I can easily say that I have never before had so much fun during a photo shoot! But let's back up. The day started with the sound of pouring rain, cats and dogs actually, and maybe some small cattle, pounding the rooftops. The shoot was scheduled for 6pm. My husband kept telling me to cancel the shoot (the man was facing an evening of cooking his own dinner AND putting The Boy and The Baby to bed, alone, gasp!) But the weather radar coupled with the fact that I could literally see lighter skies on the horizon had me reassuring the mother of this GORGEOUS girl that "yes, it may be very wet, but the light will be amazing and the scenery saturated with vibrant color from the rain and we should give it our best shot!" Meanwhile, my stomach is churning and I retreat to my bedroom to sulk and pray that I am not creating a nightmare for everyone involved. I'm not sure if it was the passing of the storm or the dazzling smile of this young woman that lightened the skies just enough to produce the most breathtaking portraits I have ever taken. Christiana, thank you to you and your mother for trusting in me, for following me everywhere I commanded, even when your ballet flats became heavily laden with 10lbs of Texas mud! Thank you for entertaining every idea and for following every instruction without the aid of M&M's and stickers... I have to say that as I edit these images I am laughing out loud at the moment when you very gracefully sat down on the rocky shoreline in your beautiful dress. After looking through my lens I jumped up to remove a very large and disgusting dirty tube sock and band aid from the foreground, right next to your feet, which had gone overlooked when we chose our sitting area! You took everything in stride and I have no doubt that you will continue to conquer life's challenges with nothing less than poise and grace. Good luck to you!

I met this sweet Mama years ago in Korea. See, that is the very cool thing about military life; yes, we move much too frequently and you leave great friends behind. But on the flip side, I almost always bump into someone I know at the new post! We both have husbands now, and children, but one thing hasn't changed: her incredible style, and though I told her we would be on a nature trail she didn't compromise good looks for comfort! I won't lie, we had to work really really hard (two whole packages of M&M's, a magnifying glass, and fruit snacks kind of hard!) to get one of our subjects to warm to the camera, but I challenge you to figure out who it was, and it's probably NOT who you suspect! Enjoy your sneak peek!

Remember these cuties from the bluebonnets a couple weeks ago? Back from a Disney cruise, and gorgeously tan, we met up to complete their session with an unusual, but oh so photo worthy request: the bedtime routine. I'm always encouraging clients to think of a time in their day that is special to them, so when this Mama approached me with the idea of bubble baths and books with Dad, I was thrilled for the challenge. It helped that they had recently moved into one of the beautiful new homes on Fort Hood that boast a ton more natural light than the cave in which I dwell. We started our evening relaxing on the patio with friends, continued on to a very bubbly tub, and concluded in Mom and Dad's room for bouncing and stories. The days when these kiddos want to curl up with Mom and Dad is certainly numbered as they grow and mature and take on big kid attitudes; enjoy this sneak peek of your precious memories!

I have been photographing this family since the arrival of "Mr Lashes". Seriously, this family is blessed with some seriously gorgeous brown eyes and lashes that probably would have Heidi Klum and her comrades quitting their day jobs. The morning was, well, to be perfectly honest, much too sunny, much much too windy, and we were all up too early in an attempt to beat the sun AND wind. But how can a mother possibly complain when the smiles are this charming! Enjoy your sneak peek!

(P.S. I know there are no bluebonnets in Arizona, these photos were taken in Fort Hood, Texas, but I am starting to pack my boxes for the big move to Ft Huachuca, AZ! I am now scheduling senior portrait sessions for the Class of 2010 beginning in August, these sessions will be in Arizona!)

Texas is a funny place. You can stand on the side of the road and look into what seems like a barren field full of rocks and weeds, "pokies", and certainly more than one mound of fire ants and wonder what on earth you might possibly be interested in photographing in this too bright sunshine at 10am. But then your preschooler and his "lady love" take off at full speed through said field and you suddenly find yourself with a 30lb baby slung on your hip, your Canon thrashing into the opposite hip, and sweat dripping off your brow as you chase and wonder where, on God's scorching hot Texas earth, are these children going to decide to stop running... Ahhh, yes, but they do stop running and after you catch your breath and put The Michelin Baby down, you have a chance to see this field for what it really is, a haven for the prettiest little treasures of Spring. And the morning playdate that almost wasn't is now worth all the effort. Happy Spring!

(The Baby is looking at Julie, and I'm sure she got the money shot he was giving her all morning long, but would he look at or laugh for his Mama? Not a chance. Head over to Julie's blog in a day or so and pester her to post what is surely the yummiest picture of this set of curls!

I am shameless. I gave myself every PS3 cosmetic procedure I know; eye lift for sun damage, check, better make-up because I never wear any, check, Visine for the bloodshot eyes after a full night of cuddling The Baby who has a fever of 104 degrees, check, a more even complexion to compensate for all that Easter chocolate, check, one last glance to make sure I don't look a day over 21? Well, let's test that theory; my husband just walked into the room and caught my portrait up on my 22" widescreen monitor and remarks "Honey! You look so young in that photo! I mean, you look so well rested!" Ready to post I'd say, and then I'll be off to find him some sheets and a blanket for the sofa. These were taken just minutes apart, I was sitting on the floor in my best lit dining room by the window trying not to look like a total idiot balancing my 20lb Canon on my knee and The Boy thought it looked like fun. To my great surprise he did not spit a giant zerbert in my face like he had been all day (and I wonder why The Baby is sick with Roseola??) but instead, offered an unsolicited kiss! Click! Lucky catch! I have to admit that the guest judge this week on I ♥ Faces is none other than my uber-talented BFF and "battle buddy" JULIE RIVERA, so I welcome your comments but will not make myself eligible to win this week. She has a hard enough job to choose her top ten out of hundreds of entries, she needn't worry about my precious ego ;)
ADULT CATEGORY:

KIDS CATEGORY:

As a mother of little ones, I truly have a hard time explaining to a client with small children that in the summer months, which are just beginning here in Texas, the light for photography is the best before 7:30am and after 7:30pm. And as a photographer it is always risky to schedule the little munchkins that late in the evening. Lucky for me, the smiles were as golden as the setting sun! I could not believe how well behaved and loving these siblings were, past their bedtime no less! I told their mother that when she was ready to write the book on "siblings that love eachother" I would surely buy a copy for everyone I know! Here is just a glimpse of our fun evening, born Texans in a truly Texan setting, back at those beautiful bluebonnets!

NOTE: Are you wondering why I have "Sierra Vista Photographer" on my blog header? Big News! Our family will be packing up and moving onward to Fort Huachuca, in Sierra Vista, Arizona, in two short months. I need to start turning some heads in my new hometown. Please help spread the word to Arizona that Photos By Karyn will have a new home in the coming year!

This post is for Memom, that would be My Mom... The Memom who is always asking for more pictures, the Memom who flew all the way to Texas last spring for bluebonnets and didn't see one, the Memom who was supposed to have her Grandbabies for Easter and got a new refridgerator instead... Happy Easter Memom, we love you!

Spring has sprung! We had a fantastic Easter filled with all kinds of bunny huggin' activities, and though I tried my darndest to get that perfect egg hunting shot where my toddler clapped his hands with glee over his treasure, I did not succeed. I learned this year that smarter people, who are not trying to photograph two children in their darling, matching LLBean shirts, have seperated preschool egg hunters from less experienced toddler siblings by a field AND a fence. Then again, the bluebonnets are really popping up now, and here in Central Texas, you can't get any more SPRING in your step than stomping through a field of these blooms with your cutest kiddos in tow! Is it STILL snowing where you are? Head over to I ♥ Faces to get a glimpse of Spring and to wish everyone a HAPPY EASTER!



KIDS ENTRY:

Bluebonnets are the state flower of Texas and every true Texan will tell you that the thing to do in the Spring is gather up your babies and haul them out to a field of bluebonnets to get the perfect Easter picture. What they don't tell you is that bluebonnets usually grow in the middle of four lane highways and are hot spots for fire ants, snakes, and other itchy/crawlies! But I find that those facts do not scare away parents from wanting that Bluebonnet Baby anyway! A big thank you to the understanding and patient parents of these adorable kiddos who hopped in the car on short notice "because the light was perfect and bluebonnets don't last long". So, nothing goes better with those gorgeous bonnets than bribes! We had many a discussion about the ice cream that was sure to follow this shoot, be it a blizzard from DQ or a bowl full of sprinkles, we ALL have a flavor that brings a smile to our face! Though there may have been a gripe about "the pokies" once or twice, there was no shortage of great smiles! Enjoy your sneak peek!

My journal entry from Friday, March 27, 2009:
Beware the "Ides of March" my husband tells me. We are driving away from the beach, our tent under about 3 inches of rain water. This whole camping adventure was my idea and has been nothing but a series of eco-challenges, sort of like a marriage retreat with complex problem solving and trust-falls, minus the Chaplain's encouraging words and delicious catered menu.
Challenge #1: Let's erect a tent we've never seen before with an audience! No, The Baby and The Boy are jubilantly digging in the sand dune and are for the first time in their lives as brothers, entertaining themselves! No, the audience to which I refer would be a couple in their 50's, enjoying the view from behind a little Weber grill where they have presumably just finished their hot steak and lobster. They have practically repositioned their lawn chairs to better view the charming young couple with the sweet babies and the absolutely enormous two cabin tent. Fortunately for us, the howling wind from the surf masked any smart remarks we might have overheard regarding our positioning of the tent with the door facing the ocean (so the 30MPH wind off the surf would inflate the tent!) or the impending arrival of Yuki's harem, because good Lord, that tent is huge! Lucky for my adorable husband, these onlookers were in my mind as I bit my tongue, followed orders sweetly and stifled the urge to ask why the heck someone would rent a tent without a rain fly?...
Challenge #2: Being right on the beach is grand when it comes to sand castles and sunsets, but when it's time to eat, bathe, or sleep, just how do you make all that sand go away?! How do you stop The Baby from grabbing fistfuls of sand and how DOES one extract sand from The Baby's eyes, in the dark, with the wind blowing at 30MPH, while changing a poopy diaper; are we having fun yet?!
Challenge #3: Now that the tent is up and everyone is inside, how do we get to sleep? Never mind the chaos that was bath time and finding jammies and dinner, my that sun did set quickly, but the wind is pummeling our tent and the surf is deafening, I can't even hear my husband who lays next to me a mere 6 inches away. Whoever said that ocean waves was soothing white noise was obviously listening to their sound machine somewhere in Denver. We both dream that the tide comes too high and threatens to carry the car and the tent into the Gulf. It was the longest night of our lives, beating out the births of both our children by a narrow margin.
By now I have probably scared you all off from camping with children. Glad to have talked some sense into anyone considering the idea! Seriously though, we had a blast. We made some fantastic natural discoveries, sand dollars, jelly fish, herons, Bic pens, and there were far more smiles than tears. This blog is really just the tip of the iceberg; it would take me weeks to process all the "memories" and write about them in such a way that would be interesting. Alas, we are back home and that means back to work, and I'm happy to report that I am working a lot these days and just loving the excitement of having the best of both worlds, Mom & Photographer!