Tylar {senior}

 I LOVE how Tylar's senior session turned out! First of all, she's gorgeous and took direction so well so it was pretty effortless for me! This was the first senior session I got to do this year and the first time I'd really shot downtown and I'm so happy with what we got. Tylar is a softball player of mine and such a sweet girl so I'm really glad she chose me to do these. Check them out:

Spencer {senior}

As I've said before - it is so relaxed and easy when I get to photograph my students. Spencer is a great kid - witty and fun. Check out his senior session: 

And he got some with Bailey too:  

Bailey {senior}

I love when students of mine ask me to be their senior portrait photographer. It makes the whole session so much more fun & relaxed. Bailey is such sweet, funny girl. She took me on a hike down to this hidden old truck too - good find, Bailey!

This cat would NOT stay out of our pictures!

Bailey's little brothers got in for a few shots. Cuties!

 Spencer too!

Baby Jace {newborn}

I'm blogging again! This summer I had the pleasure of photographing my friend & co-worker's newborn baby boy. I cannot believe I have held on to these pictures for months without sharing them. I think I picked a good one to restart my blog with. He is so precious! Check him out: 

Project: Closet Office

Ok, I wish I had taken a "before" of my closet before we gave it this fantastic repurposing. You can imagine what it looked though: the standard overflowing, unorganized, junk-everywhere mess that most closets are. All kinds of random things were piled at the bottom. Way too many clothes that we don't wear were hanging from the bar - and probably not a single other shirt could fit. More random things were falling down from the top shelf. It was beige and dark wood. It was ugly.

I have been lucky enough that I've been getting a ton of business this summer and have spent every waking hour (the ones where I'm not chasing my son around or feeding my daughter) editing, managing orders, updating my website, etc., etc., etc. Previously, I was doing this all on the kitchen counter. There are a number of disadvantages there: my laptop is dangerously close to lots of liquids & foods, my broke-down back is not a fan of the barstools, and it just really cluttered up our kitchen/dining area.

All of a sudden I got this great idea since I wanted to clean out the closet and needed a better workspace: repurpose - closet office! I thought I was a genius and that I invented this. There's nothing like Pinterest to make you feel unoriginal! Then, the more I thought of it, my parents are actually the trailblazers here: they did this very thing for me when we remodeled my bedroom way WAY back when I was in probably 4th grade. They one-upped me a bit, in fact, as my childhood closet office had a built-in overhead light and no doors. Doors are a necessity here, however, to keep the monster (Abram) out!

I LOVE my new workspace! It is much more functional & comfortable than the previous setup. Bonus: it was CHEAP too. Here's how I did it & what it cost:
1. I cleaned every last thing out of the old closet, including the bars.
2. I sanded, patched, sanded the larger wall issues (already had the supplies).
3. Lucky me, I had leftover paint from the rest of the house, so I painted the walls with African Elephant Gray (one of the 4 different shades of gray painted in the house - no joke) & the doors, trim & top shelf white.
4. I went to the local lumber yard and bought a sheet of MDF board for $40. I had them cut the main desktop piece but left the rest of the cutting for the Mr. at home. When I measured, I made sure it took up the entire space of the closet, leaving only room for an inch or 2 gap at one end to let cords up. Also, I left about a half inch between the edge of the desk and the trim, just to make inserting the desktop a little easier.
5. The desktop got a couple coats of white paint. Again, I already had this on hand.
6. I bought 10 pairs of shelf brackets, totaling $25. MDF is super heavy so we had to use the studs and 5 shelf brackets. We put 1 in each corner and then one in the middle against the back wall. It's sturdy!
7. Mr. cut the other 8 shelves, painted them white, and we installed them each with a pair of brackets. I measure them to fit snug in the space from the wall to the trim and all the way across.

THAT'S IT! The rest was accessorizing and that part was also really cheap! I was able to get everything else at either Wal-Mart of the thrift store in town. Check out some of the details:

 

I read on one of the Pinterest blogs on a closet office that you should give decorations a function. I like that idea. In fact, this yellow vase, I use it as my trash can! It was $2 at the thrift store. The two little frosted candle holders hold my pushpins and paperclips. The pair was also $2 at the thrift store. I got these little chevron storage boxes from Wal-Mart for $1.75 each. In one I keep all my business cards, receipts, etc. and in the other I keep my tech stuff such as my external hard drive and extra SD cards. My pen cup is just a mason jar that I had in the cabinet with a piece of lacy ribbon tied around the top.

I love this lamp (I love lamp!) that I got on clearance at Wal-Mart. The shade was $7 and the base was $12. The chair is another thrift store find for $14.50, and the wax melter was one that I already had here at the house (it's a cheapy from Wal-Mart too).

Guess where the yellow clock is from...Wal-Mart! $3! I actually made my memo board. I bought cheap white frames from WM for about $3 each. I already had old corkboard leftover from another project at home, so I cut it to fit and voila! It looks good as the focal point rather than the standard message boards.

 

 

I even decided to get my desktop organized! I got this Sweet Spot Desktop Organizer background template from Squijoo.

 

 

This was so easy and cost me less than $150 and took less than two days from start to finish! It will be a great spot to grade tests once school starts back up as well. Until then, happy editing to me!

 

 

Aimee & Miles {mommy&me} - Coffeyville, KS

This is one of my favorites! Everything about these two was so sweet - lots of love here! I really get a sense of satisfaction doing portraits for people I know and being able to give them something to remember & cherish. I went to high school & college with two of Aimee's siblings but hadn't yet had the pleasure of meeting her. She's great & so is this adorable little guy:

I wasn't going to spill this location before, but I think everyone around here knows where it is already, so I'll divulge. We went to the old stone pool house here in Coffeyville so we could use the blue door. I guess Aimee & all her siblings worked at the pool so that was neat to have in her pictures! She had seen the blue door background in a recent maternity session and loved it, and then when we walked up to it, she said "Oh. Well that's kind of ugly in person!" Photoshop magic I suppose! ;) Anyway, these speak for themselves:

 We then moved on to another favorite spot - this one I'll keep a secret. I have been wanting to use books in a session and had packed up some Suess, and here comes Aimee with Where the Wild Things Are. PERFECT!

 

 "I'll eat you up, I love you so."

Lastly, we moved on out to the pasture to play in the wild flowers. Just kidding, Miles was really done with pictures at this point, but he was still SO well behaved! He did great, and his auntie was there making him smile.

 

 

 

www.photographybymeganalyse.com

 

Jake {3months} - Coffeyville, KS

This little guy is 3 months! He reached his "head-up" milestone and was so happy to just lay in bed and play with his feet! These are some of my very favorite baby pictures I've taken.  Sidenote: I knew I got a nice new bed/bedspread for a reason - because it photographs well! Check them out:

 

 

Peek-a-boo!