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There have been a few questions left in the comment sections the last few days, I thought I’d answer some:
* Where is the red visor from that you and FireCracker are wearing? Twirling Betty
* What lens and camera do I use? See the About Me page
* Do you always shoot in Av mode? Nope, I basically never shoot in Av mode…only M (manual)
* How do you clean your sensor? Very carefully! I use a rubber bulb thing (like what you get to clean baby noses). I recommend doing a lot of research online before attempting to clean your own sensor. I don’t feel comfortable posting a tutorial as I am sure I do about 20 things wrong.
* How do you do rounded corners on photos? For individual pics , for lots of pics I use these
* How do you make photo collages? I use Design Aglow templates
* What is that tent thing you have for your daughter? It is KidCo Portable PeaPod Indoor/Outdoor Travel Bed. We bought it when our 2nd son was a baby. If you have young kids and are a on the go family I highly recommend it. It was one of the best baby gear purchases we’ve ever made. We take it everywhere, it collapses small and is very portable. FireCracker used it as her bed at night on vacation and a sun shade on the beach during the day
* Do you have travel tips now? Yes, those will be posted Monday.
* How do you get FireCracker to sleep wherever, whenever? We don’t she sleeps 2 places: in her bed and on the beach. I wish her bed could always be on the beach!
***
Onto today’s post…while we were gone I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful local for some posed pictures. I had a vision for a picture using my Chalkboard Thought Bubble and my red fabric bunting, but in the rush to get out of our Okla. house I forgot the bunting. At least I didn’t forget a kid. I am sure you are thinking posed pictures in Hawaii…must mean all in white and khaki on the beach. Um, no. I did what I do at home…we went ‘downtown’. I even found a pile of wood pallets with tropical leaves nearby. Score.
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A benefit of Photoshop is you can remove things like grass on feet…if you wanted to. I didn’t. It’s her.
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The next few were on the other side of the alley behind the buildings. She likes her brothers. They do whatever she wants them to do. I thought I’d add an older picture. She hasn’t gained any weight, but the hair is coming in! I’ll get the most out of this cute dress before she outgrows it.

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Camera on timer, balanced on backpack, balanced on a rock.
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I am counting this collage as one photo (to fit the 10 in 10 theme I know you all could probably care less about!). I couldn’t pick one because there is not one picture where they are all looking at the camera with a normal face. Oh well. I tried.
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So those are my attempts at posed pictures. A couple that I love, most that make me laugh.




allison - Your caption about the karate chop made me laugh! These are all so great.
Lexie - I love your blog! Your pictures are amazing and inspiring! I just got an awesome camera and have been enjoying learning how to use it. Thanks for sharing your vacation!
Amy - HAHA! I love the write ups on each child, “HI YA” (which after reading almost made coffee come out of my nose). You have such a beautiful family, thank you for sharing.
Jill R - Love the pictures. As I was looking at them I had a totally random question – what do you use to fix your boys hair? We are having serious issues with hair that will not be tamed.
Joy - I love the one where Biggest Brother is holding Firecracker’s face, trying to get her to look in the right direction!
Keri Doolittle Photography - omg, your family is so stinkin’ cute!! Love all of these! How fun!
Heather - lol karate chopped the dragon.. awesome. what a great big brother!! cute photos… now i really want to go to hawaii!!
Mindy - Oh my gosh I laughed so hard when I saw your son doing the Shaka. My daughter and son do this in pictures all the time and that is what they yell. I have no Idea where it came from? Do you? I thought it was just something that they taught themselves! I love your blog. Your so inspiring! I love how you put mother hood first. You have been such an example to me. Thank you!
Shannon - Gorgeous Ashley! These will surely be pictures you will cherish forever!
Suzette Mahoney - These photos + pages are so fantastic!
Jenna Unruh - I’m loving your blog! I started reading it a few months ago and am hooked! I’m not a DIYer, but love your creativity. I also really value your decision to put your family first right now, regardless of you being in high demand. Kudos to you.
I’m curious as a photog mom, what you do with all of the photos you take. For instance, in this post you made those cute little “boards” with the quotes on one side and the photo on the other. Will you put that in a book, get it printed? Or is it just for blog/electronic use?
My son is 8 months and we’re still trying to figure out how to manage all of the photos – what to print and how to organize.
Thanks for blogging!
Jenna
http://www.unruhphotography.com
keisha - LOVE these!!! Those captions are both funny and so special… when you all re-read those in 10 years, it will be so touching. 🙂
Jaimie - Love this post! I especially love the first ones of your kids. I can’t wait to have that many! Haha!
Alice H - So very cute!! All your kids are absolutely adorable. I think my fave is where it looks like Firecracker is smacking Big Brother (I think?).
Angie - Cutest family EVER.
giozi - The best. Your father in law’s pic ha ha ha is funny. NOOOO the bes is your little boy, how big eyes.
All your boys are so handsome, and your babygirl is adorable.
My chubby is turning 3 next friday 🙂
I spent all next week doing craft :D.
Your crazy kids arte fantastic.
Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee do the online class please please please please 😀
Now I have to prepare suitcase. My chubby and me going to a christian camp for all weekend. My little boy is going to stay with daddy :(, I’m going to miss him a lot. My husband is not christian and he doesnt want to go, so for me is difficult go alone with both.
Happy weekend to you Ashley a big kiss.
andy - love them all
especially the ones of your kids where your little girl i leaning into her big brothers
that is great
Lesley - Hey Ashley,
I love all your beach pictures! I live in Florida and long to capture my little one enjoying the beach, but I’m always scared of bringing my DSLR and nice lens on the beach for fear of sand getting inside and ruining it. How do you protect your camera on the beach?
Thanks,
Lesley
elizabeth - love, love, love the pictures of each of your children and the “commentary” that goes with them. absolutely adorable. and what a great record of your wonderful vacation. thanks for sharing you pictures. kauai is my favorite travel destination. can’t wait for the travel tips.
Jane - I was expecting you to show all pictures with kids running in different directions. But you got some super cute ones! Love your family pic! You’ll have to share some tips on the the whole balancing your camera on a backpack/rock and poses that go with that. I always feel like the camera is going to crash down to its death. I can never prop it pointing in the direction I want. Please share!
RachelC - Great pics! Love the surf board background. Also, love the new “You Might Also Like” section.
Heather - i love that you still kept to your photo taking style while in hawaii. and i really love the individual pictures of the kids. they seem to capture each one of them perfectly.
Gevay - Too cute! I love it!
Kate A - I loved the picture + write-ups for each child – especially little brother! TOO FUNNY!
bopha - i love the post! everything about it.
Jess - So sweet! All the pictures are awesome Ashley. Your karate chopping four year old cracks me up. That’s hilarious.
Desiree - Beautiful family!
Sarah - I am glad you posted this, I love the action shots, but I want one posed picture from the event. Just a picture of them actually looking at me I would take! It is so so hard! Love the write-ups! Great way to keep memories.
Shannon{photos by shannon} - Love them!
jessica h - …those made me laugh, too!!! I love all of the personality your family has 🙂 You really ‘capture’ it in your photos! thanks for the tips, as always.
Natalie - So, next year, get Firecracker some black leggings and she can wear her dress like a tunic (just like momma). My daughter is 2 and she’s still wearing 6-12 month dresses! Love the shots, have dreamed of going to Hawaii…one day!
Nicole - Thank you so much for sharing these tips! I was *just* looking for a tutorial on rounding corners!
Vy - My daughter has that dress too and I just love it on her. She’s got a ton of clothes, but I keep putting her in that one since it’s so darn cute. Grey! Who woulda thought!
Valerie - Your kids are awesome! They totally make me want to have a whole bunch of kids. Just afraid I’d go crazy. One at a time, I guess! I love Firecracker’s dress, btw.
Danielle - LOVE these!
what a beautiful family 🙂
just used your fabulous idea of a yardstick backsplash on our kitchen remodel…. 🙂
http://calebdanielle.blogspot.com/2010/10/kitchen-transformed.html
Leanne - pictures that make you laugh are great too! they are so full of personality! I love your captions on the kids’ posed ones. so cute.
Jules - what beautiful work! love what you share on your blog!
I had to come over and check out the fun! thanks for the link to the mad hatter!
Harriet - I LOVE this post! Your family is beautiful. I love all the differnet photos and all the different faces. It made me smile thinking of you all sitting down in the middle of the shopping area to take a photo! Hope you had a wonderful time!
Jamie - This post may be one of my all-time favorites! Cracks me up. I love the dragon-karate chop the best. Sounds like a mini Chuck Norris. Thx for the laughs 🙂
amac - LOVE this 🙂
Nicole - These are great – love them. Love the write ups for each of the kids – hilarious!
Lanny Stanard - You are such a cute family… LOVE IT 🙂
amy j. - I LOVE these pictures! Every single one!! You have an adorable family!
Laura - I’m a new follower & love your blog. You have a beautiful family! As the oldest of 4 children I remember family vacations w/ my mom snapping photos non-stop! What fun memories =)
Candice Forte - Love them, Ashley! What a beautiful family!!! great shots!
Lindsay - Maybe this is a dumb question, but why didn’t you just have you father-in-law take the picture instead of balancing it on a backpack? 🙂 Just curious if there’s a reason I’m missing.
tamara - Loved this post. Very creative with it all! Loved the anecdotes on each photo.
Darcie - Your little firecracker has got to be one of the cutest little girls I have EVER seen. And I have a pretty cute 2-year old daughter! She looks like she’s going to have a great personality, and great brothers to keep her in line. I had 3 brothers and I loved it!
Mirys - Hi Ashley!
How do you do this beautiful “collection” of photos (6 or 8 photos and a message like “my crazy kids”)?
I´m thinking about going back to the “taking pictures love” that I use to have. Lots because of your blog and photos!!! Thank you so much!!!
I´m even thinking about being in FRONT of a camera and have some pictures of the “3 mosqueters” made, by this end of the year. Like a message for all of us: we survived!!! And life is that! And live is beautiful!
So… waiting for your tips.
Mirys
PS: I have some posts in English (in case one of your readers wanna to read anything in our blog). http://diariodos3mosqueteiros.blogspot.com/2010/08/big-girls-dont-cry-diario-da-mirys.html