I recently had donated a photo session for a charity raffle in support of the National Association for Down Syndrome. Last week I had the pleasure of photographing the winning family – this amazing grandmother and her six grandchildren. How beautiful are they?! We had to shoot a bit before golden hour due to the inevitable witching hour, but it was all good in the end. Here are some sneak peeks.

You might recognize this one from my Project 365 posts:

Sneak Peek 1

Half the bunch:

Sneak Peek 2

Jumping for joy (or in a couple cases, lawn diving):Sneak Peek 3

For more information about NADS and how you can help, please visit www.nads.org.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of taking photos of my first newborn subject, now 7 months old. Baby Marcie is just so yummy, I can’t stand it! While editing these photos, I kept exclaiming, “Oh mah gahd!” Really, people! And can I tell you, she hadn’t napped all day, and this was after 4pm. What a doll!

It’s no secret that this blog is primarily about promoting my own business, but I read a post from another photographer today that I just have to share. Besides – she’s in California, so it’s not like she’s “the competition” or anything. 🙂 Whether you’re pregnant and considering hiring a professional newborn photographer (ahem, like me), or a newborn photographer yourself, or both, do yourself a favor and read this blog post by Cathy Murai:

http://cathymurai.com/newborn-photography/why-hiring-a-professional-newborn-photographer-is-important/

I continue to add to my photography training/education every chance I get. This week, it will be through a Creative Live workshop: The Art of Pregnancy & Newborn Photography with Ana Brandt. I’ve learned from Ana before, and she’s simply amazing.

I know I’ll be itching to capture more babies as soon as the workshop is over. So, if you’re expecting, don’t wait until the last minute to schedule a newborn session. In fact, if you book a maternity session with me, you’ll get a $50 credit towards your newborn session! Contact me here or on Facebook.

You may or may not know that I’m a part of an online community called Capture Your 365 (well, if you didn’t know before, you do now). It’s all about improving photography skills, with a focus on Project 365 – the practice of taking a photo a day, every day. It’s a pretty big commitment to do so, and I’m nearing the end of my third Project 365. Perhaps the toughest aspect of such a project is coming up with photo ideas. To aid in this task, Katrina Kennedy (founder of CY365) and her Creative Team provide community members with a monthly prompt list. My first year, I rarely followed the prompts. My second year, I followed every prompt, though sometimes out of order. This year, I’m following them sometimes – when they fit my day. But, I am making sure to capture one prompt in particular each month – the self portrait prompt. It’s been eye opening, for sure. I’ve become more comfortable and confident in front of the camera, which is so important when I’m trying to make you feel comfortable and confident from behind the camera.

 

Today’s CY365 self-portrait prompt is titled Challenges. My initial plan was that today’s selfie would be a sneak peek of our family holiday card portrait. Those plans went awry when I lost out to the biggest challenge of all – my daughter and her mega tantrum over having nothing to wear for the shoot (despite my numerous suggestions). By the time she’d calmed down, it was pitch dark outside. It’s kind of frustrating (to say the least) when the photographer’s own daughter entirely refuses to cooperate. Well, I was not about to let my glamorous eye makeup efforts go to waste. I do believe I have myself a new profile pic.

11-09-13 The Eyes Have It