Cindy and Saylor

Project Life 2012 | Weeks 1-4

Cindy — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:43:35 +0000

As much as I hate to admit it I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am a TERRIBLE blogger. Maybe, terrible is a bit too harsh. I think sporadic is a more appropriate word to describe my blogging. I truly, truly want to blog more, but it is just overwhelming at times so I finally had to just be okay with it. I have finally made peace with my blogging insufficiency and I’m okay with it and I hope you are okay with it too. Thanks.

I thought it would be fun to show you a little project I HAVE been keeping up with. Project Life!! I introduced it a few weeks ago by sharing my title page and telling you a little bit about just what Project Life is exactly. I’m caught up through week 4 of 2012 and I want to share a little glimpse into our everyday life. This is scary, some of this is real, real life. Like the photo of me with no makeup, but it’s us documented forever and I love it! Flip through my pages below.
By the way, on week 3 I have 1-6×9 insert and 1-8×8 insert so that is why those pages look a bit different.

I am really loving this project! Honestly, I have struggled a bit and might make it to Wednesday without taking any photos for the week and then once I remember I take too many. I am beginning to find a rhythm that works for me.

One thing that is REALLY working for me is the Day One app that reminds me twice a day to write down something about what is going on. I am not really using it to journal. I’m actually just listing some things that happened that day to jog my memory later. If there is a specific thing that I want to remember like something Mia said I can jot it down as quickly as sending a text. It has been very helpful! I highly recommend looking into Project Life for yourself!

I want to remember.

Cindy — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Sometimes I really struggle with remembering that….

And especially that….

Some days it is hard to remember that…….

And I really take this……

and this advice to heart…….

I want to always remember to……

Don’t you? I know you are shaking your head yes. So…….

Get out there and…….

2011 Top Ten Photo Contest Winner Announced

Cindy — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:46:00 +0000

Happy Friday the 13th! I think today is actually a pretty lucky day for a few of our clients! I know you can’t wait so I’ll get right to announcing the winner of our Top Ten Images of 2011 contest. First, we would like to thank all the friends and family that commented and rooted your favorite image on to victory. It was quite the exciting competition! We had over 700 votes!! That is unbelievable! The competition was fierce and 3 images actually battled it out neck and neck until the very end. So, without further wasting of your time The winner is…………..

Congratulations to Lesli and Brett! You have won a 16×24 gallery wrapped canvas!! It is on it’s way to you as we speak and you should receive it within a few weeks. Thanks again, to all of Lesli and Brett’s friends and family that voted for them. Way to go guys!

Since the competition was so exciting we couldn’t let our 2nd and 3rd place images go unrecognized so each one will receive a 12×18 mounted metallic print. Woo Hoo! I told you Friday the 13th was lucky!! Congratulations to……….

Courtney and her beautiful bridal image taken at The Milestone in Denton. And…….

Sean and Trisha and their romantic engagement photo taken at the reflecting pool at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas.

Thanks again everyone!!! Have a great weekend.

Matt | Senior 2012

Cindy — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Saturday was cloudy and overcast as January days in Texas tend to be. If you ask me it was the perfect weather for Matt’s senior photos in downtown McKinney. Matt is a Senior at Legacy Christian Academy and not a big fan of having his photo taken, but you could never tell from these images of him. Matt is so photogenic and a natural in front of the camera. Also, he was quite the trooper as we took photos for close to 2 hours! Thanks Matt for being so awesome. You are a very cool young man and we are glad we got to hang out and get to know you!

Monday Musings: Project Life

Cindy — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

One thing that photographers struggle with (or at least I do) is documenting for their own family. We spend a ton of time and energy documenting, recording, and creating memories for other families and sometimes when it comes to our own family……it feels like too much work. Didn’t I just spend 60+ hours editing photos and designing albums and now you want to create something for myself? Sorry, I’m just too tired.

This is something I have really struggled with over the past few years. See, I used to scrapbook. I don’t mean I had a cute rolling case that I took to crops on the weekend. I mean I was a hardcore, know every product by manufacture name, have a dedicated room in my house, every spare moment was living and breathing scrapbooking-scrapbooker. I recently just donated my collection of 5 years of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Yes, I had EVERY issue and every single one of them had post-it notes and dog-eared pages. WOAH, that sounds a little cr-a-Z-y. I’m a little embarrassed to admit just how obsessed I actually was. As my photography business began to take off I just didn’t have time for it any more and to be honest it felt a little too much like work. So, sadly my family’s photos have been left undocumented. So, so sad.

Last year I vowed to change this. I tried, and failed. Well, I didn’t actually fail, because I did take WAY more photos for myself than I had the previous year so that was an accomplishment in itself. I still plan to have a simple album of all the photos printed very soon. Few words, mainly just photos. This year I would like to go a bit further and document some words with those photos. Enter Project Life…..

I’ve been reading about it and following a few of my favorites scrapbook designers over the last year and this year I’m going to give it a try myself. As much as I LOVE paper and all the fun details I decided that going the digital route would be the simplest for me this year. And in order to actually succeed I’m ALL ABOUT simple. I downloaded the Digital Project Life Kit: Clementine Edition from jessicasprague.com and I’m well on my way to documenting the bits and pieces of our life in 2012!

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this project and plan to keep you updated as I work through it this year. If you are interested in documenting your family I highly recommend heading over to the Project Life website and check it out. It’s super easy and there is a ton of information. Don’t think it’s important?!? Read this blog post about the importance of documenting. IT IS IMPORTANT. PERIOD. Life is fleeting…

The title page for my Project Life 2012 album.

Slice of Life: glimpses of right now : November & December edition

Cindy — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Top Ten Images of 2011Contest

Cindy — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

***Edited*** This contest is now over and comments are closed. The winner will be announced on the blog on FridayJanuary 13th. Thanks to all the family, friends and fans that commented and made this contest a fun one!***

Choosing our favorite image of 2011 is like trying to choose our favorite child or ice cream flavor. We love them ALL so much it is just too hard to decide on one. So, we thought it would be fun to recap 2011 with a fun contest. We were able to narrow down our favorite images to 10 and we need your help to pick the #1 image of 2011!

Check out our 10 favorites from 2011 and then vote on YOUR favorite image by leaving a comment below with the number of your fave. The person in the image will win a 16×24 canvas of their image!!! One vote per day please and friends and family are welcome to vote too!! Voting will close on January 11 at 9pm and the winner will be announced on Friday January 13th. Who says Friday the 13th is unlucky? Not me!!

#10

Monday Musings: The one where I share goals for 2012

Cindy — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I would like to say that I have my goals clearly defined for 2012. I don’t. It’s okay and I’m going to go with it. Last year I was ready and excited for 2011 to start. Couldn’t wait, as a matter of fact. Last year I had RESOLVE and was bound and determined for 2011 to be the BEST YEAR EVER. It didn’t quite work out the way I had planned. 2011 turned out to be a struggle in many ways. It started off great, but somewhere around the middle it got kind of lousy. Without going into too many details let’s just say that I struggled with my friendships, my business and my health. I’m still struggling…..and learning. I think 2011 was a year that God was working on me. Telling me that my way was not the right way or the path he had planned for me. What can I say, I’m pretty stubborn.

One truth that has stuck with me over this year and gotten me through was that I know God has the very best intentions in mind for me. I know because He told me so:

So, 2012 may not be starting off with a set list of defined goals, but I can faintly see the big picture of where I want to be. Right now, it’s a quiet whisper, but give it time and you’ll hear me roar!

Lesli + Brett | Engaged!! | Gaylord Texan Engagements

Cindy — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:47:21 +0000

Oh man, did we have a BLAST with Lesli and Brett!! They are such a fun couple and seriously up for anything! What? Crawl up on that piano in the corner in your incredibly short dress? You got it! Can you hold the elevator doors open and try to look as if you are not about to get crushed? Check! We can not WAIT until their fabulous wedding in June. I’m counting the days…..

I love the new VSCO film presets for Lightroom from Visual Supply Co. I used them to process these images and my favorite has to be the Kodak TMAX 3200 preset. When I took photography in college WAY back when everyone was still processing in a darkroom I mostly used Kodak TMAX film. I loved the images it produced. I am just completely in love with the image below on the right. It looks so timeless. It could have been taken last weekend (it was) or 40 years ago. LOVE that!

Adalgis | Senior 2012 | Downtown McKinney

Cindy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:53:21 +0000

We had the honor of meeting a very cool young man this past Saturday. Adalgis and his mom met us in downtown McKinney and we captured some Senior photos of this great guy! Adalgis has an amazing story and the sweetest, upbeat personality. He was so much fun to work with! I can’t help but smile when looking at these photos remembering how much fun he was having getting his picture taken. Go ahead and look, I dare you not to smile too.