michelleriddlephoto.com » Family Photographer is Santa Cruz County

Masthead header
michelleriddlephoto.com bio picture

Project 150ish..

There, I gave it a name. I figure I will be lucky if I take photos 3-4 times a week for the year, which will leave with me with 150ish photos. I had BIG plans this week, lots of things I wanted to get started on. It’s Friday, and I have not touched any of those things. I have felt pretty awful this week and have done a whole lot of nothing. I am looking forward to starting fresh next Monday.

Since I did not feel like picking up the camera much this past week, I am already cheating on my project. I did 2 days with pictures that I actually took on Christmas.

<<< show >>> <<< hide >>> 1 comment

<<< leave a comment >>>
January 7, 2011 - 9:19 pm

Aimee Pool - I love this!!!
Great job Michelle.

This is not the beginning of a photo a day project…

Whatever you do, do not call this post the first of Project 365 or 52. If I say that I am going to take a photo a day or a week, I will only be setting myself up for failure. The problem is not that I don’t take enough photos  of my own kids..I take more than enough. In fact, there are 5,981 personal photos from 2010 sitting in lightroom right now. 5,981..that is about 500 photos a MONTH! The thought of sorting through those photos and deleting some is such an overwhelming task and it makes me wonder what the point is of me taking all those photos to only live on my computer. Do I really need 200 photos from the first day of school or 600 photos from the kids soccer games?! One of my goals for the next few months has to be to go through my personal photos. While I can’t change the way I managed photos in the past, I can start doing something different in the future.  For 2011, I am going to do my best to immediately go through my personal photo after I take them, delete some and then make a quick page that tells the story. Hopefully, at the end of the year, I will have a book like this that tells our family story instead of an overloaded hard drive of forgotten stories.

While I am going to try really hard not to write anything more than what I already did, I do want to add that the following beach photos were taken with our new Sony Nex-5. It is  a very cool hybrid DSLR/Point and shoot. I’m also already breaking the “rules”, as this one is more than one photo a day and spans two pages so does not look as good when I post it here.

<<< show >>> <<< hide >>> 2 comments

<<< leave a comment >>>
January 7, 2011 - 5:20 pm

jeramy - this is wonderful! happy new year michelle!

January 14, 2011 - 6:12 pm

Renee - I just love how you document along with the photo. One of my projects this year is to complete (some of) my children’s photo books…I’m 5 years behind!

I need a silent night..

I have to do a quick blog post about this family instead of just posting some photos or the slideshow up on facebook, which I have been guilty of doing these days.

What can I possibly say about the “W” family. First, I can thank them for trusting me 5 times in the past 2 years to capture their family. Every shoot with them is an experience and I don’t think we are ever really sure what we are going to get. At our first shoot 2 years ago, Big A was just a little older then her little sister is now and wanted NOTHING to do with me and my camera.  In the shoots that followed, it was pretty much the same story. This time though, she was a very different and grown up little girl..she actually wanted to pose for the camera.  Her sister on the other hand..let’s just say that big A passed the torch on to little A. Little A was not a happy camper during part of our shoot and then found her moms lipstick to cheer her up. This brings me to why I LOVE shooting the W family. Nicole let little A have the lipstick and do what she wanted with it even if it meant it was all over her face. When Nicole took the lipstick away from her and little A started screaming and crying, Nicole said..”keep shooting Michelle, i’m a scrapbooker, this is her”. Once the little one was cleaned up and with the promise of a lollipop, she was more than happy to smile for the camera. You pair the perfect outfits with the little Christmas tree, handmade ornaments and so much love, joy and happiness and this is what you get. Click here to see a slideshow of some of my favorites.

I also have to thank my friend and fellow photographer Amanda Lock for coming along to shoot with me.

Thank you W family. It is always such a joy to be around you guys.

<<< show >>> <<< hide >>> 5 comments

<<< leave a comment >>>
December 16, 2010 - 8:19 pm

Aimee Pool - I LOVE this session Michelle!!! Great job!!

December 17, 2010 - 6:28 am

Jen MacNiven - Great job! I love the idea of the tree in the field…so cute!

December 22, 2010 - 6:38 pm

nicole w. - Oh sweetheart… I love how you capture my family, in their element, just as they are! Love you! xoxo

December 23, 2010 - 7:03 am

LuAnn Zwilling - Michelle….you are a true artist with your camera. Your ability to photograph memorable moments of expressions that others can only attempt to capture are priceless. Thank you for sharing your amazing talent with the Wragge slideshow and perfect choice of music. We have shared your work with over twenty friends since you posted this most charming session and have received twelve emails already complimenting your fabulous work. God has truly blessed you with a special gift. Thank you for being you!

January 2, 2011 - 9:46 pm

michelle - Thanks Ladies for the kind words. LuAnn..I may have to print out your comment and look at it daily ; )

Not so camera shy..

When mom, Kerry, and I started talking about this shoot, she was a little worried it may not go so well. Kerry was worried that her feisty little two and half year old would have no interest in getting her picture taken. Oh boy, was she wrong..this little one and her older sister were made for the camera, they are complete natural beauties who could not take a bad picture if they tried.

I met Kerry almost 8 years ago when I walked into a new mom support group. I still remember her holding her 3 week old baby who was wearing one of the outfits that I had bought for my baby girl who ended up being a baby boy. I cannot believe that little baby has grown up and turned into this stunning 8 year old with the best laugh I have ever heard. Between her wonderful laugh and the hilarious things that were coming out of her little sisters mouth, I had a huge smile on my face the entire time. We did a shoot last year that I never got a chance to blog, but you can see a photo of them in the collage at the top of the blog. Since I see them fairly often, I did not realize how  much they have changed in a year, but looking at the difference now..wow!

There is no way I could narrow down which photos I wanted to share, so click here to see a slideshow of some of my favorites.

Funny little Miss “L”, a natural performer..

Big Sister “G” with the best laugh you have ever heard..

<<< show >>> <<< hide >>> 1 comment

<<< leave a comment >>>
December 7, 2010 - 7:35 pm

Wendy Zippwald - Love the first picture of Little Miss L! What a personality!

Here comes the sun

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of doing a mini shoot with these adorable boys. Jennifer wanted to do a quick shoot while her “baby” had his front teeth missing. She was also planning on surprising her parents with some photos for Christmas until I ruined the surprise by mentioning our funny shoot to her mom at a soccer game a few days later.

A little over a week after the shoot, their grandpa died very unexpectedly. I had pretty much finished processing all the photos to share with Jennifer but decided to go back and start all over.  I know that the coming months are going to be so tough for Jennifer and her mom and hoped that I could do one little thing to bring a smile to their face. While I originally had a couple dozen keepers, perfect for hanging on the wall, I decided that the goofy outtakes and perfectly imperfect photos should be included as well and decided to make a slideshow with them. It was just a small gesture that I hope can help bring a smile to their faces. Click here to see the slideshow.

Jennifer & Joyce, I am so sorry for your loss and I hope that these photos help you smile. You have two great boys who were so lucky to have had the years they did with their grandfather.

<<< show >>> <<< hide >>> 2 comments

<<< leave a comment >>>
December 6, 2010 - 8:01 pm

nicole w. - saying prayers for their family, this is such a sweet gift!

December 6, 2010 - 9:39 pm

Wendy Zippwald - Completely sweet! I love all the shots of the boys! Such a wonderful gift!