Maternity
Newborn
Children
Family
I love (love love love love LOVE) working with first time parents. Every duck is in a row, every baby blanket folded, walls painted – perfectly arranged for this beautiful bundle soon to arrive. Well – soon to arrive and flip all of that perfect arrangement right on its head…
This soon to be new mom was a little like that, but not nearly to the extreme I’ve seen. She is ready – totally ready for the pregnant part to be over. But she’s certainly not as ocd about the whole “lets get ready for baby” process as a lot of new moms.. and that’s so refreshing!!!
We had a good time shooting this session! She was “iffy” on the whole maternity photography focus – and I think by the end she had warmed up to the idea. A woman is never as beautiful as she is when she’s creating life… I truly believe that.
Case in point:
A prayer for a hopefully easy delivery:
A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.
~Irish Blessing
I love to explore this area – every time I find new and wonderful things to shoot in places I thought I’d been to before.
This session was great – we shot this in Brandywine Park along the river, and while I shoot there all of the time, I never realized this particular bridge was there.
Just one image from this Sunday’s session – more to come soon. this is just one that jumped out at me… there is a beautiful suspension bridge over the river next to the railroad tracks – it was a HOT day, but worth every bead of sweat for this little guy in this moment:
Quote for the day:
Silence is exhilarating at first – as noise is – but there is a sweetness to silence outlasting exhilaration, akin to the sweetness of listening and the velvet of sleep.
~Edward Hoagland
As many know, we’re in the process of designing and redesigning a new studio – and let me just say that it’s the most complicated, frustrating thing I’ve ever had to do. Thinking of paint colors, fabric choices, flooring, lighting, display pieces, and then pulling it all together in a cohesively cool manner – well, it’s more than I can take at the moment. Thankfully, I’ve got a good friend to guide me: (karen kennedy) and where I’d be without her actually scares me. I mean, who would have thought to think about the height of your sofa seat versus the height of your chair seat, and how they look together? Not me!!! And don’t even get me started on warm tones versus cool tones versus new modern lines matched with curvy vintage lines… honestly, it’s enough to cause someone to drink. heavily.
So – my point: In my quest for the best studio ever, I’ve turned not only to karen, but also to some really great places riddled with inspiration. One of my FAVORITE places is the Brocade Home Blog – Brocade Home is a great store filled with the most amazing pieces, but they also run a blog chock full of inspiration from every outlet…
Now, not only is this blog the best for inspiration, but if you look on the right side of the screen, there are a bunch of links to OTHER amazing sites that are just as interesting as this one. Great sites for shopping, browsing – you could seriously get lost in the internet shopping shuffle for hours just from this one fantastic blog.
My favorite blog that resulted from the Brocade Home Blog – Simply Grove See how you could get sucked in?? The internet is evil, right?
Quote for the Day:
The inability to make a decision has often been passed off as patience.
~Author Unknown
As a photographer, sometimes you enter a portrait session blind. You have no idea what you’re going to get, what clothes will appear, and you have no clue if things will run smoothly. And then there are times like these.. times when you enter a session, and still blind – you get absolute perfection. Beautiful kids, gorgeous mother and the children ACTUALLY LISTEN!! We shot at Gibraltar in Wilmington with perfect weather, perfect sunshine and the perfect subjects. It was a very good morning.
So, thanks to this family for a beautiful and fun session!! Hope you had fun on the Moon Bounce!!! You earned it!
How is this girl not a model yet?
and her little brothers? seriously, it’s a crime to have three children this beautiful..
Lastly – their mom didn’t want to be in any photographs, but I’m glad I talked her into just a few with her newest baby… these are some of my favorite portraits from this session.. there’s nothing sweeter than those first few months of unconditional baby love…
Quote for the day:
Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.
~Erich Fromm
I am trying to blog every day, so to keep things interesting, i thought I’d share something I’m creating for my daughter’s bedroom. She loves Hannah Montana – in fact, she’s over the moon about the girl – and so of course, as it is with every 6 year old in the world, everything we own is Hannah Montana! She wanted posters of Hannah for her birthday, and of course, I’ll oblige her, but I wanted to come up with something different – incorporate Hannah into her bedroom without making myself sick every time I walked in there. So, I’ve created this in Photoshop, and I’m having it printed as a large canvas for her. It’s got the lyrics of one of my daughter’s favorite songs on it – and the lyrics hold a good message, so I’m ok with that.
not too shabby, right?
Quote for the day:
Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching?
~Dennis and Wendy Mannering
We’re finally booking for fall….. If you are a previous client, we’ve got special holiday mini sessions lined up for you – short enough to keep your attention and give you those coveted holiday cards you all love so much. We’ve set aside 3 days for minis this year, and spots are filling up VERY quickly. There are only 19 spots total to be had, and only 8 remain right now.
For new clients – I thought I’d share one of my most popular products. A large majority of the people who walk through my door walk out with one of these. They are high end, beautiful coffee table books – and they hold every picture from your session. Or, like this mom, you can shoot 3 in one year and we created a beautiful 60 page book that chronicles the year… This is quite possibly my most favorite book so far. A few of my favorite 2 page spreads from this book….
Quote for the Day:
There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago.
~J. Robert Oppenheimer
Today is a day that stings in my soul as the worst memory of my life. It’s been 7 years now since 9/11 and I still remember the feeling of that day – the taste, the smell, the horror we all witnessed. You can’t erase that kind of day – you can only hope it never happens again. My prayers go out to the victims of 9/11 .. hopefully one day we can all find some peace.
I found this quote today … thought it appropriate:
The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it; between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past; between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists.
~William J. Clinton, 1997
A
little bit of a personal post here. Today was my daughter’s first day of kindergarten. She woke up really early this morning, put on her “first day” outfit, ate all of her breakfast like a champ, grabbed her “too big for me” backpack and we headed off to school. She was SO excited-jabbering the entire ride about what she thought they would do today, “mommy, we’re going to sing songs, make art, write letters, numbers, and I’m going to get HOMEWORK.” She’s ridiculously excited about homework….
The day went great – once mommy got over her weepy tears and grew up a little bit – she had a wonderful day, and can’t wait to do it again tomorrow. It’s amazing how quickly they grow up… I am often thankful for my gift of documenting life with my lens. I’ve got every moment of her life in film, and I’m so thankful for that.
Quote for the day:
A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future.
~Author Unknown
It’s always a pleasure for me to see growing bellies in my studio – but it’s even more fun to see expanding families. I love to find fun ways to show just how large a family is becoming, and well, this image just says it all… is there really room for one more? Yep! Thank goodness the baby’s hands will be small… we can cram them in there somewhere!
SO often moms will come to me and say this: ” I love the artistic maternity shots – you know, the ones where you can’t see their faces? I would like to have those please.” And I always giggle because fortunately, those are my favorites too…. I tend to go a little overboard on them though, but I still like them.
Quote for the Day:
Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.
~Anthony Brandt
It’s official – we’ve split our websites into TWO. One website is dedicated entirely to babies, and the other to families and the kids that love them. I thought it was time for the change – we shoot SO many babies each month, that they were beginning to take over the entire picture of what we do… and while we love our babies, we also adore shooting families. Thus, a new concept was born.
Check out our new sites!