Thankful for 2013, Excited About 2014
2013 has been quite a challenging year for Patrick and I and we are stronger for it. There have been ups and downs and in-betweens and we look forward to greater things in the New Year. I will dwell now on only the good which consists of finally getting into our own new home on our sweet little ranchette and photographing so many wonderful people around southeast Wyoming. I want to thank them all for a great business year.
I started the year shooting commercial work for the University of Wyoming in the Ecology and Biodiversity Department and in the business school.
Then I had the opportunity to work with COPD Oxygen in Cheyenne. This is a great group of people, a family run business serving several communities in Wyoming that have needs of assistance in breathing and sleeping.
There is a gentleman in our town who’s father had a serious collection of old cars dating all the way back to 1926. Many of these had to go to auction and I had the honor of photographing them for advertising. This is just one of the many that went to auction. This was a really cool shoot!
Wyoming Women First and GE united together for a program to send a mobile mammography van around rural parts of Wyoming to serve women who don’t have the means to get mammograms at their local health clinic. They served many Native American communities which I wrote about HERE. It was and honor to be a part of making things happen for the women of Wyoming.
To get the word out about the Mammovan, we held a contest to meet Jason Aldean at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Needless to say, we had some happy winners!!
I did a project for a friend before we left the ranch. She bought one of the ranch horses and we did a photo shoot just days before we moved. She found this poem and I worked it onto the image. We had it printed on canvas and it turned out really lovely.
Then the family portrait business started up. I had a blast with the Spaldings. I got to hang with them twice this year since we needed to catch up on the yearly portraits of the boys.
We have a cowboy in the making right here!
Once the grass greened up, we could wear short sleeves and enjoy the sunshine.
I put Carol in the thick willows by the river. We couldn’t beat the willows, so we just joined them.
I got a call from the publishers of WREN Magazine, a statewide magazine that goes out to all Rural Electric Association customers. They were featuring our community in the May issue and wanted to feature me in the Artist Spotlight section. I was floored, honored, and shocked at this opportunity. They ended up putting one of my images on the cover and used one for an article illustration inside the magazine, along with the artists spotlight. Such a treat and this was the start of a great relationship with Linden Publishing. This will be in another blog post very soon. 🙂
Then senior portrait season began. I met some incredibly talented and bright students this year. And I think it’s safe to say we all had a great time.
Caleb,
Logan,
Taran,
Sahala,
Skylar,
Then came babies, families, professional headhots and pets.
This child….I have no words. Well, precious, sweet, patient, a good sport…you name it, Taytum was it.
Miss Dayzee graduated with honors from obedience school. Her momma loves her so much and I was so happy to photograph her graduation portraits. 🙂
Happy, happy Ingram family. Nothing but fun was had during this session.
Had a beautiful evening maternity portrait shoot with Megan and Sean. Such a sweet couple and good friends. They gave birth to Annie just a couple of days ago. I’m looking forward to getting that bundle of joy in my camera.
Ahhh the Whelchel family. I spent a lot of time with this family this fall and I’m a better person for it. We got a lot accomplished with 2 sets of senior portraits, promotional portraits of Skylar for her successful Christian music career, and family portraits. We also got young Serenity enrolled in some art classes at our local art gallery, Gilchrist Gallery. I’m proud to call this family friends of mine.
These kiddos have shot with me every year since I’ve been out here. They are nothing but sweet, adventurous, and plain fabulous. They crack me up every time we shoot. I’m so glad to know them.
Pastor Jane needed professional headshots for her blog and other needs and we also wanted portraits with Tango. We had a nice morning shoot and I really enjoyed our conversations. Such a beautiful woman inside and out.
The Spalding family came out and we had a great day with Cooper’s 1 year portraits and family portraits. The boys were asleep when hey arrived and were a little groggy when hey woke up. But one look at the cows and horses and we ended up enjoying the afternoon in the meadows.
Again, no words. Well okay; hilarious, sweet, precious, cooperative, and loving. Daxton was so good on this shoot and he is a sweet boy loved by such a sweet family. He was styling in his suit but not long after a few “distinguished” portraits at the piano, he stripped down to his diaper and cowboy hat and hilarity ensued. Such a fun indoor shoot on a very windy afternoon.
Ethan and Lily were true champions for this session in the snow. We were all so chilly but had a nice time nonetheless. Beautiful kids and I look forward to getting them in the camera some more. It was so cold and we didn’t spend much time on these. We all had runny noses and tears in our eyes before the end of it. Did I mention it was chilly!
Ahhh, the Edwards family. We spent a joyful Thanksgiving Day with this family and did a great deal of eating and shooting. We had so much fun and I was glad to meet more of Patrick’s extended family.
Full sessions of these shoots and more will all be posted on my website when I’m able to update. I’m still processing the last of this year’s sessions and I feel so blessed as the shoots keep rolling in! I am looking forward to a great year of meeting new folks and hanging with those that I met and photographed this past year. Thank you to ALL my clients and followers here on Uprooted Magnolia for your support and friendship.
I wish you a Happy New Year and Cheers to you and yours! See you in 2014!
With Much Love,
Leah
♥
Through the December Snow
“With cheeks like roses”, we here at Uprooted Magnolia from our chilly ranchette wish you and yours a splendid and very Merry Christmas.
Wishing you togetherness…
Scrumptious-ness…
Curiosity….
and smiles. Lots of smiles. 🙂
Happy Holidays to you, my sweet friends from around the globe. Be well.
P.S. Matilda is taking a break from Tilda Tuesday but don’t worry, she’s curled up by the fire waiting for her next meal.
Cold.
We had a quick arctic storm blow through here yesterday but nothing like the last one that is pictured above. It’s sure cold though. Glad the horses and cows have their winter coats on.
Have a great weekend folks!
Afternoon Roll
During almost all of my Fall photo shoots this year, the horses and cows were always right there to see if we had something for them. Most times the were just a nuisance really. Good ole Gray kept us entertained one afternoon with his happy roll in the hay. Needless to say I had some laughing and smiling clients after that little show.
Happy Hump Day friends! We are half way through the week. Wahoo!
Tilda Tuesday: Snuggle Session
“Cats are perfect companions. Independent and resourceful, yet there when you need a cuddle.”
– Author Unknown
Patrick snapped this a couple years ago during a Matilda and Momma snuggle session. I love her little tootsies in this one. Snuggle sessions are a great way to wind down from these busy times we live in. I hope you will be able to slow down during the hustle and bustle of the holidays. It does a body (and a kitty) good. 😉
Happy Tilda Tuesday!
Predator Circling
I watched this black-hawk circle the meadow and then come to a complete stall over his prey. He’d go back to circling and stall in the same spot over and over again. He later took a dive to the ground and I never saw him again. He must have gotten what he came for. Thank goodness I wasn’t close enough to see. I’m a little squeamish at times.
😉
a Blustery Fall
After 50 to 80 mph wind gusts the night before last and all day yesterday, the weather finally became calm in the evening. I could actually hear the wind ripping shingles from our roof. Patrick had time to get on top of our brand new home to nail down the shingles that came loose during the wind storm.
A soft snow started to fall at dark and we woke up to glitter once again. It’s still Fall. Winter doesn’t “officially” begin until later this month. Looks like we’re in for a long one.
Tilda Tuesday: Free Thinker
“You know you can’t tell a cat nothin’ sweetheart.”- Skip Yetter (my Dad)
We are having windspeeds up to 65mph and it’s cold cold cold. But Matilda still thinks she wants to go outside. Even though I tell her and warn her that it’s miserable, she just doesn’t listen. I let her out and in less than 30 seconds she’s shivering and hollering to come back in. My dad and I were laughing about this the other day and he said the quote above in his best southern drawl. I thought it was funny. 🙂
Snow Mustache
It’s not hard to round up the cattle these days. We give them cake at least every other day and they love it. Their heads go down quicker than you can call “come cows” and when they pop their heads up after snorting and grunting with pleasure, they have a snow mustache. This cake keeps their digestion up to par which keeps their metabolism up which helps them be warm-ish. We had temperatures in the negatives last week and it has been too cold to go out unless absolutely necessary. It is supposed to warm up this week into the 30’s and 40’s, and believe me when I say that I am ready for 30 degrees. It will feel like the tropics after what we’ve been through.
Have a great start to your work week. Stay warm and I’ll be in touch!
A Gentle Frost
Not only is it snowing here on the blog, it is snowing and blowing here in real life. It’s a blizzard out there folks and I’m hoping it will settle down at some point for a photo walk. But with temperatures below zero, I’m opting to stay inside and feed the wood stove. In the meantime I’ll share this image from the last snow where the tumbleweeds were stacked along the fences and a gentle frost had covered everything in sight.
Tilda Tuesday: Peekaboo Kitteh
If only cats grew into kittens. – R. Stern
Here is one from the early days when she was about 3 or 4 months old. I got Matilda when I was a year out of high school and I lived with several girlfriends in an old house in the historic district of my hometown. I kept her indoors but she would often disappear and reappear with the dirtiest paws I had ever seen. I stalked her one day only to find out she found a hole in the foyer wall and was exploring the entire house inside the walls! One day she came out of the cabinet underneath the sink. Her own secret passageway from the foyer to the kitchen. She found a whole new world in there. Oh kittens, what fun they can be. 🙂
Edited-PS: I spelled “Kitteh” on purpose. It’s fun to pronounce it “Kitteh”.
Holiday Sunsets
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and loved ones. Have you recovered from the food coma of Thanksgiving fixins? We haven’t. Like Patrick says, “we ate like we were going to the electric chair.”
We’ve had some beautiful sunsets these last few days and this one I love because of the brush strokes just above the hills.
Have a good Monday friends!
Uprooted Magnolia 
14 comments