One week old. I LOVE these sessions. It's part skill, part luck, all timing, and a lot of patience. I don't have to worry about getting the baby to smile at this point, I just have to be ready for whatever she's going to give me. I've been waiting to photograph this precious little princess for a very long time. I've had the joy of watching her mother grow, and grow, and grow. I had the joy of fetching the big sister for an overnight when we finally got The Call. I got to hold her in the hospital nursery shortly after she was born. And in just one week she has changed so much! Perhaps the best part about working with friends is the lack of pressure to perform. Of course I want to deliver the most stunning images I can muster, but there is also a little extra room for creativity because I will ask my friends to do crazy things, like wedge their one week old newborn onto the fender of their Harley, just because it might look neat. When the Harley was offered as a prop my mind spun with excitement and I spent most of my vacation last week thinking up ways to capture the essence of the bike while keeping the focus on the babe. In the end, our gorgeous tiny subject broke every newborn photography rule and was wide awake for most of the session. Most of those sleeping shots? She blinked. But when it came to the fender, she nestled right down and we nearly had to wipe drool off the bike she was snoozing so hard. I'd say 16 years from now, we're going to have a serious biker chick in the family, but watch out boys, Daddy is a Harley riding Marine!

On Saturday I led a three hour Photo Walk in Bisbee as one of my classes offered to military dependents at Fort Huachuca's MWR Arts and Crafts Center. A "Photo Walk" is just that; a walk for the purpose of taking photographs. We meandered the narrow streets in search of architecture, flora, anything cool that struck our fancy, all the while talking about camera settings, composition, and lighting. One of the highlights of our journey was the chance to shoot willing models. Taylor, the blond bombshell above, is my favorite go-to gal who will try everything I ask of her. A huge Thank You and a very special Happy Sweet Sixteen Birthday wish to you from our whole family! And one of our photographers happily set her camera aside to pose with her beautiful growing tummy! Baby number four is arriving this December. Talk about natural beauty, she couldn't stop smiling and we can all see why! Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to practice our skills on your stunning silhouette!



I've got a whole folder of favorites from the weekend, alas, I am now officially on vacation for the next week! Just me and my boys and hopefully the soothing sounds of an owl or coyote while enjoying a crackling campfire with my loves!

Baby Mama. Funniest movie I have seen in a long time, and the beauty featured in this sneak peek rivals the movie's ability to make me laugh. My dear friend is having a baby, such a precious and intimate event to share with someone. She was on my "emergency call" list when The Bundle arrived, and now I am on her list. Words can't express what this friendship means to me, so I hope my images will....

We have officially survived week number one with our new little Bundle. He has gained 6oz on top of his birth weight and grown a 1/2 inch! One of the occupational hazards of being a photographer and a new mother is the self imposed pressure to capture every moment in detail and I frequently find myself on the itouch during those late night feedings, scrolling through newborn images for inspiration. I have made similar portraits for a dozen clients, so why wouldn't I try for the same with my own family?! Easier said than done. The scene: 5pm. Our front porch, a black backdrop and a wall full of windows. (Sorry, forgot the shot of the studio set-up.)The two big brothers, one who has napped and woke up grumpy, one who has had a full day of play and preschool, armed with Nerf croquet mallets, a gift received earlier that morning from a well-meaning visitor, fighting over who has the better "cheese maker" built from the family erector set... My husband and I on the other end of the porch, cluster nursing The Bundle to get him good and sleepy, attempting as many shots as possible with the naked bottom before The Bundle does his business. The screaming of the two boys escalates, we ignore them, we plead with them, we referee briefly. Then my husband takes the camera and I take The Bundle, after a quick nip he's asleep again, and my husband goes to work like a pro! He's half pressing and re-composing like the best of them, I am beaming with pride, maybe not over the fact that I have just given birth to this amazing little person, but because my husband has been watching me work and he makes a handful of amazing captures. I am seldom in front of the camera, so when he gets a good one, I swoon! And here are my favorites:

The Boy & The Bundle: The Boy wasn't interested in a photo shoot until he found out he was going to get to lay on the dining room table... The Bundle is showing some serious "Pirate Eye"...


Big strong Daddy arms holding The Bundle...


The Bundle's expression says it all... And Daddy is laughing because he's nervous about me having instructed him to take off the diaper...


Oh, that little mouth just melts me to pieces!


The husband gets all the credit on these two images of me...


Maybe we should change his web name from The Bundle to Little Budha? I can't believe the double chin at one week old, this kiddo is going to plump up like a brined turkey!


And, the non-participant, who couldn't give a flying hoot about the chance to get on top of the dining table...

This week at I Heart Faces is, ready for this? "All Bundled Up". I couldn't help myself, I just HAD to have my baby THIS WEEK! And, I have to break the rules and give y'all more than one image, because I don't care about making the top ten this week, and I probably will not participate in weeks to come; I predict total chaos moving into my home. So, for all of my cyber friends and family, here he is, savor them, it could be awhile before the next batch:

March 15, 2010 - 1:36am
Weighing 8lbs 12oz
Measuring 21" long
Labor: relatively easy
Epidural: my first, and amazing! Why on earth would you NOT want one?!
Recovery: already home and, obviously well enough to be on the blog...

Introducing: The Bundle







P.S. The Bundle was born face up, and thus the bruising to the forehead, which should clear up in a week or so. For now I call him my "little Clingon".

I was perfectly content with two bouncing baby boys... then I caught my eldest son standing on his head, which, if you are familiar with wives tales, means one of two things: a.) Stock up on contraception or b.) You are too late. This is precisely the position he displayed a week before we found out we were pregnant with boy number 2, and again, boy number 3...

Other things I should have paid closer attention to:
a.) Under no circumstances should a woman in her twenties EVER drink water that has not been imported in a sealed container while living in the city of Fort Hood, Texas. For those of you who don't know- Fort Hood is the baby making capital of the world. To be safe, avoid the ice as well.
b.) One should exercise EXTREME caution when standing close to, snuggling with, or even making eye contact with a Soldier Spouse recently home from a 15 month deployment- they are the most potent men on the face of the planet.
c.) Thou shalt not sell a single baby item in a PCS garage sale (PCS is when you move from base to base in the military world). Regardless of how cumbersome the strollers, car seats, and play gyms seem, you should always make room for them in the moving van and never give them away or God forbid, resell them...

This is quite possibly my last belly shot, taken on 3/2/2010.

And for comparison, here is a little collage of ALL the belly shots I did manage to accomplish over the course of the pregnancy:



And if this has been posted, it most certainly means we are on our way to the hospital to greet baby number 3!

Husbands are many things. I know for a fact however, that mine is so much more than average. He has more patience for my artistic endeavors than anyone I have ever known; he never refuses my request to "try to capture this idea". So there we were, on a little nature walk with our boys, having run into some serious mud down by the San Pedro River. Our choices were to either head back to the car prematurely, or attempt a number of belly silhouettes with the setting sun as our backdrop. Fortunately for me the man a.) listens to directions perfectly and b.) has his own creative vision and c.) is not intimidated by my camera. I just LOVE the shot with the dump truck, The Boy was marginally cooperative, only gracing my belly with his dump truck for about .002 seconds. I guess that soldier trigger finger comes in handy with photography too!





And this last one totally made us laugh out loud, I think my instructions for silhouettes have always been "do something dramatic to create shape!" and well, he certainly does...

Just a few more weeks to go... No nursery set up, no name chosen yet, no hospital bag packed, and now I apparently have no toes. They aren't there anymore. Every time I look down I am greeted by a whole lot of belly. A very funny thing happened this week in yoga, we were finishing the class with a headstand, which I am proud to say I am still quite good at, and the baby in-utero must have really liked the sensation of being right-side up for once, or maybe suddenly found himself with extra room, because he started some serious acrobatics. The room was so quiet, everyone focused on getting up against the wall just right, and then I hear, from the other side of the room mind you, at least 15 feet away: "Oh my God! The baby is moving!!" This of course was followed by everyone, except for me, coming out of the headstand and stopping to watch my belly, my gigantic belly, wiggle and jiggle like a circus show! Too funny! Been thinking about some other silhouettes to try, but until I get one to be successful, flattering, accentuating the right parts and not all the parts, here is a funny shot of my belly button (usually a total inward button), which has "popped".

I think I am just a contest or two shy of having participated in the I ♥ Faces website since it's conception. Over the past year I have had the privilege of acting as Guest Judge and publishing a mini tutorial about blogging, not to mention all of the amazing "web friends" I have met and been inspired by! My very happiest and heartfelt 1st Birthday wishes go out to Angie and Amy, the creators of the website. Not only have you seen your vision come to life, but you've also seen your "baby" grow exponentially, and that is a huge accomplishment when you are competing with an insane number of websites for people's time and attention. Congratulations! I'm so excited to jump into a second year of I ♥ Faces FUN!

And here are my silly entries for the Logo contest the site is hosting this week. It seems that The Baby and The Boy have already hit puberty- it was Christmas morning and I was thinking to myself "my gosh how the boys are growing so insanely fast!" and then The Baby lifted his shirt to reveal a full chest of hair! I just had to grab a razor and my camera - wink!







I am submitting this photo into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photo for use in the marketing and promotion of their website.

If you can't laugh with me, I give you permission to just laugh at me; at the risk of looking totally ridiculous, I'm posting this week's attempt at "the belly shot" and revealing the foolishness sometimes involved in the creative process... For weeks now I have been toying with the concept of Mother vs. Warrior. I guess it started when we confirmed that baby number 3 will be our third boy. I was trying to visually combine the pregnant silhouette with the number 3, in a way that depicted strength and calm. Originally I wanted to pose in the Warrior 3 yoga position, but this turned out to not be the most flattering of yoga poses, actually minimizing the appearance of my growing tummy. So then my yoga instructor suggested that a headstand, of all things, would surely accentuate my 27 week old bump. I'm pretty adept at this pose, so not an impossible suggestion, I'll try anything once. With the sun sinking low and in good position for silhouettes, I ventured solo up to the top of a nearby mountain, with these yoga thoughts in mind. I learned several things, all of which I am so grateful I learned on my own, without an audience:
1.) When attempting silhouettes with limited daylight, seriously consider taking an assistant. How else are you going to know for sure if you are in profile, in front of the sun, and yes, it sometimes takes longer than 10 seconds (the self timer...)for a pregnant woman to achieve a proper headstand.
2.) When running between camera and yoga mat, in the desert, keep your damn shoes on. I got one shot off before planting a nasty goat head "pokey" in the arch of my foot!
3.) If you think to yourself, a pregnant woman doing a headstand on the top of a mountain might just end up looking silly, you are probably very right.
4.) Get pregnant in January, so when you attempt such a shot at 27 weeks you're not freezing your butt off in the blustery winter wind.


This first shot must mean that my milk will be plentiful, or that love for the baby radiates from my bosom. I'm just happy the sun flare didn't line up to become nipples!


A headstand, yes, a great idea! White socks, also a fantastic idea. Purple yoga mat, sort of unavoidable, what else was I going to put my head on?! Not in profile? Where is that assistant when you need them? Asking a passing hiker to assist in my endeavor - NEVER! I packed up when a second car arrived in the parking lot...


The only decent capture from the day, though armless, and totally lacking creativity.


And today, when not even trying, hiking down a dirt road in Garden Canyon with The Baby, at a painfully slow pace I might add, I saw our shadow, our hands clasped together, and snapped a single frame. It wasn't until I got home and downloaded the image that I saw how my wide angle lens had made my legs look amazingly skinny, and my belly ever so noticeable despite the North Face parka I was wearing. NEATO! Focusing on a shadow as a form of silhouette opens up a new door of thought!

Hope I made you laugh. A Happy New Year to everyone! Since the ball dropped in New York 40 minutes ago, I guess I can go to bed early and call it a year!

It's been one heck of a week. Started off with two days of Santa Portraits at a local Holiday Bazaar, which I hope to blog this weekend. Then two full portrait sessions and teaching a Digital Photography class, not to mention one hellish attempt at dressing up my own family for our Christmas card photo taken via timer: I got three shots off, in each shot someone looks good, in no shot does everyone look good. I love PhotoShop. A highlight of my week was spending an evening with Chas, a local Army wife, first time mother, about 8 months pregnant right now. Chas has been taking my photography classes and this week's in-class exercise was "found object silhouettes". We don't observe daylight savings time in Arizona so it is getting dark before class starts. I have been toying with a cowgirl idea for my own silhouette project and we tried it out in the headlights of my car. Certainly, some things needs tweaking- can you imagine doing this in front of a desert sunset?? but here are the results:(And for an added laugh out loud factor, I am only 21 weeks along, Chas' image of me is the first one. Chas is almost 8 months along, and her silhouette is below mine. We look nearly the same size, which someone so kindly pointed out that night. Ha. Ha. Ha.