And yet another senior boy... no girls for me yet!!

"C" was my third senior session - another soccer player! I should be a pro at "guy poses" soon!!

We scheduled this session for 9 a.m. on a Friday the kids didn't have school... which was a bit on the early side. I promised to make it as short and painless as possible so he could crawl back in bed!

His mom (also put to work holding my reflector!) was hoping for some great fall colors at the forest preserve, but we just didn't get many reds this year. Here's one with a hint of color...

And even though I forgot to stamp it as such, this one is my fave from the session...

My Latest Senior Session... A Soccer Player!

Last week I had a session with another senior... he was so nice! His mom was very helpful too...I put her to work as my reflector holder! "N" had fun giving her a hard time about not doing her job correctly... I thought at one point he was going to start explaining physics principles to her about how to reflect light properly!!

They were so fun and easy to work with... N had some great ideas for fun action shots with the soccer ball, and he came up with a great idea for this flip! The first time I didn't catch his whole body in the frame properly, but the second time worked great!

And finally, one of my favorite shots... it reminds me of a magazine ad or something!

Quick Peek from my Holiday Mini Sessions

I had three families take advantage of my Holiday Mini-Sessions held at the Conservation District on October 21... luckily we had a beautiful day! It was warm, and sunny... can't ask for more in late October!

Here is a quick look at one image from each session... I'd say they're my favorites but I keep changing my mind! So I'll say that right now they're my faves and leave myself creative license to change my mind later :)

Thanks again to everyone who came out for my mini-session day... I hope you had as much fun as I did! Special thanks to my hard-working, underpaid (translate: unpaid) assistant Bob!

Double Trouble... in the form of identical 4-yr old boys!!

I had my work cut out for me with these twins... thankfully they were dressed in different color pants! As it was, I barely stood a chance at telling them apart - I kept calling them the wrong names and the poor kids didn't know who I was talking to!

Luckily, we started with the family pics at the lake and then moved over to the waterfall, because by the end these boys were both soaked head to toe!! While "N" splashed nicely in the water, "A" just about scared us all half to death because he kept running and skidding to a halt right at the top of the waterfall... Mom and Dad are going to have their hands full with that little daredevil!

And finally, my new fave ... I *heart* this shot! Now if I could only choose between color and b&w...

Another Fun Family Shoot...

Well, we finally got around to this... the original shoot was scheduled for late August, but we had a HUGE storm with lots of flooding and the clients lost power for the whole weekend... not to mention that the waterfall at the Conservation Area was under about 3 feet of water! It looked like a whitewater rapids!


So on this unseasonably warm Sunday morning we did this family session... first with a traditional family pose by the lake...

Then we headed over to the waterfall. I wasn't sure how much Dad would get into the whole thing, but by the end he was coming up with ideas for poses and locations and we were all having a great time! Here is one of his poses - giving the photographer some 'tude!!

And you'd never guess by looking at these kids, but yes, this photo actually was taken in October in northern IL!! (I believe the temp hit 90 that afternoon) I'm not sure what this pose was supposed to be exactly, but it made me laugh :)

A quick glance at last Sunday's sessions...

Last Sunday I had two family sessions at my favorite location... the waterfall! The two moms were sisters, so that was fun!

Here are a couple shots from the first family... these are actually from the lake in the conservation area, which is very nice too.

And this is probably my fave from the session... once we moved under the tree and the kids weren't staring into the bright sky, this pose turned out great!

And here are a couple from the second family at the waterfall...

And I love this one :) The kids had fun splashing in the water, even if it was a little chilly!

My First Senior Session!

This past weekend I had a session with my first Class of 2008 senior, "J". We decided to do some casual photos around town - at my newfound fave urban location and the forest preserve.

It was a fun session! "J" was a good sport - putting up with my corny behavior and occasionally talking to him like he was a toddler (anything to try to get a REAL smile and not the cheesy fake grin)... to his mom's best attempts to blind him (and passing traffic) with my reflector! But with some practice, she became quite proficient with the reflector... I may be giving her a call when I need an assistant in the future!

Here's one where mom was getting a bit wild with the reflector and "J" was supposed to be my lookout in case any cars came flying around the corner while I was trying to get the best angle by standing in the road... (anything to get the shot, right?!)

And what is (so far) my fave from the session... of course, in B/W!

Urban session with a teenage girl

I can't believe it's been a month since I added anything new... time has just gotten away from me and I apologize to anyone who's been waiting!

My 14-yr old neighbor "K" wanted to model for me, so we tried out some "urban" shots and it was really fun!! I took these a little late in the day (plus it had been raining off and on all day), so some turned out a bit darker than I was hoping... guess I'll know better for next time!

This one is "K's" fave... the little sign says "Heater Perfection"! We didn't know what that meant, but thought it was interesting enough to include in the picture :)

And mine... :)

And a fun one from earlier in the day with little Ollie...

I definitely like these locations and you will see them again! I think "K" had a good time modeling, too...

Sneak Peek From an Extended Family Session...

I just wanted to put a couple photos up from an extended family session I did last weekend... 5 kids under the age of 7 and 6 adults! I have so many photos to sort through, here are just a few of the grandkids...

This is the baby, "E", playing peek-a-boo through the slats of the swingset...

We had a few issues with "Firefox" and "DeeDee" (two crazy little stuffed animals) trying to take over the photo session... at times they kept jumping into the photo blocking kid's faces!! But once we got the animals under control, things went more smoothly!

And here's one of the remaining four grandkids clowning around and posing for me...

I've been busy... here's a quick look at a recent session

August is looking to be a hot month... both in terms of temp (can you say 90s?!) and bookings! I have had 4 sessions so far this month already and I'm loving it!!


Here is a quick preview of yesterday's session... as I get more done I'll be posting more, but I promised mom (my friend!) a peek.

These kids were great!!! They're friends of my kids, who accompanied me to "help" with the shoot, and they all had fun exploring in between shots and location changes.

Miss "M" was a pro at this... between those dimples and her beautiful brown eyes I could have photographed her for hours!

Her brother, "A" was not quite as interested in taking photos as chasing frogs and snakes, but I still managed to get him to stop for a few shots!! This is one of the "good" smiles, although I did see my share of goofy head tilts and a few "are you kidding me?" looks when we started talking about pink four-wheelers (at my suggestion that he'd look cute on one)!

And finally one great shot of them together... they were remarkably cooperative in the hot sun (at this point it was about 10:15 am and the temp was pushing 90 already with about 200% humidity)! I know I would have been a lot crankier than they were!

And last but not least, a shot of the water snake we all spent some time checking out when we arrived on location... can you believe my crazy kids still wanted to take off their sandals and wade?!

So thanks to the whole family for a very fun session... and to Dad for being such a great reflector holder! Hope you enjoy the photos...

Sneak Preview from Monday's Family Session...

Here are a couple photos from a session on Monday... this family was very easy to work with. We had a near-miss with some goose-poop trying to find a location where it was safe to sit on the ground... but once we did, it went great!!

And here's one of just the kids...

The guys were trying to refer me to their agents, but I convinced them that using them as models on my site was part of the whole deal :)

Lovely First Communion Session

I wanted to post these images as a quick preview from yesterday's session... Miss "L" was such a sweet model!

We got some beautiful shots of her in her First Communion dress... it was quite a change from seeing her in the visor and softball uniform that I saw her in all spring!

One more that's not so "communion-ey," but I couldn't resist this sweet expression :)

And one more thanks goes out to "Blonde Twin" and "Green Twin" for being awesome "Assistant / Backdrop Holders"!!

Who would have guessed this beautiful location could be found in Wilmington, IL?

I had the opportunity to take some photos of a fun family right after the July 4th holiday at this GREAT location! "J" told me when we set up the session that she had a envisioned barefeet and river rocks, but didn't know where we could take photos like that. I told her I had just the spot... and they loved it!

What a great location for this family! Mom and dad were both willing to splash around and get wet - even kneeling in the water with the kids for a few shots!

Their little guy, "N", is 2 and quite a character! He had lots of fun running and sliding around, and his baby sister, "D", seemed to enjoy the water too.

And being the good hubby that he is, "R" scored some major points when he suggested some photos of the 2 of them alone before we finished...

Fun photo shoot at the beach...

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting a preview of this little sweetheart from last Friday's session! "Miss M" just turned two, and she was a doll! I am discovering that photographing toddlers is quite different than my two (mostly) willing children - they don't like to sit still, and they don't take direction quite as well :)

"M" did have a great time walking in the water along the beach, and even wading in a bit. Luckily mom was open to the kids getting a little wet!!

What a little beauty... I'd just love to know what she's thinking...

And one quick shot of her 5 year old brother... he was busy throwing sticks and things in the water, or digging in the sand, for most of the time. I did convince "I" to sit for a few quick shots... but then then the water beckoned again and he was off!

A few pics of JMK (just my kids)...

I recently got a new lens (thanks for the loan, Mom!) and have been having a great time experimenting with it!

I love the color and the clarity I'm able to achieve with it... check out the lashes on these two cuties :)