i wish

i had a face that was this perfectly expressive.

more light

i love the light in their room. I wish the window weren't quite so high, but i love the curtains (thank you Laura for making them in trade ). i won the alphabet. The drawing is by none other than Jeff Hein, whom I have the privilege of knowing. Its of E nursing and Todd and I both love it so much. So tender, and such a real and everyday part of our parenting. Happy life.

baby shower gift

in the last year, i've really embraced taking sweet, real photos of babies. these were of sweet carlyn's new one. she is a rocking artist. blows.my.mind. seeing their awesome familiy timeline made me think about all the chances we had to be true friends before it finally stuck. i respect and love her. what a lucky lady.

old finds

they rock my world.

new instants

from a session on saturday.

4 yrs old

in studio, used just the modeling lights on the strobes.

1/30 @ 5.6 (I think).

new toy

i got an instax mini for my birthday.

beyond fun.

i love this method of preserving childhood memories.

applying

polaroid type-55 instant

there's a lotta change and challenge going on for me artistically and business-wise. Last night I submitted an application to do a few Saturdays at the Downtown SLC farmer's market doing instant large format portraits. If I get in (and I hope I'm an accepted vendor. How cool would it be to have my huge camera out there, doing my thing at the market?!), I'll be there 4 or so saturdays, just to try it out. I'm really thankful for photography friends who have listened to me talk about this (for the past year) and have encouraged me to pursue it. Also super grateful for a new photo friend Mitchel Issel who helped me fix my crazy polaroid back. Such a fan of community and people who learn geeky technical stuff from tinkering around.

The goopy paper is still on this one, but this gives you a feel for what the portraits will be like. I took this in about five minutes set-up (for focusing, posing, etc). Actual exposure time was 1/4 @f/5.6.

This is what the set up looked like. It'll be better (with a table and canopy) at the actual market.

wednesdays: bookshop

I love the written word. I hope the countless hours of story-reading to my children (by me and T both) helps them love reading as much as my mom reading to myself my siblings created a love of reading in all of us. E is rummaging in my purse, but W is "reading" a book. W and I just read a book that was a little scary for him (didn't know) but it was touching to watch him be brave til the end of the story.

W

the new porta 400.
35mm
with a ricoh.

This is my boy. Bright eyes, happy face.

nephew!

I am so thankful to my sister for making me an aunt. I wasn't one until this little guy came. I am grateful to have a sister I can share with, about birthing, breastfeeding, everything. I seriously have no idea what I'm going to do when she and her husband (and baby) move out east for law school in the fall. Just the thought makes me have a pit in my stomach. The closeness that I have with my sisters is the stuff of which dreams are made.  I am thankful that I have saved millions of dollars in therapy bills because of the bond I have with my sisters. smirk. Seriously, though. I have no idea how I was chosen to be with these amazing women, so fused, linked and bonded. I especially like that I have the privilege of hearing their insight on my woes and emotional upheavals. But even more it is knowing that there is no conflict/jealous/anger over each other's accomplishments. We are truly happy for one another. Of course I have relationships that are similar with other women (and I count myself lucky) but to have 4 (four!) amazing women who get me, and that I can help and support like its second nature-- it is just a special thing. My relationship with them is a breeding ground to make me better in all of my interactions.

I'm especially thankful that because of them, I can still be not quite done with processing an experience in my life. That is a heaven-sent gift. That I am not alone with this.

Wednesdays: soup

have you ever had firetruck, airplane, train and shape soup? when prepared by a three year old, its absolutely delish!

oh.my.

i'm pushing myself outta the comfort zone. and i love the unwily-ness of what i shot this with, yeah, an old school 70's era slr on a profoto ring light. yeah, you guess it, that curvy cut on the right-- that is my camera halfway pointing at the inside dome.

i love that this image looks funny bc a) little L is wearing a tux next to a bathing suit clad girl and b) that he looks so puzzles over it.

regardless of how awkward it was to hold (SLR is SUPER SMALL for a ring light), this picture (and another i'll be posting) are so freaking fabulous with it.

I did learn that my shutter is not accurate @ 1/125. So i'll be working on that, I guess.

Sigh. I love film.

ring light.

35mm slr.

fujifilm.

last from the studio day

I was pleasantly surprised to find some very interesting potential models for my creative work this year. Especially this one.

the january roll

so i stayed true to my word about shooting a roll a month. part of the reason i wanted to do this was that we lost ALL of our snapshots from 2010 through a fight to the finish with our computer, i won't go into details. but it won.

these are the ones that speak to me from last month. i really love the one of W. I love how craze his eyes look. I completely remember exactly when i took it. And it says so much about his little "taking it all in so quick" state.

february is a color roll.

Wednesdays: He's Three!

full of the marvelous facial expressions and questions.

Emotional and caring and physically active. Inquistive.

Happy. Honest. Imaginative. my favorite part.

best friends with his dad, takes so much after him that I almost get a

double dose of that endearing sense of humor I fell in love with.

ps I totally love that top one so much.

pps the bottom one, oh my gosh, check out his face! he was loving EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of shouting "hello from outer space" at strangers.

i got inspired. (thanks, k.eve)
to get out my small at home studio light.
just for a few minutes
on a weeknight date with
rosie.

i haven't been up to photographing.
going to appointments to deal with the
accident 3x a week
is...
exhausting.

to say the least.

i'm still here....but
my interactions are
in person.
and i can't help but think
in so many ways
this is a
blessing...

but i'm MISSING my online friends, so very much. So I'm hosting a little "get your studio groove on" party. for v-day. details to come, but I'll be at the studio all day, and peeps can come in (bring your cameras OR you can have me take pictures for a VERY minimal fee). I want this to be party-ish. I miss my friends. So I'll pick a date (give me suggestions if you'd like) and come on over. I wanna see you all. For real.

technical difficulties are great during the holidays...

Not sure exactly what is up with my webhosting account, but for now, please send all emails to alishastamper (at) gmail (dot) com.

Its frustrating. The runaround is the most frustrating part.

But, when I'm frustrated, looking at this helps... so here's one for you just in case you're also feeling a little need for a pick-me-up:

wednesdays: we're in the silly stage

and he'd laugh all day if i could keep the funny faces going.

the third