What’s even more amazing is that Tammy is offering these sessions (with a CD of pictures) for $250 per person! If you live in Kodiak, the next time you go to Anchorage, you must look her up and book a session! Her studio is in Wasilla, and it is definitely worth your time.

Our departure from Kodiak is imminent. The moving container arrives tomorrow and we’ll be starting our cross-country move (and adventure) to Clearwater, Florida in no time. But I just had to make room in my schedule to try these out.

I’m sharing the before/after images to show you that these beautiful women are just like you and me! They wear their hair in ponytails, they have children, their lives are filled with service to others. Even in their everyday wear they are full of beauty and love. Given the chance to take time for themselves, they are stunning and just shine.

I wish I could tell you just how much I love these women. They are incredible friends and examples of how I want to be. Sharing this experience with them was one of my most favorites moments in the last two years of Simply b! I only wish I had time to do more before we left, and I can’t wait to try these out in Florida after we get settled.

Audrey: Mom to a 5 month old miracle named Birdie. She has spent the last 5 months in a sleepless stupor and is one of my most very favorite people in the world. Before Birdie was born, Audrey was the most coveted preschool teacher on the island. Her repertoire with children is nothing less than amazing. She and I can sit and talk for hours and it feels like no time has passed. I will miss her so much when we leave.

Jana: Mom to 3 amazing children and the talent behind J. Marie Designs. She shares her talent so freely with everyone. I am amazed by her generosity and pure heart. You will never hear her speak ill of another. I hope Jana doesn’t mind me sharing this, but she lost something like 240 pounds. She is so beautiful, but doesn’t even see it. To capture these images of her made me so, so happy. I’m blessed to know her.

Rachel: I have the most talented friends! Rachel is mom to two super little boys and the beautiful woman behind the amazing Fondant Flinger. She has built such a successful business here in little Kodiak that she is in constant demand. She did the cakes for Miss B’s special tea party last summer! I have been honored to photograph her delicious creations for the last year or so and I can attest to Rachel’s beautiful spirit. She’s so kind and helpful to everyone. She’s a baker and spends most of her day with her hair pulled back, in an apron, and covered in flour. But here is the real Rachel. Gorgeous.

Michelle: When I was looking for someone to do hair and makeup for everyone, Michelle came right to mind. She and her family are getting ready to move and she is finishing a long school semester, yet she came and spent the day with us doing hair and makeup for everyone. Because that’s how Michelle is. She just helps when she’s needed. And she did the most amazing job. Thank you Michelle!!

She is a mom to 3 children and I just love her. She’s an incredible mother, wife, and friend. I asked if her husband, Alex, wanted to come at the end of the session to get some pics of them together. They are the best couple, I love these pictures of them. Alex has “the smolder” (Tangled) down pat and was such a great sport!

I’m offering one more Day With Amy: Photography Workshop | ONLINE before we moved to Clearwater, Florida in May. All the proceeds will go to help a young man in South Africa who is having a series of life changing surgeries and needs a little financial help.

If you are not interested in attending a class, but would still like to help this young man, you can send donations to the Paypal address: jakeamy@aol.com and leave the name Powell Oketa in the comments. I will make sure that all monies get delivered to him. Thank you so much for your desire to help!

(After reading this post, Brother Oketa left be a beautiful comment. I attached it at the bottom of this page. He is eternally grateful for the support and love that has been extended to him. Thank you!)

Here is the story:

I just love my mom and dad! I miss them a ton. They are serving a mission for our church in Johannesburg, South Africa. They’ve been gone 9 months and have 15 more months until they come home. I took some pictures of them a couple years ago and this is one of my favorites. It sums up everything about their relationship. Steadfast and still in love after being married 44 years.

It’s been such a sacrifice for my parents to be away from their 10 children and 36 grandchildren, but they are relishing their time serving the people of South Africa. I miss them, but I am so proud of them knowing how much they are helping others. It’s just in their nature. One of their main responsibilities is serving in the mission office and overseeing the missionaries there. My mom has become a surrogate mother for many of the young missionaries who are away from home. Being a mom is just her nature. She has so much love to share and the biggest heart you can imagine.

A couple weeks ago I got an email from my mom and I’d like to share it with you.

Dear Family and Friends,

We are writing to let you know about a very special Elder in our mission who will be released March 6th. His name is Elder Oketa and he is from Uganda. His story is about a brave little boy that was born and raised in an African country named Uganda in 1984 and grew up to be a powerful missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Powell lived in a small remote village called Kitgum Distrct with his mom and brothers and sisters. It is far away from any towns. The people in this village don’t have very much and live in simple houses made of mud, sticks and straw. They do not have electricity and get their water from the river. They cook over fires and grow their food in their gardens and hunt and fish for meat.

When Powell was 8 years old he was playing with two friends one was 6 and the other 4 years old. They were playing down by the river, doing things that little boys do like running in the water and chasing eachother around. Suddenly it started to rain real hard. They looked around for shelter but it was a long way up the beach to the trees. They saw some holes in the ground that had some caves off the sides at the bottom. There were several of these holes which had been dug by the men in the village to get a special sand they used to build their houses. When it was baked the sand got very hard and they could use it like cement. The holes were big: 8 to 10 feet across and about 20 foot deep. There were steps dug in the sides of the hole so the workers could climb down and dig out the special sand. That is what formed the cave they saw. The three little boys scampered down the steps and sat down in the cave.

The rain continued to pour down and soon was running in the hole. The boys were scared, but before they could climb out, the walls of the hole began to crumble. Suddenly without warning the cave they were in collapsed and they were trapped, 20 feet under the ground. It was very dark, they were covered with dirt and the young boys were crying. They could not see each other, however they could hear each other and could talk. The youngest boy held onto Powell’s hand and Powell squeezed it and tried to comfort him. They were very scared!

Before long the three little boys were missed in the Village and their families started looking for them. They searched all over including down by the river. But the river was very swollen and running very fast. Some villagers said they must have been playing in the water and were caught in the flood waters and swept away. Soon it was dark but the families continued to search. In the morning the villagers were planning to search downstream to try and find their bodies. But an old woman in the village said they should dig where the big holes had been, because she remembered a time before when some workmen had been covered up during a rain storm and had been found buried when the holes were dug again. Those workmen were dead. Everyone ran to get their shovels. The men that had been working in the holes came and showed them where the holds had been. The flood water had leveled the beach so there was not even a small dent where the holes had been. They dug out the first three holes, it took hours. The boys were not there. People were tired. Many gave up. But the friends and families of the boys kept digging.

Powell was very worried during the long night. He doesn’t remember much except he kept praying that his family would find them. What a brave 8 year old little boy. When the villagers started digging on the last hole, Powel could hear them and tried to yell so they would know he and his friends were down there. But he had lost his voice and couldn’t make a big sound. He was still holding the small boys hand but he hadn’t moved in a long time. The other boy was not making any sound so he didn’t know if he was alright either.

Finally, the village found the boys. Unfortunately the little boy had died in the night. Powell and his friend were alive, but were very sick. Powell’s left ankle was broken, really bad. They took him to the hospital where he stayed for seven months with his leg in traction.

It didn’t heal right and he had to learn to walk with a very deformed foot. Because of that injury he was not able to run and play like the other boys but it didn’t stop him. He used crutches that his brothers made for him and eventually learned to walk although it is still very painful when he walks.

As a young boy he did not give up and as a man he is still growing and determined to help his fellowman. He has gone on to college and has served a mission. He joined the Church when he was 18 and applied to go on a mission when he was 21. Because of visa problems he was unable to leave on a mission until he was 26. During that time he served several “mini missions” and when he received his call it was to the South Africa, Johannesburg Mission, where he walks and rides a bike.

Powell, now known as Elder Oketta, never complains. He has never had much and has worked hard to support his brother and sister. He is a dreamer and his vision for his future in his country is inspiring. He is a great servant of our Heavenly Father. He is a tall (6′ 7″) dark handsome African man. We are so grateful for the opportunity to get to know him & especially the love he has for the gospel.

Now for the rest of the story. Through much prayer and from help from people here in the mission he will be able to have several surgeries on his foot so he will be able to walk correctly! Much of this medical expense will be donated by the medical people involved. However, because he is being released as a missionary and will medically unable to work, his personal expenses must come from friends. His mother is dead and his father is living in exile and his siblings have nothing.

Sooo… we are asking family and friends to help us with funds to cloth him (he has 2 pair of slacks and a few 2 yr old white shirts – a couple of ties, 2 T Shirts & a pair of shorts.) He will not be a missionary anymore and will need some casual clothes. He will also need money to live on while he is having medical treatment and recovering. He will be living at Elder and Sister Oborn’s flat while he is recovering. His doctors estimate that the medical treatments will take at least 8 months.

He has also left behind a wonderful girl in Uganda. His greatest joy would be able to have her come to South Africa where they would be able to be married in the Temple then she would be able to help take care of him. Elder Oketa is a very special servant of our Father in Heaven and we are hoping that you might be able to save some pennies and dimes and send them our way. Because of the cost of shipping and dealing with customs it is better to send money and not send “things”.

God bless you all!

I cried the first time I read the letter. I can just tell that my mom loves this young man like a son. What she doesn’t mention in the letter is that she is the one who has been working tirelessly to find doctors to help him and support for his care. If it wasn’t for her, he would not be able to have the life changing surgeries to fix his foot.

Of course I want to help too. I’ve decided to open one last Day With Amy: Photography Workshop before we move to Florida. All the proceeds from the class will be sent to help this young man.

If you are not interested in taking a class, but would like to make a donation, please contact me at amy@simplybphotos.com. Thank you so much!

Here’s a picture of Brother Powell Okata. He had his first surgery last week and everything is looking good!

This morning (April 1st) I received this beautiful comment from Brother Powell Oketa and I had to share it with all of you.

Hullo Sister Amy,

Hopefully all is well and that your family is doing fine. I’m Brother Powell Oketa a returned Missionary if I may say, I served in South Africa Johannesburg Mission.I did enjoy serving Heavenly Father and my Brothers and Sisters here in South Africa.I have a Testimony of Missionary work – I know it is the Lord’s work and I’m greatful to be part of it, I narrowly missed out on that opportunity, but I know that Heavenly Father knows me and is mindful of my existence.

The namle oketa simply means God has made me what He wants me to be. when my late mother (Mom Alice Achan) gave birth to me,I got infected with Tetanus and within three days in the hospital, the Doctors did what the could given the inadiquate medical supplies, they then later on recomended that I needed to be discharged from the hospital- so I could die from home and that they see no hope that of me surviving.

As my mother narrated this to me before she passed on in 1996, I knew that God loves me.She said that she brought me home and all knew for sure that I would die as an infant.She said she kept praying and crying at the same time, she had lost hope too.My late grand mother (Achola Gertrude), asked that I must be given a name- hence the name Oketa was given to me.My fate was expected each day and night, and I kept surviving every other day and night, religious leaders and their congregations visited our home daily to offer prayers and strengthen family. I know that His will has been done in my life as an infant. I am greatful for those prayers that were offered that I might live. May Heavenly Father reward them in His own way.

I’m glad that I had been spared, but for what purpose, I did not know not until I came to know of the truth that I now know and that is the Restored Gosple of Jesus Christ. I now know why my life was spared again when I was eight years of age in Kitgum District-for it all makes sense to me absolutely. And the fact that I came to serve the Lord even on His Mission even though I had barely turned 26 years old when I finnished filling and submitting in my Mission papers.I’m glad that Heavenly Father gave me the chance to serve a Mission- I saw things that I simply can’t share unless prompted by the Holy Ghost to share for the ediphication of Heavenly Father’s children. and to be sincere I thought I would not make it through that of 1992 when we got burried under the soil from 3:00pm saturday to 10:00am on sunday morning. He lives and He care and love all His children that I know to be true.

Sister Amy, my purpose in writing to you today is to lovingly and sincerely express my heartfelt gratitude to you and your family and all those that you associate with in your daily endeavoures, my live has changed on Mission, and what brought more to my joy is; to know that there are angels amongst us here on earth and one of them is your Mother Sister Oborn and Her loving wonderful husband Elder Paxton Oborn, and for sure I can’t say enough of them only Heavenly Father knows and will reward them for His promisses are sure. Your parents won’t say or boast in any way in all that they do. They have been and are blessings to many in this dispensation and I for one is greatful that they were born and rised that at this point in time they could be such a blessing not only in my life but to the lives of the citizens of the Republic of South Africa and to all the Missionaries from different lands and countries, and a bove all that they could run the Lord’s mission at this point in time- the two of them basically run Johannesburg Mission, I undoubtedly know that The mission president is so proud of them, the mission too and I’m particularly proud of them, They are really the Father and mother I never had.

I’m thankful for the other couple Missionaries, The Leavitts and their entire family and friends for equally being in the same boat with you and your parent’s family.I am thankful that you Sister Amy and your family and all those that have helped me in many ways in this time are non other than the Lord’s own hands extensions to me to bless my life. You all are angles to me, I can never repay for what you all have done and are still doing in my life. I am greatfull for all your kind hearts and generousity towards me,may Our kind,loving, precious and glorious Eternal Heavenly Father bless and reward you all in His own way and His own due appointed time is my fervent prayer.

And may your individual families be blessed and protected at all times. I had my first surgery and it was a success, and I am now back at your parent’s place to recover and they are really taking good care of me and my Sister Fiona who came rescently from Uganda to in any way help your parents in helping me even through you and all those that the Lord is using to bless my life. The lord promissed all who so lovingly and persistantly serve Him and I know you all are part of this promise being fulfilled in my life, what a blessing in it fulfillment?

I know that Heaveny lives and that Jesus Christ is His Son and the Savior of all man kind, and I know that President Thomas S. Monson is the true living Prophet and a mouth piece of God today and I also without any shadow of doubt in my mind know that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored and its priesthood authority as well, and if it were not true, I wouldn’t have been here doing missionary work for the same restored church even THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.With my heart full of thanks and joy, I express my love and appreciation to you, your Parents, families,friends, the Leavitts and their families and friends and all those that the Lord has used to be a blessing to me in this life in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Thanks, be blessed and have a great week and a Happy forth coming Easter Season with your families.

Yours Son and a Brother Powell Willy Lupaka Oketa.

This little one did not want to go to sleep.
She worked so hard at staying awake and keeping an eye on everything that was going on around her.
It took about three hours, but she finally couldn’t last any longer and fell fast asleep.
I can’t get enough of her little lips!

As a thank you to all the new Simply b fans from the last giveaway, Little Bitty Toys is offering a 15% discount on any order! Click here to check out her Etsy Store and enter simplyb as a coupon code at checkout! You won’t regret it!

Aren’t they the most beautiful children? Their eyes are just incredible. PLUS, their mom has the best fashion sense and always brings the cutest clothes! I am so glad I got to do a sibling shoot of the two of them before it’s time for us to move.

I’m going to miss working with Rachel when we move to Clearwater, Florida. I can’t believe we’re down to 53 days until we check out of our house! (I’m offering 15% off the few remaining spots in the last two A Day With Amy: Photoshop Elements | ONLINE classes that I’ll be teaching before we move. Make sure to check them out!)

Rachel worked with Designing Finch and SweetAmbs. What a talented group! Make sure you check out their pages!

Some of the comments made me smile! Like when one commenter wrote, “Ok, 1, 2, and 3 are done. I want to win a set of those little wooden dolls!!! Whoever wins those… I’ll give them the ol’ stink eye.
You’ve heard my middle name a few times. It’s pretty bad, but I’ve never, ever, ever heard of anyone else with that name (except the author I was named after). I like it more now than when I was younger, but… I still don’t want to share it. It was altered too much as a child when family members would tease me with it. SO, let’s just say my middle name is something lovely, like Charlotte.”

Many of the comments made me laugh right out loud! Like when the sister of above commenter replied with, “I love you, Eudora! aka Eu-dork-uh.” Don’t you just love sisters?! (I did ask permission before sharing this with you!)

So again, thank you for all your comments that made my day a little brighter. Anyone who has a blog will tell you that comments make it all worth while!

I hated to end the giveaway. I honestly wished I could give something away to everyone! So I am offering anyone who wants to sign up for the remaining spots of the A Day With Amy: Photography Elements | Online class 15% off! Your discount will be refunded to you after purchase. Find which classes are available here.
Please Note: We found out we are transferring on May 18th and so these will be the last classes I’ll be offering until we get settled in our new home! (Watch out Clearwater, Florida! The Earles are on their way!)

Without further ado (I’m really good at further ado. Sorry.)
Here are the winners of the giveaway:

In the order the prizes were listed on the giveaway:

Sara: Grand Prize #1 (Photoshop Elements 10 and a PRIVATE A Day With Amy: Photoshop Elements | Online class with 3 of her friends!)
Meagan: Grand Prize #2 (Nikon 35mm 1.8G lens plus a seat at the A Day with Amy: Photography Workshop | Online)
Natalie: Little Bitty Toys custom made family figurines
Cortney: Fondant Flinger
Margie: Playful Princesses custom dress
Jenna: Bownanas outfit
Mary: Bush Creative custom vinyl
Jennifer: Courtney Kirkland blog design discount
Melissa: J. Marie Designs outfit

Congratulations!

When my husband saw the images he gave me the best compliment ever. He said, “I’m so glad you became a photographer. I’m glad that you can record all these moments for us.” Me too. It’s been a blessing to learn how to use my camera to capture memories that we’ll treasure forever.

Today we’ve having another winter storm. I’m trying to enjoy it. It won’t be long before summer comes and it’s time for us to leave. We’re not going to have days like this in Florida, so we better enjoy the snow while we can. My boys (particularly Josh and Sam-a-lam) are nervous about winters with no snow. They’ve lived in Alaska all their lives and cannot imagine what it will be like.

I figured I better get out and snap some pictures before it’s too late and spring comes. (It may be wishful thinking, but I am really hoping spring is on it’s way!)

The boys let Miss B do the heavy lifting while they had a snowball fight.

Sam-a-lam wearing his dad’s hat.

Snow. Yum.

Interested in learning more about how to Move to Manual? Check out A Day With Amy: Photography Workshop | ONLINE where I cover all of this and more in a series of live classes (8 hours of instruction!) teaching you everything you need to shoot in manual and start taking amazing images!

One attendee wrote: “The online workshop with Amy Earle is phenomenal! I successfully moved over to manual mode the second meeting of our online workshop (this was after 5 months of my own reading and researching). I highly recommend Amy’s workshop! My images have improved so much in such a short time frame. Amy is very patient and down-to-earth. Best money I have spent in a while!!”

I sure look forward to writing these posts and I know Courtney does too! I hope they are helpful to you on your journey to learn photography, create beautiful images, and capture memories. Make sure you check out the post Courtney wrote last week about understanding aperture and depth of field as all these posts build on each other.

Do you remember the last post I wrote about finding great light? I mentioned that photography comes from the Greek word for light. Finding great light is an important step for creating a beautiful image, but you also have to understand how that light gets to your camera’s sensor and how it affects your pictures.

The amount of light that enters your camera will determine your exposure. If too much light enters, your image will be over-exposed. If too little light enters, your image will be under-exposed. There are two ways that you can control how much (or how little) light enters your camera: aperture and shutter speed. Courtney talked about aperture last week and this week I’m going to discuss shutter speed.

A quick preview of shutter speed:

• When you press the shutter button on your camera, it opens and closes your shutter for a predetermined about of time.
• How long your shutter is open is called your shutter speed.
• Shutter speed is measured in time. Typically in seconds or fractions of a second.
•  The longer your shutter is open, the more light is let into your camera. (The faster your shutter speed, the less light.)
• Shutter speed is responsible for recording motion in your image.

Take a moment and go get your camera. I want you to play with your shutter speed settings for a minute. Change your settings, see what shutter speeds your camera is capable of.

You probably have numbers that look like 1/200 (which is read: one two hundredth of a second) or 1/1200 (one twelve hundredth of a second) or 1/4 (one fourth of a second). (NOTE: some cameras will leave off the “1/” and just write the denominator. But remember you are still dealing with fractions.) What do those numbers mean? These numbers are the amount of time that the shutter is going to stay open. 1/200 means that the shutter will be open for one two hundredth of a second. That’s pretty fast.

Fast shutter speeds are used to freeze time. To capture the water suspended in time in this image (straight out of camera) of Courtney’s Little Man and my Miss B, I used a shutter speed of 1/1250. In that split second, my camera recorded each water droplet exactly where it was in that moment of time.

You also have numbers that look like 1″ (one second), 5″ (five seconds), 30″ (30 seconds). Rather than fractions of a second, the ” sign denotes full seconds.

Slow shutter speeds are used to show motion in an image. The sensor in your camera captures everything that happens when the shutter is open. If it is open for a short amount of time, it freezes time like in the image above. When a shutter is open for a longer amount of time, it captures all the motion that occurs while it is open. I took the image below 18 months ago when I first started teaching others about photography to show how a slow shutter speed captures motion and movement in a photo. My camera was on a tripod and my husband was holding a glow stick. My shutter speed was set at 4″ (four seconds). After I pushed the shutter button,  he drew a heart in the air with the stick. My camera’s sensor captured all the movement that occurred in that 4″.

There are a ton of gorgeous images out there that demonstrate slow shutter speed photography if you google it. Beautiful soft waterfalls where the water appears to be moving, freeways at night time where white headlights and red taillights are a blur along the road, star trails in the night sky. All these are captured using a shutter speed set slow enough to record the movement of the scene.

(You probably also have a setting called “bulb”. In bulb your shutter will stay open from the time you press the shutter button until you push it a second time to close it. It’s best to use a tripod and remote for this setting.)

When I first got my DSLR, my images often looked like this one of Miss B. Here she was 3 months old and very wiggly. The day took this picture, I had shot a whole series of pictures. At the end of the session I was particularly frustrated. None of the images had turned out. Many of the images would have been perfect if not for the blur of her hands and/or feet. I didn’t understand what was wrong.

After some googling and lots of study, I realized that my images were turning out like this because my shutter speed was too slow. I was new on my photography journey and always had my camera in program mode. (The only difference between program mode and AUTO for me was that I had programed my camera not to use my flash.) By setting my camera to program mode, I was allowing it to make all the decisions. It had set my shutter speed to 1/40th of a second which was slow enough to capture the blur of Miss B’s wiggly hands. My camera didn’t know what I was taking a picture of. For all it knew, I could have wanted to capture the movement of her hands. This is why it is so important to start learning how to use your camera in manual mode. It’s the best way to consistently get the pictures you want.

NOTE: When I’m taking pictures of wiggly children (like my own Miss B), I keep my shutter speed set at 1/200 or faster to avoid blur in my images.

It’s important to remember that not only does your shutter speed record motion, it also lets light into your camera. If you let too much light in (with a slow shutter speed), your image will be over exposed. If you let too little light in (with a fast shutter speed), your image will be under exposed. This is part of the dance of using your camera in manual.

For now, practice using your camera in “S” mode (for Nikon users) or “Tv” mode (for Canon users). This will allow you to set your shutter speed while your camera makes the other decisions for you.

This week use your “S” or “Tv” mode to capture a few different types of images.

Try a slower shutter speed to capture movement. My kids like when I get images of them darting across the room while I’m using a slow shutter speed. They look like they are running at supersonic speeds. When you are using speeds slower than 1/50, you may get some blur in your images due to camera shake (this comes from even the slightest movements you make which will then move the camera if it is handheld). It’s best to use a tripod for slower speeds. If you don’t have a tripod, you can place your camera on a counter or a stack of books.

Try a faster shutter speed to freeze time. Have your kiddos splash water or jump up high and catch them suspended in air. Shutter speed is a blast to experiment with!

Have fun this week! Courtney will be back next week to discuss ISO!