Oh boy, I think that my maid needs to be fired after seeing all of the dust collecting around here! As you can probably guess, the wedding season and traveling combined have kind of kicked my butt. I’ve still been pretty good about getting images up on the Anna Lynch McClary Photography Facebook Page though. The ironic part is that I’m poking my head in here just to let everyone know that I’m jumping on another airplane tomorrow and will be out of reach for a few days. The next couple of weeks I get to travel to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Colorado, and even make a stop in Nebraska for weddings and senior sessions. I’m going to miss my bed and my kitties, but it should be a good time filled with lots of great photo opps.

Oh, and when I return, I vow to be a better blogger. To show my seriousness, here is one image from each of the sessions that I shared on Facebook today.

-alm

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It may be 2010 in the real world, but in my little blog world I still have lots to post from 2009. I find it so crazy that it has been 10 years since all of the Y2K worry, and even more how much has changed in a short 10 years. 10 years ago I was just discovering the freedom that being 16 and having a driver’s license could bring. I thought that life was incredibly hard and full of stress, if only I had known how easy it was. It is hard to believe that over the last decade I met some of my best friends, graduated from high school and college, moved enough times to make me never want to do it again, had my heart broken a couple times, went through some rough patches, met and married the man of my dreams, started my own business and found so much happiness. It really feels like all at once 2000 was a lifetime ago and a minute ago. I’m sure in 2020 I’ll have a million new memories to add to the list, and feel the exact same way.

A little note to anyone waiting on an email or call back from me, today is my first day back after about three weeks off. I’m slowly working my way through my inboxes so keep an eye out!

Now, to kick off 2010 right, with a blue eyed little boy who has grown an absolute TON since we shot these!

These eyes will break many girls’ hearts.

This could quite possibly be one of my favorite images ever. There is something just so timeless about Hudson and his mommy.

-alm

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I think we’re all guilty of saying, “When this ___________ happens, I’ll be happy.” I can go way back with the phrases that I have forced into that blank; when this guy likes me, when I graduate high school, when this semester is over, when we get married, when I move out of here, when we move back to Colorado, or any of the other million phrases. There came a point this year though, that it stopped. I don’t have any idea what happened or why, but I clearly remember one road trip by myself that I just couldn’t believe how happy and lucky I am. It has stuck since that moment. Sure, there are things I’d love to change and things I wish could happen. However, the big things that truly matter, I already have. There is no point in wishing time away, because no matter what this is my life and even when it is hard, it is still good.

I have a job that pulls me into some of the best moments in people’s lives. I can’t tell you how many weddings I find myself with a lump crawling up in my throat or how many days I sit at my computer editing and get choked up. One of the best parts of this however, is that I get to shoot back around my hometown of Sterling, Colorado quite a bit. That means that so many of these couples were my friends back when we were all still trying to fill in that blank. As I sat editing through Amanda and Brandon’s pictures I couldn’t help but just smile. It was very clear that they were simply happy.

We started out their wedding weekend at the rehearsal with their families. Check back tomorrow for wedding images.

Brandon, Amanda, and their beautiful little girl Addison.

Addison led the dinner blessing and definitely rocked it!

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I’m not usually one to wish time away, however October hasn’t exactly been my favorite month of the year. After the sickness that was H1N1 knocked me on my butt for two weeks, I was ready to roll on the stack of work that was awaiting me. My good old MacBook Pro had other plans though. I believe the display simply went out, but won’t know for sure for another 3 weeks! That’s right, Best Buy’s warranty department is going to take 4 weeks to get it back to me, but that’s a whole other rant! So, there I was with loads of work and no computer for a week. The good thing that came out of all of this was that I finally took the leap (well technically I was pushed) and bought an iMac, which I am loving.

Now, back to the good stuff! A couple of days before the sickness struck, Mitch and I flew back to Colorado and I got to shoot my newest cousin. Now, I can safely say that I’ve never been the type that loved holding and taking care of little babies. Like I said in a previous post they quite simply intimidate me. But, for the first time I actually really enjoyed just sitting (not brave enough to move around yet) and holding snuggly little Wyatt. Not that I haven’t enjoyed all of the other little ones I’ve gotten to hold, I was just chalk full of fear the entire time that I might break them. So, yay for progress in not being afraid of the under 10 lbs. crowd anymore!

Congratulations again to Jake and Sarah! Also, a late congratulations to two of my other cousins, Angie and Cass who brought home a new little girl shortly before Wyatt was born.

Onto the aforementioned snuggly cuteness…

-alm

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From Thanksgiving to Christmas last year, Mitch and I lucked out and were able to spend that time back in Colorado with our family and friends. During that time, I of course decided to try to pack as many sessions in as I could. However, it was December, and the reality of the weather situation was that it was really cold. Because of that, quite a few of my sessions got pushed back into our last week there. The weather appeared to be cooperating, so what else could have gone wrong?

Well, Christmas night a sickness that stuck with me for almost two weeks hit, and it knocked me out! That next morning I was supposed to have a family session with the Schecks. So, sick Anna + two teacher parents + two little kids at the end of Christmas break, meant that we’d have to reschedule. I wasn’t terribly devastated though, as I knew that my next trip back would have to be much warmer. Little did I know that the next time that our schedules would align would be almost six months later! Ironic thing was, we got rained out on our first try! We ended up pushing it back to my last day in Colorado and for a little while the stars aligned, the weather was perfect, and there weren’t even any snakes in the field!

Just a couple of Annika and Brandon to tease you with, for now!

Try not to laugh when you look at this one!

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To anyone who knows me, it is a well known fact that I enjoy my sleep and if I don’t get enough of it, I may be a tad bit grumpy. However, if I lived with Janelle and Nathan I don’t think I’d have a prayer of ever getting “enough” sleep.

Their little boy Seth was such a cutie and just so sweet, but that toddler on the go attitude, definitely helped put me to bed a little earlier that night. Now, let’s add in that Janelle was about 8 months pregnant. I can only imagine how easily they fall asleep when quiet comes over their house. Here are just a couple images from their session!

I always scout out a few locations for a session, but didn’t use a single one in their session. They had just moved into a new house, and had so many great options that we happily stayed close to their home.

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Or, at least we thought we did! As what seemed like a miniature hurricane rolled through northeast Colorado Monday night, I had to make the call to Jenni to cancel doing pictures that night. We decided that our best bet was to hold off another day and let everything dry out and do the session Wednesday morning.

Plans were made to be broken though, right? When I hopped out of bed Wednesday morning at 5, the sky was still dark. So, it wasn’t until I hit I-76 about 5:30 and the sun started to rise that I saw the black gloom that was ahead of me. Our perfect plan for leaving a day in between was suddenly going down the drain. I hoped that the clouds had magically appeared over Ogallala and at no point went over Julesburg. That of course wasn’t how it happened.

By the time I pulled into their driveway it was evident that it had dumped once again, on our backdrop. Oh well! The horses were out and Alex was brushing them. Colton, who I’m sure wasn’t happy to be up so early on his summer vacation, was also ready to roll. The best part, there was only one of our planned locations that had partially turned into a muddy lake.

You’ll have to check back for more from this session, and trust me you’ll want to!

Colton even provided the entertainment for part of our session!

-alm

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This has been another rainy and gray week in northeast Indiana. As I edited these images I could almost feel the perfect 75 degree weather and sunshine on my back. When we went out to shoot this session, we ended in this same big field because I couldn’t resist the great big blue skies and the bright green.

Kristen is graduating in just a few days and her mom wanted to make sure and include her brothers, and take the opportunity to get some nice shots of the three of them and a few to spotlight her as well. I think the guys were less than thrilled with the idea, but by the end they had loosened up and were having fun with it.

I also have to give a little shout out to Luke and Jamie. Luke is the younger brother in the green Aero shirt. In September he is marrying one of my closest friends Jamie. I love shooting weddings, but I am so looking forward to being a bridesmaid and kicking back and helping them celebrate their big day! Congrats again guys!

I have to start this off with Kristen… isn’t she stunningly beautiful?!

I’m pretty sure her brothers are the type that would let her know if she were ever dating someone they didn’t approve of. I’m not sure if the guy or Kristen would know first though.

Do you see what I mean about the blue and green? It is just screaming Spring!

-alm

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I know you all probably thought that I fell the side of the Earth, but really I’ve just been busy with photos, orders, and of course the never ending process of moving. I also finally got my husband to set a date in stone for our trip back so that I could go ahead with the mini sessions. So, today will be a triple blog post day! Check back at 7:30 p.m. EST for info on the card sale and then at 8:30 p.m. EST for info on the Christmas Mini Sessions.

Now, since I’ve been around photography I’ve enjoyed scrapbooking (although not as much as I should). I’ve also noticed that there aren’t really many options for someone wanting to scrapbook more than a couple of professional images. The beautiful coffee table books I carry are a great solution for the digital scrappers, but for those of you that love the three dimensional traditional scrapbooking, the options are kind of slim. I’ve tried to come up with a solution for all of the scrappers out there that enables me to get you affordable images to scrapbook, but let’s me still do some quality control as far as the prints go.

So, why don’t I just give you the printing rights and then you can print and scrapbook away? Well, I really hate seeing my images printed by Wal-Mart, Walgreens and the majority of the online and consumer options. I know that sounds a little snooty, but hear me out. I spend a lot of time color correcting your images and when Wal-Mart’s printers decide to “optimize” those images they never look like they went in. I can’t tell you how many dark images and wacky colors I’ve seen come out of those consumer places, when the file that went in looked nothing like that. If my name is tied to it, I want to make sure that you get great quality products.

Thus…

So, a little bit of a compromise has to go on as you see. The solution that I’ve come up with I hope encourages my family, children, and senior customers to get your desk and wall portraits and then rewards you by opening an option that I’m calling a ‘Scrapper’s Order’. When you place a $350 print order you are eligible to order 50 different 4×6’s for $50. Once your order of $350 or more is placed I will email you a link to purchase the Scrapper’s Order. From there you simply email me the 50 different image numbers that you want.

These are proof quality prints. That simply means that no further retouching will go into them and that they are printed on a different paper than the desk and wall portraits. These prints are intended for scrapbooking, not framing. The color will be as intended and they are still high archival quality. If you want any retouching done, you’ll have to go the traditional route and order the lustre or metallic prints at regular price (all retouching is included in my traditional print prices). However, if your order reaches $750 I will do light retouching on all 50. Taking it one step further, if your order hits $1,000 I will include a lightly retouched Scrapper’s Order for $20.

I know that this won’t solve everyone’s problems, but I hope it is at least a compromise that will help out those of you that want to show off your families and children through your artistic outlet.

For anyone who has placed an order over the years, if you’re interested in placing a Scrapper’s Order just shoot me an email at anna@annalynchmcclary.com and I’ll post up your gallery along with the link.

See you in a little bit!

-alm

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I did pictures of P. when he was almost two and I remember getting quite the workout then. Apparently when you’re four years old you have an endless amount of energy and a pretty awesome imagination. We hunted monsters, tickled mommy, and if I remember right we even found some porcupines. I also slept very well that night!

P and my niece are buddies, so I kind of feel like I’ve grown up with him. It is so hard to believe that they are four already!

The amount of different expressions that I saw while editing these pictures cracked me up, personality is not lacking here!

Surprisingly enough, there were only a couple somber shots though. What a handsome guy, huh?

This was somewhere in the middle of the monster hunt. Melinda (his mom) and I were getting pretty good at fitting through the tiny spots in this little “forest” by the end of it.

There was zero hesitation when I asked him to tickle his mommy.

This shot just screams, “I’m sweet and innocent, I never upset my mommy!”

Thanks so much guys, I hope the birthday party was loads of fun!

-alm

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