Ft Worth Newborn Photographer | Week 8

February 23, 2016

Guess what?? Just passed the 50 day mark for my Project 365! It is such a gloomy day outside, but I am kind of digging it as a contrast to all the springy sunshine we’ve had the past few weeks. I can totally get into a rainy day every now and then, especially because it is forcing me to stay indoors and get some work done. I’ve had a full week as a Ft Worth newborn photographer, and I’m excited to have stayed on track with my Project 365. As a matter of fact, there were a few days I even snapped more than one picture. Go me!!

Project 365 | Week 8

Ft Worth newborn photographer | H. Parker Photography | www.HParkerPhotography.com

47/366: My valentine was out of town for about a week, but when he returned a few days after Valentine’s Day he came bearing flowers.

48/366: Simply orange.

49/366: It was super windy last week, so my husband and son decided to fly a kite for the first time.

50/366: Another home improvement project in the books. The hubs did a great job on the board and batten I asked for. Now on to the next project—I am sure he is thrilled.

51/366: Saturday night/Family fun night going out to eat. We usually don’t go to restaurants, particularly on the weekends, but given how much time we have spent apart recently it seemed like a fun indulgence. Was a little disappointed because it took an hour and a half to get our food, and my little guy was melting down. Here he is trying to stay occupied with workbooks.

52/366: Pat on the back as I have several photos from today! The first is probably my weekly favorite—an excursion to Home Depot, looking through the paint chips for inspiration. Love the color explosion here.
Next up, my boy is all boy and wants to play outside every day no matter how cold, hot, rainy, windy, whatever. After church on Sunday I couldn’t say no after he put on his rain boots and asked to play soccer outside. I can’t help but giggle over his fashion statement—still wearing his Sunday clothes and kicking around the ball.

53/366: Taking the pups in for their vaccines. Holden wasn’t sure what to think about his backseat companion.

Heather of H. Parker Photography is a Ft Worth newborn photographer also specializing in baby photography in Fort Worth, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Dallas, Trophy Club and Roanoke.

Ft Worth Newborn Photographer | Week 6

February 9, 2016

This Project 365 is finally getting easier! I felt little inspiration this week, but still managed to complete my daily assignments thanks to this being a habit now. Each night before going to bed I mentally catalog what is happening the next day and what could possibly be worth taking a photo of. It doesn’t necessary mean that we have anything exciting or milestone-oriented going on, just something that might be slightly out of the ordinary that makes that particular day unique. This has helped me a lot. Now the bigger challenge has been keeping up the editing of the photos and sitting down once a week to plug through it all.

I am thankful to this Project 365 for giving me a creative outlet outside of being a Ft. Worth newborn photographer and Fort Worth baby photographer. I LOVE my job, but it definitely helps to use my camera in different ways and in different scenarios so I can stay on my toes. You might notice this week that many of my images were taken with a fisheye lens. There is no particular reason other than that’s what I happened to have on my camera at the time so I decided to go with it. If you want to learn more about fisheye leneses, or any of the lenses in my camera bag, check out my “What’s in my Camera Bag” post from last year. Here’s my Week 6!

33/366: Ye olde truck. My husband working on his 18 year old truck. We have a mostly loving relationship with the truck, as it’s been paid off for our whole marriage and it’s actually part of our own love story. My husband intended to propose outside at the LSU lakes, but it was a rainy evening and he ended up popping the question in this very truck, so that makes it very special to both of us. Of course, being 18 years old means that the truck regularly needs TLC. My husband likes to fuss and grumble a lot during these maintenance moments, but then later on he will pontificate on the greatness of his truck and how he wants to keep it forever and ever amen. I definitely thought he deserved a photo with his other love.

34/366: Our first fur baby, Rufus. Rufus is 9 years old now, and since I already had the upstairs studio setup from a shoot earlier in the day I thought I’d give him his photo moment in the sun. I did a similar photo with our other dog, Bailey, a few months ago which you can view here. This way I can have matching photos of them to display someplace in the house. Rufus is the more cantankerous of our pups, so convincing him to sit still for a photo op was an experience.

35/366: Holden at basketball practice. Most of basketball practice for his age group involves running up and down the court, and he loves being wild and free.

36/366: Fridge.

37/366: Magnatiles, one of my son’s favorite toys. He uses these magnetic blocks to build all sorts of imaginative things, including space ships, towers and rainforests.

38/366: Superbowl Sunday. My sister, Lindsey, came over and made some brownies with Holden.

39/366: Holden loves practicing in his Paw Patrol workbook. Based on his birthday his school will likely track him into transitional kindergarten next year (basically like pre-K but upped a notch). We have been doing a lot of workbook practice and learning games to make sure he is ready for his assessment.

Heather of H. Parker Photography is a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer also specializing in baby photography in Fort Worth, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Dallas, Trophy Club and Roanoke.

Ft Worth Newborn Photographer |Project 365 Week 4

January 26, 2016

I’m closing out week 4 of my Project 365 and I think things are finally getting a little easier. I am remembering to bring my camera on outings, and I am stressing less about getting a picture a day and just keeping my camera on-hand for when the right moment occurs. This project is such a departure from the way I normally shoot as a Ft. Worth newborn photographer and Ft. Worth baby photographer, so it is really stretching me creatively.

19/366: My boy playing with trucks in the living room. Love the backlighting in this image. He was kind of just rolling around on the floor acting silly, but he caught me with the camera and of course gave me the photographer-child stink eye.

20/366: Weekly trip to Wal-Mart where my boy gets to indulge in a cookie from the bakery. I love that this photo shows toilet paper and soda in abundance. Haha. I promise we are actually A LITTLE more sophisticated and healthy than what this cart would suggest. I am a price-matching guru and it just so happened that toilet paper and soda were on big sale this week so that’s why you see the stockpile.

21/366: I hadn’t been feeling well on this day and so I totally neglected getting my photo until 7:30pm. As soon as I realized what had happened, it was almost bedtime. My son gets to play 5 minutes of ipad before taking his bedtime routine, so I captured this in those precious few minutes before bathtime. Although this was mostly an afterthought, I love this picture and the creative use of lighting.

22/366: Vitamin C. My friend this past week.

23/366: We’ve attended 3 birthday parties in the past 7 days. Yikes! My boy is in heaven spending so much time with his friends and chowing down on cake every couple of days. This particular party was at an indoor church playground which also featured some arcade style games. He was fascinated by the arcade driving game and spend the majority of the party doing that. He is still too short for his feet to reach the gas pedal and his arms to reach the steering wheel, so this is his adaption for driving the car.

24/366: Another birthday party this afternoon! Here Holden is enjoying some fruity snacks from his goody-bag on the way home. He is pretty pleased about life here.

25/366: A piece of Holden’s marble maze. He is obsessed with this game and we spend several hours each week playing. I love that he can take this marble maze, deconstruct it and turn it into anything he wants. Sometimes it is a spaceship, other times it is a Paw Patrol lookout, and sometimes it functions as a plain old marble run.

Are you looking for a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer? Please check out my website or contact me for additional information.

Heather of H. Parker Photography is a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer also specializing in baby in Forth Worth, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Dallas, and Roanoke.

Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer l Project 365 Week 3

January 19, 2016

I am having a major Snuffleupagus moment over here at the Parker casa. Tissues everywhere. Feeling blah. I feel like this same cold has been making its way around our house since Thanksgiving. I was the first person to come down with it, then Holden who ended up with an ear infection on Christmas Eve, then Charlie, then Holden again (who is on his third ear infection since Turkey Day!!) and now back to me again. I know this is scintillating stuff, but the Dayquil cocktail isn’t doing me any favors. So, pat on the back to myself for completing week 3 of my 365 Project. I’m still not where I want to be with these photos, but I am also probably feeling a little lackluster about this project because I am in a crummy mood in general at the moment. I am proud for sticking to it despite the lack of inspiration. I am following a bunch of other photographers in their 365’s as well, and that is really making me want to step up my game. I would love to get more photos with me in them, but that requires a bit of forethought as I will need to use my remote timer and possibly a tripod. I also need to learn to step out of my comfort zone and take photos out and about in the world. This week I took photos at the Home Depot, but we are regular visitors to the Wal-Mart, library, gym and church and I always feel like if I bring my big girl camera out in those situations folks are going to give me weird eyes. I don’t know why I really care, I mean…most of these people I will never see again in my life. And, who really cares what they think? It’s about documenting my life and my surroundings, and if I only photograph a small subset of that which occurs in my house and neighborhood then I am not really doing justice to this project. Ok kiddos, so here is my 365 for Week 3!

12/366: An evening trip to Home Depot. My husband is doing some board and batten work underneath our kitchen bar overhang. I’ll definitely post pictures of the final product.

13/366: The new Burger Street opened in Roanoke. I grew up not far from one of the only Burger Streets in the Metroplex, and as far as a fast food hamburger goes it’s pretty tasty. My husband and I turned it into a little daytime date because we both happened to be at home while the munchkin was at school. It was exciting because we went right at 11am and got both our meals comped because we were part of the first 25 customers to the restaurant EVER. It has been fascinating watching our little town grow exponentially in the past 7 years. We were there when they opened the new Marshall Creek Bridge in 2013 and now the Burger Street. Living history I tell you.

14/366: Holden was at school so I stayed busy working on my photography stuff. My dog, Bailey, likes to keep me company by sunning in the office occasional chair.

15/366: My boy is all boy, and if there isn’t a monsoon outside then we are going to find a way to go outdoors at least once per day. He has been really into riding his new bicycle lately, but since he is getting over a cold I have made him take it easy and play in the backyard instead. Of course, the first thing he wants to do is put his hands in the pool water, which is freezing. This kid!! Checking the pool temp to see when we can go swimming again.

16/366: My little guy’s cold got a lot worse overnight and into the day, so we had a sick day at home together. He was so lethargic, and his throat hurt so bad that wouldn’t eat much of anything. I tried soft foods like apple sauce and juice, but nothing was really working. Then the first Girl Scout of the season stopped by and we bought TOO MANY cookies (I’d like to tell you it was because I want to offer charitable support, but we really know I just have a sweet tooth). Holden decided he is Team Thin Mint. I offered him one of Daddy’s Samoas and he spit it out. First cookie I’ve ever seen that kid reject.

17/366: I thought Holden was getting over his sickness, so he and I went to church. I picked him up from Sunday school and he was complaining about his throat and ear some more, so we left early and went back home for sick day part dos. Back in the PJs and watching a movie in mommy’s bed. zzzzz

18/366: This was Holden’s 4 year old well check-up. He was due for four shots, but the kid lucked out because he still has a cold (and an ear infection to boot) so the doctor is going to make me come back in for his vaccines in a month. All systems were go for Holden, but with the ear infection it makes three ear infections since December 1st and tomorrow we will be back at the pediatric ENT to discuss getting another round of ear tubes. I am so thankful my munchkin has a pretty good bill of health in life, but I am bummed over getting ear tubes again. I don’t think any parent enjoys when their child has surgery, although I do think I would rather him go back to the ear tubes than keep getting antibiotics or keep being in misery from his ears. The poor boy woke up this morning and said, “Mommy….my ears always hurt!!! I hate my ears hurting!!!”

Are you looking for a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer? Please check out my website or contact me for additional information.

Heather of H. Parker Photography is a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer also specializing in baby in Forth Worth, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Dallas, and Roanoke.

Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer l Project 365 Kick Off

January 5, 2016

I posted a few weeks ago about big changes with H. Parker Photography, and how I am now specializing in newborns and babies through their first year of life. Even though I am excited with the new direction for my business, I definitely don’t want to give up on practicing my photography skills in more real world situations (natural lighting, moving subjects, grouchy subjects—hehe). To continue practicing my skills and provide a creative outlet, I’ve decided to begin a 365 Project this year. A Project 365 is where you take a photo every day of the year (technically this year has 366 days due to it being a Leap Year, but I digress). Some people choose to follow a theme, but the main purpose is to get out your camera and shoot real life stuff. This isn’t for clients or for money. It’s just a personal pet project unconstrained by my professional life. I hope that this project helps me grow creatively. I also hope that it forces me to capture more of the everyday, simple details that make up the bulk of life. I want to look back at the photos from this project and recall moments in time—for the photos to freeze a second and bring me back to the sights, smells, sounds and emotions of what was happening. This project should tell a story. I’m trying to be realistic about this. I know that I won’t have time to post photos every day, so my goal is to take a picture every day and then post them altogether once a week on my blog. I’ve been looking at other photographer’s 365 Projects online for inspiration and I’ve even pinned a few theme lists. I’m trying to keep my camera and my most versatile lens (Sigma 50mm f/ 1.4) at the ready. Now I feel like a kid on the first day of school with my blank slate notebooks, sharpened No. 2 pencils and perfect pink erasers at the ready. I actually began this journey on January 1, 2016, so I am less than one week into it, but I want to go ahead and make my first post now because I know that the weekdays when my son it at school are my best times for getting anything accomplished. Things I’ve learned already:

This is hard.
I feel woefully inadequate at lifestyle photography with my own family. I am hoping that enough practice and inspiration from other photogs will help me beef up in this area.
My house does not get a lot of good lighting in the winter.
I failed at sticking to a weekly theme. I think what I may do is use the themes as a backup. If I’m facing a day where I can’t think of anything to photograph and need that extra nudge then I have a theme in my back pocket.

I’d love to be in community with others who are on a similar 365 journey, so whether you are professional photographer or want to use your cell phone to snap a daily picture, I’d be honored to follow your blog (just email me). You can always find me here, or on Instagram (@hparkerphotography) and I’ll be using #365hparkerphotography if anyone feels like sharing their journey with me. Now without further delay, here is the first installment of my H. Parker Photography 365 for 2016:

1/366: Welcoming the new year with a glass of sparking wine. Technically this was taken at 10pm on 12/31 because there ain’t no way I was staying up until midnight.

2/366: Since Christmas it seems like every night is game night at the Parker casa. Holden is obsessed with playing Cootie Bug, Break the Ice and Mousetrap.

3/366: Holden is a new member of the bike riding club. Straight from balance bike to big kid bike for this guy–no training wheels. Major proud mama moment, as he is only 4 years and 2 weeks old. Hard to believe that just three years ago to the day he took his first steps and now he’s on wheels.

4/366: Wrestle-mania. What is it about boys and wrestling? I only have sisters, and I so don’t get the whole rough and tumble thing, but these two guys warm my heart with their antics. Photo bomb courtesy of our dog, Bailey, who legit can not handle not being pet by someone all.the.time.

Heather of H. Parker Photography is a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer also specializing baby and child photography in Forth Worth, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Dallas, and Roanoke.