I just had to post this picture from a recent night of fun.  This wonderful group of women have been friends for almost 10 years, after getting to know each other in a small group at church.  It sounds like a few of them still go to that same church, but there are also others who have moved to different churches, moved out of state or are moving out of state soon.  They decided it would be fun to do a photo shoot to capture them all together one more time.  And I was blessed to be able to take the pictures.  Thanks ladies, for including me in your fun night!  May you all be blessed as you live out your separate lives, all the while remaining friends.

I had the pleasure of taking Addi’s 3 year pictures today.  Mom actually wanted some pictures of her two kids together and we got a few of those too.  But I am going to post each part separately.  I have been friends with Mom since middle school, and we make sure to see each other at least once per month.  Thanks for letting me play with you all this morning.  Enjoy!

Wow, I can’t believe my nephew is 6 months old already!  How the time goes by!  Everyone in my family and my extended family has had this cold/flu bug for what seems like the past two months.  Poor little Henry has been sick for the past couple weeks with a nasty cold.  We tried to get his 6 month pics done last Sunday, but he was definitely not in the mood and we had to give up.  But this Sunday went much better.  He was such a happy little camper, smiles all the way and very happy for his Aunt Cookie!  Love you little Henry Paul.  You are such a blessing from God to our family!

Every year I do a New Years Day photo shoot of my boys in front of a black background, shirts off.  Very simple, yet very fun.  I love to get different expressions and see how they’ve grown through the year.  I normally do them each individually.  I don’t usually try to get a group shot, because it is just so hard to get a nice shot of them all together.  But this year they actually sat nice together and let me take a couple shots of them together.  I am repainting my kitchen/dining/living room this week and cannot wait to have one of these shots blown up into a huge canvas for the wall.  What do you think?  Do you have a favorite?  Which one should I use this year?  Leave your comments!

I had so much fun taking my twin boys out today for an impromptu photo shoot in the woods.  I threw on the boys new Christmas outfits, went to the dollar store and bought matching balloons and we headed to a friends house that still had snow on the ground.  The boys were so well behaved and they had lots of fun.  Winter fun on a sunny day!

Baby Owen is 3 months old already!  I was blessed to be able to work with this family again this year and take some 3 month pictures of this precious little guy and also a few family pics for a Christmas card.  It feels like we just did newborn shots of this little man, and here we are at 3 months old already!

Are you looking for a great gift for someone, but just can’t figure out what to get them?  These are the fine art prints I am selling this holiday season.  There are basically two ways to purchase, one copy has wording and a border, the other copy is the original shot.  These prints will be sold as a 16×24 gallery mount and only one copy of each will be sold.  Each gallery mount is signed and dated on the back.  Gallery mounts come ready to hang, with a beveled edge, instant art for your walls.  Please contact me with any questions you might have.  They can be drop shipped right to your home for no extra charge.  Normal investment cost is $250.  Huge sale starting on Cyber Monday and running through the entire holiday season with 20% off all fine art sales!  Happy shopping!  And I feel I have to state the obvious…my studio logo will NOT be on the purchased product.  This is just put on for copyright sake while online 🙂

Are you looking for a great gift for someone, but just can’t figure out what to get them?  These are the fine art prints I am selling this holiday season.  There are basically two ways to purchase, one copy has wording and a border, the other copy is the original shot.  These prints will be sold as a 16×24 gallery mount and only one copy of each will be sold.  Each gallery mount is signed and dated on the back.  Gallery mounts come ready to hang, with a beveled edge, instant art for your walls.  Please contact me with any questions you might have.  They can be drop shipped right to your home for no extra charge.  Normal investment cost is $250.  Huge sale during Thanksgiving weekend with 20% off all fine art sales!  Happy shopping!  And I feel I have to state the obvious…my studio logo will NOT be on the purchased product.  This is just put on for copyright sake while online 🙂

As I was looking back over past posts, I realized I had not posted a bunch of my senior guy sessions from this fall.  Here are a few of my favorites from this year, 2011.  It’s funny, because out of all the seniors I photographed, only two sessions were girls…all the rest were guys.  Which is fine, usually means less outfits, less hair issues and less makeup changes.  I also have to laugh, because at every single senior guy session the following dialog would occur:

Mom:  Come on _________ (insert name here)!  Smile.  Smile nice.  Smile your real smile.  That is so not your real smile.

Senior Guy:  I am smiling Mom.  This is my normal smile.

Mom:  __________(name), please.  Just do some good ones for me.  I know you really don’t want to be here, but I want a nice shot for the yearbook and I would like a nice picture for the wall.

Senior Guy:  I know Mom. (grunt, eye roll, loud sigh)

Mom:  _________ (name), now fix your hair.  It’s hanging in your face.  (To me…) He really needed a haircut, I can’t stand it so long and hanging in his eyes.  (She walks up to him and starts fixing his hair) Do you want me to get the hairspray out of the car.

Me:  It really is the style right now, the girls love it.  He looks great.

Senior Guy:  Ugghh…Mom, it’s fine.  Don’t touch it.  No, I don’t want any hairspray.  Just leave it.

And on it goes 🙂  I just smile and try to make the guy as comfortable as I can, and make Mom happy in the process.  Not always easy, but definitely rewarding when I can show them some fun, good looking shots.  Enjoy!

Last Sunday was my nephew Henry’s 3 month birthday.  Feels like my sister and I were just flying north on US131 early on the morning of August 2 from our vacation cottage to get her to the hospital, when in actuality it was already 3 months ago!  Little Henry made his debut about a month early, but he has filled out nicely and is such a sweet little baby.  Mom wanted a few pics of Henry with each member of his family.  For any other photographers out there, you all know that it can be a challenge getting a picture of a 3 year old and a 3 month old, but I think we got a few cute ones of Henry with his big sister Elsha.  Love you all!