Jonathon

Jonathon was in yesterday for his 9 month old session. He arrived in a deep sleep, so I was able to hold and cuddle with him for a bit before he woke up. He's at a great age and size for cuddling, so I was happy to get "my baby fix" in.

This little guy is starting to look more and more like his Dad! Jonathon has gorgeous eyes and beautiful skin tones. The day light was bright enough that we were able to do our whole session by window light---my favorite light!

January Calendar Page

The Goddess of Winter with her

mighty tool---the shovel.

This is the January photo for the Cousin's 2009 Calendar.

Megan made the January spread because her birthday falls in January.

My favorite Megan image from this calendar session will be posted later this month.

Over the next year, I will be posting the printed calendar pages and some of the out takes.

First Eucharist Photo

In the middle of January, a sign of spring for me is starting to capture the second graders as they get ready for their First Communion Celebration. I love working with the second graders each year.

The youngest of five, Abigail, was in this week wearing her sister's dress and her Mom's veil. Abby was a natural poser and was just a delight.

Not the Grandma's Choice

I chuckled when I looked over the order from Jake and Elli. This is the image they ordered of their son Daven. This is not the same image that either of the Grandma's ordered. And actually, this is not the same back ground that Jake and Elli will get with their portrait order. Their portrait will be the high key back ground that the funny face was captured on.
Just for me, I played around with a different background in photo shop. It's always a good chance to play with layers and brushes which is what I did for this blog image.
So, the Grandma's both ordered an image of Daven grinning from ear to ear with his tongue in his mouth. It is a darling image, and it makes me laugh. However, this image makes me chuckle!!
Daven is a happy little guy with a wonderful set of parents and grandparents. He is a blessed little guy.

'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

This young woman's voice is as beautiful as her eyes. Last Saturday night, at the Partners in Praise Christmas concert she sang a solo in the song, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Melissa did an awesome job singing. The whole concert was fantastic and a very memorable evening. This is one of the photos from Melissa's senior session.

Mother as Prop

I have the priviledge of taking the preschool photos at the Shoreview Community center each year. It is enjoyable working with the staff and the munchkins.

I have learned NOT to ask the 2-5 year olds to say Hi to me because they are unable to do this without raising a hand to wave. It makes me smile each time.

Thank God for photo shop so I can swap heads in and out of my main photo. It is a challenge to get 16 two and a half year olds to look at the camera at the same time!!

This family came in before one of the class sessions and asked for a picture of just the kids. Since I had limited chairs and prop supplies with me, I used the Mom as a chair and we put the baby in her lap. Back at my computer, I was able to erase her from the photo. It was much easier to do this rather than try and get the siblings to hold the baby in my makeshift classroom studio. Plus I just had a couple minutes to take their photo.

In the first image, I actually like the expression on Mom's face as she looks with joy at her brood. I ended up printing both images for them to have because I like having Mom in the image, but since they requested just the chilren they get both.

During our combination individual/family photo session, Max had his serious face moments, his shy moments, and his giggling--life is good moments. This image was made at the end of their session. The family was starting to gather up their belongings when I noticed how I really liked the angle of natural light coming in through my window. I asked if we could take a few more photos even though we had wrapped up the session and had been visiting for a while.

The family agreed and we were able to make some more pictures of 3 year old Greta on a red sled in front of this snow scene back drop. When we tried to do the same with Max, he would have nothing to do with the red sled or sitting by himself. After all, it was nap time. He was done with any posing or artificial props. However, he lit up with lots of smiles when his Dad became a horse and he could ride him around in front of my window. I love the pure joy on Max's face. Ride 'em cowboy!!!