New Blog

Well I have officially moved over to a new blog with wordpress!  www.michellekirbyphotography.wordpress.com

Don't worry, all my posts from this blog were moved over with me, so you can always find what you're looking for.  Please make sure you follow the new blog so you can keep up with what's new at Michelle Kirby Photography!  We're getting a new look overall so stay tuned!



iHeartFaces - A Touch of Sun

This week's challenge on iHeart Faces is A Touch of Sun.  I love love LOVE natural light and using the glow right there at the end of the day.  With each session, it seems I always have at least one picture where there is some flare or haze or some lighting I tried with the sun to see how it turned out.  The one I'm using for this challenge is the last one taken at a bridal session.  It was as the sun was setting and we were losing the last light of the day.  Looking out over the summer rye, the glow lit her face and with the mountains in the background, it was one of my favorites.  I hope you like it!

Please make sure you head over to iHeart Faces and check out the other entries!

Current Specials

The specials that are running through Novemeber and December:



Fine Art

I've started a new direction with my photographic work and wanted to share!  I've opened an account at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/michelle-kirby.html.  Fine Art America is a fantastic site where artists and photographers can sell their work.  There are many numerous beautiful paintings and drawings and photographs.  Right now, I haven't posted any strict photographs.  Rather, I've taken more of the painting approach and have turned my photographs into paintings. Please feel free to check it out and let me know what you think! I've posted below one of my "paintings" because I can't put a post up without a picture! :)

I Heart Faces - Pet Week

This weeks challenge on I Heart Faces is all about pets.  I thought about my own little mutt and a love of my life Chloe, but considering she REALLY doesn't like having her picture taken and tends to look depressed in every picture I take, I decided not to go with her.  After all, I don't want people to look at my dog and feel sad - the spoiled brat does NOT need sympathy!  So I started thinking...and realized my dad has 20 plus pets!  Well not really pets in the sense that they belong to him, but he has at least 20 hummingbirds that we've managed to count at one time before they started flitting around too much to keep up with what we've counted.  It usually takes at least three of us to count at individual feeders (he has 5!) to get an idea of how many there were and usually around 20 or 25 is what we get to before they are off and flying again.  They are so funny to watch and will puff up and flare out their tail if another one gets on a feeder that the bird considers her's. You do have to be careful though with all the hummingbirds buzzing around (and their wings do create a buzzing sound) because you don't want to get flown into!  I don't know if they would every accidentally fly into a person, but I've had a few close calls when they come flying around the corner of the house.  I have more pictures on my facebook page including one of a semi-full feeder, but since I could only post one for the contest, I chose the one below.  Check out all the great entries at www.iheartfaces.com!

Silhouette

Rock the Shot Forum has a photo contest for the month of August and the subject is silhouettes.  Since this contest was open to everyone, I thought, "eh, why not?"  :)  My first thought went back to a bridal shoot from a few weeks ago.  Two popped into my mind, but which one to choose... this is always the hardest part for me, trying to figure out which picture I would want to enter into any sort of contest.  Of the two, one seemed to be more along the lines of what may be expected, but the other one is definitely one of my favorites.  So I went with the favorite!  Plus I always love it when a picture comes out the way I want it straight out of the camera. :)  I still did some editing of course, but when you don't have to do anything, it's a good feeling.

Make sure you visit http://www.rocktheshotforum.com/ and see all the other entries!



Cherry Grove

My husband and I just spent the last week at Cherry Grove in North Myrtle Beach with my family for vacation.  It was a lot of fun and we had a really good time hanging out on the beach.  One morning, before my morning run with my step-mom, I got up around 6 a.m. and went walking down past the pier.  I'm so glad I took my camera with me.  Here are a few of the shots I got before the sun rose too high in the sky.

Bridal Session

Now that Julie's wedding has happened, I have no worries about sharing some photos from her bridal session.  The session took place at a farm outside Bridgewater.  It was a beautiful location and I am completely in love with the summer rye.  They planted it this year in place of corn, but just close to the house.  They still planted plenty of corn though! :)  I would shoot sessions there every day if they let me!  Without further ado, here are some of my favorites from the day.

Bridal Session Teaser

I don't want to spoil too much of this bride's surprise on her wedding day so I will only post a peek for now.  More coming soon - after her wedding on Saturday!



Sarah 2012 Senior

I had a lot of fun with Sarah, a 2012 senior, at her grandmother's house.  A self-described redneck girl who loves listening to Hank Williams Jr, Sarah was a blast to work with.  Enjoy a few pics from our session including camo :)



The Waggy Family

I met the Waggy family, Owen, Allison, and Ethan at The Inn at Old Virginia at the end of last month.  It was a lot of fun and they are such a nice family.  Ethan cooperated, most of the time :)  Though he was pretty funny when he would come sit out towards where I was sitting and face his parents, mimicking me.  Enjoy some of my favorites from the day...



Wedding ~ Front Royal

This past weekend I was given the pleasure of photographing an old Moose friend in her wedding.  For those of you who don't know what I mean by that, I'm referring to the Moose Lodge (though she did have a pretty cool sock monkey-esk moose in her bedroom).  The wedding was held on their farm in Front Royal, VA which was pretty awesome, especially Rocky (the rooster) and his chicks (aka the chickens).  Rocky crowed from the minute the wedding started until the last words of the ceremony were spoken.  I guess he wanted to make sure he was included and said his piece.  For a while there the weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate, but the rain did hold off until literally 5 minutes after the ceremony ended when it started up again.  It also let up enough about 25 minutes later for us to get a few shots of the bride and groom minus the umbrellas.  I'm also blown away by her dress, which was HAND MADE!  Another friend from the Moose, Jerilee, made it for Sheri.  How cool is that?  Here are a few shots from the day.  Congrats to Sheri and Dave!