Pep talk...

"You can do it, Hannah."....What a sweet dad...

Splash...

I enjoyed taking a few shots of other children who were playing quite happily.  Tomorrow I'll show you how Hannah played.  :) Kara got the biggest kick out of the little girl in the polka dot suit squeezing the water out of her hair.  She must be auditioning as a model!  lol

This really was a fun place...small and just enough for our hesitant girls.  Someday, they'll be ready for more excitement...but I think it's going to be a while.  Next time we'll bring buckets.  BTW...I love the reflections here...

When the stars all align...(sort of)...

Every once in a while, the stars align and I can capture something like this...the perfect bokeh in the background, a natural smile. and eyes looking right into the lens (trust me, there were about 20 other shots where she thought she was looking, but she was not...lol).  Of course, when all those good things happened, Abigail stepped in front of Hannah and her head was blocking the lower half of the shot.  Ha ha!!!  I got really lucky that I was able to use one of those 20 photos where Hannah wasn't looking and make a composite of the lower half of her body.  Ha ha!  Life just makes me laugh sometimes! 

Back to splash pics tomorrow!

Sisters...

 

Any idea how hard it is to get these two to do the same thing at the same time?  I wanted them to hold hands...and Hannah was very willing.  Abigail....not so much.  :) This photo is so "me".  I just love the little details...like Hannah's worn nail polish and the chalk dust on Abigail's toes. 

The gift....

 

Taking a break from the splash park photos to post week 34 of the 52 week project.  I've actually not posted week 33 yet, because I haven't actually shot it yet.  Oops...Hoping to do that soon.  At any rate, week 34's theme was "Grateful".  So, I thought I'd take a minute to say again how grateful I am for the family who, in the midst of their grief, chose to think of someone else and donate their son's organs.  Every time I see Nathan play with his girls, I think what a miracle it is that he has that energy.  I seriously doubt that sweet little girl hanging around his neck would be here if it weren't for the gift of that kidney.  I hope we never stop remembering to be grateful.  And I hope anyone who reads this considers registering as an organ donor.  Give life!

So close, and yet so far...

We took the girls to a splash park a couple of weeks ago.  Abigail was surprisingly hesitant.  I really thought she would love it.  The only reason her hair is wet is because Nathan stood her over a sprinkler when they first arrived.  She was not happy about that.  LOL.  But she did at least finally enjoy watching the water.  What cracked me up was the following little story:

"I see Daddy over there!  I'm going to go get him."

 "Wait...he looks kind of far away and I'd have to cross through those sprinklers."

 So close and yet, so far....

"C'mon, Abigail!"

"Um.....no."

 

And she never did go..., but I do think she had fun. 

What if...

You put your right foot in...and you shake it all about...

 You do the hokey pokey...
 

 

and you turn yourself around...

That's what it's all about!

What if that really IS what it's all about???? 

Little sister...

Watching Hannah intently.  She's very much in her "monkey see, monkey do" phase.  

Concentrating...

 

"Oh hi, Grammy!  Look... I'm coloring like Hannah!"  I find it amusing that Hannah never looked up.  BTW...they love this little table that G-Pa made for them.  :)

Goofballs...

Best G-Pa ever!  And I love Hannah's little hand wrapped around his neck. 

Baylor girl...

This was really just a test shot when I was trying out a new location for the family session I just completed.  Kara was good enough to stand in for me.  I love LOVE the light.  And I don't know if you can tell, but there is some HUGE flare in the upper left hand corner.  I love me some good flare and rim light on the hair. 

Conehead...

This is our neighbor's little dog, Alex.  He'd had surgery this week and his cone is to prevent him from tearing out his stitches.  How cute is he???  He was just as happy as could be on this day, in spite of the humiliation.  lol.  This makes me think of my dad, for some reason.  Dad would have LOVED this little dog.

Think...

The wheels are always turning.  Wish I knew what she was thinking...

Exploring nature...

What'cha got there, Abigail?

BUGGY!!

Just a couple of poorly framed snaps, but I love how they capture Abigail's spirit.  We couldn't decide if she was playing with a baby roach or a June Bug.  I'm choosing to believe it was a June Bug...especially since it ALMOST made its way into her mouth.  (Ick!)  Either way, she squished it to smithereens playing with it.  That's my girl!

Peaches and Cream...

'Nuff said...

At the end of the day...

These are two proud aunts.  And this was my very last shot of this sweet family before our light disappeared.  It was a fun session, and I was happy to find a new place where I can shoot at golden hour. 

It takes a village...

And I think they've got it covered.  She is clearly surrounded by plenty of love.  So sweet.

A Mother's love...

There's nothing like it...

She's forever blowing bubbles...

I am SO behind on processing photos of Hannah and Abigail, but did at least finish this one.  Hannah took 2 weeks of swim lessons at a public pool and we decided to follow up with one week of lessons at our pool.  I so appreciate that my student Julia was able to teach her.  Hannah is gaining confidence!  This was my week 32 photo for the 52 week project.  The theme was "over and under".... It is wonderful to see Hannah happily floating on her back and putting her head under the water. 

Reenactment...

Other than general groupings of family members, there was just one request from my client for this session:  to re-create one of their maternity poses (but with the baby, of course).  So I whipped out my iPhone to reference the original photo on Facebook and we gave it a whirl.  

Original photo here.  I couldn't decide if I like the exact same crop or the wide angle.  So I did both, lol.  Then they can have some choices for a photo grouping. 

BTW....this reminds me of a photo challenge we had one time to "copy" a photo we admire (giving credit to the original photographer, of course).  That was a fun challenge, but I remember being surprised at how difficult it can be to try to duplicate even one of my own images a second time.  There's no way to get the exact same light and I even think we see things differently depending on our mood when we shoot.  It made me appreciate even more how truly unique every photo is.  That said, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out...especially since they forgot to bring the wooden L this time.  Ha ha!  Yep, I "shopped" it in.  I don't know that it's perfect...so shhhh....don't tell and maybe no one will notice.  :)

Triple threat...

How adorable are these sisters?  Seriously...such beautiful girls...inside and out.  These are just a few of the shots I got of them.  Especially love that "smother love" in the top frame for the baby sister (going off to college a day or two after this session). 

Evening on the bridge...

 

I'm processing photos from this session in no particular order...just randomly selecting the ones that "grab" me.  Because I shot this during the last 90 minutes before sunset, it is really interesting to see how the light changes throughout the session.  This was at the very end...almost the last frame and I was beginning to lose the light...but I still love it.  You can tell that Miss L is fully engaged with her Grandma and Grandpa. What's your opinion on B&W versus color?  I think B&W has a slight edge for me, but I like 'em both.

Now, that is one lucky man!

Sweet repose...

I had an opportunity for a session with Baby L's whole family this weekend.  This was not a planned shot, but really ....could there be a more perfect moment?  What a beautiful grandma you are, Melody!

Funny Face...

Oh...this one makes me laugh.  She is such a character!

Hear the wind blow...

So often the younger child doesn't have as many photos as the older one.  I'm sensitive to that, being the baby of the family myself.  lol.  But it's difficult to get good photos of Abigail when the girls are together and Abigail is never awake unless Hannah is awake too.  So.....on the spur of the moment yesterday we asked G-Pa to play with Hannah for a few minutes and took Abigail outside for a little "mini-session".  At this age, that pretty much always means sitting on the bench, because it's the only place she will be remotely still.  Ha ha.  She was VERY happy out there, even tho' it was almost time for her nap.  There was a little breeze and she was enjoying watching the plants "dance".  So sweet...

In the garden's glow...

Shot for week 31 of the 52 week project.  Theme was "muted".  I really wasn't sure what I would shoot for this challenge, but Hannah agreed to come outside and play with this flower for a few minutes.  As soon as I saw it, I knew this was my shot...but with very different processing than I usually do.  It just seemed to beg for something soft and muted. 

Fearfully and wonderfully...

L's mom asked me to put together a collage of little body parts and this was the result.  This is a first for me and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.  Definitely hope to do more of this in the future.  So sweet.  And does this girl have the most beautiful mouth, or what?  Sleep peacefully, little one.  This is the end of your photo session.  :)

Love is...

Precious...

From Russia with love...

My second experiment with adding a sky overlay.  Actually, this one was much easier once we figured out the directions.  Kara is in the process of having canvas prints from her travels made for her apartment.  So far, she has prints from New Zealand, Greece, and the Redwood Forest.  We just ordered this print from Russia.  The overlay is subtle, but I like how it made the sky a bit more interesting. Can't wait to see how all these prints will look when we hang them in a grouping.