This past Saturday I held my first set of mini sessions and they were definitely a huge success! I absolutely loved seeing everyone all decked out in their red and green and now I finally feel like Christmas really is just around the corner (although I must say that the red Starbucks cups do come out much too early). I got to the location bright and early to scope out good places to photograph and actually felt like it was Christmas morning as I waited for my first session to begin. I was just so excited to kick off the minis. And I’ve been equally as excited as I’ve been editing them. There are just so many adorable ones of each session. I’ll keep it to pictures of just the kids for the blog so I don’t spoil any possible family card pictures, but even still I just couldn’t narrow down.
And because I can’t resist this last image, here’s one more that I think totally captures magic of experiencing Christmas as a child.
Thank you all for our mini sessions. I had a great time. They were fast, dynamic, and so much fun! I’ll let you all know when your galleries are ready and we’ll get those cards ordered in time for the holidays. In the meantime…enjoy!
Monthly Archives: November 2009
I’m in the thick of it right now. Knee deep in holiday sessions, editing, and proofing. But I love every minute of it! And I loved every minute of this newborn session last week. I photographed beautiful mama a couple of months back for her maternity photo session and just couldn’t wait for little {M} to come out and join everyone. She decided to come a bit early and I know their family couldn’t be happier–they are so in love with her already and it’s easy to see why.
She definitely wanted to stay awake and join in on our fun, but we were able to get some great shots during the sleepy moments that she did have. I just love this next one–she totally posed her little feet all on her own.
{B} family–thank you so much for choosing me to photograph this amazing time in your life. I always have such a great time with you (and the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino was an added bonus!) Looking forward to our family session in a few weeks!
I normally don’t get nervous for photo sessions. I really enjoy meeting new people, I love kids, and I love the challenge that comes along with photographing a dynamic family. It’s an exciting adventure to me and I rarely get nervous. Except for yesterday. And it wasn’t that I was nervous about meeting a new family. Or nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get the kids to smile. I wasn’t nervous about any of that. I was nervous because I was photographing one of my close friends and her family. I was nervous because she’s a fellow photographer and because she, too, deserves beautiful images of her family and I hoped that I would be able to provide her with those.
As photographers we constantly have visions floating around in our heads. We see something and think, “That would make an amazing photograph.” Or we’ll be in a store and see a clothing item and before we know it we dressed an entire family in coordinating colors for their photo session all in our heads. We are creative by nature and that creativity comes out in our images.
So when you are a photographer and have your own family photographed, you already have those images in your mind. You envision how you all will pose, what you will wear, and how the finished product will look. Or at least that’s what I do. So I was nervous. Nervous that I wouldn’t be able to recreate those pictures or be able to give the Runner family the beautiful family portrait that they deserved.
But guess what. I didn’t need to be nervous because every time I would show Sandy an image she would look at it and say, “That’s great!” Or after we would finish shooting one pose she would come over to the camera and say, “Any good ones?” (as if her family could take a bad picture) and then browse through them and say, “Looks good!” I’ve known Sandy for a long time now and have been in a bible study with her for nearly six years and if there is one quality that stands out when I think of her, it’s being an encourager. So my nervousness quickly faded and I was able to just have fun photographing this beautiful family. So Sandy, what do you think of the end result? I definitely think we got some good ones!
Love, love, LOVE this next one of James. When Sandy dressed him in his black, velvet blazer I nearly fell over. It honestly doesn’t get any cuter than this.
And I just adore this one of Haylie.
Sandy, I’m glad we were able to get some of just you and the little ones, too. I love how they are both clinging on to your leg. So precious!
As you know I have lots more for you! I hope you love them!
Everyone who knows me knows that I am a rules girl. I just don’t like to break the rules. I think it’s both something I was born with and something I inherited from my dad. I vividly remember being mortified when I was in junior high and he made me roll down my window (manually mind you–didn’t have power windows then) so he could yell, “Stop signs are for bicyclists, too!” to the poor, unsuspecting cyclist in the bike lane. I always follow the rules–it’s just something I do.
Well, except for last Friday. After holding numerous sessions at the same park and always purchasing a parking permit, I decided to forgo it this time around. Actually, the past two times I didn’t buy a permit. I read the sign and it said something about overnight camping and I figured I didn’t fall into that category. So when my clients and their parents showed up I told them that I didn’t think we needed to get permits. That I didn’t the last few times and never got in trouble by parks and recreation.
This time I was wrong. Just as we began our session Grandpa saw the Parks and Rec truck pull up behind our cars and he ran up the hill to talk him out of giving all of us tickets. And he did an awesome job because he came back to our group ticket free. All I ended up with was the feeling of utter embarrassment that I told them we would be okay. But I couldn’t have asked for a cooler group to mortify myself in front of. When I joked about falling into the river to get some of our shots, Grandma quickly added that we didn’t need any “koi pond incidents.” How awesome is that? (Those Office fans know exactly what I’m talking about.)
And aside from just being a cool group of people–they were unbelievably awesome to photograph. I mean, seriously, little {G’s} eyes are just amazing. I love this first serious one of him. Mom said that it totally depicts his serious personality and I love when a photograph can do that.
But I also love his adorable seven month old smile.
The light was amazing down by the river. Dad is a river guide so their only request was that we hold our session near the water. I just adore the yummy fall light of this next image. What a beautiful family.
I think this last image is one of my new favorites. I absolutely love the water in the background…{G’s} pensive expression…everything! It makes me think of all of the great adventures that I’m sure {G} and his Dad will have on the river in the years to come.
{T} family, thank you so much for choosing me to photograph your beautiful family. I apologize again for being a schmuck about the parking permits. I hope you love your sneak peek! I’ll have many more images in your gallery soon!