Early Birds

This couple was a lot of fun! I'm thinking about trading pictures for dancing lessons ;-)

It's amazing to me that anyone could have a family of four out the door and ready for pictures at 8 am but whether for playdates or pictures, E is always on time.

I love the picture above and think it will probably be my favorite out of the set. It was completely spontaneous that C spun her around on the lawn and it made for a perfect picture! I think it must be his alma mater...Clemson turns out only the best!

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Sweet Sisters

I met with M & K at the park a few days ago. They were really sweet and I adore these precious curls!

M warmed up after a few minutes and seemed excited to get to run around the park with me by herself while Mom hung out with her little sister. She raced me to each location yelling RUN, RUN, RUN!

The little one was a Mama's girl for sure! I just love a barefoot baby and this one was too cute crawling to me (or Mom, who had a Ritz cracker for her--maybe that's why she's licking her lips ;)

Thanks, Anne, it was a lot fun chasing your beautiful girls around the park!

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Party of 5

I met with a beautiful family of 5 this morning at a local museum. It was a little chilly when we started off but it warmed up and turned into a gorgeous day!

This is such a great place, there is a terrific backdrop everywhere you turn.

Their oldest is a junior in high school and was completely comfortable with the camera! I wore nothing but clear mascara until I was out of college so I'm a tad jealous looking at her perfectly applied eyeliner...something I've yet to master. I'm amazed at how put together and confident 16 year olds are these days.

The younger girl was the perfect assistant and yelled BANANAS! while I took pictures of her sister. If she didn't live so far away, I might consider hiring her. She couldn't wait for her turn and was more than happy to smile for the camera.

The little guy was another story...he wanted to PLAY! Luckily, I'm always up for a game of peek a boo and as it turned out, he was too!

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HeartBREAKER!

I may be biased, but oh my gosh she's beautiful! My oldest little masterpiece and I took off tonight to take her 5 year pictures. 5 YEARS! I can't believe my sweet baby is five, and oh so grown up! She had school pictures last week so she said she knew exactly what to do...a great big grin and she'd yell, "mashed potatoes!". That'll work ;)

For her birthday, everything was all about Fancy Nancy. Since Nancy says all things French are fancy, what else but a beret to top off her ensemble?? Tres chic!

Considering that she's mine and constantly has a camera in her face...usually met with "No more picturin'!" she was incredibly cooperative. I can neither confirm nor deny that there might have been a cookie involved in making that happen.

Ainsley loves the fun floppy flower on her little sister's hat and I think it made for very cute pictures!

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I'm a Big Girl Now!

I met H when she was only 5 months old. She's one of my kids' favorite playmates and as such I have pictures from all stages of her life, just as I do my own kids. It was really fun to get to take her 3 year pictures! She's growing into such a little lady and I enjoyed following her around the gardens capturing that still baby fine hair and her big blue eyes. Her little brother was my first official practice session (his first year pictures) so it was neat to follow up with big sister several months later.

She'd never been here before, so the fish and turtles in the pond really piqued her interest and everything she saw was new and neat for her.

She wasn't the least bit tentative about walking around in her bare feet and was incredibly compliant any time I asked her to hop up on a rock or sit near *gasp* dirt :)

I look forward to finishing this session and seeing how the rest of them turned out!

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Baby Doll

The Z man was a little on the shy side and didn't like to hang out naked. He was, however, a DOLL. I mean that, he actually looks like a little baby doll! Perfection.

Big sister was very busy drawing pictures and at one point came in to declare her love for me. Look at these amazing gray-blue eyes! Between those and her Rapunzel like locks what's not to love about her??

...And with a big yawn, baby boy is back to sleep...

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2 minutes

After I put this adorable hat on E this morning, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures! I knew I had roughly two minutes before her big sisters would come looking for us so I had to be quick. I love those big blue eyes!!!

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Girly Girl

W just became a BIG Sister!! In fact, her little brother is pictured in the post below. I've known her for a few years now and absolutely love her delicate features, infectious smile and gentle demeanor. She is also a GIRLY girl, and as such, showed up in a frilly skirt full of tulle complete with a necklace and pearl bracelet (of COURSE!). I was a little surprised not to see a purse in tow...she must have traded it out for the fresh flowers mom brought instead.

Because she's such a girly girl, I was apprehensive about asking her to step up onto this stump (which also had a few bugs on it--my own girls would have balked at the idea). However, she hopped right up and gave me a few big grins! Yay!

Although the session was largely for W, we snapped a few family pictures in the beginning. Congratulations to the new family of four!

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7 DAYS!

This little guy came a little early, but was growing like a weed already since he was born at 8 lbs. 7 ozs.! When I arrived, he was in an oh so lovely milk induced coma ;-)

He didn't mind me moving him around a bit and slept all but about a minute of the time I spent at his house.

A mutual friend made this beautiful blanket shown above...I love all of the fun colors!

It's so easy to forget how small they start out! I agree with his big sister, who tells everyone who will listen, "He is such a gift!"

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Model in Training!

On Saturday, I headed to the park to take pictures of my friend's daughter. Little did I know, she had a thing or two to teach me! Every so often, she'd strike a pose...and hold it until she figured I'd sufficiently captured her. She was too cute, twirling around, giggling and just being herself in general.

It was tough initially to get her to agree to lay in the grass with her fancy dress, but once mom and I got down on the ground with her, I think she had fun.

Mom tickled her a bit and so she gave me a few really great natural smiles. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of this set turns out!

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1 Month New

This sweet little bundle arrived just one month ago! She is just adorable! I really enjoyed the challenge of working with a newborn versus the toddlers/children I've been chasing lately!

She was sleeping when I arrived, but all the positioning I was doing woke her right up. Poor thing was just aching to get back to sleep but I kept moving her. I'll bet she was annoyed with me, but I'd also be willing to bet she took a nice long nap after I left ;)

I don't mind bright eyed babies a bit when they're as sweet, cuddly and quiet as this one was! Who wouldn't want a glimpse of those bright blue eyes??

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Energy!

I wish I could bottle the energy these two kids had. I'm not sure what they had for breakfast, but it must have been the breakfast of champions because they were very active and incredibly FAST!

Apparently, they thought this little session was a game and my job was to catch them so there was very little sitting still on any of our parts!

This fair haired girl stole my heart running around barefoot. I'm a native of South Carolina so it's rarely anything but flip flops or bare feet for me! Luckily, I had prepared well with tennis shoes on this particular occasion. ;)

Little K clearly takes after big sister and he's just about as fast!

Occasionally, something would pique their interest and they would slow down just long enough for me to snap off a few frames, like the shots below.

It's fun to have a tree around for climbing...always a favorite for the boys! K & K were great and a lot of fun to follow around.

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Sweet "P"

Sweet "P" as his mom likes to call him is exactly that! I absolutely love this age and had a tough time paring this set down because his face is so expressive that I wanted to give mom and dad every little crooked smile or lit up face.

Mom is clearly fashion forward, putting her Sweet P in a button up with tiny little baby tie and cargo shorts with converse style shoes.

I just can't get over that adorable gelled up hair! Who wouldn't love those big blue eyes?? As far as I'm concerned, P is for PERSONALITY ;)

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Casting Call!

Banana Republic is sponsoring a Mad Men casting call contest. The winner will receive a walk on role on Mad Men, runner's up get a $1000 gift card to Banana Republic! My friend Heather called me up and asked if we could go downtown to take pictures for her photo entry, showing off her "mad" style. The show is set in New York in the 60's and is about the men of Madison Avenue. Heather was decked out in 60's glam with a pencil skirt and green sweater and we set out to wow the producers with her style.

It felt like we drove around forever just looking for a spot to park. We stopped at one building first, then drove around looking for a spot to get pictures near one of the old hotels. With all the tall buildings, we started losing light fast and made one last stop at the Scottish Rite then walked across the street for our last few pictures.

Heather is not at all afraid of the camera, so it was a lot of fun for me to be able to take pictures of someone who was not only comfortable with a camera in her face, but WORKED it too ;)

The picture, at left is the one she chose for her entry. Although I am focusing my efforts in general on newborn and children's portraiture, I had a great time doing this shoot for my friend's contest entry!

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Sisters

L & P are as cute as can be. It's fun to see how to children from the same family can be so different. It just goes to show how much of who we are is in our make up from the day we're born. Of course, you can learn to be more extroverted but for some it is so natural while others have to work at it.

L is quiet and reserved, clearly a thinker while P hasn't yet met a stranger and it doesn't occur to her that at 2, she may not be able to safely climb the rock wall on her own :)

The contrast is apparent but their differences seem to make them great friends. These two are precious and they were a lot of fun!

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A little piece of Sunshine!

I met SG at her house where she was completely in her element and for the next 45 minutes showed off her spunky personality!

The sun was higher than I had anticipated for 7:30 so I took the opportunity to try a few backlighting shots.

SG was so good and gave me a ton of big smiles showing off those perfect little baby teeth. I can't wait to meet her baby brother due in December!

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A Day at the Park!

After having my third sweet baby girl, I am ready to throw myself back into this challenging but fun hobby of mine. In the beginning of August, a friend of mine met me at the park and for the next hour, I followed this sweet brown eyed boy around taking pictures.

W is too cute! I really enjoyed capturing his smiles! Mom was great and even coaxed a few laughs out of him while I moved him around from place to place so I could get what I needed.

W was very easy going and was not at all hindered from playing with sticks, and hanging out in the dirt or rocks while I was taking pictures. I'm pretty sure that as far as he's concerned, he just had a fun day at the park. Me too!

I'm looking forward to shooting his big sister this weekend and hope that she shows me all the personality that this little guy did!

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First Session

Back in April, I had the opportunity to take pictures of my friend's son...my very first amateur photo shoot! He's just over a year old and a very active little guy! I had a ton of fun chasing him around (yes, even 9+ months pregnant!) and attempting to capture a glimpse of his personality.

To the left, he's very intrigued by a sprinkler head we just happened to set him down in front of but this pose is all his own. He just looks like such a sweet precious baby boy...even if he wouldn't look at me :)

I got a few good pictures that really captured the little guy. I was very grateful to my friend for lending me her precious model!

A few days later, I actually requested him to model for me again. I wanted to try out a black backdrop as well as the white beadboard in my nursery. Her nursery has terrific natural light so I wanted to try my hand indoors as well. He is such a sweet boy and has such a gentle personality.

It was a whole new ball game trying to keep my girls from barging in on us, the little guy from attempting to escape to find Mama and keeping him where I wanted him. It was also interesting maneuvering my nowadays enormous self around all of the furniture pushed to the center of the room for the purposes of this little shoot! Again, a lot of fun and a terrific learning experience!

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