Stacey Haslem » Portraiture & Fine Art Photography

This is a sweet little baby I photographed back in September! Baby and his brother were two of many gorgeous models that volunteered at a workshop I attended in Las Vegas. I’m pretty sure that big brother was a little intimidated by our group of women with cameras in front of them. We were a small mob very similar to the paparazzi. He was also a little too cool to smile but we did manage to get him to crack a couple. He had the most gorgeous eyelashes! Why do boys always have lashes that go on forever?

While I love taking pictures of others, especially sweet new little ones, I am excited to take pictures for ‘fun’ again. I love trying and learning new techniques. Sometimes they end up being miserable failures, but once in awhile they work. Yesterday I heard the song ‘Rolling in the Deep’ by Adele for the first time. As soon as I heard the first few lines, I knew I would LOVE it. I downloaded it as soon as I got home. When I was listening to the song, I noticed the cover art for the song. It is a beautiful portrait of Adele that inspired me. So this morning I setup my studio, put Leah down for a nap, and tried to pretty myself up the best I know how (I’m the only grown woman in this house available to practice on). Now the cover art of Adele is stunning and I won’t even begin to compare myself, but I am satisfied with my end result.

Adele cover art:

Me:

Holidays, new church callings, kids, normal everyday life, all of this and more has made time fly. What was the beginning of December is now February! Changes have come and new goals have been set. One big change for the new year is that I won’t be taking any clients in 2011. Extra time is hard to come by right now. The little bit I do have I want to spend with my family. Am I giving up photography altogether? I couldn’t even if I tried. This year the majority of my photography journey will be in the confines of my own home. I have a list that is pages and pages long of all the things I want to learn. I hope to sneak that in here and there throughout the year. I am behind on my sneak peaks so the next few weeks I will play catch up. After that, you will see more photos along these lines-a mini session of Leah in the bath. This has been on my to-do list for awhile now!

This is what we, photographers, call ‘bokeh’. Normally, it is that delicious creamy background in a portrait. Below it is out of focus Christmas lights. I LOVE me some bokeh! I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season

Ahhhh! Leah turned one on Friday! I cannot believe it. It seems like she was just born yesterday. Now she is all grown up. Her birthday celebration was a small one, but I loved every minute of it. Last week we started it off by giving her a cake. A great friend of mine made this gorgeous ruffle cake. I first saw it on Martha Stewart’s website. I fell in love with its gorgeous ruffles and all that pink. My friend did an AMAZING job making it.

Leah however was scared to death of it. The picture of her crying is how she first reacted when we set her down to smash into it. Then she crawled around it many times. A video camera would have probably done this session more justice. After crawling she decided to put her behind in the air and peek at it through her legs. The only way we could get her near the cake was putting a candle in the top. She pulled it out and licked it, but only once. She wouldn’t touch it or the candle after that. Photography sessions for first birthdays with cakes are typically called cake smash sessions. There was no smashing here.

Friday night we had small little celebration for her. I thought a cupcake might be less intimidating :0 I was right! After eating a huge dinner she had no problem finding room for the cupcake. We had to hold her little fingers back while singing because she was so anxious to grab it!

Look at her! She’s grown so much! She will always be mommy’s baby girl. Happy Birthday little Leah!