Recent Nephew Pics

I'm a bit late posting these, but my nephew recently turned 9 months old, so I did his pictures at the end of my marathon Easter session at the very beginning of March. By that time we were pretty well exhausted, but he's such a cutie I still got some good ones!






My latest favorite conversion...it was shared by a fellow photographer on my forum, and I love it! I used it on a few of his pics to give them a vintagy feel, though I like this one in color too. :)








He's waving here because his mommy told him to "say hi"




This was purely spontaneous! My nosy cat was peeking out from behind the backdrop, then decided to check things out and walked right onto the set-up! D. is fascinated with our cats, and I was lucky to grab this split-second shot of them interacting.

Three Years Old!

My older daughter turned 3 today! We spent the day celebrating in various ways (presents here, ice cream there, movies, cards, candy...spoiled! lol), and went out and took some pictures, which was mostly fun although it was a little cold. Still, she wasn't as "anti-camera" as she normally is, so that was nice! If I'm lucky she will still be willing tomorrow when I take her out to finish up! In the meantime, here is a "teaser"--two of today's batch. It was a bit of a challenge today because we were all over the place and the light was different everywhere we went. I will post the rest next week sometime, after they're all done. :)

The Most Exciting Photo Ever

Well, not really, but this blog would be pretty boring without it. (And those of you who are thinking, "it's boring anyway", shame on you! That's right, you know who you are!)

As I've mentioned before, I regularly participate in study groups and photo challenges as part of my online photography forum. This week's challenge was to photograph our favorite thing. The rule was no people, so all of you who just started crying because you thought you were not my favorite, you can stop now.

Of course, since it was a photography forum, I could not resist the obvious:



I am still patting myself on the back for being so clever. Haha


Anyway, thought I would share it here since I know you are all dying to know what my camera looks like--that is, of course, assuming you haven't already spent a 1.5-hour session with me waving it in front of your/your kids' faces! :)

The Determined Toddler

My younger daughter is known for being quite silly at times, though we are fairly certain this trait did not come from MY side of the family! :)

Recently my husband brought home some lovely file boxes that he found on clearance (yes, at Staples!), and they have been temporarily residing by my desk until I have time to do some cleaning (haha). My 20-month-old happily discovered them one night, and decided that the box should be her new bed. Since I had the camera close by, I started snapping away.

I hope you all find these as entertaining as I did!

Yay! A box!


MY box!


See Mommy? I'm sitting in the box!




I want to take a nap in this box, okay Mommy?


Hmm...


Well, that didn't quite work out...perhaps if I had a blanket?
"Mommy, I need blanket!"


Still not quite as cozy as I would like. What's missing?


...oh, I know! I need a book, too! There, now I have my blanket, AND a book, in my box.


Well, this just isn't working...


...perhaps if I had another, BIGGER blanket! Bigger is always better, right?


Alright, I give up. You can have your box back, Mommy.

Scheduling in the Upcoming Months

At last winter seems to be over and we can begin to move sessions to the great outdoors! I'm looking forward to all of the great opportunities that come outside of the confines of our homes--and excited not to be lugging around a backdrop stand to every session. :) The warmer months tend to fill up quickly, so if you are considering getting portraits done in the coming months, be sure to call and schedule now!

Since spring is here and the sun is sticking around longer during the day, I am now able to schedule evening sessions a few days a week beginning as late as 5:00 PM, with the possibility of starting even later as the days grow longer. I will be available for only one Saturday each month, but can take more than one appointment for that same day if we're able to coordinate schedules. Please be aware that, due to high demand for weekend appointments, I may not be able to hold a tentative Saturday appointment open for you if you have not yet confirmed date and time with me.

I am currently scheduling appointments for high school seniors during the months of August through October.

For those who have asked me to hold a slot for you in April, I will be contacting you soon to set exact dates and times, to determine how many openings I have left in April.

Lastly, I will be on vacation for one week during the month of May, and therefore my availability for May will be somewhat limited. Be sure to call and schedule as soon as possible to make sure I can fit you in!

Little Tiny Baby

I got a chance to photograph another newborn recently, and since I think newborns are so beautiful and sweet, I have quite a few favorites to share! :)

This little doll weighed only just over 6 lb., so spending time with her made me feel very sentimental, as my own baby girl was that small too when she was born. Of course mine is now a 23-lb. tromping-around, singing, messy toddler--amazing how fast they grow, isn't it??

You probably can't tell from the photos, but the poor baby wasn't feeling very well that day. I'm happy to report she is better now and last time I saw her she had even grown a little already!













tiny, tiny toes!






Her daddy is a farmer, and I love the contrast of daddy's hard-working hands with the softness of his newborn daughter.

Happy Easter!

*NOTE: the base of the card was a template shared by a fellow photographer on a forum i belong to. i appreciate all the templates shared by these generous people! :)

My Little Nephew

I have been anxious to share the Easter pics I took of my little nephew, but I wanted to make sure I didn't post them before my sister got a chance to email them to everyone this time. :) I think it's probably safe now, so here are some of my favorites of this little guy:








*Whew* That was a lot of Easter pictures this month! :)

Three Cousins and their Easter Pics

Every major holiday my sister and I get this crazy idea to try to get a photo of our children together in their fancy outfits. The chaos that always ensues is entertaining, to say the least! Trying to get three children under the age of 3 to even remain in the same ROOM together, let alone in one spot in front of the camera, is quite the undertaking! I will admit, though, even when we miraculously get several great shots of them, the photos we enjoy the most continue to be the ones taken in between. I have already posted my favorite photo from this session in a recent post, but with Easter quickly approaching I thought I would share some more:

Always a great way to start out the session--everybody falling over. So glad I had my camera ready to catch this!


Aww...


The "falling over" problems continue...


It's best to have my sister present to help keep the children corraled; but a drawback to this is that my kids (who suffer from severe "photographer's child syndrome") frequently want to look at HER, rather than me. Oh well.


1-2-3, let's all be unphotogenic! :)


This one is definitely a "keeper"


As you can see, my younger daughter IS capable of a pretty smile...she would just prefer to make her "scary monster" face for the camera. (The other two were apparently off in la-la land for this shot)


...and reposting this one, just because it's definitely my favorite, scary monster face and all! :)

Spring Family

I recently did a session for a family with three young children. The kids were all super adorable, and the little one did an excellent job of helping me "test the lights" before we got started:



Of course the end result that both parents and the photographer are hoping for is that elusive "perfect" family photo where all members are looking right at the camera and, if not smiling, at least sporting a pleasant expression on their faces. The reality, though, is that 90% of any session involving young children looks something like this:



...and that's okay! This type of photo is the one that will bring the giggles and smiles later--the stuff happy memories are made of!

Of course we still want to get at least one of those "everyone-looking-at-the-camera-and-smiling" shots out of every session, and fortunately my wonderful subjects (and the use of my "secret weapon") gave me that opportunity as well:



But I still love the fun ones, especially when everyone is interacting and having a good time!


Lastly, I was fortunate to grab this shot towards the end, and thus it is a definite favorite from this session: