Sweet boys, skeletons, and sand!

I have known this family for a few years, since their older son was a baby. We've done some really fun sessions at parks, at the zoo, and other places around town (not too many have been blogged, how does that work out?). This one is one of my favorites! First of all, how cool is this giant dinosaur skeleton? What a fun place for boys to get to climb around while I take pictures.



But the main destination for the session was a beach area on the river. They brought sand toys and the boys were super cute with their shovels and dump truck.
 



I love how their family pictures worked. The best is when kids laugh at my puppet jokes, and these guys were perfect subjects. 

 

 

My favorite sessions are the ones where we end up with a lot of love in the images.






My goal is always to capture some of the relationship you share with your family. This is one of my favorites!
 

 

As the light got lower, we focused on each boy to get individual portraits.


He was telling me some great stuff about his Halloween superhero plans.

 

Nobody fell in the water (hooray) and everyone had a great time. Success!

I hope this great family had as much fun as I did! Thank you!

If you also love the Rio Grande, I'd love to meet you there for a family or child photography session! Give me a call or email and we can chat about a session for you or your family. Or if you'd like to see other options, I have lots of other location ideas for portrait sessions here.

A newborn and his mom

This beautiful new mom brought me her baby for newborn portraits just before he was 2 weeks old. He was a couple of weeks early, but you would never know by looking at him. He is a beautiful little guy and he did a great job sleeping for pictures.

I love these pictures of him with his mom. (And I have to admit to some serious hair envy.)






One thing we talked about that I thought was interesting is newborn vision. I might have once known this but if so I'd forgotten - newborns can see clearly about 8-15" in front of their face, and the rest is a fuzzy blur. So your baby can focus on your face, and studies have shown that babies prefer to look at faces, when you are close. Then in the next 6-8 months, Baby's vision develops to be close to 20-20.


Often you will see a newborn baby's eyes crossed or wandering a little independently. (This is how the vision conversation got started.) It's really normal, and by one or two months always stops. Then Baby will start tracking things with his eyes too.


Of course we like to take newborn pictures when the baby is sleeping, but I do usually try to get a few pictures of the baby with his eyes open too. (This time there weren't any keepers with eyes open... sometimes that happens...)


I love how peaceful and comfortable he looks. And I also really love the color scheme of the beautiful quilt his mom brought! She brought more gorgeous quilts too, but he woke up enough after this one that we moved on to something different.




I have a bunch more newborn baby pictures, along with some information on my baby photography session options, on this blog page - check it out!

I offer four different options for baby photography collections. If you are interested for yourself, or if you have a friend or family member you might like to give a collection to as a gift, I have an online magazine with more information that you might like to see. You can send me your email address below and I will email you a link right away.

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Baby portraits at the pumpkin patch

Today my blog post combines two favorites of mine - baby photography and my favorite pumpkin patch in town (well, in Rio Rancho), the Galloping Grace Youth Ranch patch. I have been to the other pumpkin patches here in Albuquerque, and in McCall, and I do like them all. But this one is my favorite, and it's getting more fun every year! (Also much closer than McCall.) They do a wonderful job and I love supporting their organization, a nonprofit with this vision statement: "Galloping Grace Youth Ranch is a place where kids lead kids while learning how to raise animals, grow crops, explore the outdoors, and enrich the community." This year they have even more animals to watch and feed, including some baby pigs that I personally was fascinated with when I came later on with my family.

So on to the baby pictures! This little girl is a huge favorite of mine because she smiles at the drop of a hat. That and her darling personality makes every session a huge pleasure. I get to see her four times during her first year with my "Baby's First Year" portrait package plan, I love it!


Her mom had the great idea of pumpkins, and the timing was perfect for us to meet up in Rio Rancho one morning.




There are so many great fall photo opportunities at the pumpkin patch.


Her mom has everything coordinated so beautifully!


I love that she got to ride a tractor!






And her mom brought along a carved pumpkin to put Baby in - she was totally a good sport and played in there for as long as we needed her to. Her big sister and I noticed how slimy her feet were when we got her out, but she didn't even care!


I have a bunch more baby pictures, along with some info on my baby plan options, on this blog page - check it out!

I offer four different options for baby photography collections. If you are interested for yourself, or if you have a friend or family member you might like to give a collection to as a gift, I have an online magazine with more information that you might like to see. You can send me your email address below and I will email you a link right away.

Submit your email address to receive more information

* indicates required

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First Name

Last Name

Ten awesome things about having a party photography session

This family had a great idea. Instead of a normal family portrait session (which we have done in the past), they invited me to their daughter's birthday party!


I do enjoy my regular portrait sessions, but there are a so many really fun things about combining your photo session with an event. Here are 10 things I thought were great:

1. I love doing photo sessions with two and three year olds at their home - they tend to feel happy and comfortable. And what could be more fun than riding your new trike, right?




2. Giant balloons and bears. I love including your child's favorite things, whatever they may be.


3. Sometimes family is visiting from out of town - the perfect time to take a multi-generational portrait.


4. Grandpa time. She was happy to share her m&m's with her grandpa so that he could also smile for the picture.


5. No posing (or not much anyway), just fun!


6. Sometimes it's a family reunion and a birthday party all in one! How often will all these people be together in one spot? I know my family is spread across the country - it's tricky to get together!


7. Candid moments like this - just because she's young doesn't mean she doesn't know what she wants to do next! Enough with pictures outside, let's go in and get back to the party!




8. Blowing out the candles as many times as you want. If you find that it's especially fun, having a photographer there will ensure that you get to do it a lot, at least five times...

9. Remembering funny quirks like two year olds who not only love cupcakes, but also love getting clean after eating one.


What, more cake? Mmmmmmm. Let's blow out the candles some more!




How about another cupcake too? It's a party!



10. Pictures playing with Dad.


Pictures opening presents with Mom.


I love pictures that show your family relationship - because as your children grow, your relationship inevitably changes as well. My memory is not up to the task of remembering all the good stuff, so to me it's really important to have pictures of my family interacting and doing what we love to do together. I want to remember my children's favorite books (this cutie is a reader like my babies were!), toys, and what made us laugh.




If this appeals to you as well, I'd love to talk with you about a family or child photography session (with or without a party)! Give me a call or email and we can chat about a session for you or your family.