Greetings and welcome to my blog. Thanks for dropping by. My name is Laurel Housden and I am a portrait photographer located in Gainesville, Florida - Home of the University of Florida Gators! I love all types of photography but mainly focus on maternity, newborn, children, family, modern adult and senior portraiture. I am also available for small private parties and events.
My style is casual and natural. My goal is to create an image that will capture the essence and the spirit of who you and/or your child is at this very moment in life. I use a variety of locations in and around the Gainesville area to capture those moments and I will gladly work with you to choose that perfect spot. I also have a small studio available for private maternity and newborn photo sessions.
My blog is the place where you can see my most recent portrait sessions and get the latest news and promotions that I am working on. I also mix a bit of my personal life in for fun as well as a few photography tips.
A few posts ago I introduced the Curry Family from New Orleans. We are connected to them by a very special lady - Liz - my sister-in-law. Liz’s parents and sister (and her family) graciously invited my family to hang out with them for a few days in Destin, Florida - right on the beach! The least I could do was to take a few family beach portraits for them. This was my first “official” beach session and I was working hard with the available light. They didn’t come out exactly as I envisioned them - they were a bit dark - but overall I think the smiles on these beautiful faces brightened every picture. Aidan had a blast playing with Matthew and my two girls were playing pass the baby with 8 month old Benjamin (my nephew) and 3 month old Blair - what a cutie!!!!!
Make sure to click the link to the slideshow at the bottom of this post and remember you are able to click the squares in the navigation bar to see all the pictures individually.
These shots are amazing! My favorite group yet! The colors and sharpness are excellent! As always, the subject’s eyes are very intense. One day, you’ll have to share your post process to get the eyes to stand out so much!
You’re invited to join Scott Kelby and his friends around the world for the first ever “Worldwide Photo Walk” on Saturday, August 23rd 2008 - and yours truly will be Leading the photo walk for Gainesville, Florida! Who is Scott Kelby? Scott is the President of the National Association of Photoshop Users or NAPP and also the best selling author of scores of books on photography including Adobe Lightroom and two of my all time favorites - The Digital Photography Book, Volume 1 & Volume 2. By the way - these two books are the all time best selling books on Digital Photography.
Here’s where I need your help! As the leader of the Gainesville, Florida photowalk, I need to come up with a interesting walking route, preferably a circular route and ending at a place to hook-up after the walk to socialize and see everyone’s photos. I was thinking about meeting up at the steps in front of The Hippodrome at 5 p.m. for a quick group photo and then from there walk around downtown and over to The Thomas Center and around 2nd Ave for some great Urban shots. Ending the photowalk at about 7 p.m. at Steve’s Cafe American on University Ave. I have already confirmed with the restaurant and they are setting up a place in the dining room for our group - which should be 50 plus. I have until Sunday evening to confirm the walk route and the restaurant so I can enter the information on the Official Photowalk Web site. Please leave your comments below with some of your suggestions of routes we can take, places of interest we can walk to within the downtown area and also any other ideas for restaurants. The restaurant or cafe needs to be able to fit 50 people.
I am so honored to be leading the photowalk for Gainesville. I have to tell you that I am forever grateful for finding NAPP and Scott Kelby’s books. When I was just starting out I was so overwhelmed with where to start, what do do, and how to fix in photoshop. I have learned so much from watching Photoshop TV and keeping up to date with Scott Kelby’s personal blog. It’s not just for people interested in photoshop but all things photography. It was because of Scott Kelby’s blog that I first found out about The Digital Landscape Workshop Series that I took with Aaron Bailey last year in Cape Cod. While there we got a chance to personally meet Scott and take one of the very first workshops on his 7 point system for Adobe Photoshop CS# - which I highly recommend. Check out the book here.
Here is a picture of me and Scott Kelby in Cape Cod last year during the DLWS Series: I so enjoyed taking this workshop and discovering the beautiful lighthouses on Cape Cod. Here is a link if you are interested in seeing my photos from the workshop.
I will never forget how overwhelmed and frustrated I was with my camera in the very beginning. What is aperture? How do you blur the background? What lens should I buy and why? I felt so stupid asking these basic questions. When I would ask, I still didn’t understand the answer - so I just smiled and nodded like I got it - but become more frustrated. I would like to be able to help those photographers just coming out of the gate and hopefully explain answers to their questions with a better understanding and sensitivity. That is one of the reasons I am just so thrilled to be able to meet everyone coming to the Gainesville photowalk and hopefully make some long term friends.
O.K., enough rambling. Here is some links to help you with the photowalk:
Here is the web site where you need to go to sign up for the Gainesville Photowalk. The photowalk is Saturday, August 23rd - time to be announced Sunday evening.
Check out this link for great tips on what to do on a photowalk from Jeff Revell over at Scott’s blog
Here is the link to Scott Kelby’s Q&A on the World Wide Photowalk
Also, I need to add an icon for my section on the Photowalk Web site. Please help me choose. The one with me with the hat or without the hat. Please leave your comments below with your choice.
Don’t forget to leave your ideas and suggestions for the photowalk in the comments section! I can’t wait to see everyone sign up for the Photowalk! Please feel free to leave your comments below if you have any questions about the photowalk.
How awesome is this! You are such a sweet spirit and so giving of your knowledge. Us newbies are eternally grateful I don’t know G-ville that well so I don’t have any suggestions on the walk route but my vote is for the pic with the hat - love your smile and eyes in that one
I am so excited about some upcoming news that I will share soon. Can you guess what it is? Once everything is finalized I will share the details. I will give a hint…walking!
Keep Smiling,
Laurel
I have been hangin out with my parents in Dothan, Alabama before I head home on Tuesday from our week vacation. I have not had much time to process all of my pictures from this week but managed to get a few uploaded for my blog post today. I have some great ideas and templates for the new school year and the holiday season. Look for my new store coming soon for a sneak peak of my new templates. Until then..enjoy a few more from Destin.
Keep Smiling,
Laurel
My sweet little nephew Benjamin!
Aidan cooling off in the fountains.
Aidan and Rowan got a real treat this week. They got a chance to hang out with some really cool dolphins and teach them some new tricks at the Gulfarium in Destin, Florida
Greetings from a former/fellow Gator. I am really thrilled to see what you have done with your photography. I think the images are fabulous and definitely great enough the “Let the Gator Growl!” Congratulations and continued success!
Greetings from Destin, Florida. Me and the kids are hangin out with family this week for a much needed summer break. There is nothing like spending time on the beach with the people that you love. A special thank you to the Curry family for extending their hospitality to us - we love you guys! Here are a few shots from today. I’ve had very little computer time so I simply tweeked a bit in Lightroom and exported to my blog. I will be back on Tuesday.
Keep Smiling,
Laurel
The view from our deck in Destin
Rowan flying a kite
It is so surreal watching my two girls taking care of these little babies. The two babies are first cousins and are a few months apart.
Aidan and Matthew - Cousins!
My baby sister Hilary.
My brother and his son share a moment
My brother and his beautiful wife Liz and their adorable son Ben.
The Curry Family. Our hosts for this week. This is my brother’s wife’s family. My bro is the last one on the right. Love those babys - Rowan and Madison have fallen in love with these cuties and have been holding them the whole time!
Laurel, please go on the dps and give an interview about your business and share some things you are learning about photography! (On the show yesterday they said they wanted to get you on!) It was always so fun to hear you in the past…now you are a pro! You are doing so great!
Love the shot of Rowan flying the kite, and the view from the deck, and the one of the boys - golly - I just lovem’ all Glad you are having a great time on your vacay!
Sassy Sammy's Mom -
Wonderful pictures. Glad you are having a nice time. Hey pick up renting info from the area for me please
Wow! Such a beautiful place to do a session…love it! Nice work. My Brother and his son…thats a lifetime photo. He will have that on some wall forever!!
I don’t know G-ville that well so I don’t have any suggestions on the walk route but my vote is for the pic with the hat - love your smile and eyes in that one 
Great shots Laurel. My sister is ready for National Geographic!
These shots are amazing! My favorite group yet! The colors and sharpness are excellent! As always, the subject’s eyes are very intense. One day, you’ll have to share your post process to get the eyes to stand out so much!