Photo Shoot for Stinkerbell

I am so excited! A few weeks back I had Annika's six year portraits taken and I just got them back tonight. I usually go to JC Penney Portrait Studios, but I was tired of getting pictures with the eyes looking so dark that you couldn't tell what color they were.

Lucky for me, a real live photographer lives in my neighborhood. Her name is Brandee and she is A-MAZE-ING. She has a ginormous big girl camera that was just a teensy bit scary looking. And let me tell you, Girlfriend knows how to take some seriously good pictures and then edit the heck out of them.

Stinkerbell had a lovely little scratch on her face, I'm sure from over-loving on the cat, and Brandee Photoshopped it right out. Actually, she did a lot of Photoshopping. The scratch is just one example.


This was our first experience with a professional photographer. I'm used to the little 15-minute sitting appointments, so you can imagine my surprise when Brandee spent three hours with my little Snot Box here. Three hours!

Brandee was hilarious too. She has her photo studio set up in her basement, and at one point her husband, Garth Brooks, was walking through and he commented on this little stool.

"Where did that come from?" he asked.

Brandee casually replied "Oh that old thing. I've had it for 50 years. It was free." Never mind that Girlfriend can't be out of her 30s, at most.


This gorgeous beaded jacket? Brandee's. Yep. She ripped the price tag right off it before tossing it to Stinkerbell to put on.


That cute little knit cap? Brandee's too. It was really brown and I think the flower was white. Photo Shop magic.


This pitiful little smile was the best that Stinkerbell could muster. In three hours. You'd think a girl would warm up after that long. Not Sister Girl here. She didn't wanna.


Oh. Oh . . . you better watch out. You might actually S-M-I-L-E.


Nevermind. I don't feel like it.


Oh, we're going to give it another try.


Nope.


Let's call this one "Forget About It" in black and white.


After taking 800 pictures inside, we went for a little drive downtown. We were looking for some interesting backgrounds.

I loved Zoe's comment when she saw the pictures. "Where did you guys go? The dump?"

By the way, isn't that skirt to die for? Brandee's.


I love this one. I'm calling it "You Want To Make Something Of It?"


You won't believe what Stinkerbell is sitting on . . .


It does look like we're at the dump, doesn't it?


But look at that wall! Isn't the Photo Shop work on that the coolest? I love, love, love it. Brandee is amazing.


James Dean anyone?


All in all, I thought this was the coolest experience. We're definitely going back to Brandee. She's an excellent photographer and not pricey at all. Another thing that I really loved, is that she let me buy the CD of all the pics so I can do whatever I want with them. What photographer does that?

If you want to check out more of her work, go check out her blog.