i photographed these two adorable 19-month old twin boys last week at the pool. it was so nice to put on a bathing suit and get wet during a photo session (instead of huffing and puffing and sweating like a pig like i normally do) :)
a few of my favorites:
i got the chance to photograph an 8-day old little girl yesterday; she's the newest addition to a family i've photographed several times over the past year and a half. you might remember her big brother, owen, from here and the rest of the family from here.
hudson is a beautiful baby and her mom looks fantastic only 8 days after giving birth! a few of my favorites from the session:
we had some friends over for lunch a few weeks ago and i couldn't resist taking photos of their (adorable!) 10-month-old little girl, ella. a few photos are here.
my favorite one:
i took this of my parents and my kids while we were in ohio visiting them this weekend:
a few photos of kate as i slog my way through proofing all our vacation photos:
we're nearing the end of our week-long stay in south carolina with jeff's family. i haven't taken my camera out much because i've been too busy reading and taking naps, but here a few quick snapshots:
i had a blast with the giles family today: bill, jennifer and their sons mike and ben. mike just graduated from college and is off to arizona; bill called me a few weeks ago to schedule a family shoot. i was a little bit nervous going into the session today because i've built my rapport with little kids. mike and ben are in their 20s and it was a good bet they weren't going to know who dora the explorer was or what happened during blue's clues yesterday.
i shouldn't have worried. the giles family was SO much fun to hang out with; they were up for anything and it was a nice change not to have to chase two boys across the field to get them to sit still.
thanks, guys! here are a few images to tide you over until the slideshow is ready:
i got to spend some time at kate's preschool this morning and decided to try a few new looks with the images:
(click to see this one full size)
(click to see this one full size)
taken tonight at sunset. kate and two little girls on the street were playing in the aforementioned corn field behind our house:
i have a client who hired me to shoot some architectural photos of landmarks in our county. i was surprised to find that i loved this assignment; i always thought landscape photography would be boring because i love the energy of shooting people. but these architectural shots really appeal to my sense of design - sharp angles, crisp graphics and angles that are slightly askew. you can see a few of the proofs i've posted for the client here.
and here are two non-architectural shots i took while i was out on this assignment; they just struck my fancy :)
the weather turned warm(er) today so the kids and i headed outside to play. it was so nice to be outside with my camera while kate and jack ran around. i felt my creative spark come alive and am looking forward to more warm, sunny days ahead!
clients usually look at me warily when i come to their house to take photos and i start opening blinds and looking for light. they're even more unsure when i place kids on the kitchen table or in the bathroom; you can see them thinking, "i paid you money to stand my kid in the bathtub??" but, invariably, when they get the photos back, they are happy with what they see.
taking good photos (whether of people or landscapes) requires good lighting. i believe light to be THE most important part of taking photos (assuming, of course, one already has a basic grasp of photography basics like iso, apeture and shutter speed). here are a few examples from my own house and my own kids, taken this morning:
both of these photos were taken on top of my dining room table. i get amazing light from my dining room window in the morning. i plopped the kids on top of the table and started snapping. to give you the big picture, here's what it looked like:
see? it's not about the background as much as it is the light. so the next time i come to your house and do something that makes you pause, just remember it'll look good in the end :)
kate and her cousin, paige, eating pudding on a snowy day:
one downside to the winter is that business slows down. the upside is that i get to take photos of kate and jack and i can experiment without worrying whether a client will like it or not.
a few from this morning:
got my new lens today: a nikon 17-55mm/2.8. it's a wide-angle lens and i love it. it allows you to get some really cool angles.
i'm still experimenting, but here are a few snaps of jack from today:
had the chance to photograph shannon, mark, edison and 4-week-old baby louella (i hope i'm spelling that right!) on saturday. i had a great time and hope to go back in a few months to see how much louella has grown! a few of my favorite snaps:
the weather has finally turned colder which means no more late afternoon treks to the playground. the kids were getting antsy yesterday afternoon so i broke out my camera and let them jump on my bed.
i took my kids to cary, nc last week to visit my three best friends from college. it's the first time we've all had children (during our last get together in july, meredith was 11 months pregnant and ready to pop). it's amazing to think that the four of us, who met as giggly, boy crazy 18-year-olds back on the same dorm floor in 1991, are now wives and mothers. how did we get old?
katie, 16 months:
tommy, 9 months:
casidy, 6 months:
spent some time with tammy, ashley and cory a few weeks ago. tammy and ashley were way into posing for me, but i had to resort to burping to get cory to even think about cracking a smile. 9-year-olds are tough!
joji is a very energetic (very photogenic!) 16-month-old i photographed during a mini session back in december:
i've been so busy with holiday sessions the past two months that i haven't wanted to pick up my camera unless i had to. so today i took the kids to some abandoned train tracks and let them explore: just me, the kids, my camera and the freedom to shoot whatever interested me. i also tried out some new post processing colors just for kicks.
the rock kate is sitting on was actually already on the tracks and made a cool prop:
i like this photo alot, but not the duotone colors i experimented with. i think it makes the photo look dirty, no?
two things i will never tire taking photos of:
1. little kids on swings.
2. my kids:
i've been swamped with holiday photo sessions the past couple of months and things are finally slowing down. i even had time today to create and order my own holiday cards!
a handful of images from some recent sessions:
i did a photo shoot with my brother's family while we were in hilton head over thanksgiving. a few of my favorites below:
i'm thankful that i get to have a job i love. i'm thankful for the many families i've met this year who have welcomed me into their homes and trusted me to capture their families. happy thanksgiving to you and yours.
a few photos from my thanksgiving in hilton head:
i had two mini sessions today for holiday photos; one with the sanders family and one with the evans family. this was my first time meeting the sanders family and their brand spankin' new baby boy, everett. he's three weeks old and has a full head of hair! here are a couple of my favorites from their session:
my trip to see the evans was a return trip; i almost didn't recognize finley with her shock of beautiful red hair. she's fully mobile and doesn't like to sit still :)
had a session with malena and her daughter, andrea, yesterday. they were so much fun and all i could think of was that when i was 12 years old, i didn't want to breathe the same air as my mother. but these two laughed and played and got along more like best friends than mother and daughter. they give me hope for my relationship with my own daughter :)
a few of my favorites:
it was a beautiful fall day here in maryland so the hub and i took the kids to run some errands and then to dinner. on the way to dinner, we passed a playground and stopped to let the kids get out to run around. it also gave me a chance to try out my new lens; i think it might be my favorite new lens (an 85mm/1.4 for all you photog junkies out there).
kate had a playdate with a friend from preschool today. nothing kills time and fascinates 4-year-olds like cameras!
took this one of jack-jack tonight; he found his new winter hat and wanted to put it on. it was the perfect photo op :)
kate turned 4 last week. she got to choose the restaurant she wanted and she, of course, picked the cheesecake factory (which is not my favorite restaurant). after dinner, we walked over to maggie moo's for ice cream.
it was a beautiful night.
we took the kids to see their great grandmother this morning. she made them pancakes and bagels with lox.
got the chance to photograph the kotler family this past weekend. they were a fun, fun, fun family (even if the kids were ticked that they had to wear jeans in the 80 degree weather) ;) one of my favorites from the session:
the album is here.
took some photos yesterday morning of the neboshynsky family. the little guy, aiden, is only 8 months old and already cruising around (my kids didn't start crawling until 9/10 months and didn't walk until they were 15 months!). he was a sweet, sweet little boy. one of my favorites:
the album is here.
had a special photo shoot this morning: some good friends of ours had their first baby - a girl - three weeks ago. it was fun to go to a house i knew and felt completely comfortable in; no reservations about moving furniture or draping backdrops :) here is one of my favorites from the session:
the album is here.
i went back to visit the blanchard family today because they had a new addition almost 4 weeks go: a sweet little boy named connor.
here's one of my favorites from the session:
i took some family photos for this client last month and went back yesterday to take some studio style shots of little man owen. it was a great session even if he didn't want to smile :)
album here.
i got to spend some time with tristen, rich and their little boy, rory, today. tristen is 9 months pregnant and due any second and the whole family was really laid back and easy to be with. small world coincidence: they used to live a couple of miles from my parents in ohio. very cool.
rory was a little shy at first, but he warmed up when i asked him to show me his favorite toy: the vacuum cleaner. totally cracked me up :) album here.
my friend, megan, and her daughter, finley, came over today for lunch. i can't have a cute baby in my house and NOT take photos.
my friend's daughter, katie.
