NEW BLOG

I have started a new blog to go along with my new business! I am very excited to begin taking pictures for people again. I have spent the last year attending workshops, mentoring sessions and on-line training sessions to get up to speed on all of the fun digital stuff. (When I stopped my portrait business a few years back, I was doing just film!) I have been ready for a while now to get back into it, but felt I needed to update my ways. It has been a fun year learning and trying new things out and I am excited for the upcoming year.

It seems really early but if you want Christmas cards now is the time to think about it. The weather is perfect, not too cold, not too hot and it takes a while for the lab to get them printed during this busy time of the year. I am now offering press printed cards which are super fun and can be customized with different colors and sayings.

One last item and this is for my family members who visit the blog to get updates on the family stuff. I will still include daily happenings of the Callister family on the new blog, right now I just think one blog will have to support both purposes, maybe when Henry gets a little older I will have tons of time to do two. (A girl can dream!)

Enjoy the new blog and comments are always appreciated!!


C. Hardy Photography New and Exciting Blog

Fun with Tessa

Tessa and I had another fun day pretending we were different animals. I have pictures of her on her first day of school to post but for a fun one for now!

Enjoy!

Thirteen Years Ago on the Thirteenth...

I met Stephen. I know it is the 14th today but yesterday instead of sitting at the computer by myself, Stephen and I spent quality time together, tackling Mt. Laundry Pile. Yes, the mountain had to be moved, we could no longer enter our bedroom without the risk of bodily harm. One of the many perils of apartment living. So one day late for the anniversary 13 years in the making.

The top thirteen reasons why I love Stephen:

1-4. He is really good with kids. We have four kids so that is four big reasons to love him.
5. He is really smart, ask him ANYTHING about the termite gut. Okay he knows a lot about other things too but right now the girls are very impressed with termites.
6. He is pretty funny, this is where I won't divulge anymore for fear of retaliation.
7. His driving has improved. Greatly improved. Good thing too because he is now a big part of my carpooling plan.
8-11 Did I mention he is really good with kids?
12. He is always looking out for the welfare of others and won't let me talk to our realtor right now. Saving him from the wrath of an angry woman. Like I said always looking out for others.
13. He has put up with all of my rantings and foul moods for the past couple of days, well weeks, okay for the sake of honesty...5 months.

Seriously, I am so glad I met him on that Friday the 13th. I am very lucky to have such a good person in my life. I hope the next 13 years are as great!

One picture of Stephen and Henry at the park the other day. I am not joking when I say he is good with our kids, he helps out a ton and I am thankful for all he does for our family.

Enjoy!

Tessa's Violin

Tessa has started violin lessons! She has been a very good student and very diligent at practicing. For now all I can say is I am glad she has a very patient teacher.

Enjoy!

Henry's New Shoes

Henry is growing fast. I type that statement and can not believe how much he has grown this summer. He went from doing the army crawl to a full-fledged walker. Well, I say walker but in reality he is a runner. Henry moves fast and I am reminded everyday how hard it is to keep up with a toddler. In celebration of this milestone, we went to the mall and bought him a pair of "big kid shoes" complete with laces and everything. The shoes have helped him out and unfortunately have helped him move faster! This is the one shot I got of the new shoes that wasn't a blur. After chasing him around, we thought it would be a good idea to put him on Tessa's scooter to get him to stand still. It worked until we had to take him off, I will skip posting the picture of the meltdown after extracting him from the big kid toys.

Enjoy!





I am loving the textures right now. It reminds me of back in the day when I was in school and trying out every different technique I could. I would spend weeks researching different formulas and photographers who printed on every imaginable surface, paper, glass, or metal. Pinhole cameras, zone plates, cyanotypes, polaroid transfers anything that was considered alternative processing I had to try. I even think a pinhole camera accompanied Stephen and I on our honeymoon.

I love the photographs that cross the line between a piece of art and a snapshot. For some reason hand coating the surface of paper and exposing it to light, getting back to the very beginning of photography, is so fulfilling. I loved the idea that I created something with my hands. I am happy that I can duplicate some of the looks of these photographs on the computer but am really missing getting my hands dirty. One day I will have the time and space to do this again but for now I will take what I can get.

Evelyn to the Rescue

Lillian has started first grade, entering the world of firsts. Normally the second child in the family has an easy ride, the older sibling has blazed the way for them. But not so in our family. Lilly is blazing the way for herself. Everything we had figured out for Evelyn just wouldn't work for Lilly. The most troubling of the firsts was lunch. Lilly has very rarely eaten food not in our presence. So eating lunch at school was a big deal.

At Lincoln the children go to the lunchroom and then take their lunches back to the classroom to be consumed at their desks. (Deep sigh inserted here). It is not an ideal situation especially when sitting in such close proximity to all of the children drinking milk and eating pizza and nachos and basically everything children would want to eat for lunch. This was (is) a nerve wrecking experience for our family. We had no idea how to handle this, we knew this was coming but didn't know what to do.

So at lunch Lilly sat in the back of the class, by herself, watching her friends eat and talk and laugh together. The first day I was able to go in and sit with her to help ease her into this new situation. Everything seemed great until the next morning when she casually asked when I would be coming to lunch. We had thought she was fine with the situation knowing and understanding why she was in the back, removed from the danger of being near all of the milk. Never did we think she would want us to sit with her everyday. As parents we were torn; she would have to learn to deal with eating when we weren't there but she is still very young to have to deal with such things. There was no way we could go to lunch with her everyday so we decided to have her eat alone that day to help her transition into the new routine. So the second day a she ate lunch alone in the rear of the class. That night our easygoing, school loving, little girl was unconsolable. She hated being alone during lunch and begged us to help her. Now understand, she begged for us to help, not to put her back at her desk to eat. She was torn just as much as we were. Lilly felt uncomfortable being that close to the other children while they ate the foods that make her so sick.

That night she had a very concerned sister who asked us how she could help Lilly. Evelyn who had done the first grade with ease, offered to go to Lilly's room, forgoing eating with her friends, to sit with her sister so she would not feel so alone.
The bond these sisters share is amazing. I watch the way they interact with each other and the things they do to help one another and am so proud of the way they are growing up. Evelyn has always been Lilly's comfort and security. I have watched them enter new situations together with Lilly holding tight to her sister's hand and Evelyn stepping up to help her younger sister out. Lilly was very excited that her older sister would come from her classroom to eat with her. They both said they had a great time having lunch together and Evelyn said to me that night she would do it as many times as Lilly needed.

So things at school have finally worked themselves out. Lilly has had friends offer to sit with her, teachers offer to take turns spending lunch with her and finding a placement for her desk during lunch that we are all comfortable with. I am very grateful to all of the people in Lilly's world who are caring and compassionate enough to go out of their way to help her out. I am especially grateful that she has a sister who truly understands and cares about her "little sis."

Family Portrait

It has been years since we had one done.





Check out post below. I know- hard to believe two posts in one night!

So Long Summer

Before I can post about the start of school and how well the kids are doing I first must say farewell to summer. Summer has been good to us, the sleeping in, the long days of nothing to do, the trips to the park, eating outside, bubbles blown, warm evenings, cool treats, I could go on and on but I suspect many of the same things are missed by lots of people. Summer has been really good to us and it is hard to say goodbye. It is really hard at 6 am when I am forcing myself into the shower so I can waken the children to get ready for school, going to the park with only two children, looking at my watch and wondering how the girls are doing, being strict about bedtime, and oh probably one of the most physical discomforts of the departure of summer; shoes and socks. Summer can not come back soon enough!

One last adventure in the park this Sunday, the last tromp before school officially started. Enjoy!

Summer is Fleeting

The summer is quickly coming to a close. Pretty soon the children that were constantly under foot are going to be gone all day long. It is a hard balance, especially this particular summer being cramped in a small apartment, trying to keep the older kids happy and the younger ones entertained. When I remember this summer I am afraid the apartment life will overshadow the fun times we had earlier in the summer.

It seems to have gone by a little too fast, yet a little too slow all at the same time. Everyone has grown so much this summer, especially Evelyn who everyday seems to be maturing faster and faster. She is caught between the pretend play and the grown up older girls. It is hard to see my little E.V. forgoing games of the past calling them "baby games." I once thought I would love the extra help as she got older but instead of enjoying the help, I find myself really missing the times when I got to watch her play.

I love this picture of her in one of her carefree moments, lost to everything around her, wrapped up in her imagination. I have found myself wondering lately what happened to the little girl who wore dress up clothes until they fell apart, who refused to take off her butterfly wings even to sleep, whose imagination was so viivid anyone could be pulled into her games. I want to hold this memory of the playful little girl close to me forever. Enjoy the final carefree days of summer!

Red Hair

Allison again. I converted the first picture of her into a black and white for the timeless feel, but her hair. Well her hair has to be seen in color.

I love red hair, I may have mentioned that before. I think it is so pretty. Growing up I really wanted red hair, in fact in high school I saved up my hard earned babysitting money to have red highlights put in my hair. I was going to have it done by a professional so it would look really good. Babysitting doesn't really pay that much, so my choices were of stylists were limited to say the least. The first batch of color the stylist painted on was not quite dark enough to be seen in my very dark brown hair. The stronger, second application, well I don't know what went wrong. The result was a head full of long dark brown hair with purple highlights. She was very thorough too so there was no hiding those highlights. Funny, now I just admire the redheads and leave my hair color alone.

Ed

"Ed- Daddy I love playing with Edddddd...." you would have to hear the way Tessa pronounced his name drawing out the last part. And you can imagine the amusement of hearing a three year old telling her Daddy how much fun it was to play with Ed. Coming home from the hospital she was greeted by numerous cousins who were meeting her for the very first time. She immediately took to Ed (everyone else referred to her 4 year old cousin as Eddie), and they had so much fun together. They were so much alike, it was interesting to watch them play.

Tessa still talks about Ed and wonders when she can go play with him again. Like I wrote yesterday it is hard being so far away from such a fun family.

Thanks to my friends on Facebook

I have found the babies I need for my portfolio. Thank you to everyone who spread the word! I am very excited to begin the newborn phase of my photography.

I am still in need of a large stump. If you know of one that is close to Kennewick, I will haul it myself (okay I will probably have Stephen pick it up). If it is not within driving distance I probably can't get it, unless someone wants to deliver a stump from Alaska. In that case I would buy them dinner for their efforts.

Once again thank you everyone, I really appreciate it!

Little Miss Allison

Michigan. It was such a fun summer for my kids. We spent 4 weeks playing, visiting relatives, playing, having fun, and playing. Most everything went well; the weather was perfect (cool but not too cold), having family around was a big help and we enjoyed endless afternoons of playing. Henry and Tessa got to meet cousins they have never seen before and the rest of us got reacquainted with relatives not seen for years. It was really hard to say goodbye knowing that we don't get to visit as often as we would like.

I love this picture of my niece Allison playing at "Aunt Dangle's" house. I had a hard time deciding whether or not to keep it in color. She has the most beautiful hair. I love red hair, every shade of it! Anyway I decided on black and white because I like the timeless feel of it. Kind of trying to capture that perfect summer vacation.

Enjoy!

Exciting Post

Baby as Art has posted a blog entry about the workshop that I attended. I will have to say that picture shows how I look after an entire weekend of so much good information that my head feels like it may explode! Anyway not a great picture of me but it was very exciting to see what they said about one of my shots!

I am still looking for a newborn to work with so if you know anybody please email me!

Still Having Fun

Here I am a week after the workshop and I am still having a blast with the images I took. We had the cutest little models to work with. Here are a few more images.


Enjoy!




I love the tree stump, love it so much I am currently looking for a large stump, bark or no bark. Let me know if you know anyone who wants to get rid of a tree stump!

Oh Baby!!

This past weekend I had the exciting opportunity to attend a workshop in San Diego, put on by the photographers at Baby as Art. I have been drooling over/stalking their website for the past year. What they do as photographers is inspirational to say the least. I really admire their work because it is clean and simple and the baby is clearly the focus of their art.

The workshop was great, Carrie and Britt were excellent instructors. They were both so patient with the babies and with the questions we asked. Carrie also opened up her home to us, allowing us to spend the night (and ask more questions). I learned so much from how they interact with babies and families to photoshop conversions. I really didn't want the weekend to end.

I took the following image which was styled by Carrie and Britt. I came home with the raw image and applied what I learned at the workshop. I am so excited to begin photographing newborns and using what I learned this weekend.





Right now I am looking for a newborn (5-14 days old) to work with. In exchange for letting me practice I will give the parents a CD with hopefully 10 edited files and one free 8x10 of their favorite pose. So if anyone knows of anybody who is expecting or has a newborn (5-14 days old), have them send me an email! After this final practice session I will begin charging my regular setting fee and cd's will only be available for purchase with a minimum order.

Enjoy!

Henry Walks!!

Henry has choosen to spend the majority of his life being carried around by people. Does this mean my son is {gulp} lazy? No I like to think of him as cuddly. He loves to be close to his parents and sisters, who did their fair share of carrying/dragging him around. A while back he toyed with the idea of crawling. He got pretty good and started to choose to crawl many different places. After weeks of his knees being worn on the cement and carpet, he has decided to try the walking thing out. I must say for walking all of two days he is getting pretty good, well good enough for me to miss holding him close all day long.


Henry's poor knees worn down by crawling.

Now You See Us ...... Now you don't

We are back in Kennewick! But are getting ready to leave for one last summer trip. This summer has been very busy but magical (hence the title). We have had so much fun visiting with family and seeing new sites. This summer is the first summer that we got to see all cousins. We have great family on both sides.


Lots to blog about but for now one special picture of hide and seek.

Traveling

Wow what an exciting week so far. We have spent a lot of time in the car but have seen so many interesting things on the way. Indian Reservations (casinos but they have to lure you in by calling them something else), Yellowstone (lots of wildlife and mountains), Mt. Rushmore (the girls earned their Jr. Ranger badges), the Mississippi River (home of their music teacher's famous song), Chicago's sweeping skyline, lots of public restrooms and McDonalds restaurants.


Here are a few of the pictures so far.


Going towards NE entrance in Yellowstone.




Henry at Mt. Rushmore.

Ballet

Saturday was the ballet recital. This is our fourth year attending and waking up in the morning to go to a dress rehersal and coming back at night to compete with a large crowd to find a spot suitable for watching three hours of dancing. The whole day we have to contend with the weather and limited amounts of shade. This year was different, this was a day that a little girl has been talking about ever since last year when she had to sit and watch her older sisters dance, you couldn't help but feel excited for her. Her big day had come.
Bright and early Saturday morning we were greeted by a smiling face at our bedside declaring "today is the day." We went to rehearsal early that morning and she was not too sure about all of the activity going on around her. Her teacher led her on stage and she still seemed unsure. As I waited for her backstage I wondered what she was thinking about her first experience on stage. She came running up to me and asked when she could do it again. All day long she kept talking about going "up to the stage." The actual performance that night was a different experience, she knew what to expect. Before the dance started she looked up and saw Stephen way in the back waving and she waved back, smiling from ear to ear. This time waiting for her backstage I knew that she had a great time. After watching her sisters dance we decided to pack up and call it a day. She did not want to leave after all she was a BIG girl that danced on stage. That night a very sleepy little girl curled up in my arms and right before she fell asleep she smiled and asked if we could do it again tomorrow. A dancer is born.

More Baby Pictures

Little Baby L was so much fun to to take pictures of. She was perfect and let me pose her any way I wanted, plus I got to visit with her mom and really cute big sister.
I took a Photoshop class in Portland a few weeks back and one trick they showed was adding text boxes around the photos. Here is my attempt at it.

Six Days New

Big Day For the Callister Boys

Today we took Henry to get his first haircut. It was sooooo much fun! Stephen got to wear a very fancy cape and hold a screaming baby in his arms. This is the first picture, I will add more later but I wanted to get the picture up before Stephen made me delete the ones of him in the leopard print cape. :) Oh it is a big day because I made an appointment for Stephen to get his haircut today too. (I may show up with my camera).

Henry is ONE!

On Tuesday Henry turned one, I can not believe how fast the time has gone by. I was thinking about everything that has happened the past year and how busy life has been. It was nice to take a day and think about Henry and all of his growing and learning that he has done in the past twelve months. The following is a collage I made of all of his 1 year old photo shoots. The problem with taking pictures is I see something I like and do the whole photo shoot all over again trying to capture something a little differently. I never did end up with the shot that I had envisioned but I got a lot of cute ones in the process. Enjoy!

Sisters

Evelyn and Lilly have an amazing relationship. They are the best of friends, yes at times they are the worst of enemies but for the majority of the time they are steadfast in their relationship. Evelyn looks out for her little sister and Lilly really looks up to her older sister.


Evelyn, when just a baby became attached to a blanket, never without her "Pretty." This blanket was Evelyn's comfort and security item, to this day she sleeps with it somewhere on her bed. Lilly on the other hand never attached to a blankie or a stuffed animal. We always joked that she didn't need a security item because she had a fiercely attentive older sister. When they were smaller and in an unfamiliar situation, we would watch Lilly and see her creep closer to her sister and attach herself to Evelyn. She always found comfort in having her big sister near by her. And Evelyn has always lived up to her role as protector.


Two years ago the girls sat down to root beer floats, (Lilly's made with soy ice cream) and there was a mix-up and Lilly ended up in the hospital. As a mother I was upset that this happened but the memory that stands out about that night is Evelyn standing by her sister, crying and telling the nurse that it was all her fault. She should have been watching her sister more closely. I was awed by the fact that a six year old felt that much care and responsibility for her sister.
As they get older I have watched this bond become stronger and stronger. I hope that they will continue to have each other as best friends and allies. Here is a photo at the park of "The Girls" (as Tessa calls them). Enjoy!

My Evelyn

Evelyn has been playing the violin for 4 years now! I can't believe that it has been so long since we got her first violin and she struggled with just being able to hold on to it. I watch her practice now and I am amazed at how far she has come since those early days. I will admit the violin has been a love/hate relationship. She hates when she can't seem to get the song just right but when she does she is so excited to share it with everyone. She calls grandparents, aunts and uncles to play her newly learned songs over the phone for them. We have video taped her performances and emailed them to family all over. We are extremley lucky to have found a violin teacher who lovingly pushes her past her comfort limits to help her become a confident violin player. She loves going to lessons even though sometimes I think she is going for some "adult conversation." She told me the other day she loves that her teacher listens to her, really listens to her. She has learned so much over the past four years.

This is a picture exactly how I wanted to capture it. She plays some of her songs so much that she learns them by heart. When I ask her to play a song she will close her eyes and play it. I love to watch her when she is like that totally wrapped up in the music not caring what is going on around her. Enjoy!

Evelyn

Tonight we enjoyed the warm weather and went back to the park, camera in tow. I meant to get a picture of Henry for his 1 year birthday but found Evelyn to be in a very cooperative mood. So instead of Henry having his photo shoot the girls all enjoyed time in front of the camera. Tomorrow it is supposed to be just as nice and Lilly has requested another trip to the park, one without the camera. Enjoy!

My Boy Loves His Books!!

The other day I put Henry by the cabinet where we keep lots of his toys. Usually he will reach in and dump out the baskets and look at his toys. This activity keeps him occupied for about 10 minutes. The other day I put him by the toys and went into the kitchen to the dishes. After doing all of the dishes I noticed he wasn't fussing as he usually does when he grows bored of his toys. I peeked around the corner and found that he had found a book mixed in with all of his toys. The book kept him occupied for longer then all of the toys in the cabinet have ever kept his busy. I am so excited he has discovered books and he loves them. Now when I need to get something done I give him a stack of books. I love this picture because it shows all of toys tossed to the side and his interest in only the book. Enjoy!

My Lillian

Three years ago we took Lilly to the farmers market. There she saw a girl playing a cello. Our tiny, barely three year old stood there mesmerized by the music. From that day on she begged and pleaded and dreamed about playing a cello herself. We made a deal that if she could learn her whole alphabet and sounds we would enroll her in cello lessons. Less than six months later an almost four year triumphed and not only knew her alphabet but was reading!! For her birthday she received her cello and started lessons. It has been two years since she started and Lillian has impressed us greatly with her hard work and determination. I love to sit and listen to her practicing her cello and counting out loud to herself.


Yesterday we took advantage of the nice weather and went to the park in search of a place to take a picture of a very special little girl. It was an adventure with a cello. She sat and played her cello and I took pictures of her. Her cello in this picture is off to the side, a direct result of placing the pin in the soft spring earth. Lillian has a very special place in the family and I was hoping to capture a bit of her spirit. I hope you enjoy!

Fun Outside

We have experienced great weather her in the Tri-Cities. It seems as if Spring is really here along with all of the beautiful creatures that have been hibernating all winter long.

Tessa was amazed with the picture- she couldn't seem to remember wearing wings out to play today. I love that Mommy is still magical to her. :)

Hydration Pack (for a three year old?)

Every three year old needs a child size hydration pack, just for the simple fact that it is really funny to watch her with it. Tessa insists that it goes on upside down, that being the most comfortable feeling. Now if only she could figure out why when she walks the mouth piece keeps hitting her in the face. Priceless entertainment.


Oh yeah she dresses herself too, amazing what she finds comfortable.

Spring Break????

What is with this weather? One sunny half way decent day so far. Right now I am thankful for legos and markers but am sick of legos and markers! Here are a few pictures of Tessa on that one warm day.

Healthy Again!

We have survived being ground zero for infectious diseases. Most importantly our poor washing machine survived with us. I will spare the details but for three weeks we battled every imaginable, ugly illness. We are all well again.


Evelyn and Tessa reading books.


Henry snoozing.



Lost tooth number three (in one month). I was trying out a new action on this picture, I don't really like the way it turned out but I am off to bed now, maybe I will fix it a little later.

Little Lee

Little Lee was an amazingly patient little baby. I love how awake he was through most of the morning, but I love the sleepy photos of newborns.

Magic Mirror

This is our magic tubby mirror. Tessa told me to look in her magic mirror and I could see all sorts of funny looking people. I bent over the tub and after almost falling in I saw the funny people too. Hope you like the different angle.

Tessa the Dancer

Tessa loves her ballet lessons. Every Wednesday she wakes up gets dressed, eats her breakfast, then immediately changes into her ballet outfit. It is her day that she has something to do, somewhere to go and she tells us that her teacher likes her the VERY best. It is fun to watch her in the studio trying to gracefully "do the ballet."

Henry

Another picture of Henry sleeping. He is so cute when he sleeps and he doesn't move as fast so I have time to move around and get the pictures I want. I was playing around with different textures and tints in photoshop.

Evelyn and I

Stephen took this picture of Evelyn and I on Valentines Day. Not bad for "a camera that is too complicated."

Nap Time

Happy Valentine's Day

Once again we decided to torture our children and try to get a picture of the four kids together. Maybe when they get older we will have better luck! Anyways we hope you had a very happy Valentine's Day.

President Obama's Biggest (Little) Fan

Watch out the flamingo dress has some competition!! Stephen got back from DC with souvenirs for the girls. Tessa is thrilled with her new shirt. She loves Barack O' Mama, in fact she threatens to call him every time there is an injustice done to her. For instance the other day she pleaded with me to let her have a pop-tart after her cupcake (desert after breakfast), when I told her no she got her Barbie cell phone and told me she was going to call Barack. Obviously they are on first name basis.

The Adventures of Being Lilly

This past weekend our family was reminded of how precious and important to our family Lilly is. Some days she can be so fierce. In fact Stephen often times calls her fierce. Once she is determined to do something she will work at it and not give up until she has mastered a certain skill or accomplished a set goal. (Case in point riding a two wheeler BEFORE her older sister, memorizing a line of music, creating various paper objects that I told her she probably would never be able to make with only construction paper and staples.) She is a tough little girl and I am so thankful she has that streak of fierceness to help her overcome the challenges that she faces. We are very blessed and thankful to have her in our family.

I