Two Sweet Cousins

Today, I got to photograph two sweet cousins.  Little Lauren is a repeat customer, I shot her late last year for some fairly newborn/holiday photos.  Tomorrow is her christening, and special photos were needed to capture her amazing dress that was handmade from her mom's wedding dress.  Her aunt and cousin were in town for this special event and graciously allowed me into their world for a short time.

Sweet Caeley was bribed into this shot with her brand new fairy wings, tutu, and wands. Beautiful and ever so kind sisters and future BFF cousins.

I love this shot and so happy Jill caved and got in front of the camera :)

Those amazing eyes!

And that stunning dress!

Just A Girl and Her Hoodie

My daughter is obsessed with her hoodies.  I'm not sure she would even consider wearing a jacket without one.  Course she calls them her hats, but that's okay.  She is only 3, yet such a little diva.

She has so many of her father's traits, it blows my mind.

My favorite is this one above.

Growth

Today as I sat outside and enjoyed the first real nice weather in FOREVER with my daughter (and alone time with her which is rare these days), I realized as I was taking pictures of her that I was basically re-shooting a previous day with her.

It was 11 months ago (almost to the day!) that I sat outside my mom's house and took these similar images. She was wearing the same pink hoodie (her daddy bought a 4T when she was 2!), and we had bubbles (though this time they sucked and didn't work).

I thought I would do a little comparison to see how I have grown as a photographer, and how much she has grown!

2010:

2011:

2010:

2011:

Best of 2010

2010 was a great year for me personally and professionally.

  

The first great professional achievement was the upgrading of my camera body.  I went from the Canon EOS xsi Rebel to the Canon EOS 50D.  

I had my first sibling portrait session, and here is a favorite from that shoot.

Thank you Lisa for the opportunity.

I had a very unexpected personal surprise - the news of a new addition to our family, just 6 weeks after being told we had less then 10% chance of getting pregnant with donor egg ivf - well that doc was WRONG!  And to add humor to all this, we gave him the middle name of Chance.

I had 2 family mini-sessions from my giveaways, thank you Kim and Vanessa for entering and allowing me to be a part of your lives for a short time.

I was blessed to take some newborn photos of my cousin's newest addition, along with family shots for them.  Thank you Jon & Kerry!

I did a holiday shoot for 2 adorable little boys, thank you Jill for letting me have this honor.

And Blake and Jaime, so many thanks for letting me get my hands on baby Lauren. She is precious, and looking forward to our upcoming shoot.

And many thanks to my niece and nephew for tolerating the constant camera in their faces every time I see you.

And to my newly acquired extended family.  USMC strong.  Louise, Brandy, and Benita - you make Cali tolerable (outside of you, Kimmie!) and made life on base housing awesome.  Looking forward to coming back, though we will be missing you loads Louise.