Happy 4th of July

My family and I (my camera included) spent the 4th of July with our great friends who live across town. We had so much fun watching all the neighbors and their "illegals" as well as some of our own. This was the first year I actually had a chance to set up my tripod and try to catch some of the action. Of course we added some goofy sparkler fun to the mix as well. Thank you Juiselle, Dom and Taylen for all the yummy food and fun!

I hope you enjoy the holiday through my eyes.

The Fitch Family

I first met Christina back before we both had kids and were teaching first grade. We quickly became good friends and been there for each other through all of lives biggest moments. 

Watching Taylor grow has been so neat. She had such a dramatic entrance into this world so I wouldn't expect anything less from her personality. She almost one and starting to become such a little person. I had a great time photographing them. Taylor and I played peek-a-boo a lot and tried on all of moms fancy bracelets :) Hey, it did the trick and I got a smiling happy kiddo :)

A Smashed Smash Cake

I first photographed this family back in December when I was doing Christmas mini-shoots.

 It was also the first time I got to meet Baby Adeline. I had the pleasure of meeting Adeline's mom who was pregnant at the time (and so was I) at one of my very good friends wedding. As time would have it, Baby Adeline turned one!! So naturally we decided on a smash cake session.

 I love doing these! They are unposed, fun, spontaneous and just plain old cute :)

The day started out with some portrait shots of Adeline. It wasn't easy at first as little miss was not interested in getting her photos taken. For some reason she just didn't like the music stylings of yours truly. LOL But as luck would have it, I eyed a box of pearls that mom and gramma brought along and voila! Problem solved and melt down averted...at least for ten more minutes. I didn't mind, the pearls made the shot even better :) (Photographer lesson: bring small props like necklaces for girls or vintage looking cars for boys to distract from a melt down but will still look cute in your photo)

As time dwindled and the light faded we decided it was best to set up for the smash cake scene. Everything was in place, baby was dressed and happy, and smash cake was...well smash cake was smashed. Leave it to the Vegas heat to have melted the cake in half! :/ As life goes, things to do not always go as planned and you just have to go with the flow and make it work. Adeline's gramma worked her magic to piece the cake back together and we ended up with a fun, colorful, happy smash cake shoot.

Thank you Adeline, Kendra and Kendra's mom for being such great sports. We avoided snakes, melt downs, and a ruined cake ;) and ended up with some pretty wonderful shots!

I like to think that all my clients walk away with more than just photos but memories that will last forever. I hope that every time they look at their photos they remember pieces of that day (hopefully good pieces...) I always show up with more than just my camera but my personality too :) I love making friends with all my clients! Photography is an personal and sometimes imitate experience which is why it is important to bring more than just your camera ;)

And that's a wrap folks!!