Just a few of my favorites from my mini session with Mr. C a few weeks ago. His mom wanted some photos of him at 11 months to go with the ones she had of his big brother at that same age. He is just a darling – and boy does he move. And seriously, those eyes are soooo sweet!

Interested in a Mini Session? Check out the options…

Now I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s coffee even more. Between this one and my Panther City Coffee (I miss you!!) mug, our poor blue mugs are going to be so neglected. Do you have a favorite mug?

I was extra thrilled when the issue came out and even more so when Rebecca asked me to continue shooting for them! Much jumping around and happy squeals. It’s the COVER people. Cooooover. Plus, I am getting to meet some very awesome people here in Fort Worth and show them to the rest of you.

I love telling stories.

For December, I got to photograph Tim Love at his new place The Woodshed – which I’m personally very excited to try because it’s set up like a Biergarten and we all know how much I loved those in Germany. Oh yeah, and did I mention I got to meet Tim Love? =) He was friendly and went along with all my ‘let’s try this’ requests and was a lot of fun. =)  Check it out!

And yes, I shot the January cover story that is out right now! You can get them all over Fort Worth at places like Baker St. Pub, Best Buy…and more. I hope you all enjoy the photos. Let me know what you think!

P.S. The other thing I love about this magazine is the food suggestions. We found out about this wonderful place called Greenwood’s on Bluebonnet Circle that serves REAL German food. Yummy yummy yummy. It was our most recent date night location. I can’t wait to go back. =)

I’ve been a bit slow trying to get back in the groove of the new year. Coming down with a bad cold on New Year’s Day doesn’t help. Neither does when your child gets the same cold and is teething constantly. But we are trotting along and getting back into our daily rhythm. Now that the Dude is getting older and more active I want to start getting out more and DOING things with him. It’s easy to get caught up in my weekly to do list and forget to plan activities – and then the week is gone and all we’ve managed to do is go for a walk. It’s better than nothing, but it’s nice out more often than not and there is so much to do around here that I think he will enjoy. I can’t wait to start swimming lessons! Anyhow – thanks to a good recommendation I’ve been reading Steady Days - by Jamie Martin. It’s a great book with VERY short chapters and it’s full of simple ideas and reminders on how to set up a realistic flexible home routine for your family. I’m just at the very beginning of trying some of the ideas. Half the battle is just taking the time to make a plan. The other half will be sticking to it, but so far we are doing ok. I’ll keep you posted. Probably.

I’m excited about some of the updates around here on the site. I upgraded to ProPhoto 4 (my blog template) and it comes with some very fun things. For instance, click on the Start Here in the menu and you’ll see the new grid feature. You can also see it (probably unless I’ve tinkered some more and changed it) in the footer where I’ve placed some featured posts. A lot of the upgrades are behind the scenes, but they make this blog thing even easier. Yay for easier!

I keep trying to decide on a personal photography project that will help me keep pushing myself to try new things and keep learning outside of regular shooting. I think I’m torn between a purely documentation style project – documenting the Dude of course, or something that makes me try something new all the time. I’ll probably end up coming up with some combination of both. Or perhaps a series of small projects? Any and all ideas are welcome. But I must say no to things that require me to post every day. I’m trying to lower the stress, not increase it;)

Well, I’ll get to what you really came here to see. The Dude. Just having some fun and being silly with the kitty and wearing his stylish new bib. I feel like the whole bib sequence could be turned into an artistic ‘baby does expressionistic interpretation of Office Space’ photo series. The part of the copier AND the swing-line stapler would be played by the panda of course. Yes, I am weird. I know.

Enjoy!

I swear our child is a happy child. Really.

Good times. Want to see more Dude? See all the posts with the dude.
 

I love how you guys make each other laugh.

=)

Oh, and if anyone is in need of a financial advisor, Billy is your guy. He’s awesome and explains things so well that even I understand what’s going on. =)

John and I had two ideas for the front…so we used them both. Here is version 1. Isn’t he just awesome. =)

[version 2] Recognize anything?

And the back.

I see a bright future for this one with the Christmas cards. =) Very bright.

A special thanks to Aunt Debra for the sombrero.

Happy New Year everyone!!

My dear husband was out of town for his guys weekend in Ohio watching an unforgettable game of football at our Alma mater, so it was just me and the dude. I had decided to make some caramel corn that weekend so I knew I would need some extra help. I invited two of our lovely friends over to help make and eat the popcorn. It’s a perk of helping of course. While we were waiting for the popcorn to cook, the discussion naturally turned to bacon. Of course. I’m not sure what happened but before I knew it my friend said, “Well, I could go get some bacon.” And I said, “then go! get some bacon!” And the candied bacon perfection experiment began.

First we tried putting on the brown sugar first and baking the bacon for about 20 minutes. I have to say that the result was different from what I was expecting, but absolutely delightful. The sugar melted and coated the bacon early, so it actually seemed to cook inside the sugar. It never got crispy, but the fat still melted in your mouth and it was coated in a wonderful sugar glaze. Soooo good.

We were still going for crispy and candied, so we tried a second batch. Yes, there were multiple batches of bacon. We broiled the bacon, sans sugar for a little bit and then added the sugar and baked it the rest of the time. Also very good, but this time the sugar didn’t have enough time to coat the bacon, and it ended up somewhere in between.

We’re still planning our next attempt. If you have any tricks or ideas for getting crispy candied bacon…please share.

Thanks!! =)

the mountain of popcorn, cooling

prep

sugar coated bacon goodness

Yay! Bacon! =)

Thank you so much for everyone who nominated these amazing families and to all of you who voted!!

I can’t wait to treat this family to a wonderful family session all together. =)

I wish I could give sessions to all of the families that were nominated right now. That, I cannot do. HOWEVER, the four other nominated families are now on my list of Share the Love families who will receive a free session when someone purchases a regular session and package! So the fastest way to get these families a session is to sign up and get your own.

Thanks again to everyone and have a wonderful rest of your almost Christmas week! I’m going to soak in as much of the Christmas cheer and twinkle lights as I can. =)

And…a little Holiday Dude for good measure. =)

The nominations are in and they are so amazing and it’s going to be so hard to choose! Thank goodness you’re all voting and doing the choosing! Each family’s story is listed below. Please read them all before you vote. At the end of the post is a link to the voting page. You only get one vote, so send this to everyone you know and tell them to vote too! I’ll be posting the link to this post and the voting link on my Karyn Kelbaugh Photography Facebook page, so you can share it from there as well, or just share this link on your Facebook, Twitter or through email and get the word out so that we can get lots of votes! Just a reminder that only votes made through the voting link (see the bottom of the page) will count. Likes and comments (while encouraged and awesome) do not count as votes.

Voting will be closed at 11:59 p.m. on December 19, 2011. So don’t wait.

The exact votes for each family will not be posted, but I will keep you up to date on how the voting is going, who’s in the lead, if it’s getting close, etc. Just watch the Facebook page. I will announce the winner on the 20th.

A little reminder about What the Winning Family Will Receive: They will get a free custom photography session with Karyn Kelbaugh Photography, including all the images and a small selection of prints, including one nice wall print for their home.

The stories below were written by whomever nominated the family.

Family #1 – The Aguirre Family

I have been married to my husband Michael for 16 years and 2 months and we have 2 children, Courtney who is 16 and Brandon is 14. My husband and I met in the Navy. He got out in ’96 and I in ’98. Since then we have struggled financially and we never had the money to get a family portrait every year. My husband would say he would like a family portrait but that still can’t happen this year because back in April he lost his job. He applied every place he possibly could, so he thought of going to college so that he could make a difference in our lives. Throughout this time he received unemployment, he continued to look for a job and finally found a job but they are only giving him 12 hours a week. This other job he tried for would cost him his ability to go to college. They were not willing to work around his school schedule therefore he just lost his unemployment and low and behold we now have to start paying his school loan. If we were able to get a free custom family portrait session we would finally have the family photos we never had.

Family #2 – The Jones Family

My grandson is a special needs child (age 4) and my daughter is overwhelmed in debt caring for him. She also has a 2 year old little girl. She and her 2 children are in much need. They have a space heater to keep warm and are in need of kids clothing and toys. They have nothing planned for Christmas. Any and all help would be appreciated. God  bless.

Family #3 – The Bellomy Family

Our family has been through so much this last year. I was diagnosed with cancer in March and by May I had major surgery. My husband was laid off over a year a go and we have struggled by ,just barely hanging on. Our two boys Jack and Max would not have had a Christmas last year if it had not been for the kindness of others. This Christmas is different. I am cancer free and beginning to regain my strength. It is so great to have the energy to cook a meal. My husband found a job after months of trying. Go Chris! We currently have no family portrait of the four of us together. I would love to be able to look on our wall and admire my strong guys smiling back at me from Our living room wall. I know I would not be alive today had it not been for them, lifting me up and giving their best to take care of me. I am so grateful to be alive and able to spend time with them at home, instead of from a hospital bed during the holidays. This year has been a year of feeling extremely grateful for all of our blessings. Thank you for donating your work, you make people smile when you do things like this. Good for you. I hope that those of you that read this will take the time to vote for me,so I’m able to do something nice to give back to my guys. They deserve it. Be blessed, Marjorie.

Family #4 – The Smith Family

I have never met a family quite like the Smiths. First of all, you have the Mom and Dad (standard) and add to that FIVE kiddos! This family is always kind, considerate, polite, friendly and all around wonderful. Every one is a member of a the “family team” and they all pitch in to help each other. So, if the 3 year old is upset and needs something, the 5 year old might be the first one to sing to her or share a snack. Or the 8 year old might hold the 8 month old baby when he is crying until Mom can get her hands free. How does a family like this juggle the daily tasks of life? I want to hang out with them more and learn all of their secrets—or hope they rub off on me. Also, the Mom is always so kind and unshaken by the little stresses in life. She is steadfast and selfless. I NEVER see her angry. Again, what is the secret? I want to be like her! I believe this family is completely deserving of a family portrait session because I can only imagine that their budget doesn’t include the extras in life that other families take for granted day to day. They are a beautiful, humble, deserving family and they need awesome photos to always look back to and cherish each other and memories. I LOVE THIS FAMILY!

Family #5 – The Gramkow Family

Oh where to begin with the Gramkow family! I am sure I won’t touch on everything but wow has this family been through it!!! This family had grown and blossomed. They welcomed their first bundle of joy to the family at 28 weeks gestation, weighing in at 2 lbs. 7.5 oz. Ellie may have started out small but after 71 days in the NICU she got to go home! Ellie is now a beautiful happy three year old! Next came number two Beckett arrived on September 23, 2011; at 25 weeks gestation weighing in at 2 lbs. 2.6 oz. He has surpassed his sister in number of days in the NICU, but once again has fought a hard fight! Hopefully with any luck he will even be home for the holidays with his family! What a great Christmas gift that would be for this special family! I get chills every time I read an update on the family blog (elliegramkow.blogspot.com) about how the kiddos are doing! You ask why I nominated this family?? After all they have been through last night I read on my Facebook account that some heartless people broke into their house and took valuables and children’s gifts from under their tree, meanwhile destroying property and making a royal mess of their house. I know I didn’t say everything but take a minute and look at this families blog, read it, think about it, and learn from it! Know that even when you get thrown a curve you are not expecting you can learn and grow from the experience.

*Some of the names have been changed.

I just wanted to let you know that if anyone was particularly touched by any of these stories and wanted to send a little more love their way, please contact me and I can put you in touch.  Share the Love. =)

Thank you for voting! Don’t forget to spread the word!