A family session at the waterfall!

This session was on a hot, hot, day in July (imagine that, a hot July day in Chicagoland!), but it was OK, because it was a special session... for a couple reasons. First, the D family are friends of ours - my daughter has been friends with R since kindergarten (hard to believe it's 5 years already)! Second, this family purchased this session through a silent auction. Back in the spring, I donated a gift certificate to my son's Cub Scout troop, and the D family won the auction! Talk about a win-win situation - the Cub Scouts made some money, the D family gets some great family photos, and I have fun creating those photos! Yay all around :)

Here is a quick preview from the session... a cute photo of R&C alone...

And one of the 3 kids together... love it!

And finally, one of the D family, including Aunt K. The waterfall was pretty crowded with people visiting and exploring when we first arrived, so I was very happy we were able to get some photos after all. I don't think you can really beat this spot for a family photo!

Thanks for a fun session, and I hope you enjoy your little sneak peek... and thanks again for bidding so diligently at the silent auction!

Such a gorgeous setting for a wedding!!

Those of you who know me know that I do NOT do weddings! Well, a friend of ours called me about 2 weeks before his wedding to tell me that their photographer fell through and they had nobody. How could I let that happen? So I stepped into the role of wedding photographer - ONCE and ONLY ONCE - and set out to capture J & K's day. I am not completely done editing, but here are a few...

I hope I was truly able to capture your memories of such a special day! And I must say...wedding photographers... kudos to you! I went into this project thinking that wedding photography would be a challenge, but I now have an entirely new respect for those of you who do weddings on a regular basis.

J & K... hope you enjoy your photos!

Lovely family session!

Before we went on vacation (some fun vacation photos to come when I get to them!!), I had a chance to take a few quick family photos. Isn't this family gorgeous?! I may be biased, because they are my brother-in-law and his family, but I honestly think they are great :) They came up to IL to visit for a few days from TN, and I was really excited we were able to squeeze in a few photos amongst all the family craziness!!

Here is one of B&A together... love it!!

Here is one of the whole family together... you'd never guess by their smiles that we were all in the middle of one of the largest swarms of mosquitoes you've ever seen...

And one of the kids alone... tried a little different feel on the processing here, and I think I like it! See how nicely they smile for their favorite (well, at least I like to think so!!) Aunt Heidi :)

And finally, one of my adorable niece M and her American Girl Doll - what trip to visit Chicago is complete without a stop at the American Girl Store?!

If only I could let you all (or should I say "Ya'll") hear them speak... they have the cutest little southern accents ever!!!