My family - the good, the bad... {Albuquerque family photography}

My family is so nice. It's been nearly a month since I said I'd get everyone all these family pictures, and nobody has called to complain even once. This is the 2nd half of our trip - the cabin vacation. 18 people, a one-room cabin in the Rocky Mountains... and this year, some new additions: a borrowed tent trailer and a borrowed RV - they made a big difference. Anyway, some years we coerce everyone into doing a family portrait, and this was one of those years.

Our family is growing fast!


I love this "prop picture" - using all the cabin work tools. (Right after this, they started a big digging project and re-did the streambed and added some really nice steps. There is always a cabin project going on.)


One of my brothers' family. A nice thing about having a big family around is that there are plenty of people to get kids to smile. (Thanks Uncle Doug!)








Another brother and his beautiful wife - expecting their first baby soon!




And my third brother eschewed the "nice" family portraits, instead requesting this masterpiece. He wanted to create something resembling a really nice portrait he saw on Awkward Family Photos and this is what we came up with. You can see how his family is really on his mind. (The pose and coloring are by request. I feel like I have to add that.) This was his pick:



I also liked the silhouette version.


Nature photography is generally not one of my strengths, but I liked this one.


One thing we really need more of in Albuquerque is meadows! We have the perfect meadow at the cabin, and I got some fun pictures of my kids running through it.

Senior portraits preview - sunset at the volcanoes

I had such a great time last night with this great senior. Not only was he a really nice guy, but he had great ideas for where to go for pictures, and a really nice red truck. :) (From a photography standpoint, an old truck is a bonus.) We went to the river first.





He was fantastic: "If you want, I can go in the water." GREAT. I love it when people don't mind getting wet.




Then it was up to the volcanoes with the most gorgeous light. Driving down dirt tracks, racing that last bit of sunlight.












Until it was gone. Thank you to this great senior - this was a seriously fun session. Hope you like the preview - there's a lot more to come.

A midsummer's evening maternity session

This was such a beautiful evening - it was the perfect night to do maternity pictures. We just started soccer practice again, and my son's soccer coach and his wife are expecting their second child in the next few weeks. I was so happy that they wanted to do maternity pictures! So after some running around at soccer practice, we went to this field & had such a great time - in such gorgeous light, it was perfect. :) We're so grateful to Coach & his family for all they do for the boys on their team - thank you! I hope you like these. (There are tons more.)

Beauty in the back yard - {Albuqeruqe baby photographer}

This gorgeous baby's mom wanted outdoor pictures with flowers - and my yard is finally in a really good place for that! I was really happy that they came to me for pictures. (After all that weeding, I need to use those flowers!)

Anyway she is just 6 months old, obviously beautiful, and her entire session was perfect. I love it when things go like this one did - short, sweet, and with a bunch of amazing pictures at the end. I can't believe she's already on her 3rd session of her "baby's first year" plan! Time goes so fast.

A beautiful little newborn - {Albuquerque newborn photography}

And this little one is my 4th newborn from last week, only it's now 2 weeks ago... it's taken me awhile to get them all blogged. She was soooooo darling. She slept a bit fitfully but even so we got so many peaceful sleeping pictures. She is their family's fifth and I think she looks so much like her older sister! I'm so happy her mom brought her for portraits.





















Her mom had this gorgeous silk dress made for when she is given a special blessing at church, kind of like christening. I never thought I'd see a christening gown I like more than the antique one we used for my daughters. This is a tie. :)