A Little Bit of Christmas

This Christmas season has been like none other for our family. What would typically be a pleasantly busy (Ok, so maybe not too pleasantly busy) month in which we are able to fit in our random seasonal traditions (one whole day of decorating after fetching our Christmas tree, while blasting The Kings Singers & Christmas Dance Party through the very foundations of the house), has turned out to be a hodge-podge of getting things ready here, prepping this there... To be blunt, so much of our girls' days have been consumed in the blog & our many singing performances. To say that I am stressed would be an understatement... And yet there is so much excitement and anticipation! We girls couldn't imagine a better way to occupy our time. And then little, bright rays of sunshine come in through the cloudy days when you send in your sweet, precious thoughts to us, uplifting & encouraging us girls in our work. Thank you! It has brought us so much joy to know that our work is paying off. We couldn't do it without you!

Outtakes // Vol. 1

Hello all! To kick off the week, we girls wanted to share a few snapshots from our past blog photo shoots that never made it to a post. Often times when we watch a film, we girls always scour the special features for bloopers and deleted scenes; so we thought it would be fun to implement that idea here on the blog! Enjoy :)

October in the Golden Hour

Hello lovelies! Last Sunday I was itching to take advantage of the gorgeous colors of Autumn and the free time we girls had, so galavant down the road we did for a photo shoot. The time of day was when the clouds and sun are tuning themselves like an orchestra before a great performance, that performance being a glorious sunset. Sometimes I can't believe the photos that I actually take. I know that's something photographers aren't supposed to reveal, but seriously, when I look back at these photos that I snapped of my gorgeous models that I recruited sisters, I can hardly believe that I took them :)

Remembering WWII // Music, Veterans & Canteens

Hello again! I am here to share part two of the Remembering WWII photo-overload with you all ;) This time the photos capture some of the veterans & performers at the event, which really made the whole thing so special. The veteran's stories were SO incredibly powerful, and left many of us breathless and in complete wonder of how those heroes pulled through. God's providence in their adventures in the war was so evident through the whole thing. Also, it was fabulous to see many other talented performers get up on the stage and sing the popular tunes from WWII. You can't imagine how refreshing it was for us girls to see other young folks just as eager to remember and share the songs of the past to the present generations! This was truly an event of living history, folks!

Remembering WWII // Prep & Battle Reenactment

Hey everyone! Charlotte here to share some of the photos that I took at the Remembering WWII event this past weekend. I was SO stoked when Jessica Courter asked me to help out with the photography at the reenactment! Today I am going to share with you some frames that I snapped when we were helping set up early morning for the USO show, and during the battle reenactment (which was Ah-mazing!!) Get ready for photo overload! :D

Remembering WWII // Fellowship

Hey y'all! Wow! What did I just say? Y'all? Really? Yep, really. That is what you get for staying three days down in Linden Tennessee–the pretty contagious way of speaking about the third person plural. Haha! Oh dear! Well, it was such a crazy whirlwind of hours of fellowship, meeting person after wonderful person, and singing–can't forget the singing part–that I am not sure we three will be able to do justice to this week's account of Remembering WWII. But many things must be said. Okay, no going back now... Let's begin with the time our family spent in fellowship with everyone who gathered for this momentous occasion.

My Photography Equipment

Can I just say, I love you all, our readers :) Why? Well, you remind me of me! I am constantly wondering what equipment other photographers and videographers are using, what their secrets are, etc. and you all are the same way! Several of you have asked over and over what I use to take & edit the photos you see here on the blog, so I am here to reveal my secrets! Shall we begin?

Tu-Lip Tulip Time

Hey all! We have a busy day ahead of us (including two singing engagements! Prayers would be appreciated :), but I wanted to stop in and give you a glimpse of our time in Holland, Michigan after we attended our friends' wedding in Kalamazoo. It was truly magical visiting the Dutch Village and the Windmill Island Gardens. We went round and round on the swings, Brigid and I rode a 1940's ferris wheel, and all of us simply devoured the delightful, peaceful, child-like surroundings. It was truly a fabulous time before we had to head back down to ol' Ohio.

Charlotte's Birthday

Hey all! SO good to be back from our blogging break :) Our week went very well, and the singing events were a howling success! Today I am here to share with you all what happened last Monday, specifically: My Birthday! I was so blessed to spend my special day with my BESTEST friend Hannah (so good catching up with you, dear!), and my two other BESTEST BESTEST friends (i.e– sisters), Jess and Brigi! We shopped, talked, talked, shopped some more, swam (in Hannah's family's POOL!! YAY!!), talked some more... It was awesome :) Here are some snapshots from when we stopped at Starbucks and got frappes (my first ever, and it was delish :), and when we were sitting in the Lowes parking lot waiting for Dad to arrive to car-pool to Hannah's house, and Jessica randomly suggested that we look at all the fun little "barns" (sheds).

Brigid's Senior Portraits

Oooohhhhh!!! I am so super excited to share these photos with you all today! Charlotte did such a magnificent job making my senior photo-shoot so spectacular, it was hard narrowing down all the photos to just these few to share with you all! Do you want to see what I'm talking about?

Our 2014 BFS Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago, in loo of our website being published and other exciting singing events coming up, we thought it was about time we got some new, up-to-date photographs of us girls. So, I hung up an old white sheet on one of our basement window's trim, and draped another on the floor. We filled some of Jessica's collected coke bottles with ice tea (ha! no, that is not real coke you see. We're not pop drinkers ;), and posed as best and as gracefully we could while the self-timer on my camera ticked down from ten, and I scuttled back and forth from tripod to backdrop. The lighting was honest-to-goodness not the greatest, and I am SO thankful to low-aperture lenses and good editing softwares (ha!). I can't say enough how proud and thrilled I am with how well they turned out! Given the circumstances of our shoot's setting, I can hardly believe that they look so, well, profesh ;) It tickles me  to think that we've fooled so many into thinking that these were taken by a top-of-the-line photographer in a studio. Hehe, nope! DIY forever, right?

Lately // Spring Snapshots

Well folks, it's official: Spring is here! At last the long, long months of snow, cold and more cold are over! Well, so we think, at least. Here in Ohio you can never tell if you're in for a blizzard or tornado, so we'll see what happens ;) Even if the nippy winds and grey atmosphere stick around for the next few weeks, I am at least thankful for the hope of new life and... Green! Beautiful, lush, vibrant green!... And pink, and red, and blue, and... Oh! Just color in general! :D It's so delightful seeing the tips of little shoots and leaves plucking up from under the dead turf. Such an incredible story of contrast God has given us in the transition of the seasons!

What Happened After Christmas // Pt. 2

You didn't think there would be a part two to the post that I wrote up about borrowing my friend's lens, did you? Well, neither did I, yet here we are :) Over the past months, I guess ever since I borrowed Joanna's 50mm, I've been slowly becoming more and more desirous of a large-aperture lens (aka, a lens that would handle low lighting really well), as so many of our shoots these days are indoors, and my kit lens wasn't cutting it to my complete satisfaction.

What Happened After Christmas

After Christmas, came the Yuletide Ball. I was one of the prominent photographers to record the event (you saw the pictures I took here), and I wanted to do something a bit different, more special than turning up my ISO and getting a bunch of grainy so-so photographs. So I toyed a little bit with the idea of borrowing a 50mm lens from my photographer friend Jo. I was pretty darn thrilled when she complied with my little dream. We picked up the lens the next morning, and I play with it all day. Oh my. You should have seen me! I was prancing and squealing around the house like a little 5 year old with a new toy, clicking the shutter like crazy! Up until then, my passion for photography had mellowed quite a bit, and photographing an outfit or everyday event became a bit mundane and uninspiring… Borrowing this lens gave me a gallon of fuel to start my engine again and once more click the shutter!

Snow + Christmas

Hello all!
So, as I am very short on time, I will make this post brief, and let the many pictures speak for themselves. Over the past few days, the Christmas spirit has finally begun to sink into our home. We found some spare time to set up our holiday decor in the midst of performance preparation and execution; and many inches of snow have fallen on the ground, enveloping our humble little countryside in a beautiful "Winter Wonderland"! This is my first Christmas with my new camera, so I was rather thrilled to capture some snowy, holiday-esque photographs! Especially the bokeh tree effect I always see everyone do… yes, that was rather fun :) Anyway, enjoy the photos, and let me know how you've been getting into the Christmas spirit down below! I'd love to hear :)

Lately (#12)

Oh my! Can you believe it's already the latter end of October?! As I was sitting down to do school this morning I reflected for a second and realized that we are actually in the middle of Fall, people! I seriously can't believe it!

Lately (#11)

Good day, my dears!
This week has been much calmer and peaceful than previously, with many break-throughs (check out the updated nav bar ^^ We're on pinterest :D); and high anticipations for fast coming events: singing appointments speedily approaching...oh and just 6 weeks till the National Bible-Bee! Yes, we as a family will be volunteering again this year! Yay :D My only worries right now are getting all my ducks in a row as far as wardrobe goes... I hate going on a trip with things that I'm not excited about wearing... Call me frivolous if you like, but I really can't stand being stuck with a (very) limited selection of things that I don't really like. Get's my motivation down ;P

Lately (#10)

GHAHHPFFTAA!!

Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best way to begin this post, but that *ahem* expression is really the best way I can describe this week: GHAHHPFTAA!!! (AKA: a crazy past 7 days filled with incredible ups and downs and new windows opening in mine and my sister's singing career...)

I get giddy at some of the things that have happened, and I am continually hosting butterflies in my stomach, I'm so excited/stressed/amazed!! God has blessed me and my sisters with such an amazing life, filled to the brim with His providence!

Alright, now that I have that out of my system, onto the photos :)

It was bound to happen...

Jo and I got together this past Friday while Jess was helping Mrs. Dell with some wedding bouquets, to talk about blogging and such; and of course when you get two photographers together (who love a good photo-shoot, I might add) you simply must pull out the cameras sometime or other... It simply isn't right not to! So, along the natural laws of teenage young lady photographers who adore a good photo-shoot, we did, and these stills I captured are a result of the shoot :)

Lately (#8)

Hello!
This week has been rather quiet and mundane at home; with only a few errands here and there (including a Memorial Day Sale over at our favorite Goodwill :), sewing (yay!), impromptu photo shoots, figuring out that we have WAY to much content to only blog 5-6 times per week, but not enough time to post it all... oh, and a big step in the Boyer Sisters' (aka, us) singing career; otherwise known as learning possibly the hardest harmonies yet. Geeeze loueeeze! But hey, we're kinda profesh' now ;)