New Friends

This week I held sessions with three new friends, and one very alert newborn (you'll have to wait till after his birth announcements!). It's always a delight to meet new clients!

On my screen

Just two of my favorite little people. . .how about you?

Baby Boots

Baby Boots was a stubborn one getting out here to meet us and he was just as willful during his first session. First, Nolan, the baby who sleeps all day and is up all night. . .wouldn't go to sleep. He wanted to have belly time and show off his head holding skills at less than 2 weeks old. Then he thought he was in charge of posing and had his own ideas for his hands and arms. By the time we made it to the bean bag for the classic backdrop he was ready to feel his mama near again.



I already knew we had caught some wonderful shots, so we moved to mama and daddy time in the family room where we caught my favorite shot of the whole session in his mama's lap, the left of the two below. (Oh and that hooded blanket is an original, made with love by his grandma, so you'll have to as her if you want one for your newborn session!)



You can enjoy the proof gallery slideshow for the next month before their gallery expires.

I ♥ Faces Week 8: Hands On Fun

The family that surfs their crackberries together, stays together.


This is my first time entering over at I ♥ Faces. A little about when and where this photo was taken. Taken 10/30/2009 at 8:52 PM on 3 Tower of Nationwide Children's Hospital. Camera Mumbo Jumbo: Nikon D90 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens; SS: 1/30 sec, A: f/1.4, ISO: 1000. I was using Aperture Priority mode at the time so the camera set SS and ISO.

This photo is of my husband and my 3 year old son, Joshua, who has metastatic kidney cancer. I took this photo from the couch next to his bed, about 4 feet from their hands. On Josh's forefinger is a pulse oximeter, his heart had been racing all day. On this day he had been unexpectedly admitted to the hospital after maxing out the hem/onc clinic thermometers with a fever from a lovely combo of H1N1 and an intestinal infection C. diff.

I love this photo for many reasons, but first and foremost because it really was the one sweet moment of a day he had mostly spent blankly staring as the fever raged on. Daddy came for a visit after putting big sister to bed and had some pictures on his phone to show Josh from her. So there they were, cuddled sideways in the bed, and of course Josh wanted to hold his phone too, and by his, I mean mine.

This photo also appeared on our family blog, in this entry about his surprise return to the hospital 6 days after his previous admission for radiation and chemotherapy.

Warm and Snuggly

Just a little peek of what's on my computer these days.

Here are a few of my favorites from this great session to kick off my 2010 photography season. Rachel's momma and I are two very busy ladies, so we decided to take a laid back approach to this session and have a little pizza playdate at my house. Rachel arrived with a bag full of adorable outfits to change in and out of, and well, we dressed her up in all of them.



And yes, she is nearly sitting on her own, and loves to stand up! It is hard to believe 6 months have lapsed since the bleary-eyed morning when she finally came out to meet all of us.



And of course we couldn't resist one of her and her two best buddies, big sister Alison and big brother Charlie. You can see the full session here for the next month.

A friend of mine was kind enough to subject her boys (and her toes) to a very cold day for my first ever snow shoot, and my last photo shoot of 2009. The boys were on winter break and agreed to put up with us mommy types. . .sort of. As you'll see we had one brother who I couldn't get not to smile, and one who made us work for it. Sometimes the latter are the most fun.







Thank you boys, and mom, for just an awesome session! Can't wait to see you again in summer, you know, sans hats and coats and numb toes! I like the photo on the right better than the left, I have 2 older brothers and the second is so much more real brothers than the first.



Told mom I could catch him, and this didn't even have mom goofing next to me.

Sweet Little Man

Welcome to 2010! It's be nearly a month since I posted a new session, or any post for you all. It was the holidays, and two in-patient rounds of chemo, but also a much needed hiatus. Sorry I didn't announce that, hope none of you were wondering where I was hiding! If you check out the "In the Queue" list to the right you will notice that in the next 8-10 weeks it is going to be literally raining newborns! Two of them are family, two of them are old and sweet friends, and the other two are new and wonderful friends. And for the curious out there, of the five, only one has announced himself, the rest are all surprises! And that first one is past due date as I type, maybe calling him/her out on the internet for being tardy will get some labor started!

But until the newborns start killing me with their yumminess, I have other things of my own cooking. Like two sessions to finish from 2009, yeeeep! I also am working on getting the official CTS photography site up, but I am atrociously behind and my webmaster just moved across country, so it's coming. I'll be hosting a little portfolio contest on facebook to help narrow down the field of photos from 2009 for my official portfolio albums. It'll be a lot of fun.

I've also been sprucing up my proof hosting site so feel free to click on over there and take a peek. When I get my portfolio albums all picked out I'll change that slideshow to reflect my work, but until then the album of my family is running, because I love it.

On to the photo goodness! Here is the final shots from my session with my favorite little nearly 4 month old and his big sister. Mom has waited a long time for these, and if I didn't deliver soon she was never going to set a date for his 6 month pictures in you know. . . 2 weeks or so. I'd love to swear "Never Wonder When in Two Thousand Ten!" but let's face it, that's just like challenging my son to thwart me, and he is always ready for a challenge.











Who needs a studio? I love client home sessions, love love love them. Ok momma, can I please book his 6 month session now?

Happy Holidays 2009

From myself and all the wonderful families I photographed this year, Happy Holidays! Below you'll find proofs (names omitted) for all the Custom Cards I designed this season. All the best to you and yours, see you next year, lots of exciting changes to come!

Sweetest little pirate I know

I finally got to meet my newest niece before Thanksgiving and of course, there had to be a bunch of pictures! All these blue-eyed nieces! Can't wait to see you guys again next year and visit you guys out west eventually when we are mobile again!

P, cousins cubed, and siblings squared

The last of the shoot for Ella's 18 month and Joshua's 3 Year, some solos of Penny and then group shots for the cousins and siblings. I love these kids.



My two kiddos, I love them.