quitters are never winners

yeah yeah yeah. i totally spaced on the challenge. 9 days in. so at least i've realized that there is probably no way in heck i'd ever complete the challenge of taking a photo every day for a year. i can't even get through 30 days! in my defense i had alot going on with vivi's first birthday & the holidays. BUT i knew the timing i was choosing, so i am feeling pretty unhappy about not finishing. i am going to pick up where i left off and finish the 30 day challenge. even if it takes me 60 days to do it!


here is the birthday girl on her big day...

day #9 someone that i love

of course this one was easy. in the aspect of knowing WHO i wanted to photograph. unfortunately, i forgot about today's assignment until naptime & it was dark by the time she woke up-so i didn't get to use the gorgeous light that was available to me this afternoon. *BIG frowny face*

i had to literally get right in front of the television to take this. when her stories are on, she is hard to distract. she was not laughing at me...it was pocoyo that was so darned funny. but her jack-o-lantern grin cracks me up.

little vivi mae is the best part of me. i never knew i could love someone so much.

day #8 a bad habit

so i snapped this yesterday but i never had time to download or post i had so much going on.
this is def one of my many bad habits...ah but how i love me an ice cold mountain dew :-)

day #7 fruit

what more is there to say really? i'm just lucky there was any real fruit in my house. otherwise i'd have been taking a photo of canned peaches. which probably wouldn't have looked as cool with todd balancing them on his head.

day #6 high angle

while i was giving vivi her bottle this afternoon, i looked down and noticed her forcep scar on her forehead. she'll be 1 this week and it's still there. so i decided i wanted to try to photograph it. (and i got her lovely long eyelashes in the process.) i wonder if she'll have that scar her whole life or if it will eventually fade? i kind of like that it's there. it's her battle scar from being born.

already a day behind

so yesterday i got totally sidetracked because i had my annual girls group christmas party. i baked all day, then had errands, then had to get ready for the party-blah blah blah & meant to take my camera with me to take the photo there-but i completely forgot it when i loaded the car.

then to add insult to injury, i took the wrong photo today! i knew the next two were low angle/high angle and i thought that was the order they were in. wrong. high angle was suppose to be first. but instead...low angle is today & i'll do high angle tomorrow! i'm thinking no one will mind. or probably even notice for that matter.

officially here is day #5   LOW angle

i am really loving this new fixed lens the more i play with it. it looks like i was close to them, but i had to back pretty far away in order to get this much of them in the shot. and i was on the floor & he was standing.

random extra shot thrown in

i got a new lens today! nothing fancy, but i have been wanting a fixed lens-so when it came this afternoon, i had to try it out right away. and luckily it was lunch time when it was delivered...as you can tell from the photo, vivi was enjoying her black beans & carrots.

day #4

something green. i love gum. i do not however, care for green gum. it's always what's left in the bottom of my candy bucket after everything else is long gone.

day #3

clouds. i was concerned all day because there were NO clouds. i was coming up with a back up plan that included cotton balls if you can possibly imagine. my sister & niece ended up stopping by just before sunset & for the first time all day...there were clouds!


so this is carly & the clouds

day #2

what i wore today. well, i wore sweatpants & a thermal shirt. not a terribly exiting ensemble to photograph. & i was determined not to fudge on my outfit. so i took a picture of my uggs. i wear these at some point EVERY day. these are one of four pairs of uggs that i have at the moment & this pair is probably on it's last legs. i'm kinda sad about it...i bought these while i was pregnant because my feet were so swollen that my other ones were all too tight. before i got these i tried some 'fuggs' for the first time ever, because it was hard to justify spending so much money on a pair i figured (& hoped!) wouldn't fit me after i had the baby. but the fake uggs aka fuggs were just not even remotely the same. knocked up & swollen...i just wanted something to feel good on my feet! once i had these, they were all i wore for months. now they are loose & worn, but they served their purpose well. 

my name is kara & i am an ugg-a-holic.

day #1 self portrait

i hate to come out of the gate bitchin, but i hate self portraits. i do however love my new holiday wreath :-)

new challenge

a friend of mine who's a photographer challenged herself to take a photo every day for a whole year. and did it! pretty impressive. she posted the pics to her blog & wrote a little something about each photo. i have been considering doing it. i remember when she started she encouraged me to try as well. i am still not sure i am ready. that is a big commitment! BUT i'm going to start here. with this 30 day challenge. starting tomorrow. we will see how that goes & then i'll think about the year one. i like this particular challenge because it gives you a little direction. of course, for that reason alone, the year challenge would be much more difficult. but you know what they say...you gotta crawl before you walk.
see you tomorrow with pic #1!

rub a dub dub, vivi in the tub

i def do not photograph my own child like i thought i would. i have been meaning to take bath time photos of her forever because she LOVES her bath sooooo much. mainly this is because i am always the one giving her the bath. but tonight i twisted her daddy's arm, so that i could snap some shots of her. she is getting so big. i can hardly believe in just a few weeks she will be a year old. it seems like just 5 minutes ago i was in the hospital having her. everyone tells you to enjoy every second because it goes by so fast. everyone is right. and i truly make it a point to soak it all in, because i realize that in the blink of an eye she'll be grown.

mollie makes 5

this family just got home a couple of weeks ago from adopting their 5th child-mollie, from china. she was so sweet, i could've taken her home with me! all of the kids were just darling actually. usually the number of children in a family photo tends to add to the complication of the shoot, but with this crew, it really didn't!

mason

such a cutie patootie!!

noah

such a sweet family :-) and what about noah there with those big baby blues...he was a hoot!

fall fun ya'll

for this session i actually went out to fredricksburg where the family lives to shoot. we had another location chosen, but that day, it ended up not working out & i'm glad-because the backdrop we ended up with was beautiful! the first image shows it. i did no editing on this photo at all. the color is completely natural.

let's just talk about elise's freckles. they are flat out amazing. i LOVE freckles! oh my gosh & adam with those big baby blues. talk about a heartbreaker...

of course leaves are the favorite background/prop in october ;-)

his expression says it all

happy halloween

from me & my lil turkey!

marlee is 3. (and a half!)

and sooo dang cute!

this is her big brother patrick. marlee LOVES her some patrick! what about his manley football pose, that he struck all on his own? love it.

they have such a sweet relationship & i love how this image captures it.

bloomin flowers

this is another family i have been fortunate enough to watch grow...these sweet little girlies are sophia & piper the first time i photographed them in may of 2009.

here they are now...

piper has especially grown up since i last saw her. she was just a baby when i photographed them before! but now there is a new baby sister in town...meet harlow :-)

all 3 girls are just darling. mama & daddy are pretty cute themselves, so it's no wonder they have such beauties. i had such a fun time with them playing & taking their photos. well, with the exception of poor harlow being a little traumatized over a horse we were going to have her sit on. she did not like that horse. not one bit. as you can see.

i love watching families grow!

it is such a wonderful opportunity to shoot each & every family i photograph. but i especially love it when i get to see some of the same families year after year & see how they've grown. here is a photo of the first time i photographed shawn, sara, lucas & libby, just 2 years ago, right after lucas was born...i still love this image so much. the baby is so teeny & libby is looking right a the camera. sarah looks amazing just days after giving birth & shawn has the "new proud daddy" look. love it!

and here they are now, expecting bambino #2. i am so in awe that they haven't found out the sex of the baby. they found out the first time & decided to let it be a surprise this round. i would love to do that, but i couldn't stand the suspense! i think this image of lucas reaching up & touching her belly is so sweet. & that shawn gently has his hand on the baby bump too-still the proud daddy.

lucas has gotten so big i can hardly believe it. & he is ALL BOY. so much fun & loves his tractors. he was a busy boy with his tractors. he did make time to sit down for me...for a minute...when i showed him the sucker in my pocket. sugar. the way to every kid's heart ;-) or at least a way to get them to sit for a minute or so. lucas had things to do & i was totally interrupting him. but thanks to the suckers, i got a couple of sweet pics.

our viv

so i just realized i haven't posted any pics of my own baby in almost 4 months. my daughter, vivian, will be 10 months next week. every month since she was born i've taken her photo on the 17th of the month (her birthday is dec 17th) so that i have monthly documentation of her first year. thank goodness i've been doing this because otherwise, i rarely get out my camera & take pics of her! bad mom. i take tons on my phone but hardly any with my camera. kind of ironic isn't it? here she is...

8 months

9 months

we are so lucky to have such a healthy & HAPPY girl :-)

not for the faint of heart...or fearer of heights!

the past couple of days i worked at the icuee (the international construction and utility equipment exposition) in louisville. mostly i just work as paparazzi at the evening parties one of the large companies host, but yesterday i was lucky enough to work the actual show photographing the booth. which meant i got to go up in one of the highest bucket trucks out there & snap a few pics! they only have clearance of 150 ft because, being so close to the airport, if they go any higher it affects the radars at standford field. it was awesome to get such a cool view of the city! but i will tell you, that little bucket sways in the wind & if you're remotely afraid of heights, the ride up alone could cause a panic attack.

bird's eye view of the show

ye old ky kingdom

downtown in the distance

here you can get more of an idea exactly

HOW high up we were-check out the guys

below us in this other bucket

carlie 6 months

earlier this year, i took newborn shots of carlie...seriously one of the most gorgeous newborns i have ever laid my eyes on.
click here to see that session:
http://kararuckerphotography.blogspot.com/2011/05/sweet-carlie.html

a couple of weeks ago i was able to to photograph her for her 6 month photos & she's of course still crazy cute. & she has such a fun little personality! bless her heart, carlie, along with her parents & i, endured some serious humidity to get these photos. & she hung in there without any major meltdowns-which is alot to ask from a 6 month old.

see how she's grown...