I think it’s such a great quality when Dads are able to show affection to their children, especially their sons. Andy, Lea and Zach are such a sweet family. Zach is their first child and they just adore him. It was especially great to see Andy being so affectionate with his son, always cuddling and kissing him and often telling him I Love You. You can tell those two will be great buds when Zach is older. Lea was such a good Mom too, prepared with Cheerios and water and making sure Zach was having a fun time for his first ever photo shoot!
Here’s that cutie Zach hanging out with his Daddy:
And here is the whole family. Andy and Lea go to the same church as we do and we have known them since before either of us had children. It was fun to have the opportunity to photograph their first family photos with Zach.
Zach is 9 months old and is just getting his first tooth so he was very interested in touching it with his tongue and his hands.
Since he isn’t walking yet I thought it would be good to bring along something that could help him get some standing shots. Little did I know his uncle is a musician and Zach has been practicing up with his own little piano at home.
After Daddy watched Zach play for a little bit he decided he wanted to join in. Andy actually knew how to play some songs and Lea and I were quite impressed.
This next one is a little out of focus but I had to post it because it proves my point so well. I was getting ready to take some crawling / sitting pictures of Zach on this road when Mom, Dad and Zach had a little impromptu snuggle moment - so cute!
And here’s that crawling picture:
Andy and Lea - thanks so much for allowing me to photograph your family!!
I LOVED every thing about this photo session today! I was excited all day long to finally get there because I couldn’t wait to take photos at this location and I knew I was going to love this family. This location we found was absolutely gorgeous. I could have stayed there all day and just relaxed - it truly feels like paradise there! In addition, the family was completely adorable and we had such a great time hanging out. Gina and I had been emailing off and on for about a month and it was so great to finally meet her. Her girls were the sweetest thing and I am certain my daughter Haylie would love to hang out with them!
Gina likes the photojournalistic style of photos so we got a lot of images that really tell a story about her beautiful family:
I love how you can see their reflection - such a beautiful place!
This is Natalie. She is a princess like no other. We had such a great time pretending to be princesses and playing imagination games in the “castles” (cool brick structures all around the area that really looked like little castles.)
And here is Kaitlyn - she had such a sweet personality and the most adorable little giggle!
While getting this next shot I stepped on an ant hill. Kaitlyn started pointing at my foot and I realized I had big Red Ants everywhere. Yuck!!! I shook them off and still managed to catch some cute smiles!
Here are Hannah and Finley - they came along for the fun. We got some cute family images with them but the fun part was when they took off and jumped in the water. Guess they wanted to make sure they were done taking pictures!
I love these next two photos. We were playing peekaboo and I love the expressions on their faces.
I’m pretty sure this is my favorite image of the day. I LOVE everything about it!
Kevin, Gina, Natalie and Kaitlyn - thank you so much for allowing me to take photos of your family. I really enjoyed our session and you have a beautiful family. I hope you like your images so far! 
While processing pictures from Gavin’s photo session today, I came across this image and couldn’t help but share. My main goal when photographing toddlers is to make them feel comfortable and as a result, get some cute, natural images. I always let them check out my camera and I spend a lot of time just hanging out with them and playing with them. Apart from the fact that I adore children, I feel like that makes a difference in the quality of the photos because the images are so much more real. All that said, it is still scary to have a stranger with a big camera in your face. It just makes taking the time and connecting with the kids that much more important. Check out this picture of Gavin - of course I zoomed in and sharpened his eyes quite a bit so you could get the full effect. Look at the reflection in his eyes - can you see Mom, Dad and me standing there capturing his attention??? I thought it was a great reminder for me to always remember to think about my sessions with children through their eyes.
When I started processing images from this shoot I was looking for the traditional 5 or 6 favorites to complete as a sneak peek, but after I selected my top ones there were just tooo many to choose from. I kept whittling it down and finally arrived at these ELEVEN pictures for a sneak peek. I think this might be the most I have ever posted in one blog entry but Ashley did such a good job modeling for her senior portraits and she is so photogenic that I couldn’t stop processing the pictures.
We took the photos all around her family’s beautiful home. It made for a perfect backdrop with numerous picturesque spots to choose from.
Ashley plays the piano beautifully so she and her Mom really wanted to make sure and get some good piano shots. So elegant:
My favorite pictures of Ashley were when she was laughing. I love the way people look when they are laughing, so happy and natural! Whenever I do manage to get someone to laugh, my finger goes crazy snapping away to get the shot:
Ashley’s two big sisters suggested this great, rustic looking garage door as a backdrop and I couldn’t agree more:
I’ll leave you with one last laughing picture. My favorite!
Ashley - congratulations on graduating from high school. It is really here and what an exciting time!!! Thank you for allowing me to take your senior pictures and there are SO many more cute ones to come!!
