One of the problems of being a child of a photographer is that you are unfortunately always around whenever mom needs to try something new.  Yes, it’s true, my boys have been photographed way too much and can no longer crack a genuine smile.  And, yes, whenever the camera comes out they practice their entire freak-show face making repertoire for me!  Granted, deep down, I can tell that their goofy little expressions will still be tugging at my heart strings 20 years down the line regardless of all the chaos they create during the moment!

Last week, we set out on one of those beautiful sun-shiny days to track down a field of arctic lupine (one of the reasons I think I moved to Alaska:) and to go on a little hike to the Winner Creek Gorge.  One stubbed toenail, a skinned elbow and a bloody knee later, we returned from the gorge and cruised on over to Chair Five for some much needed pizza.  After our day long adventure I was blessed with two little pint sized sleepers snoring happily all the way home.

Click on a thumbnail below to view a slide-show of the images.

**Prior Customers:  Look for your Summer Savings in the mail!

Summer flowers are in full bloom right now everywhere you look!  Geraniums, bunch-berry, prickly rose, bluebells and lupine.  Catch them while you can!    Look for a summer portrait session bonus to hit your mailboxes early next week.

Last weekend Dave piled the entire family into the airplane and we headed down to Valdez for the annual May Day Fly-In.  Knowing how my little boys like to vomit when things get bouncy (and how much I don’t like flying!), I was a bundle of nerves for the entire flight.   The weather decided to smile on us though, and we had a smooth and beautiful flight right over the Chugach and into Prince William Sound.  On our way there we skirted right past Mount Marcus Baker and these massive and awesome fields of ice and snow.

About an hour after take off, we plopped down on the airstrip in Valdez chocked full of small aircraft with hundreds of little tents parked under their wings.  The boys were in heaven (and Dave was too!)  We were surrounded by plenty of Dave’s flying buddies and met plenty of aviation enthusiasts who often stopped by to chat about our whacked out paint job (it’s a parrot or an eagle — we are not sure which).  Dave’s plane has had plenty of nicknames: The Looney Bird, The Mighty Chickenhawk, The Parrot.  On Saturday, however, after a 2nd place showing in the Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) competition for his touring division, it was cleverly renamed The Bird of Prey by a passerby.  I think this one is going to stick!

Below are a few photos from our flight over, the competition for Dave’s airplane class and my favorite of the boys running to congratulate him after his win!  On the way home, we flew through Portage pass and saw more of the gorgeous and inviting coves and islands of Prince William Sound before being passed on both the left and right by some other fliers on their way back to Anchorage.  Dave is already planning for our trip back next year!

]]> http://melissashelby.com/2011/05/valdez-fly-in-family-adventure/feed/ 0 http://melissashelby.com/2011/04/missing-alabama-once-again/ http://melissashelby.com/2011/04/missing-alabama-once-again/#comments Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:37:42 +0000 Mel http://melissashelby.com/?p=2072

My parents’ farm was spared any damage in the crazy tornadoes that tore through Birmingham yesterday.  Very thankful that my favorite oak trees and the crazy horses and barn cats are still there!

I’m feeling guilty for being so happy about an old tree when so many people lost their lives.  Sad days for sure.

To view thumbnails larger, click.

]]> http://melissashelby.com/2011/04/missing-alabama-once-again/feed/ 0 http://melissashelby.com/2011/04/ivan-the-terrible/ http://melissashelby.com/2011/04/ivan-the-terrible/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 20:01:30 +0000 Mel http://melissashelby.com/?p=2065

As a preemptive strike this year, we decided to have “Ivan the Adorable” groomed in preparation for blowing his coat any day now. Although from far away his fur resembles that of a golden retriever, it is actually this whacked out double layer of furriness that seems to be pretty common with sled dogs. Last year, we discovered after the fact, that when he starts to shed, his compact under layer becomes a thousand little dread locks that are completely hidden by his longer outer layer of fur.

Yesterday, Ivan had his very first “day at the salon”. He loved it, of course! He can totally be the belle of the ball. He came prancing out of there all shiny and glowing and I giggled to myself all the way home! For a canine usually covered in mud splashes on his forehead, his shiny white fur glistening in the sun caught me completely of guard. I knew he had to be photographed in this moment or it would be lost forever.

Unfortunately, Ivan, knows no doggie obedience so the whole family was enlisted to help with his photo shoot. Although he is pure mutt, on occasion he strikes a very regal pose reminiscent of a Russian Wolfe Hound. This is the pose I thought most appropriate for his glamour shots. This is also the pose most impossible to recreate with no obedience training. We sort of came close and then threw all plans to the wind in return for whatever he would give up.

I am proud to present “Ivan the Terrible” and his glamour shot debut!

Every year I say that I am going to hire a photographer to take family photos for me and every year I wait until the last minute and try to do it myself.  This year was no different.  My 2011 New Year’s Resolution is to book a holiday session for next Christmas with someone else before the end of January!

These little love monkeys totally have me all figured out.  They go on hyper-alert the minute the camera comes out and they morph into spazzed out performers.  Chaos hardly begins to describe it.  Sid starts vogueing for the camera and Sol pulls out the dog and pony show.  There is non stop-bouncing, running, face making, yelling, banging and knocking.  I’ve made the mistake of enlisting their help whenever I do a new lighting setup or studio change and so their game now is to do a crazy pose and then jump up to see the photo on the back of my camera. All this is done with much cackling and howling in the background.  This is all fine and good when I am just testing things out, but when I try to do things for real, there is no hope.  Unfortunately I’ve trained them this way!  Their new favorite pose is to stick their rear ends up as high in the air as they can to ensure the camera gets maximum exposure. (Those have been edited out!)

It’s funny to me that I am completely unfazed if it’s someone else’s child I am trying to take photos of! For my boys, however, Dad always has to be enlisted to do the off camera entertainment and to assure me that my blood pressure will revert to normal within the hour.  This year was more of the same.  Luckily, through the chaos, their personalities shine through.  Their expressions are priceless to me and they represent their little souls to the fullest.

Next year, however, we are going to have the whole family in the photo and there is going to be a feeling of calmness and tranquility and someone else is going to pull the trigger.  I am sure of this!

Merry Christmas!

Okay, so I’m way behind on the family pics! Here are some from our not so recent trip to the Oregon coast. That solid white backdrop that you see in all the photos was some kind of fog that wrapped itself around us for a week. The slideshow at the end is not for the faint of heart because it’s an overload of nothing but family photos!  You have been warned.

Did anyone else loose their minds after that second snow storm in April? After spending a whole year in Alabama, I was not prepared for the long Alaska winters as I had been in previous years. I caved in around mid-April and we high tailed it out of here for some place warmer!

I told my dad not to whack down the yellow flowers (photo opportunity) in the pasture because we were on our way! Remarkably enough, they had not yet bloomed but were in full force two weeks later when we arrived. Once again, the boys had to suffer though several rounds of “photos in the weeds” before we were allowed to return home to AK. We enjoyed 80 degree weather, playing at the fountian in the zoo, finding four orange kittens in the barn, coming across a full deer skeleton, and many, many visits with their best friend from Alabama. They also learned the joy of four-wheeling their gator through the giant mud puddles after a storm!

Now that we are relaxed, refreshed and thawed out, we are ready to kick off summer in Anchorage.

My anniversary was quickly approaching at the beginning of February and I had to come up with a surprise for Dave– pronto! I had just received some leather wallet samples with photographs bonded to the leather. These were surprisingly elegant and I thought a nice leather tri-fold wallet might make a nice gift. (Okay, I know what you are thinking. The perfect gift for Dave would be a new set of floats or some geeky techie stuff, but I really have limited resources!) Of course, that meant I needed a new photo of the boys- fast! On the last night that Dave was in Fairbanks, I hijacked the kids for a quick session right before bed! I knew I wanted a black and white image to print on the black leather and I knew their faces needed to be close together. The boys complied with about 15 minutes of some sort of cooperation and I ended up with a whole set of images that I just love!

I had so many cute photos that I decided to create a sample of the new accordion books that I’ve started offering, as well. These are really cute but much tinier than I expected! I’ve decided, because of their miniscule size, to include them as gifts for client’s that purchase a certain amount, rather than trying to sell them. They include about 8 to 10 images and they work great as refrigerator magnets or as little accordions to prop on your desk. They come in a group of three, which means they are perfect for sharing with the grandparents!

Below are some photographs of the design and of the actual books themselves.

For several years we’ve been fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving with Dave’s Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim.  An added bonus is that Uncle Jim’s neice and her family also spend Thanksgiving there and our boys love having their kids to play with.  Our first trip up as a family was when Solomon was 2 months old.  We’ve made it several years since and we were anxiously waiting to see everyone again after spending last Thanksgiving in the balmy tropics known as Alabama.

Mary & Jim have a cabin several hours north and have added a bunk house and are now working on a stellar hangar and workshed that I neglected to grab a photo of.  It’s a mighty fine piece of woodwork!

The main house is a circular cabin and is heated by a wood stove downstairs which keeps the whole house toasty and warm — a huge bonus because many Thanksgivings it is barely above zero degrees outside.  This year, however, we had a heat wave. The kids were able to sled and sled and sled some more due to a warm wind which brought us up to about 25 degrees.  Woo-hoo!

Did I mention the food?  Mary makes just about everything from scratch and there were some divine bread rolls that I am still drooling over (butter makes the world go round, right!)  On our last night there we always get to experience the massive undertaking of making lefse, a kind of nordic bread that I know nothing about.  It requires a full team effort, though, and these guys have obviously been doing it for years and have all the kinks worked out.  The kids even helped rolling and carrying and flipping this year.  It was a blast.

Can’t wait to see what happens next year!

To see the slideshow go here:  A Far North Thanksgiving