simple

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!

a message to all moms and dads out there

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

gone MIA

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!

behind the scenes: my session with liam

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!

about a boy

I have been delaying writing this post… not because I don’t want to write it but because I feel that words can’t do justice to the sublime emotion I am feeling right now. this boy… my precious baby boy… has totally changed my life.

I was so happy with my two girls. in fact, I thought that if I had a third baby that it would be great if it was another girl. my sister has two girls and it was so great to have our little club of princesses. when I found out I was expecting a boy I was totally thrown off and was feeling ill-prepared to be the mom of a boy. but then he came… oh my goodness, I HAD NO IDEA it would be like this! the flood gates were opened! I am totally, head over heels, in love with this little piece of heaven. I had heard so many friends say that with boys there’s a special bond but it didn’t click for me until I held him in my arms. my little Liam, my little lamb, is just what pure, simple love is all about. but you moms know what that’s all about…

I still worry that I might not be a good mom for him just as I worry about being a good mom for my girls. I know so many of you out there feel the same. but what makes us good moms or even GREAT moms is that every action, every gesture, every word is completely enveloped in love. sometimes we forget, sometimes we are simply tired but at the end of the day, that’s what we do…

Let’s not forget the explosion of love we felt when we held them for the first time.

fun with canvas

as part of my pregnancy “nesting”, I am finally getting around to printing some wrap canvases for the girls’ room. it has taken me FOREVER to decide which images to use and today is the day when I FINALLY choose which ones. they will be printed by the super fab and multi-tasking stacy vitallo from cabin fever graphics, who has been waiting for these since october. yikes!

but what took me so long is that I wanted to do something different with them and wasn’t sure what. but then I remembered these canvas frames from the savvy photographer… the way that they work is that they make it look like the edges of the canvas are part of a wooden frame. they can be printed flat and mounted as well! haven’t offered it to my clients yet bc I wanted to see how they turned out first. will keep you posted! In the meantime, this is kinda what they would look like:

the beige border is actually what goes around the canvas, what you don’t see… anyways…will keep you posted! thanks stacy! the images are coming today.

how long has it been?

so, it has been almost 3 months since I last posted an entry. i blame it all on my sweet baby boy, due in a month, who has taken away all my energy and creativity. which of course means that he’ll be an artist. don’t you agree?

honestly, I have been really tired and scattered during this pregnancy. I even stopped taking clients until after the baby comes just because I feel like I just don’t have the energy and creativity. so, what have I been doing besides checking the pregnancy weekly updates? went to ecuador for almost a month, worked on sofia’s classroom auction project, prepared for baby, traded running outside for spinning classes and survived the blizzard of 2011. I have also been catching up on family albums. I have the entire 2010 madden family photo library uploaded in about 8 blurb photo books. photographer and mom-extraordinaire deb schwedhelm got me hooked on them. i love their flexibility and simplicity. I feel like I’m able to achieve just the look and feel I want.

but what’s in store for 2011? well, for starters, baby Liam… (did I mention his room is all ready? yellow, green and brown. sofia has been instrumental in its design) and then I’m thinking about redoing my logo, getting chloe potty trained AND running the marathon in october. as you can see, all over the place… crazy or ambitious, not sure which yet.

I leave you with the promise that i will post more often and share with you some of my favorite shots. in the meantime, here’s one of my faves from 2010. chloe in michigan.

20 years from now

we recently took our LAST trip of the year to the beach… I’m not too heartbroken about it because I know that we’ll be going to the beach down in ecuador for new year’s. but every time I’m down there I realize how at peace I am when I’m by the water. it’s like I get a little bit of my childhood back; a little piece of home away from home. it’s also an opportunity for the girls and I to have quality time together. it’s my time to sit back, relax and just look at them… so I can’t help but take my camera out.

I think that 20 years from now, when I look back at my time with my two precious princesses, I will think of these afternoons we spent together, playing at north avenue beach (sofia calls it OUR beach)… and I will pull out these pictures.

and here’s one that’s vintage chloe

what about you: what will bring YOU back to your children’s childhood 20 years from now?

in thanksgiving: session sneak peek

Thanksgiving went by like a whirlwind! for the past 5 years my parents have been able to spend thanksgiving with us, in the company of matt’s fantastic family. My MIL hosted another memorable dinner, which was made perfect by the fact that the kids behaved beautifully (thanks to the cat in the hat). another perfect holiday except that I was too crazy and tired to take any pictures.

no shots of my family (yes, another year goes by without one) but in honor of all the families that I have been blessed to encounter in my line of work, here’s a couple of shots of one fabulous family. they bid for my sessions at the last fundraiser for St Benedict School. here’s to all families! happy belated thanksgiving!

thinking about boys: session sneak peek

I have been so tired and feeling so yucky (again) that I hadn’t had the time to tell you about my beautiful morning with a pair of handsome boys a few weeks ago. most of you know that I have 2 girls, most of my nieces are girls so all that I knew was girls. until know.

I have had the luck/pleasure/honor of meeting a wonderful family, just around the block from us. and they have 2 boys. oh my, I am in love with those boys! one of them is sweet and snuggly and attentive; the other one is loud and rambunctious and gives the biggest (and strongest) bear hugs ever! my daughters love them to death (as I do). I feel so blessed that my girls have become friends with boys that I KNOW will become wonderful men. their mom is the most dedicated mom I know and gives me lessons of patience and love every day I see her. their dad is the perfect icing on this wonderful family: kind and warm (a perfect combination of this two boys). and he’s a local hero, catching burglars in his bare feet.

so, to cut to the chase, here are a few of my shots from a fun (and cold) session with them.

here’s to all boys! may they become kind and strong men of the world.

so, when if the ultrasound tomorrow says its a boy… I know where to look for inspiration… just around the block.