Lillian Grace

Lilly was named after two of her great grandmothers, and she is every bit as delicate and pretty as her name implies. She has the most beautiful, smooth baby skin I've ever seen thanks to her mama's wonderfully olive complexion.

Even the sweetest little girls cry sometimes...

And this is the chandelier I mentioned in her mom's post...
nurseries like this make me want to have a baby just so I can decorate!

It's a Surprise!

Last week I managed to have a session scheduled on a day it didn't rain or even threaten to, yay! My favorite thing about this couple was how much they laughed. He put on fun music for her, joked about the absurdity of what a maternity session really is, and they just went on being themselves. Meanwhile I stood guard at the glass doors and made sure no children learned about baby bellies before they were meant to. Jenn and Mike don't know what they're having, which I personally find so fun! In the days of 4-D ultrasounds and all the great world of technology can offer, isn't it nice to just keep it simple?

As convient as technology can be, sometimes it just takes the fun out of things. Even with all that I have at my fingertips, I can still find myself feeling uninspired. And it seems, as always, the best thing to do is just get back to the basics. This Sunday just happens to be Pinhole Photography Day, the very thing that sparked my interest in the first place! So if you find yourself like me, occasionally complaining that your brand new Mac Pro is as slow as a dinosaur and wondering why it's necessary to plug a cable cord into your television in 2009, maybe it's time for good dose of old mother nature. I'm sure Ansel wasn't complaining about his photoshop actions taking too long to run...

Baby Jax

Finally back to work after a dying computer, a new computer, Mac lessons, an escape to Cabo, visiting friends, welcoming home a new family member, and celebrating our first anniversary. It's been a chaotic couple of weeks to say the least. If I was cool, I would have made a seamless transition back into the work world, but instead I fell backwards off this family's couch and possibly broke my elbow. Oh yes, it's good to be back!

*April Special*

Mini Coop

This little guy made his debut into the world a few months too early and has been hanging out with his nurses and doctors in the NICU ever since. Cooper was branded "Mini Coop" by a witty doctor, as his mom puts it, before they even knew if he would make it out of the delivery room. Cooper's not so mini anymore. He's almost 6 months old now, and his parents are anxiously awaiting the day they get to bring him home. He also has a very wise older brother waiting to show him the ropes - as long as he's not on diaper duty! I normally would have shot this in a more documentary style, but the fact is, this family has more pictures than they ever wanted of the NICU, so we did our best to disguise the oxygen tanks, leads, and bags and just focus on Cooper.

The Prestons = The Perfect Saturday Morning

Newborn shoots don't get any better than this. Good coffee, Bob Marley playing in the background, a big furry dog to love on, and a beautiful family...I was a happy girl. I even had a new found like of cats! I asked Jessie if we could get one. No, he says. What if we trained it to pee outside like a dog? Still no. Just as well. Scotch would probably eat it, or get his eyes clawed out trying. But it is painfully quiet around here. No wresting dogs, no barking, no yelling for dogs to get out of the kitchen or off the couch. I need some chaos, some noise! I thought a little sibling rivalry might do this house some good. No sibling rivalry going on at the Preston's though. Quentin, baby Cooper, the cats and the dog are all living in perfect harmony. Good job mom and dad!

Making Babies

Pregnancy isn't something everyone wants to experience or gets to experience. But when it happens, when everything comes together just as it should, it's such a beautiful thing. Maternity shoots are by far my favorite. I love watching women celebrate their bodies, love watching their husbands look on, admiring their wives, truly appreciating them. I feel very blessed when complete strangers invite me into their lives and allow me to witness the intimate moments and the thoughtful moments and the playful moments. To me, there is no better job than documenting this time for people.