i'm moving! (and I'm leaving this blog here)

Well, I guess it's time to grow up...
I've got a brand new (totally customizable and totally sweet) blog!
This is super exciting and I can't wait to do some posting there!
First up: McFadden Wedding! 

Anyway, give this blog a big old hug, shed some tears and kiss it goodbye!
Don't worry! I won't be deleting it because we've come to far for a break up like that.  I mean we'll still be friends, but I won't be carrying all my old posts over to the new blog and I won't be posting anymore here.
 
Please check out my new blog here: www.celinadbaldwin.com

Thanks to all my faithful readers and fans!  Now let's move on (and up) in the blogger world!

some of our best friends

It's always a bummer when you have best friends who are moving away from you.  I'd like to believe that the Haddix's are not moving to Kansas City because of all the work we made them do on this little project, but I can't be sure....
Anyway, we love, love, love Paul and Kristin and we have spent the last year or so intentionally building community with them.  It has been an amazing time for all of us as we purposefully asked deep questions of one another, sorted through issues, shared our "loves" and "hates" in life, talked about work, went to baseball games (my personal nightmare favorite) and visited churches. 

With the Haddix's we have the kind of friendship: 
-where we feel perfectly comfortable sprawled out on their couch or dressed up together at Nosh. 
-where we can watch hours of TV or talk about the latest marital spat: we're just glad to be together.
-where we have so many areas we relate together in, we're not sure which one to talk about first.
-where we might be pretty worried about who we will hang out with when they leave.

The reality is that we will really miss them when they go, but we are so excited for the next phase of their journey.  It has been an incredible experience to walk beside them as they have embraced the direction of the Lord in this season. 

Paul and Kristin, you are such a blessing to us and your life is a work of art.  Thank you for letting me capture it before you leave! 
P.S. We're excited to spend Thanksgiving with you!

i could have taken three million more pictures

I'm always amazed that when surfing the web a complete stranger sees the 756,000 photographers in the Colorado Springs area and they pick ME!  That's what happened last week.  Allison called me and we set up a shoot for a few days later.

The lighting was absolutely incredible on the day we met in Monument Valley Park.  The kind of lighting that makes me want to cry it's so beautiful.  The kind of lighting that as a photographer, I live for.  Anyway, Allison, Clint and 6 month old Wyatt made it easy to do a great job with this shoot.  Allison is gorgeous, Clint has a great smile and Wyatt has an adorable name and an adorable personality to match, and was an absolute joy to capture.

Anyway, please enjoy these few favorite images from the day.  I could have posted 50 here, but if you want to see the whole gallery, you can click on the title.

Allison, THANK YOU for choosing me!  It was a great experience to capture your lives!

so that we may live....

I always consider it an honor when a family invites me into their lives with my camera.  I don't take it lightly because for me, the job isn't just "taking some pictures" it's capturing peoples lives- and lives are precious and families are unique and for a family to trust me enough to let me in, I consider it a privilege.  That being said, I was never more privileged than last week.

Chad Arnold works with me at Compassion.  Sometime a loonngg time ago, he asked me to do some family pictures at his home in Castle Rock.  Of course, I said "yes!" What I didn't know was that Chad had a rare liver disease and he was waiting for a transplant- a transplant that if he didn't get, he would die.  A few months later the time came for the transplant- his brother Ryan was a match for him and agreed to a live liver transplant.  The live transplant was not without risks.  Of course, with surgery there is always risks, but in this case, the major risk was to the organ donor.  When the day came for the surgery, the Compassion family gathered round with their prayers.  The first few days would determine the course of things for both of them. We got regular updates from email and Facebook.  At first, it seemed that the surgery was a success.  Both Chad and his brother, Ryan, came out OK.    However, a few days after the surgery, the updates took on a serious tone.  One just said, "pray for Ryan" then it was, "pray for Ryan, he went into cardiac arrest and flat lined" then everything went quiet.... Until we learned that Ryan, a completely healthy father of 3 boys passed away from complications caused by the surgery.  Tears gather at my eyes as I type that.

What a picture of the Fathers love for us.  Without His death, we would have died in our sin, but He would have it no other way.  I don't know Ryan, so I don't want to tread on something that I don't understand completely, but I want to say that I believe Ryan did not see this as a choice.  "Your brother is dying and only you can save him, but at the risk of your own life."  Ryan is absolutely a hero.  Ryan exemplified the Fathers love in a way many of us will never experience this side of eternity.  Ryan "did what he saw the Father doing" just as Jesus did. And now Chad lives.  And his life is now worth more than it was before, because it cost someone else's life in order for him to get to keep his own. 

We all must live knowing the same is true for us.  Without the death of Christ, we wouldn't be here.  We wouldn't get to live and move and dance and celebrate and cry and laugh.  But we do.  And so does Chad. 

If you want to hear about this from Chad himself- you can (and should) check out his site.  You can see the story Fox news did on the surgery and hear from Chad how life is today, just two months from his life altering (in a million ways) surgery.

For now, please enjoy the images I have captured of this (amazing) family.

Chad, Cristine, Jake and Luke- THANK YOU- from the bottom of my heart, for letting me capture your life. 

children watching America's Next Top Model may be good for photographers

I have had the privilege of stepping into many families lives to capture their life moments and I have loved every shoot I have ever done! I must say, though, that this shoot was by far the best I have ever done with kids.  Amanda & Mike were so laid back and didn't yell, bribe or demand that the kids do anything special.  This (lack of yelling, bribing, and demanding) enabled me to do a really good job of capturing their (unbelievably adorable) kids just being themselves. Which in the end would be what you would want to remember, right?  Anyway, let it be said that some kids need coercing to just be themselves or behave and there is nothing wrong with a good old fashioned bribe or discipline.  I've gotten some good smiles for gum, "a treat later," or the threat of a spanking. 

Anyway, back to this shoot: Apparently, Mia has been watching America's Next Top Model and so she was full of poses and ideas about what we could do next.  And DeSean- well, he had a mohawk, what more could you ask for?

Please enjoy these images and tell a friend to become a fan of celina d baldwin photography on Facebook! I'll thank you for it!

i knew this sink would fit a baby

This kid is like 6 months old besides...

He seemed to like it so much we almost left him there...

an old friend

So, pretty much the only stuff I remember from high school is what an ass I was.
Luckily, Jen (selectively, I'm sure) forgot some of those things.  Jen and I were friends way back in 1993; we graduated from the same podunk high school (class of '95 baby!) in upstate NY.  Anyway, we reconnected on Facebook (it is good for something) and when I found out I was going to California where I knew she lived I asked if I could visit and photograph her adorable child. 

What a fun day it was: meeting her bf Ryan and their son Torin, walking around Capitol Park in Sacramento, eating delicious Indian food, petting her 6 cats (she knows it's weird so that makes it less weird), and catching up on old times. 

I am so glad that we reconnected and that I had the opportunity to take these shots.  Hope you enjoy these pics as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Thanks, Jen and Ryan for letting me into your life to capture these precious moments!

just a reminder

I just wanted to post a quick reminder re: Wilson the Whoodle.
He is for sure, without a doubt the cutest dog in the whole entire world. 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
Smitten

sister comes to town

Recently, Andy's sister "Betsy" (names changed to protect the innocent) came to visit.  While she was here....

She typed on her computer (she called it "work")

She hiked with us

She posed for pictures

Twice

She took this family picture for us

And in addition to the items pictured above she: cooked some delicious eats, played with our cat, used my flat iron, talked with us about life around the world, politics and adoption, helped Andy with some home projects, taught us a new card game, read, slept, walked, went to the mall with us, and didn't compliment my cooking until I got upset about it.  

In other words, she hung out like a sister does.

Good times.

Loving this new prime lens (and what the heck is a prime lens?)

Well you may or may not know that I am still winging this photography thing- OK so you probably know that.  Whatever. It's OK.  I'm secure.  Regardless, I love to learn, so that's what I am doing.  Capturing life's moments and learning along the way.

Anyway, I wanted to buy a new lens for my birthday and I have been saving up, researching, and asking those who know more than me about what kind of lens to buy next.

In my research for a new lens, I knew I had to consider two things.  1. What I already owned and 2. What I was going to focus on for this next season of my photography.

The answer to number 1 was just a trip to the camera bag to discover that I already have the following Canon lenses in my arsenal (as of now, I only buy Canon lenses):

• a 50mm fixed portrait lens aka "nifty 50" (great for portraits, but kind of a cheap lens, doesn't always focus like I want it to)
  
• a 70-300mm zoom lens (good for distance shooting and portraits, but you have to be far kind of away to get the shot.  It does give a nice blurred background, though.) side note: blurred background is called Bokeh
  
• an Image Stabalizer 28-135mm (good for everything- if I was going on a day trip, I would probably heft around this monster because you can shoot pretty close up and shoot from a distance with it)

The answer to number 2 was easy as well: portraits.  I LOVE capturing people.  If I had to chose one subject type to shoot the rest of my life, it would be singles or couples.  I love capturing one person just being themselves and two people interacting.

As I researched for this new lens I came across the phrase "Prime Lens." Since I didn't know what that was and I figured I should know if I was buying it, so, I did what I do and I learned about it.  A prime lens is either a photographic lens whose focal length is fixed, as opposed to a zoom lens. (Wikipedia) This just means that you can't "dial" the lens.  It has one number.  My "nifty 50" is a prime lens as opposed to my 70-300 which is a zoom lens.  As I continued to read about prime lenses, I learned that they are cheaper to make because they don't have any moving parts.  Not only are they cheaper to make, they are better lenses, because they have only one job.  Also, they have a larger aperture (smaller f stop) so they can generally create images with better Bokeh- also known as my favorite photography style.  Ok, so prime lens it is- now what?

Originally I had my heart set on an L Glass lens.  This is the very, very best lens that Canon makes.  It has some special kind of glass that makes even crappy photographers good.  Ok, probably not.  But they are pretty amazing pieces.  The L I set my heart on was the  EF 85mm f/1.2LII.  This is a legendary portrait lens and apparently the best that Canon makes.  It was around $2000.  More research helped me understand that while the L is amazing, Canon makes a similar 85mm lens.  It's f stop is a little larger, but comparison reviews (if you really care, check out one review here: here) said the 85mm f1.8 was honestly just as good as the 85L.  At $400 it was way more in my price range and just as good of a lens.  So without further ado, here she is- it's not an L glass, but this lens is amazing:

Here are some images I have taken with this lens.  All of these are straight out of the camera shots, also known as SOC (that means I did not edit them- at all).

See how clear his face is and blurred the rest of him is?

Oh I didn't mention most of these pictures are of Wilson and Wilson's belongings

ALEX the LION!

I would never put this picture in my portfolio, but check out the definition in his hair

Better than the naked eye: I honestly did not see those cobwebs on his face when I took this picture.  But geez he is adorable, right?

 Check out the crystal clear focus on the foreground and my blurry hubby in the back (and yes, both my husband and the computer technically belong to Wilson- Ok, maybe not the computer.) 

In conclusion: I made the right choice on this lens and I am excited for all the shoots I will do in the coming years with it!
I look forward to shooting YOU with my "Prime 85" (I just made up that name)

Full Disclosure: Part 3- MARATHONER

Well, I am not sure why it has taken me so long to write this blog; I guess life, busyness, and general putting it off all contributed.  Anyway, I am happy to report that on Sunday, July 11, 2010, I went down in history as a marathoner!  Months of preparation, sweat and tears all culminated in the amazing moment when I crossed that finish line. 


My top three marathon insights are this:
1. Your race is your own.  Since the race was relatively small and I am a relatively slow runner I found myself at the back of the pack pretty quickly.  The race was in the high country of Missoula and there were moments when I really could not see another person.  I didn't enjoy that feeling of isolation at all.  Anyway, somewhere around mile 14, I connected with another girl who was as slow as me.  We talked and ran together for a while and pretty much decided we would finish together.  I began to see as we were running and talking that slow girl #2 was not nearly as physically or mentally prepared as I was.  She stopped at every aid station to stretch and walk around and chat with the helpers whereas my tactic would have been to walk through them for a drink and keep going.  But we were in it and I figured I needed to stretch as much as she did.  Around mile 18 she spent 8 minutes in the porta john "resting".  Around mile 20 she began to cry.  Around mile 21 she began to walk- and not run again.  By this time I knew I was stuck.  We were essentially running alone at the back of a race that almost everyone else had finished and she was holding me back from doing the same.  I knew that I could not leave her.  Aid stations were shutting down and she would get lost or hurt or worse.  I had to walk, encourage and console her for some of the last precious miles of the race.  We did cross the line together but it took much longer than it would have if I had run alone.  I have spent a lot of time debating if I did the right thing for myself by staying with her.  The plain answer is, "no."  As soon as we started running I should have said something like this, "Let's run together as long as we want and then if either of us needs to go on, let's be OK with that."  But I didn't even think of that, so the end of the story is we crossed that line together.  I have thought often that I gave her my race.  It's a sad ending to months and months of solo training.  I think the bottom line is that we can't let anyone distract, stop, or slow us down from doing what we should be doing.  Your race is your own!

Please ignore my pained look...

2. Your life is not your own.  Could I have finished that race sooner without my running friend?  I really believe I could have.  Should I have left her somewhere along the way? Probably.  But insight number two is that your life is not your own.  Yes, that was my race.  But it was hers, too.  I wonder if she even could have finished without my help.  Maybe by Tuesday.  But maybe, just maybe, I helped her achieve a dream that she wouldn't have realized without me.  My life is not my own.  Being a Christian means that I am willing to lay down my desires and dreams for His greater purposes just as Christ laid down His life for me.  I have to know that at the end of the day.  Could I be filled with remorse at how the race ended?  Sure.  But believe me, there's two sides to this story and the other side- I won't know until eternity.  I'm not sorry I tied for last place in that race.  Really.  Because no matter how long it took me or how I placed, I accomplished one of my own dreams.  I DID what God asked me to do and maybe by helping someone else along the way, I won that race.  Folks, a ten year dream was realized when I crossed that finish line.  And I couldn't have even dreamed it without HIM, let alone finish it.  My life is not my own and if living that out means I finish last, then so be it, I was not destined to be an Olympian anyways.

I had some fun doing it!

 #3. Your greatest goals and dreams will never be realized without love and support. Three demonstrations of this on my journey to the finish line have shown this to be true.
First of all my husband.  I know I have talked about my husband and how I could not have done this without him.  Seriously, he was there when it was raining or cold or hot and I didn't feel motivated.  He made this happen for me.  I mean I'm the one who got out there, but 9 times out of 10, I wouldn't have done it without a cheerleader. 
Secondly, the night before we left Colorado for the marathon Andy and I were working hard on our home renovation.  I was tired and grumpy and had 57 flavors of paint on my clothes.  Andy said something like this, "I'm going to go....blah, blah, blah" I said something like this, "grr...ok see you grrr." A few short minutes later he walks back in the house with a cheery "Hi, Honey!" I respond with a less cheery, "hi honey" and he moves to the left to reveal MY MOTHER in all her glory!  She came all the way from New Jersey to see me cross that finish line.  Now, let me be honest.  I knew in my heart of hearts she was coming.  How did I know?  #1  It was part of the training to envision yourself crossing the finish line and  I never once pictured the finish line without her. #2 At some point during the training she became a little bit disinterested in my marathon talk.  I knew that she knew this was the biggest deal of my life, so I found it odd that she checked out of the process.  Andy told her that I would say I knew she was coming and he was right. It was amazing to have her there and a moment in my life I will never forget.  I honestly would have been devastated if she wasn't there.  I would have felt unloved and unsupported and the two people who love me most in the world knew that and conspired to make it not so. 
The third thing that demonstrated this for me was of course your notes!!!  Those notes kept me going.  I read some the day before the race and some the night before the race when I was so nervous I couldn't even talk!  Many of them I read while I was running on the hot pavement.  They made me smile.  They made me laugh.  They made me cry. They made me remember how I got to where I was.  And they made me keep running even when I thought I couldn't go another step.  I shared some of them with slow girl #2 and I inserted her name where mine was to share in the gift of encouragement that you gave me.  To all of you- THANK YOU!  You helped me accomplish the single greatest thing in my life by loving and supporting me.  

I am not posting the photo of the back of this sign because it will make you cry :) It says, "go fatty go." But like I said, the race was like giving birth, you really don't care who sees you "naked" as long as it can be over :)

We did it! You, me Him, him and her!