Melissa and Paul Headshots.

Just so it doesn't come as a total surprise, every now and then Jacob will be blog posting and sharing photos as well... so you can look forward to those. :)

Now, more from the session with Melissa and Paul.  Here's the headshot Melissa ended up picking out, and wanted to repost to balance out the next photo of Paul.  I've been playing around with new layouts.





After the headshots, we had some fun with family photos for the Christmas cards.  After running around with Roxie, we tired her out enough to sit still.  :)  I loved the next set.  Too cute!











Always love some golden light. :)





Always a pleasure doing photos with these two... ooh and Roxie! :)

<3 Esther

Halloween 2009.

After all that running around to different targets, craft stores, and costume stores, I finally figured out what I wanted to be.



I was able to find a poofy enough top at the maternity section, and the leggings...  that color was tough to track down, but after checking various targets and walmarts, I found it!  Finding all the necessary tools was the hard part, but putting together the costume was fairly easy.  I am now a proud owner of a sewing machine.  Maybe, in the future I will be getting more crafty.

We ended up at two different halloween parties.  One of which, I did a little event photography for.  Minna hosted one of the best halloween parties where we met some great people, had some good food, and drank out of a skeleton shaped funnel.  What more can you ask for from a party?  haha  Here's Brad Pitt and Catwoman.  Catwoman, hands down, had the best costume.  (Tip:  if you ever want to have saggy boobs, birdseed in a stocking has the perfect consistency.)



The second place was q100's Big Wicked at compound.  It was completely packed.  We ended up heading there at 9:30, since parking goes up to $40 to $60 later on in the night.  Clubbing can be fun with good company, but it does lose it's novelty fast.  Even though we're all retired, we all had a blast since we hadn't been out in a while.  Although, now, I probably prefer house parties over going out to a club, but even for old(er) folks, I think going once a year can be doable.

Look what makes an awesome studio-esque backdrop.  The wall outside the bathrooms.



Bam-bam was already crafty enough to put together his own costume no problem... of course, with the help of my sewing machine.

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday, Riddick!

Happy Halloween (since I seldom update my blog on Saturdays), and Happy First Birthday Riddick!  Goodness, I'm still up after a long night of editing.  I figure it would be appropriate to update my blog with halloween themed photos before the weekend.  Hope you enjoy them! :)

The birthday was a halloween-themed birthday and was decked out in killer decor.  The cake was incredible!  The knife handle has the shape of a One.  Too cool!  Will have to find out the place Kathy picked it up.  You can't really see them as well, but the cupcakes had brain-shaped frosting.



Genius!  They made the fingers with string cheese and bell peppers and the monster teeth with apples and almonds.  Then the name labels for the drinks!



A brain carved out of a watermelon.  They don't mess around.



This was the real cake that he got to dig his hands into.  Babies + messy food = priceless!



Kisses with mom.  He's making a kissy face. :)  He practically imitated a lot of the mouth shapes we made throughout the day to entertain and keep his attention.



Cute moment with grandpa.  Taken by Jacob.



The entire gang.  Love all the different costumes.



The next photo is of Riddick's auntie and uncle, who helped make it all possible.  :)  I met Michelle and Adam as models on a photography workshop with Scott Robert.  We even had to do the Scott Robert signature pose for the memories.  They still got it!  ;)  Also, the photo in the back is Riddick's dad's.  He's a photographer himself and had tons of awesome photography around his house.



It was so good seeing old friends and making new ones.  Definitely a pleasure getting to shoot this birthday with them!  Hope this gave you some creative halloween party ideas.  If you need photography coverage for an event, let us know (jacob@estherjulee.com). :)

As for the update on the costume.  Now I am even more confused.  I'm an owner of a brand new sewing machine, and I have no idea how to operate it, starting with threading the thing.  I have tons of fabric and all sorts of crazy miscellaneous items I've never owned, but not a clue what to do with any of it. :)  The ideas are there... I assure you.  I just can't quite execute them... well... yet.  I have a backup, too, so we'll see how it all goes.  I'll update with photos next week.  Saturday, I'm hoping to go out and photograph the foliage before all the colors disappear.  It's about time for another photo adventure!

Sidenote:  Halloween-themed weddings don't look as cheesy as they sound.  But I probably wouldn't do it for my own wedding.  Cool to see though

Melinda and Ben E-session Slideshow.

Melinda and Ben's engagement slideshow. 



The song set to the slideshow is falling in love at a coffee shop by Landon Pigg.  I thought it fit the atmosphere of the photos being in Athens really well.

Probably one of the most random things I've ever done, but I was also a booth girl selling tee-shirts and CDs at Landon Pigg and Among the Oak and Ash last friday.  A fine frenzy is also on tour with them for the next few weeks if you wanna catch them.  They were all very sweet people and fun to hang out.



Wow.  I look so happy here.  Secret's out.  And I thought I was too old to have crushes.  lol  And check out that scarf that someone made him with his name on it.  Gosh, I want groupies!

Melissa Headshots.

Here's a couple headshots I did for Melissa last week.  It's just too easy when you've already done an engagement, bridal session, and wedding with them.  They were pretty much striking their own poses.  ;)



More from their session to come soon.

Halloween shopping this year is proving to be a lot more tiresome and stressful than I had imagined.  I've been doing way too much brainstorming and browsing around than doing something constructive.  Maybe it's overrated to be something creative and original.  :P  It's so much time and energy.  Maybe if I can't go for something original and creative, I'll just pick out something "sexy" or "sassy" if you're shopping at wal-mart.

Hmmmm.  It's $70 for something I'm going to wear once.  Have you guys ever returned costumes the day after Halloween?  lol

Writer's block.

I used to love blogging…  I swear.  I used to blog semi-regularly just for fun before I felt obligated to have clever things to say for each of my entries showcasing my photography work.  Oh, how obligations make things no fun.

I don't like the fact that I don't enjoy blogging anymore.  I'm always excited to share more photos, but I most certainly do not get excited thinking I will be sitting here for at least an hour staring at a blank screen.  I wish I could do a better job story-telling through words, but I am no writer… I'm a photographer.  So until I improve my writing skills, I guess I will just have to tell them more with photos.

Another tidbit of my life.  I forgot to take wall-e with me to Orlando, but I'm glad he came out to the airport to welcome me home.

Tara and Jamie E-session (Teaser).

After two rain-checks on engagement sessions (literally got rained in on both times), last Friday happened to be a perfect day for these two.  What do they say... about third time's the charm?  I know it probably would have been more appropriate to post one of the outdoor photos after saying all that, but this one from the tail-end of the session is my favorite of the day.  They look so good together.  :)