Dana, Rob, and Maya celebrate Andrew’s First Birthday

I met this beautiful family at the park to capture Andrew’s first birthday portraits.  We enjoyed a morning of gorgeous Florida fall weather – 82 degrees instead of 89 with relatively low humidity, and beautiful light!  To us, this is heaven!  We captured some fun family portraits, followed by a cake smash and bath.  Big sis got in on the action of the cake smash, and also the splash!  I can’t believe they both fit, but I’m glad they did, because they had a great time, and looked adorable doing so, which gave me some great moments to capture! 

Grant Newborn

I had the pleasure of meeting this family for their gender reveal a few months back, which was an awesome experience since mom was so excited to balancing out the pink in her family with a little bit of blue.  Baby Grant is here, and I got to meet him when he was 10 days new!  He’s just as cute as can be, and looks like his older sisters.  They just love him so, which is what I love to capture in a newborn session.  I don’t have a bunch of newborn props, and my clients know that.  Why would you want a bunch of pictures of your baby sitting in my basket?  I like to capture the love in the new family with things that are meaningful to them.  And there was plenty of love to capture here!  There was also a ton of light streaming in their large windows, which added an extra element of beauty to these photos.  Congratulations Kevin, Kim, Chloe, and Caitlyn, and I hope to get you in front of my camera again as you grow!

Ethan’s Bar Mitzvah

This family joyously celebrated their eldest son Ethan’s Bar Mitzvah last weekend.  He worked really hard for it, and had to “think different”, which was part of the theme of his celebration.  Because Steve Jobs and the other leads over at Apple have created greatness by thinking differently, Ethan identifies with them (and what kids don’t love playing on iPhones and iPads), and chose Apple as his theme.  The party was staged as a launch for a new Operating System, eOS13 (e for Ethan, instead of the typical iOS and 13 because of Bar Mitzvah age).

There were Apple details everywhere!  The entrance to the reception room was designed to look like an Apple store, there was a Genius bar, apple “juice” (i.e. a charging station), and Apple store employee t-shirts for the catering staff.   The guest of honor was introduced by Siri herself, followed by a tech-saavy video presentation and iPad candle-lighting combo.  It was an incredible night with an incredible family, and I hope I’Il get to celebrate many more simchas with you all!

Family Painting / Paint Fight Session!

This mama and I were in prenatal yoga together (with her oldest and my youngest), and we’ve kept in touch over the years.  When my Facebook page reached 500 likes, I did a session giveaway, and this family won!  My only condition was that she had to use the session before the holiday season sessions start.  After letting her know that I had some openings this month and bugging her to schedule, she sent me an example of another family’s painting session, and I said I’d always wanted to photograph one!  So we picked a date, and made it happen this weekend.  She got all the paint and supplies, and applied the word ‘love’ onto a canvas using masking tape. 

The family had a great time painting the canvas, and each other, which made for some great and colorful shots, which is why this is such a popularly Pinteresting idea!  In the session we were pinspired by, each member of the family had a different colored container of paint, and matching bandana or other accessory.  I love that extra styling, as it adds a bit of color to the before picture, and gives each member of the family an identity in the after shot, so that each color takes on a personality.  I’ll do another giveaway when I reach 1,000 likes, so keep following, liking, and sharing, and you could be next!  If you’d rather not leave your memories up to chance, check out the ‘Pricing’ tab.

Harry Potter Bookstore Session!

I first met the youngest in the group for his Valentine’s day session this past February.  He had brought a Harry Potter broom with him, and his mom and I got to talking about how he and his other siblings are huge Harry Potter fans, and wouldn’t it be fun to do a Harry Potter themed session.  Yesterday, we brought that vision to life.  I recently discovered the Second Edition Book Shop, which has been named multiple times as the best in our county, and have been waiting for the perfect book-loving family to photograph here.  Thank you so much to Danielle for sharing your lovely space with us, and we were so excited to have The Great Catsby (who bears a striking resemblance to Hermione’s cat Crookshanks) join us for our first shot!

Based on this inspiring session, the kids started off in their regular clothes, hanging out and reading Harry Potter books.  They climbed the ladder to get their Olivander’s wands, and then it was like their imaginations came to life, as they donned their Hogwarts cloaks in the bookstore, and then in the woods.  They cast a spell on Scabbers the rat, hung out with Hedwig the owl, Fawkes the Phoenix, and Norbert the dragon, reached for the golden snitch, and made their Firebolt rise “up”. I’m typically not one for Photoshop, but the eldest sister and I set up some great action shots that demanded it, so I obliged and was able to arrange a chase by a Hungarian Horntail dragon, a mermaid in the lake, and a meeting with Buckbeak the Hippogriff.  We all had a great time.  Who wants to bring their favorite literary characters to life next?!  I’d love to do this again!