Archive for 'Austin Kids'
Feb 16, 2012
Stumbled across these images just now. I snapped them really quickly one morning when I was on my way out to a session. Oh, how badly I wanted to crawl in and snuggle up with each one of them! Feeling grateful that I risked waking them up and being late to take these pics.
When I crested the hilly road on my way to their home, the sun was just barely peeking over the mountains. Okay…there aren’t really any mountains here in Austin, but I was speechless as the fog rolled in over the hills and the sun cast a golden glow in the valley. I knocked on the door and said, “We’ve got about 10 minutes left before we lose this golden opportunity…do you think we can make it out to the hills in time?” They sure did their best to rush out of the house and oh, I was so excited to catch that beautiful “mountain” view!
As the morning progressed, the scenes were just as beautiful. Their home glowed with sunshine and love. Don’t those children have the most compelling eyes?! I love that they’re almost the same ages/genders as my own kiddos and it’s wonderful to see those big brothers dote on their sweet baby sister. They love her fiercely 😉
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.
Feb 01, 2012
For everything. She is all that is joyful and exuberant and girly and bright. She is my sunshine and she never fails to wake us up every morning with her glowing personality. I find myself making goo goo eyes over her even during the simplest of tasks. I don’t know what we did to deserve her, but I’m forever grateful she chose our family.
Jan 23, 2012
See them all large HERE. In no particular order. Vote below (if poll is not showing properly, you can vote HERE):
Narrowed down from 40 entries, the finalists were selected as follows:
– The top 4 from last week’s poll.
– 4 more chosen by a panel of professional photographers (who, by the way, said they had a *very* hard time making this decision)
– And 4 selected by me (some new favs added in!)
You have until midnight central on Tuesday, January 31st to make your final choice and on Feb 1st, we’ll announce the winner on here! Again, you’ll be able to choose more than one favorite, but you can only vote one time. If you want to “campaign” for your favorite image on Facebook, I’ve created several “buttons” to use as your profile and/or timeline pic to show your support for friends/family in the running.
Thanks again to everyone who helped choose the finalists and congratulations to EVERYONE on a very tough race!
[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 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 15, 2012
For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you probably already saw that my attempt to take the kids to experience the Architects of Air luminarium at the Long Center yesterday was a bust (we ended up having fun on Soco, instead). But I really didn’t want to give up, so back we went today. For you workshop girls, you know that this is no short jaunt for us and I was really nervous the line would be too long again.
Well, it was too long, but we waited anyway. At least this time, I had my husband with me so we could hold our place in line and let the kids go run and play while we waited. But considering it was only a 1.5 hr wait, I think that’s pretty good in comparison to the the folks in line behind us because it got baaaaaaaaaaaad. Oi. At least the cash bar they set up (including goldfish snacks for the kids) made it a bit more bearable.
It was fun, though. I don’t think I would have wanted to wait any more than we did, however. Wish we could have done a weekday instead. (If you’re in Austin and want to see this, the 20th is your last day, I believe). If you’re taking pics, bring the widest lens you’ve got (I had to use my fisheye to get anything really) and be prepared for funky low light and lots of strange people in your shots, LOL. It was nice to spend this time with the fam.
Got some fun things coming up on here in the next few days, by the way:
1. Later tonight, I’ll be posting the gallery of our client selections for the 3rd Annual Pinkle’s Pic of the Year contest! I’m really glad to have relinquished control over the nominations to my clients…they have made some amazing selections and I am so excited to see who is going to come away as the 2011 Pinkle’s Pic of the Year.
2. Got some lovely ladies coming over in a bit to test out a fantasy make up idea for the .emme. boudoir sweetheart mini sessions coming up this weekend (I can still squeeze a couple of people in on Sunday if you can make it). Can’t wait to post a sneak of Katie’s creation.
3. And finally…a little peek at a project I’m working on for the workshop folks and for my clients. Interesting experiment looking at the print quality side-by-side from several different professional and general public printers. Wow! You can’t see/feel it here in a picture, but wait until you get up close.
Back in a bit…
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 21, 2011
I have completely enjoyed my little break so far, hanging out with my kiddos and doing all of these holiday-like things with them each day (in spite of being sick). It has been so nice to get offline and off the computer and out of packing tape to play board games, watch movies, look at Christmas lights, snuggle, laugh, bake sweets, and soak up every thing I missed while I was caught up in the holiday photography whirlwind.
Pinkle Toes Photography will continue to be closed until January 9th (well, still got some sessions and still have workshops coming up), but please be patient as e-mails, facebook messages, and phone calls will likely not be returned until after the 9th.
Clients…I will be sending you the details of the 2011 Pinkle’s Pic of the Year contest. Changing things up this year to make it more exciting and the prize is even bigger! Be on the lookout in your e-mail next week and if you don’t get something by the 1st, let me know!!!!
I will try to catch up on the blog sometime next year (ha!) to share all of the incredible holiday family sessions and beautiful cards from this year. I have so enjoyed getting all of your cards in the mail!!! Gosh, there are a lot of beautiful happy families out there and that make my heart happy. Meanwhile, if you didn’t get a copy yet, here’s a peek at our holiday card this year:
I hope you ALL have a WONDERFUL holiday season and are spending lots and lots of time with the ones you love, enjoying old traditions and creating new memories.
Much love,
Michele