Hustle & Bustle

Don't panic, but there's only 2 1/2 weeks until Christmas! What the heck, when did that happen?! Monday is officially my very last session, so I'll be kicking it into high gear, getting orders done and to everybody. For those needing cards, we should get cracking and have them ordered by midweek this week. For those needing prints before the Holiday, I'd like to have everything ordered by the end of the week. If you had a session the second half of this week, I'm almost done!

Just a couple to share, then I must edit a few more, shower and get to a Christmas party!


Had to share this because it's festive...and she has some rockin' baby blues!


For those of you that stalk my blog (you know who you are, and I still find it hysterical that anyone even reads/looks at this), you may recognize this as the 34 week pregnant woman who I said I wanted to kick in the shin because she looked so good pregnant! This is her new baby girl, just a few weeks old!


And one my favorite clients' little ones! The younger one is the baby on my home page with the beautiful blue eyes...just a little bigger now!

Bring It On!

That's (had to be) my motto lately, as I sit here in the wee hours, yawning and working. The good news is that my Christmas shopping is now 95% done, thanks to venturing out on the dreaded Black Friday with my sister-in-law. Can I just tell you that the line at 5:15am at Kohls was a complete one and a half times around the store?!!! This was us: walk in....see HUGE line...walk out.

Ooh...first of all, check out the Elf link off to the top right here. I was up working this past week, and laughed for a good 5 minutes straight after making that at 2am. My daughter's hips were just cracking me up!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Holiday cards? I love making them, sending them, receiving them, just love them. I'm feeling some pressure this year, since I had so many compliments on last year's card. Not sure I can live up, but I did manage to tackle my kids last weekend to attempt their photos. I got fantastic ones of each of them solo, but I just don't have the energy (or desire) to attempt one of them together. I'm MUCH more patient with everyone else's kids, my own get the brunt of my impatience, poor things. I'll post my own card here once I send them out (and oh yeah, order them). And I may pick a couple of my favorites and post them after the Holidays as well! I already know who's winning so far (initials PB!!).

These could be my easiest clients ever, and this is the second year I've taken their photos. I don't think they are capable of photographing poorly, I really don't. And if anyone wants to know how to dress their kiddos for photos...check this out! This is sheer perfection, look at that alternating brown and pink color scheme working! Love.



Also, SUPER easy clients, made my day when they came! And look at the outfits, loving that! I'm always up for some winter hats and scarves! In fact, that's what my own kids are sporting in our Christmas card this year!



And this is purely for comic relief. I chopped my daughter's hair to a bob today, so her bangs can have a fighting chance at catching up to the rest. And as I'm snapping a picture of it, she jams the ol' finger up there.

Arrggghhhhhhh

Okay, got that out, I feel better! Things have been crazy busy, to say the least. If I didn't have 2 kids, I probably wouldn't be up late every night working...but you know how it is, packing lunches for school, cold season is here, etc etc etc. Can you BELIEVE it's Thanksgiving this week?

I have to share this one snapshot...this is my son and his "real-life hero", who is the captain of the high school soccer team that my husband coaches. He just worships this kid, and he couldn't have picked a nicer kid to worship. They won the Division 1 State Championships last week, after a totally Undefeated season, and this was following the Big Game. Congratulations North!



These are my highly cooperative nieces, love them!







I want her hair. Sigh.


This kid just CRACKS me up in this picture! I feel like he might be trying to sell me a car with the pose, and the jacket!!!




This was just one from a family session today, I have lots to edit, but this one popped out at me as I was separating the keepers and the non-keepers. I wish I had a photo of my daughter and I having a good time like this, I love it. Self-timer????

Bring on the Holidays...

Halloween's over, and I'm one of those that "jump the gun" with Christmas, you know the ones that other people complain about! I LOVE Christmas, and start listening to the music on November 1. My shopping is 90% done (because it has to be with this being my busy season), but no...we don't decorate until December, and we don't get our tree until a week or so after that. But my thoughts are this: If it puts me in a good, relaxed mood...bring on the Holiday music!

Okay, first photo is my son on Halloween. You can't tell me he's not the coolest looking vampire! Love that kid! Don't ask about Miss Thang (aka Snow White), she was anti-camera that day. We're putting her costume back on for some pictures, (today, hopefully).



Probably one of the more photogenic kids I've taken pictures of in a while!


I LOVE this shot! They just look so comfortable and relaxed with each other. And it was a self-inspired pose, they made it up!


Love the content look here too, as if it wasn't at all forced (ahem...and it was...well, a little). :)






For those that have been to my house, I have a photo of my son and husband like this on our front wall. This was an attempt to sort of recreate it...except not with my husband...or with my child! I think we did pretty well!!




Edited to add: "Snow White" didn't do too badly today! This was my favorite, even though it didn't show her costume too well.

Busy Busy

I'm sitting here drilling away, trying to get my editing caught up! It looks like rain tomorrow, which will be alright...gives me some time to catch up! I'll just share a couple recents, then I'm back to work!

This little girl was a gem to photograph, look at her...the camera loves her!



And this is another shot of my little thing!

What TO Wear

I've been silly busy the past week, and this coming week looks even moreso...so bear with me if I haven't posted your entire session yet. I promise I'm getting to it, I'm almost done with most sessions (except the last couple). However, I do have this little OCD moment after every session. I have to run inside, download them all, and edit 3-4 shots right then and there. So I'm sharing a couple of those tonight before I go back to this mountain of editing.

Also, today ended up being "What TO Wear" day. I had 2 families that just really rocked the coordination of clothing! And since I often have questions about this, I thought sharing one shot from each session would be good, so others can get ideas. I am always willing to help with clothing choices, so please ask away! Better clothing = better photos.

Clothing Tips:

1. White. Usually NOT a good idea. I know you all see the photos (not on my site, but elsewhere) of the families all wearing white shirts and khakis. It makes me cringe a little when I see that. Not only is it waaaay overused, but white pales people, it makes the average person looks sickly. Unless you're, oh let's see...the Salma Hayek type with olive skin and dark hair, then white is probably not your best choice for a family shot. Some white is manageable, definitely, just use it sparingly.

2. Matching. Don't go crazy with the matching...coordinating is better! You could find a print in one person's outfit and work off of that. Or have some shades that are similar, but not exact. Or just keep it simple, with not too many patterns, and not even worry about the color shades. Unless you have a lot of patterns, it really should be alright. Although, obviously if you have little girls with matching dresses, and then the parents just match some simple colors up...that of course totally works too!

The clothing choices here totally work, even though you can't see the older one's dress well on here. She had on this awesome polka dot dress (see 2nd picture) that ties everyone in together...love this!

How ridiculous is this little girl, and her dress? Cute was not even the word for her.


And everyone's clothing matches her pretty little dress!


This one WOWED me! No, we were not on location in the Caribbean...good Ol' Westerly RI! The three little girls had on matching dresses, and Mom & Dad coordinated off that.


And this one I just LOVE as well! This may not be everyone's style, but I think it completely rocks...simple, but unique.

Catching Up!

I'm finally catching up, after the setback of figuring out the new proofing setup last week! How about this weather, geez?!!! I have to admit, I'm ready for the nice cozy Fall sweater photos! I realized I hadn't posted in a while, so figured I'd quickly share a couple today!

I'm not necessarily a fan of the traditional "cheese" shot. Look at this little one, is she not silly cute?!! The biggest eyes, cheeks galore, such pretty eyelashes! She's not smiling, but I love that all those features just pop out at you in this shot!

The wonderful age of 2...where we often contemplate using duct tape in order to get them to sit and take a decent photo! But this shot wows me, I love that she's holding her favorite blanket tightly, and her hair looks so perfect with the little tousles falling down! She had on a little ballet tutu (which you can't see, and it was the point of the photo)...but this is still my favorite!

Editing Mania

I needed a little breather from editing photos. For those waiting for their proofs to be rehosted, or to see their session from the past week...I promise I'm working on it! I had to find a new way to host client proofs after my old site closed its doors on Thursday, and now I'm attempting to link it to my site. Over my head. Totally. But I'm all over it! Here's a couple from the past few days of my editing madness!!!

This is actually not MY daughter, although they do look similar in ways, don't they? Either way, super CUTE!



This is a family who had a session with me for the third year in a row. The twins are my daughter's age, and they added a new one in there this year! It's always SO fun for me to see how much kids have grown, since I usually only see them 1-2 times per year!



Okay, (deep breath) I'm back off to edit and play with some more "web stuff".

Maternity...Wow!

I had the first grabber for my "Maternity Session Special", and boy was she NOT messing around! This was some of the most fun I've had during a session in a while! She showed up more prepared than I ever imagined and we had a blast, despite the heat!

And not that I wanted to slap her or anything, but can you believe she only has 6 weeks left?!

A, If you're reading this, all kidding aside, look at yourself...you ROCK! This was such a successful session, I can't get over how many awesome shots we got! Thank you!

Happy Allergy Season

Is it even Allergy season? I have just been wiped out the past few days with allergy-type "stuff", it's actually pretty annoying.

Things are getting busy in my little world. Lots of calls and emails for appointments in response to the new site, which is encouraging! Thanks for all of the kind words about the new site, and to those of you who obviously forwarded it off to your friends and family..."You rock!"

This is a little guy who I took newborn photos of earlier this year, and again now at 9 months. I just LOVE this photo, it's so classic and simple to me! The little outfit couldn't have been better for this shot! On that note, I'm off to finish up editing his session!

Hello...Is This Thing On?

Well, if someone besides myself is reading this, it looks as if I've entered the world of blogging! How I think I'm going to have time for this on top of the hectic season that in coming at me...beyond me. But lots of photographers are doing it, so I figured "What the heck, let's give it a whirl!" New website, new ideas, I even bought some nifty new packaging, so hey, new blog too, why not?!!! I'm thinking it will be kind of fun...and it'll give me a way to keep my clients updated, to share a couple of shots from recent sessions, and to completely overwhelm everyone with photos of my own children (because I REALLY did try to limit how many of those I put on my actual website). It's tough, ya know, they're really pretty darned cute (even the little one with the attitude).


Okay, here's where I'm supposed to share some photos with you, let's see...

This is my baby boy, who started Kindergarten 2 weeks ago. I was sure that I would either hyperventilate or curl into the fetal position on Day 1, but I'm happy to report I did pretty good! Notice how proud of himself he looks here on his way to the bus. He spent the first week thinking he was "Joe Kindergarten", but things got a little emotional on Friday...he had his first "I want to stay home " episode.


This is a friends' wedding that we went to last weekend, which was so so beautiful! I've hit her up to let me practice with some less traditional bridal shots, so you may see more of her on her soon! But doesn't she look like she's having the time of her life here? I just love this photo!

And this is my "little one with an attitude", need I say more, look at the little hellion. Believe it or not, she's the same one who is on the opening splash page of my website (LOOKS cute, right?)