Summer family session

This session was so fun - there were so many fun images that it 1) took me a long time to finish for their gallery, and 2) it is impossible to pick through for my blog. They have such beautiful eyes! What beautiful children. I was extra-impressed that the little boy not only hung on for a whole bunch of portraits of himself & the family, but even after he got to go outside & play he still came back for a few more with his sleeping sister.

Thanks so much for coming - it was great to meet you!


I am a huge fan of pictures with special blankets. We have some very special blankets at our house, and they are an important part of life! (Sometimes we have to do some very fast laundry so they're available when needed!)


This has been the summer of bubbles-pictures. I love this one because the bubbles show so well! And he was perfectly enthusiastic with them too.

Some random stuff

I'm still trying to catch up on sessions, but I don't like to work on Sundays, so I'm trying to catch up on my family website instead. It's perpetually several months behind - right now I'm working on May... which is sad, because by the time I get around to my commentary I sometimes can't remember why I took the picture in the first place. But anyway here are some pictures I thought worth sharing.


I don't blog all my sessions, due to lack of time, mostly. This is a darling little girl - she always seems to be smiling. Her mom said she'd been having a hard time getting a picture of her smiling - she's full of smiles, but stops when Mom's face goes away & the camera comes out instead. That really rang a bell with me, because exactly the same thing happened with my babies too! There is definitely something to be said for having someone else holding the camera. :)

Some fireworks pictures from Independence day - we haven't been to the "big fireworks" for several years, but this year we thought all our children were past the fearful stage, so we gave it a try. We were at Balloon Fiesta park, and after standing in a long line for "jump houses", buying some very expensive treats, and running from a sudden rainstorm, we decided to watch the fireworks from the parking lot above the field. What a great idea that was! Not so close that the noise was too scary (although one of our kids watched from inside the car, just to be safe), and close enough to see really well. And we could make a quick getaway too! Naturally I'd forgotten a tripod, but the hood of the car was at a good angle - fireworks pictures are always so much fun.




These were taken up at the top of the mountain at the little visitor's center. I highly recommend going out on their deck to see the hummingbirds! They are really acclimatized to people being around, so we got to get surprisingly close.

My kids always hang around when I set up backdrops. They want me to take their picture because I bribe them with marshmallows - the point of the marshmallows is to ensure their cooperation when I actually WANT their pictures, not just any old time, but sometimes I get a picture I really like when I wasn't planning on it. Something about this one just appeals to me.

I've been selling off some backdrops that I don't use, and I discovered this one in a sack in the garage. I've never used it but I should! I need to design some cute sky-theme set or something.


This is a really nice waterfall we visited last month. So pretty!


Another case of kids hanging around, wanting their pictures taken for marshmallows.

And this too - our youngest was kindly given a bunch of dress-up outfits, and they were methodically trying on each one. This was such a hit that they both dressed up and needed a picture to record the combination.

Senior portraits

I'm so happy that it's time for senior pictures again - and this girl is beautiful inside & out! Her mom wanted some traditional portraits, so she came here for some studio-type portraits first. Then we just barely had time to visit a sunflower patch before a huge rainstorm descended! I was determined to try anyway, because there were lots of outside locations on my agenda and storms usually blow over quickly, but when we got to a place where we could see south we could tell it wasn't going to work. This was the night the arroyos were filled up, etc. So we were rained out and had to reschedule the 2nd half of her session in a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to it :) - and in the meantime I hope she & her family love these.

A parenting thing

This Saturday we had one of those moments - I had just told my husband that I had to spend some time with photograpy this weekend, but first I was doing some weeding (have you seen my garden? That's another story...) Suddenly I hear my husband shouting "Get in the car, we're going to the hospital!" First my heart stopped, then I ran through the house to wash off my very muddy hands, and fortunately I grabbed his ipod on my way out the door. Meanwhile I'm shouting back "Why are we going to the hospital?" Turns out our little one had been helping wash the car, slipped on the wet garage floor, and hit her head so hard she passed out. By the time we got to the hospital for a CT scan she was behaving 100% normally (by which I mean arguing with her siblings and crying because she wanted a shot - she knows that if you get a shot at the doctor's office he will give you a lollipop). Fortunately she was fine, and the ipod entertained all 3 children while we spent a few hours in the ER. Now when I see her I'm just so grateful for her good health & happiness - what a blessing to have healthy children.

Mesa top preview

This is an overdue preview for an overdue session.... A really nice family had me take mesa top pictures, and some down with the petroglyphs also. This being Albuquerque the light was tricky, but there was a little corner of shade in the petroglyphs that worked perfectly. If my external flash had worked on the mesa top (it had very aggravatingly been FINE the day before, and fine the day after) that would have been nice, but using the magic of photoshop I can still show faces and the mountains behind them. Really pretty.

Okay, the gallery is coming.... this is just a small sample.

Birthday cake!

This darling little guy is about to turn one & his mom wanted a birthday cake session. We originally thought we'd do it outside on the grass, but it was really hot out even though we had a pretty early session. So we used the kitchen instead & I think it turned out really cute. He was perfect with the cake - a few licks of frosting at first, and by the end he was pretty covered with red frosting. So fun! Thanks so much for inviting me - I really enjoyed it, these are some of my favorite sessions.

Botanic garden evening with the girls

We met our good friends at the botanic gardens for one of the evening concerts. It was so fun! We had wanted to get some fun little girl pictures, and they turned out great! The kids had a great time & I did too. What a fun way to spend the evening, thank you.












At first they were "pretend skipping," until I told them that real skipping would also work. Much easier. :)