My Candid Moments

This weeks Five on Friday has to do with Newborns. I think there is nothing more beautiful or simple then the love you see between a newborn baby and their parents.  Who would not want to photograph all that sweetness (and get a baby fix at the same time).

1. Please,Please check out this post by fellow photographer Lisa Russo. She has said something I have felt for a while and said it well.  I think that as the popularity of some newborn poses continues to grow, we all need to be aware that many of those amazing images shown in media outlets are composites or done with photographers working as a TEAM .

2. I found this link for Ruffle Butts on photographer Yvonne Nieman of St. Louis’s blog the other day.  These are amazing!  They will make for fun shots as your little one grows and starts to crawl away or run as they get bigger.

3. Has anyone found a Tonka Truck lately? I love these classic toys but have not seen any at Target, recently.  They make for a fun ’size’ comparison as a baby boy grows and I wanted to add to John’s outdoor collection for the summer.

4. Don’t forget to take images during that first year. I recommend you focus less on the ‘age’ and more on the milestones and love to see my newborns come back when they can sit (at about 6-8 months) and again at a year when they can walk!

5. I am booking up for the spring so if you are interested in a newborn session, please call as soon as you can to secure a spot on my list.

I have always made my son’s birthday cakes, and they have always had a theme.  Some years it’s a lot of work doing the stars and making Thomas or Lightning McQueen come to life others it’s been easy. The year he wanted a Nemo cake was one of those easy years.  That year I made  fish bowl, which was easy but impressive.  This year he wanted a mountain biking cake.  I thought this will be a snap, the instructions were easy and it was mostly just layering cakes and frosting them.  I was wrong., I was just plain wrong.  The first cake looked good (it’s the one on the right) but it fell flat by the next morning. I prefer to think of it as it experienced an earthquake or there was a mud slide.

So like every good Mom I went and I made ANOTHER cake, this one shorter and much more sturdy.  That is the cake he is blowing candles out on — the lessons I learned are you can never have too many boxes of cake mix (LOL) and that you need wooden dowels when building a mountain of chocolate cake.

Exactly seven years ago at this time, I was holding my first child for the very first time.  He was born into this world after a long night. I won’t bore you with the entire story of how he arrived, but just know this I have not gotten a full nights sleep since I felt my first labor pain!  It has been an amazing seven years — of watching him grow nad learn.  I was just thinking about this as I did a Maternity session this weekend.  My clients are expecting their first child, and they reminded me so much of my life seven years ago.  I remember getting ready for the baby, not knowing if it was a boy or a girl.  The nervousness and love — how excited my husband was. I truly hope they are blessed as my husband and I have been.

I can only say that this little man has blessed and enriched my life in ways that I can not express. I am forever grateful to be his mother.  It all goes by so fast.

Two is the most difficult stage to photograph.  There are many reasons why but the first is that they have just learned that they can control the show –they can decided what they want to do and when.  The second is that they are easily distracted yet at the same time very single minded (in particular wanting to do what you don’t want them to).  There are many. Mr. N was determined the day we did his two year photos.

I think personally he might become a chef on a high speed train?

I just love to photograph newborns.  There is nothing more special then this time when they are fresh and new and full of promise.  They are all so unique and the best part of my job is that I can capture that for their parents.

This is Mr. R.

I drove out to meet him and his parents for the his first ’session’ and went through some fun little towns along the way, such as Now Then (yes there is a town here called Now Then) on my way to St. Frances.

He was a stinker and just didn’t want to have both eyes doing the same thing — He was a move and a shaker when we too his Mom’s maternity photos, and he is still a mover and a shaker!  He has the most amazing eyes and a knack for keeping just one eye open as if to make sure he does not miss a thing!

Today we tried again, and I can say we have many images with both eyes doing the same thing!  Way to go Mr. R.

Hope you enjoy your peak!

Shannon

I can not believe it is nearly Valentines day. I still have to get the kids valentines made and ordered — hope I can get them done today.

I think that I would have been more on top of things, but I spent a few hours going through all the wonderful images of my childhood.  My wonderful Mother spent hours and hours scanning all the old 35mm slides she had of our childhood and put them on an external hard drive. My kids just love looking at them, though it is hard for them to grasp that I was ever that small!  I found this gem of me, at about five days old.  I put it next to one I took of Kate. WOW!  Go figure some newborn ‘poses’ are timeless and more importantly you can tell she really is my mini me!

I do not know when John’s decision to try Karate became so strong, but a year ago he asked me if he could do Karate class.  It was late in December and the community education class for January was full, which meant that we had to wait until February to start.  I am not sure what it was but something clicked for him and he loved it.  We are forever grateful for Mr. T and those Monday nights!

He has been self driven to get his belts to achieve within this sport, and that makes me happy.  He is as happy to go today as he was that first time a year ago.  I love that he has found a passion, something he loves to do. I realize this will grow and change as he does, but for now his passion is Karate.

So every week, right now on Mondays and Wednesdays, we head into Buffalo for Karate.  I love his dedication and the fact that he has set a goal, black belt.  I am so grateful for DoJo Karate (they have other locations in Media, Rogers just to name a few!)

Well, to be honest this was the best party I have photographed/attended that was thrown by Ms. M and her Momma.  I just can not believe how much fun the kids had with being ‘rock stars’. I am not sure that some of they really understood what it was to be a rock star, just that they got to dress up have make up and just want to have fun.

She had make up and sunglasses, microphones, head sets, inflatable instruments.  The works.  Her cake was a work of art, with gum-paste guitars, chocolate hearts and of course pink and black the colors of a rock star diva!

Wow last week really did fly by, I spent part of next week preparing for this weekend coming up.  I will photograph a birthday party on Saturday and then on Sunday, baby willing, I have a newborn session.  If you are reading this S family, I hope your new little one has arrived or will arrive soon! I can not wait to meet the latest member to your family.

I have also been using this as time to photograph my kids and practice using studio lighting. I do not use it often, but like having the option to use it to create portraits on gray icky winter days.

These are my two favorite portraits of the kids taken this past week.  John’s expression is priceless, in particular if you know I made him do this at 6:30am before school.  I was playing around and we were all up early that day!  Kate’s image is part of a series I did after her brother went to school. I can not wait to make it into a collage for the wall in her room.  She has always loved her baby dolls, and with her using a camera just like Mom she is sure to start taking portraits of her babies too!

Miss M has been a regular client of mine for the past four years.  She is always fun to photographer, in part, because her Mom comes up with the most amazing party ideas and each year her portraits reflect that theme.  The first year she was a princess, just a pretty and pink.  Her second birthday had a western theme including hat and horse, that was so much fun!  Then last year it was all little girl with a Tea Partea!  I was wondering what she could do to top that image.

This year it was ROCK STAR.  Miss M, it would seem, loves all things Hannah.  She and her Dad play rock band on the PlayStation so it was only fitting that we do things up for her portrait this year and made her into a mini rock star.