Sunday, May 31, 2009

Lucky Baby

...and lucky parents! I am thrilled to present the first official portraits of this perfect baby who was highly anticipated by his parents and his mom's co-workers! He was definitely worth the (long) wait!

Thank you M & T for allowing me to come back and document this beautiful time in your life. He is absolutely a beautiful baby. Here are a sampling of some of my favorites.

It is definitely a blessing catching smiles on camera, but even more special when they are with mom.

I have done this newborn pose a few times but this hat that his mom had gives this pose a whole new meaning!

Pretty sure this pouty lip is one of the cutest newborn expressions I've been able to capture.



Because I was already at their home for maternity photographs, I knew that he had already amounted quite the Dr. Seuss book collection so I couldn't wait to do this shot.


I love it when I'm fortunate enough to be able to do "Before and After" shots!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Schedule Update

First, I must say what an incredible first half of the year I've had already! It's been beyond my wildest imagination and I'm so thankful for the opportunities to meet and photograph so many wonderful children and families.

I've recently taken some time to reevaluate my business model. From the beginning, I promised myself I would go into this business venture while putting my daughter and family first. My daughter has a genetic condition of the brain that labels her as special needs, although I like to think she's just special :) She has made huge miraculous accomplishments but still requires therapy 4 times a week. Because of that, sometimes I feel guilty taking on too much work and having to spend time away from her on the weekends when I could be helping her with speech, etc...I love portrait photography, it is my passion, but she is absolutely my inspiration and reason for doing this from the very beginning.

I've been really busy these last few months to say the least and I'm so, so very thankful to be able to do what I love. The paycheck is an added bonus! Because I am a little OCD at times about the way my photos look, I spend an enormous amount of time perfecting them, editing, etc... which of course, makes a 2 hour photo session, easily turn into 7 hours of actual work before a client even sees the photographs. That's not including all of my other business responsiblities of course. So when I squeeze in an extra session here and there each week, that's easily an extra 15 hours worth of work. I've been told several times to just "raise prices" and that will solve everything, but I don't believe in that philosophy.

Anyway, my ramblings are concluded with this: I am only taking up to 4 sessions per month for the rest of the year. I am currently now booking into July with two spots left.

Because of the nature of newborn photography, which should be done within the first two weeks of life, I ask that if you are expecting, please contact me so that I can pencil in your due date. That due date will count as a session reservation and actual date can be adjusted as needed.

I believe that by taking on a more reduced number of sessions per month, I will be able to provide even better service to my families, but most importantly, spend the time with my daughter that she so much deserves.

Thanks so much for all of your support and kind words! I am looking forward to the rest of this fabulous year!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Storyboards

It's been a while since I shared a storyboard layout and I really liked how this one turned out so I thought today would be a good day for a product share. Storyboards and collages are the perfect way to combine a group of your favorite photos, without taking up a lot of wall space. This is an example of a 16x20 and of course, wording and layouts can all be customized. Sometimes I'll add a special quote, a definition, or no words at all but here, just one words sums everything up quite nicely. My favorite way to mount these is to have them gallery-mounted. Ask me to see my sample!

Happy Memorial Day to those who have served and to those who are currently serving...and a special shout out to my ex-fellow Army Reserve soldiers from the 356th BPAD at Fort Meade!



Friday, May 22, 2009

Beautiful Sweet Family

I always feel honored when people ask me to photograph their children/family. It's like they've invited me into their world (sometimes their homes) for a little bit to witness how much they truly care about one another, and value the time they have with each other. That's really how I felt today with this family.

I've had a lot of laid back dads lately and I'm really starting to like it! He was as about as eas-going as they come. Sometimes I can tell that dads just don't want to be there and are probably thinking about mowing the grass, or catching a game on television (ahemm... my husband??!!) but this one seemed to really enjoy the time with his family... who could blame him?

Sunday, May 17, 2009

A Weekend Off!

Around here, a weekend off is a rarity but I took this weekend off so that I could have a yard sale and spend some time with Madeline. I must say, despite lugging around, tagging, folding, and hanging a ton of the oodles of things we've managed to hoard in our basement, I had a great time spending two beautiful days outside with Madeline. We even both took a nap outside on Saturday. Ahhh, Spring how I love thee...

Two days and some junk free later, it's Sunday and I'm ready to start this week! I have a busy weekend coming up with some sessions and I'm looking forward to it.

And because I don't like to end without a photo, here's another beautiful shot of the lovely maternity session I had earlier in the week.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Radiant

So when I walked up to this house, right away I saw a large incredible photograph that was turned into a painting, a candid, natural photograph... and was thrilled that they had incredible taste. And then, this gorgeous and very sweet mom to be introduces herself and shows me all of the beautiful clothing she had picked out for her maternity session... and I was even more thrilled that she put so much thought into how her photographs would look. The nursery was adorable and I can not wait to come back and photograph her beautiful little girl in it. I love doing before and after shots. Needless-to-say, this session was beautiful for many reasons and the weather cooperated after having to reschedule twice@

Hands down, this is my favorite photograph of the session. If it were a photo of me, I think I'd be bragging (with every right to do so!) all over town about how beautiful I look in it!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

The Perfect Pear

I had the fabulous opportunity to photograph these perfect babies on Saturday AND not only were they absolutely a dream to work with, but I also brought a long a second shooter/assistant/aspiring awesome photographer (she's going to be stiff competition for me one day!)...a girl could get used to sessions like these!

These sweet boys were just 10 days old and I was quite impressed with how well their mom and dad were adjusting to their new roles. They did it with such ease and the happiness on their faces was so easy to see. Perhaps that had something to do with how well the session went!

Thanks so much D & B... we had an amazing time with your new family and we hope you adore the photographs as much as we do!








Sunday, May 3, 2009

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

I have been lucky enough to photograph this happy boy at 3 months...

then at 6 months...

...and now again celebrating his first birthday soon. Notice how incredibly easy he makes my job?!!! He's one of the happiest babies I've ever photographed and I'm so thankful to have been able to watch him keep getting cuter, and cuter and cuter, if that's even possible.

Happy birthday sweet boy and thank you so much D family for the privelege! You two have much to celebrate!

And a first birthday is not complete without cake. Love his unsure face here!
But that didn't last very long!

The evidence and the guilty face! "What do you expect from me, I'm gonna be 1 not 21!"

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Love this family

Do you know how I booked this session? I just emailed my dear friend here and said, "You have an appointment at this time and location. Will not take any excuses, except maybe if you're on your deathbed, but only then, just maybe." Amber is the kindest and most warm-hearted person, so much so that she would never think to schedule photos with HER in them!

Sometimes life gets in the way and we think we're too busy for photos and we think, "Ah well, I take photos all the time with my good old Kodak camera, that's good enough." But, how many of them are really timeless? And how often are us moms in the photos? And those photos that we have of us as children with our parents, how many do we have that we cherish? I know I only have a handful with my parents and I old onto them tightly. I think photos are just as much for our kids one day as they are for us. Anyway, I loved doing these and I love this family. Maybe one day we can convince dad to join!

Happy Mother's Day to a wonderful mom and beautiful friend!



This photo makes my heart sing! The matilda jane clothes, the flowers, but especially the look of geniune happiness.

Love everything about this photo too. The fishing lure in his hands, his stance with his feet together and his John Wayne hat.


She didn't want to hold the parasol so he held it for her over her head!


I actually have quite a few of her smiling into the camera but I really love this.

Beautiful everything

Somehow I've fallen a behind in my editing process so this share will be a little brief for now but.... worth it! I recently found *THE CHAIR* I've been looking for now for over a year. I love it and these beautiful girls helped me model it last weekend at the most gorgeous place on Earth, Catoctin Mountain Orchard!
No, the middle one is not the older sister!





A few more to come from this session later this week!