Crush on Bird Dogs Pointing

A dear friend took me to God's country today. We started out at five am with the pick-up packed with birds and dogs. It was time for training. For me and them. I've never photographed anything quite like this and wasn't sure what to expect. 
The morning sun in the desert is something to be experienced. The rolling mountains turn a pink, purplish hue, held up by a floor of green sage. Our only company was cattle, jack rabbits, and some howling coyotes. 

Before the training begins, the stakes must be driven. 

The homing pigeons are placed for scent. Did you know these birds fly home up to 900 miles? For a pigeon, this would be a day in paradise. 

Each dog waits at its post to do what it was born to do....find the bird BUT doesn't have it for lunch. The five dogs:  Ringo, Max, Uno, Tink, and Carley are ready for action...

This is Max, the orange and white pointer, waiting for his signal.

Max showing off his speed and power. 

 He wouldn't lose point and move his head. So kept throwing me the side-eye.

Meet Uno

 Introducing Ringo

The boss and his dog

You can see from the blur action that Uno was giving me action photography training today.

Pretty Girl Carley

The other boss and Ringo 

Ringo making feathered friends.

Releasing all the pigeons...

Tink doing her best to leap for the pigeon. None of the dogs ever get the birds. The training is to NOT get the bird, just find it. The Boss told me once the dogs are fully trained they won't even try to go for them. They have learned that they are dogs and cannot fly as the pigeons do. The pigeons fly home to roost and the game begins again on another sunrise.

What a great experience. I learned so much about a sport I knew nothing about. Got to see the sunrise on this beautiful valley. Mother Nature made us a magnificant backdrop today.  And, I got to hang with the Bird Dog Boss.

Crush on video shorts, newborns, & new parents

Adding to the Carsman love story. Scroll through the blog for a visual tour of their sessions throughout the years...starting with a couple from the latest session in Lake Tahoe, Nevada with their six month precious little owlet and we can't forget handsome Higgins, the love dog.

This one was a surprise for our wonderful clients, Courtney and Evan. Thank you for continuously trusting me to capture your life and love.

Why have I added the moving picture films to our services? 
We've always used video in our wedding photography but not in our family portraiture until 2011. 
Why did I not weave photographs and video together before?
It was a money issue. It's expensive for families to hire a videographer and photographer for a portrait session. Most people are familiar with photographs and home videos but wouldn't see the value in combining these media to create a visual diary. Clients didn't really want to hire a videographer if they were looking for  family portraits. 
Why are you doing it now? People strike it rich this year? 
Quite the contrary. Is goes without saying, everyone has had to adjust to the economy. My way was to do it all myself and provide our clients with an enhanced product. I know what I want before I film it which lessens the challenge in being both the video and photo gal. I was having a hard time convincing clients of the true nature of portaiture. To me, it's not about fancy clothes and coiffing, but how you live your life day to day. Your home. Your fun and games. Your connection with one another.  Filming has given me the freedom to do the true journalistic lifestyle imagery. I think they like it. Convincing isn't hard anymore. And I thank them for trusting me to do this.
Why bother?
Before I owned a smart phone, I used to record my babies cooing and making the most magical baby sounds. Unfortunately, the device I used was limited, offered no sharing abilities, and then it broke. All the sounds were gone.  Those were audio photographs to me.  Now with the iphone, my chickadees, who are now five and six, record themselves singing into the memo app.  I download their performances into my itunes account, and use in my own photo slideshows or video shorts. 
I wanted our new parents to have this little piece of our lost delights. Watching my clients' videos transports me back to those most indescribable days as a new mother.


I have yet to make a film that doesn't conjure some tears of joy.


This one is a surprise for Courtney and Evan. Thank you for continuously trusting me to capture your life and love.
{the engagement}

{the wedding}

{the pregnancy}

{ caleb }

For more skosh video shorts visit the following links:

newborn girl + mom + dad video
fashion photography shoot video
engagement session video
one week old newborn shoot

Crush on June Mini { just a skosh }

On June 4th, we held our spring mini session. The minis are an extremely popular event for clients and students. The sessions are simply shorter, more focused and in one location that I have chosen for the day. The fabulous Sarah Rodriguez assisted and filmed video for me in the amazing Bartley Ranch Park. For a touch of Nevada culture, visit this historical preserve. 

We had a teacher, photographer, contest winners, and much loved previous families among the clients that day. Here is just a skosh. ( in case you were ever wondering...it's skosh with a long o. It's a scottish word meaning just a little bit. My Mum would always say "just a skosh" when you asked her if she would like this or that from the kitchen. And yes, it is a combo of skye + josh. As a working team...why not?)

Sarah with the Kempf girls - Little Natalie didn't agree with our plans for a family portrait that morning. Big sis, Vivian, tried to show her the ropes but it wasn't until Sarah showed the girls the video that Natalie decided perhaps this is fun. That middle shot sums up her suspicions. 

And then the glasses. What's not fun about those? Hollywood, here we come...

The tractors are a major attraction.

Bubbles trump portraits. Miss Vivian is ready for some poppin' action.

Val of Val Lemieux Photography - Thrilled that Val let me photograph her. It's cool to shoot photographers. It seems we all struggle with being in front of it, hence the taking our post behind the lens, so it takes a lot of goofing around to loosen us up.  Val was a great sport. Had us laughing and ended up getting  beautiful images...with big girl glasses.

 Kate Carter, teacher, photographer, and founder of World Class Perspectives with her wonderful, and completely opposite, twin boys, Jack + Dean. What is World Class Perspectives? An organization to help low-income students travel on special field trips to places they would never see otherwise, opening up their learning experience and perspective on the world. Yeah, pretty cool indeed!