every child is an artist

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

Pablo Picasso

I love watching kids create art.  When I was studying psychology, I wanted to be an art therapist for children.  I felt like I needed more life experience first.  So, here I am.  :)

The day started with Caden (along with Conor as his helper) creating an apartment for himself out of blocks.  It was crooked and teetering and I loved it. perfection. The afternoon entailed lots of sidewalk paint. Messy and perfectly fun.

this is what he does now when he asks me to take his picture, he also always tells me "one more" hehe, hope he doesn't lose that! 

love these boys!! xoxo

family | rancho de la fuente | hidden valley lake/kelseyville/lake county ca family photographer

I met Haley in high school and I was so happy to see her again when she contacted me to do some family photos.  She is just as sweet and beautiful as I remember, and her family is too!  The owners of Rancho de la Fuente were nice enough to let us use their property in Lakeport for this session.  Haley and Ellis were married there, and the grounds are beautiful!  You can check out more about the location here: Rancho de la Fuente

Here are just a few :)

the car | class of 2012 | hidden valley lake/ lake county ca senior photographer

a small portion of Brittany's senior pics... this set focused on her with her car :)

as always, all images copyright krystle ipsen photography

do not copy, download, edit, crop or email in any way without permission

before & after

I edit in Lightroom mainly these days, but this edit was done in Photoshop Elements 8, this is a powerful and affordable editing program :) I highly recommend it!

For this image, the sun was at her back dipping below the hills around 7pm, I've exposed for her face allowing the sky behind her to overexpose. Settings were: f/1.8, ss 1/640, iso 250

in PSE8:

duplicated the layer (ctrl+J)

put in blending mode Multiply

lowered opacity to 20% and erased from subject

merged layers, then duplicated again

put in blending mode Soft Light

lowered opacity to 40%

used Dodge tool on eyes/face just a touch to add a little light

that's it!

left is straight out of camera (SOOC) and right is the after edit :)

 

all images copyright krystle ipsen | photography - do not copy, download, edit, crop or email in any way without permission.

my baby turns two

Two years ago, my second baby entered this world, the baby. I made it a point to follow him throughout the day and just capture him as he was. From waking until the party wrapped up, too many balloons, pancakes, an unexpected jumpy house (thanks Lisa Hart!) and double cupcakes of course. Happy 2nd birthday to my baby!!

(by the way, he woke up the next morning and went to the back door “where my jumpy house?” poor thing)

 

the post-cupcake mess

big brother was so excited to show him the card he got for him