Snow angel

If you're wondering who that perfect little nose belongs to, his name is Mason. Melissa and Justin are good friends of mine and I was so honored to meet and photograph their precious little boy at seven days old. He was an absolute angel throughout the whole shoot. Get ready to be waaayy jealous of how beautiful this family is.









Um, can we get a clean up on Aisle 5? Every time I look at this baby I turn into a big melty puddle on the floor. We're going to need a mop by the end of this post. Oh, this boy is just beautiful.





We did Mason's session in early December, and about halfway through it started snowing. It felt like magic to me. I've developed a mild obsession with B&W images lately, and the soft, snowy light coming through the nursery curtains did not help me to control it.



















See? I told you, they are seriously gorgeous. I may or may not have gone overboard with choosing my favorites. But look at that smile- JUST like his daddy!







This image gives away how behind I am on my blogging, but I love it and wanted to share anyway.



Like most newborn sessions, this was done in their home, but I was so excited to meet Mason and see my friends that I didn't really think about the travel too much. I love to travel for sessions, so sometimes I forget to be reasonable. It was one of those things like, "Yeah, Virginia and Maryland are right next to each other. Cool, no problem." Note to future self: Christiansburg, VA is not a daytrip.

Was this little snugglebug worth an 11-hour roundtrip drive on a Saturday just for his photo session? Absolutely. In the future, will I plan an overnight break for such occasions? You bet. Cause by the end I felt kinda like this:



Can't wait till my next visit when I can bring my little boy along to meet his new pal. : ) Happy weekend!

Happy dogs and happy humans

I don't often lead off with my favorite photo from the session, but today I am. Because it is my favorite and I want to look at it first.



Honey and Fleckles are two very happy dogs. And why wouldn't they be? They get to live with Nichole and Eli, two of my favorite people.



Nichole started looking around her office one day a few months go and realized that not only was she missing a picture of Fleckles on display, she was missing a picture of her husband. Ooops. When her co-workers stopped by she had nothing to show them but Honey. Sad. : (



We gathered the dogs and husband and headed out to Patterson Park to rectify this situation one glowing November afternoon, and rectify it we did. I LOVE sessions like this... just normal people being their normal selves living their normal lives.





This shot normally would have gotten tossed when I was editing, but I took one look at Fleckles and died laughing and knew I had to keep it.





I am not a huge fan of the term "furbabies", but I am a fan of doggies that are very much a part of the family like these. This series is my other favorite.









I had to laugh because even though I was photographing good friends of mine, I went into this session a little nervous. I don't work with couples that much and most of my dog experience is with my own, so I felt a little out of my element.

About 30 seconds in I realized that photographing a couple with two dogs is about the same as photographing a couple with two toddlers, except that with dogs you get to use a leash. The general public tends to frown upon leashing toddlers.

And this was also great because a few short weeks later I photographed another couple with a dog (coming soon to a blog near you)! Thanks to Eli and Nichole for being my guinea pigs. : )

Happy Friday!

Really good genes

Clearly, good genes run in this family.

This is Robbie, Michelle, Maddie, and Molly



And this is Brian, Melanie, Carter and Abby



In case you can't tell, Robbie and Brian are brothers. I look forward to working with the Cowsert families each year, so I was really excited to wrap up my holiday sessions in SC with them! We did portraits of both families, as well as a big family grouping (with grandparents!) and a bunch of the four cousins. Since we shot everything in one big session, I decided to create a giant post of all their images. Check 'em out:









These girls are soooo gorgeous.



























Coordinating extended families for photos is always a little chaotic, but getting portraits with your whole family is totally worth it. Thanks again to all my favorite Cowserts! I hope the extra-long post makes up for the fact that I forgot to share yesterday as promised. : )