This has been a big weekend for the Speelman family. Today was Truitt’s First Communion celebration! To be completely honest- it is officially his second communion. A couple of years ago Truitt was behind me as we went up to the front of the church to receive communion. After receiving the host I looked behind me to make sure Truitt was still there and I saw that something was in his mouth. He had that look of total guilt on his face and he began to take the host out of his mouth. I quickly made a facial gesture that prompted him to leave it right where it was. When we returned to our seats Truitt simply said, “She gave it to me!”. However, this time was much more special. Truitt has been very excited about today. He did such a great job. All of his friends looked so handsome and the girls were just beautiful in their white dresses. I was able to convince Truitt to get a photo taken with Caroline- his best “girl” friend. True and Caroline have been great friends ever since kindergarten. He once told me that he likes Caroline because she likes “dirt and frogs just like me”. They are a pretty adorable little couple- but of course, they are just friends ;). I tried to get a photo of Truitt with everyone that shared his special day, but I missed two very important people- Tim and Nancy. I don’t know how they snuck away without having their photo taken (I could have been distracted by the two youngest Speelman’s who were being very high maintenance today.) Thanks for coming everyone!!!
Monthly Archives: April 2009
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First Communion
The Garten Family
Last weekend I photographed the Garten family. Adam, Owen’s buddy, is Kim’s grandson. Andrea organized a session for her husbands family. We had a beautiful day! Her sister-in-law, Jenny, is getting married this August. I just love that first photo of Jenny and Rob. Adam was a little ham- he’s such a cutie!!! Thanks Garten family!
Looks like it’s a GO!
Well, it looks like there is plenty of interest out there! Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment or e-mailed me. You have all been added to my mailing list. Now I need to begin ironing out the details. I have a location in mind for the workshops- I need to make sure it is available. I’m hoping to secure two dates- a weekday in early June and a Sunday mid-July. Hopefully between the two dates I can accomodate everyone who is interested in attending. I’ll e-mail the specifics out at soon as I know them. If you haven’t given me your e-mail address yet I’ll keep checking the comments on the last post or you can just e-mail me directly (lucylomax@cinci.rr.com).
I can’t tell you how excited I am about all of this! Thanks so much to all of you for making it happen! And don’t worry- I’ll be posting more photos soon!
Want to take better photos?
Wondering why today’s images are such a blast from the past? I wanted to show a collection of my point and shoot images. I’ve been tossing around the idea of offering an introductory photography workshop for a while now. The workshop(s) would be geared toward anyone who would like to take better photos of their families and friends. I have been taking pictures since fourth grade (my first camera took 110 film and used disposable flash cubes!). I’ve learned loads and loads along the way and I’ve always felt that anyone can take great photos. Most people just need to be pointed in the right direction.
I have two different workshops in mind and I’d like to get some feedback from my loyal frecklephoto followers to see if there is any interest out there.
Workshop #1: My first workshop idea is geared toward people who simply want to learn how to take better candid photographs of their families. All of the images above were taken with a point and shoot. You don’t need a pricey digital SLR camera to take great photos. In fact the top right image above was printed in USA Today. It was taken in my front yard with a point and shoot. Our families are growing and changing SO fast-don’t miss it because you feel like you need a bigger, better camera. I can give you some great tips that will leave your friends and family saying, “Did you take that?!” This class could be taken with a point and shoot camera or a digital SLR.
Workshop #2: My second idea is for those of you out there who bought a digital SLR (one of those big cameras that have interchangeable lenses) and have either a) Never taken it out of the box or b) Never taken it off of Auto mode. While this workshop would be more technical in nature it would not be geared toward teaching you how to use every single button and feature on your camera. I will focus on the way I photograph children and families using Aperture Priority mode (it’s not that hard I promise!). We will go over the basic elements of photography (aperture, shutter speed and ISO) in understandable terms and relate them specifically to taking better photos with your DSLR.
I’m putting this out there to see if there is an interest. I haven’t completely convinced myself that I have time for this, but it’s something I’ve thought a lot about. I’m passionate about teaching and photography- it seems pretty natural to put the two together.
If you are interested in taking one the workshops I described above, please complete the poll below. If there is enough interest, I’d like to schedule a workshop in June or July. Each workshop would be about two hours long with shooting time included to practice what you’ve learned. The workshops will be in the neighborhood of $100 to $125 which will include materials, a meeting location and a few fun extras. More details to come.
I will be sending out more information via e-mail sometime in May. If you would like to be included in that mailing please leave a comment below (your e-mail address will be included on the comment form and visible only to me) or e-mail me directly lucylomax@cinci.rr.com.
Easter!
Whoa, that’s a lot of photos! The first set is from our “Speelman” Easter celebration and the second set is from our “Lomax” get-together. I made an effort to just capture anything and everything that was going on in each household. It’s always so great to hang out with family. It doesn’t seem to happen often enough. We had such a great weekend.
Gramps and Elle
Here is a photo of the oldest and youngest members of my family. Gramps will turn 92 tomorrow! We had a little birthday celebration over Easter for Gramps, Owen and Uncle Mike. Owen’s birthday just happens to be TODAY! Of course I will post some pictures of his big day soon. There was a great article written about Gramps in the Elmcroft newsletter. It’s posted below. Happy Birthday Gramps!!! More Easter and birthday pics to come!
Famous Owen and Awesome Aunt B
I love it that my sister works at Chicago Parent magazine and gives my children and I our 15 minutes of fame every so often. B called up and needed Owen to draw a picture of our cat, Lucy and then pose with it for a story on losing a pet. He drew a great version of Lucy (he has some of mom’s artistic ability) and then I had him write the word “bye” (we just pretended it was the cat’s name). By the time we were done with that he was in no mood for pictures which worked to my advantage since he needed to be sad in the photo (no one would ever guess that this is really his “crabby” face).
Now onto famous Aunt B, she won the Parenting Publications of America 2009 gold-award her cover (no, I didn’t take the pic). Here is what the Parenting Publications of America had to say about her cover:
Chicago Parent November 2008
Frank Pinc, photographer; Rebecca Lomax, art director The elegant typography and cover design bring this entry to the top. The placement and design of the lead tease is wonderful. The child actually appears to be “thinking thankful,” like the tease says. The color palette is simple and tasteful.
Congrats B!!!!!! I love that cover too :).
Shadow Play
If there is one thing I’ve learned being the mother of three boys, it’s that boys can find a game in just about anything (actually this is true for my Jr. High boys as well). This morning while Isaac was practicing his guitar, Truitt was totally entertaining himself by making wild shadows on the floor. Soon enough all three boys were competing to make the *best* shadow creatures. I guess we better enjoy the sun while it’s here- they are forcasting snow flurries tomorrow- ack!
Ahhhhh . . . Friday . . . time to play
Being in front of the camera is not my favorite place to be. I’ve been making an effort to get there more often so that when my kids look at photos they remember that I was around 
. After school today I grabbed my camera and ask Joe to take a few shots of Elle and I in the kitchen. He dressed her exceptionally cute today . I think he secretly enjoys picking out her clothes. Anyway, I’ve been playing around with his photos and I think he did a pretty darn good job.
Isaac is 10!
I’m a little late with this post- Isaac’s birthday was Sunday. I can’t believe he has hit double digits!? All three boys have been on a serious Lego kick. Isaac got the motorized AT-AT for his birthday- it has about 1200 pieces and it actually walks. It’s very cool!!! Isaac and Joe spent about five hours getting this beast put together. We didn’t eat cake and ice cream until almost 9pm! Nothing getting everyone sugared up and them putting them right to bed!