In Style Baby!

This is one completely fashionable little newborn! His big brothers and he came to see me in their Knucklehead overalls! They look just too adorable! He even has a Knucklehead binkie! This sweet little boy's mommy is the incredibly talented knitter who supplies me with all of my wonderful snuggles, hats, and blankets. It was so much fun using some of her stuff on her own bundle of joy!

I feel very privileged to be able to capture the memories of these brand new little souls. I try to talk my parents into coming to see me during the first week of life. This is when newborns are all squishy and wrinkly! The distinctive perk to this suggestion, is the fact that I get to see the babies before most people do. I knew there were hoards of friends waiting to steal a peek at this family's new arrival, but I got to see him first!

I loved what mommy and daddy brought with them. The baby basket and blue quilt was his mother's, and the sheepskin rug was one daddy brought back from Australia. They also brought a cotton "feed" bag and I love the shots of him laying on it. When we worked our way into the little naked shots with the black background, the feeling in the room had a subtle change. It was warm, quiet and peaceful as we took our time to capture this special little soul. I simply adore working with these two people! The intimate shots of them with their precious boy just take my breath away. Every moment was tender and very moving for me.

So it's time to introduce you to little "EKJ". I will be capturing the memories of his first year, so keep an eye out for him!

Beautiful Baby Boy, Delightful Giggles and Shining Eyes!

I have had the distinct pleasure of working with this wonderful family on numerous occasions. It is always a treat when they come to visit! For those of you who follow this blog, you may remember that I was able to capture this beautiful little boy for his newborn photos. He's grown up so much in such a small amount of time! He has the most gorgeous captivating eyes! I was giggling the entire time I got to work with him. He was full of smiles and loved to stick his tongue out! I love the red, yellow and blue shots of him on my rug with the old fashioned truck, although he was actually more interested in his toes than the truck! Then we grabbed a vest and hat and a giant teddy bear! He looks so small and sweet next to that huge thing!

After we were done with the little man, I got to play with his older sisters. They are always full of giggles and sweetness! I usually just have to look at them and they giggle for me! I loved their brown fur-trimmed vests and jeans with bare feet. There are a few shots of them which are so stunning, they take my breath away! Toward the end, we definitely had to don the petticoats. These girls are as at home in my poofy marshmallow skirts as they are in their own skin! I love every one of their photos.

So here is the "W" family! I'm sure you will all agree, they are adorable and completely delightful!

It Snowing Outside! Let's Take a Picture!

This lovely mother booked an appointment with me in advance so she could make sure all of her children would be together in December. I went over to their gorgeous home and was looking for places to take their photograph. It had begun snowing (it's done a lot of that this year!) and one of them mentioned that we needed to take their photos outside in the snow! We grabbed our umbrellas and raced outside before it got too dark, or just in case the snow stopped! I love these impromptu moments! I made sure my camera was using the umbrella for me because it was all right if MY hair went frizzy, and we were ready to go.

I love the shot of them with their umbrellas not knowing I was snapping the shutter! I took quite a few photos and was happy that I did because there were huge snowflakes covering faces and body parts in some of them! Then we headed back into the warm house for the group shots in front of their beautiful fireplace.

They don't live too far from my studio, so we packed everyone up and headed over for the smaller group shots and the individual families and children. I had each couple come in and had a lot of fun making them snuggle and kiss. There must be an incurable romantic inside of me somewhere, because I simply adore these moments.

The two stunning granddaughters were very fun to work with! The older one is a natural model! She was full of energy and mischief and did most of her own poses. Little miss was adorable. She had a little melt down on photo day, so I had her come back with her mother and father and we played when she wasn't quite so tired. She was absolutely delightful!

Here is the "H" family. I enjoyed every minute with them!

Two Bundles for Christmas

I have been so lucky to be able to work with numerous new born twins; two little noses, two little mouths, four little feet, 20 little fingers and so much more!

I was able to go into the home of this wonderful family to capture their first Christmas Holiday together. I felt like a disaster the minute I walked. After remembering that I had forgot all of my wonderful knit outfits and props, I rushed back to my house to grab them. It was lucky we only lived about 10 minutes away. I got back to set up and realized that I had forgotten my camera! This is a definite first for me! I always obsess exhaustingly over bringing it, and I was horrified that I had left it. So after yet a second trip, I finally arrived and was ready to shoot.

There is something so incredibly peaceful and rewarding in spending time with these new fresh little souls. Their lovely parents were completely head-over-heals for them and it shows in their faces. I love watching them interact. I brought along some knit outfits, one of which was a "pea in a pod". We stuffed their two tiny bodies into one of them and were able to make "two peas in a pod!" They were so alert during much of the shoot, and their little eyes peaking out from the snuggles were precious!

Little mister ended up trying on my new bumble bee outfit and looked completely adorable. Little Miss wore her first tutu with ballet slippers and then one of my favorite funky pink-striped outfit complete with leggings and a hat! They were both so very stylish!

We ended up in Mom's and Dad's bedroom and on their bed. I just love these images of them on the bed laying down behind the little sleeping ones. Then there are the shots of stunning Mom snuggling up in the pillows with her children.

This was a delightful (and patient) family to work with. I know they must think I am some kind of scatter-brain, but they were very gracious!

Here are new little "T" and "S". They are two bundles of joy!

Growing Pains

I love all of you like family! I adore being able to spend hours with you creating memories we both will treasure. I love taking way too many photos and trying to come up with "just one more shot". I love working on each individual photo to create beautiful color and black & white images. I love every aspect of my time spent with all of you!

This past autumn, I ran into a little bit of a surprise. I was completely booked, six days a week from August through the end of November! This was a completely delightful surprise because I was able to meet so many new people to love. However, I became incredibly behind in finishing all of my clients' work.

I have had to try and figure out the best way to streamline the way I do things so that I don't have to sacrifice the things I love about what I do. I don't want to stop spending as much time as we need to capture every perfect shot. I know I won't be able to control myself and will still take too many photos. (I must embrace this aspect of my personality!) So the only way I can think of to speed up the entire process and to keep me from working 12-16 hours on finishing each image from a single photo shoot is to limit the number of images I finish.

I am now going to post your proofs on my website, and you will be able to choose which ones I will finish for you. The number of the images will depend upon the package you purchase. This way, I can spend a little more time on the images you love the best and not get bogged down by working on ones you won't even use.

I hope this works as well as I think it will. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. My most sincere desire is to spend many many years with each of you and to be able to participate in the memories which make you who you are.

All of my love,
Lisa

When the Family Gets Together

I have known the wonderful mother of this beautiful family for a few years now. She is one of the most gracious, beautiful, accomplished and compassionate women I know. For those of you who have followed my blog for the past years, this is the family who had so many fabulous books created. There was the Numbers Book with these delightful grandchildren at their family cabin and then the ABC book of "Nama's and Papa's" house. I also had the extreme pleasure of working one-on-one with her in creating a book of stunning photos of her accompanied by beautiful letters and sentiments which she gave to her husband and children. She has the same love of preserving memories as I do.

I was thrilled to be asked to come and take their family photos right after Thanksgiving! They all looked superb in their black, white and red. Those grandchildren are so sweet and full of fun! We had a full day of photos and I had a difficult time leaving. I kept wanting to grab "one more" photo. There were so many of them, I didn't feel like I could do them all justice in the few hours we had. I could spend a day with each individual family, indeed, each individual child!

So here is the "B" family. I love working with all of you!

Family for Thanksgiving

This family had children coming in from out of town for Thanksgiving and so wanted to capture some current family photos of everyone. I gorged myself on Thanksgiving Day and then went to play with them the day after! We were able to take the photos in their beautiful home and wonderful property. They have five delightful grandchildren which were fun to make giggle and who are all amazingly beautiful! We started out on their back patio, and then migrated over to this incredible vintage Ford! It is is pristine condition and I couldn't help but take some artistic photos of the car by itself. I grabbed these when people were changing clothes! This has got to be one of my favorite large family group shots. That car added an extra sense of class!

We headed inside and grabbed some shots of the couples and the individual families. As you will see from the photos, when we got around to having Grandma and Grandpa in the photos with the grandkids, it was a little like a circus! I still love those shots though. There's nothing like capturing ALL aspects of family life, right?

I adored working with Grandma and Grandpa! They are a stunning couple! They loved to snuggle and kiss and so I had to take plenty of those photos. When I got them outside, I told Grandma that she should be a model. She carries herself with such grace!

The kids were pretty tired at this point, so we decided to have two of them come to my studio after nap time. Their mom is a photographer, herself, and so I hope she likes these photos! The two of them look like angels.

Here you go "W" family. I'm sorry for the wait, but, whoa, there are some incredible images here!

The Blustery Day

I met this delightful family out at McMenimins in Edgefield. I've been there quite often this year and love the place. I haven't been there at the end of November, though. The leaves were gone from the green "mushroom" tree, the flowers had faded and were trimmed back and the wind was so wicked, I thought it might blow us away!

This family was in such great spirits, they didn't mind having their hair blowing every which way! I had them sitting on wet grass and they look just perfect! The bare "mushroom" tree was actually ideal because the kids were able to climb the branches and hang upside down! We ran all over the place just enjoying every nook and cranny. They had brought a football along and we grabbed some photos of them playing on the sun-streaked green grass. As you can see, they thoroughly enjoy being together. It was such a treat to watch them interact.

When I arrived, I realized that I had forgotten my petticoats, which was a complete tragedy, so we decided that they would come over to my studio for some non-windy shots! The girls are beautiful as well as their gorgeous mother! They were having a lot of fun coming up with different color combinations with my overstocked supply of petticoats! They look completely adorable!

All and all, a completely wonderful time! Here you go "H" family! I had a "blast" with you!

Beautiful Family of Five

This family came to visit me in my studio. They were dressed in black which looked great with my brick wall and green couch! I made them take off their shoes, no big surprise there! We had fun trying out all sorts of poses of their family. I personally love the shot of them all pulling funny faces, but that's is my childish sense of humor talking!

The children were wonderful to work with. One never knows when the older children will want to cooperate, (Heaven knows MY children are horrible for me!) but these kids were wonderful! We played with hats and trucks and a bright red petticoat! The boys both look so handsome and little Miss looks stunning! Her curly golden hair hiding under that purple hat just shines!

As always, I made Mom and Dad make out for me! You know, I have never had a husband refuse to do this difficult task! We were kind of in a hurry at the end because Mom was planning on attending the opening day movie of Twilight with her friends! She'll need to always remember that Twilight came out when these photos were taken!

Here is the "J" family. Thoroughly delightful and a pleasure to work with!

Four Petticoats and a Little Gentleman

This family came to visit me before we had our Photo Experience. When they walked into my home, I was struck by how beautiful they all were! This sweet family has four big sisters and one adorable younger brother. I pulled out my petticoats and they ran to try them on trading with each other to pick their favorite colors. This was one time my overstocked supply of petticoats came in handy!

We met on a cold November morning and went to a park in Ridgefield. The vivid fall colors were fabulous! They were all giggly and completely delightful to work with! They brought two separate outfit themes, one more casual and another more dressy and they looked wonderful in both! I could tell Mom put a lot of thought into what they wore.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself while I was able to work with each individual child. They each had their own distinct personality and I loved being able to capture them! After we had been at it for awhile, our little one had a bit of a melt down. You would never know it from the incredible shots we were able to grab. I just love being able to catch that illusive smile right after the tears! His mommy had him dressed in the most adorable coat and tie! I love the shots of him in the orange leaves.

I also love the shots on that bridge! The vivid color of the wood and the decaying leaves were so picturesque! I especially love the photos of them dressed in the turquoise and brown outfits. The colors just sing! And then there are the incredible shots of the girls in their fluff on the playground bridge. I took way too many of those, but I just loved watching them interact. Mom was below, grabbing their toes and making them giggle!

Here is the "M" family! You are all beautiful and thoroughly delightful!

Uncontrollable Silliness!

I have had the pleasure of photographing these two adorable boys for a few years now. We started with Portrait Parties. Way back then, I was tickled by their reactions to all of my silliness! Whenever I know they are coming over to play, I get butterflies in my stomach. They are definitely a bright spot in my harried world! I absolutely love their mom and dad and so we all have a lot of fun in my studio. Mom is the incredibly talented woman who knits all of my amazing hats and newborn snuggles. She definitely has a gift!

As they are getting older, though, my silliness has had to take on a more sophisticated tone. They no longer giggle at some of my old standbys - rude and unacceptable noises - so I have to get even more creative. As you can see from their photos, they are completely delightful! Mom was expecting a new arrival of a little brother, so we just did a mini session for Christmas photos and made plans to have them all come back with the new little bundle. (I have already seen and photographed this beautiful boy and will be posting his photos soon!)

I love their hats and high tops, but most of all I adore their smiles and their sweet faces! I have become very attached to them and hope to have them over often!

Mom had designed a few Christmas hats so we asked the boys to be the models. They chose many of their own expressions and I'm sure you will agree that they have quite wonderfully playful personalities! I giggled when I took their photos and then again when I worked on them. They definitely made my day!

Here you go "J" family! I love you guys!

Christmas Lights

Here are the wonderful "S" twins again! I was afraid that after they turned one, I may not be able to see them as often, but I was reassured when they came to play for some Christmas Photos! Their parents brought some Christmas Lights and they look so bright and colorful on my black background. Little Miss "K" and little Mr. "W" looked adorable in their plaid outfits and pajamas! They were fascinated by the lights, and tried to eat them on many occasions! They brought the wooden sleigh in which I took their infant photos. I can't believe how fast these little ones grow!

As always, it was a supreme pleasure working with their sweet parents. I have such warm and tender feelings about them as I get to know them more and more. They are gracious, kind and so easy to work with. Photographing twins is definitely not for the faint of heart and we are all sweating profusely when we're done.

I was able to get some photos out to them in time for Christmas but now they can see the rest of them! I'm so mortified that they are getting their Christmas photos in February! I promise that I won't get that bogged down again!

Thank you for your kind patience "R" and "L"! Your little ones are truly precious!

Time for a Visit

I met this lovely family a year ago last summer when their extended family was here for a visit. For those of you who have followed this blog that long, this was the family where they broke into wrestling at the end! The girls joined the big burly guys and I was expecting some blood and tragedy, but they all came out of it quite nicely.

When I got a phone call this summer from this family to come for a visit, I was excited! She was expecting her 2nd child, a little girl, and she wanted some maternity photos as well as family shots and plenty of photos of her darling boy, little "R". She then told me that they were going to be moving to Idaho. I was saddened by the news, but honored that I was going to be able to capture their last memories in their Portland home.

We began with the entire family. It was much too easy to get giggles from "R" and his mom and dad followed right along! They have this tired old dog which just had to be in their photos. He (I think) was slow and half blind, but completely wonderful. I love the shots of them on the stone steps with their faithful companion.

We went inside to take some photos of mom in her beautiful living room. She has the most incredible sofa! I wanted to take it home with me! The photos of her and the "boys" are breath-taking! As I was working on these photos, I had to exclaim out loud with the beauty in front of me. They are so intimate and tender. I felt privileged to be able to capture them.

Dad had to leave, but we were able to grab a few quick head shots for him in his suit. He has such an easy smile and manner. As you can see from the shots of "R" kissing his dad, he is very loved in that home. We then ventured into little "R's" bedroom and played with his amazing collection of Thomas the Tank Engine trains. He was so scrumptious, I just wanted to eat him up!

We ended with a plain black backdrop and two lights. Mom had some beautiful draping fabric which we pinned and played with until she was all tucked in! She is such a stunning woman and just as beautiful while she was expecting. It was dark and quiet and I enjoyed the peacefulness as we worked together to create some artistic poses.

I had a wonderful time, as you can probably guess, and I was so sorry to see them go. I hope they will come back for another visit and bring their new little girl with them!

Here is the "F" family. Thank you for sharing yourselves with me!

A Tutu, A Guitar, and Lots of Laughter!

I had such a delightful time with this family in my studio! Everyone was in great spirits and were incredibly easy to work with. "D" is a complete ham, as you will see in his "George Costanza" pose! I can't take credit for his poses because he thought of those all by himself! I just stood there clicking and laughing. "L" is such a beautiful woman! While I was working on these photos, her hair fascinated me! I'm a little partial to redheads as a rule, but her hair color, blue eyes, and porcelain skin are amazing! When I had "D" and "L" snuggle for their shots, "D" pretty much enjoyed every minute of it! When men come to have their photos taken, they don't expect to have some time making out with their wives, so they are pleasantly surprised when I have them "Go For It"!

When I got brother and sister together, they inevitably began sparring! It was so much fun watching them interact! "D" had his guitar and I got some pretty incredible photos of him - looking like a rock star! He has a winning smile and wonderful eyes. "K" put on a wine-colored tutu and we were able to grab some gorgeous photos of her! She is a talented dancer and I had fun trying out different poses of her. We grabbed some shots at the end with her favorite book and purple lace top. I even played around with one of her photos, so her skin and lips look a little bit like the "Vampire" from the book she loves to read.

Here you go "K" family. I had a wonderful time getting to know you and loved laughing with you!