Family Portraits...

I must say, when my mom asked me to do family portraits, I was feeling a little challenged. I didn't know how well photos would turn out on self-timer (well, only the ones of all of us..) But, after some fun on the beach, we have new family portraits! And, I'd say they turned out pretty good! 
These are mainly for my father for Father's Day, but we finally were able to update the photos on a stairwell also! (Thank goodness! The ones that used to be there were from when I was in, what shall I say, an awkward phase.) Anyways, here they are! 
Daddy, I hope you love your new collage of US!

This is my little brother, Nathaniel. He's total boy, with the Harley shirt, the spiked hair, and how he always seems to have an air-soft gun in his hand... I love him to death. 

And when he figures out how to smile, it's absolutely contagious. 

BLUE eyes. And freckles. :)

Oh, and he sure knows how to brush his teeth well!

This is Emily, my little sister. She is fun-loving, smart, and a total drama queen. Which, I must say, without her, life would be a whole lot less entertaining. 

She photogenic as all get-out, too. No fair!

I swear, she gets more and more beautiful everyday!

This would be me. These photos were taken by my mom, and I'd say she did a pretty good job! I only did a quick teaching, and she was able to capture, well me!

I'm the quiet, introverted, intellectual type. Exact opposite of my sister.. :) 

Mommy!! Isn't she perty? Seriously though, this is my FAVORITE shot from the entire shoot. She just exudes beauty in everything that she does. She smiles all day long. I love you, momma!

This is for my daddy, for Father's day. I love how our feet are dirty. It completely summarizes us as kids, and as my dad's kids. :) 

This is a collaboration shot. I knew before going out there, that I wanted shots by the poles. (If you look at my last post, I have a shot using shallow depth of field with these exact same poles.) But, my mom and sister came up with the amazing idea to look away! Frankly, I was too worried with making the self-timer work! Haha. And, Nathaniel perfects the shot.. :)

Can you tell Nathaniel got more tired, and the wind blew harder, the longer we were there? 

SISTERS. <3 

I leave for Los Angeles on Tuesday! I absolutely cannot wait! It's going to be filled with driving (4 days to be exact), lots of Roller Coasters, shopping, the Hollywood sign, and just good ole' family time. Plus, Chris will be there! 


I plan to take an immense amount of photos, which I will surely be blogging about when I get back in two weeks. So, until then, here is Hazelnut again. Sleeping in a ball (after messing up her cage)! SO cute. :) 

Hazelnut...

Today, Chris and I got our first pet together! :) Here she is: 







Isn't she so cute! She is ITTY BITTY! 


Also, on Saturday, I was able to help capture the memories at two different graduate parties for two good friends! Here is a sneak peek..

Beachhouse 2010...

I got home yesterday from a very fun trip to Galveston with Chris's family for about a week. I'm going to tell the story my favorite way to do so, in photographs!


The first night at the beachhouse, the boys went out to do what they spent pretty much the whole trip doing, fishing. No one, however, expected Andrew, Chris's brother, to catch a shark the first night! I ran out, camera and speedlight in tow, to document this crazy occasion! 

One thing I was determined to go while in Galveston, was to capture the sunset and the sunrise. The first photo is of the sunset, which was the easier of the two to capture seeing as I didn't have to wake up at 6am to take it!

Here is the sunrise...

Another thing I was determined to do was to learn how to skim board. I did, and it was so fun!!

But not without a few falls!!!

On memorial day, we all spent the day at Galveston State Park, where we kayaked, fished, tried to catch crabs, but I mostly read. :) Ah, it was so nice to just bask in the summer sun and read a good girly book. :) Chris's mom decorated our picnic area with flags! 

The morning I set out to capture the sunrise, Chris came with me and decided to baywatch run down the beach. :) (tongue sticking out is for added effect).

And we saw a sand crab that hadn't quite hidden away before the hustle and bustle of beachgoers. 

On Tuesday, the second to last day we were at the beach, we went on a little scavenger hunt. See, after Ike, lots of poor trees lost their lives, so amazing artists turned the dead trees into interesting carvings. They are located mostly in the historic district. Here is my favorite of all the various carvings:

Later that day, we went on a really fun tour of the Moody Mansion. The Moody's were/are a famous influential family in Galveston starting way back in the late 1800's!

Here is a photo from the garage of the house.

The beautiful detail of the outside of the house.

Not sure what this is, but it sure is intriguing!

 

The front porch. 

If you look closely, you can see the beautiful stained-glass window. We couldn't take pictures from the inside, so this was the best I could get of it!

Here is a photo of my roomie Jamie helping out her beau, Andrew, by getting the kite in the air!!

On our final morning, pancakes were made from a can like spray cheese. Chris got really excited because he could make whatever shape he wanted. This is a cross pancake. :)

After checking out of the beachhouse, Chris and I decided to spend one last day on the beach. To be honest, I barely got sunburned until this day where we read, cooked burgers, boogie boarded, and hinted for seashells. It was a perfect way to end such a fun trip. 

Here are a few artsy fartsy photos I shot while in Galveston:

Can you tell I'm a sucker for shallow depth of field? :P

- I'd like to wish Chris's dad, Mr. Marcelino, a happy birthday! We celebrated his birthday at Rudy & Paco, a SUPER fancy restaurant, with nakie people pictures in the bathrooms I might add. But, I didn't bring my camera. :( So, Happy 50th! 

Real summer begins...

Technically, summer began about 2 weeks ago, but it was more like limbo between school and summer. I wasn't really sure what to do with my time. Now, I'm really ready for summer vacations, swimming everyday, naps whenever I want them, basically freedom! Here is a little of what has been going on in limbo, and a little more of what summer holds!!


Chris found baby rabbits in his yard! It's really neat because I'm the kind of person who gets excited to see a bunny hop across my yard, so this was really amazing to experience!

Also my new lens (Nikon VR 55-200mm telephoto) came in! I'm so excited! I took the rabbit pictures with it, but here is another picture I took with it recently. :) These are Chris's ties including the bright pink one that he wore to prom which perfectly matched my dress!

This summer I am actually quite busy. I have 3 shoots either planned or in planning right now, and I hope for many more shoot this summer too. I'm also watching the kids I normally watch, Audra, Gunnar, Anders, and Dane. :) My family and I are going to LA later in June, probably camping here and there as well. I'm taking summer school in July and August. But, the soonest thing is a trip to a beachhouse in Galveston with Chris's family!! I'm very excited. I can't wait to just chill on the beach. Ahhh, it's going to be nice. :) Here is Chris packing.

I won't be taking my MacBook to Galveston, but when I get back I'll have some shoot really soon to post! 

If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera.  ~Lewis Hine

Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow. ~Imogen Cunningham

Cole / Prom Portraits

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of shooting Cole's prom portraits! Him and his friends were all so excited and it made me reminisce about my prom last year (tear).  

I remember going to the Waterwall and taking pictures, spending time with great friends in an awesome limo, dinner at a restaurant so nice I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back!, dancing until our feet hurt, wink in the suite at Moody Gardens, Schlitterbahn, Apples to Apples, and so much more. 

I hope Cole had a fantastic time at his prom and that maybe just maybe when he sees his photos he'll be able to remember as clearly as I do such a fun night. 

Anyways, without further ado:

His friend Aaron's gorgeous red boutonnière:

Aaron's date Nina's cute ballet flats. :) And my favorite picture from the shoot!

Hope you like them! 

My other job...

Besides being a photographer, I am also a nanny. I take care of the cutest four kiddos a couple times a week. Sometimes it gets kinda crazy, with four total, three being boys!, but at the end of the day I love it.
Last week was especially crazy because they had workers at their house to change a spare garage into another living room and re-do the lighting in the kitchen... So, what did we do? We spent the majority of the time in the wonderful outdoors (thankfully it was a nice breezy day).

And we made leaf crowns! This is why I love being a nanny. There is time to be the watchful eye and keep the peace, but there is always extra time where I get to be a kid again too, if only for a minute. 

Hopefully soon I will have two different prom shoots up! Here is a sneak preview...

Happy Mother's Day...

Happy Mother's Day Momma! 

I want you to know how special you are to me. If I've ever needed ANYTHING, you've been there for me. Whenever. Whatever. You are the most beautiful person I know. Why? Because no matter what you have a smile on you face. It's like unhappy isn't a possibility for you.
If I could grow up to be half the mother you are, I think I'd be in pretty good shape. 

I love you, momma. 

Copyright 2010 Chelsea McAuley Photography