Monday, July 19, 2010

The world always looks brighter from behind a smile

I’ve just come inside from the front lawn where my husband had called me to watch purple martins who were swooping low to the ground. A thunderstorm had just passed through and there seemed to be a hundred of the birds. The rain had caused thousands of gnats to hatch and it was a feeding frenzy out there. Quite exciting.

Tonight I’m posting people shots from this year’s Blog Fest which was held last weekend in Mathews, VA. I’ve never considered myself a portrait photographer so if you see yourself here and you dislike it, e-mail me and I’ll take it down.

I took many photos of people this year but not all of them came out to my liking which was disappointing. But here are some of my favorites.

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Meg from Soup is Not a Finger Food. This was one of the first photos I took when I arrived. We were still wearing our name badges, I see.

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This is Diane, from Asthma Girl. We were heading out for a sunset boat ride. I really love this photo of her.

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Shelley, the Baroness. She always looks like a million bucks.

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Anne Marie from Hillbilly Gothic, one of our co-hosts for Blog Fest. Fun fun fun.

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Annie from The Tombstone Chronicler. Annie was one of the very first visitors to my blog back in late 2007. She’s got the most beautiful blue eyes.

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Beth attended Blog Fest last year and came just for the beach party this year. I could never imagine myself going to a beach party in a bathing suit, but among this crowd I somehow felt fine about it.

The margaritas helped.

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And finally, Laurie from Fooleryland, who came with her husband Chaz and their two beautiful daughters. This was taken at the White Dog Cafe in Mathews. In the background you can see our waiter, Eric who is excellent at what he does for a living. He kept us laughing. (As if we needed any help doing that).

Until tomorrow (hopefully), my friends . . .

PS – I am having serious issues with the AC power cord and my laptop in general. I could barely post this tonight because of the cord not staying in and the extremely low battery life I have. Time to buck up and get another computer, I should think. If I’m not back tomorrow, this is why.

35 comments:

Ann Marie said...

Portrait photographer YOU ARE!!!! they are all amazing!

Ellen said...

Get a Mac. You won't regret it.

Anyway, thanks for the great photos. I'm so sorry I missed it. Again. Let's plan for a trip to Longwood/Winterthur. I was thinking near the holidays. Nurse Nancy wants to come. Ms LaLa too.

emily said...

I had this problem too a long time ago with my Dell. I sent it back and they fixed it, no problem, as far as I can remember.

Sounds like you had a great time!

BB said...

Great smiles - and no doubt great margaritas too!!!
:-)
BB

Meg McCormick said...

I likey! thanks for posting these, Kate!

Pretty Zesty said...

Great photos! You captured those moments perfectly!

Anonymous said...

i just love reading your blog and looking at your photos...and George of course! You crack me up!
karen
karen_bremermann@yahoo.com

ELK said...

these are marvelous Kate ! this and the post before shows what a happy weekend you had...rest up now!!

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

These are all just gorgeous. Bayman and I know Eric at the White Dog - he's wonderful. Anne does have the most incredible eyes and that shot of Foolery is just incredible.

Thank you for sharing these - the ladies are an amazing bunch and they're all beautiful inside and out. But these shots are just amazing.

Lili said...

Even though I don't know any of these people, the portraits are wonderful, as if they capture a bit of each person's uniqueness. And lordy I want the margarita that would let me not mind wearing a bathing suit in public!!! ~Lili

Anonymous said...

Such beautiful and vivacious looking women. These photos say a lot about their personalities, don't they? Good photography on your part, Kate.

Good luck with the laptop.

Di

beth said...

i think your candid shots are perfect .....

and it's not because we are both "beth"....but i do love her photo best :)

and now i want a blogfest weekend...could you come here and help me organize one ?

Deb said...

great photos....hope all works out with your computer...my daughters crashed the other day...

Low Tide High Style said...

What great pictures you took of your friends! It looks like you all had a wonderful time, and you clearly captured that in their beautiful faces!

Hope you get your computer troubles resolved!

Kat :)

Mary Lou said...

Beautiful shots. Good thing is that they are not posed. Just naturally glorious.

Char said...

looks like a great time was had by all! can't wait to hear more.

Ann On and On... said...

Those photos were very nice...everyone looks happy and friendly. Way to capture two very important aspects of a person.

Jon said...

Well ur potraits are good...but not your best area i think!

Gail said...

You have captured their hearts very well. I think they are great.

I can't imagine how wonderful it would be to meet all the people I visit with every day. Wish I did not live so far back in the uncivilized world.

Looks and sounds like you all had a marvelouse time!

Hilary said...

I think you do very well with your portrait shooting....but where is the one of you?? tsk tsk
I had the same problem with my lap top.....hubby went on ebay and bought a new power cord for it.......cheap.......and that solved it.
there are tons of them on Ebay.

GailO said...

I am too self conscious to take good portraits...maybe I could take some if I have a margarita first:) You didn't need one for sure...these are great!

Mary said...

Aw, you are so a portrait photographer! Cute pix!

I had the same problem with my old Toshiba. It turned out that something inside was fried. I agree with Ellen: if you can, get a Mac. They are wonderful.

Driftwood and Pumpkin said...

What a gorgeous group of women! Great job with the portraits. Love them. I used the one of me from yesterday as my Facebook profile pic. Of course, George knows that ;0)

Andi said...

Your pictures are terrific. Everyone looks so naturally happy, pretty, relaxed, un-made up if that makes sense. Curse you all though! I just spent way too much time blog surfing, and bookmarking and enjoying! Nice to *meet* everyone and SO glad I found Kate's blog this year. :)

The Weaver of Grass said...

Lovely happy photographs.

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

You and that camera rock Kate. These are fantastic!
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Carolynn Anctil said...

Oh. Envious. That looks like so much fun. One of these days, perhaps I'll be there too and you can take my picture. *smile*

Daryl said...

You are an overall awesome photographer ...

Mental P Mama said...

Fantastic!!!!!

deborah said...

awesome!!

The JR said...

Great photos. I need you at my horse shows!

mrs mediocrity said...

So many beautiful smiles! And you did a wonderful job with the portraits, you can really see their personalities shining through. I am jealous of the purple martins, we have barn swallows and tree swallows but no martins. Did you get any pictures?
Sorry about your computer, that stuff is never any fun.

Diane said...

I love that photo of me too! And Shelley with her bananas foster. And your attention to detail in the White Dog.
Lovely as always Miss Kate!

Audrey at Barking Mad! said...

Beautiful beautiful photos of some really beautiful women!

foolery said...

The key to great portrait photography (which I know nothing about) is capturing the essence of the person, I think. These definitely did that. You have an eye AND a heart. SO jealous. Thanks CG!