Happy 50th Anniversary!

In continuation of my weekend of family portraits, this family was celebrating the couple of honor's 50th wedding anniversary. What better way to celebrate than with a portrait of the children, their spouses and the grandchildren.

Family Day

I have been very lucky to work with a lot of repeat clients this holiday season, and this little guy was one of my maternity/newborn clients earlier in the year. Now he brought back his 3 sisters, his parents, 10 cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents for a group portrait.

I am thankful for....

My friends and family. This morning I was behind the camera, taking family and newborn portraits for some of my closest friends. I normally would have taken the day off, but this little angel was kind enough to come right before my visit, so I could meet her and take some fun natural light newborn portraits. Congratulations, Jason! It's so great to see you as a dad.

Mini-Session: Sisters

I was really excited to photograph these little cuties, because I have known them for a long time, and I know they are sweethearts. Even though we were aiming for holiday card photos, I had to take a few fun individual photos as well, since they were having so much fun with the props in the studio. It's like a kids' wonderland in there :)

Mini-Session: In the Studio

These little guys were some of my first customers, and I loved seeing them again for their holiday card portraits this year. I thought this image of the two of them was just so perfect, I had to show it as a gallery wrap. You would never guess how much fun and games we had while getting them to sit still for a few pictures. They were such fun little kids, and they were just full of hugs and kisses for each other.

Mini-Session: Natural Light

Brrr. We didn't realize when we scheduled this outdoor holiday card mini-session that despite the fact that the average temperature this year is 55 degrees, that it would feel like it was 20 degrees today! So we improvised, doing some quick outdoor shots and then some natural light inside. This little gal is such an adorable little girl, and she was one of the newborns I photographed last summer. I couldn't believe how much she had grown in just a few months!

Caught in a Yawn

I was so excited to meet this little angel. Her mommy and daddy came last month for maternity portraits, and today I got to meet her. She has the most gorgeous full head of shiny black hair, and she is only 10 days old!

Contest!!

I got this idea after we spent a couple minutes scanning in my daughter's artwork to share. I'm going to have my first-ever blog contest!

Here is the scoop:

Ask your child (ages 3-6) to draw you a picture of themselves having their portrait taken. The image should be drawn with crayon, paint or marker on white paper. Scan in the image and send it to me by email (emily @ veralana.com) with the subject "Blog Contest". If more than 10 entries are received, 10 finalists will be selected. The finalists' entries will be posted on the blog, and voting will be conducted by a public poll. The winner of the poll will win a portrait session and an 8x10 of the winning artist holding his or her artwork.

The small print: Contest is open to residents of the DC area. Entries must be submitted by a parent, but drawn by a child age 3-6. Scanned images should be 600 pixels on the large side. Please keep the original artwork. Prize is an outdoor or studio session at the photographer's location of choice for the winning artist in the month of February or March 2009. Entries must be submitted November 19-30. Voting will be via poll on my blog (open to the public, one vote per person). I reserve the right to cancel the contest at any time, or disqualify entries if I believe any entries are not made in good faith or I suspect voting irregularities. After all, this contest is supposed to be fun! Winner will be posted on the blog and notified by email. Free session must be scheduled in February or March, and will expire if not used by the end of March 2009.

In the Leaves

These little guys were just the happiest kids. And Dad sure could bring out the giggles! I had a great time hanging out with them this morning and catching a little bit of sunshine before the dark clouds rolled in.

And baby makes 6

You may recognize this little baby girl from one of my September newborn sessions. Today her older big brother and sister came home from their schools to visit and get a family portrait with all 4 of the kids. Little brother was full of energy, but we did manage to pin him down for a few group shots, and luckily we managed to get one with everyone looking in the right direction!

Early Valentines

The girls did some early Valentines modeling for CarlaC and her youcanmakethis.com ebooks. The girls had a great time with all of the hearts--especially the edible cookie bouquet--and I was excited that we got our V-day card photo already!

Little Model

I got the opportunity to work with a fellow youcanmakethis.com ebook author this morning. She had asked if she could bring her little model in and do some product shots for her books. What a cutie he is! Look for our photos on the You Can Make This site soon!

Scavenger Hunt

"soda can"

One of my photography groups had a photo scavenger hunt this afternoon, and with the help of my tiny assistants (aka my kids ;) ) I won a prize for being one of the first to get all of the items! I thought I would share a few of the images from the contest.

"wheel"

"my phone"

"something brand new"

Sweet Blue Eyes

I had the honor of doing another Celebrating Adoption session this morning. This sweet little girl and her family were such great sports, braving the chilly weather at the botanical gardens. She loved her mommy so much that she didn't want to spend even a moment apart, but with some hard work on the part of her brothers we managed to convince her that some photos alone weren't so bad.

Waiting for Baby Boy

What a sweet couple, and I had such a great time because they were so easy to work with and totally game for trying all of my creative ideas. I just love maternity sessions in the new studio, and the fun part about maternity sessions is that I get to meet the parents-to-be before their baby comes and then see them again in just a couple of weeks when the baby arrives.

Got it!

I just love when I come out of a session, and I pull up the images and find "the one". You know--the one image that represents what we all wanted from the session. Sometimes it's the great closeup of a child's eyes for a session with one child, or a beautifully artistic maternity shot. Other times it's a newborn shot that shows the bond between parent and child, or an image from an adoption session that represents the pure happiness of the parent to have this child in their life. And today it was the right sibling shot. You know, one where they both look engaged, happy, and like they really love each other. This little guy was only 7 months old, and he just adores his sister.