Yesterday I decided to take the day off, which is always hard for me to do, but I did it.  I spent more time with my family and doing things that I needed to do.  Today I am working and I realized that this would be my last blog of the year, so of course I had to say something.

I just want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year filled with much success, joy and love.  Learn from your mistakes and try to be the best person you can possibly be.  That doesn’t mean try to be perfect, it just means do the best you can.  Help those who need help and make sure to take care of yourself and your family to the best of your ability.  Thank you all so much for allowing me to share my experiences and thoughts with you.  Below are some of my favorite images from this year and I look forward to creating more great images!

As a child photographer I have learned that my schedule is not necessarily my schedule when dealing with children and especially with babies.  Many parents like to take pictures with their newborns while they are awake; however I prefer to photograph them while they are sleep.  Considering that many of the babies do not want to go to sleep while I am there, I tire them out by photographing them awake with their parents.  One of the things I have to be careful about when they are awake is their eyes.  Since they can’t see very well yet and don’t have control of their eyes, they very rarely “look” in your direction.  Other times when they do look, their eyes may be crossed.  I’m sorry, but not matter how cute your baby is, crossed eyes are not cute.

As I was saying, I prefer to photograph babies while they are sleep.  That way there is no worry about crossed eyes or jerky movements which inevitably cause the baby’s hand to be in their face just as I snap the shutter.  Even with all of this, I love photographing babies.  This last session I had was wonderful, even though she wouldn’t go to sleep after two feedings and a diaper change.  She was determined to say awake, but she kept yawning signaling that we had to keep working to make her tired.  Her parents took this time to get a little something to eat and relax a bit while I tried to rock her to sleep.  Finally she went to sleep!  And when she went to sleep, she really went to sleep.

I was able to move her from prop to prop without her stirring too much.  It was great!  No, I didn’t go crazy with the posing, but I wanted to get a good variety of shots.  Mission accomplished! What a great session!  What really made my day was when the parents told me they didn’t want the pictures that were taken in the hospital because they had their own personal photographer to take them.  Wasn’t that sweet?  I certainly thought so!  In case you’re wondering why I called this post “My Little Fuzzy Wuzzy” is because her father nicknamed her fuzzy because of all of the hair that she as a newborn had on her body.  He’s such a guy!  Anyway, below are some of the images from the session.

After a while, Elizabeth finally woke up.  Yaaay!  Her mom fed her and then it was on! She had two outfits.  One was a Christmas outfit and the other  was just plain cute.  While Elizabeth had on the Christmas outfit, she wouldn’t smile much.  She seemed to be in a good mood, but we don’t think she was feeling the frilliness of the dress or the red, sparkly stockings.  At any rate, I was able to get some really sweet shots.

Next came the soft pink outfit.  No frills, just nice and comfortable.  She smiled much more and was rather mobile.  She would roll over or try to crawl somewhere.  I don’t know how many times her mother had to catch her from falling over.  I even have an image where she has a smile on her face as she is falling to the side.

We had such fun that day.  It took a while to get started, but it was well worth it.  I love photographing the babies!  I have another session with a newborn today and I am so excited about it!  Can’t wait to share those images either! Anyway, below are some images of Elizabeth and her mommy.  Enjoy!

We started outside of my studio and took several shots.  Being that he is a bass player in his school’s orchestra, we of course had to have some portraits with his bass.  In fact, I think he spends more time with his bass than he does with his friends.

After finishing up outside, we moved the session to Stone Mountain Park.  I think everyone and their brother was at the park that day.  Luckily for us I have a favorite spot that too many people don’t frequent.  There were a few hikers that came through, but they kept going and didn’t interrupt our session.

In some of my sessions I have to direct my clients as to how to pose.  Sometimes I literally have to do the pose for them since many people are visual.  Other clients are quite natural in front of the camera and all I have to do is make sure my lighting is good and shoot.  This session was the former.  I kept trying to get him to relax and he kept telling me he was relaxed, he just didn’t know what to do.

As the session went on, he got a little more relaxed.  He just seems to be a very serious young man, which there is nothing wrong with.  I know he’s got a  lot on his mind being that he has to take the ACT next weekend.  Plus he has a crazy schedule, so I really can’t blame him.  At any rate, we got some great images and below are just a few.

Happy viewing!

Basically you will host a party and invite your friends.  The party can be a children’s birthday or themed party, a girls-night-out/boudoir/bachelorette party, a holiday party, whatever kind of party you wish.  I will provide you with invitations to send out to at least 10 of your friends.  You will need to schedule your friends in 15 minute intervals for each of their sessions.  Instead of the regular $85 sitting fee, all your guests will pay is $20 to hold their slot, which will be used toward their purchase of prints.

I will provide a link on my website for them to review their images and order.  I will also provide them with a code that will apply their $20 deposit to their order.  Those that place their order within 7 days after the images are posted will help you, the hostess receive 15% commission on those orders to be used toward your portrait purchase.

One last thing, if you book any portrait parties with your guests the day of the party, you will get an additional 10% commission on the timely orders to be used toward your portrait purchase.  Any bookings subsequent to the party, you will get 5% commission. Just make sure when they book that they mention your name.

Now, doesn’t all that sound really cool?  It’s a great way to have friends over, have fun and get some great images as well.  As a suggestion, since this is a party, it would be great to have refreshments for your guests to enjoy as they eagerly await their session!  Please call or email me if you want to schedule a party.  If you are not a part of my monthly newsletter, please feel free to click the link to the right that says “Subscribe to our newsletter”.  In it you will find all types of interesting information like sales, discounts, new products and offerings.  Again, it is monthly, so I won’t be inundating you with emails.

Thanks for reading as usual and have a great day!

This session was pretty much like my other sessions except for two things.  In the bedroom shots I decided to use natural light since a lot of sun was coming through the windows.  Even though it was sunny, it wasn’t quite enough sunny enough for me to shoot without a tripod.  Luckily Justin went back to sleep after a series of shots and I was able to shoot without any movement.  Yay!

Next we moved down to the basement and I set up my backdrop and light for other shots. I don’t use very many props, but one that I do use is what I like to call my “Moses basket”.

In case you haven’t noticed, Mr. Brown is a natural in front of the camera.  He loves having his picture taken and always gives me “good face”.  Sometimes I wonder are the sessions really about the children or are they about him?  At any rate, please enjoy the images from the session!

There are many old wives tales that are supposed to be able to determine the sex of a baby if you don’t already know.  The one that I’ve had the most experience with is the one where children who are of the same sex as the child you are carrying, will tend to like you, as opposed to children who are a different sex of the child you are carrying.  I’ve even experienced this one myself.

When I was pregnant my husband and I decided to not find out the sex.  Of course everyone was upset with us because they wanted to know.  They said that if they didn’t know what sex the baby was, then they wouldn’t know what gifts to give or in what colors. Even if my son had been a girl, I still wouldn’t have wanted anything pink.  Anyway, I was still working as a software consultant and a group of us were about to go to lunch.  The wife of one of my co-workers was going to join us and they brought their son who was about 3 or 4 years old I think.  As we were about to leave, I realized I needed to go back to my desk to get my purse.  Well this little boy who didn’t know me from Adam, stepped away from his parents, took my hand and walked with me to my desk.  It was totally unexpected, but very sweet.  At that moment I knew I was having a boy.

Another example, my cousin was visiting from Cleveland.  She had been here previously and one of my nephews met her and was quite enamored with her.  He next visit she was pregnant and he couldn’t stand her.  She ended up having a girl.  Still a coincidence?  Here’s one more…

Every year since their first son was born, I’ve taken pictures of the Browns.  (Mr. Brown and his son were featured in the previous week’s blog).  The images from the last blog about them showcased the closeness between the father and son.  Of course he loves his mother too, but he and his father have a very special relationship.  At any rate, Mrs. Brown got pregnant with their second child.  She told me stories of how close he seemed to have gotten to her since her pregnancy.  He’s always wanting to sit on her lap or be as close to her as possible.  They decided not to find out what the sex of this baby was and just from the way their first son was acting, I figured she would have a boy.  Well, April 28th they had another boy.  Funny how that works out.

I could probably give more examples, but you get the point.  You should try it out yourself.  Now there are some constraints that need to be followed in order for it to work.  I believe the child needs to be between the ages of 1 and 4, but no older than 4. Don’t force the child to go to someone, just see what happens.  If nothing else it’s a very interesting experiment.  Below are a few images of mother and son from the family/maternity session we had.

Before the youngest Brown came along we had a maternity/family session.  These are always great because we mix up the session so everyone gets to be photographed with everyone else and by themselves.  Of course this type of session lends itself to plenty of images with lots of choices!

As many of you know, there is nothing like the bond between a parent and their child/children.  Because mothers are supposed to be the nurturing ones, it’s no surprise when they are closer to the child than the father, but there are times when the roles are reversed.  Being a mother, I understand the love and devotion between a mother and her child/children and love capturing that connection.  Every once in a while I get to witness that same type of connection between the father and the child/children.    This connection is quite evident with Mr. Brown and son.

From the very beginning it has been quite evident that he had a special bond with his son. Fathers and their first born sons are always a major deal, but it seemed to be a bit more between these too.  They are just a joy for me to photograph because when I put them together they begin interacting with each other.  As I’m composing a shot, there may be a hug or kiss exchanged, some playful moments and very tender moments.  Is it always quick and easy?  Of course not.  Children can’t be turned on and off and sometimes you have to bribe them to get the shot.  Other times they are just priceless and no matter what they do it’s pure magic!

Well I can try to describe the bond between them all day, but I think it would be easier if I showed you.  Below are some images from the session along with a collage that I created.  Mrs. Brown provided me with what she wanted created for Mr. Brown’s Father’s Day gift and I did the rest.  It was printed on a 20×24 gallery block and was absolutely gorgeous!  (Thanks Artsy Couture!)  Without further adieu, meet the Browns (again)!

When she first arrived, she stood in the middle of the pavilion with her hands poised in a very dainty way.  She was basically frozen, just looking around as other children and adults walked or ran past her.  It was like she was trying to take it all in and didn’t quite know what to do.  It was actually priceless.  What came to mind was a princess being put in a room with commoners and not knowing what to do.  Of course I captured this moment, considering she was still and all.

Next there was a pinata, which seemed to be the most difficult pinata to pop ever.  All the children got to whack it twice, with 3 to 5 hits per try.  Mind you, some of the children couldn’t hit hard enough to break an egg with a stick let alone a pinata, but it was still difficult.  Before it was over, most if not all of the adults had taken a swing at it too….hard swings.  The men took huge hits at it and finally the candy came out…reluctantly, but it came out.

After that there was an Easter egg hunt, a dance contest and a game of musical chairs.  All in all it was very entertaining, especially the dance contest!  Cake and ice cream were served and then the children went to play on the playground.  Now how much more fun could that be?

It was a beautiful day to have a party outdoors and an even more beautiful day to capture images.  These are special memories for her family and friends, who I believe will cherish them.

Children have this way of showing you who they are without any pretenses.  It’s absolutely wonderful!  When I photograph children, I like to play with them and let them know that it’s ok for them to be themselves in front of the camera.  Sometimes they show me a little more than I’m ready to see, but I still roll with it.  Like little Caruso kept showing me his backside and his “stinky feet” as he would say.  It was hilarious!  Ok, there are only so many images I can take of his rear before we had to move on to other images.

Basically they pretty much were ready when I got there.  Between Caruso helping me and Taylor dancing for me, I felt pretty warmed up by the time everyone was ready.  They even had their portraits taken before their mother and father joined the fun.  In fact, she was surprised when I showed her some of the images because she didn’t know I had already taken some.

It was a beautiful session and we had great fun.  In fact, Taylor told me she wasn’t ready for me to go.  Now that’s what I like to hear!  Well, I’ve told you about the session, so now I will show the children’s portraits and will share some of the actual maternity session in my next post.  Enjoy!