On vacation

I am going on a very last minute vacation with my family for the next week. I had intended to take some work with me, but we decided the family laptop with its already fragile hard drive shouldn't make the trip.

I hope you all will continue to be so exceptionally and wonderfully patient in waiting for your proof galleries and sneak peeks. It has been a tumultuous few weeks, with getting my son's port removed, recovering from surgery, then embracing all the activities we've missed and finding out 13 days later that a tumor has regrown in his lung. Surgery was supposed to be Monday June 29th, but were given a week delay to go enjoy some time with Josh while he still feels well. He has a rough road ahead of him. His lung surgery will be July 7th, with intensive radiation, and rounds of in-patient chemotherapy to commence a week and half after surgery.

I will still be working on your projects, they keep me sane, and let me not think about the cancer for a while. I will still be taking photos, I just can't guarantee a two week return on your proofs at this time. So if you are already booked, no need to cancel, if you want to book send me an email, we'll talk.

I've got to get to bed, I've got a plane to catch in 6.5 hours.

Oh Me Oh My

This may be my favorite sneak peek ever, because this little 6 day old's mama only got to witness about a third of the shots I took. Meaning, it was easy not to pick everything because I am mean and like keeping some of them still a secret. And those feet are big sister and little brother's feet. Mom there are plenty more of Trevor all by himself, I just wanted to give you a little peek of the whole shoot, and the last of Mackenzie, that was all her idea, I just went along for the ride.

Enjoy Yourself, Invite Me to Your Party!

Here's a great idea, sit back, relax, and enjoy your party or event. Let me worry about where I put the camera. Watch your baby eat her first birthday cake and be with her, I've got the pictures covered! Okay really this is my niece and my brother didn't hire me to come out, but I wouldn't mind doing more parties/occasions. It was a lot of fun. So if you've got a party coming up or an event you just want to be part of and not photographing, invite me, I'll take pictures, lots of them. I can't help myself. Oh and below, my daughter's birthday, I managed to get these while chasing them through a park, but just an idea of how having a photographer along can really be fun for your next occasion.

This is Penny

This is my daughter Penny, for her birthday we got the family a membership to Franklin Park Conservatory. She was excited to say the least. A few days after this we were set up to have family pictures done with another photographer, Amanda, of Mom-a-razzi, as part of the Littlest Heroes Project. This "portrait shoot" of Penny was a little different than most of mine, knowing Amanda would most likely get a slew of head shots and great cheesy smiles in a few days, I wanted to stand back and just try to capture Penny, what it is like to spend a few hours with her. This everyone, is my daughter, all 4 years of her.



If it's pink she'll find it. The large rainforest room with the koi pond and butterflies is her favorite. She spent most of the day in there, watching the butterflies. Running and not being able to stand still for a millisecond.



In the Palm House, there is a fountain, you can get quite wet.
I love this set of photos, the wave/splash I caught in the first one, her zeal and delight; paired with her literally shaking water out of her dress, she was dripping wet. I love that in both photos there are water droplets caught in mid-air, on the left on their way up into the air, and on their right on their way down from her dress.



Splashing is fun, just a little.



She's very effective at air drying.



One word: goober
This is my goober at her best.



Penny had not ever been to this courtyard. She remembered it immediately from her cousin Ella's 9 month pictures, she wanted to be "just like Ella" and recreate this specific shot. There's a little bit of a difference between a 9 month old and a 4 year old.



Penny's way is pretty cute too. She wouldn't get down, this is how she rolls when she has found something that amuses her. She pretended to be Ella for a long long time.



Then we went walking and she found a stick that she pretended was a flute, because, well, everybody needs a magic flute.



And then she ran around and found little weeds that were glorious flowers and danced and played, and looked out at a world that was full of fairytales and magic, because she's 4, and her daddy bought her a butterfly.

Sometimes a true portrait of a person isn't in a perfect head and shoulders shot, or in getting them to look at the camera, sometimes it's in following them on their fairy wings and capturing a snapshot here and there.

Nine Days of Kissable Awesome

Because she carried him for nine months, because she let some crazy lady in her house for 3.5 hours, because this is just adorableness the world should know. . .I present baby Micah, only nine days old! Okay mom and grandma, these aren't the final proofs of these shots, this is just a quick edit so you could see some of what we did today. Do you have any idea how hard it was to only pic "a few" to post?

Thank you so much for letting me spend the day with your warm and wonderful family, I could have stayed all day. Many many more pictures to come when I put up the full gallery hopefully within 2 weeks (click on these images and you can see them bigger).

Your Questions, Answered

I recently acquired a heap of free business cards, and by a heap, I mean 1000. Some of you have asked for them, and you have a point, they are pretty handy. If you want some ask me, I've got plenty to pass around, wallpaper the bathroom with, shred and use as mulch.

I've also been taking in a lot of your feedback and working on a few things.

One of those items is still in the very early stages, but is an actual order form that you can email back to me or print out, it's pretty wicked, and I think you will really really like it. I thank you all for putting up with my current and non-existent system for ordering.

The other is some changes you may have noticed today to the sidebar. As some of you, my current clients of family and friends have been forwarding me along to friends and family of yours who don't know me, there have been a lot of questions to be answered for the newcomers. You know like who I am, what all I do, what I charge, etc. I've created a FAQ section and have begun filling it with all the questions I could remember or think up. If you can think of any others I should include, or are actually bored enough to have read through the ones I have and find anything unclear, leave a comment and let me know so I can add it or fix it.

Some of you may want to check out the print/product pricing link, I have some new things I am doing and I am sure there is something there you may want to get your hands on.

Got any other ideas for me? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear it.