Little Man, Matthew

My good friend, Alexa, asked me if I would take her son Matthew's 9 month photos. I was so excited to see how Matthew has grown! He is adorable and I love his little sausage feet and ankles. I used my parents' newly remodeled home for the shoot since there are so many great textures and colors in the house, not to mention the lighting is great. Alexa shared with me that they took him to JC Penny for his 6 month pictures and the photographer needed him to stay on the red dot so the lighting would be right. Alexa said they got a few good pictures but it was difficult to keep him in one place. He was very happy at my mom's just being able to explore and not have to sit in one place. I love the candid shots the most. Here a few favs....

Peek-a-boo!

Looks just like his daddy

Kisses from Mommy

Family of Freemans

My aunt asked me to take a few photos of her family before my cousin, Tasha went back to school in DC. Their dog, Austin, was a good pup for the session.

Unexpected session...the Estee Family

As I was finishing up with the Frase family (see previous post), a woman approached me and asked me if I was a photographer. I was caught off guard...I told her I was an amateur. She explained to me that her photographer didn't show up and she was desperate to get her family's Christmas pictures take today. She asked me if they could hire me to take their photos. I didn't have anything else going on so I rolled with it! At first their 16 month old, Brenden did not want to do anything except splash in the coin pond. So I took that time to photograph 4 year old Colin, who was a ham for the camera. Such a great smile! I learned today that family photos with small children are quite a challenge. It is rare to get everyone looking happy and looking at the camera. Here are my favorites from today's surprise shoot....

Christmas with the Frase Family

Today I met Nikki and Kyle along with their adorable kids Keaton (4) and Cassidy (1) at the Walker Conservatory greenhouse. It was so cold outside today that it was nice to be indoors in a tropical climate. Nikki is so energetic, she was so flexible and open to ideas. The kids were so cooperative. I brought some props and they added a festive feel to the pictures. Here are my favorites...

Sweet Sloane

My friend and co-worker, Brenna, had her little girl Sloane three weeks ago. She was so kind to let me come over and snap some pictures of her sweetie. Sloane is so beautiful even when she is cranky...I learned today that you can't force a picture and if the subject (ie fussy baby) isn't cooperating then you just need to be patient, understanding and know that what you had in mind might not happen. I still captured some great shots. Here are my favorites...

Mel's Baby Bump

Mel is a friend I know from teaching. She is always positive, and is there for anyone. Her faith has made her the wonderful person she is. I am so excited for her and Kyle to become parents! What a lucky baby!

Mel and I planned to do her belly photos on a Saturday morning. What she didn't know is that all her other teacher friends and I had also planned a surprise baby shower for that morning. Lorrie lives by the house that we were going to use for the shoot so we parked there and went inside and Mel was more than shocked to find her friends in the kitchen shouting "Surprise!" What a fun morning celebrating with her!

After the shower we went to the neighbor's house. They had graciously let us use their backyard which was on a lake. Mel is so naturally beautiful, it was easy to photograph her. It was a day filled with surprises-including the surprise I stepped in in the backyard (dog doo-eeew).

Aly's Senior Photo Shoot

How time flies....I remember the day my cousin, Aly was born. She has become such a beautiful person inside and out. She is a senior at Totino Grace. My sister and I took her down to the Guthrie/Mill City Museum area near the Stone Arch Bridge to take her senior portraits. Both of my aunts were with us which made it even more fun. It was an overcast, chilly day but it made for great shots. We spent hours down there. Aly brought a lot of outfit changes which was fun to be able to play around with the style of the shot. After a couple hours and hundreds of shots, we were hungry so we went into Uptown, that is where we took the ALY R letter pics. Here are a FEW of my favorites. It was so hard to decide!