An impromptu maternity shoot...sort of...

I had a fun little unexpected experience this past weekend. I ended up doing a mini-maternity shoot right here in our very own Valley!

Katy Sweeney-Wilson is someone I feel like I've known my entire life. Although we have never been close personal friends, our families and paths have been intertwined for years. Katy was a good friend of my older brother's, as she was a little ahead of him in school. Her mother was my eighth grade English teacher and her father led the youth leadership charge during my pre-teen/early teen years. He has since been mayor of our lovely, little town of Liberty. (He was one of the early non-family members to make calling me by my nickname, "Peat", okay!) Katy has always been a phenomenal dancer and worked with my group of Kentucky Junior Miss contestants when I was a senior in high school. That's just a snapshot of our many meetings over the years... That's life in a small town and you've got to love it!

It just so happens that my cousin, Ru, and her cousin were also married several years ago and now she and my cousin are co-workers at one of the local elementary schools and have become even closer friends because of it. Ru, like myself, has always been a lover of pictures and photography. She did most of her three children's photos herself through their wee years, but Katy, having kiddos of her own, has also developed a knack and enjoyment of photography. She's currently pursuing a small side business in photography on the weekends. She was visiting our property last weekend in order to do a shoot for Ru's family and one of them (not sure who!) thought it could be a great opportunity to add some maternity shots to her portfolio. 

I'm not exactly model material and I warned them that my chances of getting Mingus to clean up and be nice looking for a photo op on a perfectly beautiful Saturday (when he hasn't been home on a Saturday in five weeks!) were slim to none, but I was happy to do it. I did not plan to do any maternity photos, as purchasing my Canon Rebel was my investment in future family photography, so it was a nice excuse to let someone else have the creative eye and see what they came up with. Mingus was a sport about it. While he did not "get pretty" or even clean up... he did take a break from digging potatoes in order to help Katy out. Luckily the outdoor shots made his look seem to fit well.

She was relaxed and easy to work with--especially for someone like me who definitely feels far from "natural" on camera. She was also speedy on the turnaround for having photos for preview. She has a good eye for lighting and camera scope. I love what she was able to do with a natural environment and to use the natural light and colors.

Thanks for choosing me to be your maternity "guinea pig", Katy! 

**All photos taken, edited and owned by Katy Sweeney-Wilson

Sports Talk: Find your photos on Facebook

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published Aug. 7, 2013. 

I have a confession to make… What I am writing about this week is only semi-sports related, so I apologize in advance to any avid sports fans.

I wanted to use this space this week to make a little announcement. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed attending different events throughout the summer and keeping up with the out of season sports and other fun going in our community. I’ve always loved taking photos, but a photojournalism class at Bellarmine is when I really learned how photos can do so much to tell a story. I also learned how you can never take too many photos in attempt to capture the perfect one that captures a story.

My friends and family have come to know me as the picture taker of the group. I used to be made fun of for the number of pictures my friends had tagged of themselves on Facebook that belonged to me. You see, in addition to loving to take lots of photos, I love to share them. I don’t just take them for myself. I take them for friends, family and for anyone else wanting to capture a moment or tell a story for future generations.

With all of the photos I’ve taken this summer, so many of the photos are of people I do not personally know. I always have a tough time selecting which photos to submit for print and, thank goodness, I usually am not the one who has to pick which one(s) actually do get printed. I talk to many of you at these events and often times you know I’m taking photos of you or your children and then they get left on my computer for no one’s enjoyment since the paper can only fit a select number on any given week.

So I’ve recently decided to upload these photos to a Facebook page specifically for sharing with the community. I find genuine value in photos and I believe many others do too. Rather than leaving the multitude of photos I take on a hard drive somewhere for only me to rarely flip through, they are now there for you to enjoy.

Photos can be found at www.facebook.com/ritapeatapictures. If you’ve seen me or talked to me at an event this summer or think I may have gotten photos of you or someone you know, take a look for it. They won’t all be perfect and I can’t guarantee editing on all of them. Also, don’t expect photos to be posted to this page immediately after being taken but you will probably be able to find that after the issue of the Casey News is released they were taken for.

Enjoy!

New Camera! -->Warning! Unedited Photos!

So I've wanted a nice Digital SLR camera for sometime <shocker!> But I've never had a good justification for it with getting pretty good photos out of my smaller point and shoot cameras. My newspaper job has kind of called for it, as the DSLR I use is quite old. However, being that the former writer, whose profession is photography, still does photos at most of the events, how can I really compete with his quality anyway? And I've enjoyed having him cover events to put a little less stress on my schedule what with working all day and traveling to Louisville.

However, I always told Mingus I hoped to spring for one once we started having kids...and...well, that time has arrived! I love everyone's professional photos, but being somewhat of a photo-lover myself.... I plan to save the money and take care of photos myself. Plus it gives me a reason to really learn a nice camera and improve my personal photography abilities. I always love looking at my mom's photos from when she used to use her film Nikon SLR she got shortly after Nicholas was born.

So after stewing over it for...way too long, Mingus gave me a deadline and insisted I pull the trigger. While I do love Mom's old Nikon--it's what I used for my photography class at Bellarmine--I've always loved the Canon digitals I've had in the past. My first two digital cameras were Canon Powershots and even the 3.2 megapixel one I got in 2005 took excellent pictures. My current camera is Sony and I do like it, but, while still having my high opinion of the Powershots, I have also always heard positive things about the Canon Rebel, which actually is what the old newspaper camera I am using now is. 

Now, we all know I'm a penny-pincher, I really could not come with any justification for getting a higher model verses just the T3 12.2 megapixel. I primarily saved the money on springing for the T3i because a Best Buy employee was explaining that the biggest change/improvement between the two is that the "i" versions are better video quality but I'm not getting this camera for video. So the Canon Rebel T3 is now in my possession.

There is so much to learn about this thing, but, no surprise, playing has been fun this week. I think one of the best parts about this camera is the various settings and adjustments I have the ability to make that can give my pictures different looks without even depending on editing. Of course I like editing photos, but I'd rather be able to capture the look I'm hoping for in the moment rather than just hoping to be able to doctor it up later. 

Here are just some I took on my walk from our place to my parents' on my first day of learning...straight off the camera with no edits...

So many looks just by simple setting changes:

Simple to capture vibrant color or even get a monochrome look:

Detail up close and from a distance:

I also love the control of focus with this camera. 

Yes, yes, yes... I have lots to learn at least I have a little time before the Peangling arrives! Hopefully that's enough time to get decent with this new TOOL (...not toy...).

Happily Ever After

My Wedding on a Budget: 29 Days to Go!

More than just the Bride?

As much as I am excited to be the bride at my own wedding, I wouldn't mind to be the photographer and videographer as well! Gui posted the video of his and Carla's wedding on Facebook and it brought me to tears. (Partially because it was so well put together and partially because I so wish I could have been there for it!) Meanwhile, Sara sent us the link to her wedding photos as well. There are SO many and they are all so wonderful. I would love to have one of those jobs. To capture somebody's special day or special moment for them and then piece it together as a time capsule to be kept for a lifetime.

Melhores Momentos Carla e Guilherme from Nando Menezes on Vimeo.

I realize I cannot play 3 roles on my wedding day and it's best if I just keep to the job I was meant for on this occasion: The Bride. What I do love, though, is I will have free access to all of the pictures and all of the video from that day. It will be at my disposal to play with and pretend I was videographer and photographer after the fact. I've been watching some other videos online (Gui's inspired me!) and I am thinking that I'll not only ask Uncle Jerome to borrow his flip cam, but perhaps someone else as well. This way the girls can have one; the guys can have one and then I can give a third to someone like Alyx to run around with during the day to get other random set up activity. I'm also thinking that I"ll want someone with the camera up to the point of the ceremony beginning. I may ask Joshie to help with some of that as an usher. Darnit, why did Jon have to ask Seth to be a groomsmen??