The Wheeler Family

I met the Wheeler's in their home a couple weeks ago for some family portraits with just the women in the family. Getting the babies to cooperate with something a little formal was a challenge but I think we came away with some precious keepsakes! This is the last of my pre-vacation sessions to blog (wait a minute, no there is one more!) After Gideon's senior portraits, you'll see the Fitzgerold and Hurd family as well as my first mini session in the studio with the Ryals girls! This summer is keeping me busy between all the kids out of school, major business renovations including a new studio AND my family is moving as well (in town!) I have to admit, life is a bit chaotic but the changes are exciting! A little preview of some of the new branding below... the sign for the studio is being painted this week so the new logo will be revealed!

teething can be cute.

Baby Hunter

I photographed baby Hunter in his home a couple weeks ago and he was such a sweetie. I couldn't resist the sequence above. He fought off sleep for a minute and then just dived right in, sweet baby smile and all. It is definitely baby season so stay tuned! I have a newborn on Tuesday and two more clients expecting to deliver this week!

I loved Hunter's room!

precious!

Crying pictures of babies are oddly sweet to me. I think it might be because they bring back vivid memories as a mom, to when my babes were tiny and needy like this and
that urge to comfort them and how it seemed hard at the time but looking back and even experiencing it with my third, I've realized the simplicity of the situation is something to savor. Baby needs mom, mom loves baby. The end.
Next comes... Baby refuses to obey mommy. Mommy can't figure it all out.
Mommy needs vacation.

Hunter's big sister was so careful with him!

Susie's extended family!

I had the pleasure of photographing my good friend Susie's extended family a couple weeks ago (before my vacation, which has resulted in the after-vacation-catch-up-phase.) They were all adorable, but I can't resist the baby and his michelin man look! We had a rain scare in the beginning of the session, but then it just stopped and gave way to beautiful light for the rest of our time!

c'mon seriously, how cute is Susie and her kids? Also, how is she busier than I am in her crazy awesome career yet her body looks like she just works out all the time?

love this sweet one.

It looks like we were on location for LOST, no black smoke monster though. phew.

I'm in love.

Keil family all the way from Alaska!

The Keil family contacted me from Alaska when they started planning their summer vacation. They have been traveling all over the place this summer and I met them in Melbourne Beach on their way through Florida. I think these children were two of the most cooperative kids (aside from older ones) I have ever worked with and they had such happy attitudes the whole time! HOPE for those of use with three under 7 who feel like their kids might never make it through a shoot without crying! Oh wait, is that just me?

But the real question here is what do you think about my couch drawing up there? I am NOT an artist of any kind when it comes to that sort of thing so please forgive me but I just love combinations of wrapped canvas for family wall portraits and since each family session produces different results -images that work together in different shapes and combinations- well I just thought it was easier to draw you a picture than search for a template that was exactly what I wanted!

This one up here would also be fun for a foyer or hallway or bedroom.

He was playing with her wedding ring. I don't know why I like that but I just love the moment.

Sometimes eyes shut are even better than eyes open!

This is the most maintenance these kiddos got and look, he is still smiling!

My favorite family pic.

Best wishes for safe travel back to Alaska Keil family!

The Scarborough Family

My good friends from Orlando were visiting New Smyrna Beach last week and I went up to get some family portraits for them. Sheli and I worked together in Orlando with Young Life there and it has now been 7 years since my family moved away to Clearwater (then here.) Our experience in Orlando with Sheli and Jason and Young Life was a true bonding experience! Sheli is such a genuine person and all around good friend. Jason is one of the funniest guys I know and I can't imagine a single person who doesn't love being around him. He wanted to take some "special" pics just for Dana (my husband) but we ran out of time. Sorry Jason, we'll definitely have to take a rain check on those because I know they would have been fun! I am totally leaving out their beautiful children but only because the majority of these highlights are of them and are just so self explanatory. One thing I loved about these is that they reminded me so much of a season in my family when Logan and Mary were about the same ages as Sheli's kids below and had the same sweet relationship. In fact, I have some very similar images of them on the beach together.

I wanted to bring this red lifeguard chair home with me...

Love this one. feet of course, but hands too. bonus.

Love to see their personalities come out here.

I thought this was a fitting series on how family portrait photography can evolve within a session. Beginning with above the sometimes reluctant faces of young children when asked to be still and smile pretty....

Then the family dynamic can take a negative turn if mom and dad catch on to young children's lack of cooperation. (Or if photog. asks them to make ugly faces hoping to get the opposite response next...)

Phew. Look at those happy faces. I can't help but love the grumpy ones best (wouldn't it make a statement on a Christmas card?) ..but this is what we were going for.

This is so him.

This is so her.

And here they are doing their "thing" together.

a favorite.

Grandparents joined in...
love the one below of the grandparents because I feel like you can sense the unique relationship they offer. The love of grandparents can be like a specialty store. Sort of like the Christmas Cottage downtown with the gazillions of trees and every themed ornament you can think of. Some of it is down right silly. Absurd even. Extravagant. The store holds a special purpose for only one particular audience and because it focuses on that, there is no need to worry about anything else, or to be practical in any way. It's just special and you can usually find exactly what you're looking for there -assuming you came looking for something unique. When you walk through the doors, it even feels like fun and you're freed up to just take it all in rather than just mark off your list what you came for. Can you tell on their faces how good it feels?

Successful store.

Sheli and Jason are celebrating 10 years this summer, just like Dana and I!
Don't they look great?!

love this one