Purple Lemon Photography

Peres Family

Tuesday, March 27, 2012
This family is so special to my family.

You've got mom and dad- they were the best man and matron of honor in my wedding. 
Their oldest daughter holds a special spot in our hearts- I was there the night she was born and her baby photos (that I took while in high school, I think) were the largest prints of mine I'd ever seen, so it helped catapult me into portraiture.
 Their second daughter is just a few weeks younger that our little guy, so we've shared their last three years together.
And then we just got to meet their youngest since we live several hours apart.  He's a charmer...
 She just grew up on the other side of the lens.



Fruits of the Spirit

As part of a family portrait session I photographed yesterday, we added a little side project.

In Galatians 5:22-23, the "fruits of the spirit"- or qualities that are developed as we live life with God- are listed, and at the tail end of the list it says, "against such things, there is no law."  Don't you just love that?

To represent this family's value of these qualities, we incorporated them on these rocks. Each family member was included in this series in some way, and I just love the way this display turned out.


Amy & Stephen's St. Patrick's Day Wedding

Thursday, March 22, 2012
Springtime comes with days that have sunshine one minute and thunderstorms the next, and Amy & Stephen's St. Patrick's Day wedding was one such day.  When I walked into their wedding venue, The Tower Grove Abbey, which is a really unique location, I was basking in sunshine.  An hour later, when the rain was gushing from the skies, I was so thankful for a great indoor location to shoot in!  Little nooks and crannies that matched their wedding colors perfectly.

Amy's flowers were stunning!

 
 What a charmer...
 And these girls- I couldn't have asked for more! That cute little nose crinkle makes me grin.
 Family crest and tartan on the pillow.
 Mere seconds before walking down the aisle.
As I mentioned before, their wedding was at the Tower Grove Abbey, which is actually a church converted into a theater; so for their ceremony shot here, I'm throwing in a "behind the scenes" view of the room.
 I can't get enough of this momma & son shot.
 Giggles...
 Love this!
Quiet moment in a busy day.
 They each wore converse after the ceremony, so here's Amy showing hers off!
 Scrumptious!

Spring

Tuesday, March 20, 2012
The approach of springtime has really stirred my soul this year, catching me off guard in quiet moments holding my son while he falls asleep in a thunderstorm with the windows open and the water pounding the screens, driving in the light rain with trees, full of bright blossoms, bending gently in the weight of the wind, and the warm sunshine falling, unfiltered onto my skin.  Music is reaching in deep. My mind, full of photos, un-taken, but fully realized in my mind.

Several days ago, I just fell in love with the blossoms of the Bradford Pears, one of which is in my backyard; so I just keep laying there, snuggled with my kiddo on a blanket, licking a Popsicle, and staring at that mix of bright sky and branches.  I also had my hubby "steal" these awesome iron trellises from someone's front yard last week. These two items- branches and the white iron trellises- got stuck in my brain with a little girl, serious, wearing a simple white dress.  

She was aching to get out.
She was part of the essence of Spring.
 Bright, yet solemn. Soft, yet fierce.

more of this to come in future days, but for now, open your windows and let the fresh air sweep you up.

(indirectly) on the Today Show!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012
I recently wrote about Sunny Little Studio (ok, take a break and go check them out).  They take children's drawings and turn them into stuffed toys. Pretty awesome, right?

Well, apparently someone else thinks so, too, and they will have their samples on The Today Show this Friday. I'm pretty proud of them, and think that is pretty exciting.

So though I am not going to be on TV this week, as far as I know, they will, and then people will go to their website, see the cutest little penguin ever, and then somehow, I bet, at least maybe one person will click my link for being their photographer, and bam, I will have indirect traffic from being (not) on TV.

I'm ridiculous. :)

The Story of My Desk

Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A little over a year ago, I had an idea. After intially dismissing my idea as pure fantasy, merely a dream, I convinced my husband that my idea was a true reflection of my person, my character, our family values. How can he say no to that?

It's been a long process for sure, but as it says in Proverbs 13,


"12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
     but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life."

What was this idea? I wanted to redo my office, specifically build a desk. 
A desk? A desk is a reflection of your values? Seriously? Yes, very much so.  In fact, my hubby and I had to advocate to keep the "spirit of the piece" in mind as we created it with his dad.  And no, I'm not completely crazy. In fact, I feel like wood covered in purple paint that is my new desk is a "tree of life"- breathing some fresh creativity into this photographer.

A small preview to keep you reading.
After this image was posted on Facebook and got scads more comments and "likes" and "shares" with even more comments and "likes," I wanted to first clear the air. This was not an original idea. I didn't make this up...completely.

Like I mentioned, I had the idea over a year ago (January of 2011, to be as precise as I can find evidence in my email). I saw this and loved it: http://open.salon.com/blog/planetpals/2010/08/26/the_dorm_room_repurposed
 
Imagine this is the middle section of a Venn Diagram 
Comparing the Values of the Desk and of my Life and Family
Creative, Fresh
Modern, yet connected to the past
Inexpensive
Fair trade and Ecologically mindful
Clever and fun, but yet perfectly practical
Though each piece isn't perfect and comes with a past, it's perfectly usable for a grand purpose
Goes against the grain, a little unexpected
Depends on community/friends/family to work*

Added Bonuses for the Business
Purple is the color in the name of my business
Extra space to display my work 
Fits clearly with the list of qualities we wanted in our photography business
I began a search and purchased a few Craigslist tables (5 total, four coffee tables and one kitchen table) and a retro metal kitchen cabinet. This step cost us roughly $110.  Other parts of Step One were recorded here. 

The design: I brought out my long lost genius brain and did a lot of math. I took photographs of each table, put them to scale on the computer and arranged them many times until I had a pleasing and workable arrangement.  I had to make sure that the levels would fit, stack at the right depths, heights, etc. It was challenging, but exciting.  The final implementation stuck fairly closely to the original designs I made, so that was pretty thrilling as well.

I got to help slice them in half lengthwise, which was pretty fun. 
Then I had to paint them just the right shade of purple, which was a daunting task. (We eventually gave up painting since that whole "hope deferred makes you sick" thing was getting to me and I could never set aside enough time to paint more than a small section. We hired a friend to help us out.) Since it is up high, even the undersides of were painted, and they were strange shapes since they were cut in half.

We had no concept of the ease of assembly or time required to complete this, but once we started actually putting it together, it was rather quick, only taking about 6-7 hours. 
 The little fella had to get in on the action.
 We always say we're not handy, but look at my hubby... I may have to take that back.

Throw in a few laughs
 
a few power tools
and bam. Superdesk!
We're considering an open house this spring. Would you want to come by and see it in person?

We'd love to thank:
Brian's Dad
Scott
Renita
Casey