Young Photography

The Other Hand

2009-11-11T07:50:00.003-06:00

I am having problems figuring out how to start this blog because I fear I am not going to portray the emotions these portraits stir in me. This is Ava, a beautiful little two year old girl. I consider this session a celebration just in the fact that it is her two year portrait. The reason for this is that Ava came into the world with a fight ahead of her. When her mother was pregnant, the doctors informed her the baby she was carrying had Down Syndrome. But when Ava was born she had a bigger battle to face. She was diagnosed with a disorder known as PPHN where her heart and lungs were not working together. It was a very serious disorder that required her to be on the ventilator for 6 weeks. Her parents didn't know if Ava was going to come home from the hospital. Miraculously at six weeks she was weaned off the ventilator but continued on a feeding tube until she was a year and a half. Obviously Ava is a fighter and this was her first session in which we did not have to work around the port for her feeding tube! At Ava's first session, I took a portrait of Ava holding her mother's hands and looking into her eyes. The peaceful look on Ava's face really elicited a wave of emotion in me and late one night I wrote a poem about Ava's struggle and her mom's divine role in being her mother. When Ava was standing at the door with her mother on the other side, I was really trying to get some nice window light on her face. But what I got was the connection between mom and child. It immediately reminded me of this poem which I will include at the end of this blog. Ava, you are a wonderful gift from God, an angel in a child's body, and an inspiration to me! Keep on fighting sister!

The Other Hand

I started life with quite a fight,

To God's great hand I held Him tight.

The nights were long, my mommy cried,

She loved me so but hurt inside.

But as she prayed, His grip in mine

I knew it was His great design.

He had a plan that I would grow

And in this plan His love I'd show.

My hand in His and His in mine

Through life I'll walk, my light will shine.

His Hand's a gift to me alone

He holds me tight from His great throne.

His hand is strong, mine is so small

He'll keep me safe in case I fall.

I love Him so but now I see,

It isn't all He's given me.

With two small hands He's blessed me so,

To guide me through this life I'll go.

He heard her heart and as she prayed

The other hand He gave away.

So now you know what God had planned,

My Mommy holds the other hand.

So little...

2009-11-07T16:15:00.004-06:00

In college I took a psychology course that taught us about the way the mind works...our professor explained that the human mind is extraordinarily adaptable and extremely efficient. Our eyesight is one example of this. Our eyes are in constant tiny motion called microsaccades, and according to Wikipedia, "They serve to refresh the image being cast onto the rod cells and cone cells at the back of the eye. Without microsaccades, staring fixedly at something would cause the vision to cease after a few seconds..." So without constant change in a scene, our mind would quit detecting its existence. Sometimes I feel like I am around my children so much and they change so incrementally that I forget to appreciate who they are at any given time. I just 'get use to' their size, and their voice, and their little precious characteristics. That sort of makes me sad because I really want to savor their littleness...I want to ENJOY this time and appreciate that as hard as parenthood is, it is well worth the struggle. Oh yes, the sitting, well, I chose these two portraits to showcase because they really showed the littleness of these two precious little girls. As they hold on to their mom an dad's hands and strain their little necks to peer into their parent's eyes, they look so, well, little! One thing I love about photography is it takes the constant motion of life and freezes it in an instant. That constant motion of life may help us to make it through each day but it also prevents us from seeing the subtle changes in our children. I don't want to become blind to who my children are TODAY because tomorrow they won't be the same. So I hope this post makes you stand up and go to your children and for at least a few moments take note of their littleness...now enjoy it because they'll never be this little again!

Grandparents Welcome!

2009-11-07T14:58:00.002-06:00

Precious little Mac, what an angel he was for this session. Oftentimes this age can be the hardest to photograph because once a child starts walking they have no interest in sitting for ANY reason! And the fact that children this age don't quite understand everything we adults say, it makes bribery a challenge. But Mac's session was different, and I have an idea why. Mac lives in Texas...his mommy and he come back to visit several times a year but he doesn't have the luxury of living in the same town with his grandmother. So at this session his grandmother was there to keep him entertained and all it took was a little playing and we couldn't get Mac's eyes off her! He just seemed to be so happy to be at his grandmother's house, he just was intent on listening to everything she said. Thankfully we got some precious portraits of this little one, and knowing this portrait he was gazing in his grandmother's eyes makes it all the more special. I have a policy for all my sessions: Grandparents welcome at all times! Now you see why!

Sweet and Sassy!

2009-11-07T14:31:00.004-06:00

This little soon-to-be heartbreaker is Madeline...and she is as sweet and beautiful as her name! The goal of this session was to get some portraits that will be made into a heavy oil painting, so obviously we worked for some very formal portraits. When I saw this one, I just thought it looked like one of those beautiful old portraits that were framed in the oval frames. Madeline's eyes just pop from the portrait. Gorgeous and definitely a beautiful age to create a lifelong family heirloom. But anyone who knows Madeline knows that she is not so proper all the time...no she has some spunk to her! To get through this session we promised her she could put on some lip gloss at the end and we would take some pictures of her like that. She did great and so we did. This second portrait says who she is at this age...it says she is six AND A HALF, it says she loves makeup (especially lipstick!), it says she is rough and tumble (notice the scab on her elbow and the tattoo on her arm)...it says she is SASSY! The first portrait is Madeline, but the second portrait is Maddie! Both truly unique and both truly her. You go girl!!!

Christmas Cheer

2009-11-07T13:58:00.002-06:00

Oh dear, I am so far behind on this blog so I am going to try to start updating some in the next couple of days. We are in the prime of Christmas rush in the photography world, so I am just trying to keep my head above water...or at least take a gasp of air every now and then! But this session really cheered me up! This is Sophie and couldn't you just squeeze that little cutie?! I named this blog Christmas cheer because this shot just made me smile. Those big blue eyes, those chubby little cheeks! While this particular shot doesn't look like she is particularly happy, she did great throughout the session and we got a great variety for the mom and dad to choose from. But this one just looked like you could jump out of Sophie's eyes, slide down that little button nose and bounce off her smooshy little cheeks. Sophie you did great! And I will try not to squeeze you too hard when I hug you next visit...but I am not promising anything! :-)

A confession...

2009-10-27T19:03:00.002-05:00

This is Brantley and THIS is Brantley's three year portrait. Brantley was a little late for her session because of "hair difficulties"- I quote from her mom, "These curls are going to be the death of me!" So, I have a confession to make... it is time to just get this out in the open and off my chest... I sin...yes, I sin in many ways, but one way I sin often is through envy. Oh, I'll just say it! I am jealous of curly haired children! I LOVE curly haired children and after having three kids of own, my porcelain 'First Curl" keepsake given to me before the birth of my daughter stills sits empty. I held onto that thing for six years thinking eventually one of my children would have a curl, just one little curl, it didn't even have to be a real curl, a FLIP would do, but no, empty it sits and now I just dream of the grandchildren I'll have with ringlets because I do plan on steering my children toward spouses with curly hair! Think I'm kidding? Watch me! I'll look for colleges with exceptionally high curly haired applicants! So, when Brantley arrived, honestly I could barely keep my camera from photographing the BACK of her head, because I just wanted to capture those ringlets! Soo cute! And what a well behaved little girl she was...put my kids to shame with how well she held it together with really minimal bribing! Curls and obedience... some moms have it all! You know I love my straight haired, disobedient little angels, but for this hour I got to enjoy the curls of another mom's little girl. And boy did I love it! Hmm, do they still sell those little pink, smooshy curlers... maybe I'll go buy me some today! :-)

A Session of Hope

2009-10-22T20:27:00.008-05:00

I always feel butterflies in my stomach prior to any session. I often wonder if I'll ever get past that, but some sessions make me more nervous than others. This session in particular made me really nervous. I always want to give my customers portaits that they will love for a lifetime--portraits that will grab their heart. But this session in particular meant even more to me. See this customer came up from Mobile. They came up for the weekend just to get their daughter's portraits taken. That in itself made me nervous. I mean, to be honest, I'm thinking they are expecting a lot from this session if they are driving all the way up here with a two year old just to have her portraits taken. I feel certain there are plenty of capable photographers in their area, and yet they have made the effort to come up here. But there is more to the story...a lot more. I had met this family a couple of times through the years but have kept up with their life mainly through my sister-in-law and brother who are their very good friends. They have relayed this family's stories of excitement followed by dispair not once but twice with two precious babies. Reagan and Harrison are both now sitting at the feet of Jesus in Heaven but certainly not forgotten here on earth. At last Anna Katherine was born and the mother describes her as "the baby the Lord knew we needed to keep." Anna Katherine is two and on the go...literally! Energetic, friendly, and absolutely beautiful. Her blue eyes locked me in just before she threw her arms around me to hug me just minutes after she arrived at my house. God filled this little one with the life and love of her siblings that she'll never know here on earth. So, this session was more than just capturing Anna Katherine at age two. To me, it was capturing the love in this child's eyes because she holds the love of three children for her mom and dad. I wanted to portray portraits of hope, of love, of joy, joy, joy! Anna Katherine made it easy because hope, love and joy is who she is. What a session it was, and what a testimony this family is. Thank you for sharing your little bit of Heaven with me!

Sisters Twirling!

2009-10-22T17:21:00.003-05:00

Okay, at Christmas time I really struggle with what portraits to sneak peak on my blog because if anyone else is like me, they like their Christmas card photos to be a surprise (hmm, maybe I am just weird like that!) Either way, I don't want to upload portraits that I think may be used on someone's Christmas card...this creates quite the challenge! Needed: Cute, fun portrait for blog BUT can't be the CUTEST one because the mom may want to use it for the Christmas card...quite the precarious situation it puts me in! So if my blog is lacking over the next several months, just know I am holding out on ya for the best of the best... Tis the season! Ha, ha, ha...or rather, ho, ho, ho. And everybody gives Mark the credit for being the 'funny one!'

I digress, so these little girls are some of my favorites to photograph because of their kind spirit and gorgeous hair! The portrait here does not show just how beautiful their hair is, but it is the most gorgeous red hair you can imagine! So picking a portrait to post here is really difficult because I really wanted to make sure I wasn't picking one the mother may choose for her card. I'd pick one, then think, "No, they look too cute in that one, she may choose that one for her card." Then I'd think, "Oh THAT is the one", then, "No, they look so pretty there, I can't do that one!" So, Iast I settled on this one because it shows the relationship between these sisters that I see everyday... I honestly don't know that I have ever seen them argue! The mom may disagree but after having to physically separate my boys so they don't literally kill each other, some sibling love is something I dream of. The heirloom dresses sewn by their grandmother and the twirling just screamed sepia to me. So, to really enjoy these girls' beautiful hair you'll have to stay tuned to their Christmas card! Tootles!

Second Time's the Charm

2009-10-17T15:38:00.005-05:00

You may recognize these two boys- this is Jack & Whit and this is the second attempt at their session. Poor Whit wasn't feeling well at the first session, but at this session Whit was back! As I went back and looked at the portraits we got from the first session I was a little surprised because there were some really cute ones, but none with Whit really happy (afterall he wasn't feeling well). I like for parents to have TOO many portraits to choose from so I insisted on doing another session...boy am I glad we did! We got family portraits, mom with Jack, mom with Whit, dad with Jack, dad with Whit, Whit and Jack together...we covered all bases this time around! I know it takes a lot of effort for the parents to get their kids ready for a session, so thank you Mom & Dad for being willing to come back... when you see the rest of the portraits I think you will be glad you did too!

The 13th Minute

2009-10-15T16:24:00.002-05:00

I have had several people through the years refer to me as a 'runner.' I always quickly correct people explaining that indeed I run for exercise but I am NOT a runner. To me a runner is someone who actually enjoys it! I simply run so I can eat! I've been approached by friends through the years to train for a marathon with them and it is amazingly one of the few things I can easily say NO to...no thank you! Run for hours on end...no way Jose! A question I get a lot is how far do you run...my answer is 30 minutes. Whatever distance that is, if I've run 30 minutes I can mark it off my list for the day. I feel like to be a true runner you must actually somewhat enjoy the activity...not count down the minutes until your run is over. Enter Jana...my dear, dear friend from college. Jana actually asked me years ago if I wanted to train for a marathon with her...I politely said no! But that doesn't really have anything to do with this session... Jana has three kids very close in age like my own. Similar to my last post but instead two steps behind me in age. She has three girls ages 5, almost 4 and close to two. Precious little girls! But let's face it, wrangling three children that close in age for a photo session in a wide open church is just challenging. Not necessarily for me but for the mom! I watched Jana throughout the session as her frustration level rose...I clearly recognized it as that is how I feel as I am photographing my own children. Ugh, if it weren't for the priceless portraits that I got out of the session, I as a mother would NOT go through the stress! So, after the session I was on one of my obligatory runs. I was thinking about Jana and the stage of life she was in. I was remembering that when my kids were that age I actually told Mark that I thought I'd bit off more than I could chew. Someone was ALWAYS crying, I was perpetually tired, and Mark and I just co-habitated handing off children from dinner to bath to bed. It was a tough season in life. But now my youngest is almost three and a half, all out of diapers, all out of cribs, all somewhat manageable (I say that loosely!) It isn't easy but it IS easier. Back to the run, when I am exercising I sort of play mindgames with myself to pass the time. I cover up the time on the tredmill and try to wait as long as I can before I check it to see how close I am till the end. My goal is to not look at the time until after the 17th minute mark...and usually I can do that. But sometimes on those particularly hard days, I fold and look earlier. The worst number I can see ticking by on that timer is 13! UGH, that 13th minute just stinks! When I look down and see 13 minutes that says, "You are hurting girl and you aren't even half way there...you aren't even close to half way!" Of course the runs that hurt the most are usually the most needed and the ones that result in the best sense of accomplishment at the end. As I go through motherhood I am reminded of this...there are times in parenthood that are just hard. There are days that are worse than others. There are seasons that just seem to drag on. But the time is ticking by and before you know it your time with little ones is up. You'll look back and realize it WAS worth it...it hurt at times going through it, but the lifelong benefits of sticking it out is priceless. Jana, you're in your 13th minute of motherhood... it IS hard, but you're doing a great job, and before long you'll see that magical halfway mark and an end will be distantly in sight. Then the endorphins will kick in and you'll be running through life at a record pace. Knowing all that doesn't make the 13th minute perfectly enjoyable but it does sort of help to ease the pain a bit. We all have those 13th minutes throughout life but hopefully seeing it in this light will help. Hang in there- soon you'll be saying adios to the diaper aisle and believe it or not, there will be a small part of you that misses it!

Worth the Trip!

2009-10-15T11:42:00.005-05:00

I use to travel to B'ham a good bit to take portraits of customers up there. As my personal life has become more complicated with children's scheduling, I have all but totally cut out travelling to sessions. I hate to turn away customers in other cities but the logistics of getting those sessions arranged are just not manageable at this time in my life. I have one exception- my Shoefly kids! Twice a year I take a trip up to B'ham to photograph five adorable children whose mothers own a fantastic shoe boutique. I call it my fall and spring Shoe Safari, and I love those hunting seasons! The shoe store is named Shoefly and Meg & Jana are the owners. I have loved watching their families grow through the years and loved photographing their little ones. This is Dorsey & Robert- aren't they so cute...and happy! Dorsey has a precious smile and a sweet tooth and therefore a very willing portrait subject...thank you Smarties! And with Robert it takes nothing more than a little jumping around to make him giggle. As always, this little family made me smile to see them interact. Thank you for another great session!

On a different note, I found one of the best inventions every mother should know about on my last shoe safari. I tried to figure out how to work this little nugget into the session blog but couldn't for the life of me come up with a way to do it! So I am going to use this blogging platform to share a random find of mine. It is called the Yummy Tummy and Meg & Jana introduced me to this little jewel. With all these low rise jeans, I think every mother out there can relate to the dreaded 'Muffin Top' that rears his ugly head when these all too cute designer jeans are coupled with the form fitting tops. Unless you are an avid pilates attender I'd venture to say the trimmest of moms knows what I am talking about! Why didn't I think of this?! So, take it or leave it but I felt like it was my civic duty to share this wonderful invention with all my mom friends!

Surprise!

2009-10-07T13:13:00.006-05:00

Look at these beautiful little girls! This is Jessi & Lydia and they are indeed as sweet as they look. I must admit that the Lydia I know is not as stationary as the one in her first portrait appears, so I just had to include the second one of her because the Lydia in motion is the one I know! This family use to live across the street from us and I just adore them...simply wonderful people. And I must admit a bit of an inspiration for me. See, Lydia & Jessi actually have an older brother. When my third child was born, Lydia was almost two, Jessi was almost four and Andrew was right about six... just like my family but about two years ahead of us. Throughout the years, I have watched these children grow, and sort of anticipate what my life will kind of look like in two years. When I was nursing a newborn, I watched this family scramble to get all the kids in the car for church. When I had three toddling around, I watched this family at least attempt to eat at a real, live restaurant, and now this year I watched as this family had all three kids in school...wow, I was going to make it too! At this session, I even thought to myself, "They have made it! They are making it through an entire studio session without even one MINOR meltdown! Dreams DO come true!" :-) Then at the end of the session Jessi proudly announced their news- her mommy was having another baby! I could have dropped my camera! Indeed my jaw DID drop and I looked up at Kelly (the mom) as she giggled at the very apparent shock on my face. Looking back I laugh at what I must have looked like, as if I had found out I was pregnant again! Yes, it was a surprise to them as well, Kelly explained but with that new mother twinkle in her eye. But the more I thought about this family and how I'd watched them through the years, I remembered there was one thing very different about our situation. See, Mark and I debated between two and three children. When Elliott came along as our surprise number three, there was no question that the next move was to the urologist. However Kelly and her husband debated between three and four children. As time moved on, they decided that three was the number they were going to decide on. But oh how God must laugh at all our "plans" knowing what He has in store for us. About 10 minutes after I told Mark we were pregnant with #3 he said, "It probably is better this way because I don't think we ever would have had the nerve to actually choose to have the third." So true, and yet what would our life be without precious Elliott?! Yes, God knew He'd have to take things into His own hands, and He did, and I am happy He did. So, I truly believe this Baby #4 for this family was God saying it was just in His plan. I am thrilled for this family and will love, love, love on this little one when he/she arrives, thanking God each time that Mark I debated between two and three and not three and four! I am so happy for this family's little surprise...surprises are the best!

Hmmm... seeing the big picture helps!

2009-09-19T13:58:00.002-05:00

This is Jack & Whit! This session was actually photographed a few weeks ago. I haven't blogged about it yet because quite honestly I hadn't really looked at the portraits yet. See, this was not a super session...and I really get upset when that happens! I feel responsible as the photographer and so I was a bit disappointed after the session. For this reason I hadn't really been anxious to look at the portraits until recently. As a matter of fact, the mom and I had already decided to reschedule the portrait session so I wasn't even sure if I was going to blog about the first session. But after I looked at the portraits I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few that were precious, and one shot in particular that I absolutely love. Okay, so the story... Jack & Whit's mom had called me to schedule their session a few months ago. I knew both Jack & Whit but I wasn't sure that they knew me so I had them come over prior to the session so we could meet. All went well and I was super excited about the session because these boys' eyes are captivating! The day of the session arrived and the weather was a bit questionable. We decided to go forward because coordinating the mom & dad's schedule was sort of tricky. We got there and Jack (the older boy) was on! What a dream he was... so laid back and cooperative and did I mention how beautiful his eyes were! But precious little Whit, well, let's just say he wasn't haven't a great day. Oftentimes sessions with children Whit's age can start out a little slow just to get them to feel totally at ease. But Whit didn't get easier throughout the session but instead a little harder. He would not let go of his dad, and even then he wasn't particularly amused with the fact that I was following him around. By the end of the session, I felt like we had a ton of great portraits of Jack but not so much of Whit, and none of them together (which was something in particular every mom wants). So, I broke the news to the mom that I really thought we needed to reschedule another session. We both were a bit at a loss...was Whit hungry, was he sleepy, what could it be? As they left I off-handedly mentioned that sessions like this had occurred before and the next day the child woke up sick. In any instance, I really wanted to try again another day. So the mom, dad, & I all left that day confused and bummed. I even called my photographer friend on the way home and told her how disappointed I was because these boys were so darn cute but I just couldn't get anything. She eased my mind reminding me that sometimes that just happens. UGH...I just hate it when that happens. Why couldn't I figure out the magic trick to make him giggle? to make him laugh? to make him just crack a smile?! Eureka, the next morning his mom called to let me know that Whit had woken up sick the next day! Bless his little heart, he didn't FEEL good! And there I was trying to make him be happy and follow him around trying to get just anything I could and he was probably thinking, "Good grief, would this lady just leave me alone! Can't she see I don't feel good?!" I am sorry Whit! So I should have known something was up! The only thing that made me feel just a bit better was both Whit's parents are pediatricians and they didn't see it coming either! But like I said, I was pleasantly surprised with many of the portraits but this last one of Whit and his dad is one of my favorites. Knowing the story behind the portrait however makes it more impactful. As we were going through the session and Whit was becoming more and more unhappy, his dad was who he really wanted to keep him from crying. As we were walking along I half-heartedly joked that Whit's age is one of the most challenging as a parent because they are so on the go but really have no means of effective communication to tell you what they want (or how they feel!). The dad's response reminded me of how precious every stage is. He said that he had been in Iraq in the service during his oldest son's second year of life and so this stage was all new to him. Oh my, I have always had a respect for the men and women who protect our country and knew they made lots of sacrifices to do that. But I guess I had never really thought through the fact that there are moms and dads missing entire stages of their children's lives so they can serve their country. So when I saw this last portrait of Whit & his dad I was reminded of how lucky/fortunate/blessed I am to live in this country. But that circumstance is not without sacrifice from many brave men and women who are also moms and dads...and seeing the dad's wedding ring reminds me that those men and women who fight for my freedom leave behind husbands and wives as well. What emotion that last portrait stirs inside me because the dad is savoring these 'challenging' times and thanking God for every minute of it. Thank you Matt & Nicole, Jack & Whit for the sacrifices you made to defend me and my country!

One Cool Kid!

2009-09-06T14:47:00.003-05:00

So I am really having to hold myself back right now. I try to just put a sneak peak of the session on this blog but this little one was just a model baby! This is Crews. What a cool name, huh?! And this baby goes with his name...he totally took the session by the horns and worked the camera. He was such a total cutie, and when he smiled, his face lit up! Now, I went into this session doing what I advise all parents NOT to do...try to create a portrait during the session. Hmmm, so that needs some explanation .... what I mean is that the best portraits are usually those that just happen. Anyone with children know that they are totally unpredictable. Sometimes in the bad way (i.e. you go on vacation and your usually super sleeper wakes up four times in the middle of the night) and sometimes in a great way (when your four year old sees you kneeling to pray and he instinctively joins you without you even knowing it...yes, Graham did that this morning...almost made me forget his totally horrible trantrums that enveloped his entire four year old year!) Either way, children are just that- children! They don't come to a session with an agenda and neither should we. So, before this session I saw a composite of a baby about this age with three totally different expressions...a happy one, a solemn one and a crying one. It was too cute. I thought, I am going to try to get this with Crews. So usually a session is lengthened in an attempt to get one more great smile out of a baby, or a captured giggle, but no, this session was different- I worked to get him to CRY! Yes, this baby was the happiest little fellow...he was so tired and yet whenever we set him down to take the picture, he'd see the camera and SMILE! So instead of recreating the portrait I had in my head an even better one evolved- one that showed the REAL Crews! When will I learn- children always have something better in store than I could ever create on my own! Thank you Crews for a totally fun session! You are one cool kid!

Brothers are a gift from God...

2009-08-26T21:49:00.005-05:00

So, if you had asked me before I had children my perfect birth order it would have been Girl-Boy-Girl. That way the middle child has his own identity and the girls have a sister. That sister relationship has always been a desire of mine...I had a much younger sister which I parented more than 'sistered'. When I went to college I lived with a girl once that had an older sister...I was fascinated by the way they interacted with each other... they really TOLD each other when their pants made their rear look big or they were wearing too much makeup. The flip side of that is I witnessed some NASTY fights! I remember the first time I saw one I thought that their family was being ripped apart...two days later they were shopping together as if nothing ever happened. Odd! Anywho, so God didn't give me sisters, instead he gave me brothers. Hmmm, I had never thought about the uniqueness of THAT relationship! However, now that I have brothers I am thrilled that they have each other because what a neat relationship as well. They'll have each other to tell them just how bad their batting average is or that it is time to quit bugging that girl because your neediness is just creeping her out! Hmm, brothers are fascinating as well. Of course, they get into some knock down drag out fights as well...even at ages three and four I worry that if I were not there to physically separate them Graham and Elliott could do some serious damage to each other! And don't feel too sorry for Elliott- he throws a mean punch too, and when all else fails he pulls Graham's hair or bites him. After they fight I always tell them both, "Brothers are a gift from God," and I make them repeat it back to me. I am certain that'll be a topic of torture in therapy sessions later in life! Sooo, the session, yes, this session was with two brothers. Sometimes in a portrait you catch an expression on a child that gives you a glimpse into what they are going to look like as a teenager...this one of Walker (the older boy) did that for me. Whoa! He is going to be quite the catch one day! And Owen (the younger brother), what a cutie HE is! Back to that two-year-old smile from my last blog...just so sincere! But the last portrait of them together is my favorite. They are looking at a man putt on the golf course...it is cute that Walker has his arms draped around Owen...I don't remember but that could have been directed by the mother...but the way Owen has his hand gently holding his big brother's hand in place, THAT is what got me! The interaction of those chubby little hands as they enjoy an quick moment of rest investigating a sports demonstration. Don't kid yourself, this moment lasted only a moment...just enough to snap the portrait...but oh, it is the perfect reminder that brothers truly ARE a gift from God!

A Happy Boy!

2009-08-26T08:16:00.002-05:00

Age two is such a fun age! Such a challenging age as a mother but such a fun age for a child. Meet Knox! Age two...all boy...and all smiles! The great thing about this age is when you capture the child smiling it is because the child is genuinely happy about something...so sincere! And with that blond hair and blue eyes...how could it not melt anyone's heart! This is the third time I have taken Knox's portraits and I don't think this child can take a bad picture! Picking a portrait to post on the blog was challenging because I would melt everytime I captured that sincerely happy boy! Nevertheless, these two portraits are my favorites...the first because of, well, there is no explanation necessary...look at those eyes! And the second because it shows the emotion in action...happiness is full swing! With the mom and dad's hands in the portraits, both supporting his little boy upside down and Knox with a smile from ear to ear with total, complete trust in his parents. A perfect picture of what childhood should be at this age! Happy parents, happy family, happy boy!

Oh My, and I thought I was busy!

2009-08-24T16:11:00.005-05:00

So, many of you know I had three kids in less than four years. To be perfectly honest it wasn't planned that way, but it just sort of happened. When my baby Elliott was brought home from the hospital Graham was still one and McKinnon was three. It was a crazy couple of years to say the least. I actually told Mark one time that I thought we may have bit off more than we could chew! Ha! Like there was anything we could do about it! Anywho, when Ouida told me she was expecting Baby #3 I was floored! She had just had a baby! And before that another baby. So she took my chaos and raised me a year...she had three babies in less than THREE years! Three beautiful little girls! The advice I give mothers of babies so close in age is this: get a babysitter! Consider it the cost of doing business over the next few years...consider it an investment in your sanity...consider it as a down payment on an averted trip to a mental hospital! Don't try to take three to the grocery store, don't try to take three to the preschool open-house, don't try to take all three by yourself anywhere you don't have to. Your baby needs diapers, you buy her diapers. Your baby needs formula, you buy him formula. Your baby needs a mentally stable mother, rent yourself a sitter! And I am pleased to say Ouida has taken my advice! The morning of this session she just brought Virginia for her three year portrait and baby Abby for her three month portrait. Virginia could not have been better behaved! She was patient, and well-mannered, and just a dream! Look at those eyes...in all her portraits I am always captivated by her eyes and this one shown here is even more powerful than I have seen in the past. I have a feeling she'll be breaking my Elliott's heart one day! And Abby was just as easy! She was so content...she slept and cooed and slumbered some more! Ouida- you are an inspiration- with all the chaos in your life, I've only seen you with a smile on your face! Keep up the good work, and tell John we know a great urologist! :-)

True Friendship....True Emotion

2009-08-19T08:58:00.004-05:00

Okay so the last blog was about mybestfriendMarti. There is more to the story...see I am very lucky to have THREE friends from childhood that I talk to on a very regular basis. I now realize this is a quite unusual situation...all three of us have known each other since eighth grade. MybestfriendMarti and I have been best friends since third grade...Tracey (affectionately known as Ogie since we share a first name...I am called Higgins to this crowd) and Mandy (nicknamed Nubby) have been best friends since preschool. The four of us (two sets of best friends) ran around together growing up and are still best of friends. Growing up with a friend gives a completely different dynamic to a friendship because they know your entire history...history that can't be explained really to anyone that didn't actually experience it with you. So, I feel very blessed to have these three long-lasting friendships! They know me better than I know myself at times and have seen me through the good times and the bad...the presentable and the ugly...the happy and the sad. True friendship I thank God for! So, again you ask, the blog??? What does this have to do with photography. Well, in case you haven't noticed Young Photography has the tag line: True Joy, True Peace, True Emotion. Whenever I photograph a session, I try to capture joy, peace and true emotion in each child. Each aspect demonstrates a varying side to childhood and each makes me smile when I succeed in capturing it on 'film'. So this session was with Mandy's children. The main objective was to create a canvas of her youngest child to hang beside the canvases we did of her two older children a few years ago. I love this first portrait simply because it demonstrates who Emory is... happy, relaxed, easy-going. She was easy to photography because while she was busy, she was also interested in our crazy antics we displayed to get her to stay still. But this second portrait is the one that makes me smile the biggest. Mandy wanted to try to get a portrait of all three of her kids if they would cooperate, so we attempted it. Since Kiesel is a dog park, there are, as expected, a lot of dogs. When setting up this portrait all three kids were sitting nicely in a very formal pose. As I started to snap the portraits, a rather large dog entered the scene and voila, true emotion was captured! Apparently Carson has a fear of dogs and when she saw this canine her fight-or-flight response took over and she was "out of there!" It looks like a Heisman Trophy pose! Too funny, but the expression on the brother's face is what makes this priceless. You may not be able to really see it as small as it is shown on the blog, but you can tell the slight upturn on Maylon's eyes...he's smiling...on the verge of laughing! As his younger sister is in a total panic, running for her life, he didn't respond as her protector, as her defender...only a brother would respond with a chuckle at such a response! Too funny...true emotion captured indeed... intense fear from a sister and sibling smugness from the older brother! All ended well and we got a precious portrait of the three children in a very traditional pose, but THIS is the portrait that tells the whole story!

mybestfriendMarti

2009-08-07T02:47:00.005-05:00

So, any of you that have spent more than say 5 minutes with me know I have a best friend. If I haven't told you her name, I feel certain I passed on some of her advice to you or parlayed her into some story that started out, "So I was talking to a friend the other day..." 9 times out of 10 that 'friend' is Marti. My neighbor friends affectionately call her mybestfriendMarti (all slurred together like that) because it got to a point that they were like, "We KNOW who Marti is now!" Yes, mybestfriendMarti is just that...my best friend and her name is (who would have guessed) Marti! We've been best friends since 3rd grade and we talk, oh 10-12 times a day. She lives in Atlanta and while it baffles our husbands, we do truly talk that much on the phone. Now, realize many of those calls are just 30 second calls to quickly express a thought, but yes, some of those calls turn into political discussions or mom-venting or theological debates of how the Holy Trinity operates exactly. Indeed, we talk about anything and everything you could think of. And one of the things I love most about Marti is the fact that we have so little in common...hmmm, that didn't come out right...we actually have a lot in common too, but we have a lot not in common. For example, she just got a nose ring (gasp!). I mean, I think I would consider a belly button ring, a shaved head, a tattoo of an eagle's wings spanning the width of my back before I would have considered getting a nose ring! Now I am really laughing because I know Marti is howling at the thought of me at the pool with my kids and a tattoo of an eagle spread across my back under my Mom-tankini! That being said, after we talked through her REASONS for the nose ring, I completely understood and respected her decision...and actually thought it was cute when I saw her! Okay, this blog is digressing from where I wanted to take it! :) Okay, so another thing that is totally different about Marti and me is her love of foreign missions. Oh, that sounds bad too... but I am just going to say it, when I was growing up and the topic of foreign missions came up in G.A.'s (Girls in Action...a Baptist thing), I would tune out. Considering that G.A.'s is actually BASED on 'Missions in Action' (Girls in Action, Girls in Action, Mission Studies and Mission Action, Growing, Living, Loving, Girls in Action, Girls in aaaccccttttion now!) I tuned out a lot. I promise I am not a bad person, I just have a hard time really identifying with people who live so extremely different from me (as I type this, I realize this is a fault I am sure God is taking issue with me about!) Anywho, Marti LOVES foreign missions...and she truly has a heart and a gift for it. When she called me one of her 10-12 times a day a few years ago and said she wanted to host a Belarussian child for six weeks over the summer (she had just had her second child), I thought she was crazy! I could see her doing it in a few years when her newborn was say, sleeping through the night!, but now? Are you crazy?! But she really felt called to do it and so enter Angelina (pronounced with a hard 'g') Angelina lives in a town in a Belarus by the name of Mogilev. This town is close to where the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant had its melt down in 1986. There is still extreme radiation fallout from this disaster, and it adversely affects the health of the children growing up there. What they have found though is that if the children can be removed from the environment for just 6 weeks/year, their immune system has time to build up enough to protect them for the rest of the year. I am so glad Marti followed her heart because Angelina is a total delight! This is her fourth year coming to stay with Marti and her family and every year we try to get together and get some portraits of her. This year she grew up so much! Isn't she beautiful?! And she truly is just as beautiful on the inside...she fits in perfectly with Marti's family here in the states. If you would like more information about this mission, go to www.abro.org . Angelina, we miss you already and look forward to your trip back next year! Thank you for the joy and love you've brought Marti and Lane through the years! And to mybestfriendMarti, thanks for reminding me of God's bigger plan!

Oh Yes, I remember...

2009-08-07T02:02:00.003-05:00

Isn't it funny how our memory works? I've often said that God had a grand plan when He thought through the procreation process, and a pivotal part of that plan was the erasing of our memory of the first few months of new parenthood! I saw a special on the Learning Channel once that explained that after childbirth a chemical is released in a mother's body that actually acts as a memory blurring agent, because let's face it, if we vividly remembered the pain of childbirth, it wouldn't make a second chance at procreation so appealing! I believe that whatever that chemical is, it must extend into the first few months of a new parent's life...oh and somehow it gets in the dad's system too! Hmmm, maybe it is the lack of sleep that aids that chemical reaction! (Can you hear my Chemical Engineering background coming out! Ha!!!) Anywho, I remember distinctly thinking when I was a new mom that if I made it through, I was going to make it my personal mission to help other new parents through this challenging time. I do believe that is another reason I love newborn photography so much. Meet Alex! What a precious angel he is, don't you think?!!! Looking at these blog portraits you would think he was the Johnson & Johnson commercial baby...you know, the one that sleeps all night and giggles and coos the other 12 hours of the day and never causes anyone a minute of anguish! But like most one month olds, Alex is still figuring out sleep...his little tummy (as my two year old always said) "got grass", and getting him to sleep was a challenge. Actually a two hour challenge. And as we bounced and shhhhed and walked around in circles in the dark and in the light and in the middle, it reminded me of a blurred memory of mine, yes, new parenthood was hard! There is a book I usually recommend to new moms called MotherShock- it likens new motherhood to culture shock in a very comical, but real way. So true! But then, magically after two hours the miracle happened...Alex fell asleep and the Johnson & Johnson commercial started rolling! As I look at this first portrait of Alex with his parents, the memories started flooding back...yes, parenthood is hard, yes, parenthood is NOT what I thought it was going to be, but YES, parenthood is so worth it! I rarely have to instruct new parents what expression to make when they look at their new sleeping newborn...it comes totally naturally...it just comes through as totally, unabashed love. And these new parents were no different... I love the way the parent's heads with Alex's head sort of create an upside down heart shape... such a natural outpouring of love happens during new parenthood! So, to all you new moms and dads, hang in there! Yes, it IS hard, harder than I ever expected, harder than I ever dreamed, harder than I ever could have imagined, but truly it is the best, the greatest, the undeniably hands down most super experience I'm still having every single day ...and no chemical in the world will ever make me forget that! Thank you Alex for your sweet, sweet self...and shhhh, sleep well tonight!

Hello...Goodbye

2009-07-27T20:34:00.003-05:00

One of the things I love most about what I do is the families I meet. I can't tell you how many true friends I have made that started out as me photographing one of their children...then their next...then their family portrait. It just makes me smile because lifelong friendships have been made that started out as a call about photography. Unfortunately this family is not one of them. Well, that sounded bad, didn't it?...I said unfortunately because this family is moving! And I absolutely LOVED taking their portraits! This family won the gift certificate for the silent auction at Ogletree Elementary so I do not know if they had even seen my photography before we arranged our session! But let me tell you, this family is precious! With their youngest child being as old as my oldest, they are obviously in a different stage of life than my family is...and what hope it gives me! The session went so smoothly and the mom encouraged me that seven years is the magic age (I had myself convinced FOUR was the magic age but with two of my children over four, I'm facing the music that age four isn't all ice cream and roses!) So, now my new goal is age seven. Don't get me wrong, I am not wishing the time away...truly I am not...afterall my favorite quote is from Dr. Seuss, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." Hmmm, maybe my quote needs to be, "Don't cry because it isn't over yet, smile because it is still happening...and enjoy it!" See, things with my family ARE getting easier...three are potty-trained...three are swimming...three are out of cribs, but I have to admit, things are NOT easy. I am often asked how I juggle it all...my answer: very poorly. However, I am still trying to ENJOY it. Enjoy the craziness, enjoy the chaos, enjoy the madness. But this family gave me a glimpse of what is to come...maybe not easy, but at least a little less crazy. So, take a look at these good looking boys...they were a delight to photograph...so well behaved and so handsome! I wish I had more time to get to know this family better because I truly enjoyed being with them...for now, I am just so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet them before they moved. You'll have a special place in my memory at least for the next 4 years (at which point MY youngest will be seven!) Thank you for the encouragement... indeed, I will miss ya'll!

Snooze City

2009-07-21T22:06:00.003-05:00

I think I have explained in the past that it is best to bring your newborn to their first portrait session within the first two weeks. The reason for this is because this is typically their sleepiest time. This of course is just the typical, but not always the absolute. I have learned to never expect anything from a newborn...afterall, they are new to this world and still figuring things out. But when you get a sleepy one, it makes my job so easy...and Davis was a SLEEPY one! Oh, this little one I do believe was the sleepiest baby I have every photographed...he was a dream! I moved him and jostled him and arranged all his little baby parts and he just snoozed and snoozed and snoozed! Add all that snoozing to a newborn with a head full of hair and you get some priceless portraits! Did I mention he has the cutest older brother...not the quietest or the calmest but the cutest! As Charlie ran and played in the studio guess what Davis did...yep, snoozed! What a fun session this was! Here's to the sleepiest newborn thus far! Keep on snoozing Davis!

Picture Perfect

2009-07-18T21:55:00.002-05:00

So this is Cole, and Cole is very special to me because I have taken his portraits since he was a newborn! I have gotten to know them over the years and I just think they are the most adorable family! As with most of my clients, my main contact has primarily been with the mom except for during the actual portrait session in which the dad will come to take family shots. But this session was different. Cole's dad actually called me this time and asked me to take portraits in front of their sunflower field. I had no idea what to expect because I guess I have never really seen a sunflower field in full bloom in person. Wow, was it beautiful! I have since found out that sunflower fields are planted to help with hunting doves...hmm, who'd have thought! In any sense, this field was gorgeous but I must admit that it presented a bit of a challenge...see the sunflowers were taller than the child! To get the magnitude of the field, we would have to get Cole ABOVE the flowers and shoot down. Enter ladder...thanks Dad! A motivated dad can be a handy tool during a photo session! I love this first portrait of Cole... honestly, doesn't the background look fake it is so beautiful! And the second one with his puppy dog...look how patiently the dog sits while Cole places the flower behind his ear! Too funny! But this last portrait is the one that grabs my heart. Because as perfect as the sunflower field was, a happy family is truly the key to the best portrait of all! A sunset, a home and a family...doesn't get more picture perfect than that!

New Background New Foreground

2009-07-13T22:26:00.006-05:00

Okay, so I have been planning this portrait of McKinnon for a while now. I look pictures of a friend's children in the fall and her oldest daughter had lost both her front teeth. I thought it was precious and very signficant, so I decided at that point that if I was lucky enough that both McKinnon's front teeth were gone at the same time, I would definitely plan a session with her! So, per my last blog entry, you know how I feel about taking my own children's portraits. But after the reasonably smooth session last time I sort of thought maybe my kids were finally to the age that this wouldn't be an issue. Ha! Actually HA, HA! I could only be so lucky! To increase my expectations, McKinnon actually came to me and said she was READY to do this session...she had just lost her other front tooth, we had the outfit purchased and packaged with strict instructions she was not to wear it until AFTER the session...we were ready to go! I wanted this to be a fun session and I just got a new backdrop! How cute is this one...totally fun and whimsical! Perfect, right?! Except McKinnon is six and she TOO had an idea for this portrait and let's just say, we were NOT on the same page. Fun was what I had in mind...Silly was what she brought to the session...goofy silly, couldn't keep her on the backdrop silly, flat out NOT funny silly! Which in turn frustrated me which in turn upset her...10 minutes into the session all I could think was, "I have spent thousands of dollars on equipment so I can get great portraits of my kids and I am going to have to pay someone ELSE to get them!" Looking back, I see the problem. I was very emotionally attached to these portrait...or should I say these hypothetical portraits. To me, this stage is so pivotal and the lost teeth are so symbolic. Baby teeth gone, adult teeth not in yet. She turns seven next month and I must say it hit me harder than my own 36th birthday. SEVEN! And now that these baby teeth are gone I guess I finally realized that so is my baby! She has been replaced with a little girl that enjoys getting her nails done and listens to itune, and writes about her pretend boyfriend...ooohhh, when did this happen?! So, looking back I put too much pressure on this session as a whole and the result was a very uptight mom...and photographer. Relax, have fun. Yes, my baby is gone but she is now a little girl I actually ENJOY taking out to lunch, she is a little girl that likes music that is actually tolerable for me to listen to, she is a little girl that can write me a letter telling me how much she loves me! At last, I just LET her have fun at the session...let her be herself...let her be silly and what do you know, we got some great portraits! I like my new background but I LOVE my ever-changing foreground!

She better LOVE this gift!

2009-07-13T22:03:00.004-05:00

So my mom's 60th birthday is coming up. She is the type mom that says she doesn't really want you to get her anything and actually means it! Or she'll give me a quick little idea of something you can quickly go out and wrap up so she'll act all surprised and I can feel good that I actually got something for her. So as this pivotal birthday approached I hadn't stressed a whole bunch about what we were going to get her. Then out of the blue she tells me, "For my birthday I want a new purse." Okay, easy enough, I can do that. Then she adds, "...with a picture of all five grandchildren on it." All five! With my three kids being the OLDEST! So, a six year old, four year old, three year old, two year old and one year old. Come on mom, do you want all six kids on the SAME purse or can I just give you six different purses?! Awww, this means a photo session that involves my own kids! Now, let me explain, you think photo sessions for you the mom is difficult...try being the mom AND the photographer, oh yes, and on this session throw in the aunt in that scenario as well! No small task! Let me be completely honest with you- I view taking portrait sessions of my own kids like I do exercising- I do it because of the after effect and NOT because of the joy of the activity! Just like a long, hot run a full photo session involving all three of my kids is downright painful! Oh, and did I mention my husband refuses to come to these photo sessions...yes, after one bad Christmas card attempt he swore he would NEVER take part in one with our kids again...so I don't even ASK! One parent losing it with the kids is enough! Anywho, luckily this session was not as bad as some of the ones we have had in the past...maybe it was having the cousins around to dilute the situation. Anyway, the session was completed without me having to apologize to my kids even once...oh wait, maybe just once. ANYWAY, most of you know my kids, so meet my niece Sophie and my nephew Sam. These are my brothers kids and are they cute or what?! Sam is quite possibly the happiest baby I have ever met and so easy going! (Obviously didn't come from the Higgins' genes!) I love this portrait of him...look at those eyelashes! He is going to be a heart breaker! And Sophie, she reminds me so much of McKinnon at this age- soooo cute and soooo talkative! Chatty Cathy for sure...and to watch she and Elliott together is a hoot! I got a bunch of them together but this one made me giggle out loud...look at Sophie holding her tummy as she belly laughs! What ever Elliott said must have been hilarious! Lastly, this one with all four is one of my favorites because it really shows who they are...Sam curiously watching as all four of the older ones abound in from a day of playing. So, no these are not the ones going on the purse (that is a surprise for her!) but thankfully we got a lot of great expressions and had a not-too-miserable time doing it! All I have to say is she better LOVE that purse because it certainly was NOT an easy purchase this year! :-)

Patience is a Virtue

2009-07-10T13:23:00.002-05:00

I think more people are having babies these days because to my delight I have had the joy of photographing quite a few newborns recently...and I LOVE it! As I've said in earlier posts newborns are one of my favorite subjects to photograph. During our session with Merrill (I just love that name!) I was thinking through why I love newborn sessions so much. Honestly they are typically a lot longer than other sessions...actually significantly longer. One main reason I like these sessions is the fact that the new emotion that goes along with a newborn is overwhelming. Parents are so amazing to watch as they are getting to know their little precious one. And the connection a newborn feels with her parent is nothing less than a miracle as well. To watch the newborn settle into her mother's arms can melt a bystander's heart in an instant. But believe it or not, many photographers do not enjoy newborn photography, which I find flat out crazy! As I was going through this session however I realized what it may be that turns other photographers away from these sessions...the time investment! Yes, little ones eat rather often and at such a young age oftentimes sporadically. This session like many started out with a baby that flinched at each pop of the flash. It didn't appear that little Merrill was going to go to sleep, but patience is what it took! We waited, and worked, and hummed, and bounced and at last the precious angel drifted off into dreamland. And the magic began! Yes, newborn sessions DO take longer, they can be more challenging, but the reward is well worth the wait! Welcome to the world Merrill! At such a young age you reminded me of one of the most important lessons in life: Patience is a Virtue! And what a reward it beholds!!!

They call her Jewel

2009-07-02T07:30:00.006-05:00

Okay, so I am a mom, as you all know. And one of the most surprising revelations in adulthood, is that moms are just grown up kids. By this, I mean that as a child my mom was just that "Mom." She loved us, I knew that, but beyond that I can't say I thought about her feelings or emotions or responsibilities. As a result, when I was pregnant with our first child and was asked how many kids we wanted I always responded from a child's point of view. I wanted three kids because for a long time it was just me and my brother and that didn't seem like enough fun to have around...yes, that third child would have been helpful when my brother and I were arguing or he was away at camp. Enter McKinnon, Baby #1. Wow, my world was rocked! I kept asking my own mom, "When will I start FEELING like a mom?" By that I meant, when will I start being just "Mom," not caring where we ate for dinner or bitter about doing all the laundry or having my own agenda for the day. What I found out is being a mom is HARD! And you don't lose your person when you become one (does that make sense?)...I am still ME but just in a new role. And hmmm, how many kids my husband and I had would have consequences (i.e. MORE laundry...not just funner Christmases!) So what on earth does this have to do with this session? Well, enter Graham and Elliott into the scene (Babies 2 and 3 in our family). Even after I learned the lesson above, I never translated it to MY mom still! Meaning, she was now a GRANDMOTHER, but for me she was still, "Mom" but now with a new name "Granny." I knew she loved me and now my kids but that was it, her job was to do that. One day I called my mom about helping with the kids and (okay, mom confession) was kind of frustrated that she wasn't available. I mean, come on, I have three kids, I am TIRED, I need some help! What could she possibly need to do that was more important than helping ME! Feeling slightly put out with my mom and extremely frustrated with the neediness of my kids that day I thought, "When will the day come that these kids don't NEED me so much?!!!" Oh my gosh, the answer hit me like a ton of bricks, "Granny" wasn't just "Granny" or "Mom" and the answer to my question of neediness was NEVER! I still NEED my mom with the urgency I did as a child...for different things, but still as selfishly and urgent! My view of grandmothers changed instantly at that moment. Wow, I had come to appreciate my mother as a mother through becoming just that, a mother, but I hadn't appreciated who she was as a grandmother and the mother of a mother! Life changing! Again you ask, and this session, what does THAT have to do with anything?! This session was arranged by two mothers to be taken with THEIR mother (the grandmother) and her grandchildren. Wow, to see the love in this grandmother's eyes was tremendous! It was not a difficult session at all because the love between this lady and those children was unhidable! (I don't care if that is a word, it was THAT, UN-HIDE-ABLE!) The grandchildren called her "Jewel" and they LOVED their Jewel... and just as importantly their Jewel LOVED them! Being an awesome grandmother is more than being an awesome grandmother, it is being an awesome MOTHER at the same time! To love my children with such intensity, such trueness can only be translated through a mother. Grandmothers are not just "Mom + a generation". They are real people with real issues as well, but they choose to put it aside to love their children with the greatest kind of love...extended, unconditional love. So now as I see my mother love my children, I see it a little differently...a little clearer... she is loving ME, the daughter, as well, through my children. What a gift...thank you Jewel for helping to make this a little clearer for me! Like all grandmothers, you are certainly a gift from God!

Honesty is the best policy!

2009-07-02T07:15:00.010-05:00

It was hot! And I don't mean kind of hot, I mean HOT HOT! I am a very cold natured person so for me to complain about the heat means it was REALLY hot! But this session was one of those "Must Do's." Like many of my other sessions this spring, it had to rescheduled for rain on several occasions. Camille had turned one a couple of months ago so as soon as we had a nice day that we could both meet on, we were going ahead with the session...no matter WHAT the temperature! As a secondary urgency, Camille's mom wanted to get a portrait of their dog Sidney to give to her husband for his birthday. So while it was hot for us, I can only imagine what it felt like to a black lab in a fur coat (literally!). But Camille and Sidney both did fabulous despite the heat! I'll be honest with you, as everyone knows I LOVE children's photography- I've read a lot about pet photography but can't say that it has ever really interested me as much as what I already do. However, after this session I must admit I have been changed. See what I love most about children's photography is the honesty in it...kids don't really care about the portrait itself and don't have a preconceived idea of what a portrait should look like...and who would have guessed but animals are the same way! When you get the lighting right and the angle perfect, the animal does the rest to make an awesome portrait. And like children, an animal's eyes tell such a story! Sidney is an old dog...a very relaxed dog from what I saw. I love his eyes in this first portrait...they say, "I'm old and tired and hot but I will do this for my owner because of love...So, here you go lady, take the portrait so I can get back in the air-conditioned car!" Ha! And indeed we did! And these portraits of Camille- I love those little legs! She was one and on the go for sure, but catching her peeking over that fence with just her bloomers on...oh, you gotta love that! Lastly, her smile...her smile with the light warmly on her face. Like Sidney, pure honesty! Pure joy, despite the heat! Yes, that is what I love about photography...when you can capture the honesty! Honesty IS the best policy both in life AND photography! And indeed we got honesty today!

A Smile is Contagious!

2009-06-15T17:09:00.004-05:00

Meet Will! Will just turned one and I could have eaten him right then and there! He reminded me of my middle boy at this age- just happy, happy, happy! His session was full of smiles and laughter. As I looked through the portraits, I was hard pressed to find one that he wasn't grinning from ear to ear. Just made me smile watching his happiness! And Will has a lot to smile about...he is baby #4 in his family...the only boy in a house full of girls...adorable girls that love their baby brother. I loved this first portrait with Will and his sister Julia- Julia being the helpful big sister assigned to play Patty Cakes with Will...she look her job seriously and with great success as Will giggled despite the death grip she had on his wriggly wrists! I'm a sucker for little baby hands and feet so the second portrait grabbed my attention right away... look how his baby hands are positioned so perfectly...it makes all the little chub and dimples look so yummy! And all those little baby teeth...just a great portrait altogether. But hands down the third portrait is by far my favorite! It grabs me as a photographer AND a mother. As a photographer, I immediately am drawn to the sparkle in Will's eyes...the profile of those unmistakable eye lashes...the placement of the mom's hands so her wedding ring is a key element in the portrait. But as a mother, I love the smile...of the MOTHER. The mom was not prepared to be in any portraits...all you moms know getting out of the house with even one clean, fed kid is enough to ask, makeup is a luxury no one has time for! But this portrait was at the end of the session when Will's patience with us had come to an end. I asked his mom to play with him in hopes of stealing a few more sincere expressions. This was the last snap of the camera...I am so glad we persevered! I almost cropped in so nothing but the mom's hand was showing, but as I did I noticed the smile on the mom's face. It evoked vivid memories of the emotions I feel when my children smile at me. I can remember as a new mom when my little ones first started smiling, the intense feeling that overcame me whenever my baby smiled. I remember thinking, "Wow, this is a feeling I have never felt before!" It didn't matter how tired I was, how frustrated I was, how overwhelmed I was, as soon as that smile was flashed, a wave of happiness overcame me. I won't be surprised if the mom asks to be cropped out altogether in this portrait, but I had to include her for this blog entry. To the moms with new babies, this feeling never goes away. My three year old can lay down on the Walmart floor and pitch the biggest fit of his life, but when I am buckling him in his car seat, all the world sings as he flashes his smile....My four year can explode in a tirade of anger as he melts down over being beat at Mario Carts on the Wii, but when he finally calms down through tear stained cheeks and smiles at my silly antics, I totally forget about the earlier incident...My six year old can sass me as I lecture her for some six-year-old-offense (ohhh, that can really get at me!) and yet one sincere smile and I have forgotten the pre-teenage attitude she so perfectly exhibited. Yes, the feeling you get as your child smiles never lessens, never dulls. And so as a mom, I love that third portrait...Will is precious, his smile is perfect, his eyes sparkle, but the mom's smile is what I love most...reminds me of why we deal with all the chaos, all the sleeplessness, all the WORK of motherhood...because nothing, and I mean NOTHING can replace the feeling of watching your child smile! It is contagious!

Thank you Random Strangers!

2009-06-15T13:45:00.003-05:00

So, this is Maddie- does she look like a baby doll or what?! She has such an innocent look, so I love taking her portraits...looks like she should be on a Baby Gap ad or something! This was Maddie's one year portrait and like many portraits this spring, the session had to be rescheduled several times due to weather so by the time this sitting actually took place, Maddie was really a bit over one. Outdoor portraits with a child this age can be difficult because the best lighting actually occurs close to 7:00 p.m. I start these sittings around 5:45 even though the light is not ideal in most places because a happy baby is more important than perfect lighting. But I always hope the baby will hang in there long enough to get some magical lighting along with the magical expressions. Maddie's session started out great...she was happy and overall pretty content with us. We got some great portraits. Unfortunately though as the magic lighting started to arrive Maddie decided she had had enough of us! We had her on a little bench and the lighting was beautiful but no matter what we tried, Maddie was NOT happy. Enter Random Strangers! Like angels that suddenly appeared a couple approached us and explained that they had little ones at home this age and asked if they could help amuse Maddie. Oh my gracious, it worked! Maddie was OVER my crazy tricks and not amused despite her mom's persistent attempts. But THIS was a new face...actually TWO new faces and there it was, that smile! That grin! That interest in her eyes again! So we got it, magical light, magical expression all thanks to the magical strangers! Thank you Random Strangers!!! I will certainly pay it forward!!!

Boy, oh Boy...oh boy...oh boy!

2009-06-10T20:41:00.008-05:00

What a fun session this was, and what a dedicated mother! Yes, dedicated because she has four fun, rambuctious boys but also dedicated because we had to WORK to get this session planned. It actually was planned for LAST year, and I'll bet we had to reschedule 5 times because of weather...once we even went on location only for it to start raining as soon as we stepped out of the car. So, when we had a pretty day at last, we all celebrated! Having two boys of my own comes in handy with sessions like this because I had some tricks up my sleeve to help make them giggle...I mean, who would think that the word 'Underwear' could invoke such sincere belly laughs! I struggled picking which portraits to upload to the blog because we got such a variation of expressions and settings. I settled on these because they all were taken in the setting that I think ALL the boys felt most comfortable: an open field with lots of wide open area to run! The first portrait is of the baby...one tough cookie for being the youngest in this crowd, but his expression here is so innocent and sincere...doesn't it look like he is looking right through the camera?! Then the second portrait screams boy, boy, boy, and well, boy! They were tired by this point but as soon as I let them run loose, the smiles started flowing. There is a special relationship that develops between brothers and this portrait really captures that...afterall, it takes work to continue to hold hands when you are given the 1-2-3 go! Lastly, this could be my favorite portrait. I love, love, love when a portrait shows sincere emotion...when you can look at it and almost hear the sounds that were going on. This was taken right before the dad swung his son around and around in circles. Looking at this portrait you can almost hear the dad saying, "You ready? Now, 1-2-3!" And the anticipation on the son's face is priceless! There just really isn't much that can top your dad's one-on-one attention if even for a few moments! It reminds me as a parent of three children how important it is to take the time to spend one on one time with each child...it doesn't require much, just a momentary squeeze, or a playful tickle or an impromptu swing. If it is likely to invoke an expression of such innocent joy and anticipation in my child's face, it will be worth the extra effort. And next time thanks to this portrait, I'll pause a second longer to really appreciate that glimpse of raw emotion in my little one's eyes!

Baby Blues

2009-05-21T22:07:00.002-05:00

Well, this sitting didn't start out too smoothly. In all my time taking portraits I have never done what I did before this session...forget to pack my memory cards! Luckily I realized it half way there so I was only 15 minutes late to the session, but with babies this age at this time of day, every minute is critical. Afterall, it is their bedtime! Luckily W.C. came through for us! I had a hard time choosing a smiling portrait of him because there were so many with that sincere happy smile...who'd have thought the one below was right after a small tumble he took! The first portrait is a personal favorite...I included it because while W.C.'s expression wasn't happy and cheery at this point, it was one of those portraits that caught my eye....actually HIS eyes too! W.C. has amazing blue eyes and with that precious blue outfit on, it made his eyes glow. When I looked up at the sky, it was so blue, it reminded me of his eyes. With all the trees at Kiesel Park, the only way to get the sky in the background was this angle. I'm afraid with the size it may be displaying on your monitor, you won't get the whole effect, but his eyes, with his outfit and the blue sky in the background...whew, made me want a blue-eyed baby!!! The bottom portrait reminded me of something that is very important...don't give up! THIS was the LAST shot of the session...I had actually said I was completely done because W.C. was telling US he was completely done. But the lighting was so pretty I couldn't put down the camera. Who would have guessed this last portrait would have been so captivating! Of course he was probably thinking, "Is she not gone yet?!" Nope! Had to get that last look and boy am I glad I did!!!

A Story Told

2009-05-14T23:00:00.003-05:00

This is Sophie- how precious is she?! I am always amazed at how little baby girls look so dainty and girly even as newborns. I can just visualize her running around in a princess costume in a few years! One of the things I like most about newborns is watching newborn parents! It takes me back to when I was a new parent and reminds me of how intense that love you feel when you have a newborn. Don't get me wrong, that love never lessens but I can remember as a new parent I was struck by the intensity of that love...it was something I had never experienced before. Whenever I do newborn portrait sessions I love to get portraits of the parents looking at the baby because I can capture an emotion that is so pure, so intense. And the expression on the newborn face when they are in contact with their parent is equally as beautiful. This combination of portraits of Sophie really captured my heart because you can see her holding her Daddy's hand in the first portrait...the look on her face is so relaxed and calm...she feels safe because she knows her Daddy is near. Then the second portrait captures the look on her Daddy's face as he holds Sophie. Nothing like a Daddy's love for his little girl! And the mom looking over the Daddy's shoulder just completes the story...total love. So much passion, so much emotion and yet not one word is spoken. THAT is what I love about photography. Who needs words when love speaks so loudly!

Who'd Have Thought!

2009-05-13T20:36:00.005-05:00

So, I explained in an earlier post that the key to a newborn portrait was taking them in the first two weeks after birth. Typically the baby is still extremely easy to get to sleep. So, when Graham's parents brought him at his two week birthday, I expected a fairly predictable session. When will I learn that children are many things but predictable is NOT one of them?! What a precious little baby Graham is however he did not want to go to sleep. He was exhausted and wasn't happy being awake but couldn't totally relax and just let go into the slumber we were looking for (of course, in his defense I don't think I could sleep under bright popping lights either!). Anywho, at last we figured out the key was not gentle swinging in a dark room, but instead walking him around in the bright sun. A bit counter intuitive at first, but it makes sense- the bright sun makes the baby involuntarily squint and then once their eyes are closed, they drift off to sleep. Worked for this little newborn! That is the fun part of babies- each one is different and what works for one, doesn't necessarily work for another. But thanks to Graham I added another trick to my photographer's bag! I love these portraits- he is fast sleep! Who'd have thought the key was a bright sunny day!

Funnier than I remember!

2009-05-11T11:43:00.003-05:00

So, this session started out a little bumpy. Molly is a neighbor of mine and so I knew her prior to the session, however they haven't lived in Auburn very long so she hasn't gotten extremely comfortable around me yet. When she walked into the studio, she did not want to let go of her mother. We took a little time sitting by the lights talking, introducing her to all the little chairs just her size, showing the pictures on the back of my camera that I wanted to take of her...I even pulled the Smarties card early in the session...nothing seemed to convince her to sit by herself in front of the camera. So, her mom finally suggested that maybe she should step out and see if that would help. Well, did it help?! YES! Molly changed her tune 180 degrees and tried lots of different chairs and showed me lots of smiles. So, as I was looking through her portraits after the session, I knew I was the ONLY person in the room when we were taking pictures. I laughed out loud as I scrolled through them because for the life of me I could not remember what I had done that made her laugh so sincerely! All I know is I must have been one funny photographer! Too funny!

Now the other portrait was toward the end of the session as Molly was getting tired (and full of Smarties). Many of you know me and know me well, but there is a part of my past I haven't shared with all of you. Here goes with the confession: I was a thumbsucker. Not your avid hobbyist thumbsucker but your true, deep in your soul, always was and therefore always will be Thumbsucker! No, I don't suck my thumb anymore, but I do distinctly remember the comfort that sucking my thumb brought me. Afterall, I didn't stop sucking my thumb until I was 13! (yes, THIRTEEN!!) So, this portrait tugged at my heart strings...I love the angle because it adds to the look of vulnerability you see in her eyes. So, you all can look at this portrait and think, "Aw, how cute!" but I see something different, something more...I see security, I see relaxation, I see pure and total comfort! From one thumbsucker to another, Molly, you go girl!

Two Miracles

2009-05-04T16:12:00.004-05:00

This is Amanda & Savannah- are they cute as buttons, or what?! Twin three-year olds, so this could have been a difficult session but they were perfect! They are from Montgomery so I haven't seen them since they were newborns- I couldn't believe how different they looked...and yet both so precious! These twins are particularly special to me because I prayed for them for many years as their parents longed to have a baby...and at last, twin miracles! What I found most interesting was how much Amanda looks like her mom and how much Savannah looks like her Dad...together they are the perfect mix of their parents. We took lots of portraits at this session and initially didn't plan to take any casual ones, but decided at the beginning to just snap a few in what they normally wear. Oh, I love these portraits...totally natural smiles and the one of the two of them shows just how close they seem to be! Never once did I hear these girls disagree (a stark contrast to the sibling rivalry I experience with my children constantly!). Whether this is the case or not in their normal setting, I don't know, but on this day they were perfect. Reminded me that sometimes we pray and don't get the answer we hoped for, but this time we prayed and got twice the blessing!

An Interesting Perspective

2009-05-02T21:50:00.007-05:00

So, I am not going to lie. This was a challenging sitting. For lots of different reasons. But first, the story behind the session. Emma and Ella are sisters that I have taken portraits of since Ella was born. Their dad has been in Pharmacy school for as long as I have known them. He is graduating this semester and the whole objective of the shoot was to get a surprise graduation gift for the father...the vision was of his two daughters in front of Auburn's pharmacy building. All meaningful segments of his life but of course with vastly different significance. So the first challenge came with Ella. As with all 18 months olds, her first objective was not to sit still but to instead run and play and investigate her surroundings. So, getting her to stay in front of the building at all took deliberate and constant engaging. Smarties to the rescue again! Secondly was the enormous difference in size between the building and the little girls. I tried several different lens, different angles, everything I could think of to compose the portrait so the building didn't completely overshadow the children. Lastly, I really wanted to merge the delicate tenderness of his two daughters with the boldness of the pharmacy building in the background. The shoot itself was sad for me because I knew this family would be moving from Alabama really soon. While I haven't known the mom too very long, I have really enjoyed watching how our friendship has grown as her children have. Her faith in God has been an inspiration to me as she and her family went through some tough times. All this to say, I had to think outside the box. I had to really try some unique camera angles to get the look I was going for. We all had to be creative to keep the little one from running away. The result was surprisingly successful, with a portrait she will be giving her husband on Monday. But it made me really think about my photography business as a whole. Quite honestly, I started my photography business because I wanted to know how to take great portraits of my own children. Then I stuck with the business to financially fund the equipment I needed to capture the portraits of my kids. But as I grow with my business my perspective is starting to change. The business part of my photography business is the unemotional, brick and mortar building in the back of the portrait. But the relationships I am making as the years progress is the sweet spot...it is what I believe is God's purpose for me in the business...and honestly what I am so thankful for. See a portrait of the Pharmacy building would have been a fine gift, but eventually it would have ended up in an attic somewhere. Meshing the significant but unemotional building with the tenderness of his girls...now that is a true portrait to enjoy for a lifetime. The passion of photography for me is awesome, it is fun, but ultimately it will never replace the significance of the relationships it affords me to create! I will miss this family greatly but I'll always remember the important lesson I gained from what started out as a challenging photo shoot but ended up with a lasting portrait!

I'm No Dumbie Cause I Got Smarties!

2009-04-29T21:57:00.004-05:00

This is Isabel and her sister Chaney- two beautiful little girls that I have so loved to watch grow up! I particularly love to take these girls portraits because their dad is a dentist, and I love to watch his face as I pump straight up sugar in the form of Smarties in his babies' mouths throughout a sitting! I feel certain he brings a tooth brush and floss to clean after every session. But I know these girls' currency- CANDY! And as a current sugar addict myself, I love watching these children endulge in what I feel certain is a most forbidden delicacy in their home...totally non-nutritional, cavity provoking, smile- ensuring C.A.N.D.Y! What great smiles we got at this sitting and what precious portraits they'll enjoy...totally worth the cavities, don't you think?! Of course, at Chaney's age sometimes it can get frustrating when the flow of Smarties is not as rapid as she would prefer. One of the key taglines for my business is 'True Emotion.' And anyone who has a three year old knows the true emotion shown below. I laughed as soon as I saw this portrait because it reminded me of portrait I took of her two years ago...notice her bow on the ground by her feet...that is after she grabbed it out of her hair and threw it down in frustration! This girl's got attitude and I LOVE it!

A Slightly Stressful Sitting

2009-04-29T21:38:00.005-05:00

A common question posed to me when people come to my house is, "Who takes YOUR pictures?!" Obviously I can't take the picture AND be in it at the same time (afterall it is nearly impossible to be the mom and photographer during a single shoot much less the subject too!) The answer is professional photographers get OTHER professional photographers to take their portraits! Usually it is done as a professional courtesy so it is a great perk in the business! Until another professional photographer calls you to take THEIR portraits...then it is STRESSFUL! These portraits are of a good friend of mine and a wonderful photographer here in Auburn- Brooke Dilworth. Many of you may know her name because I oftentimes refer folks to her if I am unavailable or they are looking for a handtinted portrait...she is a super talented photographer! Now understand, NOTHING did Brooke do to make this sitting stressful...it was totally me! Afterall, most moms are happy if they can just get a portrait of a moving child in focus, but when another professional photographer is looking at portraits of their own baby, you want to make it perfect! You want to have the lighting right and the posing correct and the color just so... and OF COURSE it must be in FOCUS! To add to the stress, some of these portraits were going to be printed in East Alabama Living Magazine...ugh! I said a fervent prayer on the way to this sitting! Of course, it turned out great because Brooke and Michael are such easy people to work with, and Thomas is a doll! As Brooke and I looked at the portraits together after the sitting, it reminded me of a very important fact I too have experienced after looking at portraits of my children- you're a mom FIRST and a photographer second! THANKFULLY! So if the color wasn't perfect, or the lighting wasn't perfect or the posing wasn't perfect, it didn't really matter because her little boy was! P.S. Love this last portrait of Thomas by the door...looks like he is pondering God's glory as he looks up at Heaven...in reality, his dad was at the top of the hill with M&M's! I guess to a little child M&M's are a form of Heaven on earth! :-)

Something to look forward to...

2009-04-20T14:11:00.002-05:00

Well the day after Mary Charles' portrait sitting when I was feeling rather nostalgic about the passing of time, I spent time with this lovely family. With the children being 9 years, 13 years and 14 years old, it was a vastly different sitting than with younger children. Talking to the mom, she shared with me that she has really enjoyed her children at this age because they can interact on a totally different level than when they were little. So true...amazing that when you ask them to turn this way or that way or smile more or less, they actually understand! I asked her and sure enough she didn't have to buckle in even one of her kids or pack a diaper bag or find a sippy cup before she left the house! It served as a great reminder that sometimes it is difficult to know that a phase in your life is passing, but there are more fun times to come too! So while I will still have a touch of sadness knowing that I won't hear the quick patter of little feet running to my bedroom at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday mornings for much longer, I now will smile a bit dreaming about the day there won't be the quick patter of little feet running to my bedroom at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday mornings!

Growing Up!

2009-04-18T22:15:00.005-05:00

So Mary Charles has a very special place in my heart! I have taken portraits of Mary Charles since she was a wee little newborn. To see her at three years old has just been amazing to me! What a beautiful little girl she has become and even more importantly what a sweet little heart she has. As I watched her play and pose and dance it made me think about how quickly time passes with children. They change so much in such a short amount of time. What a gift it is to be able to watch them grow up! I love this first portrait because it really showed how happy she was this day...just delightful the whole session. The second portrait got me because she looked so graceful and lady-like in it...it just gave me a glimpse of what she will look like as she gets older. And the last one, well, I loved the motion in the portrait...she was walking away and something about the flow of her dress and the movement in her feet...it just felt so vintage...so I added a little texture just to enhance that feel. Sort of nostalgic I guess...makes me wonder, where does the time go? How can I make sure I savor each moment? Kids don't look back...they just grow up...fast...too fast! I have to just remind myself of my favorite quote by none other than Dr. Seuss, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." As our kids grow up, I think our natural instinct is to mourn each passing stage, but instead we should be joyful that we got to experience yet another piece of a miracle. Children truly are a gift from God!

What a Combination!

2009-04-18T14:45:00.005-05:00

Red hair, curls AND dimples...it doesn't get any better than this! This is Carter, and I must admit I was a little worried about how this session would go since the first time I met him he didn't seem to be too comfortable with me. But oh, the power of M&M's! At the end of our first visit, I gave him some M&M's to tell him thank you for coming to my house...his mother told me he talked about it for days! And when he showed up to our portrait session he was ready to put on a show! I have a ton of great portraits to show his parents but these two just really caught my eye! The first one is captivating with his eyes... it just looks like you could peer into his little heart. And his precious red hair against that green grass just pops with color. I could hang this portrait in MY house! What a cutie! The other portrait shows off that dimple and those curls! The rim lighting on his little face just outlines the joy that is so evident from his enormous smile! What a joy this little boy was to take portraits of!

Itty Bitty and Oh so sleepy!

2009-04-18T09:30:00.004-05:00

I've been asked what is my favorite age to photograph- this is a difficult question because each age has its own special part that I love. However, I must admit that photographing a newborn would certainly be in the running for my favorite of favorites! The key to getting great portraits of a newborn is getting the portraits in the first two weeks...when he is itty bitty and oh so sleepy! Colt's session was rescheduled due to some bad weather so I was a little scared that we had missed the opportunity. But, no sir, he was a perfect angel! I love this first portrait because it looks like something you would see of a baby still in the womb...probaby what he looked like in his mommy's belly not too long ago! This second portrait is classic...Colt looks so snuggly...THIS is what the saying is talking about when they say "Sleeping like a baby!" Oh, he looks so comfy and secure! Lastly, the portrait of a new family...oh, this just gives me chills because when I tell a new mom or dad to look down at their baby, that is all you have to say...their expressions say the rest! A miracle in their arms!

Four Under Four!

2009-04-15T22:26:00.003-05:00

Whew, yes, yesterday's session was with four kids under four (cousins): Dorsey & Blair who are each three years old, Clyde who is close to two & Robert who is right at one year old. And to top things off, it was COLD! Truly a lot to ask of kids this age, but they came through for us! Actually, watching the two three years old made me realize just how poorly behaved my own children really were at this age- these two were so cooperative! Now, Clyde had some other plans for the day and was not really interested in getting that 16x20 canvas portrait his mom was looking for... but in his defense it was dinner time, he was overseas (they live in London), he was in a jon-jon, and did I say yet, it was COLD!? To back things up a bit, when his sister Blair was this age we took a PRECIOUS portrait of her in this location looking intently at, in her words, "an angel!" (It was actually a bride, but I must agree the bride could have passed for an angel gliding through the rose garden at Botanical Gardens!) Anywho, the canvas was gorgeous and the story behind it was priceless. So enter Clyde's portrait... we were under a lot of pressure to get something as telling of him at this age (and their residence over seas would not offer us a second chance, even if it was COLD!) So we were trying everything...we got some super expressions but nothing that told the story like Blair's portrait. And then an hour into the session, cold and tired, Clyde's mom decided to leave the scene to see if that would help. Clyde was none too happy to see his mom leave but luckily his grandfather was there, and it was then that the magic happened. His grandfather, as only a grandfather can do, started patiently talking with his grandson. With a toy baseball in hand he slowly tossed the ball to the little boy as Clyde watched and listened to his grandfather's instruction with the same intrigue as his sister had experienced with 'the angel' years before. So, the lighting in this portrait of Clyde is beautiful, the composure of the scene is inviting, but knowing that the little boy is looking up to none only than his revered grandfather makes the portrait priceless! Who'd have thought!
I love the other portrait of the little boy and his grandfather's hand as well...what a stark contrast the youthful hand plays with his elder's... with a baseball bridging the age gap. Really neat! Lastly, the portrait of the cousins walking away. In all honesty, there really isn't anything super about the actual composure of the portrait... it was actually totally candid as we were walking from one part of the gardens to the other. The reason I loved this was personal . These cousins are six months apart in age. I too have a cousin that I grew up with that is about six months younger than me...we always lived miles apart but even to this day we can get together and it seems not a moment of time has passed. As I watched these cousins walk away, I saw a glimpse into my own personal past. Which is one reason I love photography so much... a portrait is more than good lighting, it is more than leading lines and balanced composure... it tells a story...maybe a different story to whoever is looking at it at the time. For me, this portrait took me back and made me thank God for a friendship afforded me through simply the gift of a cousin!

Mommy and Me

2009-04-15T18:12:00.001-05:00

So this is Jack! And yes, he IS as cute in person as he looks in these portraits! However, as many of you know, at 18 months old, separation anxiety sets in, and Jack wanted to make sure the whole time that his mommy wasn't going anywhere! The thing I like about 18 month olds is the fact that what you see is what you get! They don't get the bribing thing yet so there are no coerced smiles...when you capture the smile of an 18 month old you know he was HAPPY! And thus the sincere joy you see in Jack's eyes in his portraits. In contrast, I love the portrait of Jack with his mom. What I love most is the look of comfort in his eyes. This was at the end of the session and Jack had had enough. He wanted his Mommy and when she kneeled down to comfort him, he immediately settled down. As long as he could feel his mom at his side, he wouldn't cry because he knew he was safe. Wow, as a mom I am amazed that I am the person my kids ultimately rely for total comfort...scary in a way since I still feel like I am 'playing mommy' sometimes. When do you actually FEEL like the wise mom that will always be able to take care of things? I wonder! Guess for now, we as moms need to realize that as difficult as it is to be the one called Mommy, we hold a little heart in our hands whether we feel capable or not!

Meet Cannon

2009-04-13T12:14:00.000-05:00

So, if you ask me of one time in a baby's life you HAVE to get their portrait made, I will say once they start sitting up but before they are crawling! What a precious time because they are so amused with anyone who is willing to entertain them! Cannon was a perfect example of this! I have 100 other jolly portraits we took this day I could have posted...he was so happy! And when you see a baby smile with such simple, pure joy, you can't help but smile and giggle back! What a great lesson in life to remember!!! Anthony J. D'Angelo once wrote "Smile, it is the key that fits the lock of everybody's heart." Cannon definitely unlocked my heart this day!

Welcome to My Black Hole

2009-04-09T12:28:00.001-05:00

Okay, first I gave in to Facebook and now a BLOG! What has become of my life! :-) Actually, I have wanted to create a blog for sometime but didn't really know how...and still don't really know the ins and outs, so be patient with me. (Does this show my age, or what?! Thirty-something for sure!) Anywho, I hope to use this blog to share not only my photography experience with everyone but also my mom experiences. So beware, I have said it before and I'll say it again: I am a black hole of chaos! If anyone gets near me I'll suck them into the chaos as well! Sooo, welcome to my world, my chaos, my life! :-)