Gainesville Florida children's photographer: Laurel Housden Photography » Laurel’s Family

Personal | Enjoying Spring Break – Gainesville, Florida Kid’s Photographer

Laurel — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:25:42 +0000

With spring break we decided to just slow down, stay close to home, and catch up with friends. We decided to take a drive yesterday and found this nifty spot with flowers along the edge of a field. Rowan and Robin (soul sisters) took their guitar and ukulele out and played a few tunes for the fluttering butterflies! If they ever decide to cut an album – we’ve already got the album artwork.

3 Looks in 30 minutes Part 3 | gainesville florida kids photographer

Laurel — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:48:39 +0000

I used OCF (off camera flash) to create this dramatic fashion look for Rowan. It is at the same location as the previous post in a field in s.w. Gainesville near Haile Plantation. I took an amazing lighting course last year with Utah Photographer Nichole Van all about off camera flash (OCF). If you are a photographer wanting to get comfortable with OCF I highly recommend her Lighting Workshops and if you can’t get to one of her workshops – then I recommend the Lighting Workshop in a Box. It is the most comprehensive instruction on OCF available and is totally complete with everything you need to know to get started creating dramatic portraits using off camera flash! The best part about using OCF is the ease of editing. They came SOOTC looking great but I also use Nichole Van’s studio actions to add just a wee bit of contrast and color. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions about Nichole’s workshops or lighting questions!

Personal | Resolution #1 – gainesville florida lifestyle photographer

Laurel — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:06:09 +0000

Although I’m not a big believer of resolutions – I did make one for 2012 – to finally teach my son to ride a bike. I have tried countless times to help him but it always ends up a big, frustrating mess! I give up so easily. It breaks my heart to see Aidan so embarrassed about not being able to ride a bike. After trying for 20 minutes on New Year’s Day – I offered Rowan (my 14 year old) $10 to teach her little brother to ride a bike. It took a couple hours – but as always – she came through! She would not give up and her persistence paid off. I’m so proud of both Rowan and Aidan. Now he can’t wait to come home from school to ride his bike and it just makes my heart melt to watch him go go go! I made a little video of Rowan and Aidan from New Year’s Day followed by some pictures I took of him yesterday riding around the neighborhood with his head up high and not a care in the world!

The Adventures of JoJo & Splatty – Gainesville Florida claymation film

Laurel — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:16:35 +0000

A tripod, a point and shoot camera, clay, and a little imagination….is all it took to create this fun little movie my two kids created yesterday. It was thrilling to watch them work together from concept to final edit. The gleam in Aidan’s eyes as he watched his hand drawn storyboard come to life and realizing that he did it! The best part of the holidays – is the time you get with your children and discovering all the possibilities that a little piece of clay offers!

Rowan’s Gingerbread House 2011 | gainesville florida family photographer

Laurel — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:58:51 +0000

For those of you that don’t already know, my daughter Rowan is an exceptional baker. Every year she makes a mouthwatering gingerbread house from scratch. She refuses to use a mix for anything! The first step is to make the gingerbread dough.

Then it’s off to the oven after they are cut into the basic house structure – walls and the roof.

Then Rowan made marshmallow fondant from scratch, dyed it blue, and covered a cardboard base with it.

Finally, she had her Daddy help put the cookie pieces together using royal icing that she made from scratch. Once the roof was on the cookie started to sink in the middle because the cookies weren’t thin enough which caused them to be not as hard as they should be. To solve this problem Rowan first tried to fill the house with balloons after deciding that would not work, she used the royal icing to glue to the roof pieces onto cardboard slices that she cut the same size as the roof pieces.

Finally, Rowan created a winter wonderland by surrounding the base with marshmallows, creating a Christmas tree out of an ice-cream cone, a marshmallow snowman complete with a Hershey Kiss hat and blue icing gel scarf, and a walkway with gumdrops and smarties candies.

Finally she finished the decorating the house with candies that she stuck on with white chocolate instead of more icing. Tomorrow I will post the finished project – in color!

New Products | 30 x 40 Lifestyle Canvas – gainesville florida photographer

Laurel — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:24:06 +0000

I’ve been meaning to get so many of my favorite family photographs in a book or framed for my home for ages and there never seemed to be a good time to take the time to either design an album or a wall display – so I finally decided to create a collage of my favorites and have them all in one place! I blogged the storyboard that I created here – but it finally arrived this week and I’m so HAPPY ! It’s a 30 x 40 canvas gallery wrap and I have it proudly displayed in my foyer. It is already generated a bit of a buzz as friends and clients that come in to my home can’t help but stop and stare - and of course I get to share all the wonderful moments and stories as I describe each picture!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow – gainesville florida kid’s photographer

Laurel — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:35:35 +0000

Who says it doesn’t snow in Florida! Just putting some last minute details to my personal holiday cards this year!

Boutique Ideas – The Lifestyle Storyboard Canvas – gainesville florida professional photographer

Laurel — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:52:13 +0000

For those that can’t decide which pictures to frame – this new product may solve that dilemma – the Lifestyle Storyboard Canvas. I am more about telling the story versus just showcasing individual portraits of my family – soI created this modern storyboard to solve that problem. I know it will also work well showcasing all the images from a family session – how fun! It comes in two sizes – 24 x 36 or 40 x 30. I just ordered the 40 x 30 for my home and will share a picture of the finished product when it arrives!

Personal | St. Augustine Trip – gainesville florida professional photographer

Laurel — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:15:15 +0000

One of my favorite Florida places to visit is St. Augustine. It never gets old – even though it is the oldest city in the Nation. Over the Thanksgiving Holiday break we decided to get out of town for the day and walk around the city going to all the unique stores in the old city and of course hanging – or should I say – rolling – around the Castilllo de san marcos. Our good friend Robin joined us for our outing by the sea!