Golden

Gorgeous spring evening?  Check.  Golden, sunlit fields?  Yes please!  Golden haired, gorgeous family?  Yes and yes!! 

I was on a pure photographer's high this past weekend after I met with (yet another) one of my oldest friends for an inspiring little family session.  Rachel is also a photographer and when she contacted me about doing a family session, she had the same complaint many photographers do when it comes to family pictures: "we have a ton of family pictures.....minus me".  So, we set up a date and she relinquished her position behind the lens for one gorgeous evening.

Thank you Rach, for letting me capture your stunningly beautiful family.  Try not to let another 3 years pass before your next family portraits, ok?  Enjoy your sneak peek!!

See?  I wasn't exaggerating when I said stunningly beautiful, was I?

I don't know if these two are so good at the "serious" face because Rachel is a photographer or well....they're just that good?  Either way.....this next image has fierce written all over it.

Love the hair, love the freckles, LOVE this family!!

One of my absolute favorites:

Buttercups & Daisies: Miss E at 6 months

Can I begin by telling you how much I adore my clients?  Not just my sweet little ones like the one you're about to see but their oh so patient and calm parents?  This mama and I had to reschedule multiple times for multiple reasons.  Weather, sunburn, weather, weather again....you get the idea.  So, imagine how excited I was to wake up on the morning of our most recent reschedule to clear, blue skies and a balmy 75 degrees.  Yes, that was me you just imagined giggling while peering out the curtains of my bedroom.  Now.....try to imagine how not so excited I was to be driving to this session later that day with a black sky on one side of me and the aforementioned clear sky on the other side.....NO JOKE.  IT WAS GOING TO RAIN. 

"Maybe....just maybe.." I started to think, "we can do this in the 20 min we may have before the sky lets loose".  Wishful thinking, yes but a girl can dream.

I should have known from my previous experience with this little angel (during her newborn session) that my thinking was more realistic than I had hoped.

I pulled into the parking lot, her Mama whisked her out of her car seat, woke her up (yes! she literally woke up 10 min prior to these giggly images), changed her and we began shooting.  20 minutes later we were done.....and not because of the rain.  She smiled and laughed through 3 outfit changes, 4 prop changes, and 3 location changes.  As I said "I think we covered everything!!" we saw the first flash of lightening.  Not 2 minutes later as we were pulling out of the parking lot, the sky TORE OPEN.  Luck, fate, karma, someone watching over us?  Who knows!  As I pulled over to let the downpour pass, I said a little prayer of thanks for my patient clients, beautiful babies, and the color yellow.

Love these chubby toes <3

I can fly!

The only thing I love more than chubby toes?  Chubby fingers!!

As always, I'll end with my favorite.....

DC Engagement: Caiti & Jon

When I told this couple some of my ideas for their engagement session, they responded with a simple "yea that sounds great!".  I should tell you that my ideas included hopping into a cab to go from one side of the city to the other and standing in a very smelly alley while we waited for the garbage truck to empty the dumpsters, among other things.  They were an absolute dream to work with and I cannot wait for their wedding in September!!

Jon and Caitie, enjoy your sneak peek!!!

I'm usually not a silhouette lover but I really loved this one :)

They laughed hysterically the entire time they were doing this - come on guys!!  What's so funny about me asking you to drink out of a fountain simultaneously?  It's totally natural.....  :)

Caiti has a killer "serious" face!!  LOVE it!!

My clients have the best sense of style!  I leave all of my sessions wanting to run out and buy something they had on.  This session?  Caiti's adorable dress!!

I tried to explain to Jon how awesome he looked in this shot and he just smiled and changed the subject.  Seriously, Jon - loooovvvve this shot of you!!

Seriously, you two, CANNOT wait until September!!  Thanks for going along with my crazy ideas!

Old Friends

Before I start this post, I should explain that I do have clients other than my friends.  You wouldn't think so based on my blog posts, right?  It's just been a coincidence that I've had lots of old friends in need of pictures lately.  Personally, I love it.  Seriously, who wouldn't??  I get to do something I love while hanging out and catching up with old friends!!

I've known Harry and Payton since middle school.  They started dating in high school and are yet another one of my couple friends that has been together for 10+ years.  I've got some pretty loyal friends, huh?  We lost touch after high school and through the miracle that is Facebook, we were able to reconnect.  I wasn't surprised to find that they had gotten married and now had a beautiful daughter.

After a couple of reschedules due to rain and the Caps' playoff hopes (yes, we rescheduled for a Caps game - Harry's idea and I readily agreed), we were finally able to get together this past weekend.  The rain held off just long enough for us to get in a full session!

Harry and Payton - it was SO great to see you guys again.  Your little family is beyond beautiful and I couldn't be happier for you!!!  Enjoy your sneak peek!!

Any time I needed a laugh out of little miss, I simply called for Daddy - he definitely knew how to bring a smile to her face :)

I love to end a blog post with my favorite from a session:

Motherhood

When I was pregnant with my son, I heard more advice and personal horror stories than I care to mention. For some reason, people see your protruding midsection and feel the need to unload on you every piece of information they can recall from their own pregnancies. You are told how hard it will be, how you will never sleep again, laboring nightmares, you get the idea. However, no one tells you about the amazing parts of motherhood. No one tells you that while all those things I listed above are going to happen, you just don't care because you love your child that much. That being said, I've been writing down some random thoughts on motherhood for the last couple of months.  To me, they define motherhood.  They are things that you never thought would happen to you, yet fit perfectly into your life without you ever thinking twice. Enjoy :)


Motherhood is:


.....sleeping on the outer 1/16 of the bed because your toddler had a nightmare and apparently prefers to sleep horizontally between you and your husband's heads....


.....never using the bathroom in peace....ever again


.....accepting kisses no matter how sloppy and dirty that little face is


......multitasking...like, big time


......accepting the fact that your planner will always have some form of Crayola product all over the inside, which in turn means accepting the fact that you will sometimes let out an involuntary giggle at a client meeting


......having your child drive you crazy all day only to miss them the second you get home from dropping them off at Grandma's


.....suddenly realizing that someone is watching EVERYTHING you do - and will most likely mimic it....in public

.....knowing your co-workers are probably sick of your cell phone videos yet you hear yourself saying "just watch this real quick, he does this soooo cute"


.....laboring for 22 hours, pushing for 3 and swearing you would do it 1,000,000 more times if it means that little piece of perfection in your arms is healthy and safe


.....learning to live with anxiety and fear in your heart 24 hours a day simply because something you love that much exists


.....feeling your heart leap a little when they come to you first in a crowded room


.....knowing that when he stands in front of his book shelf saying "ooh ooh, ah ah" it means he wants to read Mommy's Best Kisses because there's a monkey in the pages


.....secretly loving that his favorite book is a book about his Mommy....


.....never knowing your heart could love this much


I hope you all have an amazing Mother's Day.  To my own Mama, I love you like crazy.  Thank you for teaching me how to be the Mom that I am.  I'm saving a post on you for another day :)

xoxo
Heather


My favorite pic of all of my little man's 16 months:

Friday Friend Feature: Kellie

I moved to Virginia the summer after I turned 7.  Having no friends, I was more than a little excited when my mother told me there was a girl close to my age at the neighborhood daycare I would be going to.  I met Kellie the next day and I'm pretty sure it only took about 2 days for us to become inseperable.

Kellie lived on the opposite side of our neighborhood so our time was mostly limited to fun at the daycare and whenever our parents felt like getting us together.  However, when we were 8 years old, Kellie's parents bought the house behind ours.  This took "inseperable" to new heights.  It got so bad, that there was literally a tiny little dirt path worn between our two houses.  Our parents, tired of seeing us fall over the fence (we were skinny little girls!!), put a gate into the fence that seperated our two backyards.  When we'd stay at each other's houses after dark, one would stand on their deck and the other would yell back as soon as she got to hers, (our backyards were a bit scary at night).  Seriously, could two friends have had it any better??

We bonded over lost teeth, (then braces), our mutual love for Kraft Mac N Cheese, and our mutual obsession with NKOTB.  Together, we welcomed new siblings into our families and said good bye to beloved pets (a running total of 5 birds, 4 dogs, and countless fish).  We've whispered countless nights about boys, our parents, our brothers and sisters, the future, and just life in general.....  We've also shared countless firsts from our first concert (yes, it was Billy Ray Cyrus and no, I'm not ashamed), to our first time driving alone (to this day her driving scares me).  I'm so happy and proud that we're now sharing another first: babies :)

Kellie and Casey's little princess will arrive this summer and I am BEYOND excited.  Not just to meet her but to see what amazing parents they're going to be.  Casey is more involved than any father to be I have ever met (and that's saying a lot coming from an OB nurse).  They bought a mini-van in Kellie's first trimester and spent one whole Saturday night "belly painting" a couple of weeks ago.  If that's any indication of the type of parents they're going to be, I think their little girl is going to be in great hands.

I had the honor of getting this beautiful mama to be and her gorgeous bump in front of my lens last week and it was all I could do to wait for this Friday's Friend Feature to show them off.

Casey and Kellie, enjoy your sneak peek!!

So, I bought some hot pink gerber daisies for this session - COMPLETE coincidence that Kellie showed up in this hot pink shirt - great minds thinks alike ;)

As I'm taking pictures of Kellie - I hear Casey snickering behind me.  We've been friends long enough that I turned around (with a bit of an attitude), and asked what exactly he was laughing at!  He smiles and says, "I just love the bump, I'm obsessed with the bump".  How cute is that?  Sorry for the attitude Casey!

In 7th grade, Kellie and I were discussing the boys in our class as only 7th grade girls can and I casually said "What about Casey?"  "Nah" Kellie said, "he's funny but he's so skinny!"  Kellie paid a little more attention to Casey when he started to fill out Freshman year :)  When they got married last September, they had been together for 15 years.  I wish I had a whole blog post I could devote to their love story!!!

If there's anything Casey's good at, it's making Kellie laugh.

Not a plug for my favorite store, their baby girls initials <3

Is she gorgeous or what??

I've had this idea for a while but haven't had a maternity client in some time.  So, I was ECSTATIC I finally got to try it!  This is definitely my all time favorite picture from this session!!