Harry's big #5!

I am amazed to be talking about this already. 5 years. In some ways I think that it's just a couple years ago when I was in the hospital marveling at my new baby boy who I was convinced would be a girl -- named Eva Amalia. But at 9 pounds, 1 oz. he certainly was not. He looked like a fat, old man...stocky and meaty and lots of folds to smooch. Harry is proud to be 5 and as excited as he was, he was surprised and sad that he didn't FEEL any differently. He did try to show me, in a sneaky way, that he was taller. But after a cursory glance downward, I noticed he was on his tippy toes. He was defeated when I just stared at him with a smirk and then he retorted with, "Oh, mom" exasperated.

He was a lucky 5 year old. He tried to tell me he was 6 or 7 b/c we had 3 days of birthdays. Since his REAL birthday was on Thursday, of course we took him out for his chosen dinner of RIBS. Famous Dave's BBQ was his pick. They surprised him with a huge sundae with a massive candle/sparkler on top for dessert too. He was smitten. Ribs and ice cream and Harry is set for life.

On Friday, my mom baked cupcakes (at least that's what she called them but the icing was about 2mm thick and no kid thinks this is a true cupcake!) and his class sang to him. And finally, Saturday was his real party. I had it at his preschool b/c the large room afforded more running space for a winter birthday, and secondly, I had hired a magician to entertain the kids for the hour. With the intent of less work for mom in the planning process. Well, ever hear of Murphy's Law? Indeed this happened. Mr. Magician drove from MD and got a flat tire on the way...and would you believe was an HOUR late. Well, bday parties don't last more than 2 hours so by the time he got there, there was only 30 minutes left. He shortened the show but WOWed the kids nonetheless so I was a bit disappointed we couldn't have the full hour but he did do a great, great job. The company is called Jason Levinson and despite the bad luck, I highly recommend them for parties.

Harry's big birthday present was a new bike. He has been the 'hand me down' kid for 5 years and deserved this bike after riding his brother's old bike which was in bad shape -- dangerously so. Training wheels that never stayed on straight and wheel treads that were worn off b/c of my older son's SLAMMING on the breaks to show off his stops! So he's thrilled to have a cool, red bike!

Just for kicks, I will post a photo of Master Harry at the ripe young age of 5 months as well.

ENJOY!

More in-studio baby portraits!

Jessica is a first time mom and brought her sweet baby boy in for his first photo session last week. Declan is 6 weeks old and I almost said no to Jessica b/c I have found that this age is hard to photograph. Not only are they still in that phase of a lot of involuntary movements with their arms (which get in the way of the photos) but they can get fussy pretty quickly too...esp when asked to model and pose a lot! I certainly don't mind being around this sweet, chubby phase but my goal is to get as many great shots of this newborn phase as possible for the parents and I have found that I have had to do re-shoots b/c of the quirkiness of their rapidly growing bodies. Consequently, my new 'rules' for baby shoots include the fresh-out-of-the-oven babies (less than 3 weeks old) when all they do is sleep, and then not again until they are about 3 months old, or holding their heads up while on their tummies.

I have learned a lot from my friend and colleague Liz Vance, who is a fabulous maternity and baby photographer as well as a colleague with NILMDTS. It's how I met her and I am thrilled about that connection. She has encouraged me to 'go for it' with in-studio shoots with maternity and newborns. It's been a fun learning curve and I am grateful to her for pushing me into an area where I have been very skeptical of my own skills (i.e. artifical light!) and just out of my comfort zone.

My little photography community of friends has been such a blessing. It can be a lonely job working solo, no office mates to chat and laugh with, hunkering down in the office/studio by oneself in the quiet of the night....but meeting up on occasion and talking 'shop' via email or chat is good enough to keep me going and it's certainly good enough for me to say "I will never work in the corporate world for 'the man' ever again"! I love having my own business and not having to report to anyone but myself (or my kids).


So check out Declan and his mom!

Real Simple Magazine + Professional Photography

I am happy to share this very WISE article, entitled, "Get Professional Photos of your Children" -- found in Real Simple magazine, or at least on their website. It basically validates hiring a professional photographer to do quality photos of your children -- to not to miss out! I always acknowledge the fact that everyone can take photos in today's age of the digital realm -- making it accessible and easy to print from home, print books from online vendors and the like. But there is a reason we are pro's - many of us have invested many hours in school, conventions, trade magazine, forums, workshops, equipment, and more! So we can do this job for you! Click here to read it.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Today has been a great day. I am still buzzing with excitement from the press the charity I am partnered with received today on The Today Show! It was the first national coverage the foundation has received since it's inception 3 years ago (this month!). There have been a few local stories done on the work we do across the US but nothing of this magnitude and nothing in the DC Metro Area (yet)! I think it was done with great feeling and clearly explaining the purpose of what we do. I know some people have a hard time understanding why people would want photos of their baby who has passed. It's a rare thing to hear that but I have read postings on forums from other photographers who have received scathing letters undermining their work for the charity. It's shocking, but true.

I personally love that I'm able to provide something for these families under their tremendous amount of pain -- to give them something they will forever have, validating the existence of their baby despite the short time they were together. I cry, I mourn, I grieve but I am filled with love for the baby and the family when I am there and truly believe that God has given me a gift to do this and he protects me from feeling too much in that I am able to move forward and not dwell on the reality of the situation. I do this as I want to give thanks to God for my life, my healthy children and my wonderful vocation.

Jennifer's belly

What? 2 blog entires in one night? The madness! I'm getting worried that March is here! It means 2 weddings, spring portraits kick in, orders from late winter that are suddenly happening and Harry's 5th bday this week to plan for! Where did the slow days of winter go? It's a mixed blessing. Work=fun! So I'm trying to crank thru my 3 shoots from last week and get it done before spring really reveals itself to me with more work.

Jennifer is due in April with baby #2. Her other baby is 7 years old! So she almost has a built in babysitter! NICE. She found me, oddly, thru Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep as she met a woman recently who is having a baby this spring with Trisomy 13 and had contacted the charity for their services. No matter how often I hear cases that request our services, it still pains me to hear it. Jennifer wisely deduced that if I work for the charity, I must photograph babies. Love that.

We had a great time. Jennifer was very laid back and comfortable which just makes my job easy and fun. Since I still feel I'm on the learning curve for maternity, I shot a lot and she was patient. I shot with 3 fabric pieces, 2 backdrop colors and various lighting scenarios. I had a great time, she was a wonderful model and I think we ended up with some great belly-beauty shots!

Something different for me

Well this is certainly not something I do regularly -- I save it for those expensive 'headshot' photographers who know what they're doing. I really didn't -- I was somewhat 'winging it' but felt my brain had enough technical know-how and creative thinking to execute this - and I'm referring to the indoor lighting challenges that come with properly exposing the outside light with the subject inside! Backlight presents enough challenges to explain.

I was asked by my lovely and loyal friend, Heather, to help her father-in-law out with some shots in his downtown DC office. His office is moving in a couple weeks and wanted to document this location/view from his office. No doubt he did! Take a look at this! I mean, this is not something you see often in DC. At least I haven't. His office was as close to the Capitol as you can possibly get without being INSIDE the darn building. This is a true view from his office. I was stunned. To help it all -- we had a beautiful winter day with no clouds and the trees outside his office were still naked from winter. Perfect day, perfect time of year!

And I am throwing in a pix of Heather and me for good measure. She was my trusty photo apprentice holding the remote flash about 5 feet away to help with reflection in the office. Otherwise, I could not have done this.

A Proud Mom

On a personal note, today was special. My "big boy" Jackson had his first 'confession' at church (I'm Catholic). His first communion will be in late April -- not to be confused with first confession! Anyway, he has been nervously anticipating this big day for weeks, if not months, now. And naturally, it's a pretty big deal to go in and admit your faults and wrongdoings -- even at 7 years old! He has been well prepared thru CCD and his parents and grandparents encouragement and hopefully wise words. I was quite proud and even shed a tear as I saw him stand in line and then come out with a smile on his face. My mom gave him a beautiful gold crucifix and gold chain she bought in Spain -- had it blessed by our priest this week. Jackson is wearing it and in one photo (my favorite one) he is looking down at it as he reflects before going in for his confession. I was trying to get the photo with the crucifix in the background but it didn't work too well. Also note the tears in my mom's eyes as she celebrates having my big, little kid journey his way to Catholic (and Christian) faith!