Payne Family

Whew. I'm so many posts behind ... I've had lots of wonderful clients this summer. So many kind families, cute babies, toddlers with immense personality ... it's so fun to see how each family member reacts in front of the camera. This particular cutie is Cruz. I worked with the Payne family back in June and Cruz's mom Courtney has been a huge help in so many ways.

She's given me great feedback and I've learned several good lessons from my time with this family.

It was so warm this day in June and the sun was very bright outside. We tried to shoot a lot in the shade and Cruz definitely preferred that to squinting in the sun. :)

Here Courtney's letting Cruz get a closer look at some ducks at the water's edge. Courtney wanted to do their family pictures in her parents' back yard, which is a gorgeous property right on the edge of Lake Sammamish. It was just beautiful. Courtney's mom is an interior decorator and her home and yard were just stunning with all the colors she'd incorporated.

Courtney also picked out a great wardrobe for the family to wear. All coordinated but not too matchy-matchy. I loved the turquoise, orange and white!

While Cruz took a little snooze, we ventured out into some woodsy areas to get some mommy/daddy pictures. I made the two of them trek out into a really weedy area and both Courtney and I were totally scared we'd encounter some sort of snake (apparently they'd seen several in that area before). We made Courtney's husband Matt go out there and clear out the area of all potential snakes before we'd follow him out there.

I love these pictures in this little stairway alcove.





When Cruz woke up from his nap, we had a little fun near the hot tub. The water was pretty cold so we weren't able to let Cruz take a little dip but everyone got their feet wet for a few pictures.

This was one of the most fun parts of the session because Courtney's mom took a break from the gardening she'd been doing all morning to come out and help us get Cruz's attention toward the camera. She was dancing all around behind me, shaking toys and making funny noises. I laughed so hard -- it was hilarious, appreciated and so cute.

Courtney made this quilt Cruz is laying on here and in a few other pictures in this series. It is a BEAUTIFUL, intricate design and I was so impressed with it. It is a remarkable work of art.





Thank you once again, Payne family, for letting me spend that beautiful afternoon with you and also for your patience with all of the things you helped me work through in regards to our session. Thanks also to your mom, Courtney, for letting us invade her beautiful home and entertaining ALL of us!

Marilyn Monroe?

I know it has been forever since I last posted. I have been so busy with shoots and editing pictures and setting up new shoots. I have lots of pictures I'm still working on and lots more blog posts to share. James and I are sitting in the San Diego International Airport right now, waiting for our flight back to Seattle. We just got finished with our first cruise, a 30th birthday present I set up for James to celebrate this milestone year.

I took these pictures here in early June. My former boss and dear friend Amy wanted to do some surprise pictures for her boyfriend, who LOVES Marilyn Monroe. We had so much fun doing these! My friend Rhea came to work on Amy's hair and did a FANTASTIC job! I had a big book full of Marilyn pictures so we could look at how Ms. Monroe posed for pictures, her expressions and obviously her clothing.

The verdict with Amy's boyfriend? He loved them! What do you think?










This classic Marilyn photo was was so hard to recreate. I took probably 50 different versions of this picture and this is the closest we came to the original shot. Obviously Marilyn was outside in her original picture instead of inside a house, but then again I'm sure it was more pleasant for Amy that a fan was creating that wind instead of the hot air coming from the smelly sewer grate Marilyn endured.










This one is one of my favorites!

Sinclair Family

Little Addelyn is so sweet ... and she clearly gets her sweetness from her parents! I had a blast with these great people last week. They were troopers ... they climbed up on big tree stumps when I asked them to, walked through pathways that were just covered in yucky ants (that was by accident) and got drenched in bubble machine mixture just a few times when we carried Addy's favorite toy around the park with us.

Addy made me work a little harder for a smile this time than the last time I took her pictures. She's very contemplative and her pretty eyes just seem to have so much knowledge behind them already. She says, "Thank you," when she takes something from you and also did an awesome job pointing out the birds and saying, "Bird!" when we saw them.

















Addy did SO WELL at listening to her parents. I am thrilled with how many of these pictures have all three members of the family looking at my camera. So often with toddlers, it's tricky to get them to look at me with enough time to capture the right moment. Her mom would just say, "Look at Mandy! Look at Mandy!" over and over again each time we were posing for pictures and Addy always listened to her and obeyed. Some of the time, it was, "Look at Mandy and you can get a treat!" and she for SURE listened to those requests and was rewarded with Cheerios. :) Even without the Cheerios though, Addy was a great listener. I was impressed.







Another few reasons I say this Sinclair family is sweet? Well, for one, they didn't laugh (long) when I slid and fell dramatically on my bum after jumping off of the huge tree stump I was standing on when I took this picture below. I still don't know how I didn't blow out my knee, given the way I landed. I guess that's what you get when you wear cheap Old Navy flip-flops and try to jump from a high distance down to slightly soggy grass. I'm sure I looked ever so graceful -- do you think the Sinclairs would believe me if I told them I was a ballet dancer for 15 years? :)



They also stayed with me for nearly 30 minutes and helped me look for my sunglasses when I realized I'd lost them somewhere along the way (we never found them, but I went to Target the next day and picked up the exact same pair I'd lost!). They SO didn't need to do that, but I'm grateful that there are such kind people still out there in the world these days. Little Addy needed to get home to bed but they didn't hesitate to unbuckle her from the car and come back out to the park to help me search. It was so kind.





I LOVE LOVE LOVE this bubble picture! Addy had the coolest bubble machine. She loved turning it on and off (and on and off and on and off) by pressing a big button on the top of the machine. I have to go find one of these for Emma!





Pictures like this one below always get to me. It's images like these that make you realize that sweet angels like this grow up way too fast. Addy, like my daughter Emma, was quite the independent explorer. She always looked back to see if her parents were following her, but was completely content going on a trek of her own choosing. I love watching children this age -- they're so inquisitive.