{Could it be Spring... finally?! Oh and April & May are booked}

Is it here? Is Spring really here? As I tiptoed out of my bedroom this morning before the kids woke, I realized that today is the day I've been dying for. The first day of Spring was finally here! The sun is shimmering but wow it's so windy! My hair whipped me in the face as I got out of my car and headed into the gym this morning - it didn't feel like spring, but I'm sure it will in no time!

So yesterday afternoon I took Tyler on a little mini-photo session. He gave me about 10 minutes to run to 3 locations all within 100 yards of each other so it made it pretty painless. I think Tyler has mastered his 'serious look'. What a cutie, the moment the camera comes out it's either 'serious Tyler' or 'happy smiles Tyler'. So here's a few serious and one token smiling image of my little man. I did different processing on all of them. And I used some textures to add dimension to 2 or 3 of them (you'll know which ones when you see them). ;-)

Oh and on a side note: I currently have no more openings in April or May and June is starting to fill. I also have started booking sessions for Fall. I know that seems so far away, but some people are thinking ahead and booking now (very good idea). Just so you know, this year I have a holiday order cut-off - November 16th will be the deadline. This will allow my lab time to process all your orders before the Christmas. I can't believe I'm talking about Christmas and it's the first day of Spring!

{Robin's Egg Pink Boutique}

The first featured designer is Lisa Samartino from ‘Robin’s Egg Pink Boutique’! And oh my gosh…I’ve become such a big fan of her clothing line. Lisa, from Beverly Hills, started her clothing line just last year and is already being featured in National magazines. I love the fabrics in Lisa’s designs – they are lightweight and soft, perfect comfort for children. Brielle liked the jacket too – after I put it on her she whispered to me ‘Oh, am I a princess mommy?’ I don’t know where she got that idea since this is a jacket and not a tutu – but I went along with it and assured her she was indeed a princess. Is that bad? ;-) Anyway, if you have kids check out her clothing line – you can find it at etsy.com and a growing number of high-end boutiques around the country.

{Designer Spotlight}

Most of you know that I love being involved in styling my clients. It’s such a significant part of each session. So now I’ve become fascinated with children’s clothing and fashion trends for tots ;-) I’ve been lucky enough to photograph clothing from some talented designers that I’ll be featuring on my blog every now and then. Stay tuned... one's coming right up. ;-)

And I hate to make a post without a picture so here's another one of the little cutie patootie below, William.

{baby blue eyes - this little guy was blessed with them!}

Today I photographed the cutest 10 month old baby boy! He had the most vivid bright baby blue eyes I've ever seen - coupled with long lush eyelashes that we women strive so hard to obtain. Why is that? Most little boys I photograph have the thickest, longest, beautiful eyelashes. Hmm...I guess that's why they market mascara to us ladies... :) Anyway, little William's eyes are absolutely gorgeous as is his smile. What a good sport too... it was windy but not cold thankfully and he was just chillin' wondering what the heck I was doing holding up a black box that wouldn't stop clicking (aka- my camera). This little man quickly lost interest in my camera and decided he would avoid looking at it and me all together (very smart boy) ;-) . But I still managed to get a bunch of cute images of him.

Here's a little sneak peek for William's parents! (so I'm seeing a theme in these pictures - can you guess what it is?) No worries, I got a lot of William without his hands or objects to his mouth - you'll find them in your gallery shortly ;-)

{Texture? Or No Texture? You tell me...}

Alright, I love playing with textures and couldn't resist playing with some on these images that I took of my daughter this week. I can't decide which I prefer...they both have a completely different look and feel to them before the texture and after they were applied. I've become addicted to making my own textures too - some work well and other's not so easy to work with. I know textures are totally a personal preference so some of you may be looking at the textured ones thinking, 'Oh my, she just ruined that image' - it's way more artsy and I know not everyone is into that much funky change. Anyway, I thought I'd post these to see what you all thought - texture? Or no texture? Thanks for your help!

No Texture applied

Texture applied

No Texture applied

With texture applied

No Texture applied

With texture applied

{ Images of Hartsville...}

Okay, so not really images 'of' Hartsville, more like images 'in' Hartsville... semantics... Anyway, I finally got some time to look through some more of the images from my day in H-Town and I know I mentioned that I got a shot of my little T-man- surprise - I got two!! He's in love with his Halloween t-shirt and insists on wearing it when he can and since he was not feeling well the day of our outing, he got to wear his favorite shirt. He's so into orange shirts lately - funny how they get to the age where they care about what they wear. I picked an outfit out for him for school the other day and he says to me 'I don't want to wear that, it's not cool enough'. Oh my... that wasn't what I expected him to say. He's only 5! Oh well, I better get used to it. Briella is very particular as well...and says to me 'Oh momma, I don't like it, no thank you' in a very affirming voice as she shakes her head in disapproval. My goodness - well my kids are very sure of how they feel and tell me. I guess that's good, right? {shrug}
Okay, so I'm determined to make frequent jaunts to Hartsville - right now all I want to do is photograph there. So this week, since some of my sessions are being post-poned due to crisp cool weather, I'm heading to Hartsville to soak in as much as I can.
Here are a few more images of my kids during this trip. Again, you can't see the actual town since I didn't have time to go off exploring; I wanted to do a quick photo session with the kids while they were willing ;-)
Thanks for checking out my blog! Oh and these were processed with a variety of techniques... some desaturating, color tweaking, etc. - kinda fun.

Love his little smile...

Briella jumping! Oh my so high!

{ I've fallen in love with a sleepy little Southern town...sigh...}

I've lived in the South for about a year and a half and I finally ventured about 25 miles to Hartsville. OMG!! I fell in love! Hartsville is a quaint little town with fun little boutiques, eclectic restaurants, gorgeous tree lined streets, beautiful gardens (Kalmia Gardens), and beautiful Southern architecture. I have been meaning to go there forever and I finally popped the kids in the car and we went on a little adventure. The kids enjoyed it as much as I did - surprisingly. I couldn't resist bringing a prop or two and testing out a spot or two. Tyler wasn't feeling well, so he rested (but I did manage to get a shot of him that I'll share later). But Brielle was so in love with this 1930's vintage baby buggy I brought! Tears flowed when I told her it was time to go. She even walked further ahead of me hoping that I would just give in and she could push her baby more.

Here are just a few of the images captured from our quick jaunt to Hartsville.

I did some a slight cross processing on the image below - thought it gave it a little zig ;-)

Zig working?

A little antique coloring and texturizing to give this image a vintage feel.

Oh a different note - Aimee if you're reading this, your gallery is almost ready for me to publish. Thanks for holding tight :)

{Railroad ties, a couple of adorable kids, and a furry friend}

This makes for a fun photo session! Today was gorgeous - the weather couldn't have been better for the first week of March (thankfully, since we had to post-pone this session once due to weather). These kids brought along one of their best friends - a cute dog named Riley. Riley is so special to this family and sadly suffers from severe epileptic seizures - so this was a very special photo session. I have a soft spot for dogs too so I was very excited about this opportunity. Hannah Grace was so good with the dog, hugging him and gently holding onto his leash, I couldn't resist sharing this photo of the two of them together.

And notice, we are on the railroad tracks. I know I mentioned in a previous post that I wasn't going to be shooting sessions on the track since I was warned by a police officer that it was 'illegal' to be on the tracks. Well, lucky for us, Hannah Grace & Ethan's father was there and he works for CSX and was even getting phone calls from the train yard warning us when a train would be coming. How cool is that?! While we were there 2 trains came by - I was in awe since I love trains and we were fairly close to them. And as one train passed us, I got an adorable shot of Ethan with a little prop I brought along. Can you guess what it is? No cheating by scrolling down.... ha, yep, vintage luggage - perfect with the little corduroy blazer he was strutting.

Watching the train go by...

Oh and what's says 'boy' more than paper airplanes? My son is so into making these right now I couldn't resist bringing one along today. And Ethan was in his own little world soaring it high and low, even making some killer sound effects.

Here's an image of Hannah Grace showing me some of her dance moves on the tracks. Too cute! I did an old film effect on this image...gives it a vintage, old time flair.

And I'll leave you with this close up of Hannah Grace - her eyes are such a beautiful contrast with her gorgeous long blonde hair. Luckly little girl...

{Is Starbucks a possible cure for the flu?}

Hmmm...I thought I'd give it a try. I don't think it cured the nasty flu bug I have but my yummy soy, no water, no foam, sugar free vanilla (with an extra pump), 170 degree chai tea latte did warm my up my insides and soothe my throat. I've been missing my daily dose of this and going more than 3 days without it put me through withdraws. I've been trying to nurse myself back to good health before my sessions resume this weekend since returning from my nice little vacation. I was hoping to get out there and go crazy experimenting and having fun, but no such luck since this bug seems to drain any and all of my energy. From what I've heard, this was going around in the Bahamas - my first little foreign bug, a special souvenir - I should be so lucky! Ha!

Anyway, hope you all are healthy. From what I hear in this part of the state there are quite a few horrible flu strains going around - hope you all are spared. :)

{Couple More...}

On a black and white kick and these were calling for classic black and white. I couldn't resist playing with some borders too. Again, my children in town at Puerto Vallarta. I'm still not fully clear headed or back into my groove - so I'm hoping to play this week before my sessions this weekend and next week. I so missed being creative on my vacation but I was trying to truly make it a vacation from my life, work, etc(photography included) - now I'm just hungering for some creative outlets, experimentation, play, you name it! Hopefully I can release that energy this week in between catching up on client e-mails, orders, etc.

So many ideas, so little time... ;-)