Boys, Boys & More Boys

I often go through periods where I work with more boys than girls and vice versa. Lately the boy to girl ratio has been tipped strongly to the boy side! Meet Jack & Carson, whose mama I work in trade with... hair cuts for Asher & me in exchange for biannual photo shoots! We got together a couple weeks ago on a warm Saturday morning at Cornwall Park to do the boys' annual spring photos. I'd totally forgotten the spray park would be in full swing on such a nice day, so it was a challenge to keep 4 year old Jack interested in anything but his desire to get really, really wet! Looking for sticks, pine cones and rocks to throw in the creek seemed to do the trick for long enough, but we had to work fast. Good thing these boys are so photogenic : )

I can *always* count on Jack to give me a cute plumber butt shot : ) After I had sufficient shots of Jack, I let him go off to play in the water while I took Carson to the side for a little one on one time. He was interested in the dandelions for about two minutes until he noticed the all the kids running around in the spray park.

Once he noticed he made sure I knew what he wanted to do so I took him to join his big brother for some wet fun in the sun!
Meanwhile Jack was having a blast tearing it up in the spray... and little Carson got in on the act eventually!

Boys Love Bugs.... And Me : )

The caretakers at Woodstock Farm were just finishing mowing the lawn when Guyan & Owen and their parents Melinda & Sean showed up for their shoot. The lawn mower must have scared all the creepy crawly critters out of hiding because we'd only barely said hello when the boys discovered the grass was crawling with tomato bugs! Yes, you read right... tomato bugs! I thought I'd heard wrong too but Melinda assured me that while every other kid knows them as "potato" bugs, to Guyan and Owen, they're tomato bugs and who am I to argue with that? : ) We had fun counting as many as we could find, looking for the biggest one and letting them tickle our hands with their many tiny feet.

Guyan

OwenGuyan liked the idea of including a tomato bug in their family photo but we talked him into letting Mr. Bug go back to his own bug family : )I was completely cracking up when I took this shot because it's the first of its kind for me! Guyan wasn't feeling much like having his photo taken so his family set him straight : )I've learned that letting kids get a little silly with the camera for a few minutes really helps to get things back on track : )

Someday I will be at Woodstock when the lighting is perfect for this shot. In the meantime, I'll keep trying anyway because it's such a beautiful scene!Still looking for bugs!Of course I always get some shots of Mom & Dad together too...Now that's a kiss! Nice work Sean!After we ventured up the hill from the beach, I noticed Owen was feeling a little shy toward me. He whispered something in his mama's ear and she told him he could tell me what he wanted to say... After a little more deliberation, he whispered in my ear "I had a lot of fun with you at the beach!" which of course melted my heart and I had to give him a big hug : )I love the barn at Woodstock Farm for a backdrop.. its lines & textures really add a timeless dimension to the photos. (Three guesses as to what Guyan is holding in his hand!) It was already a great day after shooting with clients old and new, but when I got home I received the following message from Melinda about our time together... such kind words from my clients always make my day : )

Thank you so much for a great afternoon! I think Guyan and Owen secretly love you...Guyan was talking about how much fun he had today... And you are the first "stranger" in a loooong time that Owen didn't grunt at, and take at least 30 minutes to warm up to. I was shocked!

We had a blast, and can't wait to see the pictures.

Melinda

Learning My Lessons the Hard Way (or Why My Clients Are the Best!)

Since meeting them more than two years ago when my business was barely off the ground, Mary & Kacy have been among my most faithful clients... even though they probably shouldn't be! Their first shoot with me was also my very first shoot with my then brand new camera. I was absolutely mortified when I attempted to start shooting then realized my memory card was full of something other than pictures that I could not delete (long story, it happens.) I didn't yet know my way around the camera's functions and had neglected to bring along the manual... so I had to postpone our shoot for 45 minutes and race home to get it. Believe me, I cursed myself all the way home and back. I felt like the biggest loser ever! Thankfully Mary & Kacy were very kind to me and forgave me completely once they saw the pictures I created for them of their boys, Aidan & Ashton : ) Here are a few pictures from that shoot...Skip forward about six months and we have scheduled a second shoot near their home in Redmond. Being unfamiliar with the area, I mixed up the park where we were supposed to meet with another a few miles away where I had done a shoot a month earlier. Of course my business was still a VERY low budget operation at that point and I could not yet justify purchasing a cell phone.... so I was madly driving around Redmond trying to find a pay phone to figure out where the heck I needed to be. I arrived for our shoot at least half an hour late with head hung low and tail tucked firmly between my legs. I could not believe I'd screwed up so badly with the same clients TWICE! In a row! It's a good thing I was blessed with this talent because once again, Mary & Kacy forgave me. Of course they have since confessed that between themselves they were wondering what the heck they had gotten themselves into with this crazy photographer : ) Thankfully we all laugh about those disasters when we see each other now!

I've had a great time documenting Aidan & Ashton's growth over the past two years so of course I was very excited when Mary told me last winter that she was expecting their third child. I knew right away the baby was a girl and I was right! With this little one due to arrive around the end of May, we got together a couple weeks ago to do a combo maternity/family shoot. We started indoors for some more private shots of Mary & her belly and then moved on to do some fun shots with the whole family!
The indoor location I use is a home-away-from-home for two little ones whose toy motorcycles Aidan and Ashton had a grand time riding while I was busy working with Mom... rock & roll, baby!And of course the post would not be complete without a couple shots of Mary and her beautiful baby belly : )
Mary & Kacy... I owe you infinite thanks for sticking with me from the very beginning! I can't tell you how much it means to me that you believed in me even when I barely believed in myself. With your help, I've learned so much that I needed to know... among many other things, my camera's manual is always tucked inside my gear bag and not only can I make phone calls on the fly, I can even TEXT : ) I hope you know how much I appreciate your willingness to let me use your family as my own personal guinea pigs! Watching Aidan & Ashton grow into little boys has been such a joy and I love that I was part of the process of naming your daughter... I can't wait to meet that baby girl!

It All Started With The Hat

It all started when Christian's grandma found a brown corduroy newsboy style hat just his size... it got her thinking it would be fun to do some Kim Anderson style photos of Christian for his Mother's Day gift to his mama. After months of searching, she finally found a little vest to go with the hat. Next came secretly raiding Christian's mom's stash of "clothes to be grown into" (and Papa's tie collection) for the rest of the ensemble. Meanwhile I was busy keeping my eyes open around Bellingham for just the right door for our own version of this Kim Anderson shot... I decided St. Paul's Episcopal Church provided the perfect doors so we met there last week to bring her idea to life. I don't typically make kids do this sort of thing because I don't want them to hate me, but Christian knows me pretty well already and I was pretty sure he'd get over our torture session eventually : ) I experimented a bit with an "aged photo" effect, but I think I prefer the contrast of the doors, Christian's clothes and the red, red rose in the full color versions.I really love the way the hat makes this photo of Christian look so timeless... it could be of a boy born 75 years ago!

Look at All the Beautiful Moms!

Me & My Mom circa 1969

I'm fortunate to work with so many wonderful, beautiful mothers every year that I have quite a catalog of photos of them with their kids, so I just had to share some in honor of Mother's Day : ) I don't have a lot of photos of me with my mom but I pulled this one out of my baby book to share. That's me at age 3 and a half months (which means it was taken about 39 years ago exactly!) It was pouring through the pages of my baby book and old family albums that got me hooked on the magic of photography when I was barely old enough to read. It's funny, when I take photographs I am always so careful to not include all the "clutter" in the background, but when I look at this photo my eyes always go right to all that stuff because it tells a story about life in another time. Maybe I should relax and remember not every photo has to be a portrait- there's nothing wrong with a snapshot now and then : )
Now... onto the photos! I thought I would start with a few photos of my girlfriends and their kids and end with a couple of me with mine : )My dear friend and old college roommate Erin and her daughter McKenna, who happens to be my favorite little girl on the planet : ) Erin is my biggest cheerleader and best confidante.

My girlfriend Stephanie and her son Travis... Stephanie and I were best friends in high school and she went with me to have my senior pictures done... this is one I shot when I was doing Travis' senior pictures last fall! My girlfriend Leah and her son Chase. Leah is the girl who got me involved with Gardenview Montessori and played an instrumental role in me taking the plunge into professional photography.

And now some shots of all the great moms I work with every year... thank you so much for all your support, ladies! Enjoy your special day : )
This is Asher's first appearance on my blog... I can't believe he agreed to participate! (You never know when you are going to meet resistance from a 12 year old...) There was no one to take the picture for us so we did it ourselves : )
Ash insisted we do a classic "Earl Hickey" shot. Lookin' good! He pointed out that *technically* he's not kissing me, just pressing his lips against my cheek. Ha!

Oh Nora, I Adore-a You!

It was a day filled with babies as immediately following my shoot with Joaquim I went directly to prepare for meeting with sweet little Nora. These two beautiful babes were born three days apart and I met them both when they were newborns, so it was really fun to see them both on the same day! The two shoots were very different in nature though, as the afternoon sun was too bright for outdoor shots and Nora's mama really wanted naked baby pictures : ) (Who doesn't love a naked baby?) I love the way a simple black backdrop makes the photos all about the baby's features and creates such a dramatic effect. Nora didn't hold back with sharing her expressive side with us and we spent most of our time together laughing... not a bad way to spend your "work" day! Here are some of my favorites...
And this is how we know when a baby is D O N E...I was so glad I captured that expression... look at that face!

Baby Joaquim Discovers Spring

One of the reasons I prefer shooting outdoors with my clients is because I really love documenting the expressions that occur when a little one discovers something new in the natural world. It's especially fun with babies who are experiencing everything for the first time! Little Joaquim was born in mid-September so both of our previous shoots have been done indoors and I was very anxious to get my little buddy outside. With its beautiful field of wild narcissus in mind, I knew Woodstock Farm was just the place for Joaquim's spring photo shoot. The ground was a little wet with morning dew but we plopped this boy down in the flowers and let him get on with checking things out...
Of course getting the pretty yellow petals into his mouth was Joaquim's primary goal...
We don't usually do a lot of posed family shots like this but I made Mark & Hedy try one this time. How cute are they? What a happy family : )
I really love shooting at Woodstock Farm because it offers such a variety of backdrops for photos. You wouldn't think these photos were all taken at the same place!
I saved my favorite shot for last.... I LOVE Joaquim's smile and I am so glad I got one more shoot with him before his first tooth broke through!
You can see Joaquim's photos from previous shoots here and here!

Seeing Double... Plus One!

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of working with not one but two families with twins on the same day! It's always so fascinating to me to experience the relationship dynamics between siblings who have literally been together since day one. I have worked with both of these families (who met via a support group for parents of twins) in the past... and was very excited to see everyone again. We were supposed to do our shoot at the tulip fields in Mount Vernon but freezing temperatures and threats of thunderstorms and snow forced me to look for another spring-like location. It turns out I am so thankful for that awful weather because without it I would not have discovered Woodstock Farm, a new addition to the Bellingham Parks Department. The property is accessible by foot only, but on my first visit there I was lucky enough to run into a Parks Department employee with the power to give me ongoing permission to park there for shoots if I would share some of my photos for the park's website. Yey!

Thankfully Mother Nature blessed us with a warm, beautiful spring day and we had a great time exploring Woodstock Farm together. The last time I photographed Dawson & Cole they were two years old but I have a good memory for faces and, to Mom's surprise, I was able to recall which was which right away! I had so much fun with these cool little dudes whose personalities could not be more different! Dawson, who is sweet and calm, stuck close to my side during most of our time together while rambunctious funny man Cole was off and running from the word go!

Checking out the stinky sheep who reside at Woodstock Farm.After I'd gotten Dawson and Cole thoroughly worn out and muddy, it was time to meet with my next family, who has been with me since the very beginning of my business! This was our fourth and maybe last shoot together as they may be moving out of state soon- which makes me pout every time I think of the possibility : ( I've been watching Anaise, Maelle and Camille grow up for the the past two and a half years and I had visions of taking their senior portraits! (You can see a few shots from our shoot last September here.) It's funny to think Anaise and Maelle wanted nothing to do with me on that first shoot together and now they are ready and willing with the poses at all times : )
I have a much harder time telling these two apart and have always had to use some sort of cue to help me keep them straight. Last fall Maelle's hair was longer than Anaise's so it was no problem but this time I had to drill "Anaise-Pink, Anaise-Pink" into my head in the first minute!Little Camille was only four months old when I first met her and it has been fun watching her personality emerge... she is quite the little talker and you can count on a constant commentary with her around. She gave me one of my "classic moments" when I was stooped down to get a shot of her Mama & sisters, and she, walking behind me, announced... "Me see your bum!" (Darn low-rise jeans!) After exploring the farm we headed down to the beach where Mom reminded the girls that it was okay to get as dirty as they wanted : ) It wasn't long before Maelle discovered the exceptional "suction-ability" of the mud around here and ended up getting a little dirtier than she wanted! (Papa too!) This is probably my favorite shot of the day... Maielle wasn't feeling much like smiling so Anaise gave her a little hand : )