New Seniors on the Blog - Twins from Kaneland High School!

At the risk of sounding REALLY old, these two are my husband's cousin's kids... and I remember when they were babies!! Wow, how the years and flown by, and now they are seniors. They sure have grown up... look how gorgeous Miss A is now!!! I love this one in the grass...

And this one in the field is great too!!!

We can't forget N... who, as a typical guy, wasn't over-the-top about getting a whole bunch of pics taken!! He was a good sport about it though... look how handsome :)

And we got to do some football pics too... those were fun!

MY FAVORITE!!! It turned out so cool... thanks for working with my "vision" (even though he probably had no idea what I had in mind for this one)!!!

Thanks so much for coming all the way out here - I hope you enjoyed your session (at least a little) and love your preview!!

Gorgeous Senior Girl!

Wow, what a FUN session this was!! When I met K on Tuesday for her senior photo session, I immediately realized that this girl was not only beautiful, but REALLY fun and sweet too! Her smile was just infectious, and she was willing to try just about anything I suggested. I was hoping to get a preview up sooner, but I honestly spent soooo much time going through the photos over and over again, trying to select my favorites. Finally, I gave up and decided I'll just choose a few now, and then more than likely I'll add a few more in a couple days. When there are so many fantastic shots to choose from, it's hard to narrow it down (plus, I'm indecisive to begin with)!!

So here are a few for now :) Anyone who has followed my blog at all knows I'm a sucker for a great black and white...

However, blue is my favorite color, and this photo just screams "COLOR" to me with its rich jewel tones... isn't it great?!

After we did a series in studio, we headed out to the forest preserve for a final set in her sundress. I absolutely fell in love with this one... the way her dress just pops with its bright spring colors, and the way the light sparkles in the leaves behind her... LOVE it!!!

Thanks again, K, for making the drive down from Plainfield. I really enjoyed meeting you and your mother, and I had a great time with this session! I hope you like what you see so far, because there are a LOT more great photos to come :)

The Newest Members of the Kreitz Family :)

Some of you may know that we lost our longtime family member, Duffy, this summer at the age of 15. It was a very hard time for all of us.

Recently, we decided that our house was just a little too lonely without some canine feet running around. We went to the Humane Society to see if we could find a dog that would fit into our family. Well, big surprise!! We found TWO puppies in need of a home, and just couldn't leave one behind.

So I am proud to introduce Milo and Zoey, the two newest members of our family!!

Here is a quick snap of Ben with the pups on their first night home...

Last week we took the kids and puppies out to the forest preserve to get some photos of them together before sunset... the puppies weren't exactly interested in spending much time taking pics, as there was so much to explore! But I grabbed a few quick shots while I could...

And one of the two babies together :) We just love Zoey's little "beard" and her adorable spotted paws, and Milo's little flopped-over ear is too cute!!

Since I'm pretty much done with photo sessions for the year (unless anyone has a maternity or newborn they need to squeeze in), I just wanted to show off my new babies a bit :)

OK, one more!!

I know I said I was only putting up one, but I had to add another :) Everyone who knows me knows I just can't resist a good black and white!!!

Another Mini Session Preview

I have quite a few sessions stacked up ready to be edited - it has been a BUSY couple weeks! There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day... so here is just one from last Tuesday's session. I have worked with this family a number of times over the past year, and these kids just keep getting cuter every time!!

Last year at this time it was torture to get Miss A in front of the camera, and this year she kept telling me "Heidi, don't forget to take a picture of me!! And now... take another one now!! And look at me doing this... and over here... how about now?!" Too cute :)

And what can I say... anyone who shows up wearing Packers clothes for a photo session is #1 in my book!!! Love it... Go Pack Go :)

Fall family session... lots of girls!

As I mentioned, this unpredictable fall weather has forced me to reschedule a few sessions... this was one of them. Luckily, Sunday was a beautiful day and we got some great outdoor family photos!

I thought this one turned out great, and I'm so happy we convinced dad to get in here too...

And here is one of the four girls... I like this one a lot!!!

So here are a couple from Sunday.... hope you enjoy them!! The ones with the girls fighting and making faces are coming later (haha)!!

Mini Sessions are in Full Swing...

I just looked at the last blog post and realized it's been over a month since I've been on here!! How bad is that?! I've had a busy month... homecoming photos for the neighbor girls, fall photos for a local preschool, and now the Mini-sessions have begun! Weather has not been very cooperative recently... we've had to reschedule several sessions due to rain and cold. Sunday I had a mini-session with a client who I last saw in the spring... Baby K was 3 months old then, and she is turning 1 now! In fact, I'll be posting photos from her 1-yr session before long :)

For now, here are a couple photos from the mini session... a cute one of K alone, and one of her with her big brother and sister :) I just love these!

It was nice to meet the rest of the family, and I had a great time with all of you! Enjoy your sneak peek...

Family!

I had the pleasure of photographing this extended family on Saturday morning. We had scheduled the session for Hammel Woods in Joliet, and with one family member in town from MN, we didn't really have an option of a rain date. It was lightly sprinkling when we started, and the weather felt more like April than May, but the heavy rain held off and we got some great photos!

Here are the four adult siblings...

and then the sweet matriarch and patriarch of the group!

We decided to try a fun group shot in addition to some more traditional poses, and it turned out great! I just love how everyone is laughing, and look at the two little guys with their feet swinging in the air!! I chose to do this in a long skinny crop - imagine it over a fireplace - because I felt that such a fun, unique photo deserved a fun, unique crop!

Finally, one tender moment between daddy and his baby girl... she was cold and tired and need a snuggle. So sweet!!

So K, I just wanted to say thanks to you and your entire family for choosing me to capture your special memories. Your family was lots of fun (and just a little crazy), and I hope you enjoyed your session as much as I did! Here's your sneak peek... I'll let you all know when the entire session is ready.

What happens when you're in the park at closing time?

They sic the law on you!!! Lesson #1... When the "hours" sign posted at this particular park says 5 pm, they mean 5 pm!! This was the first time I had done a session here so close to closing during the park's winter hours, and we weren't sure what would happen at 5pm.

We had been shooting for over an hour, and the kids had about had it with me and my camera, when we heard a siren coming towards us and stop at the top of the (VERY STEEP) hill... and then a voice coming over a loudspeaker telling us all to return to our vehicles!!



I was rather mortified, but luckily I have known the client for a few years, so she and her family just laughed as we sprinted (OK, speed walked) up the hill (note to self: excercise would be helpful)... Then the officer "escorted" all our vehicles out of the park with his lights on, no less!!!



Not to worry...we did get some good shots in before being so rudely chased away!! I love this one of T and C... T is a good friend of my daughter's, and I know I can always count on these two to be laughing and smiling!

This was their cousin, Miss P... isn't she a cutie! She was trying to add some fiber to her diet by eating as many leaves as possible :)

Here's a shot of all the cousins together... look at Miss P laughing... I love it!

And the last shot of the day... a bit of an outtake!! You can see that little Mr. K had had enough, and the other boys are all looking away trying to figure out what that siren was all about... You can't get a clearer sign that it's time to end the photo session!!

Hope you enjoy your sneak peek... I'll have the full session to come soon!

What a beautiful winter morning!!

This morning I woke up to find all the trees in our neighborhood covered in ice - my kids and I were commenting that it looked like a fairy tale, or a winter wonderland! So after we dropped my daughter off at school, my son and I headed to the local forest preserve to check out all of the beauty nature has to offer on a COLD winter morning!

This next one I was trying to catch the sun coming in through the trees, but I'm not sure I got exactly the look I was trying for. Forgot my lens hood, too! I still do like it, even if the sun is a bit bright and distracting... another one of those shots I was practically laying on my stomach in the snow to try to get the right angle!!

This one I converted to BW using an infrared filter... thought it gave it a really cool effect.

And one more showing the gorgeous bright blue sky:

OK, now we've had our share of snow... I'm ready for spring :)

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!