:issue: i'll take that to go

so i'm officially working + connected on the go :)

:issue: ah ha!

i just found a safe way for my kids to play with bubble wrap!

http://fun.from.hell.pl/2003-11-24/bubblewrap.swf {go ahead + click, you know you can't resist}

:issue: sun stalker

I've been stalking the sun for quite some time. Here's a photo of my son I took a few years ago

:issue: no wonder

During my shoots, I typically encourage the children I'm working with to jump, hop, skip, tear stuff up, etc. I think it's extremely important to capture genuine emotion! Often times parents leave the shoot saying "wow! you work really well with kids, I don't know how you do it!!!" It's no wonder it comes natural to me, I have 1 daughter, 1 son, 3 nieces, 3 nephews, 1 God daughter, LITERALLY 50+ younger cousins who are required to call me "aunt", OH & approximately 40 cabbage patch kids that I raised since I was 10! 20 years of working with kids... no wonder!

:issue: real love

i love these 2 with all my heart. please keep my father {+mother} in your prayers. i am confident that he will be ok, it's just so hard to watch him go through the treatments/pain/discomfort. we continue to pray & know that God is healing him, it's just tough to stay strong.

:issue: a beautiful mind

My Boopity is such a smart child.  My mom claims he said a word to her when he was 4 months *she was the only one in the room*.

When his teacher called us to give his progress report, she said she'd never met a child who's "wheels were always turning". It's true, you can literally 'see' him thinking about everything before he speaks. If something doesn't make sense to him, he will ask questions until it does. I love him so!

Yesterday was another "question fest". It drives me CRAZY but how can I complain when all he wants is to gain more knowledge and understand!

:issue: in 2012

i will be traveling all over on assignment

with my family & an awesome french or english nanny that schools my children while traveling.

my husband will also win the WSOP!

You future is what you make it, if you push hard enough for it!

:issue: post secret

elbie has been a lover of postsecret.com since it was first online, today I googled post secret images and found so many lovely secrets. I've been making little booklets with words torn/cut from magazines and books and placing them over images since I was little. Turns out there are 1,000's of people that do the same.

This particular secret doesn't apply to me as even at 30, I believe I can reach ever goal I have.

:issue: kodak moment

So, helloooooo :-)

A few years back (maybe 6) my mother used to drive to our townhouse that we were living in at the time at 7am and knock lightly on the door. I'd come down the steps wiping my eyes and say "hi mommy" & she'd smile and say "are you going yard sale"ing" with aunt Earline, Daddy & I today?" and as reluctant as I was to be getting up that early, I'd say yes and tag along for the ride. I found some pretty cool stuff! In particular I found a few neat vintage camera that I used for decoration in my office until recently.

Fast forward to this week... I had the bright idea that I wanted to start working with different camera formats.. Although I'm not bored of my digital, I find it quite boring to ONLY shoot with it. So I pulled out the little Kodak Duaflex that had been sitting as decoration for years. I guess I forgot that I needed film for it! I surfed around on Ebay and ordered some film and can't wait for it to arrive.

In the meantime, I decided it would be cool to shoot with my DSLR through the viewfinder of the Kodak Duaflex. So, today I did! I used a round tube to connect my DSLR+lens to the Duaflex and photographed my little bittle having fun in the yard! The images are so fun and vintage. The funny thing is that I thought I was starting something new, but when I came in after shooting I googled "Kodak Duaflex" because I'd like to purchase a less filthy one and actually shoot with it and realized there's a whole "thing" going on with shooting through the viewfinder of vintage cameras, lol. Silly me!

:issue: blogged

JaTawny Vision tribute to McQueen featured on ChildMode.com amongst others since it was released!

:issue: a tribute to McQueen

At 11:22 am on February 11, 2010 it was confirmed to me that Lee "Alexander" McQueen died.

At 11:22 am a month later (March 11th, 2010) I wanted to share this project put together by myself; JaTawny Muckelvene Chatmon (photography), Isabelle Philogene (wardrobe), Joie Hayes (make up), Kenni Ford (hair) as a tribute in honor of the great, late Lee "Alexander" McQueen. He always marched to the beat of his own drum creating pieces that either seemed to materialize directly from a child's whimsical daydream or harmonious beautiful nightmare.

I would have loved to have seen what he could have created for children, since we never will, here's how we imagined it might be.

Our McQueenies

crow photoshop brush by: deidarapwnz@aol.com

:issue: Black HERstory

:finished:

:issue: black is beautiful

February is black history month. It was initially my plan to photograph a variety of beautiful black women of different shades, heights and ages in gorgeous settings around Feb. 5th. to celebrate their beauty. But February didn't turn out how I wanted it to and I wasn't able to shoot at that time. I finally got to shoot yesterday, 2 days before Black History month was over and everything was absolutely beautiful! I will share more soon, below please enjoy a couple samples (un-edited)

:issue: for self

putting together shoots for my own personal reasons makes me happy :)

archived shots, styling/make up by http://progressivehairdressing.com

:issue: post{ing} 101

wow, this is post 101 for my blog. It sure doesn't feel like I've posted that many topics. COOL!~

Just felt like posting pics from a recent personal project of mine called "The Dreamweavers Children". I took about 2 weeks to shoot my entire story for a submission to a contest... Imagine how crushed I was when I received an email notifying me that submission was closed and my story couldn't be added into the contest :-/ { I submitted on time, not sure what happened}

I guess sometimes it has to be like that. I was very proud of the work and thought I'd share some of the images.

pt1:

:issue: on sunday...

On Sunday, I lost my grandfather to a heart attack after he was given a "clean bill of health" by his physician a couple of weeks ago. It is moments like this that I regret not snapping a photo of him every time I saw him. I am sure that may be how most people feel. When I found out on Sunday, I immediately picked up my old D100 and got inspired by nature (a subject that I never shoot). Wanted to share the images below:

When I was around 14 years old, I lost my grandmother in a tragic accident. I decided while I was in Virginia for my grandfathers funeral that I would take the time to travel to the properties of hers where I had the most memories and photograph items that struck a memory.

I know my blog has for the most part been fun, but I just wanted to take the time to tell anyone who's reading to cherish your family & TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES . . .