Family Portrait Session

I had the pleasure of being the photographer for Mike & Aletha's wedding. Now almost 2yrs later they gave me the pleasure of further documenting their growing family!

They arrived at our studio (home) for their portrait session. Little man was getting hungry so Mom needed to feed. While that was in process I got to work photographing father and daughter before moving on into doing some nursing shots. I think nursing is a beautiful thing and nothing to be ashamed about (done modestly of course). Mom wanted some pictures of her nursing and I was happy to do it for her. I did try to make the pictures a little more modest for any children that might come upon this blogs sake. But there are a few pictures in this blog.

 

*Warning* View discretion advised on next images.

I just love the loving look on Aletha's face as she is feeding her son. Nothing stronger then the love between a mother and her child. 

Of course while there is nothing like the love between a mother and a child. Father and Son always has a special bond too! This little guy was sooo tiny and too sweet!

Then there are the pictures with siblings! In today's world of teenagers more engrossed in their personal lives it was refreshing to see the adoration of this big sis! 

More tender moments with Mother and Son. Isn't he so sweet?

Family Photo's! What a perfect family!

One of my favorite pictures! It shows the protection and comfort in just a simple touch. The Father's strong hand/arm protecting his family, while the mothers gentle hands circle to comfort her son. Love it!

Mother & Daughter, both remarkably strong women!

Sweet moments between husband & wife... Father & Mother. Best Friends.

A set of sweet moments with each family member.

After nearly 2hrs of bright lights and camera's in his face he was finally awake for a bit... But not to willing to pose for pictures. 

And finally.... Another *Warning* View discretion advised picture....

Sometimes their more for comfort then anything. I LOVE how he is staring at her, while she tenderly looks down at him. To sweet!

Jennifer+Eric Engaged!

Jennifer and Eric were a lead I got from a recent bridal show we attended. I had sent out an e-mail blast to the leads we had gotten at the show regarding photography. Within minutes of sending that e-mail I get a call from Jennifer. What a sweet young woman! We scheduled an engagement session which was rained out. So it was rescheduled for this evening.

Jennifer told me when we met on site today that their wedding photographer is her soon to be brother in law lives in CA and can't come to take engagement pictures. She said that she had been trying to reach a photographer for awhile and never got a response from them (shame shame). So she said she just prayed "God, help me to find a good photographer to take our engagement pictures!" She said right away she gets an e-mail from me and liked the sample picture I had attached. She said she knew it was an answer to prayer and called me right away! We hit it off instantly!

Jennifer and Eric wanted to do pictures at this amazing waterfall water feature. After trying unsuccessfully to locate it on my own (although I found another amazing place in the process) she drove to it and gave me the cross roads. It is at the entrance to a huge subdivision and it is so pretty! She said she LOVES it here and that's why she wanted her pictures taken there.

It was 6pm when we met at the waterfall. It was over cast which I was very grateful for. A bright glaring sun can result in some really shadowy pictures that look harsh. An overcast day like today though gives a nice natural filtered light that is easy to work with. The pictures came out amazing! I hope Jennifer and Eric love them as much as I do! They were a sweet wonderful couple to work with that were very photogenic. What I loved about them the most was the love showing in every expression. You can really feel the love in their pictures.

The Ring! Good job Eric!

 

Aww so sweet! They drove separate and he showed up with roses!

This is the exact same picture as the one below I just edited the colors to look like "fall" colors.

And finally, one last picture. I hope to be able to do some "family" pictures like this next one for this wonderful couple in the future.

Couldn't have been more fitting, mommy & daddy Goose and their babies.

There were a total of 6 babies.... What do you think Jennifer and Eric? A sign? Maybe or maybe not! Whatever your future hold congratulations on your upcoming wedding! It was so much fun working with you today!

Scouting family adventure!

I have an upcoming engagement session for a couple who love hiking and picnicking together. They requested their engagement session to take place at Parkville Nature Sanctuary. So as I always do when I'm unfamiliar with a place I went on a scouting trip. The family came with me on this gorgeous Saturday and we enjoyed our outing as a family.

 

After Spending some time looking at a confusing map we ventured out to find this waterfall.  A ways down the trail we hoped led to it there was a fork with a sign that told the waterfall was to the left. We followed that fork and after some hiking we finally came to the waterfall. Its not big, but its pretty and has plenty of "posing" spots for good ideas. My husband and son were adventurous enough to climb over to that rock for some posing. 

I stayed out on the rail with our daughter in her stroller but this is the view from me without my zoom lens. Still pretty! The bride and groom are having a fall wedding, however we are doing the engagement session in the spring. The theme of the wedding is going to be "Fall in love" (So cute!). So I played around with some ideas on photoshop and I can make the pictures look almost "Fall" like by removing the green and changing the contrast.

I edited this photo to give it some "fall" color by removing the green and adding some contrast. 

Of course I won't want to do all the pictures like that but it will be fun to have a couple that way, like I always do I will keep the original files as well as the changed image for the bride and groom to choose what they like best.

A little further down we came across a 2nd waterfall.

Perfect! With a bench and everything! There are so many great possibilities at this place I could feel my creative juices flowing!

A little further down the trail you come out of the wooded area into an open area and a large hill.... Actually from the looks of it and seeing on the map I think its actually a dam, if we hiked up that way we probably would have seen the lake. But that was a really big hill for us to be pushing a stroller up so we decided not to.

Just before entering the clearing my son wanted help walking on the trail logs.

I can totally see a bride and groom hand in hand as she walks along the logs and or leaning in for a kiss.... *sigh* So romantic.

Husband and son walking in the field, they went up the hill a little bit then came back.

I love the contrasting colors of the bright green grass and the bright blue sky! Couldn't be more perfect.... Oh wait, yes it could. The sun could be lower behind some tree's to get rid of the harsh shadowing on their faces... But that's just being nit picky.

Regardless of this being a "Work" trip for me, our whole family enjoyed it and it was a great family outing. Next week I can't wait to take photo's of a happy couple totally in love. What a great time in their lives!

Our first Bridal show

Yesterday, Sun April 1 2012 we participated in our first ever bridal show! We were so excited to have this opportunity to meet new people and make new friends while getting our name out there. The Perfect Wedding Guide hosted the show at the Overland Park Convention center.

Saturday we went in to get our booth set up, since we have never done a show before we weren't sure what to expect other then a 10x10 space with 1 8ft long table and 2 chairs. We planned a little modestly for the display due to not knowing for sure how everything would lay out. We paid a little extra to get a "corner" booth which I think was a good thing. As we were setting up and starting to look at what we had to work with I realized that we could make our booth look even better if we added something. So after we finished setting up what we had we ran over to Hobby Lobby and got one of those privacy type half walls that had places to place photos. The "photo frames" were an unusual size, not something we could get a picture to fill. The frames had mat boards in them and the biggest opening they had was a 5x7. So I thought it out and decided the best thing to do would be to cut some of my black backdrop paper off the roll and cut it to size to place pictures on and create like a large "floating" frame type look to it. Of course being such short notice I wasn't able to use my professional print lab to make the 8x10prints for me and had to settle for less then perfect quality prints. But they still looked pretty good and I got a lot of compliments on the display.

Sunday we woke up bright and early and after leaving instructions for Grandma headed to the convention center to finish with the final touches on the set up. Finally the moment came when they opened the doors and brides and grooms started filtering past our booth. Being in the very back it took a little longer but we finally saw some of the happy couples and began talking with them as we could. The turn out was a bit smaller then expected but we still connected with several people and we are hopeful to get a few clients.

At our booth we also offered a prize drawing, the drawing consisted of 1 free engagement session and 100 free wedding invitations. Our drawing box that we got was super cute, it was a big "book" that opened up into a box. It had magnetic closers so we decided to cut a slit in the top of it and have it standing like on a bookshelf for the couples to drop their entry forms into. Several of the brides and mothers LOVED the box, in fact we got more compliments on that then anything else! Of course every time someone complimented the box my husband would beam with pride because HE was the one that found it and got it. Job well done hubby!

So while the day was long and a lot of standing in one place it was overall a good day. We love getting to know our brides and grooms and really hope to be able to be a part of a few couples special day.

Our beautiful daughter chillin while we set up the booth. I think its funny how she was chewing on her diamond "engagement" ring at the bridal show.

A shot of our postcards and business cards.

Lots of cards ready to go!

Our booth all set up and ready to welcome couples for a visit.

Our last minute late night project... Turned out really great!

Our giant poster sized sign we made. Featuring my good friend and her husband.

Our drawing box... So cute!