Fairfax Virginia Newborn Photographer - Mr. Not Sleepy

Last week I met with this family that I have had the chance to photograph two times before. It is so great to see families grow and change. I did mom's maternity session a few weeks ago and this time I got to meet the newest addition to the family. He was so sweet but seriously the most alert baby I have met. He was not going to sleep for me no matter what but I still managed to get some sweet portraits of him.

Thanks for making the drive to see me. It is always a pleasure!!

Northern Virginia Child Photographer - My Own!

I get asked/told all the time that it must be so easy to get great pictures of my daughter. Well, it is easier because I have access to my camera all the time and I try to take advantage of opportunities to take her portrait when they come up. But she is a tough one and stubborn. Last year it took me 5 days to get the Christmas card photo I wanted.

I try and take her out two times a year for her portraits. And just like with all my client's children, she is a bundle of energy and isn't always that interested in having her picture taken. Here is a slideshow that I put together that gives a small glimpse into what a session with her is like.

Oh, and because I am still working out some of the kinks in loading things like slideshows and animated images to the blog, if you want to watch it again, either hit refresh or you can access a direct link HERE

Vienna, VA Newborn Photograher - Alert!

This little guy had absolutely NO interest in sleeping and allowing me to do my job the other day. He was very intent on making sure he didn't miss a minute of the fun. He was so sweet with the most gorgeous blue eyes. Thanks for letting me play with him mom!

I just love this one of his profile.

Fairfax Family Photographer -Week 3

So here is week three's submission for Project 52. The theme this week was "Shades of Gray". It was my goal to submit a color photograph, meaning one that I didn't convert to black and white, that showed the range of blacks and grays. I had to look no further than my car that is a dingy, horribly dirty color of gray right now because of all the salt and sand that they put on the roads in preparation for snow. Can you guess what part of the car this is?

See you next Friday!

Northern Virginia Photographer - Number One

Every year we photographers are prompted to start what is known in our business "The 365". That means we gather up our camera and take at least one picture a day and post it either on flickr, facebook or other source so others can see. I am sure that all of the people who start this project have very sincere thoughts of finishing it, but I know for a fact that I NEVER would be able to keep up. In fact, I do not know of one person finished it last year.

This year I think we all got a little more realistic and a new challenge was put out there by many mentors and vendors in the field. Enter "Project 52". The new and modified "Project 52" is something that I think I could actually follow through on. The one I joined is going to give a particular theme each week that we have to try and incorporate into our picture we submit. We don't win any money, it is just a change to stretch our creativity and be inspired by others interpretation of the same theme.

This week the theme is "something around the house". As you can probably tell, that is a very broad theme. It could be anything from a Tylenol bottle to a child sleeping, and everything in between. As I was contemplating what I wanted to photograph for the project I had an itch to get my macro lens out and put it to work. Poor little thing has been sitting in my camera bag for almost 3 months just waiting to be put to good use.

So here is it. I'm putting it out there for the world to see and keep me accountable. This is today's "Friday 52" Number 1.

And a few others I took at the same time just to make it more interesting.

Northern Virginia Photographer - One!

Well, someone is growing up. Hard to believe that the little girl that is featured this month on the opening page of my website is now a year old. It has been so fun to watch her grow this year.

We had a fun session right before her first birthday party. She was full of smiles and loved having me chase her around as she showed off her incredible walking skills. (The crawling picture is really just so we could get a shot of those cute little birthday bloomers she had on.)

Thanks for a great year little one! And because every birthday girl deserves a present, if we get 20 comments on this blog post I have a great gift for her and her mommy and daddy. Come on, show her some love!

Of course we had cake and as you can see, she completely enjoyed it!

Here is a look back on the year we have shared.

Her mommy and daddy's maternity session
Her Newborn session
Her 3 month session
Her 6 month session
Her 9 month (actually 10 month)session.

Thanks for a great year!

Washington DC Newborn Photographer - Squeezable!

How squeezable is this little one? Seriously, don't you just want to squeeze her right up? I met her, her great parents and doting grandmother last weekend and we had a long session together. She was pretty determined to stay awake and see what all the fuss was about but we finally wore her down so we could get some great sleepy shots.

Thank you for spending the afternoon with me. Congratulations, she is just precious!

Fairfax Virginia Family Photographer -Sisters!

Last week, my good friend Stephanie of Babysnap Photography and I met down in her part of the world to take some pictures of our little girls. I have known Stephanie for more years than I am actually going to put in writing but lets just say it is long enough that we were roommates before we got married, before the internet and 90210 (the original) and Melrose Place were still on the air. :) She is a wonderful photographer and has been so helpful and supportive to my business as it has grown over the past 2+ years.

Our little girls are all about the same age so we have extra excuses to try and get together when we can. On this morning we took our girls out into this field and I had a blast working with her two. They definitely have this modeling thing down!

Thanks for a great afternoon ladies. We must get together more often!

Her youngest, who is just a month older than my little one.

Her second youngest, she was giving me the greatest poses the whole time.

Work it, work it!

Give each other a hug

Now what about a kiss? I love this one! Gotta love the innocence of children.

Centreville Family Photographer - Big Sister!

I have had the pleasure of photographing this little one twice now and let me tell you what a difference a year makes! Last time we met down on Capital Hill and had a fun time but those smiles were few and far between. Now this year, I think we hit a record for smiles and laughter. We had so much fun!

I also got to photograph her mommy to help make the announcement that "L" is going to be a big sister. How exciting!

I saved this post in honor of the fact that her birthday is today and she is turning three years old! Happy birthday "L"! I hope we get to see you again soon!

22182 Vienna Family Photographer - Canvas

Does this sound familiar? I have a ton of great pictures of my daughter and they are just sitting on my hard drive. I have the best of intentions to do something, anything with them so they can be displayed for others to see. I have made a promise to myself that over the next few months I will start having my photos printed and displayed in my home so I can enjoy them at any time and not just when I am not sitting at my computer.

This canvas is the first of a series I hope to purchase by the end of the year. I have also vowed that I will upgrade the size of my photos for the walls of my home. I look around at my 8x10's and 5x7's and realized that if I was sitting across the room, I couldn't see them like I wanted to. This canvas is 22x26 and I LOVE it! It is one of my favorite pictures of my daughter and now I get to see it several times a day as I walk down our main hallway.

The corners on these are just done so well.

I love this texture. So rich looking.

I especially love that I don't have to worry about framing it. It came out of the box and I hung it on the wall. It took a total of 5 seconds. I didn't have to travel around looking for exactly the right frame. So easy!

Vienna, VA Family Photographer - Sigh!

All the signs are out there. Summer is coming to an end. We have hit some cooler days around here (I hope they stay but I am sure we have a few more scorchers to come) and all the talk in the circle of moms is of school, activities and Halloween costumes.

I LOVE being a stay at home mom. I can't imagine not being home to see all the little ways my daughter changes and grows on a day to day basis. Lately I can see how quickly those changes are coming and I know that when she starts school in two weeks, that she will grow even more quickly in this new stimulating environment. She will do great, I on the other hand, might shed a tear or two.

This week she has done some things that just make me smile and want to hold onto this time before it slips away. She is potty trained, sleeps in a big girl bed without rails and has only fallen out once, knows all her letters and can spell very simple words, and remembers to say her prayers before dinner and before she goes to bed. The only real remainder of babyhood is her precious "lil blanky.

She cannot go in the bathroom without brushing her teeth because they are "germy". She hates to wear her clothes (a direct result of potty training I am sure) and in the mall this week she took off her shirt 8 times and the shoes were off before we got into our first store. And her obsession with lipstick has expanded to 'scara and eyeshadow.

It is always an adventure and I love it! Thanks for making my life complete little one.

Here are some pictures from today. Not sure why she decided today was the day to paint her face with whatever she could find, but it is. I need to do a better job and putting up my mascara and hide the highlighters.

Vienna VA family photographer - Precious!

This was such a fun session for me. I love doing siblings. I get a chance to get to know them individually then see how they interact with each other. These two could not have been better models. I don't even think I heard the little one make a peep the whole time I was there.

An added bonus of this session was the yard where we did the session. It was like a secret garden. Every where I turned there where flowers, beautiful light, and greenery. It was just the perfect location for such a sweet session.

Thanks for a wonderful morning. I'm looking forward to seeing you all again soon!

Family Photographer, Vienna, VA - Family

I have several sessions to show you and if you are a "fan" (I don't know what they call it anymore but I am still going to use the term "fan" until I figure it out) of mine on Facebook, you have seen a session or two that I haven't shown on the blog. I will catch up soon, I promise. But in the meantime, here are some pictures that I took tonight after dinner of us just having some fun outside.

Self Portrait. You would think a curly haired gal would be able to avoid the frizzy hair in a shot like this, but noooooo. I just can't wait for the humidity of these Virginia summers to return. (Can you hear my sarcasm?)

I think this is one of my favorite family shots to date.

DC Metro Family Photographer - Now What?

I have noticed over the months that many of my clients want to display their photos in their home but have a hard time knowing what sizes and combinations would work best for their space. I mean, not all of us can be interior designers, I know that I certainly am not. In fact, I struggle with this same issue. I have great plans for the pictures of my family and want to have them displayed in my home but I really struggle with how to put things together on my walls. I am so excited to say that now I have some tools to help my clients put together beautiful, professional displays that they can be sure will show off their photographs in wonderful way.

I am excited to put these tools to use in my home and I know they will take much of the guess work out of it for you too!

If you are a previous client and would like access to these tools, please just shoot me an e-mail. I would be happy to send you the information and re-load your gallery for free in case you need to order a picture or two to fill in the gaps.

Here is a very small sample of some of the ideas that you can have. I take all the guess work out of it for you.

DC Metro Newborn Photographer - So Sweet!

This morning I had the pleasure of photographing this sweet 8 day old little boy. He was just as adorable as can be. The weather was warm so we were able to go outside for a few shots which I love the most and then went inside to capture some studio shots giving Mom and Dad the best of both worlds.

Enjoy your sneak peek Mom and Dad. He is just precious and it was great meeting him today!

I was actually adjusting the blanket and turned around to see these two cute feet sticking out of the basket. Luckily my camera was within reach and I caught them before he put them down. I love it!