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Dailies 2013

Have been missing this wonderful daily community .. and is a great way ...

Updated: Jun 17, 2013 9:29am CDT

2013 Federation Forest

A good friend of mine showed me this beautiful and amazing forest year ...

Updated: Jun 15, 2013 8:26pm CDT

Stunning Portraits

A collection of favorite portraits

Updated: Mar 23, 2013 3:46pm CDT

Stunning Wedding Shots

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Most Popular Photos

Picture #191 -Painted Sunrise

Just a photo I revisited after hearing the seminar and trying a few things... I never take what others say even if it is at a seminar as gospel... It may be something that worked for them but I still use my own head and try different things.

clarity- adds shadow to dark areas, vibrance- is far better than using saturation because it makes all the colors brighter and he stated rarely do you need all of them brighter. Vibrance adds a color punch to in areas where there is less saturation. 1) It makes any color that is dull more bright, 2) it does very little to the colors that are already bright, 3) it does it's best to avoid skin tones altogether... so is much more controllable than saturation is.... well, that's what the speaker said but each to their own I say you know best what works for you..

this is an old photo from 9/09 that I had never processed because of the difficult lighting but was much easier trying some of the new techs.. have a great day.. I get to babysit Chloe again Mon... :-) connie

Picture # 109
Wed. 7/28/10 Found a little sleeping lady bug....Kind of a different colored one.

Thanks for the many comments.... off to spend some time with Chloe, Renee and Clay

Picture # 118

8/06/10 Took this one of the sunrise on the 5th. They say the sunrise and sunsets are so pretty because we have a lot of smoke in the air from the fires in BC, Canada. One night the sun going down was the most odd color of orange. Of course I didn't get out and take a pic, must have been busy doing something else I didn't notice. Just heard about it later on the news.

Other views of the same day..
http://www.stunningshotsbycraley.com/Touching-Moments/Unspoken-Poetry/11998722_bZTof#960084707_FKZuC

Have a great Friday... I think tomorrow after my acupuncture apt the girls, Renee and Liz and I will go get a pedicure. :-) connie

Picture # 187 -St. Aloyius... Buckley, WA.

A Pretty site .. this is on the way home from my daughter's.. thank you all for the comments..

Now Step # 2 Getting your color Right.. in camera RAW.
IF your color doesn't look right it is probabally the white balance is not correct. This is very easy to adjust in camera raw. Just one of the others listed there or all of them if it still doen't look right just grab the eyedropper and click on any place that is sappose to be gray... or the whites of eyes on portraits.. white or black will get you close but not like gray colors..

take care.. see you again after work... connie

Picture #174 -Peyton and Layden

Canon Elan7, Ilford 100 B/W, EPSON scanner image

Just another film photo ... thanks for your comments.. I am so excited to have tomorrow off. It's been a while. Well. since July... now to spend more time with the Grandkids.. :-) connie

Picture #168 Sweet Hannah
1d/Samyang 85mm 1.4

I am really loving this new portrait lens!!! I used a gray card and custom WB. Glad I learned to do this cause the edit was really simple. I have no idea what the f stop was. Since it is a manual focus it does not read the true f stop they all say 1.8..

I picked that dark pink rose for her to smell for her pictures only later to find it smashed under my backpack.... hehehe figures sometimes I am such a clutz.. surprising I can actually take manual photos.

Thanks for the comments.. and have a great start to the weekend... connie

All Tuckered Out....

Have a great start to the week... connie

Picture # 198 -The Rain Drop

Well, I have lightroom installed and have been trying to struggle to understand it all AND try to get photos back and forth to elements to finish the edits.. hummm, I am sure by next weekend it will all seem rather simple. I did get this to download to lightroom and edited it in RAW which is totally awesome in LR... then to elements to finish a spot or two and change to jpeg and upload........ ahhhh now that one is done the rest will be simple.. but I may have to get PSHop CS5 after going to the class.. lol now tomorrow to start trying my hand at re edit Hannah to get a better colors.... plus I signed up for a month at- http://www.kelbytraining.com/
that way I can learn more and remember what I saw at the class I went to in Seattle. :-) connie

Sorry I have been a little absent here while my head tries to absorb all the new stuff... of course I can't just do a little with it I had to totally make LR my own and customized it for me etc... can't do things just part way ... lol

I cheated a little when I found the sleeping lady bug I moved her and took another pic... this one... :-) she still just lay there like I hadn't even bothered her...

pic # 112, SAT. 7/31/10

We went to Walmart tonite and I was telling Gary... I haven't seen Chloe for 2 days. He said he had seen her today... then we turned an the corner with our cart and there they were.... Scott, Liz and Chloe. So I got to carry her all over and of course she spit up on me and all but I didn't care.... connie

6/04/10 Friday:
This is from yesterday on my way to work at 6:30 AM just a peak at Mt Rainier. Finally a sunny day but not sure what tomorrow will bring... enjoy your day all ;)

AND thanks for the comments on my humble attempts at photography. Just a silly horse pic.... just one to make you laugh and brighten the day. Such a talented group here thanks for making me a part of your community.. connie

Picture #208 The Road Home....It is always so breath taking on the small Auburn-Enumclaw Hwy, or state rt 164 but today was more unusual so I just snapped one through the car window. My husband and I were on our way to Seattle District Court because he had to testify for an in·voluntary mental health commit. Which was cancelled by the time we reached Auburn. But he was still in a hurry to get to the body shop to work there. It is much more relaxing and fun to go drive by myself and take my time taking photos. He calls me a tourist... lol In a very sweet way.

Still having trouble uploading using LRoom but once I really get it it is very cool. Take care you all. I'll try to be online and comment soon when I am not so obsessed with getting that program right. I'm not a very good multi tasker.. ♥connie

Picture #192 - Falling Down

Thanks so much for all the great comments on the Painted Sunrise of yesterday... so many kind remarks. Seems as I have learned so much just commenting and seeing your quality work.. There are truly some really amazing photographers in this group...

Another one from summer of 09 that I re-edited. Taken at dusk in Idaho... A little lady of 94 lives here and still raises cows. I don't sappose they stay in the barn though...lol

Have a great day... connie

Picture #150 Gateway To Mt Rainier

Enumclaw.... Gateway to Mt Rainier, That is what is on signs in town and use to be on the EPD police patches. Recently redesigned patches no longer say that but it is still what I remember when I think of the town name. Of course the name Enumclaw, is Native American name for strong wind or thundering mountain. Sometimes in the winter we get wind near 100 mph.. but only usually for a few hrs to a day or so.

Thanks for your comments ... connie

Picture #180 ... Life's Pathways, some lead to darkness others to light, search for the light..
This is one of those accident photos.... lol Couldn't figure out why the sky came out so rich and dark until I read that I had not changed the settings from the last time I used the camera and it was still set on -5/3 .... oh well, came out a beautiful color.. :-) connie
canon 1d mkii, Samyang 85mm 1.4, a manual focus lens

Thanks for all the comments... I had reservations about it but found it intriguing.. the dark shadows and the bold sunset.

Picture # 175 Clayton & His Bucks...

I am over whelmed by your response to my film photo of the two small children, Payton & Layden and thank you very much. Now I am excited to do more film. Think I'll maybe use B/W in the film camera and see how it goes. I imagine you can get the same look with good pp but I still have a crush on film.... Seems to have a charm of it's own.

Just another collage of Clayton and his chickens... still amazes me how tame they are. Have a great day... connie

Picture # 188 - Small Town Main Street

Thanks for the over whelming comments on the little church yesterday... very pleased you liked it so much. :-) Will comment later today since it's very late or early however you look at it at 1 am.

This is just looking down the main street of Enumclaw... told you it was small... cute and kinda redneck but all the same I love it. ♥connie

Gary and his Dad started working on this when he was 14... by 16 we were dating so this is one of the cars we dated in. ;-))

In 1940 and 41 1,800 of these cars were made. Then the war broke out and that stopped everything. They were hoping to make another great classic so bought the Chord unibody mold and made only this sedan model of 1940-41 Hollywood Graham was made. Since no further models or cars were made it was published in LIFE mag. in the 70's either 71 or 72 that is was one of the failure cars.

Gary's dad bought it in 1957. Kept it in the back yard as a parts car and owned several of them prior to getting the black one in the 80's.
It's not a show car and we drive it quite a bit. For many years it was a daily driver. Fun to have an old car but more fun not to be afraid to drive it around..

Wish I had or knew of that LIFE magazine now....

We are everyday people just car crazy and in love with this odd looking old car.. and each other. ♥
;-) connie

Wow, what a surprise to find my photo so high up in the 1st page... thanks so much for all the wonderful comments...you are the reason it was there..

Picture #212 Baby Chloe

My, Oh my. how time flies and little Chloe thinks she is a big girl now. About 6m old and soaking in all the world around her.

I purchased a refurbished point and shoot camera... not always easy to carry my canon around and that way I won't miss anything....

Thanks for your comment... connie

My sweet little Chloe... such a joy to watch and such an independent little thing. But such a sweet heart.

Still editing photos from last weekend. Have not even gone through them all yet. Then I'm sure I'll need to go through them again closer.. delete more and get a final set.. :-) connie

Picture # 205 -Merry Christmas Dear Friends :-)

Thanks for a great 2010 for me....
A warm and caring community full of very talented artists.. Hope your Holidays are as joyful as mine are. And here is to trying to keep up better with the daily photos. Can you tell I don't multi task very well :-P ♥connie

Picture # 209 Snow Blown Mountain

Happy New Year to you all here at SMug dailies... So many wonderful comments and so much fun getting to know you all here.

Just another one out the side window on the way home. Thought the clouds and wind blown snow looked amazing. Still can't believe that we were driving down the road as I took it. I did notice the shutter speed was about 4000 or something. Just one from the dumb luck club...lol
Didn't think I had a chance to get something this nice. Shooting into the sun and going fast..... still such a beginner in many ways but since I'm not good with technical or mechanical things I just try lots of things.. and quite often pleased by the results.

Hugs to you all.... ♥connie

Picture # 178 Rainier At Dusk

Hard to believe it has been a month since I took this picture.... better late than never they say.
Off today... Yeah..
Have a great day in what ever you do.. ;-) connie

Picture #169 -Joyful

Hannah- Canon1d Zuiko 135mm 2.8

Thanks so much for all the comments on Hannah yesterday. Was surprised by the overwhelming response. I think it is the best portrait I have done yet to date... ;-)

Just a quick fun one of Hannah, cause I was playing with the burst shots of her throwing leaves.. just love how fast this 1d is..

have a great end to your weekend... ♥ connie

Same Little Chruch..

On my way to Renee's house to pick up Chloe this little white church sometimes just begs to be photographed... as you can see I often listen... Have a great weekend. :-) connie

OH... I forgot to say this is with my point and shoot Olympus-tough

Picture #84
7/1/10/10
I can't seem to count the photos or the date lately....lol I think three photos had #80 on them. Anyway.... I took this the day before Chloe was born. Then I kinda got side tracked with baby for a while.... but who wouldn't. Just saw them on the way home from work, I had seen them for quite a while but finally got nerve up enough to knock on the door. No one was home but they came home before I was done and of course they didn't mind,,, :-)) connie

4/19/10 Mon.
Was happy to realize that I could upload daily since the weather and mood don't always make taking a photo a day always easy. One from a week ago at my daughter's house. They bought a small run down farm in a near by town about 15 min from our house. My husband says far enough away we should call before we go. hahaha which we do anyway. Clayton is my grandson and is a little over 2 yrs old and he says "Baby gota biga buck!" meaning his baby chicks are getting bigger. Thay are so sweet at 2 ys old... connie

5/11/10 Tue:
Rain, Rain, Rain... I guess that's why it's green here. :)
but the sky looks hopeful for maybe sunshine later today.
Took this a while back at my daughter's house. Off to work now....

Thanks for you wonderful comments. connie

Picture # 127 Drops Of Purple...

Thank you so much for the comments,,, the dogs were from the family that owns the beautiful buckskin horse, Phoenix. They all seemed so well trained and well behaved.

I did get a film scanner... seems to work quite well and has a large variety of professional scanning settings from b/W to 24 - 48 bit color and up to 6000 + dpi. Should get film back next week. Have a great day... connie

Picture #152 Summer Magic

All summer long I have been meaning to take pictures of these flowers... they are next door to the little gas station by my house. This time as I got gas I remembered and of course with my camera in the car I headed over to take a look. I was sure this late they would be almost spent but happily I found there were some beauties left.

Have a great Friday.... Am off to get my hair highlighted and acupuncture appointment ..... connie

Well, it seems I'm up to everyother day so far.... but it's a start and I surly enjoy your comments and seeing your outstanding photos.. very inspiring.

This is the 1st week of baby Sophia's life at home. Big sister Chloe can't get enough of her. Surprisingly enough they are still that way. Hugs and kisses all the time.

Thanks so much for all of your comments....
♥connie

picture #85, Friday 7/03/10
Just one of the days I drove around looking for flowers... Liked the colors here.

Thank you all so much for your kind comments. I feel blessed to find such a positive community here. There are many very talented photographers here. It is an honor to receive so many comments Thanks so much, connie

Picture # 161 Early Morn on the Farm -with my Zuiko 35mm and adapter on my canon 1d

This is Sat.. such a pretty morning... the 1st frost. Our fall has been so warm that the trees at the small local lake are falling off but hardly any color change. Kinda sad.... We do not have alot of color change anyway due to all the evergreen trees but ohhhh, well.... at least we have had a long stretch of sun... ;-)) have a great week. connie

picture # 162 Autumn Brillance

Got off work an hour early and the sun catching the leaves as I drove down the road shouted out that they wanted to be photographed... :-) so did some shots with the Zuiko 135mm........ I think I'm falling in love with these old manual lens.

Wasn't real sure if it would even turn out shooting actually under the leaves that the sun was shinning on but glad I tried anyway.

Another glorious day in the 60's by afternoon. Of course the morning is a bit chilly... but then rain after that for a few days. Unusually warm.... but no one is complaining.. :-) connie

Just playing around with some tiny light led lights 50mm 1.4 , with a 12X's ext. tube shot wide open.

Picture # 195 Mt Rainier At Dusk

Thanks for your comments... I am sure I should be able to get a better color on my Hannah picture this time it seemed a little too green or something.. I'll try again another day when my lightroom arrives... :-)

This is just before dark Friday... Went to Pt Townsand today, it was a beautiful sunny day.. pics of that later... connie

6/11/10 Friday:
At lunch time Thurs. decieded to take a few pics at the vetrans memoral. The rain had stopped and seemed as if the sun might come out. Well, boy was I wrong. As soon as I walked over to some flowers it was a down pore... but I stayed for a while anyway...lol might as well make the most of it while I was out there...

Thanks for your comments,,, connie

Picture # 179 Sunset On The Old Buckley Hwy...

Thanks for being such a great community... So nice to come home to so many comments.. I will return them in the AM. Since it is late Fri nite... off to rest but I did accomplish a lot today..

Too bad there are so many telephone and electric lines... could take them out but for some odd reason I thought they added to the photo.. Have a great weekend... ♥ connie

Oh, I see I spelled my name wrong on yesterdays watermark... hehehe I'll fix it later
made me laugh

Picture # 80 6/27/10 Sunday I choose a no flash shot so a little soft... should have bumped up the iso oh well.
Baby Chloe about 30 min old.... poor little cone head.... lol but of course Sat she already looked normal.. Must be somekind of headache for the little one. It was an amazing experience. They thought she might have to go C section. The Dr is fairly new and such a sweet soft spoken lady. She was awesome!

Thanks for the comments.... connie

Picture # 182 Not Grandma's Again....
1d mkii, Zuiko 135mm 2.8

Watched Chloe for a while today.. and Renee and Clay went out for lunch.. Chloe kept looking at me and then would scream.... just one of those days. We went back to my house and she drank 2 bottles... small ones. Must be growing....

Thanks for the comments... connie

well, you have probably been wondering what I have been up to... On October 12th I was heating up some oil to fry potatoes for Chloe and I and I started playing with Chloe, got distracted until I smelled smoke. The grease was black and scalding. So I turned on the fan and opened the kitchen window and lifted the pan towards the window so the smoke would go outside. Apparently I tilted the pan and the grease poured on my left hand. It didn't seem that bad until the next day. I had gone to the Dr. and was changing the bandage 2x's a day. I went back in for a check on it and saw a different Dr. she was horrified that I didn't go and see a wound care specialist. So off I went to see the Wound Care Clinic. That Dr was also horrified and I had surgery the next day.

He did a pig graft in the darker color you see on my hand. It crossed over 6 joints so they were worried about flexibility and contracture. I acturally did well and have excellent movement and not really any contracture. Lucky me, but the strangest thing happened after surgery. My face broke out in big sores covering 80% of my face. It was very painful, even more so than my hand. All the Drs I saw think it was an allergic reaction to the general anesthetic. So this is how I look now. It looks bad but it is SO much better.

I had a mild chemical peal Thursday and will most likely have several more to help get rid of the scars and to slough off the top skin ao it can heal the rest of the way.

All in all it has been a very humbeling experience.... but I am finally on the road to recovery.

Picture # 197 -Pt Townsand Boat Marina

We ate at a little hole in the wall place by the marina called Sea J's... my favorite fish and chips place. It was yummy as ever. Thanks for your comments.. Now, trying to learn the ins and outs of Lightroom 3. Fun, yet challenging... for now.. :-) connie

Gallery Categories

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Updated: Aug 06, 2012 1:57pm CDT

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Updated: Jun 30, 2012 11:02pm CDT

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Your Bio

I have been in love with photography ever since my grandparents gave me my 1st camera at age 11.

There is a sence of calm and peace when I look through the lens. Oddly enough especially at weddings. I don't just see a snap shot I see art.

The best part is the joy it brings to others.

Specializing in natural light photography... Weddings, Portraits,Pregnancy and New Born photography.
Can travel with full studio lighting for most occasions.

Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I do taking them....

Married to my high school sweetheart for 39 yrs and he's still my sweetheart.., two grown children, Grandson Clayton & Step Granddaughter Ally and Granddaughters Chloe and Sophia.

Now doesn't that really make life worth living.... ;)

I mostly shoot digital but photograph with a Canon Elan 7 also. Favorite film Fuji 100 Pro, Ilford Delta 400 B/W S

Specializing in artistic, candid, natural light Portraits, Weddings, Pregnancy and New Born Photography. Creating a warm atmosphere and personal and affordable experience for each client. A Portable studio also available. Have camera and lights will travel... considering it's not too far from Enumclaw.

CANON 1D MK II N
CANON 5D
CANON 20D
CANON EOS 30 / ELAN 7
1945 LEICA lllC

CANON 50mm PRIME 1.4
SAMYANG PRIME 85mm 1.4
CANON 70-200 IS 2.8
CANON 28-80mm 3.5-5.6ll
CANON 80-200mm 4.5-5.6
CANON 75-300 5.6
ZUIKO PRIME 24MM 2.8
ZUIKO PRIME 35MM 2.8
ZUIKO PRIME 135MM 2.8
SOLIGER PRIME 350MM 5.6

Contact me at:
stunningshotsbycraley@gmail.com for questions, bookings
253-632-1519

You can also see my Etsy Store http://www.etsy.com/shop/StunningShots?ref=si_shop

[img http://etsync.com/signature/myprofile.php?username=Stunning ShotsPhotography&style=sig1-200x200[/img]

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