Christina's Blog

I had such an amazing time photographing so many different kids this weekend – they were all so sweet! The Winter Wonderland set took us hours to set up, but it was well worth the effort – I loved the look of the twinkling lights in the trees and the kids had a blast playing with the fake snow and snowballs.   I am so thankful for everyone who came out and shared in this special event with us.  I know you are going to love the images of your beautiful children and I can’t wait to do this again next year!

Until then, I thought I would share a little peek from one of the sessions on Saturday.  Here’s a look at the Morrisons - how perfect were their outfits for a snow scene!?  Two beautiful girls and their adorably mischievous brother – love it!

Due to a last-minute cancellation at the studio, I had time to squeeze in a little mini-session with 6 month old Dominick – boy, did I get lucky!  This sweet guy was just a bundle of happiness and I enjoyed every second of photographing him.  Since we weren’t in the studio, I created a cozy little set-up in between a dining room table and a large window.  It turned out to be a great spot, with plenty of sunshine for us to work with.  I think he would have been perfectly content to hang out with me (and my camera) and let me tickle his toes all day.

I tried getting him to lay on his tummy on a pillow, but every time I moved my hands back to the camera, he did this little fishy swim-kick that slid him right off the back.  Not only was it adorable, but he didn’t even seem to mind that I tried another 10 times before finally giving up on that pose!  I was totally on Cloud 9 when the session was over and couldn’t wait to get back and load up the images for a preview.  This is just a sneak-peek from what is sure to be a set of my favorite images – I’ll definitely be posting more of these in the coming weeks!  Enjoy!

I’ve been away for over a week, on vacation with my family at Myrtle Beach.  Laying on the beach, listening to the waves, basking in the sun – my favorite way to relax by far!  It’s so nice to get away from the daily grind, but I think most Moms would agree that family vacations can be full of a different type of stress though, if you’re not careful.  I decided to tempt fate by planning to shoot our family portrait out on the beach during this trip – and my goal was not just one great session, but two!

Now let me be clear that most portrait sessions are not really stressful – but there is something different (harder) about photographing your own family, especially when you are also trying to be in the image – I always end up looking like I just pushed a button, ran around the camera, plopped down in whatever position I could find, and smiled just as the shutter clicked – which is of course exactly what I *have* just done!  Even still, I was determined to make this work.

A few lessons learned:
1. Heavy Winds + Beach = Unhappy child with sand in his eyes.
2. Family portraits look better when no one is crying in them.
3. A beautiful family portrait can make the above lessons worth learning!

I am thankful to my patient and understanding family for being willing to endure the blown sand on Day 1, changing into their “portrait clothes” on 5 minutes notice on day 2, and being bribable with ice cream and chocolate on Day 3.  I am grateful for the beautiful portraits that emerged from the chaos and that no one has yet to accuse me of taking to many photographs of them!  I can’t wait to get these on my wall!  Here’s a preview of a few of my favorites so far… notice I’m not in any of these!