Baby J

As I sit here, I'm realizing I've photographed this family since back in my film days. I've been friends with Rachel and Brett since college and have photos from those early days.  One from when Brett and friends took me on my very first camping trip which resulted in an injury to Brett's hand right before baseball season. Oops...

Now I want to go find one of those and scan it for your viewing pleasure.

Anyhow, they are a trio now, and this little guy is all on the move.

Being about the same age as my little one and being neighbors, it's fun to see him grow (Though, considering we are neighbors, I should see him a bit more. Perhaps next spring, when park time returns, we'll frequent the park by their house. Got that Rachel? Deal?)

I really love the realness in this photograph.  Perhaps one day, it will be fun to look back at the record that his rattle was a Parmesan Cheese container filled with Raisin Bran. I love that.


OK. I did it. Here you go. My hubby and a long-haired Brett, but the hat covers it all up.  Notice the wrapped up finger. (Brett don't hate me right now. Brian is already questioning this decision to let me post this.)

Baby L

This little girl is the kind of little girl who is just so darling it makes me crazy. So adorable.

Happy first birthday, little one!

Eli, 4 years, Part 1

The last couple of years, in the fall, I've photographed my son, Eli. With an old camera.

This year he has grown farther and farther out of love with having me take photos of him.  Eye contact is painful. He is self-conscious, emotional, and looks tragically sad in most photographs. And though he is an emotional boy these days, he's not always sad, so I occasionally want some record, as any mom would, of his awesome smile and bright eyes.

I didn't know if he would even want to take photos this year. But we asked him, and he was elated. His favorite thing on earth is one on one time with Momma. So when the deal was proposed to take photos and Dad and Levi get to stay at home, he was completely pumped and eager.

Elisha's special request: photos at the Alpine Shop and the Kirkwood Train Station.

It was remarkable- eye contact, smiles, and downright cheerfulness. Some of the outtakes are rather hilarious. He as a dream of being a foreman, and the closest he could be at a photo shoot was mini art director, so I let him call some of the shots- quite literally. What a riot!

Today I'll share a few from the Alpine Shop.

Me: Hey, Buddy, look at that building over there.
Eli: You mean the pharama-seed?
(And I'm glad I got some photos of this bike. We love it, but we think it was swiped from our yard this week; good lesson in taking care of your stuff...)

 Clingin' to a kayak like his PopPop!

A Fall Family Favorite

The last few times autumn has rolled around, I've had the privilege of photographing this fantastic family.  I was telling Brian on my way to this session that I love photographing their family because they so clearly love and adore each other, interact with great ease, and simply enjoy being together.  This time was no different.  Definitely a fall family favorite for me.

Check out the air on this one!

p.s. This is my 300th blog post for this site.

Carnival, Fairytale Engagement

Last weekend, I got the chance to do a last minute photo session of Reannon and Seth at a carnival! It was a great chance to shoot at night, stretch myself as a photographer, and take an idea in my head (and Reannon's) and bring it to life.

Since Reannon was dressed as a modern Snow White, I threw a few into a technicolor style, reminiscent of the film's older coloring.

This photograph, as I created had feeling and intention, even though it seems rather chaotic.  Though at first I had a hard time placing words to it, after some help, I realized it shows the whirlwind, fairy tale romance that Seth and Reannon have.  Like these carnival rides, it's fast, exciting, bright; and I dare say love can be dizzying.

Baby Z

I just love these photos of little baby Z.  He is simply so precious. And his parents just adore him so much.  No need for more words here, just photos!

CELEBRATEfamily: an adoption photo fundraiser

Twice over the month of September, we opened our home for CELEBRATEfamily adoption photo fundraiser.  Several families came and had their photos taken, learned a bit more about our adoption process, hopefully had fun and chalked up our front entry.

It was so special for me to have a guest book made on our front steps.  We photographed it to keep it forever, as a gift to our future kid or kiddos to let them know of the various folks who are loving them even now!

Since we were aiming to have people think about actually CELEBRAT(ing)family,  we tried to do that ourselves. We asked Eli was his favorite part of family was. Here is his answer.
In case you can't read it, it says, "Thank you, Mom & Dad, that you let me spend time together with me, and play with me all day long sometimes."

This definitely isn't all the individuals and families who came, but I just grabbed a handful as a representation of what we did over the two Saturdays!

And to finish off the day, we learned that Grandma did some jump-roping back in her younger days, so we took the jump ropes off the front porch, and hit the ground jumping...

And apparently, Brian can defy gravity and jump sideways. :)

We also started a blog this week to document our adoption journey.  If you are interested in reading that, you can hop on over to http://ghana-love.blogspot.com/ and start reading.