Some time ago, I was blessed enough to indulge in a personal project and photograph some very beautiful and sweet sisters with their baby brother. And as with most things, this blog post got pushed further and further out with the onslaught of holiday pictures. What a treat it was to finally get a chance to re-visit this photo session and realize how many gems we were able to capture…the loving relationships and the personalities of each of these three beauties. Also remembering that we used to get sunshine here and there used to be something besides the drab winter browns and grays that have draped our Texas landscape over these last several months. Another of my favs can be found HERE and HERE.

Side note: we had the first round of Valentine’s Day Mini sessions this past weekend and I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun they were nor how ADORABLE the images are! There’s still time to snag yours for the upcoming weekend HERE.

My work is typically focused on smaller, immediate family groupings, but I do marvel at the importance of and beautiful interworkings of the extended family. It is quite a special thing when families from all walks of life, joined together by marriage, are able to create such a peaceful and loving and fun little unit as this family has been able to do. And I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to witness their bonds in action and see the magical little world they have created for all of their grandchildren and hopefully, future great-grandchildren.

Sabrina (an extremely talented photographer in Fort Worth) is not often the one in front of the camera and I know how hard it is to switch from being the photographER to the photographED. But, I have to tell you, she did quite an amazing job coordinating all of this and then stepping back and letting the session unfold. That is *not* easy to do (I’m not very good at letting go myself), but she and the entire group were an absolute pleasure to work with, rolling with whatever hurdles came our way (say, a baby that refused to nap that day and unpredictable weather) with grace and a fantastic sense of humor.

I have lots of favs from each of the groupings, but HERE’s one in particular of Sabrina and her lovely daughter that really grabbed me.

We were able to squeeze in her Senior Portraits last fall…just before the holiday rush hit here at Pinkle Toes. The weather gave us quite a time trying to find a good day to shoot, but finally, the rain stopped and the sun came out for a couple of seconds and we made it happen! Love that we were able to incorporate all aspects of what she enjoys at this time in her life (including her Jeep “Roscoe”). H…you are absolutely STUNNING, yes, but your personality and heart gleams through your smile. Everything your mommy said about you was perfectly true and she has every reason to be super proud of you.

Before our session, I learned that H loves all things Christmas and lucky for her, we had *just* finished my set for last year’s (whoa…that’s not really as long ago as it sounds) Holiday Mini Sessions when she came out to the studio. So, she got to play around on the set for a bit:

Yup! Merry & Bright, indeed!

If you are a high school senior in or near the Austin area and in the Class of 2017 or 2018, it is not too late to schedule your senior portraits! Drop me a line and let’s see what we can do to celebrate your senior year!

I was blown away by the gorgeous outfits she put together for her family and this incredible location we visited. It was made even better by the fact that this spot is *very* special to their family and it was an honor to get to photograph them there. Her children did AMAZING for their photo shoot and I was so excited that she even thought to bring some fall leaves for everyone to play in at the end of the session. We even managed to find a bit of fall color when we were exploring that afternoon ;-).

GPS can’t guide you here. It’s hard to believe there are places in Texas that are *that* remote ;-). The directions to get to their family’s beautiful remote ranch involved a number of gates and “turn past the 3rd cow,” but it was 100% completely worth it. My daughter actually accompanied me on this adventure and I felt so blessed to have that little girls’ trip AND to get to spend such a wonderful time with this family. The weather was absolutely incredible and we actually stayed out exploring after sundown. It truly does not get more “Texas” than this photo session…complete with big blue skies, cactus, rocky hills, yellow grass, and wading in a river. Oh, and don’t forget the beautiful family, too! I know I’ve probably blogged way too many images from this session, but I could not narrow it down. I also had a hard time picking a single fav…THIS is just one of them.

Thank you so much to this family for sharing the ranch with my daughter and I, for this incredible photo session, and the wonderful hospitality (with some very, very tasty chocolate chip pancakes the next morning ;-)).

Hopefully, you can’t tell in these pics, but this little guy had us trying everything we could possibly think of to keep him calm and happy. Well, I take that back…he *was* perfectly calm and happy when we let him rest peacefully in his crib, but unfortunately, he had a photo session to attend that afternoon and he was not terribly thrilled about being removed from his comfy little cocoon. Can’t say I blame him ;-). But you know what? He is really stinkin’ cute and I think he’s going to surprise everyone with all of the wonderful images he actually allowed us to take! And I have to say he is quite lucky to have such an adoring and caring and attentive big sister. Truly, a beautiful family all around and I was incredibly impressed with the team work we all put in to make his debut photo session a huge success! My favity fav HERE.

The last time I saw the boys, I believe they had just turned one and NOW look a them???? So much fun…so much energy…and stunning smiles! It was incredible weather that evening and I LOVED the outfits mom picked out for the family. I also LOVED this shot HERE.

Hair and makeup by Modern Muse Beauty!

[Sorry for not being very wordy on this post and probably the posts to come…swamped with holiday stuff over here and my main goal is to get these pics out to my families as soon as I can ;-).]

I feel like I have watched these girls grow up right before my eyes. Actually, I *have* in fact watched these girls grow up right before my eyes. Each photo session with this family has been unique and memorable for various reasons. This evening was memorable for me because of the absolutely AMAZING weather and lighting that we had. Such a treat! It honestly felt like I was hanging out with my own family, enjoying the beauty of Austin. My absolute favorite shot from this family session is HERE.

Putting it out here again: We are currently booking for the 6th Annual FREE Pinkle Toes Photography Kids Only Holiday Minis! A little sneak peek of the set is HERE and to find out more (and see more pics) and snag your spot, inquire HERE. There is a bonus offer that is ending soon, so you’re going to want to learn all about these ASAP!

At first, I thought we were going to be treated with a magnificent sunrise this morning…the colors started out so pretty in the water. Sadly, the sun disappeared shortly after this first series of images and didn’t come back out. But we were not thwarted because the cloud cover actually let us shoot for a loooooooong time and we were able to go anywhere we wanted in the park instead of having to run for shade.

I think mom did a FANTASTIC job throwing in that splash of color with the flowers. The girls loved having their little bouquets to hold during the photo session. They also loved photo bombing mom and dad when they tried to get snuggly:

HERE is the image I took right before our cute little invader broke into the shot.

Even though she’s not smiling, I love that you can pretty much see her very soul through those beautiful eyes here.

SOOOO much fun to get to play with the shapes and shadows and levels of the parking garage! I was so glad they were down for that little experiment!

And we wrapped up a lovely photo session with the gorgeous blues of this mosaic.

Oh, in case you missed it, I announced the 6th Annual FREE Pinkle Toes Photography Kids Only Holiday Minis yesterday night! Treat yourself to a little sneak peek of the set HERE and to find out more and snag your spot, inquire HERE.

Another family that is dear to my heart and I can honestly say, I don’t think they’ve ever looked more gorgeous or more happy. As usual, I loved the outfits mom put together and that teepee set up was so beautiful and colorful! Of course, it’s those beaming smiles from the girls that really made this session perfect. Vibrant, bright, funny, confident, spirited little girls and it’s a pleasure working with them! Favs HERE.