Katie Metka Photography

Stearns Family Together!

admin — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:31:11 +0000

I was soooo excited for this family session because this was the family that won my first session giveaway a couple months ago! They were soooo much fun to hang out with and their daughter kept me laughing the entire time:) Thanks again Stearns Family!

Kinsley whipping up something in the kitchen:)

my favorite shot of the day!

Deiss Family – Port Aransas!

admin — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:34:46 +0000

Grab a cup of tea, lots of photos coming up in this post! I had a blast hanging out with the Deiss family at the beach! Our whole family went down to Port A for the day, kids got to all play together, I got to photograph a gorgeous family on a gorgeous day, plus we had the best lasagna I think I’ve ever had! Great times!

possibly my favorite photo of the day, but it really is so hard to decide.

love this one too!

I think every Mama needs photos with her babies! Just LOVE these of Emily and her youngest children.

Gluten Free Banana Muffins!

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 20:09:24 +0000

Okay, my family and I have recently (for just the past month really) adopted a gluten free diet. Never thought WE would do that! I’m known for my love of bread. Now, even only being on the diet for a few weeks, I don’t even crave the bread! We didn’t jump on the Paleo bandwagon, but decided to try the GAPS diet. On the GAPS you can still have homemade yogurt (which we were already making), raw milk, and some cheeses. I hesitate to even mention all this because you know how it goes, you tell people you’re doing something and then something happens, and you decide to not do it anymore and then you look silly. Hopefully that won’t be the case, because we feel WONDERFUL! I knew that I had stomach pain after eating, but I didn’t realize how horrible it was until I DIDN’T have the pain anymore! We had gone a few weeks on the diet, and then on Easter Sunday I decided to treat us to some homemade baked french fries in olive oil (starchy veggies are not allowed on GAPS either). Man oh man! Both Oresti and I said how awful we felt after that meal. So we won’t be cheating any more, it’s not worth the pain.

Baking has been fun, experimenting with flours. I’ve settled on almond flour though, and I love it. The best I think is blanched almond flour from Honeyville {you can only order it online}. The almond flour at the grocery store is really meal. It isn’t ground as finely as the Honeyville brand and will change the texture and density of your baked product.

This morning, we didn’t have enough eggs to feed the crew {we eat about 10 eggs at breakfast; I can’t imagine how many we will eat when these girls are full grown!}. So, I decided to whip up some muffins. This was my first time just coming up with my own recipe, I even wrote down on my paper “1st try” thinking they wouldn’t really be so good. Oh my! These were the best muffins I’ve ever had! Which is why I just had to share the recipe so that any of you gluten-freers would like to try:) Now it’s not dairy free {I don’t believe in cutting butter out of my life} but if you must be dairy free I’m sure you could use coconut oil instead and they would be good {I would melt the coconut oil though so you don’t have oil lumps}.

anyway, here’s the recipe:

Gluten Free Banana Muffins

3 cups blanched almond flour from Honeyville

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 eggs

1/2 cup raw honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 stick {half cup} melted butter

2 bananas {mashed}

heat oven to 350 degrees. Either grease your muffin cups or use paper liners like I did. In a mixing bowl combine the flour, salt and baking soda. In another bowl beat the eggs with the honey, vanilla, melted butter and mashed bananas. Spoon the batter into your cups {this made 15 muffins for me} and bake for about 25 min. Watch it at the end, mind could have gotten too dark if I hadn’t peeked at 24 min. Stick a toothpick in them, should come out clean. And enjoy!!

EDIT: I never measure. I just go by how the ingredient feels in my hand. But this morning I measured, and I would increase the baking soda to 1 tsp, and maybe decrease the salt to 1/4. I also experimented and only added a spoon of honey, it wasn’t sweet enough for me though. So I would keep the 1/2 cup in there. But go ahead and make your own experiments!!

I am definitely not an expert on the GAPS diet, but I do so enjoy learning knew things about my health. I may have to do a healthy post once in awhile, in between photographs:)

Calendar Update

admin — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:02:33 +0000

Ok, boring post ahead:) But I promise at the end is a lovely photo of my first born:)

First, I just thought I’d let you all know what kind of availability I have in the next couple of months. Things at the Metka house are a little crazy, what with 5 children 5yrs old and under, plus a husband that is crazy busy with his amazing business building beautiful furniture, remodeling rooms, etc. . . and then there’s photography. My love, second only to my family. So far, I’ve been able to balance Mother, Housewife, and Photographer. Not saying I’m great at any of them, but I’m balancing:) I hope I can continue with photography, we’ll just see how each year goes. I’m trying to not over book each month to make it a little more sane around here.

So here’s what I have available coming up (and this includes all full portraits which could be family, newborn, maternity, engagement, etc…just NOT mini sessions)

March – no more sessions available

April – 2 sessions available

May – 3 sessions available

June – 1 session available

Also, I know I’ve said I usually do Spring Mini Sessions and I’ve gone back and forth lately trying to decide if I would do them this year. I’ve decided I will. But, it will only be on one Saturday (April 20th) and there are ONLY 3 spots available. Email me asap if you’d like to snag a spot:) katiemetka@yahoo.com

I am not offering mini sessions at any other time (except of course in the fall). You are always welcome to sign up for a full session, you can email me for more info on that too:)

and as I promised, I photo for this post:) We are having LOVELY weather right now, cool enough that you enjoy being in the sun (LOVE IT!). Here’s Luli on our walk yesterday evening.

Favorite Portraits 2012

admin — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 03:03:14 +0000

Beware, long post following with TONS of photos! I decided to compile all my favorites from 2012 into one post. Thank you to ALL my clients who helped make 2012 a wonderful year! I loved photographing all of you and look forward to what 2013 will bring!!

Kara – graduated {almost}

admin — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:51:49 +0000

Sweet Kara, I had so much fun shooting her senior photos! She was a real trooper following me around this old broken down house {I was so excited to find this house in my favorite park!}. Kara thought she didn’t know how to be in front of the camera, but boy did she do it well! Very natural! I always sympathize with clients that don’t feel comfortable in front of the camera, I feel so awkward out in front {which is why I’m usually behind the camera!}. But Kara just seemed so at ease, and was soooo fun to photograph! Congratulations Kara on finishing up high school! May you succeed at anything God leads you to do!

my second favorite shot of the day:)

my favorite shot of the day!

Sofia & Mira – 3 years old

admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:51:07 +0000

three years old from Katie Metka on Vimeo.

Trull Family Together

admin — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:00:17 +0000

Super adorable family from the fall sessions!! Loved their outfit choices! The kids were sooo sweet and so well behaved, loved this session:)

Matt + Lauren married!

admin — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:03:00 +0000

The last wedding of 2012! Christmas weddings in Texas are so lovely, 70 degrees and balmy:) This one was so much fun. It was at the beautiful venue, Villa Antonia here in Austin. This was an amazing place, it was originally a home but was turned into a wedding venue when it became so popular. It was truly a palace! And the staff was more than helpful and so attentive! Just a lovely day all in all.

If any of you 2013 brides are looking for a wedding photographer, send me an email and lets talk about it over coffee:) I only accept a few weddings a year because they do take a lot of focus and effort. Your photographer is like part of your family that day (they are with you through it all!) so you want to make sure you feel very comfortable with them!

Congratulations to you two, Matt and Lauren! I had a blast spending this special day with you:)

the chapel at Villa Antonia!

series of the very first look:)

favorite photo of the day

I absolutely loved her grandma!

second favorite photo of the day:)

the main house where everyone gets ready upstairs, and where the reception is downstairs. Amazing huh!

5 months!

admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:19:57 +0000

Humor me please. . . I just think each month is a milestone and I just have to document it! Our sweet Betsy turned 5 months yesterday:) She is such a delight! Always ready with a smile, loves her sisters, loves to pull Babi’s beard, has become quite vocal, and is fascinated with our new pup Max.

This is SO Betsy!