A Simply Enchanted Life

Your Family in Pictures: The Parents' Guide to Photographing Holidays, Family Portraits, and Everyday Life by Koh, Me Ra
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For parents (especially moms) with little to no photography experience who want to capture better portraits and photos of their families using any camera.

What parent doesn’t want to capture the perfectly imperfect joy of family life through photos? From holidays and vacations to portraits and shared moments, celebrated photographer (and mom) Me Ra Koh not only helps moms and dads take better photos, but inspires them to discover photography as a way to connect with, cherish, and celebrate their family. With forty beautiful “photo recipes” anyone can follow—with any camera—preserving your family’s story has never been easier!

I was so excited to take this book! Photography is a passion of mind and as most of my friends know—I’m actually opening a new photography business called Simply Enchanted Photography.
The thing is though—it’s so much easier to take pictures of strangers than it is to take pictures of your family. You aren’t a photographer to your own children—you’re quite simply, mom.

I thought this book would provide me valuable tools and tips for photographing ‘my’ family. Instead, what I found was that this book had many wonderful tips, tricks and ideas that I will be able to carry through as I work with clients as well!

While I have a nice Canon DSLR, this book is still useful to anyone and it doesn’t require you to have a fancy camera to take nice pictures. The techniques suggested to getting your family’s attention and suggestions on how to build your photographer’s eye is helpful to anyone—new photographers or hobbyist especially.

Are you a new photographer or simply wanting to take better pictures of your family? Wherever you’re at in your photography goals—Capture life. Live life. Love life.
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Me Ra Koh, affectionately known as The Photo Mom, is the leading photography expert and educator to moms with cameras. She hosts the Disney Junior TV show Capture Your Story with Me Ra Koh, and also writes a weekly column for Disney’s Babble.com

“I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.”

My goodness! I’m finally coming up with the time to write my week in review. I really should call it “weeks in review” because I didn’t have a chance to write about last week.

Life has been a whirlwind as of late! Music rehearsals for the girl’s recital this month, trying to get our house listed, orthotic fittings, therapy, trips to Charlotte and a little bit of everything else has kept me on my toes.

In fact, I’ve fallen to one book behind schedule on my reading as well because I’ve just not had the time to sit down for two seconds to read!

So, let me update right fast and share that Ms. Kahlan got her orthotics! She’s doing absolutely fantastic with them. She’s up to about 3-4 hours a day in them. By the end of the month she should be in them pretty much all the time. It’s just taking time to get her used to them.

Prue had her checkup in Charlotte this week over her residual pneumonia. For the first time in 14 weeks she has a clear chest xray! We’re so excited about that. Nothing beats a healthy kiddo!

What else… lots of work in the house. I’ve been steaming the floors. I really hate carpet; let me tell ya…eventually I will have a house that has zero carpet through it. A throw rug is fine but carpet is something that I really hate.

I have gotten in some photography practice since my last update. I also started setting up a website for when I am ready to start offering packages. Here are a few favorites since my last update.

Anyway, here it is 10:30 pm and I’m just now writing this review because I spent my Saturday evening in the E.R. with Priya. Turned our back for one second and the kids got the bright idea to try to close the gate on the trailer that my father in law was unloading. Needless to say, it slipped from tiny hands and landed on a tiny foot. Thank God it isn’t broken!

Signing off for the night—heading to bed just completely exhausted and hopeful that next week isn’t quite as, umm…chaotic.

I didn't have much time this week for any graphic work but here's a camera that I made digitally for a logo. You're free to use it for whatever you'd like or recolor it.

Here's an example of a logo that I made with it

Someone remind me…never decide to paint my house 48 hours before I have a holiday party or dinner planned…yeah, I did that this week.

Aside from the house work…this week has been sorta humdrum. I’ve been much too busy for a lot of blogging. I finished a lot of books but I’ve just not had the time to get them all reviewed.

In fact, I only got two reviews up this week; An Amish Garden and Gift of the Phoenix. I finished Rachel by Jill Eileen Smith and also, The Last Bride by Beverly Lewis. Then, I started in on Merlin’s Nightmare by Robert Treskillard. While I have yet to finish the ARC (advance reader’s copy) of Merlin’s Nightmare, I’m really enjoying it so far.

Arthur, now eighteen, is missing, and Merlin must find him before a shadowy pursuer catches him first.
With the High King and his kingdom caught in a trap of sinister deceit, Merlin has to find a way out before all is lost. Having everything to fight for, and almost nothing to fight with, Merlin and Arthur must rally Britain’s warriors against three overwhelming enemies: Saxen hordes in the south, Picti raiders in the north, and a chilling new enemy that has arisen in the west. At the same time, Morgana brings Merlin’s deepest fear to life and sets a horde of werewolves loose to destroy Britain. But when the secret purpose of this nightmare is finally revealed, will Merlin and Arthur find a way to survive—without unleashing an even greater evil?

There isn’t much else to report. As I said—while it was a busy week, it was all the, “same ole, same ole.” So, I’ll just jump right into what I accomplished this week.

First up—walls were painted and I distressed all the picture frames in the house to make them pop against the dark color I chose. Excuse the cell pic but it’s the only chance I’ve had to even capture the new color. See the green shelf? I got it distressed and painted a turquoise color now as well. I'll try to get a better image before next week's review

I got some super cute pictures of Arie this week as I practiced with my camera.

Then I got a picture of Kahlan to document how badly her legs turn in. She should get her orthotics in the upcoming week so I wanted to get a shot to document where she is starting from. Therapy is going okay but it isn't helping as much as I had hoped. I think we made the right choice in choosing to get the orthotics in addition to her therapy. I just worry that she is going to hate it.

Also, another favorite from this week is this picture of Piper. We had a jedi themed shot and I captured this gorgeous image of her. I just love it!

Today, egg dying…we’ve never done it! Can you believe that I have an almost thirteen year old daughter and we’ve never dyed eggs? I never really did it growing up so it was never something I just thought of starting with the kids. Today when I waited in line to pick up Kahlan’s albuterol, I decided I was going to pick up egg dye. They turned out so loverly. Yes, I said loverly…deal with it. *winks*

Oh and last but not least, a huge congrats to Amara Zee. She is the winner of the $25 Hazelaid Giftcard! If you haven’t had a chance to read my review about Hazelaid amber and how it has helped Kahlan’s asthma, feel free to drop by and do so!

Sorry this blog is so scatterbrained (and I’ll admit…unproofed) but I nearly let the day go by without a chance to catch everyone up! I hope you all have a great Easter weekend.

Signing out until next week,




P.S. Don't forget to check out the freebie timeline pics that I shared with everyone. Feel free to grab your own and be sure to check back next Friday for a new set of free graphics!

Oh my goodness! What a crazy week—I wish I could say that my week wasn’t as crazy as it was last week but I think it was just as bad, if not worse! The older girls are preparing for violin recital sometime in May. That means extra practices and lessons.

On Wednesday, Kahlan went to her normal therapy session for her In-toeing. I think this was the first week where she really got frustrated at her lack of ability to perform tasks. My mommy-heart just broke when she growled and stopped her foot in frustration because she couldn’t pedal a bike without help.

In addition to her therapy, she was fitted for orthotics today—I’m not sure how she’s going to do with them. She enjoyed the casting and picking out the girly colors, I don’t think she fully understands that she’s going to have to wear them, every single day.

Despite how busy things are,  I did have a little more time for reading and reviews. I got a little bogged down with a book that I didn’t really enjoy and ended up wasting the extra time that I did have. I’m usually a very fast reader but I finished only one book this week due to how I kept procrastinating with Gift of the Phoenix. My review for that one is due on the 18th so be sure to check out my thoughts. Oh, I also finally reviewed Guardian of the Flame. That book was really good—then again, I’ve never read a Tracy Higley book that I have been disappointed with.

I just finished downloading my next book to read, it’s one I’m really excited about. It’s an author I know well and I’m pretty sure that I’ll probably like it.

Take a three-thousand mile journey with Amanda Pearson as she leaves the disgrace of a broken engagement and enters the work of a Quaker mission in the western wilds. The trip is fraught with danger, and Amanda is near death before reaching her destination. Among those she meets are an Indian woman who becomes her first convert and a half-Indian trapper who seems to be her biggest critic. But love follows her into the wilderness and will determine the course of her future. You are sure to enjoy this historical romance adventure from New York Times bestselling author Wanda E. Brunstetter.

Products that I tried this week included Hill Science Diet, Starbucks Coffee, Quaker Warm and Crunchy Granola, Hazelaid and I finally published an updated report of my Godaddy Online Bookeeping experience (which was a bit crazy!)


Speaking of product reviews—did you see the giveaway that I posted earlier today?! I blogged about my daughter’s asthma and gave my thoughts on amber and gemstone therapy. Hazelaid also provided a $25 gift certificate to one of my blog readers—be sure to check it out!


Before I forget, I got a Canon Powershot 2500 for free this week from Cafemom for testing Orajel Naturals, plus an 8gb memory SD card to go with it. Not too shabby! My daughter was drooling over it the minute UPS delivered it. I think she's claimed it as hers but that's okay, I already have a camera! I also got a new Beverly Lewis book in the mail that my mom had preordered for me for my birthday. It felt a bit like Christmas around here this week!


While I’m blabbering on, I might as well share a few of my favorite photography shots from this week. Remember—I told you all last week about my new hobby being photography. Well, my oldest daughter and I have a penchant for villains and decided to start a villain series of photos.


In other news, I went shopping today. I never shop for myself! Check out my awesome finds. Cute shoes, and they're comfy too! I had to have the shirt because it matches my blog...I'm such a dork haha.
That’s pretty much it—another week down and another busy week coming up. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers this upcoming week. Prue has a visit with the pulmonologist on Monday to find out why she still has residual pneumonia after eleven weeks. I’m praying for a miracle and that they’ll tell me she’s all better!

Until next week...

I’ve come to the point in my blogging where I want to start connecting with my readers rather than being a faceless reviewer. In this new series of blog posts, I want to start offering an update of my week, share what I’m reviewing, and what is going on with life.

If you follow my blog at all you’ll notice that it’s been a slow blogging week. Life has been rather chaotic with three doctor’s appointments with my children, therapy sessions for Kahlan (my three year old) as well as an evaluation for orthodics, in addition to violin lessons for the two older girls.

In terms of reading, this has been the slowest week for me this year due to my busy schedule. I managed to finish only one book. I started in on another but, I’ve only made it to 6% so far.

First up, Guardian of the Flame by Tracy Higley. I finished this and will put up the review soon. I simply haven’t had time!

The year is 48 BC. Sophia, a woman hurt by past loss, guards the famous lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt, in order to hide herself away from a world she deems cruel and unloving. But there is no escape. Political turmoil swells as Roman general Julius Caesar and his legion storm the city, and Cleopatra, Greek queen of Egypt , fights to retain her country against both Caesar and bloodthirsty rivals within her own household. Sophia is caught in the middle between a loyalty to Cleopatra and her maddening interest in Bellus, the Roman soldier whom Caesar has instructed to overtake the lighthouse.

Last night I started in on Gift of the Phoenix by Donna Cook. I haven’t made it far so, I’m not yet sure how it’ll be.

A prince is murdered.

An island sinks into the sea.

A thousand-year-old ritual foretells great evil.

A nation’s fate rests in the hands of three strangers, thrust together by their common destiny to protect the Phoenix, and their world, from destruction. The Three must learn to unite in spite of what separates them, and unlock the magic of three stones that seem to harm as much as they help.

Their journey leads through unexpected doors. Along the way they encounter a cursed people, a haunting vision, a woman on the run.

It all begins and ends with the gift of the Phoenix.

Products that I’m reviewing very soon and am in the process of trying…

I enjoyed a cup today and plan to share my review as well as a favorite coffee recipe to go with it in the upcoming week.

Starbucks Blond Roast

These are decidedly mellow.

Starbucks has reimagined how to bring a lighter taste to our coffees. Our 40 year history of sourcing, roasting, and blending the highest quality coffee in the world allowed us to create a recipe that yields a great-tasting, perfectly balanced cup of light roast coffee. This is Starbucks first true light roast coffee. The name “Starbucks® Blonde Roast” reflects our roasting artistry and indicates a coffee that is light bodied and flavorful – our easiest-drinking coffee.

Then, my daughter is testing Hazelaid Dark Cherry and Turquoise Baltic Amber. She was recently diagnosed with Asthma and I’d heard that the cherry and turquoise relieves asthma symptoms. I’m also pleased to announce that in the upcoming week, I’ll be hosting a giveaway with Hazelaid and sharing coupon codes with my readers!

USE: Effective for teething, drooling, and other pain relief. Must be placed directly on the skin. We recommend moving necklaces to the upper leg during naps and at night for very young children. Baltic amber is meant to be worn, NOT chewed!

As far as life goes,

I’ve spent my week working in our home. We’re in the process of listing our current house and we think we’ve found the home we want to make an offer on. With six kids, we’ve simply outgrown our current home.

 Remember all the doctor visits I mentioned? Well, my eight year old, Prue, has had pneumonia for ten staggering weeks! While we’ve seen an improvement, she still has residual pneumonia. We have to drive a couple hours away to see a Pulmonologist in the upcoming week or so.

Arie had a wellcheck this week. Since we don’t vaccinate (due to reactions in two of my other children), we haven’t been in a while and my doctor is fine with that. We space out the visits as to not expose her to unnecessary germs. Little miss is six months old. She is up to 27” and is 14lbs 8oz. She’s a little thing! Long and skinny but perfectly healthy! She’s learning to crawl, enjoys bathtime, is still exclusively breastfed and recently learned to say, “Hi.”

Kahlan had an evaluation for orthodics this week, in addition to her therapy. She had club feet when she was born, we were told that it would correct itself but she has turned to severe intoeing which results in her falling...a lot. In a recent evaluation we were told that she has the physical capabilities of a 33month old, despite being 43 months of age.

I'd hoped for better news but was told that she needs the orthodics and continued therapy to correct the problem. Her problem is quite severe and they hold out hope for about a 50% improvement. The hope is to correct her clumsy tendencies and improve her quality of movement.

In addition to everything else I have going on, I’m learning a new skill—photography. I got my very first DSLR in December and my good friend from Danielle Cordeau Photography has been encouraging me as I learn to work the manual settings. I’ve a long way to go but I am getting more comfortable with it!

That was pretty much my week. If you made it through this long post—thank you! I would love to hear about your week!