Archive for 'Austin Toddler'
Jun 21, 2012
She had mentioned red, white, blue, and sparklers for her session. The day of, I happened upon the PERFECT quilt at an antique store. But the quilt and the sparklers aside, it was their comfort and connection as a family that made this session for me. Her son is such a gentleman. Her oldest daughter is full of life. And that baby girl is full throttle, no fear, she believes she can do anything, LOL! (I don’t normally let kids climb on ladders at my session…they found it and there was NO stopping that little one!)
And they just take it all in stride. You can see the pride in mom’s face when looking at what she and her husband have created together. You can see how much her husband loves them all. *That’s* the kind of thing that makes me grin from ear to ear whenever I’m proofing a session: when you can actually SEE love.
(To see another one of my favs from this session, don’t miss this one!)
Jun 13, 2012
I was feeling somewhat caught up and ahead of the game tonight. Then I made the mistake of looking through the archives and realized there were about 30+ sessions from last year that I had yet to blog. To which I replied, “Well, hmph.”
At least now we’re at 29+.
Jun 11, 2012
These guys are no strangers to the Pinkle Toes blog and I can’t even begin to tell you how it makes me feel to think that most of my blog posts are of repeat clients. It is truly a privilege to get to watch these kiddos grow up. Love this tradition of having everyone there for his birthday (just like his big sis) and I LOVE that we sat him on the table with his cake (just like his sis). It was a very happy day! (Click to see my two personal favs from this session bigger HERE and HERE;-).
Jun 11, 2012
Golden, hazy sunrise.
Bubbling creek,
Giggles and shrieks.
Bears, blankets, wagons, and sparkles.
Sunday morning church bells.
Tears of trepidation,
Of happiness.
Adopted.
Loved.
So very loved.
A most memorable session yesterday where I felt like I was literally witnessing a family become a family.
Jun 02, 2012
Ever notice how some things can fall off of your radar for a while and then all of a sudden, it’s everywhere you go…like when you start loving chevron print and can’t find it anywhere and then one day, Pinterest and Target are exploding with it ;-). That’s how I’m feeling about birth photography lately.
I haven’t photographed any births in the past few months because of workshops and my travel schedule, but all of a sudden, BAM! I’m all things birth photography. I’m currently on call for a new baby to be born any minute now (I’m sure his mom wishes it was any minute now ;-). I also had an interesting phone call with a lady up north today about the rise of birth photography in the US (more on that in another post;-). During that chat, I talked about one of my most memorable birth sessions…who happens to be the older brother of a birth from earlier this year that I had not yet blogged. Thought I’d take advantage of this time to go ahead and check that off my ever expanding “to be blogged” list.
Let’s start at the beginning for this little guy. This was to be a scheduled c-section and mom said she was determined to show up in heels for his arrival (go mom!). But, a few days before the anticipated date, I got a phone call at 2 a.m., “My water just broke!” She was so incredibly calm, “Yes, I think I’ll take a shower and then we’ll head over to the hospital in a little while.” I was bouncing up and down with excitement and here she was talking like she was heading to the grocery store. She was just like this when her first child was born…she cracks me up–nerves of steel. So, taking a cue from her, I calmed myself down, took my time, and moseyed on down to the hospital some time later.
When I got there, however, everything was moving at warp speed. That had her all checked in and prepped for the OR. Turns out her labor had kicked it into high gear and they were ready to roll. On go the bunny suits and away we go!
It startles me just a bit how quickly c-sections go–fascinating process! Usually, it’s only just a few minutes from the time mom is taken into the OR to when we get to hear the sweet cries of a brand new baby…
While mommy was in recovery, I tagged along with dad to capture the first few moments of their new baby boy.
A few hours later, it was finally time for this new family of four to be united. Big brother’s reaction to his new little brother was enough to make your heart melt!
What a fun day that 2 a.m. phone call turned out to bring! And, I just got word that I’m going to be seeing this little guy again really soon for his 4 month pictures. I cannot wait to see how he’s changed!
When I showed up at their home for baby brother’s newborn photo session, his parents rushed me over to their Pinkle Toes photo wall (I love getting to see that in my clients’ homes 😉 to show me just how much he looked like his big brother at his newborn session. Oh my word! They were absolutely right! It was unreal!!! We even repeated one of my favorite shots from back then–did you see THIS post?
But then, the more I worked with the little guy, the more I got to see just how different they were, too. Baby brother was much tinier, much sleepier, and was making very different expressions than his big brother did back then. It’s going to be really neat to see how these likenesses and differences manifest themselves as the brothers grow up.
P.S Watching the mowers cut down some lovely wildflowers today (boooo!) reminded me of their maternity session. The sunrise that morning and the light fog was just amazing out here:
May 23, 2012
I think we all know I’m a big fan of color in photographs, but I always provide a black and white version of each image to my clients on their image CD just in case. When I processed the black and whites from this wonderful newborn session, I really loved the feel of them. The candid, real-life moments captured seemed to shine through even more when the color was removed. So, I thought I do something I’ve never done before in all my six years as a photographer: blog a session in black and white only.
Ooops. Wait. Scratch that. Just found a set of images that *has* to be color:
Oh well. Maybe someday I’ll try that again.
May 20, 2012
This little cutie pie was so petite, so striking that I swear she didn’t even look real sometimes. She has such a powerful little personality in that tiny body and she will melt your heart when she waves to you. Mom and dad, I’m seriously concerned for you all in about 15 years ;-).
Growing up with my clients is a privilege I cherish. It’s like I have the largest extended family on the planet and I get to be there to celebrate the biggest milestones and the happiest moments in so many people’s lives.
This particular session was very special to them and to me. It’s marking the time as a family of three, how they’ve settled in so nicely into parenthood, this little beauty with her joy and spirit, and how–in just a few months–they will add one more to their nest.
The weather was incredible and the light fell perfectly on them no matter where they were. Everywhere we explored, we found beautiful little nooks to help them tell their family story. This gazebo was breathtaking, covered in every inch by jasmine in full bloom. We could smell it before we even turned the corner to spot it. It was like a fairytale unfolding before us.
I had *just* finished watching The Tree of Life a few days before their session. Even if I didn’t fully understand the movie, I was completely inspired by the memory-like progression of the film…those little snippets flashing on screen making even the smallest moments seem significant. It greatly influenced my approach to their session and the ones I’ve had since. I need to watch it again.
And then, as if we needed icing on this cake, we stopped by this wildflower field on our way home for some signature Pinkle Toes Texas wildflower images ;-). Seriously, it was if we could do no wrong this afternoon.
I’m so happy we got to do this session before baby #2 arrives and I’m very much looking forward to see how baby girl up here embraces her new role as Big Sister!
May 09, 2012
Since we’ve already started getting into the 90’s around here in these parts, we naturally assumed that a sunrise session would be the perfect temperature and not too hot. Silly us. I think it had just barely reached 50 this particular morning and bless his heart, it was all we could do to keep him warm. We would take a few pictures, mom would wrap him in his blanket, he’d warm up, we’d take a couple more, rinse and repeat. He was such a trooper and every now and then, he would treat us all once again to his infectious smile.