As it wraps up this next month, I am going to introduce you to the seniors I have been lucky enough to photograph this year.

I have enjoyed getting to know you all so much!  So to kick it off…

I’d like to introduce you to Haley.

Haley is finishing high school in just a few days. I was lucky enough to get Haley in front of my camera twice this school year.

Haley has such a beautiful smile and one of my all time favorite ‘mean mugs’ (her words). I just love the intensity she gives the camera. Those beautiful blue eyes….wow!

I have so many favorites from both sessions. I’d love to hear what you think. Share your thoughts in the comments below or on my facebook page.

Just generally uninspired.

Then I stumbled upon this post on The Boudior Diva’s blog.

Look on the Bright Side
By Brian Tracy

The most important application of the law of cause and effect in your life is this: thoughts are causes, and conditions are effects. What this means is that your thought is creative. You create your world by the way you think. Nothing in your world has any meaning except for the meaning you give by how you think about it and talk about it. If you don’t care about something, it has no effect on your emotions and actions.

How to be Happy
Many thousands of people have been interviewed over the years to find out what they think about most of the time. Can you guess what the most successful and happy people think about all day long? The answer is simple. Happy healthy people think about what they want, and how to get it, most of the time. When you think and talk about what you want, and how to get it, you feel happier and in greater control of your life.

How to be Unhappy
What do unhappy people think and talk about most of the time? Unfortunately, they think and talk about things they don’t want. They think and talk about their problems and pains, and the people they don’t like. Sometimes, their whole lives revolve around their complaints and criticisms. And the more they think and talk about what they don’t want, the unhappier they become.

The Most Important Quality
Based on many psychological tests, the happiest people seem to have a special quality that enables them to live a better life than average. Can you guess what it is? It is the quality of optimism! The best news about optimism is that it is a learnable quality. You can learn to be a more positive, confident, and optimistic person by thinking the way optimists do—most of the time.

Look for the Good
Optimists seem to have different ways of dealing with the world that set them apart from the average. First, as we mentioned, they keep their minds on what they want, and keep looking for ways to get it. They are clear about their goals and they are confident that they will accomplish them, sooner or later. Second, optimists look for the good in every problem or difficulty. When things go wrong, as they often do, they say, “That’s good!” and then set about finding something positive about the situation.

Seek the Valuable Lesson
The third quality of optimists is that they seek the valuable lesson in every setback or reversal. Rather than getting upset and blaming someone else for what has happened, they take control over their emotions by saying, “What can I learn from this experience?” Fully 95% of everything you do is determined by your habits, good or bad. When you repeatedly look for the good and seek the valuable lesson in every obstacle or disappointment, you very soon develop the habit of thinking like an optimist. As a result, you feel happier, healthier, and more in control of your world.

The Body-Mind Connection
More and more doctors are coming to the conclusion that 80% or more of all diseases and ailments are psychosomatic in origin. This means that “psycho,” the mind, makes “soma,” the body, sick. You do not get sick from what you are eating, but from what is eating you.

Action Exercise
Resolve from now on to see your glass of life half full rather than half empty. Give thanks for your many blessings in life rather than worrying or complaining about the things you do not have. Assume the best of intentions on the part of everyone around you.

I love how the universe brings you just what you need just when you need. Another reason to be grateful.

Have a beautiful day.

1. One could be photographed incecently and therefore become weary of having one’s photo taken … or

2. The  portrait artist parent my be so busy perfecting his or her craft, he or she may neglect to freeze his or her own family’s moments in time.

I, being the aforementioned portrait artist, have evolved from pointing my lens at my two ‘built in subjects’ far too much to snapping them far too little.  I am making a concerted effort to correct this. The last thing I want is to look back when they are grown and gone only to discover that I was so busy capturing other families’ moments in time that I neglected to record my own.

So, I am making more of an effort to carry my point & shoot camera with me more often, taking more pictures with my handy dandy new HTC Evo Shift, and the biggest change I’m making is accepting moments to remember over perfect photo technique. As a result, you’ll see many more posts of my family’s adventures and experiences, like yesterday’s post about our spring break trip.  

And just as importantly, I’ve made it a goal of mine to take each of my children out for a full blown photo shoot, complete with multiple locations and outfits, this spring. 

There is only on minor glitch in my plan…they’re not so much on board.

Although I haven’t convinced either one of them to go out and shoot with me, I was able to convince my daughter to give me a few minutes in the living room a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s the result…

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to present…

My Little Bean

There will be more of my crazy kiddos to come on this blog!  (I feel like if I put it out there with force, it’ll have to happen. Right?)

We decided that we would not go on a vacation this spring and instead put the money we would’ve spent away for a rainy day. With that decided we went through the motions of getting through the winter. And the winter dragged on…and on…and on.

Then, on a fateful February evening, my son made an offhanded comment at the dinner table. He said “I wish we could go to Florida to see our family.”.

That was all it took.

The very next day I was online pricing flights and checking time share availability.

It must have been fated, because I found a very elusive (especially at spring break) 3 bedroom deluxe unit at the beautiful Bonnet Creek Resort and reasonable flights to get the four of us from here to there. Easy Peasy. I was sold on getting out of this dreary winter town and it didn’t take much to convince the hubs that we NEEDED to take this trip. Done. Booked.

We just had to wait 6 weeks and we were off for some much needed fun in the sun!

And fun we had!

We visited both Universal Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios while we stayed in Orlando. Spent a fabulous weekend with my cousins enjoying the Ocean. We had a long over due visit with my Great Uncle and Aunt. Got some color – pink is the standard color in this family. *wink*

While we were packing, I made the decision not to take either of my dslr camera bodies with me. It is the first time I have traveled any where without lugging them with me in more than two years. It was refreshing. I went on a family vacation with nothing more than my point and shoot camera. I felt like every other parent. Taking snapshots of memories I wanted to have without any consideration for shutter speed or aperture. I didn’t have one thought of focal length or depth of field for a whole week! I loved it. And I missed my 5dMark2 - but I do think the break was good for us.

So, I am going to share some of my snap shots, but please remember they are just that, snap shots. You are seeing them as they came out of my camera. And the kiddos took quite a few of them.

We were very happy to have my bestest cousin, Melissa, along with us for most of our trip. She is the woman who’s not me in these shots of my family.

This is very picture heavy. Consider yourself forewarned.

Melissa and Bob are in the second row on the Dragon which is now in Harry Potter…It turns out that the longest we waited in line at Islands of Adventure was for the Dr. Seuss kiddie coaster. Go figure.A happy family…Two parents…obviously enjoying the ride. lolWe had lunch with all of our favorites from Dr. Seuss…Hung out with super heros…Rubbed shoulders with a blast from the past…Bob, Melissa and the kids decided to cool off with a quick trip down this waterfall.I opted to stay on dry land – because I hate squishing through the park for the rest of the day. Only to be goaded into riding some other drenching ride a few minutes later. We don’t have any photos of that and that is OK by me. They do look like quite the happy family – don’t they.Look at all of the people… crazy, even for Harry Potter.HogwartsThe Jaws ride at Universal Studios.I’m not sure what this was supposed to be…Squeezing a little work while we wait…And a morning spent on Cocoa Beach. We really did have fun playing in the water until something with a large fin swam in front of Bob. That was the end of the frolicking in the Ocean for the Chernock’s!

It’s good to be home, but I miss Melissa and the Sun.

I’m sorry, Internet, but I have to whine a little bit. It’s snowing again today!

I – HATE – IT!

It seems like spring doesn’t want to stick around Toledo-land this year. So here we sit – in the middle of April – and it’s snowing again.

Someday I AM moving to a warmer climate!

Until such time, I am trying to remember that winter has it’s beauty too. AND apparently winter doesn’t want to release it’s grip here on the Ohio/Michigan line! Soo, I am trying keep my glass half full…

I thought I would share with you a little of this winter’s beauty that, somehow, never got blogged…

These images are from the ice storm we had in February 2011. The storm left us without electricity for 3 days. The temperature inside of our home got down to a very brisk 40 degrees.

I am not a fan of ice storms! Please, give me a foot of snow instead. Ice is so hazardous and destructive.

However, I can’t deny their beauty.

(The ice dripped between these two shots. I thought it was so beautiful and intruging that I wanted to post them both. So scroll between them and find the difference.)

I hope that it is warm and sunny where ever you are today. And – just for me – let’s all pray that it will be warm and sunny where I am very soon.

Can you believe it, Internet? It might be a personal record – it’s definitely a 2011 record.

It’s a GORGOUS day here in Toledo land!

I want to get out and enjoy it. We don’t get a lot of these days in March.

So, I will keep this post short and sweet.

A few weeks ago - ok like 8 weeks ago - I got my nephews together for a quick mini shoot before Alex, my oldest nephew, headed back to college after winter break. 

Alex and D are my oldest brother’s sons. Now that Alex is away at school it’s not so easy to get these brothers together. My mother asked for updated photos of the boys for Christmas and it was very important to her so I was happy to oblige.

Time was short and the boys were busy so we had no choice but to shoot on a cold, wet, grey winter day in a tiny bedroom with only one window. Not the best conditions for wonderful natural light portraits at all.

But I think we did pretty well, considering. Don’t mind the backgrounds – it’s what we had to work with that day.

Happy St. Patty’s day!

I wanted to stop by and share with you a session I did the other day. You may remember Max as a newborn in this post. He’s grown so much! He has a wonderful personality – he’s laid back and spunky at the same time. He’s a joy to be around. I was sure to let his mommy know that I’m happy to babysit her little guy anytime.

Check out a few of the highlights…