Oops, blog neglected!

©2011MegRussellPhotography

New Year's resolutions are made to be broken right? This year's blog project has been sadly relegated to the neglected pile of to dos. This photo screamed out, BLOG ME, so here is another piece of the project that will inspire more images from my photography addiction. This was taken at the Sarah Duke Botanical Garden in Durham North Carolina. Our vacation was a photographer's dream and many more vacation photos will be featured here! 

Is it Spring or Not?

As we watched it snow this weekend, I am sure we were all confused. Is this Spring or not? I assure you it is. I spent a day at the Arboretum and the trees are blossoming, the bulbs are sprouting, and the allergies are kicking in. I have early spring allergies caused by the beautiful flowering trees. I will not let them beat me this year, I will be outside up close and personal to those trees, capturing their beauty through my watering eyes, my throbbing sinuses, and the zombie-like demeanor I attribute to the medicines. I am very grateful for the auto-focus points on my camera, they will help combat the fuzzy appearance of nature that I will experience until late spring/early summer. Then all I will have to fight is the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes.

A White Christmas! Er, Spring Break....

Our Spring Break started off with a wintry snowfall. Spring is one week away, and yet we were blanketed in fluffy white flakes. My daughter and I sat at our breakfast table and watched the birds at our feeders for hours. We used our bird guide to identify them and I took 466 photos. Yep, 466, from my breakfast table! Thank God for digital cameras. How much $ would that have been in film?

In contrast, my son spent his morning playing soccer out in the snow at a Sporting KC training camp. I wish I had some photos of that! He did injure a toe, but other than bruising, he was perfectly fine after a hot cup of cocoa.

I am sure many of you echo my daughter's sentiment of "I don't like snow anymore," but we all know that the Midwestern fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk heat is just around the corner.  I myself will enjoy the few extra days of head to toe sweat-pant couture, and lazy snow days inside.

If you put the feed out, they will come. (Eventually....)

@2011MegRussellPhotography

I put my feeders out way too late this year.

I thought the birds would come anyway because it had been so cold.

I have waited several weeks for them, and not very patiently.

Each morning as we eat breakfast, we stare out at the feeders full of seeds,

they look lonely without any customers.

But now with this last ice, sleet, and snow storm, they are here!

I am celebrating by sending this cutie out to all of you.

Here come my customers!

 @2011 Meg Russell Photography

Word of mouth is always the best promotion for any business, 

I mean, it's free advertising! 

Especially in the photography world, 

word of mouth is money in your pocket.

Now, I am apparently becoming quite the buzz in the world of wildlife photography.

The models are showing up on my door step, 

just waiting for their opportunity to have a shoot with me!

This guy was waiting on our back fence this morning.

I was honored to take his portrait. 

I am hoping he'll send more of his friends my way.

Happy Valentine's Day!

For those of you with a loved one, 

do something special for them today.

It doesn't have to be expensive or fancy,

just a gesture of your love.

For those of you who are single, 

celebrate anyway!

Do something special for yourself.

Take the time to get a massage,

or paint your nails.

Nothing says you can't be your own Valentine!

Plus, I am sending you this rose as I token of my love for you!

We can be Valentines!

Will you be my Valentine?

To Valentine or Not to Valentine?

Valentine's day is coming!

Whether you love this holiday or dread it, it is on it's way.

How will you celebrate?

Love is more than three words mumbled before bedtime. Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day.
Nicholas Sparks

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own home.
Give love to your children, to a wife or husband, to a next-door neighbor.
Mother Teresa 

"Love is like a rose. It may look beautiful, but it's got thorns."
-- Anonymous