the girls and matt went to basketball so its just liam and me. a perfect excuse to play with the self timer. laundry can happen later.
once upon a time there was a little girl. her name was maddy. she was a little under 2 years old. she was feisty and sweet and had a smile that would light up the kingdom. but one day this little girl was diagnosed with leukemia. everyone’s hearts were broken. but the little girl had super powers. she could make this tragic disease turn into a love machine. with her super powers she surrounded herself with love. she created so much love that she made everyone’s hearts heal but then they burst because they were so full of her love. people from near and far would miraculously feel the same effect. and the world was a better place.
from her little spot looking out the window of her house, or from her couch, her hospital bed or in the company of her big brother, she continues to make sure that the cancer cells in her little body disappear but magically transform to an overwhelming desire to love.
here is her story through pictures taken by the beautiful and incomparable queen of this love-filled kingdom: her mother.
if you would like to make sure that no parent hears the words “your child has cancer”, you can support maddy and every child out there that has leukemia by contributing to the fundraising efforts of jennifer reichek and team in training for the leukemia and lymphoma society. jen is running in honor of maddy, who is now two years old and still spreading her love to the world from her .
photograph courtesy of erin mccarthy of the smallest sparrow photography
i showed sofia the pictures i uploaded to the previous post and she asked me to include these because in these ones you can see the falling snow. gotta respect her vision. can’t argue with that.
i have been thinking lately about this article on how to raise an amazing daughter. one of the questions it asks is: “do you share with your daughter what inspires you, what you are good at?”
well, today sofia showed me how truly important that is and how much she absorbs from me.
this morning we went outside to enjoy another snow-covered day. and i brought my camera with me. sofia decided that she wanted to bring out a crown that i rarely use and she started to tell me how she wanted me to take the pictures. she lead the entire shoot with confidence and conviction of what she wanted to convey. when we came back inside, she sat with me at the computer and from the time we opened the raw files, she guided me thru the editing process. she told me what exposure, what blacks, picked the tones, hazes, contrast, cropping. the shoot was entirely hers and she carried her vision through. this is “her” shoot
not only am i in love with these images, i love that she is creative and feels the need to show it. i love that i am able to share a part of me that makes me ME and is now a little bit of her. i don’t want her to be just like me, but i am proud to see in her some of the things that i like about myself. and i want her to find things about herself that she thinks are pretty groovy too.
on another note, still playing with lensbaby. it’s hard for me to get the image that i want and focus correctly. most of the times what i get isn’t quire right but every now i get lucky. if you want to see inspiring lensbaby work, just look at what my friends deb schwedhelm and doreen kilfeather do. each one has her own way of using it but you’ll be blown away by what they do.
snow + lensbaby – liam attached to my chest on his baby bjorn + chloe’s dimples = magic
honestly, shooting with a lensbaby when it is snowing is so much fun. and just in case you don’t believe me, I’m attaching a picture I took with my iphone of Liam strapped to my chest. good times.
as I continued my journey of editing the madden 2011 pictures, I found these ones that spoke to me about my new quest to find beauty in simplicity
they were taken at disney world (yes, I’m still editing the october pictures) at the mad hatter tea party, as we were twirling and shrieking. the light was atrociously bright and I couldn’t focus because I was laughing so hard. a great moment, a simple shot and a thousand words. Isn’t that what it should be all about?
feel like last year was a crazy fun blur. i did less facebook, less blogging and less editing but instead focused that time on my family and my clients. so new year, new energy, new goals! but i do want to share some of my experiences as a photographer with you because i feel that i grow more because i force myself to be more self-aware and conscious of my professional and artistic choices.
i wanted to share this lightbulb moment with you because i feel that its important to show that creativity is not necessarily the fancy props or the great locations. as some of you might have noticed, i usually obsess with composition. i hate cluttered backgrounds in my pictures and love tons of negative space to work with — which is why i love shooting at the beach so much. so winter presents new challenges as i shoot more indoors and try to find new ways to be creative while using natural light. but as i tried to get caught up with my family pictures from last year, i found these shots
i absolutely love them! they were taken during what seemed like a 20hour wait to meet rapunzel at disney world. they are beautiful in their simplicity which is what i’m all about. no need for hats, balloons, sunsets or fancy outfits. its all about her expression. so this will be one of my new artistic goals: to find ways to shoot simple shots that are nothing but simple. will you join me?
here’s to beautiful simplicity!
I knew that only something BIG would get me out of blog-hibernation. well, the big thing came…
it’s a message to all the moms and dads out there to grab your family and have someone take a family picture NOW. I mean NOW! doesn’t need to be with a professional photographer. go to target, get a neighbor with a camera, use your camera’s self-timer… life is too short to wait for that perfect time when us moms feel comfortable in our own skin, the kids don’t have braces, the baby stops spitting, the weather is nice, you are the only one that takes pictures… and I could go on and on. the time is NOW! take control over the family pictures that you want on the slideshow presentation of your kid’s rehearsal dinner. fill up your hallways, even if you just use putty to tape up the pictures. surround yourself with images that make you happy. GIVE YOURSELF THAT GIFT!
we just received our gift thanks to the _______ deb schwedhelm (I leave that line blank because there are no words to describe her as a person). it has been 4 yrs since our last family picture and it was just too long. so many excuses… but deb made me realize how much I actually needed to have those images. she was able to SEE what as mothers and fathers we FEEL with every cell of our bodies when we are with our children. and because of her I just depleted pottery barn’s frame supply.
here are a few of the images from her session at north avenue beach (our favorite spot in the city).
so here’s to all of the walls that will be filled with happy memories… and GO GET THAT PICTURE TAKEN!!! and I love you deb!!!
PS: All pictures courtesy of deb schwedhelm photography
hi guys!
sorry I’ve been completely MIA during the past couple of months but to tell you the truth, my time with my little ones is so precious that I’d much rather spend it with them than blogging. But I’ll be back in the fall! In the meantime, you can check out some of my sneak peeks on facebook. have an awesome summer!
Having a newborn at home, there’s no excuse not to do a few photo sessions. I have had sessions with babies before but never younger than a couple of months. I do have to say that I do love the results of the super newborn sessions but THEY.ARE. HARD. So I thought it would be fun to share my experience. Some things I did wrong, others turned out right just out of luck. But I am sure happy I did it. Here’s what I had to do:
before the session:
- get a bean bag
- get knit hats. If you are wondering where to get them from, etsy is the answer. so many cute options! I made an arrangement with one of the etsy sellers and was able to trade a couple of hats for newborn shots for her to use in her site.
- get a few baskets from target and pier 1 but ended up not using them that much. I liked the bean bag better.
- looked at the work of other photographers that shoot newborns, specially the breathtaking work of Carrie Sandoval of Baby as Art. But I also didn’t want to look too much because I didn’t want to loose my own style in the process.
the day of the session:
- turn up the heat to 90 degrees! babies love to be toasty warm so if you are going to have them in their birthday suit you might as well crank it up. I know some photographers use space heaters but they make me nervous.
- turn on a sound machine.
- picked the brightest room in the house, which is Sofia and Chloe’s. It sure was overcast that week!
- I created a backdrop by putting a blanket in front of a dresser and using the drawers to hold it up. some people have the moms help out but in my case I was the mom so had no extra hands. during the editing process the creases in the blanket really bothered me but what can you do. It also turned out that I didn’t have enough room to pull back and be able to get a full shot of Liam while he was lying down. So most of my shots are partial.
- covered the bean bag with a changing pad in case my model had an accident during the session. I also put a heating pad underneath to make sure it was warm. but I never was brave enough to shoot without a diaper. not me, the baby.
- made sure baby was well fed and ready to snooze.
the session:
- ok. all of you photographers out there that are able to prop the baby’s head on the baby’s arms: I either have a baby with no head support or I am not patient enough. so hard! as soon as I was able to do it and grab the camera, the pose was gone. so I improvised.
- baby did not want to leave binky.
- I was sweating like a pig. it was a million degrees in that room!
- my baby is the cutest, sweetest baby in the world but he is going to HATE me when I show his friends his baby pictures. but I LOVE THEM!
what I took away from the experience:
- if you are a photographer thinking about doing newborn sessions or a mom expecting a baby, the best time is during the first 2 weeks of their lives. they sleep more and its before the baby acne kicks in. my little guy started peeling too. not cute for pics.
- I know there are photographers that are amazing with newborns but I’m not sure its for me. the environment seems too contrived for my taste. I like the craziness of toddlers or the unpredictability of pre-schoolers.
- no matter what camera you have or what photographer you choose, DO TAKE PICTURES of your newborn! a lot of us get caught up in our crazy lives right after we leave the delivery room and having other children doesn’t make it any easier. but no matter what, make time for a little session with your new love.
here are some SOOC (Straight out of camera) shots. unedited and taken by sofia, my lovely assistant. but they show some of the props.
this one is when we were waiting for liam to fall asleep. you can see the bean bag, an extra pillow and the sound machine to the top left.
this next one has those darn creases and that binky…
this last one shows the “blanket on the dresser” system as well as the cord for the heating pad. you can’t say we aren’t resourceful!
thanks for reading but now go and GRAB THAT CAMERA!
