Neighbors and friends...

Our story began when we bought our first house, Andy And Stef were our neighbors. We became fast friends and enjoyed hanging out. Life progressed like it has a way of doing and they eventually moved but that didn't (thankfully) end our friendship. It has gotten harder to get together with 5 kids between us but we won't give up! I have had the honor of photographing them the last two summers for their annual family portraits. I love getting to be a part of capturing their family's memories! Their kiddos are precious and were great sports when we met up for this shoot at UD. This was another one of those sessions that had literally been rescheduled 3 times due to the crazy rain/storm/wind weather we have had this summer. Enjoy friends!

Such a cute family, right?!

Watch out preschool ladies...

Miss P is cute and saucy!

Loved these flowers...

Kids wanted to climb in this awesome tree so thankfully mom and dad said "go for it!"

 She's almost two, can you tell? :)

Could just squeeze all her cuteness!

It all started with these two great people :)

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Luke Henry turns one!

Has it really almost been a year since my best friend called to say she had a 9lb baby boy over 2 weeks early?! We were so excited to hear that Luke Henry had arrived into the world. I got to capture all his one year-old cuteness in a quick photo session while they were here visiting. The poor boy has lived in South Texas all his life and this 34 degree weather is not fun for him! He was a big sport though as we snapped some outdoor shots with his mommy and daddy. Happy first birthday Luke Henry!

We didn't want mom and dad to feel left out...

LH is not quite walking...but almost!

This is a perfect example of an image that is not perfect technically or sharp but I love the moment, and that my friends, is what it's all about!

Behind the Scenes

"Putting your best foot forward" is an old saying that really means that you show off the best part of yourself. Most photo blogs are all about that, we pick the "best of the best" to show the readers. We certainly don't usually show the out of focus, under exposed, or oddly composed images. Last week I showed you a few new favorite shots of my kids and I often talk about how hard it is for me to get good photos of them! If you think child photography is "easy" because kids are "cute." That is actually far from the truth and honestly, I still don't have a photo that I love with all 3 of my kids in it! Here's an attempt to get a photo of all three...

Hopefully you are laughing by now and realize just how hard it can be to get multiple kiddos in one shot! To get them all looking the same direction, smiling, not drooling, running away, or hurting each other feels like a near impossibility!

Here's another attempt where I felt a  lot like Dean...would rather bang my head on the ground!

So to get this...

 This is my ABSOLUTE new fav of Max!! 

You have to also take a stack of these...

 

 

Hope I made you smile today! Happy Tuesday!

A Day in My Life

"You have your hands full" is the most common comment I get out in public. Some people are sweet about it, reminding them of their days as parents of little ones. Others are a little more brash like "You know where babies come from, right?!" I will be the first to admit that many days can be exhausting and down right tough...but I know these moments are fleeting.

A common misconception is that I am a photographer so I must have tons of great pictures of my own kids, right?! Wrong! I am busier being their mom than taking the time to photograph them. I forced a last minute photo session this past weekend with our kids to try to get some pictures of these growing little people! We bribed them with lolly pops and lunch at friendlys to get these images....I am not going to lie, I got choked up while editing. I can't believe how the twins are becoming real little people with opinions and personalities, everything from Dean telling me I need to drive the "other way to dama's [grandma's] house" and "I no like 'dis" about whatever dinner I made.... 

I will have some more of these to post but these are just a few I had time to post tonight!

This is how a lot of trouble starts...

And then there's sweet baby Max who is an angel 99% of the time!

The Haines family summer portraits

Gotta' love a warm summer afternoon for a photo shoot! This beautiful family became our friends when they were our neighbors (we were just married and so were they, this was LBK, "life before kids.") Although they have moved, thankfully we have kept in touch and I was super excited to meet them for this session this past weekend. Their sweeties are almost 3 years and 7 months, so we have lots in common!  Both kids were great but Miss Payton especially loved my camera! Get ready for an epic post because I can't contain my excitement for these photos!

For photogs out there that are curious - these were all shot with a Canon 5D Mark II with the 50mm 1.2 lens...it's seriously like 'butta' when you use it correctly! Don't ever sell yourself short with your gear - it does make a difference! And not to sound uppity but there was absolutely no "eye sharpening" techniques in these images. Sometimes we photogs need these tools to adjust less than perfect images but some people go crazy with it. If your gear and skill can meet up to make a great "in camera" image - that's ideal!  

 

This is what I mean by a "straight out of camera" image - no retouching. 

Beautiful Family!