'apart' of our family for almost 8 years now, when she began by helping me one summer as a 'mothers helper' after Christopher was born. Then as I got more and more into photography she let me practice new techniques and ideas. And wow, here she is grown up and starting her senior year! *gasp* So since Alyssa could never be considered a 'real' client, it was only a sort of senior session, and sort of just a girls night out.
I LOVE this picture of my girls! It's gonna go on my wall here at the house.
We lugged my ottoman out by the cemetary. The results were some of my favorite senior pics ever.
And then a late night stop to Rocky Top after it was too dark for portraits. I was pretty pleased with this shot at ISO 800 and the pitch black sky of 9:30. But the grain is too much with my rebel to do portraits any higher then ISO 200. I HATE GRAIN! I've decided I think I'm gonna have to invest in a camera body upgrade for my low lighting situations.