In Print!

Last winter I took some photos for some authors of a children's book--for the "about the author" page. I was excited to find a copy of the book in the mail today. And even more surprised to find that my image is huge--the whole top half of the back cover.

The story was written and translated by a Russian-American grandfather, and edited by his granddaughter. It tells a traditional Russian fairy tale, adapted for American audiences. Check out the book on Amazon. I am excited to see it published, and I hope it does well for them!

2? I don't believe it...

This little cutie was the very first newborn I photographed... and now she is two years old! I can't believe how quickly time flies. Here she is enjoying some peaceful outdoor time, without her big brothers ;)

Warm Winter Days

Yesterday was one of those surprisingly warm winter days--the ones I always believe fool you into thinking spring is around the corner, but really are just the calm before the big blizzards. The kids were playing outside and the setting sun made for beautiful natural light, so I grabbed my camera and snagged a few closeups.

Baby Grand

I am always excited when clients come with ideas on how they would like to incorporate something personal into their portraits. These new parents suggested we do their newborn session at their house to make use of their 1928 Steinway piano--how fun is that, a "baby" grand? The light was so nice in their home, I was able to do the entire session with pure natural light.

"Baby makes the belly go round"

This fun couple were such good sports about waiting for me to return from my trip, and I am so glad that despite my crazy jet-lag, we were able to meet up and do their maternity session last week. I got to meet their new addition (the four-legged one) and I look forward to meeting their baby girl in a few weeks.

New Year's Baby

My studio-mate's little one was born right after the turn of the new year, and I'm glad I got back in enough time to catch some newborn portraits of her with her mommy. Isn't she just the sweetest little thing?

India, Part 4: The Culture and History

After spending time in the big city of Mumbai (India's New York), and then at the beach in Goa, we took a tour of the state of Karnataka aboard the new Golden Chariot luxury train. The historic stone cities were simply stunning, and the culture that we encountered along the way was always intriguing. Above you see the work animals painted and decorated in honor of the pongol festival. The day we arrived in Mysore, we were surprised to find pink and yellow cows all over the city.

The ruins of the city of Hampi were definitely one of the highlights of the tour. It is no wonder that it's a UNESCO World Heritage site. Not only the intracately carved temples and buildings, but the actual landscape it was built on make for a breathtaking view.

The sculpture carved into the granite in the cave temples has withstood hundred of years of weather and war.

Fishing boats--I loved the colors.


The temple complex in Hampi lit up just for our group. For my fellow Nikonians, this was ISO 3200 on the D300, handheld.

The government of Karnataka has a policy of getting schoolchildren out to visit their historic sites. We encountered many of them along our tour. These are at in Pattadakal.

This was one of the "menace monkeys" we encountered on the way to the cave temples. They will steal even your water bottles are you walk by.

The stone temple complexes not only served as cultural centers, but also stored literature in carvings on the exterior walls.

And finally, one of the few Asian elephants we encountered on our trip. This one was at the Bandipur National Park. We spent an evening at a safari resort there, and got to go on a short safari tour. We saw some elephants, peacocks, two different types of deer, an eagle and many kingfishers, monkeys, and warthogs. We looked hard for a tiger, but no luck.