Highlights from some recent sessions ...

August, September, and October were pretty busy months.  I was hopping!  Between photo sessions, being a wife and mom and all that those titles entail, raising a boatload of Monarch butterflies, volunteering at my church, being PTO Treasurer (still), etc. etc., I didn't take much time to blog.  So now I thought I would share an image or two from the sessions that were keeping me up late into the night editing until my eyeballs bled.  (Not really, but sometimes it felt like it.)  :)

(I shared some peeks back in September if you want to check them out also.  This post includes the ones that happened after those.) 

There was Zac ...

And Evan ...

And Paige ...

My lovely sister-in-law and my nieces ...

The whole B family ...

which even included a couple dogs ...

A baby bump ...

And an adorable big sister ...

My friend, Jen, and her two kids ... 

A 35th wedding anniversary celebration ...

And last, but not least, a family that I have had the pleasure of photographing a couple times before ...

Things are slowing down now that the colder weather is upon us.  Though I am hoping to do some snow sessions again this year.  They were a blast last year!

As this year winds down I can't help but feel truly blessed by all of the great folks who entrusted me to capture their memories for them.  Some were friends or family but many were people I didn't know who were referred to me, which is really a great compliment.  

I plan to spend my "slow" season doing some DSLR teaching, editing my personal pictures, and learning more about Lightroom and Photoshop.  And just spending time with my family who has been so (mostly) patient with me during this time of growth.  Oh, and finally updating this ol' blog.


In case you are interested, here are a couple other places you can find me:
My website:  Kimberly Vensel Photography
My Facebook page:  Kimberly Vensel Photography

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Josh & Hanna ~ Prom 2014

In the fall I had the pleasure of photographing Josh's senior photos.  I'm not sure if I ever shared them, so here are a couple ...

Josh's mom was referred to me by a friend and she has since become a big fan of mine.  Mainly because Josh was dreading getting his pictures done after a bad experience with the school's photographer.  She said that I made him so relaxed and that he really had a fun time with me.  He said so after we were done.  That makes me happy because that is one of my goals - to make my clients feel more comfortable in front of the camera.

Fast forward to May ... I had a mini session giveaway on my Facebook page to celebrate a milestone of fans.  Josh was the winner.  He chose to have a prom mini session and thankfully I was available to make that happen.  Once again we had a great time despite the rain that tried to ruin our fun.


I met them at Josh's grandparents' house where they have this gorgeous crab apple tree.  As soon as I saw it, I fell in love.  :)


He and his girlfriend, Hanna, are so fun together.  I guess they've known each other forever and are a bit competitive with each other.


Josh wanted a shot with the neighbor's barn in the background.

    
We concluded their session with a little basketball in the rain with Josh's youngest brother.  This is where I got to see the competitiveness come out.  :)  I love the fact that Hanna wasn't afraid to get in there too, especially with heels and a gown on.

I loved the time I got to spend with Josh and his girlfriend.  And Josh's family.  They are all so nice.  I hope to have another opportunity to photograph Josh.  Like maybe his wedding?  Not for a while though.  He's just a baby.  :)

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Our 11th Week ~ 2014

Wow, am I behind this week or what?  Helping Keira and her classmate all day Sunday work on their science project really threw me off.  I'm still trying to get caught up!  But I didn't want to miss posting some pics from last week (at least the ones I didn't use for Sunday's Scavenger Hunt), so here you go!

If you saw Sunday's Scavenger Hunt, you saw that Alex helped me bake some gluten free cookies this week.  Let me just say that gluten free doesn't necessarily mean healthy.  :)  I will have to play with this recipe to see if I can make them less bad for you.  But still just as tasty.  It is a good thing that they are all gone now.

I have so many pictures of Alex playing indoor soccer that this year I decided to only take my camera a couple times.  Saturday was one of those times.  Doesn't he look excited to be playing goalie?  :)

On Friday afternoon I met up with my friend Tricia to take some head shots.  She's an actress who has been using her photo from about 20 years ago, so she thought it was about time to get updated.  :)  We took most of her pictures outside at a local conservancy, but we did venture inside and were given permission do some indoors.  They usually charge for that, but I guess the woman in charge was feeling generous that day.  Anyway, this is one of my favorites from the day - one of the indoor shots.  I had a huge picture window behind me totally lighting up Tricia's face.  So soft and lovely.

Other than teaching a friend how to use her camera on Monday, my week was pretty quiet.  The weather was typical for Pennsylvania in March.  50+ degrees on Monday and Tuesday and freezing rain and snow on Wednesday.  That caused our church to cancel Wednesday night services.  So we hung out at home and watched a VeggieTale DVD once the boys had their homework done.  (That is kind of a big deal since we don't watch TV on school nights).  Then Keira's violin teacher had to cancel her lesson on Thursday.  So I had several days of hanging out at home in my yoga pants.  :)  Gotta love days like that.

So that's about it from me.  Hope you have a fabulous week!  Tomorrow is the first day of spring - YAY!  This morning I noticed something green popping up in my flower bed.  Tulips or daffodils maybe.  Either way, it is encouraging!

Linking with Tamar - better late than never!  :)

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Our Sixth Week ~ 2014

Last week was one like none other.  (Of course, aren't they all?)  :)

I took pictures at a baby dedication on Sunday, spent the day at my church on Monday for craft day, hung out at the hospital photographing a labor/delivery on Tuesday, had the kids home on Wednesday due to school being cancelled (again!) because of snow, spent the day with Alex on Thursday because he wasn't feeling well, took Keira to her violin lesson and went to a PTO meeting Thursday afternoon/evening, on Friday took newborn photos and went bowling, watched Alex's soccer game Saturday morning and went to the symphony with Doug on Saturday night.  Whew!  No wonder I needed a nap Sunday afternoon!  :)

Our Pastor got to dedicate two babies on Sunday.  And they are cousins!  I loved seeing him holding two babies at one time.

Ted and Melody were loving on baby Emerson shortly after he was born.  Being involved in a labor/delivery was the coolest thing!  I hope I get to photograph more births.  Soon!  I shared another of Emerson's birth photos on Sunday's Scavenger Hunt post.  Can't share too many yet until mom and dad get to see them all.  :)

The sun was glistening off the newly fallen snow Thursday morning.  It was a beautiful sight!  If you'd like to see more of my latest winter photos, check out this post ... Winter Continues.

My friend, Jenn, brought baby Jonathan over on Friday afternoon so I could take some newborn photos of him.  He's such a doll baby!  Another photo shared of baby Jonathan in Sunday's Scavenger Hunt post.

My kids had a blast bowling on Friday night with our church family!

Looking back at all the photos posted here, I guess I was in a black and white mood this week.  :)

So that was my week.  What were you up to?

Linking with Tamar ...

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 02.09.14

It's Scavenger Hunt time again!  This week's list was relatively easy, which was nice.  As much as I love playing along, I don't like getting stumped on prompts.  So let's get right to them ...

{looking up}

First off you get to see me being a dork.  :)

Keira took this photo of me while we were bowling with our church family on Friday night.  We had a blast!  Apparently things were looking up at this point of the night.  However, by the end of the evening, I realized that I was a bit rusty at bowling.  Guess we'll need to go more often.

{light}

Using the natural light from our big picture window, I took newborn photos of this sweet little guy on Friday.  He's only 9 days old in this photo.

{favorite mobile device}

No question about it, Keira's favorite mobile device is her Kindle.  She spends way too much time on it.  :)

{outside}

On Thursday, the day after the big snow/ice storm, Honey and I walked around outside to see what cool things we could find.  Like this frozen water drop.  More pictures from that day can be found here.

{inside}

On Tuesday, I spent the majority of my day inside a hospital awaiting the arrival of this sweet baby boy.  This was my first labor/delivery photo session and I loved it!  I hope to get the opportunity to do them again!

Well, that's it from me.  Be sure to visit Ashley to see more great Scavenger Hunt photos!  Make it a great week!

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Michael ~ One Year Old

This sweet little guy turned one recently.  He's not your typical one year old.  His grandmother, who asked me to do his pictures, said he may have cerebral palsy.  He was to visit the doctor soon after his session.

He was such a sweetheart.  And even though I couldn't get a smile out of him, I really enjoyed our time together.  Here are just a few shots from his session ...

He wasn't able to sit up by himself so his grandmother held him up.  Which required lots of editing - not something I'm used to.  But it was worth it to get her a photo of him on a hay bale - something she wanted.

He was fascinated by the hay bale.  He kept pulling strands out and examining it.  Then he'd drop that and grab another.  It was fun to see the wonder of something new through his eyes.

We didn't get to do all that I had planned for his session because he decided to take a nap.  Must be nice.  :)

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Samantha ~ Senior Photos

I'm finally getting caught up on processing photo sessions, so I thought I'd take some time to share.  First up is Samantha.


On an unusually warm day in October we set out to get Sami some senior photos.  More for her mom than for her, but she was a good sport about it.  We kept things simple.  Because she's a country girl who likes things simple.

She's a big Pittsburgh Penguins fan and wanted some shots in her jersey.

And she loves her pink camouflage sweatshirt.

We had a fun time and her mom is very happy with her pictures.  And it wasn't nearly as much torture as Sami thought it would be.  :)

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