One Week Old!

Here are a few more quick snaps of the new little guy, who turned a week old today!

Introducing...

The newest addition to our family! Born very early this morning, weighing 7 lb., 4 oz., and 20 1/2 inches long. He is such a sweet, easy-going baby. I can't wait to do his newborn portraits, but in the meantime, here is a quick pic taken at the hospital:

Maternity Pictures

Alright, here are the results of my fruitless attempts at taking my own maternity photos! I actually would have preferred to hire someone to do this, but our last few months were just so busy I didn't get to, and ended up having to do a few snaps here and there whenever we got a few minutes. Unfortunately, with the combined total of five hours and six different brief sessions, there are really only a couple of shots I'm happy with--and the best one of them was taken by my two-year-old! LOL As it turns out, being very pregnant, setting up backdrop stands and running back and forth while trying to handle two hyper children and operating a camera and flash blindly from afar only results in...a VERY tired subject!!! So yes, I look quite exhausted in all of them, and eventually gave up altogether. Oh well, at least they are realistic then, eh? And I can definitely pride myself in the fact that my camera and flash do NOT operate well without me--woohoo! I will now be happily returning to my spot BEHIND the camera where I can make sure it does what it's supposed to. :) Being the good sport that I am though, I will share some of what we did get...along with my editorial comments of course!

These were taken by hubby, but we didn't realize until later when I looked at them that my flash had not been firing right on most of the shots. Here are the ones that turned out the best:










Having fixed the flash issues, I found some time to redo the shots with my youngest daughter since they hadn't turned out. This time though I had to rely on the camera set to self-timer, because hubby wasn't around:


This one is more for memory preservation than anything...this is my daughter's rocker where I used to nurse her as an infant and now read her a story and rock her every night. It's here that she has really bonded with the baby, who kicks her throughout her story, hehe. :) So, I set the camera on the stool and put it on the timer to get a shot of us in the chair...she got a bit too comfy and her hair is all over, but that's how it always is. Like I said, at least these are realistic!


I then got both the girls together on another evening to get a shot of them in their "big sister" shirts. Unfortunately we had rearranged our living room during the interim, so I could no longer use it for photos and had to use my daughter's room instead. We had to put the camera on a tripod all the way up against the wall, and being not-so-skinny by this point, there was no way for me to check the shots...so we had to just wing it and hope it worked. Hmm...


(as you can see, this was taken during the timeframe that my oldest daughter forgot how to smile...she thinks she's smiling; really she does! I can sympathize with her though--I'm not photogenic in the least!)


And just for fun, I let my oldest push the button while my youngest--who metamorphosed into a butterfly somewhere during our mini session--posed with me.


Here are a couple that I attempted on my own...these are probably the most pleasant, as in the rest I am either glaring or yelling at the camera just about the time the shutter clicked...suffice it to say we don't get along when I'm not in control!

Just an attempt to get some color with my new curtain fabric before it became curtains, hehe


And probably my favorite maternity outfit


And my favorite shot of myself, taken by my little girl, who apparently is going to be a genius with the camera! This is the only shot of just me that was along the lines of what I had hoped; so proud of her!


One more try with the girls, for some serious black and white shots...


And this one just about sums it up...do I look exhausted or WHAT??? At least one of us was having fun though!

Expecting

Alright, this is finally done!! Throughout the last 8 months I've been doing a silhouette photo approximately every four weeks, starting at 7 weeks and ending at 36 weeks (though if this goes on much longer I'll have to do another one this week). So, here is the collage of my progression of silhouettes; sorry if it's small on here.

Quick Couple Shoot

These are a few from a quick session I squeezed in a few weeks ago. I enjoyed working with them and wish we'd had more time to spend, but thought we did well considering the circumstances. :)










For those of you who are wondering; no I haven't had this baby yet! Hopefully I will get a chance to work on my maternity photos at some point here to post a few of them, but otherwise I'm hoping my next post will be introducing the new baby. Wish me luck!

Stepping Back in Time

This series is something I wanted to try last year and didn't get the chance--it got cold by the time I thought of it, and the cabin wasn't ready. We received this dress/pantaloon/hat set from a friend, and when I saw the cabin that had been moved out by the historical society building here in town, I thought it would be the perfect combination! So, I waited patiently for 8 months until they got the cabin off the cement blocks and the weather warmed up, and as soon as I had a free evening I took her out for just a few quick shots. Unfortunately the night we chose was VERY windy, so she had a lot of trouble fighting with her hair and the hat; in retrospect I would have waited for a calmer day, but I think the feel of these is still what I was after!









These last ones were taken behind the building and out of the sunlight, so they have a different feel to them.






Hmm...I wonder how these would look in black and white? (though I suppose for them to be realistic they would ALL have to be in black and white, hehe)

Rocket Man

Here are more of my nephew's two-year photos! I shared a sneak peak a week or so ago, and finished the rest of them today. He did really great during his session, though it was of course still a work-out for two pregnant women (his mother and I) to wrangle two two-year-olds during the shoot (my youngest daughter had to come along because I had no sitter)! We went to three different locations and of course I had to get one of him with his wooden rocket, made by his favorite uncle--my husband, lol. He is fascinated with rockets right now, and he was equally as thrilled with the balloon. It was a little more sunny than I would have liked, but after the past few months of cold it was a nice change! :)

Finally Four!

At long last, my oldest daughter has finally turned four! She has been looking forward to this for a long time, and loves to remind us of her status as a now-four-year-old. I was a little worried about her photo session, since you all may have noticed she has acquired a bit of stage fright with the camera. It's been difficult to get her to relax and look natural, so I've been really trying to find the best way to work with her on this and I'm thrilled with the results!

First we had to find time between our busy schedules and the rainy weather, so it took us a few days with little slots of available time to do these...the first day was very windy--she toughed it out, but it was a rough half-hour for both of us. As soon as we had some nicer weather we took advantage of the opportunity and we REALLY had fun that day--she got into it and I love the shots I got of her! Since that day went so well, the last time we went out she pretty much took charge and I loved that she wanted to do that--she chose the location and I pretty much let her do her own thing as far as posing. So fun!

















I've never used this conversion before, but I loved it for this photo, which is one of my favorites!








Another big favorite of mine!


...and again in black and white just because I love it :)












And this one is all her: