Castles & Cupcakes Blog
I'm Shellie--thanks for checking out my photography blog! I am a professional photographer located in the East Valley area of Phoenix and I absolutely love what I do. I am primarily a children's studio photographer but I also really enjoy wedding, headshot and commercial photography too. I'm in the middle of re-doing my main website but it should be available soon. Please e-mail me if you need to see more samples than I've got here on the blog. ~Shellie
Please "Like" me on Facebook!
You can find some of my photography tips at Examiner.com.
Feel free to give me a call at 480-788-4626--I'd love to hear from you!
In a spooky forest… | Phoenix Children’s Photographer
Shellie July 19, 2010 5:00 am
Somehow, Halloween isn’t all that far away! barely over three months, really, which for me means time to start thinking about sewing costumes! In recent years I’ve “cheated” and bought them, but I’ve been trying to get back to my roots. Hence, this test shot. I love this eerie new backdrop. :)
And another, a little less spooky this time! :)
In the {organic} garden…
Shellie July 3, 2010 10:44 pm
I can’t believe it, but I’ve grown that watermelon from seed. Not a big deal to many, but to anyone who knows what a huge black thumb I have…yes, it’s quite a feat! :) I got a new macro lens…so I had to take it on a test run, of course.
Reading, wRiting, and aRithmatic! :)
Shellie June 29, 2010 10:25 pm
The three Rs….
I just have to share publicly because I’m so proud. :) Katie will be five and a half later this month…for anyone who does not know, she is a stroke survivor and has brain damage, so we were told to expect learning disabilities and other deficits to surface as she gets older. She was dx’d with ulcerative colitis/Crohn’s disease at 20 months (and was sick off and on from birth) so she’s had it pretty rough!
We homeschool, so when she started showing tons of interest in doing something formal and school-like, I ordered her some things from the series “Explode the Code” and we went through the three preschool/kindy level books in about 6 months. That taught her the letters and how to write them and she started writing up a storm–usually asking us to spell the words she needed. She did memorize all of our names and some sight words I taught her like “love” and “milk” LOL.
Then she started book 1 of the grade school series of Explode the Code and about 10 pages in, I realized that it at least appeared that she was very close to making a breakthrough and I explained some things to her and within about five minutes, she was reading simple words! Then some of the words she learned were like “has” and “is” and some verbs like “sat” so she started putting together little sentences like “the dad sat on the fat cat” all by herself!!!
I also bought a kindergarten math book about six months ago and she loved it and flew through it (often getting it out and working in it when I wasn’t even aware!) and now she can add and subtract single digit (and even some double digit) numbers!
I cannot get over how proud I am of her and I’m also proud of myself for being able to help her learn. I wasn’t sure if I would be up to the task of teaching a child who might have some learning issues. I think maybe we dodged a big bullet in that department; I know only time will tell but I feel like the future looks very bright! :D
Someone learned to read today!!!
Shellie June 23, 2010 4:01 am
And that’s a pretty big feat for someone who’s been through everything she has been through!!
Father’s Day
Shellie June 17, 2010 6:24 am
Father’s Day is this Sunday!! I hope everyone has their shopping finished–I started mine six weeks ago and have been desperately trying to keep my mouth shut all this time. I’m looking forward to Sunday so I won’t have to keep these gifts hidden any more!
Our new portfolio website is delayed, but hopefully will be ready soon. We’ll be tweaking a few graphics again here on the blog (adding more color!) but so far, so good…this transition hasn’t been *that* bad. Let’s just say, there are a lot of things that CAN go wrong that haven’t, so it’s all good!
Please remember to “Like” us on Facebook! We have to start over with a new page for the business, so we have to start over at zero fans! Thanks! :)
We left the house waaaaay too early this week. For some reason, 5:30pm seemed like the right time. It wasn’t. It was HOT. We went to the park closest to the house again (my fave…the other one requires us to cross a somewhat major road in the subdivision) and since the park is down in a wash and there are 2-stories just west of it, the sun drops out of view earlier than at the other park. So at 6:45pm we no longer had the blazing sun upon us and that was very nice. We left shortly after because Tom had hurt himself yet again (poor guy keeps forgetting he’s not invincible) and was in pain. And the batteries in our B18s had run out and we couldn’t change them because they were searing hot. All in all, for 107 degrees in the, I think we all did well. We seem to be getting used to warmer temps of summer already. D was an August baby and my first (and last thankfully LOL) pregnancy in AZ. I feared going into it that I wouldn’t make it, but I did. So I should be able to make it through any AZ summer! That’s my philosophy anyway! ;)
K and D had fun as always and as always, I had to take some pics. I sure love Lightroom. I haven’t edited a personal pic in Photoshop in months. Sure, I can do more in Photoshop but I’m pretty happy with Lightroom for most things. I got a new macro lens last week and it was fun to try it out outside. We have always rented them when we’ve had a wedding but there are so many things I want to try that I never have a chance to try when I have a rented one in my possession. I decided to try the Sigma 50mm f/2.8 Macro and the IQ seems to be great. I usually rent the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 and this one costs $200 less and gives me the same results.
This is a WPSimpleViewerGallery
I can’t believe June is almost here!
Shellie May 31, 2010 12:55 pm
It’s starting to get too hot to play at the park in the early evening, but we went Sunday evening around 6pm and as soon as the sun fell behind the horizon, it was quite comfortable. At least for those us [me] who weren’t running around like crazy. :) There even was a slight breeze; gentle enough to feel nice but not too breezy as to really wreak havoc on our allergies. K is becoming quite the brave one on the playground (it still amazes me how far she’s come). D proclaimed “I’m a boy and boys don’t smile!” so I got to spend most of my time trying to cajole him into smiling. Turns out, big brother said something about a video game that wasn’t meant literally, that D took literally. Three year olds are very literal! And the boy got a haircut today. I don’t mind it being longer but he’s been getting so overheated the moment he steps outside; I thought a short haircut might help him stay cool.
This is a WPSimpleViewerGallery
Queen Creek Photography | Blue sky, swinging and smiles…
Shellie February 24, 2010 11:24 pm
I met up with little Miss J at Founders’ Park in Queen Creek today. Her mama said that she’s usually extremely shy, so I think we were both pleasantly surprised that she did absolutely amazing! Isn’t she the cutest little thing ever? I don’t know if there’s anything sweeter than a little child like this…but of course that’s why I love doing what I do!
