This next family was one of the first few families that I photographed during my 1 year in El Paso. I photographed them each year since. I often am stopped in my tracks when I first see kids that I have photographed before. In my head they have remained the little cutie from the last shoot but the reality always shakes me as each year brings more growth and maturity than I could imagine. That is what happened when I saw the three Bloss children. They have grown but they are are sweet and stunning as ever. Their eyes just pull you in.

Here are a few more families from El Paso. The first family is responsible for my first return to El Paso after moving away. I flew back to photograph their wedding in Sept '05 & told a few families I would be back in town and could schedule sittings around the wedding. So if it were not for the union of Kimberly and Hugo I would not have had the opportunity to continue to meet so many wonderful EP families. It was so great to see them again and meet their newest addition Faith who is now 5 months old.
The second family have two beautiful boys Paco and Max. I am including a series that may not be the most fabulous pictures but I love the interaction between the two.

As you have probably gathered from reading my blog, I REALLY love what I do. Last week I received such a wonderful email that really touched me and makes me so happy that the images that I take can have a deeper impact than just looking nice in a frame.
Olivia and her mother, Margaret, drove up from Portland for Olivia's senior pictures. I was flattered that they made the drive and I was a little anxious because I remember my senior pictures and how excited I was to have one of the best photographers in my area (Jill Canifax outside of Salem, OR) take my pictures. I was anxious because I wanted to give Olivia images that she would love. I wanted to share Margaret's words w/ you and thank her for sharing her sentiments.
"The pictures turned out beautiful, and the confidence level has risen in Olivia, which was exactly what we were praying for. She is incredibly sweet, and loves fashion and photography. I thought it would be fun to bless her with a fun photo shoot and you made it all happen. Thanks so much Tara. It was more than just senior pictures,It was a very special, very memorable and very wonderful experience for her. :-) I cherish our day with you and I look forward to bringing all three daughters up next fall for a "fall shoot.""

Sophia & Valentina

Over half of the families I photographed in El Paso this trip were new for me which is always fun. Something that was familiar was getting to shoot at the beautiful home of my friends. If you have been following my blog for awhile you will recognize my favorite El Paso setting...it makes its first appearance again tonight.
I enjoyed meeting Sophia & Valentina & their parents. Their eyes are captivating and very expressive (especially Sophia's looks on the chair). This first image just makes me laugh. They were an adorable family.

Fun in Texas

I have gone for a few too many days w/o a post but I have a good excuse. I have been buried in work and feeling like I am treading water to keep my head from exploding. But I am working through all the Texas families and will now start sharing them.
I thought it was most appropriate to start w/ my #1 fan (I know many of you are contenders but as mentioned a few months back my client Chris is hands down my biggest). We had 3 sittings while I was in town and Chris was so great at planning out ideas of what she was hoping to have me capture. The first sitting we spent shooting in a few rooms in their home w/ her daughter Grace, Chris' grandmother & Grace's special talking bear even made an appearance w/ them. There were so many fun moments to choose from I had a tough time narrowing down the selection. I am starting to feel like I have image posting diarrhea (hopefully I didn't offend anyone w/ that word but that is the only descriptive that comes to mind to appropriately describe my thought) and need to start getting a handle on myself. So I tried my best to pare things down. The last image is one of my favorites of the year.

One more class...

I found out there was one more class to photograph and they would be the youngest of the bunch. Given their age I wasn't surprised to be met w/ some resistance. There were a few who wanted nothing to do w/ my "playtime in the alley". Fortunately they all came around and provided some wonderful smiles and expressions. Be forewarned about the quantity of pictures I am including. Many gave me such great expressions that I could not choose so I had to double up on some of the kiddos.