I mean when you have a family this stunning + wildflowers this amazing + THAT dress + THOSE curls + vibrant colors, you cannot go wrong. It was physically impossible to take a bad picture of them and I tell you this, I cannot wait to meet this new baby and hang with big sis again!

She was seriously killin’ me with that hair!

Love how she photobombed us when I was trying to work with just her mommy and daddy ;-). Cute little stinker!

Now that is a perfect baby bump right there! And I was totally honored mama invited me to photograph her family as she is a photographer herself ;-).  She’s going to be so happy she did this instead of trying to take all of the newborn and family pics herself. Believe me. I know. I’ve tried it and it’s incredibly stressful! So much easier to relax and be in the pictures with your family if you’re not worried about all of the technical stuff. Plus, I know personally, my kiddos tend to cooperate better with someone who is NOT their mommy (a-hem, Tristan ;-).

My fav is a toss up between this one above and this version HERE.

Hugs with all her might!

And this face cracked me up!

I’ve known these guys for a while. Like all the way back in the day when they were expecting their first son. I remember every photo session with them so vividly. I actually have one of big brother’s newborn images hanging up on my studio walls. And then, by the miracle of Facebook, I discovered that mama went to high school with my husband’s late brother and my connection to their family grew even deeper.

We documented this pregnancy last fall at a stunning sunrise maternity photo session on the rowing docks in downtown Austin. I was pretty certain there was a baby girl in there, but they were such good little parents in waiting until her actual Birth Day to find out! But yes, there WAS a girl in there and let me tell you, she. is. adorable! I give you exhibit A:

Of course, look at the rest of her family and it’s no mystery why:

This moment. Sigh.

And then these two moments. Sigh. Sigh.

We had some fun in the image above trying to re-create one of my favs from her brother’s newborn session ;-).

What a precious little gown!

Baby yawns are THE BEST!!!!

This ring belonged to her late great-grandmother who is also her namesake. The blanket belonged to her daddy as a baby. Things like this just make me beam!

And then check out another one of my favs from her newborn session and why.

Guys, your family is gorgeous, yes, but more than that. It is full of love and good humor and down-to-earth-ness (yes, I made that word up just now) and I love getting to chat and catch up with you each time I see you. My heart is full of happiness for you on the arrival of your daughter. She is perfect!

I have followed this sweetie pie’s journey from all the way back when she was still in her mommy’s tummy. And what a journey it has been:

1. Maternity photo session in downtown Austin

2. Newborn pictures at home

3. Five months old during a VERY cold morning out at my studio/property:

4. Seven months old (and celebrating our Nation’s Birthday 😉

5. 9 month old baby pictures at the Pinkle Toes Studio

6. And now, she’s a YEAR old! A YEAR! Oh, this has to be the hardest part of my job. Not only do I have to watch my own kids grow up, but my client’s children at lightning speed:

I guess it would be strange to say I love these kids like I love my own, but yeah, I kinda do. Especially when I get to see them grow into their families like this. It’s an incredible honor. xoxo to you H. You know I adore you and your entire family!

We were originally slated to take their family pictures in December, but thanks to some nasty weather and a hectic schedule, we had to wait until this month. And…I’m so glad we did because LOOK AT THAT BEAUTIFUL BABY BUMP!!!! We had perfect, perfect, perfect weather and a stunning golden sunset and thanks to the delay, we got to turn the family portraits into maternity portraits, too. [My fav from the maternity portion ;-)]. We had to work a little bit to get big brother to smile but when we caught it, WOW! He’s got the best smile and amazing lashes and lips, doesn’t he?

Once again, a family photo session at home gets me all warm and fuzzy feeling…especially since it happened to be quite chilly the day of their session and we were all thankful to be able to spend most of our time in the comfort of the indoors! You may remember this beautiful family from their ultra colorful maternity portraits we did in downtown Austin earlier this year. It was so much fun for me to come back and finally meet their new baby girl this fall! Those big blue eyes and that gorgeous gummy grin totally did me in! Love this candid moment, too, during a little exercise to get everyone warmed up ;-).

While I remember ALL of my photo sessions vividly, there are some shoots that I wouldn’t mind experiencing over and over again (like in Groundhog Day).  And this incredibly colorful sunrise maternity photo session for these longtime clients at the rowing docks in downtown Austin would definitely be one of them. How did we get so lucky to have this perfect combination of amazing light, vibrant colors, water like glass, and one happy, happy, happy big-brother-to-be? I don’t know, but I am grateful. Grateful to know this family, grateful to share in this celebration and anticipation of new life, and grateful for watching them grow into such a graceful, loving, and happy family.

And of course, of my favorite images…

Let me start by saying that Mendocino is no easy drive up from San Francisco. While the Google Maps says it takes 2.5 hrs or so, it’s more along the lines of 4+ hours considering all of those windy mountain roads. Thank goodness our amazing hostess Melody White Studios gave us plenty of warning about that and we were all equipped with sea sick bands and Dramamine ;-).

Every inch of that windy road was totally worth it as my breath was completely taken away when we pulled up to the house that night just in time to catch the most incredible sunset over the Pacific. I mean it was something else and thank goodness we managed to see it that night because the sun pretty much disappeared into a very thick fog for the rest of our stay there (pics below).

It was a small, intimate group for our little workshop, but that ultimately tied right into the cozy little theme we had going on in Mendocino. I mean, how lucky were we to get to do some serious workshop discussions in a hot tub overlooking the ocean??? (And yes, Miss E is probably going to kill me for posting that pic up there, but I can’t help it. It was just so cool!).

As with all of the workshops, the first official photo session was the in-home lifestyle newborn demonstration. Loved meeting this family and check out “Crying is for Babies” below. Classic!!!

That afternoon, we drove out of the fog to get to spend time with a SUPER DYNAMIC family (the sister of our hostess) feeding pics, playing in the sunshine, collecting chicken eggs, dancing to records, and playing music. It was perfection!

Don’t miss their not do American Gothic 😉

The next morning, we explored downtown Mendocino, which quite honestly, looks like something out of a fairytale book. The flowers…oh the flowers!! And the houses and storefronts are like little cottages. I really wish I had the chance to go back and explore and shop more because it was truly a beautiful place. Our maternity models were so stunning, don’t you think? And, they even stayed extra long so we could take them out on that amazing arch (it looks scary, but the walkway is actually quite wide and safe ;-). The fog actually worked in our favor as we were able to shoot much longer than full sunlight would have normally allowed.

And now, back to the lovely home which welcomed us with open arms in Mendocino:

Magical house. Just magical and I am so thankful we got to experience its charms. Like I said HERE, Mendocino is like no other place on earth. And maybe someday, you can stay in this cozy house yourself (HERE).

Thank you, Melody, for a BEAUTIFUL time in Mendocino and to the attendees for making this workshop absolutely amazing! Also, a very special thank you to Aderyn–those little touches you put onto everything you do just have a way of making things seem so magical and heartfelt. For a little eye-candy and continued look at life in Mendocino, you might want to start following her on Instagram ;->

And most importantly, check out Emily from Pure Light Photography and her beautiful images from the Mendocino workshop!

THIS group…my oh my! I’m not sure I have ever laughed so much at a workshop. Some super witty ladies in this bunch and I’m quite impressed we still managed to accomplish all of our lifestyle workshop objectives in between our constant brainstorming and amusing conversations. I think that’s what so amazing about any workshop group, actually: when you get a group of women together with so much in common, there is a bond, no doubt, but we all understand we still have work to do and are incredibly eager to do it! Did you see I even earned my own Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” meme? P.S. My underwater “assistant” would probably kill me for that last pic up there, but I couldn’t resist. I won’t out her here since you can’t tell who she is, but she knows. Oh…she knows.

Day one was spent talking all things related to the business of photography complete with headshots in the now infamous Wal-mart parking lot sunflower field:

The next day, we headed over to my sister’s house for our in-home newborn photo session demonstration. I was honestly a little afraid to use the twins as my subjects for this workshop because I knew it would be hard for me to keep my emotions in check. Sure enough, as with pretty much ANY photo session I do for my baby sis, I started out so choked up, I couldn’t speak, but we worked through it:
Aren’t my twin nieces  just so deliciously adorable? And have they not changed SOOOOO much??? Oh, and did you see they’re kinda locally famous now, lol?

That afternoon, we headed out to one of my favorite spots to cool down and photograph a dear friend of mine and her beautiful family in the creek:

And then we all got up before sunrise the next day to do a little practice maternity session at the greenhouse along with a bit of underwater photography:

It was a fabulous end to the summer Texas workshops! I haven’t looked at all of the posts yet, but I can’t wait to start going through the images in our blog circle from this group. Make sure you hop over and see Beth’s take on the Pinkle Toes Workshop:  The Queen B Photography – Houston Family Photographer!

Okay, okay. Technically, I am “closed” (see last post about that), buuuuuuut, I feel very compelled to pop on here quickly to say THANK YOU to Lena, Annette, and ALL of New Jersey and north east coast attendees for an incredible workshop! In spite of our challenges–well, really, the only challenge and that was the RAIN (ugh)–everyone was patient and funny and eager to learn and gave 110% to their workshop experience. And our models were pretty phenomenal, too.

From one of the attendees:

DO IT!!!! Seriously. If you are considering any workshop — Pinkle Toes is not only extraordinarily informative, but it gave me a new found belief in my ability to run a strong photography business. You will have so much inspiration and instantly feel connected with a new group of amazing photographers!

Yup. She about summed it up regarding the group of amazing photographers. Wow! I cannot wait until I get a chance to collect all of their shots and show off their work in a real blog post soon. I promise, when I get some more time, there are many, many, many more images and thoughts on this workshop to come.

Meanwhile, I am putting the pedal back to the medal to get ready for the upcoming lifestyle photography workshops being held at my house in Austin, TX in early July. After that, we hit the road for southern California (Cardiff-by-the-sea), then northern California (Mendocino), and finally Washington State (Olympia). We have just a couple of spaces open for each of those workshops and after that, there are no more workshops for 2014. Very much looking forward to what these next few months hold in store and meeting all of these new photographers all over the country!

These two (three?) did it up right! While they are expecting their baby any day now, a short time ago, they took a much deserved babymoon together to relax and to celebrate this new life to come. Wow, she looks amazing, doesn’t she??? What a perfectly round beautiful baby bump she has and you can just SEE their happiness shining through. My FAV.

[Makeup and hair by Modern Muse Beauty]