Thursday, October 23, 2008

Beautiful Inside & Out

Congratulations to my dear friend S, who is expecting her first baby around Thanksgiving. This time of year holds a special place in my heart because both of my kids are Thanksgiving babies. I had the pleasure (not!) of hospital turkey twice, as my daughter was born the day before Thanksgiving in 2002, and my son was born two days before Thanksgiving in 2005.

I have known S since we were 14 years old, and we attended both high school and college together. I know that she is going to be a great mom because she has such a strong nurturing instinct. Plus, she is always prepared. Even when we were teens, if you ever needed a band-aid, tissue, or tylenol, she would inevitably have what you needed right there in her purse.

Good luck, S & R! Just a few more weeks till you guys meet your little miracle.

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P.S. One of the upsides to being my friend is that I will shoot pictures for you. One of the downsides of being my friend is that I will process everyone else's pictures ahead of yours. LOL! Thanks for your patience, S&R. Proofs coming soon!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Dunkin Donuts for breakfast....

makes for some really fun family portraits. LOL!

This family was truly a blast to work with, and within the silliness we got some great family portraits.

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Monday, October 20, 2008

What do a 20-month-old boy and the Canadian Rockies have in common?

Little G has amazing eyes. Several years ago my husband and I took a roadtrip along the Icefields Parkway thru the Canadian Rockies. There is a glacier-fed lake in Banff called Peyto Lake, and it is seriously the prettiest blue lake I have ever seen. Normally you don't think of a frozen ice lake as gorgeous and blue, you think about the ocean in some exotic vacation spot in the Carribean. But Peyto Lake is unbelievable, and I encourage you to Google it because you will see some amazing pictures. Why did I go off on this Peyto Lake tangent? Oh yeah, because I have worked with this little guy several times, and his eyes make me think of Peyto Lake every time I see him.

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And his mom could moonlight as a children's clothing buyer for portrait sessions because she always brings in the cutest stuff for him to wear. His dad is a retired firefighter, so these PJ's are not only hilarious but also totally appropriate.

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This last image of the sneak peak is sort of a step outside the box for me. Toward the end of the session when little G was losing patience with me and my camera, we let him sit on a Thomas the Tank Engine riding toy. Obviously he did not sit still, but rather rode all over the studio. There are several snaps from that time that were out of focus (because he was driving too fast) or not properly exposed (because he drove away from the lights). I almost tossed this last image because of the split lighting on his face. But then I decided to play around with it a bit, and here is what I came up with. His serious expression, the edgy lighting, the grain - it's not my usual style but I think this is kinda cool!

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Friday, October 17, 2008

Hanging out with big kids

After several weeks of working with the under-3 set, spending some time with a first grader and a kindergarten feels like I am hanging out with big kids. LOL! These two are so cute and were really fun to work with. And I must say that I am totally loving the mix of all the bright colors here!

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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Christmas Card Templates

For those who participated in this week's Holiday Card Day, here are the templates to choose from. The original graphic showing these templates got buried under more recent posts, so I wanted to put them here again for your convenience.

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Another little Christmas Cutie

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It's hard to believe this little one and I didn't speak the same language. You'd think with a last name like Gwozdz that I'd be able to speak Polish, huh? Thank goodness her mom and grandma were there to translate!

K, this is just a little sneak peek for you. I will email you soon with a link to the complete proof gallery.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Cuteness Overload: Santa Baby

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I don't even know what to say because the picture says it all... Merry Christmas from the cutest little Santa anyone ever saw.

Just a shout out to Santa's mommy - please leave a comment here with info on where you got this Santa suit because everybody's gonna want to know!