AHS JV Cheer Team

Here they are! Beautiful and sweet girls from Astronaut High Junior Varsity Cheer Team. Oh, yeah, they ROCK!

Gator Eats Seminole: Georgia Bulldog Plays in Strawberry Fields Forever!

Check out these incredible sculpted cakes from Something Sweet in Titusville! The DETAIL is unbelievable! These are two Groom's Cakes! Bravo to the team!!!

Plump, huge strawberries, drizzled with Johnnie's chocolate, atop her incredible cheesecake. WOW!

Half Price Sessions, Half Price 8x10's!

Book now for August and your Session is Half Price! Plus, at your ordering session, your 8x10's are half price! That's 50% off the Session Fee and 50% off of 8x10's.................heck, is that a 100% savings?! Keep smiling as you call for your appointment! 302-0156 This is a limited offer: how fast do you think these discounted sessions will fill up?

Save Gas!

Diane MacEachern, author of Beat High Gas Prices, shares these tips for cutting down on gas consumption:
1. Buy the least-expensive gas you can find. Smart consumers can find the cheapest gas available every day by comparison-shopping in their neighborhoods or by searching on the Internet at GasBuddy.com. Drivers can also take advantage of wholesale shopper’s clubs and money-back rebate cards.
2. Choose the right octane gas. High-octane fuel can cost as much as 20 cents a gallon more than regular unleaded. Use the octane suggested by the manufacturer, nothing higher.
3. Pay cash. Occasionally gas will be cheaper if you pay for it with cash. Get to know the gas vendors in your neighborhood and who offers the best bargains.
4. Gas up in the morning or in late evening. You get more gas for your money when temperatures are cooler outside.
5. Buy gas before getting on the highway. Gas will be cheaper in your neighborhood than it will be on the road.
6. Pump up your tires. Keep your tires properly inflated. If everyone kept their tires inflated, the US would gain more in oil than what's projected to be found in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
7. Get a quick tune-up before you leave. Have your car’s oil, transmission, and spark plugs checked to improve gas mileage throughout your road trip.
8. Don’t start the engine until you’re ready to go. You can waste a lot of gas idling.
9. Put away the roof rack. Reduce aerodynamic drag and improve fuel efficiency by placing items inside the trunk whenever possible. Don’t leave the roof carrier on permanently.
10. Don’t speed. Every 5 miles per hour you drive above 60 miles per hour is like paying an additional 10 cents a gallon for gas.
11. Use cruise control. Using cruise control on the highway helps maintain a constant speed that usually will help improve fuel economy by 4 to 14 percent.
12. Know when to close the windows. At highway speeds, it’s more fuel-efficient to use internal venting or air conditioning than to drive with the windows down. At slower speeds, such as in the city, keep the windows down and avoid air conditioning, which uses more gas.
13. Use shades. Reflecting sun shades made especially for cars, vans, and trucks can be spread inside the front windshield and above the dashboard to deflect heat from the car and help keep it cool when it’s parked, especially if you haven’t been able to park in the shade.
14. Cool off before you turn the air conditioning on. You’ll use less gas if you roll the windows down and let a hot car cool off a little before cranking up the A/C.
15. Turn off the car. Idling gets 0 miles per gallon and generates air pollution that turns into smog.

Visit Florida

This beautiful family visited Florida from Missouri, "The Show Me State"! How wonderful to see families joining together and sharing precious time. How fortunate I was to meet these kind people! I hope their stay will always be a beautiful memory!

She's A Dancer

I have been wanting to see the Downtown Dance Studio and, Sunday, I had a private view! This beautiful dancer and instructor wanted a model portfolio----and wanted it there! Yippeee! A gorgeous girl in a gorgeous, cool setting-----what more could I ask for?! Thanks to Sierra and Kim for helping: it was soooooooooo much fun! And, a super big THANK YOU to Miss Amanda!

My Mother's Day Surprise

Today is officially Mother's Day but yesterday is when we celebrated (because today I have a session----by special request). So yesterday, my sweet family gave me their "time". They took me to the Orlando Museum of Art where we leisurely viewed the Norman Rockwell touring exhibit! It was fabulous! Afterwards, we went to an early dinner (we had skipped lunch), followed by going to The Cheesecake Factory to pick up dessert to go.............next, we went back to Lockhaven Park and sat under an ancient Oak (believed to have begun it's life in the 1600's)and from there we walked around and I took some pictures of my girls. It was definately the BEST MOTHER'S DAY, ever! Now, I am going to purchase a canvas of my girls for me! Here they are, my girls, 2008, on the day they surprised me!

Just For Fun: LaGrange Church

Known for it's long life and very old cemetary.

Most interesting: a pump by a bench. I know there has to be a wonderful story behind this.

From a different perspective.

Playtime in the Park

Sierra, Stormy, Sami and Brittany. What a fun group to hang with!

We Have Babies!

Look, look, we have baby birds! They are just outside our front door in a planter (now a truely dying plant, because it hasn't been watered in a while) on the wall. They are Carolina Wren's.

From what we can see----and it's very dark inside that nest----there are 3. Yesterday, it was hot and since they are getting bigger, they came just outside the opening to lay in the planter. We placed a blanket on the concrete ground, just incase a falling accident occurs. The mom and dad spend a lot of time fluttering back and forth with food. It's funny to see the flight pattern they have worked out: they fly in from the back of the nest and always leave going through the honeysuckle vine. How blessed we are they are sharing their family with us!!

Free Wall Portrait

It soooooooooooooo easy! Send us 4 people who hold a Lifestyle Session and you get a free session and wall portrait! Just 4, only 4, now is that too much to ask?!

Retouching: Photographer Exposed!

Ok, here it goes----I am going to show you, me-----EXPOSED! Real life, real time. I don't like taking pictures of me----I love taking pictures of other people! So, when you don't want your picture taken, believe me, I truely understand!

First, I wanted to give my mom a picture of me for Mother's Day (now this is a REALLY BIG surprise because, well, as adults, we never do this for our moms!)!

So, I knew 2 things: #1, I wanted to shoot down on myself to alleviate double chin and lengthen my neck and face to give a more slender look (from outer space would have been my first preference but that is a little extreme). #2, I wanted it to be black and white so that flaws such as wrinkles, age spots, acne, discolorations in skin tone or other forgeign bodies who have deposited themselves on me in the past few years would be less noticable.

Oh, I guess I did know another thing-----the studio is a wreck so I would take it in my living room, camera on the tripod with the trip switch held by me and NO ONE ELSE AROUND. (Some things, a girl has to do in private). I took several with my head turned in different directions and decided upon this as my pose of choice:

This is the original. Flash on camera ETTL, -1; Camera F5.6, ISO 100, Lens 24-70mm, SS 20. OK, that pose is fine, the exposure is fine, lets work on me (this girl needs to me made FINE, too!)

Oh, man, am I good!! Smooth the skin, decrease shadows under the eyes, brighten eyes and teeth. Now, just look at these 2 images: #1 is what you may have from your absolutely fabulous digital camera, but #2 is what you get from a professional retoucher. But wait, there's more! Dont forget, I want it Black and White, plus, I want to crop it in closer.
There, that's more like it! Let's clean up some stray hairs and check out a "porcelain white" on this one.....
Here is what a porcelain B&W looks like. It reminds me of the old milky white dinnerware----you know, the pure white settings with the little bubbles on them. But, you know what, the more I look at this, the more I want to change the crop and bring it in. Yep, it does look better brought in closer.

What do you think?