Gracie

Today was Gracie's 1st birthday.

Gracie's mom is one of my younger cousins. She's been married for 4 years, has 2 little girls and the 3rd on the way. Her and her husband are highly religious and strongly believe in procreating....their goal is 6 kids. Halfway there!

(Ah...to be so young and naive!)

The birthday party was held in their church gymnasium. I really wanted to capture some great shots because family is so important to them. But, the gymnasium was so poorly lit that many of my images are under exposed even with a flash. Or, the flash shadows are so harsh behind the subjects that they just dont look right. I spent lots of time crawling around on the floor chasing after the girls. A great day!

Tomorrow is the 2011 Eventing Derby at Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL. It will be my first time shooting horses in action. I think its going to be quite a challenge.