I’m not sure that anything other than a photo could truly describe what life is like with this many children (three under Three!)
A picture is worth a thousand words right? I think these kind of mommies deserve a million at least
Others are usually curious when I say that I have been incredibly blessed through my work with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.
I know from an outside perspective, it seems so emotionally taxing with little reward.
One of my greatest blessings through my work with this charity has been knowing women such as this mommy.
She is a fellow photographer/NILMDTS volunteer and mommy to an angel boy. She also has one big heart.
Straight out of the camera..."I'm gonna poke you!"
At least they're all SORT of looking at the camera, right mom?!
Mom with her newly adopted daughter (niece) I'm telling you, HUGE heart this woman has.
Chaotic "kisses" with the GParents. Life won't ever be dull!
Your journey continues to inspire and challenge me, D Family.
Thank you so much for giving me the honor of calling you friends and allowing me to be a bystander in awe.
Disclaimer: This post is incredibly personal. I would say it’s bordering on the edge of completely self indulgent. Unfortunately for my friends/clients, a blogsite gives me no where else to post such indulgences. If you are not interested in my personal life or photography as an art form, I would suggest you wait for the next time I post some adorable family or child session. You’ve been properly warned!
I have to say, I”m incredibly lucky.
No, I’m not going to sit here and tell you about my kid or my husband. Yeah, I love them. Yeah, they rock. But I’m privileged to have something (dare I say) equally as valuable in my life. An “adult BFF”. Side note, will there EVERY be an adult way to refer to your best friend? Calling her my “BFF” or “bestie” is fun in jest, but it sounds a little immature when I’m attempting to sound professional.
5 years of pretty fantastic point & shoot photography
I digress. So, I have this best friend. We’ve evolved together over the last half a decade. We instantly clicked and although nearly identical in personality, we lead very different lives. I feel like this is a huge benefit. She has no children and leads a fairly typical “late 20-something” lifestyle. Live in boyfriend, corporate job, etc. Because of this, I feel like I’m constantly reminded and exposed to culture outside of being a mommy and a photographer and all of that other stuff.
When she invited me to see Kevin Smith’s screening of Red State, it was a NO brainer.
Which really, brings me to the real reason I am posting this. Yes, I love my best friend. However unless I’m pregnant and emotionally wreck less, I don’t spend my days professing my love for her via the internet. Unless of course, I’m purposely trying to be obnoxious.
So back to Kevin Smith. I was prepared for a pretty awesome movie, which he delivered. What I was unprepared for however, was how much the Q&A session after the movie would speak to me, as a creative.
Like my awesome Cam Phone pics? Pretty pro, eh? I loved him connecting with the audience...even holding their hand when they were too nervous to speak!
The first thing that struck me, was a story he told. Back when he was screening his debut movie, “Clerks” he overheard some patrons leaving the theater. One man says to the other, “Did you like the movie?” and the other said, “No. But those guys after were HILARIOUS”. He pointed out, he might not have hooked them with the movie- but he got their attention with the conversation afterwards.
I heard so much this year at #WPPI about connecting with our clients, or even our “audience”. We might not hook them with our photography skills, but we can certainly win them over with a conversation. How much of our vision and art is being lost on the inability to connect with our clients?
He said quite a few times that he has been given the freedom to fail by his fans. What an amazing feeling of freedom.
He went on to say, “Failure is just success training”.
Talk about a way to pull myself out of #isuckitis. What if every time I felt like something I created was a flop, I just turned it around as one step to being that much better at my craft? How empowering.
I really didn’t anticipate this evening out to speak to me like it did. In all honesty, it started out as a really nice excuse to get out of the house and have a cocktail with my “BFF”. But really, we never know where our inspiration is going to come from.
I say again, I’m pretty lucky to have someone in my life that balances me. Otherwise, I’d be trying to find inspiration at Nickelodeon on Ice. As adorable as The Backyardigans are, I’m not sure they’d ever feed my creative soul
I had the honor of being asked to come back and experience the joy of the B Family’s newest addition.
I could go on for days about how amazing these new parents are, how much love is in this home and especially what a little gerber baby this one is…but the pictures really do speak for themselves.
The other baby...feeling slightly neglected 
Yup. Gerber baby.
So much love in this family
Thank you, B Family for allowing me to share in the pure joy of your new baby boy.
I love when clients come back, especially when they now live across the country!
I had so much fun getting reacquainted with this beautiful mommy and her new family up in Red Rocks Canyon.
We mixed a little lifestyle with a little beloved.
- Um…yeah. This family is cute.
These girls are SO adventurous
and SUPER adorabe
Ok Mommy & Daddy are pretty adorable too...I HEART Beloved moments!
Thanks {RFamily} you guys rock!
- Mi hijo, pobrecito!
We don’t get sick often and it’s at the most CONVENIENT of times. Seriously.
We had all these fun plans this week, now we are in bed with cartoons. Don’t fret, he’s napping right now.
THIS is why I love my clients. It might take an extra day for me to get back to them, but they know I’m also a mommy.
They respect the fact that coughs happen, just like I respect the fact that accidents happen.
“You get what you give”
This year at #WPPI one of the first REALLY AMAZING classes I listened to was #MikeLarsonInc (Mike Larson). He said, if you aren’t a consumer of your product how can you sell it?!
It hit home with me. Over the last year, I’ve been one big fat consumer of lifestyle photography.
Not just “hey lets trade” more like, “I want to hire you”…period.
If you are selling a cupcake and you don’t know what it tastes like, how can you really convince your client that the cupcake is awesome?
In short form, you can’t. You might have a speech, but it won’t be convincing.
From the heart testimony is the only way you will show others you BELIEVE in what you do and believing is the first step to being passionate about what you sell, right?
To be honest, I’m not sure WHAT inspired this post. Probably just the amazing talent I see with all the amazing photographers I connect with…
(why are we all so darn competitive?)
Yes, I hire my friends. Someday, I will have the money to hire my idols (yes Jesh de Rox, I’m coming for a Beloved Session)
because I believe in what they do and I know it makes me a better photographer.
To be fair- this was indulgent. I wanted a water #TTD session and so I asked Kaela Green and Echo by Amber to help me out...I don't do TTD sessions MUCH but I wanted my own
this was the beginning of my personal boudoir shoot (the tame part), *gulp* yes, I do offer boudoir (on the side of FCPhotography) and this is the beginning. My motto, "If I ask you to do it, I'll know what you're going through!" (courtesy Kaela Green Photography)
and where would I be if I hadn’t done a lifestyle session myself? Seriously. The very genre of photography I “specialize” in.
This is my north side sister…who doesn’t just specialize, she MASTERS lifestyle photography
Hands down, my all time favorite photo (thus far in my life)
Besides this one, this was my dream. A photograph of the two most important, influential and loved people in my life. Besides my husband...but he knows he's not always #1
This isn’t a post to tell you all about how awesome my photography friends are,
although I could spend days telling you about how the girls in Colorado continually
overwhelm and inspire me with my talent (Kaela Green, Debra Dean, Amber Allen, , Shana Hensley…I really could GO ON for days)
This is just a reminder, you get what you give.
If you sell a canvas, you better have one in your house.
If you expect people to act crazy in a lifestyle session, you need to experience it first hand!
And seriously, if you market boudoir and you haven’t stripped…you better get naked. That is the most humbling of all.
Yes, my little D is almost Three.
Yes, we talked about starting this quilt well over a year ago.
Yes, I procrastinate sometimes when it comes to my own projects.
This is Little D’s “First Year Memory Quilt”
We donated many boxes of clothes back to friends who had little boys after us and needed clothing,
but several outfits were just too special to part with.
Those outfits…went in a box. The quilt idea didn’t come right away, I have to admit. I tossed around the idea of just putting them in a trunk for him, along with any of the other items I kept from his babyhood. But eventually, the diaper box looked raggedy and it was time to do something.
Enter Etsy.
I spent some time considering the quilt idea and found a fantastic woman named Tami on Etsy,
who was willing to make us this special blanket and not charge us our next born.
The joke would have been on her, since we’re still not sure if we’re having another one. That is filed under “current arguments in our household”.
After a patient wait, we received back this blanket.
B pointed out, “I think that was more for you than anything” to which I replied, “He’ll appreciate it… in like 20 years”
Some of the more important quilt spots-
-top left: “little peanut” was a bunting we found, that matched his first nickname. Because Little D was a preemie,
he was dubbed “little peanut” for quite awhile.
-top middle: the little frog was just a small part of an outfit we loved dearly, it had a polo shirt and sweater.
From his uncle, I got my first taste of how fun it would be to dress a boy.
-top right: “baby’s first Christmas” bunting. Yup he actually slept in this on Christmas Eve!
-middle overlay: Snoopy is all things Auntie Noni. This onesie was a favorite for that reason.
Auntie Noni is my sister and much more devoted to her nephew than I could have imagined.
-middle left: I didn’t buy a ton of holiday outfits, but the 4th of July was his first trip with us to Glenwood Springs. My parents went with us and my mom and I could NOT resist getting him a 4th of July outfit. This one is probably the most memorable for me.
-middle right: “birthday boy” patch came from his first birthday shirt.
Although he didn’t wear this at his party, he did wear it ON his first birthday.
-bottom left: I am all things stars. This was part of a one piece outfit I had bought to take him home in. Unfortunately, because he was so little, he never fit in it. He did come home in a star outfit, but we chose to keep it intact. It was gifted to him by my big sis in the hospital and we wanted to keep it for his little memory box.
-bottom right: The puppy dog is from one of his tiny little preemie jammie sets we had no idea we would have to buy. Fortunately, Brian’s co-workers were really sweet and brought him a few preemie sets to get us through the first month or so. Right next to the dog, is the star onesie he wore during our long stint in the hospital. His first outfit after he was born.
As you can see, this quilt means the world to me. It was a little hard giving up the idea of having these outfits, but they are so special to who he was- I would never want them worn again.
Now, mommy can cuddle with the blanket…while her and daddy’s argument over one more continues!
Ps. I highly recommend Tami. She’s amazing. If you’re looking for her to do a quilt for you, check out her Etsy Listing!
Originally, I had planned to use this post as a way to not only congratulate the winner of the free session & canvas (yes, it is coming) but also
to celebrate the upcoming birthday of my little man (Little D) and the girl whom he seems to have formed a bond with (Little A).
In a twist of irony, the mother of said beautiful girl was also the winner of my contest.
Irony, at it’s best!
So here’s the notepad and my random.org generator!
Irony aside, Little A & her mother started out as faithful clients and became fast friends. Although we photograph our children together occasionally, she still hires me to capture this amazing little girl on her own as well and it doesn’t take long to become attached to Little A.
This year, her mother suggested instead of a cake smash (or something equally birthday related) that we get paint and let them go nuts. There is no photography term for this yet, it might gain momentum and eventually be called “paint splash” or something catchy. Right now, it’s just a big stinkin’ mess.
My son HATES to get messy, so I love that she's always encouraging him to try new things
It obviously took NO time at all for him to loosen up and have a blast
Over time they've grown pretty fond of each other
And yes, we do encourage it...just a little!
Happy early birthday to my little man and his favorite little friend, that happens to be a girl.
We won’t say “girlfriend” until…well, lets not go there right now.
(Thank you so much to everyone that participated! If you’d like to schedule your own Beloved session with your kid/kids, I will have reduced rates for everyone that was kind enough to give me such helpful thoughts on how I could make the blog better!)
Welcome to my new home!
It took me awhile to wrap my head around a “blog site”. A website that is a blog? WHY?! But now I see why, I’m so busy keeping up with my Facebook Page and all of my latest sessions (which will be on the blog) that maintaining a website AND a separate blog was driving me nuts.
So, welcome to the new page.
I will be “back blogging” a few of my last sessions from my old blog, just to give everyone something to look at. Everything else will be new, all session previews will be posted here.
So as a way to usher in my new blog site, I’m doing a giveaway. Horray!
Want a free session?
How about a beloved session with your kiddo?
I’m unveiling a new #beloved style- beloved sessions with your kiddo. This type of photography was created for couples and has gained fast momentum in the photography world… but I’m interested in taking it a step further. Trying it with parents and their kiddos.
How do you win?
Simple. Post a comment. Write a comment on this post- I want the comment to be twofold
1. Critique the blog site. Love it? Hate it? Want me to change something?
2.Write a very quick sentence or sentences about your kiddo. Tell me about him/her. Tell me why you love them. Most of all, tell me why you want this session with them.
Thanks for the continued support, you all are my heroes!
(Ps. The session is going to come with a canvas for your wall, how sweet is that?! Contest will run until Friday at 12mst)
One of my big goals for this site is to post more about me and my life.
Today, Lil’ D and I had to go out to drop off a #NILMDTS session in the mail. I hate going to our post office (they usually come to me but screwed it up last time) so we made a morning date out of it.
- Davs was very excited about the date
So I got home and I noticed- natural lighting in Village Inn is super ugly. Have you ever seen the way VI’s are color coordinated these days? Magenta and Orange walls do NOT flatter skin tones. Instead of taking the time to WB (“white balance”) everything (I didn’t want to sit around editing) I just used a trick.
Hence, the filters. I am not a fan of filters, but today they worked. Vintage!
Mommy's "get through the afternoon" pot of coffee. It didn't help me cope.
Destroying his meal!
Pretty sure that's over my calorie limit- I would be destroying it too.
and...that was a bad idea
This is what we commonly refer to as his "asian face"
Winning over my heart, as usual
Post Breakfast- You're not allowed in my picture without makeup Mommy