ALBUMS!

I just started offering albums!  They are so yummy and sexy and beautiful and....well, I like them a lot.  Below is the price sheet for either option : photo album or modern album.  Both represent all the things I love about the world of paper, ink and some imagination.

Love Is In The Air : Campbell Family Welcomes Home Baby

When I entered the Campbell family, it was obvious.  Their home was full of love and I caught it.  When you bring home a new baby, you bring also this unique new feeling.  It isn't the same feeling as when you had your first kiss or came home as newlyweds.  No, the love you feel when you bring home a new baby fills the air as quickly as it fills your heart the moment you first see your baby in your arms.  And unlike the love you may have for your life mate; your companion which is an intimate love that grows over time  -- baby love is instant, consistent and infectious.  You remember no time when you didn't feel this way and can think of no time when it will end.  This love radiates from new parents and when you enter a home newly welcoming home a baby -- you get it too.  I left the Campbell home and drove home to my own children; my babies that are no longer babies.  I walked through my door and felt it again.  It has been 2 years since my last child was born, but it is still there.  Love is in the air.

Keep Calm and Carry On - a fantastic motto for all new parents! 

BABY R : Sweet little boy. So little. So loved.

I had the honor to photograph Baby R while in his mommy's belly.  It was so great to meet the expecting couple and hear about their upcoming arrival.  I thought about them everyday around their due date.  A few days after Baby R's birth, I received an email asking to schedule some newborn pictures - I was thrilled.  His proud parents and I spent a lot of time just admiring him while photographing in their nursery room.  The sunlight was streaming through his windows and he adored the sunbathing - especially when bare bottomed. 

I LOVE newborns.  They are so small, so fragile, so precious.  Newborns bring a lot of change for a family, but their presence also brings peace to anyone around a newborn.  The preciousness of a newborn reconfirms the preciousness of life - and the possibilities of our future. 

How sweet is his chin and little lips. 

Time for lunch?  Baby R starts to root on daddy's nose.

Big brother Max making sure Baby R is alright.  I think they will be the bestest of friends.

Toddler on an adventure...go, Go, GO!

I love toddlers.  I have one of my own, and unlike babies who can be a bit more predictable, toddlers are the most challenging to photograph.  I feel like a clown or a crazy person when I photograph toddlers because you have to keep them entertained and looking at you enough to get a few decent pics for the grandparents and parents (without any crying) and then it is just playing with a spontaneous human being.  Their attention is so sporadic they can go from blowing bubbles, digging in dirt, watering their shoes to pulling out mommy's favorite flowers in about 15 seconds.  I could treat them like adults and ask them to tilt their head like so or look a certain direction, but they would look at me, stick out their tongue, say 'no' and run the other direction while chuckling with the most infectious laugh.  So PLAN TOT always goes into action and it works every time to capture those cute little expressions we all love about toddlers.  PLAN TOT's secret is to act like a TOT.  So I run away from them, stick out my tongue and giggle the most crazy-person giggle I can muster up.  Toddlers eat it up and soon we are best buds exploring the backyard.

There should be a category for dressing toddlers in the Olympics.

Favorite outside toy- a duckie watering can.

Found Daddy's sunglasses behind the BBQ.

 Mommy wrangling a squirmy little one.

a few of my favorites...

Thanks for the great adventure exploring your backyard, sweet little girl.

Lay Family : A Saturday Together at Home

It is so special when a friend asks me to photograph their family and even more exciting when it is a friend I haven't seen in a long time.  This is my friend Lindsey and her cute little family.  We spend all of junior and high school playing sports together.  Unfortunately, we hadn't made the time to get together in recent years.  On a Saturday afternoon, I spent a couple hours at their home photographing their nearly 2-year-old, enjoying catching up with my friend and seeing the life she has made for herself with her husband, Andy.  They are renovating an old home (amazing), enjoying time with friends and family and being awesome parents to this little 2-year-old that kept me on my toes and firing many frames.

This is a session where I photograph life as it is happening - no major posing.  I let the family interact together and just be themselves.  Looking back years from now when their life is different, they can see the dance of their life at this point.  I let Lily show me her world - her stick horse, baby and favorite books, stuff animals, yard and doggies.  She ran the show just like she is running this home.  I love two-year-olds.  :)

It was a nice little Saturday at home with the Lay family.  Loved meeting this sweet little girl- it won't be long and we'll be going to her basketball and volleyball games.  :)

Little dinosaur stamps on the feet from gymnastics - little girls love painted nails and stamps.