Last fall, my daughter's preschool teacher asked if I would take photos of her class...I said sure! (But only if I could also take some storytelling photos and not just portraits).
I had such a fun time hanging out with these 4 & 5 year olds for a couple of hours...and I gained a new appreciation for preschool teachers - those kids are exhausting!
10 a.m.
This was a tough one for me to figure out what I wanted to share! My 10:00 hour is so varied depending on preschool schedules, Bible study, moms groups, etc. This was taken on a day in late February when my middle daughter was home sick from school. Our electricity was also out for the day (not weather related) so we had a relaxing, quiet day at home. We worked on a puzzle, read books, drew pictures (her) and scrapbooked (me). It was awesome.
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This year, I am taking part in a group project and blog circle titled Around Our Clocks. Each month, photographers from around the world (most of them alumni of the Clickin Moms class The Documentary Approach) take a photo during a certain hour of the day. This year, we are encouraged to be in the frame. Click here to be taken to my friend Nicole's blog.
The good thing about being a slow blogger is that I always have something to blog about when I have time! :) It was so fun to meet this sweet family last fall - and on their oldest kid's birthday! If I would've known ahead of time, I would've brought cake. Yum.
I was thrilled to be part of this little boy's adoption day! I could tell from the moment I arrived at the courthouse that Samuel is so loved by his family, extended family, and friends.
Shortly after I arrived at the courthouse, a text popped up from one of my mom's friends (or should I say, my friends' mom? Either way, I've known Arlene for years and years). She asked where to go in the courthouse for the adoption ceremony...I was a bit confused at first, but answered her like I knew what I was talking about (I had no idea she would be there - I had just met Mindi and her family that day!).
As it turned out, when Mindi went to pick up Samuel shortly after he was born, she was caught in a Nebraska summer storm. Not knowing what else to do, she called some friends and eventually they told her to keep driving until she arrived at the friends' mom's house. Mindi ended up staying at Arlene's house overnight with her brand new baby boy, so Arlene was invited to the adoption ceremony since she was a part of his story!
I love finding connections like that with clients - Nebraska is truly a small town and full of hospitable people!
The courthouse adoption was full of love and lots of face-timing and then the whole group gathered at Sutter's Deli for lunch. So much love in the room! Samuel was mostly there for the cookies :)
I cry every time. Every newborn video that I put together makes me cry. It's something about the combination of music and little newborn gestures and it being 5 years since my baby was tiny. Flynn was born back in September and between the busy fall and holiday seasons I didn't work on his video until this month.
I think now I'm going to wait four months for every newborn video because theres's something special about seeing how tiny a newborn is compared to how big a four month old is. I got the sweetest text from my friend after she saw the video...and I love that I made her cry, because that means I'm not the only over-emotional one around here.
This was my first in-home newborn session...now I can't decide if I like hospital or home sessions better. Good thing I don't need to decide :)
A portrait + storytelling session with an extended family is one of the most fun things that I photograph. We start off with some portraits in all combinations - grandparents & grandkids, family units, grandkids by themselves, etc. and then move into a fun activity! I was so excited to to visit the Franz family at their home near the Platte River in central Nebraska.
The Franz family was an awesome bunch to photograph - there were so many laughs and those kids kept me hopping! Mel and Becky own a beautiful house on the lake and their three daughters and most of the grandkids were visiting for a week. The kids all love to play baseball together so they played a few innings before stopping to enjoy s'mores. It was a such a beautiful summer evening and being by the lake was perfection!
Here are some of my favorites. I always encourage people to buy an album for these types of sessions - there are just too many to choose just a few favorites! I'm super excited about a new type of album I'm announcing in a few weeks, so stay tuned!
This sweet family contacted me because their son was just about to turn three and it had been 18 months since their family photos had been taken. They had just moved into their new house - a house on the family farm - and life was crazy. Would it be possible for me to take photos of their son just doing what he likes instead of trying to get him to pose? Of course! I spent a great two hours with them and seeing their son playing with tractors and trying so hard to please made me long for the days when my boy was three. It seems like so long ago, yet it's not.
We let Gavin play with his tractors, blow tons of bubbles, sneak candy from the pantry and play games with his parents. So much fun!
Morgan approached me last fall with the idea to do a family session out in the snow and we were both excited about it! But since we live in Nebraska where the weather is super unpredictable...we never had enough snow. The couple times that we could have made it work with the few inches we had, it was SO cold and windy that it wouldn't have been any fun!
So Morgan decided on a Mommy and Me session for Mother's Day. I went to their house and captured a short slice of their typical weekday morning: baking cookies, playing in the playroom, and reading books. Her girls were so sweet!
A session like Morgan's costs $95 and is 30-45 minutes long. It has a lifestyle + documentary feel to it: we will do a variety of "set up" activities and I will probably open curtains and turn off the lights, but I won't ask you to do something again or make the kids do something they don't want to do!
Contact me above or check out the Family Sessions tab for more information!
On Monday, I hung out with Luke and Joanne and the kids as they prepared and ate supper. I was super impressed that Luke often helps out with preparing supper - my husband's idea of preparing supper is going through the buffet line at the Chinese restaurant! :) Joanne made the most amazing bread to go along with their chicken stir-fry. I had two pieces...and then the next day found out that I am allergic/intolerant of wheat and yeast...so I am glad that at least my last bread was really yummy!!
The weather was finally nice outside so the older kids played on the trampoline until supper was ready! The youngest was just really all about those grapes :)
Because we live in Nebraska and the weather is unpredictable, we ended up postponing our Saturday session to Sunday and doing two sessions on Tuesday instead. Joanne really wanted some outdoor photos (they love doing outdoor things as a family!) but the weather just wasn't cooperating - no one wants to be outside when its 40 degrees and raining!
On Sundays, the Haidle's often eat popcorn and apples as supper, followed by a family board game and maybe a quick trip to the park. They are so lucky to have a great park right in their backyard!
Ask any parent what their bedtime routine is like and they will likely say "crazy!". With more than one kid, it's lots of back and forth and basically just making sure that everyone is on track to get to bed on time! I joined the Haidle family for the end of bath time through getting everyone in bed and (hopefully) asleep...and then I stayed for awhile and chatted because it was quiet without the kids around ;)
I love to get glimpses of family life and see how other parents handle the routine aspects of life. Luke has been reading through the Little House on the Prairie series with the older two kids and they love love the story and the snuggle time with Daddy! The youngest is normally asleep earlier than the older ones, but he was so excited that I was there that he had a hard time falling asleep and kept wanting to come out to join all the fun :)
On day 2, I was at the Haidle's house right after school so that I could photograph their after-school routine. I imagine that most moms can relate to these photos: Legos, snacks, homework, changing clothes, and a bit of frustration. I know that this is often how our afternoon goes! I was impressed that Joanne was making zwieback among all the chaos...the dough smelled delicious!
Last month, I took on my biggest client project yet: a Week in the Life of a family. I do photography projects like that all the time with my own family, but I wasn't quite sure how it would look to follow another family around for that long of a time period. We settled on 30-45 minutes a day for 7 days and each day I would be with them during a different time of the day.
If it sounds overwhelming...it was. I think both Joanne and I felt some stress during the week, but the end result was SO GOOD. Being with a family for an entire week and seeing them during the most normal times of their day brought a level of familiarity for all of us and eventually the kids didn't really even notice that I was there (their daughter kept saying "Oh yeah, I just need to ignore Cody all the time" and we kept pointing out to her that it's "only for this week, not when she's teaching your VBS class or something".).
Luke and Joanne moved to Henderson about three years ago and he is the pastor at the MB Church. The kids love to go visit him during the day and have such a fun time exploring the church (I mean, who wouldn't love to play hide and seek there!?!). On Wednesdays, the church hosts a meal for the families who come to that evening's KidsTime and adult Bible studies.
I truly believe that photos like this aren't for the parents (even though moms are often the ones who contact me)...rather, it's for the kids 20 years down the road and the grandkids 40 years from now. How awesome will it be for these kids to be able to look back on their time in this church and how it felt to be able to run around and, well, be a kid!
I don't know about you, but March just flew by! I am so ready for spring and baseball and softball and sunshine. Sunshine most of all...these past couple of weeks have been rough.
Photography is all about the light...literally. The word "photography" means "light drawing". There are three things that make a great photograph: light, composition, and moment. As a documentary photographer, I'm drawn to moments first of all, but I love light. The lack of light has really been hard on my motivation to take great photos! I knew I probably couldn't manage a full big-camera day in the life (especially after completing a week in the life for a client recently), so I grabbed my phone and did an entire day in the life with just my phone.
7:28 am // Does anyone else have to remind their kids 20 times to get their shoes on before the bus comes?
7:55 am // The bus finally came 20 minutes late (so we had plenty of time to get shoes on) and the kids were getting really restless. Turns out that the bus had broke down so they had to get a new one.
9:07 am // I am so thankful for a day at home to catch up on the housework that I've been neglecting lately. Although, I may have to set that aside so I can play princess with my girl who didn't have school today!
{Also, this image got featured on the Instagram account Sham of the Perfect. Of course, my first documentary image that is featured is one of my messy kitchen! Ha.}
9:42 am // I love how she can play with little animals or dolls for hours. She makes up stories and acts out scenes (often related to real life events, so it's awesome to see things through her eyes). Today it's Lego dragons and princesses.
10:42 am // She loves doing kid exercises on the Roku. I should join her, but I actually vacuumed for the first time in weeks instead.
11:51 am // Even at 4 years old, she is always underfoot, especially when I'm in the kitchen.
12:02 pm // As soon as Daddy gets home for lunch, she asks him to play with her. And he can't say no.
12:11 pm // Curtis' favorite lunch: Jimmy Johns and a Dr. Pepper.
1:43 pm // She loves playing with my Kirsten doll. I do have to stop what I'm doing every 5 seconds to put new clothes on Kirsten, though.
2:26 pm // My "me-time" every afternoon is often spent in front of the computer. Today I'm working on culling and editing 1600 photos from a recent Week in the Life session. And yes, my desk is as messy as my kitchen.
3:09 pm // Just can't wait for those cookies to be done!
4:35 pm // The big kids are home from school and they grab a snack and immediately run to play their Kindles. The only one not fine with this is the youngest...all she wants is someone to play with her.
5:33 pm // Remember that stack of dishes in the sink this morning? Yeah, I'm just now getting to them.
6:19 pm // Our typical after-supper scene: the older two reading and the youngest running around crazy.
7:17 pm // Bath time. Which means almost bedtime.
A goal of mine this year is to do a Day in the Life of my own family every month. I almost forgot this month though! I'm thankful for my fellow Documentary Approach alumni who challenged everyone to complete a DITL this past week.
I stuck to my simple is better approach and took just enough photos to tell a story of our day. I think I took about 75 photos and ended up with these 30. The most varied part of my day is the afternoon hours when my youngest is home with me by herself - she's a lively one and always wants to do something different! My sister brought her kids over in the afternoon since it was so nice out (70 degrees in February?!?) and it was nice to just sit and watch them run around together!
I tried something new during supper - I set my camera on the counter and turned on the interval timer so that it took one photo every 2 minutes for 30 minutes. I love that Nikon feature!
This series of photos is a good example of how my home was a disaster much of the day and my hair/outfit were a hot mess, but that's not what I focus on in the photos! It's just us, doing our everyday thing.
There's a challenge going around the photographer Facebook groups that I'm a part of: shoot like you are shooting film. Now, I have no actual desire to shoot film, but I was intrigued. It goes like this: shoot only 36 frames, one ISO, no chimping (looking at the back of your screen after taking a shot), waiting 48 hours before looking at them, and then doing minimal editing. I'm an overshooter; I shoot well over 500 photos during one of my DITLs...and I took 76 photos of my kids making gingerbread houses the other day.
So, I attempted a Day in the Life with only 36 photos. I did end up shooting around double that (the ice was so very pretty and I wanted to do a bunch of freelensing), but for most of the moments, I took one shot and then put my camera away. It was a bit stressful: my ISO was 800 all day and I typically shoot around 3200 in our house and I'm really bad about taking a shot and then messing with my settings. I really had to slow down and think about metering and lighting and all that. I had fun with it and would like to do it monthly!
This past holiday season went by crazy fast! I still can't believe that it's almost the middle of January. I normally do a really good job of taking lots of documentary-style photos of my kids and family, but I didn't capture everything that I wanted to! (Yeah, I know that I wrote a post about how to not fail at December Daily...but I took a photo on December 1st and then couldn't really get into it!)
However, I really enjoyed the holiday lifestyle sessions that I did for several families! It all got me in the Christmas mood and it was awesome to watch the kids get into the activities. I left every session saying "This one was my favorite..." but only until I did the next one!
I can't even describe how awesome this session was! Cody and Jenny planned to reveal the gender of their baby to their families by having a crop duster fly by while spraying either pink or blue powder. Jenny's sister decided that this moment needed to be documented by someone and I was honored to be there!
There was much anticipation as the pilot flew by a few times testing powder. I heard a lot of "I'm so nervous!" "I'm shaking!" comments...and I was even nervous! However, I don't think 20-month-old big sister had a clue what was going on - she just ran around being adorable!
Finally, the pilot flew by and dropped BLUE powder! Everyone was thrilled! I had to be quick to catch both the powder AND everyone's reactions.
The reactions were priceless! Lots of excitement!
I love the one of Jenny smiling as she re-watched the video of the spray plane!
After the reveal, the guests got to enjoy a super-cute party - a perfect way to celebrate a baby boy due in January!
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If you have special moments coming up in your life that you want documented, please contact me! I love to be there taking photos so that you can enjoy yourself! A session such as this is about 45 minutes long and includes the digital files for $95.