Archive for 'Urban photo sessions'
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 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.
Oct 28, 2011
I’ve grown really close to this little lady and her mama. From the first time we ever spoke on the phone (more than 3 years ago and I was *very* pregnant w/ baby number 3), her mom and I just clicked. We get excited over the same things and I love that we can just start chatting and one idea leads to the next until we’ve created a totally unique theme for each one of her little girl’s birthday sessions. I love that I can say, “I wonder if we could…” and she finds some way to make it happen. I love to watch the two of them together because they are as close as I hope my own daughter and I are. I love the thought that I could one day be taking pictures when she turns 10…or even sweet sixteen. It feels amazing to be part of a tradition like this and I treasure that honor.
Oct 19, 2011
Since this little guy could walk, I’m pretty sure that’s how he’s been. He has unending exuberance and energy and he flies through his life in a state of pure joy, living every moment to its fullest. I think we could all take a page out of his little book! Kara…it was wonderful to see you again and I hope you enjoy these images!
Oct 12, 2011
There is boundless life and energy flowing through this family. I think it flows through these images, too. And that makes me happy.
Sep 27, 2011
I first met her several years ago when I photographed her and her family. She was still a little shy at that time, but even then, I just LOVED her look! So much so, that you may have seen her face all over Facebook as a model for a few of my photographer workshops. She’d probably kill me if I pulled one of those pics from that first session, so I used the above image I snagged at the workshop to show you why I literally GASPED out loud when she showed up for her senior portrait session this summer:
Her HAIR!!! All of that beautiful red hair…GONE!!! But you know what? I totally loved the cut and she really pulls this style off, doesn’t she? The asymmetry is super cool and it makes her look oh-so-artsy.
We had an amazing time at her session expressing her creative side. My fav was the paint brush bouquet ;-). Or maybe it was the broken glass that kept catching my eye on the street. I finally had to find some way to photograph her with it…just pulled out my trusty dusty blanket and voila…broken glass bokeh (safely). Here’s another snap I took of the glass while she was getting ready:
I’m such a sucker for anything sparkly 😉
It was a pleasure to get to work with her again and I very much look forward to seeing her show up in one of my Anthropologie catalogs someday! (If you think it, it will happen).
[Attention graduating seniors in Austin, Round Rock, Westlake, Pflugerville, Georgetown, Lake Travis and the surrounding areas: NOW is the time to book your senior portraits! Do NOT wait until the spring…those openings fill up very quickly. I’d love to talk to you more about your vision for your senior portraits. Feel free to drop a line!]
Sep 12, 2011
As if it was the “yang” to this “yin,” we celebrated his 1 year birthday by seeing just how much color we could find in downtown Austin. We truly did not have to go far–that’s just one of the many, many things I love about this city…it is so rich with vibrant color and texture! He was so expressive and that boy TORE into his cupcake. Lucky for us, there was a hose nearby where we could clean up our mess. Probably one of my favorite parts of the session was watching mom and dad work together on that task as a team.
Sep 10, 2011
I may or may not of squealed in delight when his mama said she wanted his 1 year session to be Mad Men inspired (p.s. have you all seen the new Mad Men collection at Banana Republic? Brilliant marketing, there!) It was a dream, really, and we found the neatest little places around town in which to shoot…Bev gets major bonus points for having the courage to march right in and ask! Hard to believe it was more than a year ago when Miles got to go home for the first time…
Incredible kid and incredible family.
Aug 09, 2011
I think we all understand just how much children change in their first year of life. And yet going through the images from his earlier days here…
here…
here…
and here…
…you still see “him” in all of the images.
I have thoroughly enjoyed working with his family over the past year and it brings me so much joy to see this healthy, happy, smiley little boy now:
We had a blast at his one year session! It was hot, but thankfully, we started early enough in the morning that we were done before the heat really set in. And we were even fortunate enough to find an incredible patch of green grass (so very rare in this awful drought). Oh, my, he’s cute!