A Baby's Best Friend

For the first time, we included a furry "big brother" in a baby portrait session. This little angel is only 9 weeks old, but already has the dog wrapped around her little finger. Here are just a few quick previews from their session.

Headshots

I tried something new with a friend of mine--some professional acting headshots. She was such a great model to work with, and we had fun playing with lighting and poses to get just the right look for her acting portfolio. We still have to go through the 200+ shots I have together, but here's one of my favorites from the session.

Lemonade from Lemons

Isn't this sweet? The little girls laying in the grass amongst the rose petals? What you don't see is that the reason that there are rose petals all over the ground :) Both girls had been posed nicely on a new pink chair I was trying out, and were given a flower to hold. One sister had a rose, which she slowly picked apart, and before we could get any images of them with the pretty pink chair, the flower was no longer. So, trying to make the best of what we were left with, I pulled the chair, and asked them to lay in the rose petals. And in the end, these were my favorite from the shoot.

The Next Generation

I had the chance to meet up with a collage friend while I was up in Pennsylvania last week, and take some portraits of her son. We had a great time exploring Daniel Boone Homestead, and my little friend was especially fond of the horses. While he was pretty serious about his quest to locate the horses, we did manage to catch him having a little fun. So here's a little sneak peek from his session.

Little Firefly

Today was recital day, and I decided to take some quick portraits of my little dancer. We decided against the portraits that were offered at the rehearsal because the line was too long, and thought we would do them ourselves. And I am glad we did. I think these are much cooler ;) I used my new "babycakes" backdrop for these. I think it's just perfect for my little firefly.

Their Wall...a reader response

In response to yesterday's post, I had a reader (who also happens to be one of my photography clients) respond.

"I too have been a fan of that line from Robin Williams. I love showing my girls what they looked like when they were smaller and I think they love seeing pictures of all the people they love all around our house makes them feel safe, secure and part of a (pardon the pun) "bigger picture".
There is not ANY bare wall in our house- and EVERY shelf even also has a photo!"

And here are a couple of the images she shared. And in just a few days she will be adding her Veralana Portraits to her wall, too!


Oh, and PS and OT: Happy Friday the 13th!

"I was Here"

A fellow photographer recently shared on one of the photography forums that I frequent that her family's most prized possession is their wall of family photos. She was looking for a quote to capture how special the wall was to her, and another photographer suggested the following:

"If these pictures have anything important to say to future generations, it’s this: I was here. I was young, I was happy and someone cared enough about me in this world to take my picture."- Robin Williams, in One Hour Photo.

The quote stuck with me, and I think it really captures the essence of the images we take of our children, or that we hire a professional to take of our children. So I ask, do you have a family portrait wall in your home? One that the kids can look at and see not only their immediate family, but past generations, and far-off relatives? I remember visiting a close family friends' house as a child, and they had their staircase lined with photo collages of family photos. I would stop and look and ask questions about which baby was which. Now in my own house I look at the empty walls of my newly-renovated basement and consider what to fill them with. At first I thought how nice it is to have a freshly-painted, uncluttered wall. But now I'm thinking that I should consider making it our photo wall. And not just the photos I've taken of the girls recently, but maybe drag out some old family photos to add to the wall, too.

Announcing the "Spread the Word" Program

Most of my business comes to me by word-of-mouth. I love knowing that my clients love their portraits so much that they want to share their experience. So to thank all of my wonderful clients who do my advertising for me, I have a new referral program.

For every new portrait client you (as a past client) refer, you will receive a referral card good for a $20 print credit on your next paid session.

Collect 4 and get a $100 credit!


It's that simple. You tell your friends how much you love your portraits, and you both win. They get to have great portraits, and you get a credit toward your next session.

So the next time someone asks about those portraits on our walls or tells you they're in the market for family portraits, please send them my way!

Blog feature

I was excited to see our images of Ollie Girl! 's Jasmine dress have been featured on a number of boutique sites. We can be seen on hip boutique blog, Kiddlins, and the dress was featured on one of the boutique designers chat forums. Kudos to my good friend, Angela, on creating such a great design.

93-year-old (unwelcome) Houseguest

Yes, this is my house, and under that huge oak tree is my daughters' bedroom, or what's left of it. We had a powerful storm sweep through, and perhaps a twister, resulting in this tree completely uprooting into my house. While we have a lot of work ahead of us with repairing the damage, we are very grateful that we were safely in the basement when it happened, and that nobody was hurt. And we had a little tree lesson this afternoon by counting the rings in the stump of the tree and found out that this one had been 93 years old.

Fairies Slideshow

With the permission of my little fairies' parents, I am excited to share with you their session slideshow. This year I switched from simple proof galleries to the slideshows, and I love being able to share the images this way. So sit back, press play, and enjoy :)

Tiny Fairies

I had the chance to work with a great family this morning. They had won a portrait package at a silent auction last fall and had been waiting until just the right season to do these very special whimsical portraits. After our marathon session, the girls were a little tired, and we convinced the older sister to take a minute of shut-eye with her sister. The last image was processed with the "elegance" finish to give them a little more classic feel.