Four!

One of my favorite clients has probably been checking the blog all week to see if I got anything posted from her weekend session, and I am happy to say her sneak peek is now ready! I have been photographing this little one since she was a newborn and this weekend was her 4-year session. Next time I think we should do a mother daughter portrait because this little girl is a total "mini me" of her mom. (Down to the hair cowlick and everything..it's amazing!)

Just for fun, I played around with some different post-processing techniques.

And, I had to include this one because it made me laugh and reminds me of my own kids, who have been sporting an assortment of temporary tattoos ever since Halloween.

In Honor of Burns Copeland

Today's blog post is in remembrance of Burns Copeland, whose funeral was this morning. Burns was the founder of the Chicagoland Professional Photographers Association (CPPA) and was 92 when he died. I got to know Burns when I was one of the first women to serve on the CPPA Board of Directors in 2005. I didn't know I was indirectly linked to him before that, but learned that he shot my father's military photos in the 60's. I used to jokingly call Burns "Yoda" because of his age and his wisdom about photography and the industry. I actually gave him a little Yoda figure like this, and he thought it was hilarious. Being in his 90's eventually caught up to Burns, and he had not been too active at CPPA for the past couple of years. I just want to send my sympathies to his family and tell them that he will be missed.

I have been on hold, listening to elevator music all morning....

I apologize for the inconvenience, but AT&T has made an error and disconnected my voicemail. They are aware of this problem and have reactivated the voicemail. However, they told me it can take up to 24 hours to go into effect. Therefore I may be unreachable by phone all day today. If you call, and I am unavailable and voice mail does not pick up, please email me at jes@jessicagwozdz.com, and I will call you right away. Thanks for your patience.

My Best Friend's Girls

(hey, isn't that a Cars song from the late 70's?)

Clearly I am really getting a lot of mileage out of the box of giant peppermint sticks I ordered for this year's holiday portrait season. But you know, they are truly serving their purpose because kids will sit still to eat them, and they look really cute in Christmas pictures.

These are my best friend's daughters. They are each just a few months younger than my two kids. My best friend (or shall I say BFF?) and I met when we were in preschool. We went to grade school, high school, and college together, and we even went through pregnancy together. I realize that this is really unusual and special - not many people our age have maintained a close friendship for over 33 years. I am hoping that even though they don't go to school together, our kids will be pals for a lifetime as well.

The older girl looks just like her dad, but the little blondie is a spitting image of my friend. Sometimes I can't even look at her without laughing because she looks so much like her mother that it takes me back to our own preschool days. See what I mean? ===>

I know I have said this before, but my poor friends are always the last to get their stuff. When I get busy, they are the most understanding to have their orders pushed to the back burner. So I am glad I am at least able to put a few pics up on the blog here for you Jen, because you know that your Christmas card will be the last one I design. No hang on a minute - it will be the 2nd to last one that I design. My own Christmas card will be the last one I design.

Happy Halloween!

It's been a big week at the Gwozdz house!

Thing 1 has lost her fourth tooth. Since it's not her first tooth, you may ask why the fourth tooth is such a big deal. Well this one is a big deal because she SWALLOWED IT. I was a little panicked, imagining a perforated intestine from that little tooth, but a call to Papa Don put me at ease (for those of you who don't know, my Dad is a dentist). Since then we have been teasing her not to let it bite her on the tush on its way out. LOL! She was pretty upset because she thought the Tooth Fairy would not come without an actual tooth to put out, but she was happy this morning to find a golden dollar and a duckie key chain on her nightstand.



The big news for Thing 2 this week the arrival of the BIG BOY BED. We didn't want to transition him out of the crib until he was done napping, and didn't want to go bed shopping until the Carson's warehouse was having their big annual furniture sale. As fate would have it, both of those things came together this month and hence - the big boy bed is here! He loves to help his father work with tools, and could not wait to help take apart his crib. I must admit to getting a little choked up watching my baby take apart his own crib. He picked out a monster-themed comforter and is so excited with it. And I am happy to say that the transition has gone rather smoothly.

Seven and half months old...

and eyes that can stop traffic.



His big sister and brother are in first grade and kindergarten (respectively), and were arguing over who got to hold him for the pictures. Too cute!