Brenna is Four!!!

My little niece, Brenna turned four this week! I cannot believe how quickly the time passes. Brenna is such a cutie pie and I am so proud of the sweet girl she is becoming. One of the best things about being an aunt is that you get to really cherish your nieces and enjoy their little behaviors. Some of the fun things about Brenna are that she loves her taggy giraffe (seen in the picture above), food, playgrounds, being active, swimming, BOYS, cake, her parents, her sister and animals. She is amazing and I love her so much. I talked her into letting me take her to her school playground on her birthday to take some pictures. Even though she is not the easiest subject to photograph (because she loves to be running all around), I got a few that really remind me of Brenna's personality:

She insisted on bringing along one of her many pairs of sunglasses!



The movement in this one is pretty fun!

This one was 100% her idea. She thought this would be a good pose.


I'll have some more pictures from her party at the pumpkin patch soon!

Welcome Newborn Addison!

My friends Nicole and Nathan had their baby on August 21, 2009. It was an amazing delivery. Nicole says it was "easy" and I (standing outside of the door of the delivery room trying to hear baby sounds) actually heard Nicole laughing during her labor and delivery as she and the doctor casually chatted and joked. How incredible! I told her she should write a book about it! I am soooo happy to have been a part of their day and then to be able to go back and capture Addison at 8 days old. She is a beautiful, photogenic, happy, healthy, calm baby. Her big sister, Kaylee loves her so much already. I can't wait to see them grow up together. Some of the pictures I got during this session are some of my all-time favorites. I can't wait to get more of her as she grows and changes during this first year...

Bailey Started Kindergarten

Yes, by now it is old news, but my little baby niece, Bailey started Kindergarten at the end of August. She is LOVING her teacher, her classroom, her homework and her life as a student. I cannot believe she went from being born two minutes ago to starting kindergarten already. It was so great to be there that day and capture the morning. She was so excited about school she was literally bouncing up and down while Jessica (her mom) was trying to do her hair. It was so cute. The teacher has already reported that Bailey is an absolute pleasure to have in class.... sniff. They grow up so fast!! Little Brenna also started her NEW preschool class the same day and has been doing fantastic as well. She has her main teacher and a teacher's aide. The teacher's aide happens to be male and if you know Brenna, that is a wonderful thing. She loves him and looks forward to getting to school each morning to see him. The teachers have had nothing but good things to say about Brenna as well. You can see in one of these pictures how she quickly learned where the dolls were and started playing immediately within 5 minutes of being there on the first day. She is getting so big and independent!! My little nieces are growing up soooo fast! Here are some moments from their first day:

Nicole's Maternity Session

So, this is a really fun time in my life personally because some of my closest friends (and my sister) are expecting babies. I am so thrilled to watch them anticipate their exciting new lives with their new babies. It is such a hopeful and happy time and I LOVE being asked to capture it. Recently, I got to spend some time with my friends Nathan, Nicole and Kaylee and capture their little expanding family. I was really happy with lots of the images, but here are a few of my favorites:













I cannot wait to meet this little girl!!! (And by meet, I mean photograph like crazy)- :)

Frances' Boudior Session

Recently, I had the pleasure of shooting Frances' boudior session. We agreed that because she is also getting married, it is a great opportunity to capture her beauty and then to present an album to her fiance, Matt, as a surprise. Hopefully he is not an avid reader of my blog :). It goes without saying that Frannie is gorgeous, but she is also really easy to photograph because she is really open to my crazy ideas. I hope to continue to photograph her throughout our friendship. Check out some of my favorites from the day (all approved prior to posting, of course):





Two of my all-time favorites:

Photography Seminar

I recently had the opportunity to attend another photography seminar with the incredible Jennifer Bowen and amazing Kim Jarman. I took the workshop in November of last year and just had to go back for more. With six months more experience under my belt, I had a feeling I would hear the information differently and walk away with even more knowledge than I did the first time and I was right! They are amazing teachers with photography that, in my opinion, is unparalleled in the field. The first part of the seminar was spent more on the technical side- learning how to get the shots we want from the camera we have and how to set goals to obtain the equipment needed to get even better shots. The second part of the day was spent "in the field" taking pictures of models. First up was a cute little family:









Next, we got to photograph a "bride." Funny story- the first time I ever assisted Jennifer at a wedding, the second shooter was this model bride, Cristi Owen. She is an amazing photographer and it is easy to see why she makes such a fantastic model ANY day:




One of my favorites from the day:





The workshop was amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone in the field. If you want to learn more about workshop opportunities, click here.

Mom's Birthday- Late

One of the challenges with having sooo many things on my plate is that I have a longer turn around time for pictures- even my own personal collection. My mom's birthday was so much fun. We got together as a family and made food, ate, played games and stayed up waaaay too late. My mom really wanted some good pictures with my nieces, so here are a few we got that day:




... and one each of the nieces...




It's not just me, right?? My nieces are soooo beautiful!