It is very fitting that the first of my El Paso posts is of little Grace. If you have followed my blog for a few years you have seen many images of this little cutie. I began photographing her before she arrived into our world and when I return to EP I always get to spend a few sittings with her. It was just perfect that the day I choose to be in EP was her 3rd birthday. I had such a good time running around the yard with her. I loved the pictures with her dad...Chris I hope you love them too!

Workshop close to filled

There are only a few spots left for the May 18th workshop. If you are interested in joining us call or email me ASAP!

Lily is a big sister!!

I am back from my whirlwind trip to Texas. I missed the one day of incredible weather and now we are back to winter conditions...thank goodness I got a little sunshine down south. I have hit the ground running. I have so many family images to work throught my head is spinning a bit. But I am looking forward to sharing them all with you.

If you have followed my blog for a while now you will recognize the precious little girl in this next set of images. I met Lily this past summer and immediately fell in love w/ her and her family. When I received the news that her brother and sister had arrived after months of hospitalized bed rest I could hardly wait to meet them and see Lily again.
When I arrived Lily greeted me with a beaming smile that just melted my heart. It was wonderful to see how great she was doing and I could tell how proud she was to be a big sister. Lily's parents were amazed that the twins were actually awake at the same time but I would expect nothing but the best from siblings of Lily's.
I hope they love these first pictures of their little ones!

Clothing guide

One of the most commonly asked questions I receive is, "What should we wear?". I am always the first to admit that clothes are not my forte. But it is always fun when I have clients who arrive with sassy, funky and different clothes. So I decided to put together a guide for new clients. It made its debut yesterday for my clients who have upcoming sittings scheduled. I was relieved to receive rave reviews.
There are lots of pictures for examples of what I describe and I did include Cooper and Oscar in their "fancy clothes" as they call them. I have never cared what my kids wore and then I found a brand that I LOVE! (Knucklehead) So here are my little models...

I am off to Texas for my spring shooting bonanza this weekend. It is always a crazy busy weekend but I am really looking forward to seeing all the families and enjoying some warm weather! I have had to reschedule a number of shoots w/ this ridiculous weather but thankfully the little ones want to stay inside...
This weekend little Kieran got his moment in the spotlight. The whole sitting was about him but his I couldn't help snapping a few of his siblings who run to the door to greet me now...so I have to bookcase this shoot w/ them.

Spring is booking up fast

With the hope of warm weather my calendar is starting to fill up quickly. If you are wanting to schedule a spring/summer sitting I recommend touching base with me soon.

Now, if I had a daughter I would want her to be just like my next subject. Not only is she stunningly beautiful but better than that she is incredibly smart, polite, respectful AND athletic. Really I have not met many young girls like her. She came along on the "cousins" shoot and we managed to get her alone for a few.

Random act of kindness...

I know this is a photography blog but it is also a means to broadcast to many and I believe in the power of word of mouth so please excuse my step away from the norm tonight.

I am a BIG believer in random acts of kindness. Giving to people that you do not know and who are not expecting it is something that makes me happy. And I am hoping some of you may also feel this way because there is a family in need of your random act of kindness today. Elise, Cameron & their son Jasper were nominated and selected as one of the donated sittings families I will be doing this year. In February of this year Elise was diagnosed w/ an inoperable brain tumor. The biopsy results found it to be "Level three or four high grade glioma" with a terminal prognosis. You can follow their family's journey here http://raisingjasper.blogspot.com .

Although you do not know this family I would ask for you to think about making a random act of kindness today and send $10, $50, $500...Your small donation may feel insignificant in value alone but if it is put together w/ 20 other peoples' donations it becomes significant. A check can be made out to "WAMU Acct# 193-378245-0” and mailed to:
Washington Mutual
1195 NW Gilman Blvd
Issaquah, WA 98027

If you are a parent with a healthy family be thankful today and send a little gift to a family that is not as fortunate.

Workshop dates announced!!

As I mentioned earlier the workshop on Sunday was a big success. I have received some great emails from the participants. Here are a few quotes:

"Thank YOU! I really thought the workshop was great and am so excited to start using my camera on the manual settings and getting more out of this lense!! I loved how you put everything in layman’s terms. I really feel like a lot of the functions that I previously did not understand (like F-Stop, Shutter Speed & ISO) and the relationship between them is so clear (and simple!) now."

"I had an AWESOME time at the class - and having been trying to put some of our new "tactics" to work."

Some have shared their pictures and blogs with me in their excitement of implementing some of the tips I shared with them. The workshop filled w/in a week and I have a list of people who were hoping I would offer another. I was waiting to announce another workshop date until I completed the first to ensure that what I was teaching was really worth peoples' time and money. The knowledge level of the participants covered a range of very beginner to those w/ an understanding of their camera and post processing so I wanted to make sure that I was able to meet everyones ability level. The feedback and excitement I have received has confirmed that the workshop is something I want to continue to offer. So I am excited to announce two dates for upcoming workshops.

April 30 from 10am to 2:30
May 18 from 9:30 to 2:00

Please call or email me if you would like to reserve a spot. A few of the attendees received the workshop as a birthday gift from their spouse. If you need a birthday, Mother's Day or Father's Day gift for your partner the workshop may be lighten your shopping load!

If you are reading about the workshop for the first time you will find more details about the workshop in my March posts or contact me and I can fill you in.

On Sunday we spent 10 minutes with a few beautiful models. My goal for the time was not to capture the best pictures of them. I was using them to demonstrate what we had covered earlier. The twins were great and I managed to get a few that were keepers.. The first one makes me laugh. You can just see her thinking who are all these crazy people with cameras and why are they pointing them at me??!!

In the last few weeks dry days were scarce. But we got lucky with my best friend's family which was great because everyone was visiting from Oregon so we had a one day window that would work. Capturing the grandkids with the grandparents was a must as well as an entire group photo. Once that was done we jumped in our cars and the kids and I jetted off to a few fun spots.
The family dog almost stole the show...