one more cherub

this little cupid didn't want to be left out.  
may you find love today!

happy valentine's day!

what to wear {february}

Outfit suggestions for a family shoot this month.  Winter is a good time for cool hues and lots of textures and it's a great idea to find coordinating outfits, not matching ones.  Don't you love those little girl boots!

athay {family photography}

I love the look of winter photos.  The snowy background makes the subjects stand out so beautifully.  I wish I had more occasion to do winter shoots, it's just that snow usually equals cold.  I'm getting a little tired of cold.  Is it cold where you live?   I don't blame anyone for hibernating just now, but looking at these makes me think that maybe I should get outside and shoot more before the beautiful snow is all gone.

These guys were real troopers.  It was a single-digit temperature kind of day when we went outside to get some family shots for their Christmas card.  We took a few, and then all agreed to postpone the rest of the shoot until Spring.  I think it was a good decision.  And I think I need a warmer coat.

i {heart} faces : innocent wonder

The theme over at i {heart} faces this week fits perfectly with the photos I'm editing right now.  I took my daughter out to the beach one afternoon for her seventh birthday photo shoot.  We were in Florida on vacation...and we live in Idaho...so she was mesmerized by the ocean!  I couldn't get her to hold still; all she wanted to to do was run to the water, along the shore, chasing birds, and take in all the beauty.  Definitely an innocent wonder for a girl from a cold, landlocked state.

Check out this week's other entries:

lensbaby

I got a new toy:  a Lensbaby Composer.  It has been SO fun to play with!  The manual focusing takes some practice, but I love the creative possibilities, and am so happy to have this lens in my arsenal.

This is my spunky monkey daughter.  More of this shoot to follow.

lis {portrait photography}

I wasn't going to share these, but then decided I loved them too much not to.  I told her, "it's fun editing photographs of your best friend because I know all the expressions and which ones are authentically you," and it's true.  Aren't I lucky to have such a beautiful best friend?  Good thing I'm waaay beyond the whole teenage jealousy phase.

We shot outside for, oh, maybe three minutes.  It was coooold!  And her little boy was crying through the sliding glass doors, which was heartbreaking and also a little funny.  Also heartbreaking was that my lens died just as we were about to begin.  Agh!  So I had to dust off my 18-55 mm kit lens (the only other one I had at the time), and felt grateful that this wasn't a paying session!  We did the remainder inside her house, which turned out to be perfect because the last photo of her surrounded by her books?  That's the authentic Lis.