Off with their head!!! ~ Queen of Hearts

Off with their head!!! ~ Queen of Hearts (Happy Halloween!), originally uploaded by Abby Lanes.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Being a visual person, i love the colors, the costumes, and of course, the candy.

Enjoy your day, and remember to get some memorable portraits!

There's something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery. Stefan Kanfer

     In my first high-school photography class, I was taught to photograph portraits with black and white film. Then we retreated to our chemical fragranced dark room, and waited patiently as our photos came to life in our lab.

     Fast forward a few years, to this well developed age of digital media, and voila, black and white happens at the push of a button.  

I edited these images with various photoshop actions.  This one has a black and white haze, from The Florabella Collection.  http://florabellacollection.blogspot.com/2009/11/florabella-actions.html

This one is from Mandy Chiappini Photography, and is a Fairytale black and white action. http://mandychiappiniphotography.blogspot.com/

I felt this photograph had a sweet vintage feeling, so I added a free TTV texture from Skeletal Mess, on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/skeletalmess/sets/72157611177099692/

There are so many things you can do, using actions, including unifying clothing choices that don't necessarily match in color.  This one has a softer, more sepia tone, which brings this three generation grand-mother, mother, and grand-daughter trio even closer.  One thing is for sure, digital phototgraphy and editing give us so many choices, and feels less like you're a mad scientist in a lab, and more like you're an artist at a pixel easel. Happy shooting and editing everyone!

Family of Five

     Photographers are lucky when they get to work with a family on more than one occasion. I had the good fortune of photographing this family's children a few years ago.  This time, they wanted the whole family to get into the act. 

  They wanted a chohesive look for all five of them.  A nice way to unify a family is to make complimentary wardrobe choices.  Luckily, their mom, has a knack for chosing just the right colors, fabrics, and styles to make a photo pop.

We shot in two locations, and with one wardrobe change.  The pink and black and blue jean combo worked so well with the 1920's Spanish style architecture at Malaga Cove, in P.V.E., CA.

And the knitted earth tones worked well at the Wilderness Park setting, in Redondo Beach, CA.  Another plus, we had a relaxed session, and enjoyed our time together, which shows in the photographs.

“The heart has reasons that reason does not understand.” ~ Jacques Benigne Bossuel

If you're around me for very long, you will find that gardening is another passion that is a nice companion to my love of photography.  This week I'm taking you on a garden tour. First stop; my rose garden! The more I garden, the more I realize roses are my favorite flowers.

“The heart has reasons that reason does not understand.” ~ Jacques Benigne Bossuel, originally uploaded by Abby Lanes.
Earlier this year, I added new bareroot roses, and this is the first "pink" bloom on the new bushes.

Next stop... the area women's club hosts a yearly garden tour... and this home had a beautiful waterlily coy pond that ran right underneath the driveway.

The tour had five gardens, and the perfect mix of garden styles for the tour.

The cottage garden had this mullein verbascum album. It was quite frankly, the first time I had ever seen this flower. Thank you to my gardening friend Kate for the flower id. If you get a chance, visit her blog, it's packed full of gardening knowledge and beautiful flowers. http://www.katesmudges.com/

Finally, the last stop on our garden tour today, was taken at the flower fields in Carlsbad. There were so many ranunculas there, to focus on one seemed odd, but I thought it was fitting for our tour.

I hope you enjoyed your garden tour.  Have a lovely Memorial Day weekend.

Pink IS Spring's Signature Color

My children and I are visiting family in North Carolina. We've noticed pink nearly everywhere we've gone.

We thought you'd enjoy our tour of the "PINK" Spring we've found in the South. First, there are gorgeous pink Dogwood Tree's in bloom everywhere.

And those lovely dogwood trees frame the houses so beautifully.

Next, pack your bags for a trip to "The Biltmore Estate" in Asheville, North Carolina. It's time for the Spring Flower Festival. We discovered that if you want photos of the gorgeous pink tulips, with no people milling about, arrive at dusk.

As you stroll peacefully through the gardens of the largest private home on the East Coast, and you see all of the beautiful tulips, you'll be tickled pink.

And there is nothing nearly as pretty as the tulips there.

Thank you for stopping by, and we hope you've enjoyed our Spring Break tour.

The Flower Fields ~ Carlsbad, California

The Flower Fields ~ Carlsbad, California, originally uploaded by Abby Lanes (on Spring Break!).

Have you ever stood in a field of flowers? Until yesterday, I could say, no way.

But now that I found my way to the flowerfields in Carlsbad, it's a wonderful feeling and experience. The official "Flower Field" website said the ranunculus are 65% in bloom. Can you imagine 100%???

Here are some pink ranunculas, which is my favorite color.

These flowers came in ever color and variety, but I'm showing you the pink toned images. I thought it would be fun to photograph a few "ant" views, and got so dirty taking some of these.

Enjoy!