cousins

this shoot included two cute brothers and their adorable cousin. they had so much fun on the trains. and i definitely enjoyed capturing that.

how handsome is this one?! watch out, mom. the girls are going to be flocking.

and the love shown here was in no way fake. they were truly happy to be brothers and showed it. you can't make that stuff up!

and then there was this girl. holy smokes! one of the most adorable little things you've ever seen! this was also to celebrate her turning one.

cute pie! look at those eyes! he batted them at me the whole time. :)

and oh, how i love zebra print and tutus! perfect combination!

15 shoots in 15 days

Whew! I had several sessions and a few reschedules on the calendar even before I posted the ipad/minisession/celebration of spring post. Then every mini-session date was snatched up. And the weather couldn't have been better for every shoot. This resulted in a shoot spree that made me feel like I was in a constant whirlwind! In the best kind of way! I'm still editing a few of the last sessions, but I wanted to give a little glimpse into the last 15 days...

Day 1: Adorable lovebirds

Day 2: The familiar cuteness of Cali & Avery, who I've been photographing for a year now!

Day 3: Holy sweetness! I adored photographing these two cuties!
Day 4: Uber cool senior gal

Day 5: Super cute family
Day 6: Super cute family again!
Day 7: Mr. Senior 2010

Day 8: I traveled all the way to this beautiful ranch to shoot this senior and his sister. Let it be noted that I was heartbroken that no horses were used during the session... : (
Day 9: Oh.my.goodness. Sweet babyness on day 9.
Day 10: College senior whose last shoot with me was fillled with cold and rain...try #2 was a success!Day 11: More cute family love.
Day 12: Yet another Mr. Senior 2010. I love seniors! All of 'em!

Day 13: My second shoot with these four beautiful children. They're also extremely polite, like wonderfully, perfectly polite. We teachers really appreciate that... :)
Day 14: Then there was this crazy bunch! Hee hee! Just kidding, guys! They were so fun!
Day 15: And then it all ended with these beautiful girls...

whew! And now it's 12:51am and I have to teach 54 4th graders something about Texas History and how to write coherent stories in the morning, so I'm going to bed! :)

pretty momma

This sweet momma-to-be is Leslie.
I taught 6th grade with Leslie for one year. She is an absolute ray of sunshine.
My fondest memory of teaching with Leslie happened when we took our 6th graders on a field trip to San Antonio.
I will pause this story here to say that if you should ever become a teacher and you are given the opportunity to take your team of 120 6th graders on a 31/2 hours bus ride to play all day in another city, do so. It'll be worth it. BUT. Also, take tranquilizers for the bus ride home.
It'll really be worth it.

Leslie and I had assumed that the students would be so very tired from our excursion that they would quickly pass out on the bus ride home and we would have a quiet, calm return trip.
So very NOT the case.
They were insane. We spent a good while hushing and shushing and "detentions-can-be-given-ing" and perhaps...yelling. And then finally, Leslie and I are standing there in the aisle of the bus, she's on one end, I'm on the other and there are 40 some odd 6th graders between us, all hopped up on a day's worth of caffeine and crazinesss...
Leslie looked at me and said, "Well...if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"
and laughed her wonderfully contagious laugh.
So, we did.
I joined in a card game being played in the back and she did something similar in the front. And would you believe, all students and teachers made it home safe and sound that night?

That story really has nothing to do with her pictures or her having a baby really, but i felt like sharing. : ) I know Leslie is going to be one wonderful momma, and I'm so excited for her!

fresh from heaven.

I'll be perfectly honest. Newborn sessions still scare me. For one reason. They have to be indoors 99% of the time and that takes me out of my comfort zone of natural light.
It's scary!
Light is everything!
And not having enough of it is down right terrifying for a photographer, well, at least this photographer. I'm just confessing my weaknesses here! Stick me in an alley with broken windows and I'll be happy as a lark. But in a room with one window? I'll start sweating bullets. Seriously.
Having said that, in the midst of my lack-of-light panic attacks, I do absolutely love newborn sessions. Because they're so wonderfully tiny and wrinkly and perfect. Fresh from heaven perfect.

And, oh, how I love seeing new parents with their baby. It's a love like nothing else. It's like, until you hold your first child, you've never even really understood love. And I get to freeze frame that new love forever.
(or try to in between sweating bullets, shaking and questioning everything I thought I knew about photography)
I was lucky during this session because there was an abundance of natural light filtering in through lots of windows, so i got some shots that I absolutely love....this is my favorite.

But this one makes my heart beat a little faster, too...

and then there's this...

Sigh...I'll face my fears any time for images like these... : )

one of these days...

...I will try to be as cool as the seniors I photograph and wear cowboy boots and a sundress. And when I do, I give you all permission to say, "Jenny, dear, you just can't pull it off." And I'll shed a tear, and do it anyway. One of these days...
So, I absolutely loved this session, as I do all senior sessions. Cute cute girl, amazing clothes(as always), great light, and THE most beautiful eyes my camera has ever seen.
Don't you agree? I adored them.

I mean, come on!

turning one is a big deal!

Turning 1 is definitely something worth getting photographed!
I love doing one year sessions. For a number of reasons.


They're adorably cute. Not matter what. See?
They make these sweet little innocent faces like this...

They look up at me with big innocent eyes and my heart melts
as I think, "This THIS is my job?!"

Did I mention they're just cute?

like, super duper, no matter the face, wonderfully, innocently, perfectly cute?