A Day At The Races...

Today's adventure was a trip to Atco Raceway for a few hours of racing fun. Unfortunately we weren't the ones racing, although my husband thought he might take the Camaro out for a spin. But he opted against it at the last minute, especially when we saw the rows of cars waiting to race. It was packed! Instead we enjoyed the toils of others as they lined up one by one at the starting area and then sped down the track at full grumbling, vibrating, growling volume. It was pretty cool!

In addition to the races, there was also a classic car show and a car parts swap meet, both of which we scoped out. We saw a few familiar cars that we have seen before during the summer on Tuesday nights at the Evergreen in Southampton. Chris usually takes the Camaro out on Tuesday nights during good weather so he saw more than one familiar face (along with their classic cars).

Beautiful weather contributed to the overall feeling of the day. My stepdaughter Chrissy was with us and fun was had by all. We only stayed for a few hours but it was enough time to see a car do a wheelie and almost flip (scary moment!) and also a few surprising cars that looked like junkers and practically flew down the quarter mile.


A definite adventure...A two earplug day was had by all...

Mail time!

Today I got to wander around Medford Village with some of the photography students that I teach. 

Other than one architectural element, my two "keeper" photos from the day were odd choices for me, in my opinion. 

For some reason, I found myself, in two different instances, photographing mailboxes. Quite honestly, there wasn't anything especially captivating about either mailbox that I photographed but for some reason, I liked them. 

I decided to take a break from client editing for a few minutes and just edit these as a break. It is pretty hectic when you actual edit to take a break from editing...but I am decently satisfied with the results.

Lucky 13

Mail?

 

Growing up...

 "I stood stone-like at midnight, suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and come out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said, "Sit down," I stood up
Ooh... growin' up..."  ~Bruce Springsteen   "Growing Up  "

Got a visit from one of my young clients/friends today. I have gotten to know her and her mom because they are clients of Creative Genius and photography clients too. In fact, I shot Ashley's senior portraits, which we had a blast doing a few years ago. All in all, she is pretty special and has had some hard times recently. Fortunately she has reached some general conclusions on her own about what is right for her and also even more fortunate is the fact that she has an extremely loving and supportive family. Rough times will always be there but if you have a support system, you are a lucky person in my opinion.

I was actually glad (and flattered) that she stopped by for a visit. It is always great to see her and after hearing some of what was happening in her life, I was glad I got to see her firsthand (as opposed to in a facebook post). I am also glad she is getting back into some of her creative pursuits. She is the type of person who stands out almost effortlessly and yet, is so accessible and friendly you can't help but like her. I wish her the very best and hope that once the dust settles with everything going on, that she is happy.

Basically, today's epiphany is not really earth-shattering:  growing up is hard.  And you can't follow the crowd. You owe it to yourself to be yourself and not someone else's version of what they think you are supposed to be. 
I think Dr Seuss said it best:
 "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."

One of my favorite quotes...I hope it all works out for my young friend. She deserves it....

Tracey and Sarah

Some sneak peaks from a fun mother-daughter shoot from this past weekend...it was a fun shoot. The team came equipped with lots of props and accessories, which made things interesting. But honestly, beauty comes through regardless of the props and gizmos that you use.

Loren and company...

Here is a peek at another of my shoot's from Sunday...my friend, Loren and her two kids. I have photographed the kids for the past four years for holiday cards. They always make faces when I get there (not pictures again!) but they always do a great job and are both really good sports.

More to follow...still in the editing stages...

Boudoir with Randie

I had a fun session at the start of this week with a pretty and confident friend of mine who was truly awesome to work with. We had lots of fun with the session and the results turned out great. She is now telling all of her friends, which I GREATLY appreciate.

Boudoir sessions are not something I have heavily promoted but they are one of the types of sessions I offer and in fact, a girls night out party is a great way to get your friends together and enjoy an evening of fun and also, to get boudoir pics too. Most boudoir clients will either have me come to their home for the session or they will rent a hotel room for us to work out of. I have great packages available for solo boudoir sessions and group ones as well. The packages include choices of items that make great gifts for that special someone in your life. For more information, contact me at jbaselloholt@verizon.net.

Here's a peek at Randie's session:

And here's a peek at my new promotional sign that should be arriving any day now to promote this as one of my photography offerings. One of these will be posted at Creative Genius and I am giving Randie, the "star" of my new marketing materials for this type of session some to post where she chooses to.

Fun Session with Jennifer Lynch

Jennifer Lynch is a local real estate agent who hired me to work with her on portraits for her marketing materials. She is a really fun, upbeat person and her session was, of course, a fun one. She and I actually met a few years ago at an open house and we really clicked. She is one of those people who instantly makes you feel comfortable and I have only come across a few real estate agents in my adult life who were like that (Colleen Tudor, you know who you are!).

Jennifer is the type of person whose marketing materials always have a different twist to them and I think that is really smart. Agent photos often tend to be generic so when you work with someone like Jennifer, who actually wants to do something a little different, it allows you to really start being creative, which I LOVE.

Included here are a few from the session...wonder which one she will like best...