This has been a crazy year, so much has happened it's insane! First of all THANK YOU to all my amazing clients, friends, family and fans that have supported me and let me into your lives to capture memories for you! Without you guys I wouldn't be able to do what I love!! I figured I'd post some of my favorite personal photos to help tell what happened this year for us :)
In January Keeley and I traveled to New Bern to photograph our friend Rachael's husband's homecoming, it snowed on the way home which was interesting to drive in :P
Keeley turned two and let us do a quick shoot of her
Katie took our family / maternity photos at Hwy 21 drive in one of our favorite places
Then we went out and did a maternity session on Mothers Day which was a ton of fun!
I loved using the quilt, stuffed animal & pillows I made him and the pedal car I got to do his month and year photos
Katie came with me to my last session before maternity leave
I was so lucky to have Katie photograph Jaxon's birth.His induction was very long but I had the birth I wanted and he was perfect, very much worth the wait :) I was nervous about being a family of 4 (well actually a family of 8 lol) but Keeley has been amazing with him and Jaxon is so laid back and awesome
We had so much fun doing his newborn photos his first two weeks :)
Katie did a quick family session in our house, except Keeley wasn't having it lol
My friend Andie came with us to do this session and snapped the photo of us 4, Keeley loves Andie lol
one of my favorites of the two, Keeley is an awesome big sister she love to play with Jaxon and help take care of him
I can't believe how big she is getting!
We spent the fourth of July on base with friends <3
Keeley loves to paint
Jaxon loves to hang out
I went to Texas to photograph a wedding and got to hang out with my best friend, it was soo much fun! and awesome because we hadn't seen each other in 2 years!
The dogs are adapting to having two little ones crawling all over them very well.
I got featured on a blog which was fun and prompted the need for new headshots by Katie of course :P
Keeley and Ally became great friends which has been heartbreaking since we've moved, it's hard explaining to a 2.5 year old why we can't go hang out with her friend like normal
more by Katie, I loved Jaxon's room, it was really a labor of love and I was so upset to take it all down when we moved :(
this was while we were packing up her room, she didn't seem to care they were having fun
Drew and I went to the SC state fair for me to photograph a couple, it was fun to have us time doing something fun
I think I'm rubbing off on her
I had to get Katie to do our family photos before we left at the drive in one last time!
packing up the truck and saying goodbye to the Marine Corps :(
Hanging out in green fields in Va
My kids are such characters, they have so much personality it's crazy!
lovely light and a fun day
Drew and I traveled to Philly to visit some friends from his first 4 years in the USMC it was a lot of fun seeing everyone!
I made two quilts this year and I've started on my third, this one for Drew and I is a lot bigger than the first two I've made. It's also very rare I can do anything to Keeley's hair, I have all these adorable bows and headbands for her but she'll never wear them, so the photo on the right is a rarity and didn't last long
<3 melts my heart
I can't believe how he is growing, wasn't he just born?!?!
little feet <3
The upside to being home is hanging out with good friends again
our most recent photos, Jax's 7 month photo and Keeley actually smiling at the camera <3 Jaxon is now low crawling everywhere and we think he'll start crawling soon, Keeley has almost mastered potty training completely and is speaking so well these days. I'm so proud of both of them and can't wait to see what the future holds for them.
melts my heart more Drew seems to be enjoying life outside of the Marine Corps with his beard :P He starts school next month and is playing football for the Virginia Storm, I'm so proud of him!
2011 has been an amazing year for us, 2012 will be a lot different than the past 8 years but I'm excited to see what it holds
Now for my Pictures for Paws update! Above is the new logo design for it, it took me forever to get the dogs to stand still long enough for me to get the photo for the silhouette but I'm very happy with it. Since Pictures for Paws started in the summer of 2010 we raised $200 which was awesome! I was able to donate $100 each to Bad Rap and Noah's Arks Rescue, so hopefully that was able to help some animals out. Right now I've decided on one rescue to donate for coming up and I'm looking for another I have some in mind but I'll post when I have made my decision. Thank you to everyone who has brought their pet to their sessions to help with this, it means a lot!
Sadly this year two of the dogs I photographed passed away Hunter and Rocco. I was sad to hear about their passing but I was happy that I was able to photograph them with the ones that loved them most so they could have those memories on film <3 Now for something different, a couple of my photographer friends have done this so I decided to jump in and try it too, I'm not quite done with my list yet but when I do I'll update it. These are things I want to accomplish in the next 1001 days. Thank you all again for your support and for reading this all if you did, I can't wait to share new sessions and ideas in the upcoming year <3 101 in 1001
1. attend a workshop (this will happen and I'm eyeing one now)
2. Shoot more seniors
3. Start a senior program
4. Shoot more for myself
5. Photograph my kids more in actual sessions
6. Keep up the 52 weeks of us project
7. Get a new blog
8. Revamp my website
9. Be featured on 5 style/inspiration blogs (0/5)
10. Travel out of state for a wedding
11. Go to D.C.
12. Go to Utah
13. Go back to Cali and visit friends
14. Get the 16-35mm
15. Finish backing up all photos to CDs (their already backed up two other places but for good measure)
16. Set up my darkroom
17. Shoot at least 5 different types of film (0/5)
18. Finish reading the Harry Potter Series (0/7)
19. Make Keeley's birthday outfit
20. Get a photo with Jax with the pups so he can have a canvas like Keeley's
21. Raise $500 for Picture for Paws
22. Volunteer at the animal shelter
23. Go to WPPI
24. Go to the antique stores I've always wanted to go to
25. Buy a house
26. Travel out of the country
27. Have my own natural light studio
28. Get a photo (or photos) published
29. Get back in shape
30. Find the perfect little black dress
31. Take boudoir photos for Drew
32. Learn to like heals
33. Get a pair of white Toms and decorate them
34. Grow a small cotton field
35. Do another painting family portrait of our family
36. Blog more
37. Keep my website up to date
38. Work out more
39. Stay organized
40. Get a skill saw and learn to use it
41. Work on my time management
42. Finish 4 quilts (0/4)
43. Learn more about off camera lighting
44. Collaborate with more artist for a session
45. Host at least two more Think outside the green box workshops
46. Photograph animals at the shelters to help get them homes
47. Be more stylish
48. Learn how to do makeup and hair better
49. Shoot a wedding with Katie :)
50. Shoot with someone I look up to
51. Do something for Wounded Warriors
52. Don't let the small things get to me
53. Take more driving photo trips like I used to
54. Get a medium format camera
55. Photograph a birth
56. Take the kids on vacation
57. Go camping
58. Knit some fingerless gloves
59. Trash my wedding dress
60. Go snowboarding
61. Have our family photos take with the dogs (and maybe the cats haha)
62. Learn more about videography
63. Have our family session videoed
64. Spend a day at a spa
65. Convince the Love Affair girls to have another workshop so I can attend
66. Make mini albums of events in our lives
67. Go on a cruise
68. Go to Vegas with Drew
69. Blog when I cross something off of this list
70. Get the tattoo I've been wanting for a long time
71. Volunteer at Villalobos Rescue Center
72. Keep growing my hair out
73. Do 5 in home lifestyle sessions (0/5)
74. Go to Kingsdominion again
75. Do more arts and crafts projects with the kids