Fall Roses October 15, 2012

Roses still in bloom well into the fall season today at a real estate shoot I had early this morning… I posted this as soon as I got home because I loved the smell of the fall leaves, morning dew, and then these little roses! Sometimes you hear people say “It’s the little things…” and it really is. It was an enjoyable shoot anyways, but had anything gone a little south on the fun-o-meter, little things like the WONDERFUL aroma today really can brighten my day. Maybe I’m simple. If thats the case, I’ll take it because “OOH! Pretty!”
;-D

I heart faces photo challenge: White August 30, 2011

This was taken when I was going to school at Nossi College of Art, in Nashville,TN. She was such a blast to shoot with especially when she was caught without her shoes!

I’m entering this into this weeks challenge because this picture turned a very dramatically lit shoot into something that really brightened my day!

I heart faces photo challenge-beautiful eyes August 16, 2011

I saw this challenge on I heart faces and immediately though of this picture of my son PJ from when he was a baby. He has the most sparkly greenish blue eyes, and his expressions were always worth stopping for a click or two 🙂 This may not me a close-up, or have extreme emphasis on his eyes, but mine go straight to those pretty peepers 🙂

Laundry Cheese June 7, 2011

   What??? That’s the term my husband came up with for homemade laundry detergent. For a while now I’ve been putting off making my own, but I recently tried it! After finding out how easy it is and how well it worked, I really should have thought of this sooner!

(I’m sorry the picture isn’t great, I took it after making it with my iPhone)

You will need: (Equipment)- Cutting board and sharp knife, measuring cup, mixing bowl, and a food processor with a shredder attachment (the mixing blade gets used too) (not pictured: a storage container!)

(Ingredients) 1 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, 1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax, and 1 Fels Naptha laundry bar.

 

How it works:

I started by cutting the laundry bar length-ways so it would fit in the top of the food processor. I then used the grater disk and grated the bar (it’s safe to use a food processor since this is just soap and will wash right off!). “Laundry Cheese” comes from this part as it looks just like cheese at this point! Any left over pieces I just chopped up and added to the cheese.

Next I measured out the Washing Soda and Borax and added them to the food processor. I mixed for about 3 minutes total, stopping occasionally to pulse the mixer to bring the larger pieces up to be mixed in. As an alternative you can use the mixing bowl…I didn’t have the patience to and mix it!!!

 

I bet you thought there would be more to it than that! Well there only sortof is…putting it into an air tight container. Now there’s nothing left haha.

 

 

To use:

This is safe for regular or HE washing machines. It doesn’t really make any suds at all but left our clothes, towels, and cloth diapers very clean (and smelling amazing I might add). It only takes 1-2 Tbs PER LOAD! I figure 1 would be great for normal clothes, more for kids clothes or ACU’s. It really doesn’t take more than this.

(Finished product below)

(note*** you can use ivory or mote instead of fels naptha, to each their own….but then it won’t be cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeesy!)

ooh, btw- I’m filling my maternity leave with projects, cant you tell?

 

Shadows Challenge-I heart faces April 11, 2011

http://iheartfaces.com

I love these challenges! This weeks the topic is “Shadows”, and it really didn’t take me long to figure out what picture I wanted to enter into this week’s challenge. My daughter Tiahna was born Match 4,2010. She got very accustomed to “tanning” because of jaundice. I loved laying next to her in the warm sunlight shining through the window, and I also loved taking her pictures! I took this picture when she was 19 days old. She loved the warmth, but her sensitive little baby eyes didn’t because she couldn’t see mommy! So my entry is my daughter 🙂

 

 

 

Tiahna Kamber Buckingham

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Heart Faces- Slice of Life March 28, 2011

The picture I’m entering into this weeks challenge, was so much fun! She had hired me for some outdoor maternity pictures with her boys, and her little one wanted nothing to do with pictures with the playground and horses nearby! It was the beginning of November in late afternoon (the “golden hour” which is my favorite time to shoot because the pictures naturally come out so warm and beautiful, and the shadows all fall so long and pretty). I had just found out we’re expecting another little one of our own, and seeing her chase her boys, 8 1/2 months pregnant, while her husband was away training (at the time he was an E7 in the US Army), she gave me hope for the future. So I thought the Walker family deserved credit for letting me take a picture of a little slice of their lives 🙂

 

Click here to visit the challenge

 

My Slice of Life Entry

Day Three of My Cloth Diapering Experience… March 27, 2011

   So, as a few of you already know I have decided to cloth diaper the newest member of our family, baby Jaydon Cooper Buckingham, who we are due with June 8, 2011 (we will be induced before then, and I am beginning my maternity leave Mothers Day weekend, just as a heads up!). I made the decision because of cost, but if something saves me money and trips to the dump AND is good for the environment, then cool freaking beans.

   I have no patience. Well, I do, but not the kind that lasts months. I have slowly been stocking up on cloth diapers for Jaydon. I received 5 of the “one size” diapers I ordered three days ago. I have learned that they aren’t really one size (kindof like cute sweatpants that say “one size” it just means they fit a vast amount of sizes lol) Well, my daughter just happened to turn one a few weeks ago, and is still in diapers. Here’s the patience thing, since he won’t really be able to fit them until he’s not a newborn anymore, and I was a little weary of jumping into something I’ve never done before with a new baby, so Tiahna got to test fit the “one size” diapers. I figured since she already had it on and seemed pretty comfortable I would see how she did that day.

   Day one went great! Not a single leak, even without doubling up! She has a really sensitive bootie though, and huggies had been the only diapers she wouldn’t get hives from, but always had a little irritation. She hasn’t had a single problem with irritation, rashes, or ANYTHING! I was so excited about how well things were going that Phil let me order 10 more in her size! (with the understanding that he will not handle the poop diapers.) (Ever.)

   I did the laundry that night (since I only have 5 right now, I couldn’t really wait). I was still insecure about how she would do overnight, so I put her in a huggies overnight diaper. When the laundry was done (I did a soak cycle with detergent, a perm press long was cycle without detergent-since I already used detergent, then dried on low heat all together. We all have terrible allergies, so line drying isn’t happening here, that and it’s been cold and rainy all week) Pulled everything out of the dryer, and prepped the diapers by stuffing the soaker pads into the four diapers that were used, and just stacked them in the diaper stacker that hangs on the side of our changing table. Easy-Peasy!

   Day two started a little late because we all slept in, but it meant the first diaper of the day would be one of the cloth ones. I double stuffed one diaper for the one she would take her nap in, which is always her first diaper. (she seems to like a nap after breakfast and lunch, her morning nap being the longest.) She threw me a curve ball and skipped her nap, and opted to give me my first cloth diapering poop experience ever. That was the point where I would either keep with it or be grossed out and give up. I was SO not prepared for a cloth poop! I followed all the advice given “dump the solids into the toilet and rinse or swish the diaper”. Uuum…I don’t have a diaper sprayer and have never “swished” a diaper (though since then I have looked it up on YouTube. No, I am not kidding, I really did.).  needless to say I ended up washing my hands for about 10 minutes after trying to”swish” a pocket diaper (or AIO-all in one). The nastiness was still there so I tried my shower, since I have the kind of shower head with the hose (off subject, but I recommend it to ALL parents, it makes cleaning up bath paints and the toddler “mud line” much easier!). Thankfully it reaches just far enough to use it over the toilet! Even with minimum pressure and being very careful, water still went everywhere, but the diaper was cleaned off and ready to go into a bag until laundry time. The rest of the day continued to go well, and I even convinced Phil to try changing a wet one! *pats hubby on back* We were both still a little reluctant to try one over night though, so again, she wore a huggies overnight diaper.

   Today started awesome! We knew we all wanted to get out for a bit, so we decided to go for a scenic drive, to the dollar store to pick up more laundry detergent (I wash the cloth diapers in the dark blue cap, original tide. Happy Heiney’s brand are who I got that bit of advice from, but I eventually want to be in the in-crowd and use rockin green, it is supposed to help keep the ammonia smell at bay with microfiber soaker pads), then to radio shack, and then McDonalds. We were out for about 3 hours. I packed one diaper with us, and had put Tiahna in a double stuffed diaper since it would over-lap nap time. No leaks as I expected. I changed her after she finished her apples and chicken nuggets, and WHOA BUDDY! Those things hold a LOT of pee! She had also went poop…so I thought “Here goes again…”. Since I smelled it I had a bright idea and used an empty spray bottle (they’re only like $1.00, I had it from when I did a little gardening). I rinsed it out and filled it with warm water. I changed her like usual (I still havent decided on wether or not I’m willing to use cloth wipes, so for now I still use disposable.) This time I used that little spray bottle (it worked best once I switched it to a stream setting instead of a mist) I was able to spray it off so much easier! It took a lot of spraying, and I think the sprayers would work MUCH faster, but for $43 less than what I would spend on a diaper sprayer that attaches to the waterline to the toilet, I really can’t complain! I think next time I may add a TINY amount of baby soap to it just for a little scent and to help in the event of stains.

   Every day I get a little more confident with this, and after the new diapers get here I may go ahead and give overnight a try! At some point I plan on giving cloth wipes a try, but not today. I have some old receiving blankets with tears that I can cut up for them. I’m not sure if I will be okay with that though. (***OH! And the diapers I’m experimenting with to get me started I was able to get super cheap on ebay for about $5 each new! For those who are interested in switching over too, there’s a store in Riverside Dr. in Clarksville,TN called Butzie Covers, and you can find them on facebook or www.butziecovers.com they even offer a laundering service if you want to switch to cloth, but don’t want to or don’t have time to do the laundry involved.)

   I’m uploading a picture of Tiahna in the first cloth diaper I put her in, please disregard the quality, I took it really quick with my phone!!! Some of the cloth diapers are SUPER cute, so pretty soon I’ll have some real pictures up of my little princess rocking her cloth bootie 🙂

 

  

I’m like cupid except I shoot a nikon <3 February 12, 2011

Okay, so next week is a busy one for everyone!!! Monday as we all know is Valentines Day! some think of it as a day of love…others have a few not so nice ways to describe it haha… either way, what is a great gift to give someone you love or yourself? Great pictures! I still have several days open next week, unfortunately not on Valentines Day itself. No worries though, there’s nothing that great pictures (and maybe something shiny) can’t fix 🙂

I also will be unavailable on February 18th for sure, as that appointment is set in stone.

Next week will be a big week for Buckingham Photography as well, I will have my domain up and running again (there were some minor delays), and my online calendar will be filled out with all known upcoming appointments. I will update it frequently to show and cancellations or new appointments. Please remember that unless given 2-3 weeks notice even with openings on the calendar it doesn’t necessarily mean we can book that day (unless it’s a Sunday, then usually there isn’t a problem)

Here is a link to my calendar!

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=buckinghamphotography%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago

Getting Started… January 25, 2011

Okay, so I’m new to this whole blogging thing (which is a total nerd-sin to admit…) so bear with me. I misspell things a LOT and unless my computer catches it, it will go uncorrected. I have a very dumb sense of humor, many many times  I will think something is hilarious when in all reality it isn’t. Unless it’s a good fart joke, in which case no matter how you feel about it in public around your friends,  amongst family, or at work- you at least get a little chuckle from a really good fart joke!

Now that I have the awkward stuff out of the way… My hopes with this blog are to reach potential clients, and to express who I am so you won’t be cought off guard when you realize how I may be a professional, but that doesn’t mean I’m some snooty person only interested in money. The art comes first. I want to use this as a place where I can give advice on places to buy newborn props (like adorable caps, and if you find one before me let me know, I’ll give you credit for it, but hey, I’m a mom too!), the don’t and do’s of clothing choices with different lighting, random ideas, and specials. I also randomly run contests too, and I’ll post them along with how to enter them, and then show the results of the contest shoots (with the winner’s permission).

I may also randomly post things going on in my own life. Like right now we’re expecting baby #3! Why would I mention this? Because it’s obvious that I can’t exactly be out by the river taking pictures of an adorable couple when I’m in labor and recovering from having a baby, and then giving him bonding time with me and his bubby and sissy haha! since I’m getting induced that’s kind-of awesome. I even get to schedule our little boy being born. I’m not a control freak or anything, but it really does keep things a lot easier!

A few random questions answered (and feel free to email me more, I’ll answer them!):

Q.What happened to your site?

A. I am moving to a new host. In a few weeks I’ll have the domain name slapped back on it, but for now it’s http://www.wix.com/rbuckphoto/yourphotographer and I think it is WAY better than the site I had before, but am really looking for some feedback!

Q.I like the background pictures on the new site, where did you get them?

A. EVERY picture on my site is of my own creation. I took them all and I edited them all. I have many talents like that.

Q.Can you do my pictures this weekend?

A. Probably not, but I can TRY to see if you can be scheduled in. The reason I ask my clients to try to schedule with me three weeks in advance is because sittings go quickly, and I do have a personal life as well. I make some exceptions, but like I said I can only try at that point, there are no guarantees.

Q.Where is your studio located?

A.I don’t currently have a studio. I shoot on location outdoors or in your home. Especially with newborns I find this much easier. I can bring a portable set to your home and shoot your newborn portraits there without you having to figure out a way to get out with a newborn and keep them content as well. If you have an indoor location in mind just make sure the location allows lights, and is within the Clarksville/Fort Campbell/ Oak Grove area (because if not, I need to plan for that, and a mileage fee will be added to sitting cost). After we finish remodeling from all the water damage we had last spring there will be a small space on the lower level of my home (in Clarksville, just off Dover Rd.) where we can do seated sittings, child portraits, just about anything, though nature is usually a more beautiful backdrop.

That’s just a few I can remember right off the top of my head.

So since I can’t really think of anything else right now, welcome to my blog, check back often 🙂