Archive for 'Austin Couples'
In all my years as a photographer (and 5+ years feels like a long time to me since the second longest job I’ve ever had was for 2 years), I’ve *never* worked with a child *this* happy. The boy was literally grinning from ear to ear the second he woke up and he just played and giggled and had me wrapped around that chubby little pinky the whole time. Sigh…
I LOVE casual, relaxed, family photo sessions at home like this. Makes me think I need to shop around for another family session for us soon 😉
Feb 22, 2012
From the minute I set foot in their home, I felt so grounded and peaceful. They have the most amazing house and garden and play areas set up for the kiddos…and they’re doing a very good job of keeping it earthy and organic. I quite enjoyed the afternoon there…especially the time spent watching the girls play–they were all so comfortable and relaxed and loving.
Feb 01, 2012
But of course, then look at his parents! We were delayed a bit for one reason after another, but we finally got to celebrate his one year birthday at tad late. We definitely did it in style:
I always get emotional at newborn sessions, but recently, I’ve started getting choked up at the 1 year sessions. I guess it’s just the shock of greeting a family and all of a sudden, their little baby is walking (or in his case, running) all around. He’s not a baby…he’s a toddler…and then next thing you know, he’s going to be a teenager. Okay…a big leap, I know, but it just seems so in-my-face lately how kids (read: my kids) are going to keep growing up and I’m kind of stuck in this time vacuum. Does that make any sense? Probably not. But it sure does fill me with a strange mix of joy and longing. I mean…I photographed that beautiful couple when they hadn’t yet become parents…and then I saw them again during one of the most joyful and yet vulnerable times of their lives as parents of a newborn. And now I see them again and how gracefully they’ve embraced parenthood and how this little guy is thriving and it just overwhelms me.
I’m a mess. I’m a big ol’ mess tonight. But that’s good. It means that I don’t take this responsibility lightly. I’m honored. Truly.
Jan 22, 2012
The quest to find the 2011 Pinkle’s Pic of the Year has begun! This year, my clients got to select their own entries and wow…this is what they produced!
Round 1 – Jan 16 through midnight central on January 22nd, 2012
Use THIS poll below (for Round 1, you can select more than 1 image!):
Review the entire gallery HERE (you can also click on each image to make it bigger). Poll not displaying properly? Click THIS LINK to vote instead. Again, you can vote for more than one image, but you can only vote one time.
Round 2 – January 23rd-31st, 2011
– 4 finalists will be chosen based on this poll.
– 4 additional finalists will be selected by a panel of professional photographers.
– 4 more finalists will be added by me.
– Another poll will be put up so you can make your final decision from among those 12.
Please stay tuned to the blog and Facebook for updates. Winners will be announced on the blog!
[While “likes” and positive comments on Facebook are welcome, they will not count toward the final vote. ONLY votes on this poll will count. Pinkle Toes Photography reserves the right to modify contest or prizes as necessary. Anyone tampering with the contest or results will be immediately disqualified. No purchase necessary to win.View past winners HERE.]
Jan 01, 2012
I sat down to post the annual Year in Review slideshow, but instead, I’m finding my mind is still swirling from what happened yesterday. I need to explain to you just how grateful my heart is on this first day of 2012. As some of you may have seen on my Facebook page, I spent the very last day of 2011 worried sick over my baby sister in the hospital. She had been complaining of a pain in her leg since her trip to New York earlier in Dec. and she called me early yesterday morning saying she had just blacked out in her hallway. My first thought was a blood clot…and then immediately, the fear of a pulmonary embolism. [I want to pause right here and thank someone very special–she will know who she is–for unknowingly giving me a key bit of knowledge about this very dangerous condition and possibly helping to save my sister’s life. Thank you and my heart was very much with you during this holiday season.]
My first words were, “We’re going to the hospital..NOW!”
As she was going through the barrage of tests with so many unanswered questions and the very real fear that my sister could die, all I could think was how desperately I wanted the gift of another year with my sister. Just the day before, she and I watched this and marveled over his courage and peaceful outlook on life and death. While we were waiting in the hospital, we read this and this, pleased with how many of those we had done and vowing to check off the rest this year.
Turns out, she did indeed have a blood clot in her leg, but thank goodness her lungs were clear!!! She has started treatment, but now we have to figure out why the clot formed so we can keep it from happening again. She is so young and a very healthy, non-smoking young woman…this kind of thing just doesn’t make sense for her. As I’m writing this, I am actually glad to share this story with you in the hopes that should you or someone you know experience symptoms of DVT or a pulmonary embolism, you’ll know to get immediate medical attention.
2011 was one of the busiest years I can recall in a long time and I know that busy=blessed. I had the privilege of meeting and/or working with hundreds families and photographers from all over the world. (It’s funny how small my world has become thanks to Facebook ;-). However, to be honest right now, when I think back over the year as a whole, it’s pretty much a blur to me–the only thing I can really remember is yesterday.
But I feel it’s important to always acknowledge and thank the people who allow me into their lives and trust me photograph their most important family moments. I want to remind them how beautiful they are…how special their connections are…what a gift their families are. So, like I’ve done every year since 2007, I pulled just one image from each session to create the 2011 Year in Review…
(Google Reader users: you’ll need to click THIS LINK to see).
My sister, my mom, and I all had separate plans for New Year’s Eve yesterday, but all of our families ended up at my house last night. I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful evening…cooking up an impromptu batch of homemade chili, all of us watching the 360º of fireworks in the horizon at midnight, listening to “Auld Lang Syne” on the iPod, toasting in paper cups, ringing in 2012 together. Grateful.
[p.s. Clients: I sent out the details on the 2011 Pinkle’s Pic of the Year contest to you all. If you had a session with me in 2011 of any kind and did not get this info, let me know ASAP so I can get you up to speed.]
Dec 30, 2011
You know that feeling when you just click with someone? Well, she and I do. And I like that. A lot. So grateful to know her and her bright, enthusiastic, energetic, sparkling family! (But, she better watch out because I’m going to come by and steal that umbrella of hers–and possibly her shoes, too–in the middle of the night…I do know where she lives 😉
Dec 29, 2011
I’ve known Carrie online for quite sometime now (actually, she snuck in a session with me a couple of years ago and managed NOT to tell me that we knew each other online 😉 until after the fact. I had the privilege of getting to know her even more when she attended a workshop last year and we’ve been planning this family session almost since then. I mean, a LOT of planning. She did an amazing job of pulling together some beautiful clothes for everyone and we had scored a DREAM location that was halfway between her house and mine. The day of, I drove out with my mom (aka – photo assistant). The sunrise was beautiful and the weather wasn’t nearly as hot as it had been. Everything was perfect. Except…
Oh, bless her little heart. I swear no matter what we did, nothing seemed to make her happy. Maybe she was tired, maybe she was teething, maybe it was just Murphy’s Law. We had all driven all this way to make this session happen and I gotta say, I was truly worried we weren’t going to be able to pull it off.
Somehow we managed. I think it mostly had to do with Carrie’s wonderful sense of humor and how she embraces motherhood and all that comes with it so gracefully. Those girls of hers are truly beautiful and when we finally discovered the secret to happiness (banging pots and pans in the kitchen), all was right with the world.
Carrie…I totally enjoyed our adventure that day and I’m so glad to know you!
Dec 13, 2011
Our first scheduled date got delayed thanks to a horrible bathtub mishap that led to a severely busted lip and the potential loss of teeth – I was just as scared as Kristin (also a photographer 😉 for her poor baby girl having just been through a bathtub mishap with one of my kids this summer (that one ended up with stitches). But she pulled through with flying colors and we were able to have our session on a glorious Austin fall day in a GLORIOUS Austin home!!!
Sometimes, I have to work really hard to eek out smiles from people, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret here: not the case with these guys. I truly believe when happiness comes from the inside, you can’t help but to grin from ear to ear. I also can’t help but to grin from ear to ear when I look through their pics.
Nov 21, 2011
While working on their holiday card design today, I realized I had promised a part 2 to this post. There were definitely too many fav images to tell their story in just one post. So here you go!!!
[Note: If you book a 2012 family photo session now, you can still qualify for a holiday mini session. But you should probably hurry because I only have a few openings left. Also, if you had a session with me this year and you wanted to order holiday cards, please contact me THIS week! I won’t be able to process holiday card orders any later than that.]
Nov 14, 2011
…I photographed weddings, because if I did, I would have photographed this wedding in a heartbeat. I believe I may have screamed out loud with excitement when she asked me to do bridal portraits for her. I enjoyed their engagement session so much! And then she sent me a picture of the dress and I just about fell over.
Yes. It was perfect:
To say she was stunning would be the understatement of the year. She was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen and her personality just makes her 100x more amazing. I bawled like a baby watching their amazing preview video by Mason Jar Films. I absolutely cannot wait to see what dreams come true for their new life together as Mr. and Mrs. Congrats again, you two!!!