Getting Urban

Here are a few that caught my eye. This sneak peek has been long in coming, hopefully it won't be too long before we see proofs!

The Princess and Her Squires

I met this little princess along with her three brothers at the Cox Arboretum. I neglected to adequately inform the parents of this merry band that a shoot with 4 young active children can be quite the workout! Or as dad said it, we had a little session of "photo-cize." These kids had so much fun hiking the trails, it was such a blast running after them! We only got a family shot or two by cornering them on some stairs and having a contest for who could laugh the loudest (in that series, look at the last one, and the pout on little sister's face, the shot and lighting isn't the best but that pout is priceless). What a wonderful shoot you all, I hope you had as much fun as I did.

No grasshoppers were harmed

This was a shoot full of surprises and laughter. Little man didn't want to get out of the car, and Mom was worried he'd be shy the whole shoot. Nope! He was my super child model and the Princess Puppy was the one we had a hard time getting to smile. Wonderful siblings who were kind and playful together, it was a great adventure and a beautiful evening. Hope it was worth the wait for the proof gallery!

Little E

Between an extended stay in the NICU and my hospital schedule with my son, this shoot got a little delayed. I was able to visit Evan at home with his family at 13 days old and he was alert and opinionated. I finally got him settled in a bean bag, in one position form which he objected moving from. After I got enough of just him that way I had him model some of my hat props for me. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of full body poses with Evan because he had other ideas about being naked and posing. He is still gorgeous, who needs a 30+ proof set when you can pull off some of these shots in the first take.

A beautiful addition to a beautiful family. See you at 3 months buddy!

Kaz

A good friend from back in Philly was out visiting family in western PA and drove just that much further to hang out with us for about a day. I couldn't resist taking some shots of her gorgeous son, now if only my kids hadn't been there too and I could have had a full hour with this guy, so Handsome!

Also I will be back to shoot editing, honestly, the digital darkroom can just zap brain cells if it is all you do. So I took a little break and got my family blog caught up a bit (even up to these photos from mid August), and now I feel refreshed and ready to tackle my outstanding shoots. Again, thank you to everyone for your continued patience, you all are the best! I am so ready to a week ahead of photo shoot editing goodness! First up, newborn bundle of cute, Evan.

Pick a Peck of Delicious Rowan

Rowan has got a bit of an apple theme goign for his birthday photos, last year it was much colder and the apples much bigger! Just a sneak mama, more to come.

Little Man on campus

The A family and I met up at Inniswood as I was saying goodbye to the tu-tu-riffic M Family at the Inniswood Metro Gardens Gate. The shoot was primarily for little man's 18 month pics, but I couldn't resist some of sister as well. And the last one, well they are just practicing there O-h i-o! Emphasis on the "O!"

A Chilly Summer Morning

We had a rough start to this shoot, why? Because in the middle of September, it was frigid in the morning when we met up, no indian summer this year, hello fall! The kids toughed it out, and before we knew it the sun was shining and we could feel our blood moving again. We tromped all over Inniswood, and I even got to give a few piggyback rides. More to come mom, just a few to tide you over.

Always a good time

All the things we adults noticed didn't matter to this little 2 year old, there were rocks to be thrown in the river, and helicopters kept flying over head.

At long last

After over 40 weeks of pregnancy, a long labor, and 6 weeks of anticipation, I present little Miss Rachel. She and I spent several hours on a double guest bed right next to a window trying to get comfy and asleep. Rachel had better ideas, like breastfeeding, and pooping. I think we still got some gorgeous ones though. See you in a few weeks for your 3 month little one.

Sway with Me

Miss Cailyn, in all her Cailyn goodness. Happy Number 2 kiddo.

A Quick Puddle Jump

You have got to love a mom who gets excited that the shoot is going to get rained on. Not final edits by any means, but the selection should give you a flavor for how the shoot went, and it was a whole lot of fun.

A princess and three squires

The H Family mett up with me at the Cox Arboretum for a little session of "photo-cize." taking pictures of 4 active children in scorching heat can be quite the workout. The shoot was mostly about their youngest, the little princess, but her noble squires hammed it up too. There are plenty more to come but here are a few that caught my eye.









remember that sneak peeks, are just that, the final proof may be the same or quite different. shoots get a flavor when I edit them all at once and I don't know that until I sit down to run the whole shoot. that and I am sitting in the dark staring at a laptop screen, I may feel differently about what I did come morning light. but I know mom doesn't really care about that part, she just wants a peek!

In the Mail

In a message with a friend I remembered, I total forgot to get my two latest announcement creations up here for all of you to see. Identifying information has been altered, but you get the idea. I saved putting them up on the blog so that they could be a surprise for the families receiving them. Now that they are in the mail I can share them with everyone! The fianl product is a double-sided 5x7 postcard, they are gorgeous!



Mister Man Evan
(the letters that spell out his name on the front are a picture of the letters hanging on the wall of his nursery)




Little Sister Rachel
(mom wanted the announcements to double as thank-you notes or just have a spot to write a message, that's the little area with the monogram. Can't you just see it with a hand-written, "thanks for the casserole!" ?)

Rachel

Rachel took her time joining us, now you can watch the less than 9 minutes version of the full 20+ hours, not to mention the nine months that got her here. You may remember Rachel's momma from her maternity session here.

The movie password is : Merriam

Melissa has been kind enough to share this birth experience with all of you who are fans of my work or are considering booking your own arrival shoot, for the sake of her family's privacy I ask that you not embed or share this video without our permission.

You can view the video full screen, it isn't as crisp as the HD video of Evan's I loaded below, at nearly 9 minutes this video was 1.5 MB over the upload limit of 1 GB, doh! The family will receive a copy of both files on disc, as would any other client who contacts me for a Custom Movie project. I will do my best to upload it at HD for you to share with your family and friends, but I won't hack the story just to preserve pixels!

Evan's Arrival

I feel so lucky I got to share in the introduction of this little man to his family.

Through the woods and past the pond

Maycee is 9 months old now and we decided to test those standing and sitting skills to show what a big girl she is! Next shoot walking!

Ella Bella

I am a little partial seeing as she is my niece, but I think Ella has the most beautiful eyes. And those are all hers not some trick of photoshop. I am so happy to finally be posting these, we delayed the shoot till after her vacation and then snuck it in before I went to california and Josh's surgery. Now, at last, here they are, Happy Big One Ella!

Summer of love

. . . and mom said he was shy.

My First Princess

Anna-Marie was only 10 days old and absolutely precious. Thanks so much to mom for letting me come and soak in her wonderful tutu girlie goodness! You have been unbelievably patient in waiting for these, thank thank thank you!

Sign up for fall color!

I know, in the heat of summer it's hard to think about fall and wool sweaters, but now is the time to send me a message and sign up for a fall colors session. Last year I had a complete different camera and less experience, this year we are going to snag some AMAZING photos.

Whether you are thinking about solo, couple, family, or child portraits in the fall colors, now is the time to contact me so I can save you a slot and have you meet me out there in the beautiful leaves. Prime slots will be given on a first come first served basis. I will try to accommodate everyone, but depending on the interest, weather, and length of the fall color this year, spaces may be limited.

If you have already mentioned it to me, please message me again, I have probably misplaced it! With me, better to message me twice, then hope I've remembered!

The Evan Belly

He's cute, even when he's still on the inside.

We tried an alternative "hands on the belly shot" because, well, they each had ice cream in their other hand. And Avery was just fine, the band-aids are like bling to the girl.

Again props to the whole family it was 90 degrees that day and being near the water didn't make it much cooler.

Princess

Alison is just a few weeks younger than my daughter and is a lot of fun. Where my daughter guffaws like she was raised by sailors, Alison has the cutest little tittering giggle, and she giggles a lot. We had so much fun and she was just so darn cooperative and happy I didn't have to take a bijillion photos hoping for just a few good ones and a bunch I could make look nice artistically. Besides we had left her little brother and bot my kids with a friend who already has three kids, we didn't want to be gone too long. Just an absolutely delightful session, I honestly was beside myself, I'm used to uncooperative toddlers and grumpy preschoolers.

Baby Sister

Mom deserves a gold star for venturing out at midday in 90 degree heat with a 4 year old, and pregnant. Surprisingly it wasn't as steamy as we feared it would be and both mama and big sister were radiant. The proof set is only 10 shots, which qualifies this this as a "mini-shoot" but with ten winners like these, who needs a full 30 proof set?

Big Day

It was a big day. Mom finally got pictures of the kids and the family. Dad got a new job, hello Knoxville! Thanks again for a wonderful session and a great morning!