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.

Lauren & Doug: Wedding

One of the things I love about my job is getting to hear a couple's story- what they've experienced together, what draws them together, and what they love about one another.
 
One of my favorite little tidbits about Lauren and Doug is that their love spanned the oceans.  And if they'd had a tin-can telephone with a string that would reach from St. Louis to Australia, perhaps things might have been different (cheaper, at least).  As it were, their love grew about as fast as their international phone bill, bringing Doug back to American shores to marry the love of his life, Lauren.

Their wedding was so beautiful with sweet moments between family and friends, amazing details, and unique atmosphere! It was almost impossible to choose favorites to share, but seeing as I like a challenge, I am excited to share these!

 I loved this photo the second I took it.

One of the things that Doug described to me about Lauren was that in her character is such care and thoughtfulness.  They invited her students to the ceremony and enjoyed ice cream with them afterwards! This little one was so precious- clenching this card the whole time, just waiting for the perfect chance to give Lauren her wedding card. I bet she would agree with Doug. I loved it!

 No doubt, these next two are among my very favorites. :)

Their reception was at the Palladium, near Soulard, and what a venue! Loved it. Soulard venues are always amazing, or so it seems.

 And this is one of the most amazing cakes I've ever seen.

 We had some night photography planned, but a huge storm rolled through during the reception, but it didn't slow us down.  We just used the Palladium as our background, and I love it!

Congratulations!