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so after THIS POST i had a lot of questions about the dress rack in cheeks #2′s room that my girls hang their disney princess dresses on…well the super secret fancy schmancy answer is…its a quilt rack spray painted white! yep…that all…while i have a lot of creative juices flowing through my body decorating my house is not and has not ever been one of them…sorry to be so lame with the answer
i have no words…
okay maybe a few…
every.single.day
what she chooses to wear is a source of “contention”
(and yes i am fully aware that we own a few too many disney princess dresses)
omigosh how gorgeous! happy saturday!
okay, now i have no words, b/c I love this image so much. the light, the colors, and the story. love love love!!
Precious:) What a neat idea to hang her dresses…is that a quilt rack?
[...] after THIS POST i had a lot of questions about the dress rack in cheeks #2′s took that my girls hang their [...]
melt me!
The word “too many princess dresses” doesn’t exist in childhood, just as the word “too many shoes” doesn’t exist in womanhood. 
So our magical dream vacation to Disney World is months past but after ROCK THE SHOT FORUM posted THIS ARTICLE about my take on enjoying disneyworld as a photographer and a mom, it all came flooding back to me…
there was an influx of questions from y’all so here are some of the most commonly asked ones and their answers below the post with a few more images of our magical trip which by the way was planned by me AND BY THE MOST AMAZING DISNEY TRAVEL LADY TAMMY with a time to treasure i can’t say enough about this woman and the wonderful-ness that SHE truly is!!!!! i love her!!!!!!!
QUESTION: I like having nice photos from our adventures but the freedom of not having all the gear. (My daughter is three and we’ve pretty much giving up the stroller so I have to carry any gear. I’m highly considering getting another point and shoot just for Disney trips but afraid I’m going to be disappointed with quality etc. any suggestions? Is it worth it to get a P&S?
ANSWER: i am always disappointed with the speed of p&s cameras so i would actually encourage you to rent a stroller and BRING YOUR BIG GIRL CAMERA. however our family does own AND USE the canon powershot as our p&s camera and we really like it. But since this was our first trip i was determined to shoot some but always experience every moment with my family and i did just that, finding the best balance for the amount of time you are there vs what you really want in the end is the best way to go, and the rock the shot article give tips for that.
QUESTION: I’m headed there soon and am curious about why you chose to bring the 35 AND 50–even sacrificing to have only one of them on any given day?
ANSWER: i do not own any lenses outside of prime L lenses however i did consider renting the 24-70. FOr me i ended up making a choice based on using what i was comfortable with and NOT HAVING THE BULK or weight of the 24-70, that is a pretty hefty lens to carry around all day and my 35L or 50L are quite light and decently short lenses so they fit well in the pbk backpack i ended up putting my camera in. i will say the 50 was tight in some of the indoor princess meet and greet locations so if i could have only had ONE lens it prob would have been the 35L. I am learning slowly to love this lens however i do enjoy the slight distortion it gives to closeups and it lends itself really well to lifestyle type images in my opinion.
QUESTION:when you were in cinderellas castle which lens were you shooting with?
ANSWER: okay all images in these two posts were shot with the 35L, settings for the last image were 20,000 YES UP READ THAT RIGHT, 2.5 2500 which is why its not perfectly in focus but i knew i wanted a high ss to freeze the fireworks so i went for it, there really is no perfect answer to this question, knowing your cameras capabilities and correct metering helps a lot but i simply adore these night shots of the castle so i went for proper exposure and sacrificed on the noise
QUESTION: How are you able to reduce so much noise in lightroom with your darker images?
ANSWER: the luminance slider in lightroom is a savior for noisy images plus i shot with the canon 5d mkiii which is a beast in low light
QUESTION:I always have such a hard time with ambient light at the parks after dark and often, even bumping ISOs to astronomical levels, is still not enough to bring shutter speeds high enough. And that says nothing about how difficult it is to even pull focus with contast being so low in the dark. So the big question I’m dying to know is… did you bring along an external flash??
ANSWER: no ma’am i never use external flash i only use available light/natural light. remember when shooting your subject in the park try positioning them in sections of actual light, like with street lights near, next to or behind them to i use this a lot when shooting at night in my home as well, THIS SHOT WHICH WAS ONE OF MY FAV SHOTS EVER and is a great depiction of what i mean along with THIS ONE
you never cease to amaze me…i love it. how sweet are cheeks #2 eyes in a gaze of magic…
Oh Shalonda, your two princess are just so cute with those little hair buns! Gorgeous pics too!!
You’re awesome. Thank you so much! I’m also really enjoying your Clickin Mom’s “Watch Me Edit” Session. You are an inspiration! Best to you!
I’m curious what you do with your gear when you ride a ride? I never mind lugging my gear around, but I will never let it our of my sight and I know some rides you can’t take personal items on. So what do you do with it?
This is a beautiful blog ♥ I love it…great work!
************GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED: winner is ariana randle**********************
okay fabulous friends i can finally share the news…
chubby cheek photography has been featured in the latest issue of CHIC MAGAZINE!!!!!
as you probably know i have been honored to have instructed two classes with them since they launched last year. its such a wonderful way to get good honest and professional feedback to help you grow as an artist with tons of your favorites photographers, plus the forum is pretty fabulous as well…
because i am so excited to be offering a BUSINESS CRITIQUE with this this time around which by the way starts soon and only has FOUR SPOTS LEFT so if you are wanting to give your business a late christmas present why not join us?!?!?!
TO JOIN THE CLASS OR READ MORE ABOUT IT CLICK HERE
while you can purchase digitally or better yet purchase the print copy, the magazine is chock fool of drool-worthy yumminess you can buy it HERE
i thought we should do a fancy schmancy little giveaway to celebrate the publication of the magazine and giveaway a
digital copy of the dream issue as well as
a 30 min skype critique session with chubby cheek photography!!!!
AND YOU DONT HAVE TO BE A PHOTOG TO ENTER yall know i teach the smart cookie class for moms & dads who want to learn more about their cameras and believe EVERYONE will want to check out this magazine!!!!
so ready set go
enter by using this form below and know the giveaway ends this friday at midnight!!!!
Ok random number . org, PICK MY NUMBER!!!! Whoop Whoop
Thanks! You Rock!
squeee!! congrats to you, and yay for us – thanks for the giveaway!!
Thanks for the giveaway 
I love honest Critique/feedback and Love to learn new techniques! <3
Thank you for the giveaway!!! Would love to win!
Fantastic prize! Thank you
I would so love to win this and get your thoughts.
Bethany Petrik - I LOVE this answer. In, fact, I think this is a fantastic excuse to go antiquing again, so I can find a fancy smancy dress rack for my girls!
Ashley Ez - No, that is SO creative! A “lame” un creative way to decorate your house would be to purchase the ugly clothing racks designed with little girls in mind and marketed and sold at…Toys R Us or somewhere like that.
Love the quilt rack! It looks like it belongs in a bridal boutique.
Marisa - Ooh, I was wondering about that, too. So creative! We installed our closet rods lower so the kids could reach their clothes, but the quilt rack is perfect for a little princess!