Any children’s photographer will tell you that toddlers dicate their sessions.  They decide if the session will be good, bad, super long or super fast…but it is totally up to them.  That is what I love though….the challenge

So when I met this cutie on the beach the verdict was out.  The end result was a beautiful session with a sweet sweet little toddler that clearly stole my heart.  Loved Her!

Going to the Outer Banks this Fall?  I will still be accepting  beach sessions up till mid November!

A person would think that this would mean that I would have slowed down on sessions and not be shooting as much.  After all I haven’t been posting current sessions on the blog so that must mean I haven’t been shooting…right?  WRONG.  I have had one of the busiest shooting Summers in three years.  However with the advent of blogs, Facebook and Twitter everytime I post a session it opens up the phone to ringing off the hook with clients wanting sessions as well.  Not a bad thing at all!  But since I knew I was as booked as I could handle for the Summer I decided to take a bit of a blog break.  But as of next week the kids will be back in the swing of homeschooling and I will be ready to fill my Fall schedule with new sessions.  Over the next month I will be getting the blog all caught up with this Summer’s fun sessions!  I can’t get over the amount of beautiful images and families and find myself editing them out always amazed at the crazy amount of ”I love it” images that I have to stop everything my family is doing and make them all look.  At which time we all gasped and ooh and awe over each image.  Have I mentioned I love what I do?  Because if I haven’t…I LOVE what I do!

So without further wait…I will start the image sharing fun.  Aren’t these two just the cutest little guy and gal!  You may remember them!  They were my very first set of twins At Henrico Doctors Hospital NICU last year!  Little miracles these two!

How to describe Maggie.  Well in short, she is this kind, talented, amazingly strong woman.  One of those gals that I think if we all opted to be more like this world would be such a better place.  This year Maggie’s husband, Don was deployed to Afghanistan.  Maggie and Don have this amazing family and she homeschools the older two kiddos as well all with a toddler in the house!  I have to say over the month’s of Don’s deployment what has stuck out to me the most is her spirit.  Never have I heard her complain, not once.

Now if I were in that boat I am not sure I could manage to never have a pity party for myself or spend many a night crying from just the sheer exhaustion and sense of loss that must come with your soulmate being off in some strange foreign country.  She has told us about how she will be talking to him on the phone or computer and you can here the gunfire in the background.  I can’t imagine for two seconds what that must be like.  I also can’t imagine how hard this must be on Don.  To miss his little girls “firsts”, to give the kids their goodnight kisses, to just eat a meal with the whole family or watch tv together.  It’s the small things that I think would drive me over the edge…the moments we all take so much for granted until they are ripped away from us

I personally am so thankful for these men and woman who sacrifice so much of their own personal freedoms to ensure ours.  “Thank you” just doesn’t seem to cut it…ya know?  So for me I always go back to sharing what I have been God given…the talent to take an image and hopefully make them feel “there”.  In that moment.  Something they can watch over and over on the good and bad days.

So Maggie and I set to work on a little family session for Don to share in one moment of their day back at home.  Something else you should know…Maggie is an amazing photographer herself!  She seldom gets the chance to get on the other side of the lens though.

As Don is on leave this week and home for some much deserved R&R Maggie was able to share this little video with him to take back with him.  We are also going to be doing another quick session while he is home so he can have a video with the whole family as well

On this fourth of July weekend I would just like to say to all of our military we can’t say thank you enough for everything you are doing for our country.  Keep up the good work and come home soon and safe!

Special thanks to Darrick Lee for the amazing images he shared with Maggie at the end of the video. Fantastic work!

There are so many parts to parenthood that no one will tell a mother.  Like you will one day find yourself saying the strangest sentences.. “Adam stop trying to poke your sister in the eye with your fork.” Or that having kids means having dirt, mud, mess and basic odd curiosity’s popping up from time to time.  Of course everyone tells you say goodbye to sleep, nobody leaves that part out.

I can barely remember the first two years having two little ones in the house.  My kiddos are only 22 months apart.  Those early years were so hard and amazingly fabulous all at the same time.  We ran off of little sleep, spent countless hours at the pediatricians office, had playgroups, tantrums to deal with and oh the personalities these two had even at a young age.  I loved it don’t get me wrong, but babydom and toddler years are just not for the faint of heart.  The one thing nobody told me though…or maybe they did and in the blur of life I just couldn’t really grasp.
It was all temporary.
The children began sleeping through the night.
They started actually not catching every single virus that came along.
Heck we even started having time to ourselves again.
I always say that about the time my youngest hit two I realized the sun came back out and the birds were singing and I realized I had been “winging it” for two years.

Somehow time just slipped right on by.  My plans of keeping up with baby albums and milestones were missed.  And here I sit wishing upon wishing that I had these sorts of images of my precious babies that I had once upon a time.  The babies that are now grown and spend each day venturing out on there own.  Not needing me to find their paci (oh they would be mortified that I even typed that) or making them sippy’s or taking 30 minutes just to get the darn shoes on feet and diaper bag packed.  All the things that we once found so exhausting yet now we find ourselves missing… except for sleep.  I do really like that we get to sleep again

But time passes by and now I love that I have the chance to photograph the babies and families I do and to possibly give them the images I would do anything for to have of my own babies those first few days after coming home.  The moments that last a blink and they will never happen again.  Some families understand the value and gift they are giving their child and some don’t…sometimes folks just go through the motions of getting a family session because it is what you are “supposed to do”.  After all it can seem like such a hassle and pain and new parents are exhausted and busy busy busy and it is hard to really look 10 years into the future when you are running off of 3 hours of sleep after all.  I am always amazed at these sweet families who have the insight to think ahead and actually take the step to have the sessions and know the true value of a portrait session.

So I leave you with this little sweety…so fresh and new and perfect.
Simply perfect.

“Photography can only represent the present.

Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.”

~ Berenice Abbott

It has given us the freedom to travel when we would like.  This week we are hanging down in the Outer Banks of NC again and as luck would have it…so is my fabulous photography friend Erin Roxroth.  Erin is such a sweet gal and so talented and once we found out we were both down here we thought it would be a great idea to trade family photo sessions.

As photographers we are so seldom in our family photo albums it is a bit pitiful…so this was a great chance to help each other out!  Thanks so much Erin   If you would like to check out our family images be sure to check them out on her blog!

And for her sweet family…

Let’s start with this cutie

Funny how you can look at a picture and everyone is smiling and laughing and you would never guess the hardships and hurdles they have had to jump. So with Brenda’s permission I wanted to share their story and why helping the March of Dimes is such a worthy cause. Anyone who has ever had a baby in Henrico Doctors NICU can tell you that the doctors and nurses within are special folks who truly perform miracles everyday. This weekend will be the March of Dimes Charity walk where they try to raise money to continue all the good things they do for these little babies and parents.

So here is there story in Brenda’s own words:

Our Story:

After years of trying to conceive we had success the phone call came “your pregnant” we were thrilled finally the family we dreamed of having was going to happen…..4 weeks later “its twins”!!!! OMG!!!! AHHHH!!! TWINS!!!! We were so Happy!!!! I had a very uneventful pregnancy felt great. Went to the gym every day.  LOVED BEING pregnant at 18 weeks we had a 4d sonogram (because we couldn’t wait to find out what we were having for 2 more weeks) its 2 girls!!!! I started shopping I think Matt and I spent that entire following weekend painting the girls room…pink of course! by Monday morning there was a full nursery set up and waiting for the arrival of our 2 baby girls!

20 weeks …..both girls look great growing good healthy looking everything looked good!
24 weeks…..Life Changing!!! You know there are moments in life just imprinted in your heart and mind forever! this was one of them…we went for a routine checkup the Dr kept messing with that doppler heart beat finder acting like it was broken trying to play it off.   I bought it for a few minutes, Matt did not.   They sent us over for an ultra sound. The tech put the monitor on my stomach and immediately got up “I have to go get the Dr she said”.   It was obvious Matt and I could see are baby girl motionless just floating while the other one was moving all around! Baby A (Sarah) had passed 2 days prior to our appointment….we spent the next 3 hours with a perinatologist asking questions getting multiple ultrasounds etc….there was no explanation for losing our baby girl the Dr said that out of 700 patients he may see this once or twice and I guess “it just sucks to be you” (sure did) 3 days later we had to hop in the car and drive to Buffalo for our planned baby shower I don’t know how I got though it but we did. It actually helped to be around family and friends who loved us and shared our sorrow!
26 weeks- I got put on light activity because my cervix was not as thick as it should have been.
27 weeks–bedrest at home only getting up to go to the bathroom and to bed.
29–weeks–Hello your having contractions and you are dilated ( I didn’t really feel anything) I was admitted to the hospital immediately and told I wouldn’t be going home until I had the baby when I asked the Dr how long he thought we would make it he said probably not past the weekend….he was right. at
30 weeks to the date on November 15, 2008 at 4:34 a.m Lauren Alexandra Conley entered this world through a very scary emergency c-section. She weighed 3lbs 4oz was 15.75 inches long was blue with a heart rate of 10-15 bpm the described her as being floppy and flaccid….my baby girl blue floppy and flacid….thank god I was unconscious! Poor Matt watched this all helpless through the OR window he saw the nicu team wheel our little girl our in an incubator while someone pumped air into her lungs I know he will never forget that! After I was with it they wheeled me in to see Lauren….she was so tiny….SO, SO, SO tiny…but absolutely perfect I don’t think I registered all the tubes that were there or anything all I saw was this beautiful girl and I prayed to god harder than I ever have that he wouldn’t take her from me too…..and he didnt! She grew stronger and stronger every day. I would go there and hold her for 4 hours in the morning and for 4 hours in the evening on the days that I could I would hold her for as long as I could.

The March of Dimes was such a support to us the lady who worked for them would talk to us every day give us advice introduced us to other families who were going though the same thing. They also helped us make arrangement to have Sarah cremated and wrapped her in a blanket and took a picture of her tiny feet then gave us that blanket in a beautiful keepsake box. On Christmas the wonderful nurses made matching blankets for all the babies along with hats…too cute. They tought us how to care for our tiny little miracle and made us comfortable handling such a tiny little baby.

The March of Dimes also provides FREE developmental follow-up appointments with a fabulous Doctor who monitors Laurens growth and development. After 48 days in the hospital Lauren came home on December 30th!!! Today she is 17 months old and HEALTHY!!!! Smart!!! You would never know she started out this way! Thats what the March of Dimes means to us! Please Join us on Sunday in honor of our girls! if you cant be there a donation of any amount would be much appreciated! If you have any questions please call me or message me!

If you would like to donate to the Conley’s team please visit their team site to make a donation!

Here is a peek at her first session and the year of sessions that followed!
To view the video from Lauren’s first session click here.

You can even check out Lauren’s modeling debut on billboards around town for her families business, Window World! She was quite the sales gal

Now the thing is this is just one story amongst thousands.  I have loved getting to meet these amazing families over the last year and have been blessed to hear about so many miracles.  I couldn’t imagine not volunteering to go in and do these little sessions.  I am always telling clients they need to get their newborn session in within the first 7-10 days and these little babies just can’t make that and those moments are missed otherwise

can’t you just feel the love these three little gals have? All sweetness and sunshine!

I know I know…I have seriously been neglecting this blog…but it has been a busy busy Spring and it is time I start sharing out some of the great families and sweet babies I have been working with each week!

So without further a-do…meet little Isla

and I fell in love with all of her many sweet face she was giving me!

Did you know there is an actual “baby season”…or at least for my studio we tend to have a ton of newborn’s this time of year until about May. Did I mention I LOVE “baby season”?
What is sweeter than those little newbies?

So in celebration of baby season we will be offering HALF OFF our session fee (a $75 value!) for the months of Jan., Feb., and March for all newborn clients scheduled before they are 3 weeks old. If you are one of my NICU Pictures of Hope clients we will extend the offer to within 3 weeks of your baby coming home from the NICU

For those who are new to my photography…I shoot your session in your home or the hospital upon babies arrival. If you check out the website keep in mind 80-90% of those images were all shot in client homes. It isn’t scary at all and the focus is on the baby not on the messy kitchen table, I swear Your home is the perfect location for a newborn session. Everything we could possibly need for your baby is right on hand. I really want to capture where your family is right at this moment in time. I try to find props, outfits and objects within your home that will mean something to your own family one day. This not only makes for beautiful images but images that are unique to your family. Newborn sessions typically take 1-2 hours and are very laid back, low pressure events. I work at the babies pace. If baby needs to take a moment to nurse etc… then we take the moment

Give me a call today! If you are expecting now is the time to give us a call and get the basic info all straight and we can go over how our sessions work in more depth.