Well we knew it was coming but now its official… Brayden is a big brother!   I caught up with the family to meet their newest addition when Reese was just two weeks old.

We started out with some family cuddle time on the couch.  So who is cheesing harder here… Brayden or Sammy (dog in lower left)?

You know you are an expert mommy when these photos don’t make you nervous in the least: seeing a two year old hold a newborn still makes my heart flutter but Brayden is so gentle and careful and sweet.  At one point Amy asked him to kiss the baby and he licked her head, maybe not what we had in mind, but very sweet all the same.  He was very surprised when she yawned!

Then Brayden took us on a tour of her finished, rosey nursery.  He still likes to hang in her crib so I asked if he could show the baby how to sleep in a crib and this is what he did.

Reese is so gorgeous with a full, silky head of dark hair… already so different from her brother when he was her same age.

When I first saw this photo I thought to myself, “so this is what it looks like to have it all….”  I’m sure that there are moments with a newborn and toddler in tow where life feels more overwhelming than perfect but I was definitely getting the satisfied, very happy, very at peace, super grateful vibe from this newly expanded family.  If its true that the birth of a second child is where parenthood really begins, this family is off to a great start.

Everything wonderful and magical about motherhood is in this photo for me…

Here’s a slideshow from the session and the online gallery.  Amy and Jeff, congratulations on your beautiful daughter.  I’m so excited to watch her grow!

Posted by Mel @ 8:19 pm, in Newborns, Portraits, Uncategorized, Wee Ones | No comments | Permalink

This blog post is more for my benefit than yours, that’s for sure.  I’m having one of those weeks where I need to feel… no, I need to know that I am making progress on albums.  Which is why I sure am happy that I took this photo of Sam with holiday delivery albums that we had just packaged for shipping mid December.

I had the camera on the table from taking photos of some of the books (which I will share…eventually…at some point… I promise).  Doesn’t he have the slightly crazed smile of a man fully aware that he is about to brave the post office during the holiday season?  How’s that for realism?

The stack he’s holding excludes two books set aside for pick up, the two books that were scheduled to ship the following week and the two orders I have placed since this photo.  I don’t know if I really buy the whole story of the turtle winning the race but by golly, I am getting there.

For those of you still waiting for your design, I fold my hands in a humble namaste and bow to you in earnest thanks.  My baby is 16 months old and still I am digging myself out of a maternity leave, we’ve lived and learned.   There’s never been enough of a lull since then to fully catch up, and for that I am grateful.  There will be late nights until the backlog is through and I’m pronouncing my intentions here so that you can hold me to my words.  Again, I thank you.  I have the coolest clients in the whole wide world.  And a pretty good hubby too…

Posted by Mel @ 9:31 pm, in Uncategorized | No comments | Permalink

I love shooting but designing might be my favorite part of the job.  Maybe its the chance to pour over all the old memories again, maybe its the challenge of visual story telling, or maybe its the freedom to get out of the office and sit in a busy coffee shop with a lap top and a latte and just let the world buzz around me while I play with pictures.  Baby books are especially fun since there’s so much creative latitude: we can easily add text, quotes, or other memories to augment photos if we want to.  Catherine and John decided they wanted to keep the book straightforward and all about the photos and it worked out lovely.  Sometimes photos say it all.

The book was designed around 5 different sessions that we did with Caroline ranging from two weeks of age to sixteen months.  The family chose a Paris style Museum Art Book for Caroline.  The formidable 14″x10″size of the book allows photos to be large and powerful in a way they can’t be online.  100 pages of design space is luxurious, giving me plenty of room to play with sequence and rhythm without having to rush or crunch.  The Paris style book is a modern choice that comes with a printed vellum dustjacket as well as printed end pages for a finished, classic touch.

Next the family chose linen paper for the printing and binding: a heavy stock, textured paper that renders soft color and a dreamy feel.  If you look at the foreground of this photo you can see the subtle, linear texture of the linen paper.

I love how the book itself can really bring a sequence to life.  The computer preview of the following layout is flat but, as a book, the open doors of the playhouse make “big” Caroline appear to pop right off the page!

I love making favorite photos extend in a panorama across pages, making a super detailed print size of 14×20!  This was one of my favorites shots:

And one of Catherine’s favs.  She loves remembering that Caroline was only 3 months old when she insisted on holding a bottle by herself!

I’m looking forward to making another book for Caroline’s baby brother Michael but I won’t rush him through his sweet babyness.  I’ve got plenty of design work on my plate so I will patiently wait.

Here are a few more shots and if you would like to see the entire layout preview, click here…

Posted by Mel @ 7:22 pm, in Newborns, Portraits, Uncategorized, Wee Ones | No comments | Permalink

I know, I know…crickets  for weeks now here on the blog…  But trust me, Momma and Poppa Bear have been very busy bees!  While adjusting to the joys, rigors and follies of new parenthood we have continued to shoot a full season of portraits and weddings: all of which we will share right here just as soon as I am back from leave.   Sam deserves nothing short of a medal for taking over the workload of 2+ during our busiest season of the year while operating on very little sleep for so many weeks now, he is such a super Daddio and my hero.   We want to take a moment to thank our clients for understanding the slower than usual turn arounds and to thank our blog fans for their patience as well, don’t delete us from your feed just yet because there’s lots of amazing weddings and cute kiddos to share upon my return.  I returned to shooting weddings on October 10th and am working on a date for my office return in a few short weeks.

Here are just some of the posts to come:

Baby Brayden at 9 months

Jennifer & Kyle’s Engagement Session

Liz’s Bridal Portraits

Liz and David’s Engagement Session

Jennifer and Ryan’s Wedding

Angy and Chris’ Wedding

Becky and Mike’s Wedding

Jaymi and Jonathan’s Wedding

Jennifer and Terrance’s Wedding

… and with two more engagement sessions this week alone and weddings every weekend through November, the post list is growing fast.  Not to mention the backlog of albums I still want to post here dating back to last spring, we were so busy with shooting and the pregnancy that I may have let our album posts slide (bad monkey!).   So definitely check back with us.

And now, by popular request, a few recent pics of Fiver…  I love these ones Sam got during a recent nap:

So handsome at 6 weeks!  I had no idea he would have those gorgeous grey eyes when I knit him this sweater so I had to take pictures:

We’re just starting to get smiles from him: nothing we’ve been able to capture with a camera just yet but enough to believe that his “potato days”, as our friend Shannon calls the lumpy days of newbornness, are numbered.  Everyone tells you how fast it all goes and its so true.  I can’t wish a day away, even the really tough ones, and continue to love every inch of him so much that I think I might burst.  I’m frustrated that I can’t be both his mom and a photographer at the same time, I can’t seem to step outside of it all enough to document the nuances of our rapidly changing lives but I guess I can just settle for living it right now.  I’m trying to do a mini session with him every two weeks so I’ll post more as we go along, every time I pick him up he seems heavier than the last!

The point of this post?  Simply, to quote the Terminator, “I’ll be back.”

Posted by Mel @ 9:36 pm, in Uncategorized | 8 Comments | Permalink