Little Man is One!

...Or maybe I should be saying Big Boy is One! This guy just turned one earlier this month, but is already wearing 24 months clothing! He eats his Wheaties! We had a lot of fun last week with him!

I love the simplicity of his little facial expression here. I even think his hair sticking right off his head on each side is cute!




Cute little smooshy bod!


Sometimes on shoots I will ask Mom to jump in for a couple shots. Usually I hear some protesting. No, she wasn't planning on this, didn't have perfect hair or makeup, but look how cute! This is one of my faves and just captures the sweetness. I love his little chubby hand reaching up towards her chin. Those "reverse knuckles" don't last forever!


Another sweet but easily overlooked moment... just looking up at Mommy and holding her hand.


His perfect response to, "How old are you?"

Again - nothing Mom planned on but so sweet. At the rate he's growing, she won't be able to do this for much longer! ;)

Thanks, y'all! Looking forward to sharing the rest with you very soon!

Just a couple more...

Thought I'd share a couple candids from last Saturday. This first one reminds me of the saying "Baby dolls, bows, ribbons, and curls, guess what, it's a girl!" that you see on lots of invites to baby showers for girls having girls... You can see why it's appropriate!


Next up - a one year old little man strutting his stuff!

The Other 2/3's

I mentioned in my previous post that there were 3 little girls I photographed Saturday at the Arboretum. Well, here is the remaining 2/3's of the group! These 3 girls are cousins. Coincidentally, both older girls have the same exact birthday! Not planned - not scheduled c-sections or anything- just happened that way. What are the odds of that? Anyway, the first cutie below is also in my little boy's Mothers-Day-Out class, and her baby sister is just a few months older than my baby Luke.

I believe that some of the best shots don't involve cheezy, big, toothy grins. Ones like this below really stand out to me. I think it is my favorite of her.

Sweet little sisterly love...

Little one here (7 months, I think?) was such a trooper that day. I am pretty sure my 4 month old wouldn't have tolerated what she did. Big gummy grins for Mommy!

This one is gorgeous in both color and this tone below, which I call "Chocolate". I like how she is peeking through the petals with the backlight on her hair.

She isn't quite sitting up by herself yet, so we had to "stage" it a bit. Aren't these little smocked dresses and bows adorable? Love it and so perfect for springtime and Easter, too.

Again - capturing an almost 3 year old doing what they do...

Mom to child: "Hey, what are you...? Hey, no, you can't pick the... " (sigh). "Oh well!" Haha. I know she wasn't the first and won't be the last to take a souvenir home from the Arboretum! Ooops!

I am going to do one more post following this one with some candids of all 3 girls. Looking forward to sharing all of the beautiful images with you!

Julie

Photo Jewels has a new logo!

You might have noticed the new logo on my splash page, website, and here, the blog. I've been working for a week or so on designing it, and finally came up with a design that met my approval. I decided to make it a bit more streamlined, as well as change my color scheme to teal, black, and white. Not a huge change - everything else stays the same as far as website address, pricing, packages, etc. - but just a little change you will see around the site, as my watermark on blog sneak peeks, and on the paperwork and CD you receive after your shoot.

Come back soon for more sneak peeks from the Arboretum...

Julie

Sweetness!

Last Saturday we braved the crowds at the Dallas Arboretum in order to capture some absolutely, perfectly sweet images of 3 beautiful little girls. I'm sure glad we did, because the shots from this shoot are just gorgeous. Her mom said her daughter had never had her picture professionally made. I'd say she did pretty well for her first time around!

Here is the first little doll's sneak peek. She will be three in a little over a month (just 8 days after my Jameson's 3rd birthday!) Check back on my website soon (not here on the blog) for additional images not shown here.

Hard to pick a favorite, but I love how the aqua wrought iron ties in to her blue eyes...

Click on the image to see it larger.

I LOVE this one!!! She looks so carefree with those blonde curls!




Beautiful blues...
And lastly, I love the sweet little grin she's showing here:


Thanks so much for being troopers Saturday! I look forward to sharing the whole album with you soon. And... the other two girls' sneak peeks are coming shortly, so check back!

Two-too cute!

This little guy turns two later this month, and his mom wanted to capture him at this stage in life. He is such a smiley, happy boy that I had a hard time catching him with a more serious look on his face. I did manage to get one I really love (see below!)

Like most two year olds, he was full of energy and curiosity. Anyone who has a child this age knows their attention span is shorter than short, and they can't possibly stay in one spot for very long. We kept up with him though, while he tested out every door handle in sight, and showed me his tongue about 23 times!

Yes, a few flowers were ripped from their roots in the taking of this photo, but how can a two year old boy resist that!?!? Totally worth it for this image:

Here's our serious one:

Beautiful, crystal blue eyes....


The best for last...

I had to post this one because although the posed shots are the ones Mom is more likely to frame and display, THIS is what being TWO is really all about!

Happy Birthday, "J". Hope you stay as happy and smiley as you are in all of these photographs!

Long and Lean Baby "K"

Last Saturday I really enjoyed a newborn session with a sweet family in their home. Let's see, how to explain the connection - the mom is the sister-in-law of one of my best friends. That wasn't too bad!

This is their first baby, and we had a lot of fun with him. He was almost 10 pounds at birth, and super long, too, at 23" (correct me if I'm wrong here!) Mom and Dad are going to be so glad we captured him at this stage because it is truly so fleeting. We got tons of wonderful shots, so I'm going to go ahead and do a few extra images in this post since I'm having a hard time narrowing it down.

And while no newborn shoot is complete without spit-up and a little bit of "involuntary release" on mom, dad, the rug, floor, and changing table, I'll spare you from seeing any of that here.... :)

I'm going to be designing his birth announcement as well, so when I'm done with that, I'll post it (with personal info removed, of course!)

Without further adieu, let's start with my favorite of Mommy and Baby. As always, click the image to enlarge it.



They also happen to have a beautiful Weimaraner dog that I was intent on getting in a photo with baby. Dad worked his doggie magic, while Mom worked hers with baby, and lookie here what we got:


Baby K LOVED this basket. Seriously, he slept like a rock in this thing. Who needs a baby bed?

I love all of these. Couldn't pick from the bunch, so I posted them in a mini-collage that Mom and Dad can order and cut into separates if they'd like.

Moving on... Hard to beat the classic, sleeping baby shots...

And with Mommy and Daddy's rings...

I love the geometric pattern on this rug in their den and the way it accents Baby.

Just a little fun with some overlay patterns in his bed:

This last one cracks me up. Sweet Sadie is taking the back seat these days. Sad, but true. That is just what happens to dogs when the "real baby" comes along. Hate to tell ya, Sadie, but pulled ears, eye poking, and getting used as a seat is in your future...

As if this post wasn't long enough, let me say this: The coolest thing about getting to come into a family's home and capture baby in their natural, comfortable setting is that not only to do I get to create more posed shots, but I also have the opportunity to portray a more creative and photo-journalistic style that captures the realism of life with a new baby. Not to mention, this approach makes it MUCH easier on a new mom who is trying to figure out her new sense of normalcy and might even be scared to leave the house!

Thanks so much for allowing me to spend the morning with you! More coming soon...

Yet another gorgeous girl...

Wowza! When I saw this first image I couldn't help but picture her 10 or 15 years down the road, modeling for the likes of Ralph Lauren! Can you believe she is only in second grade? She is the other half of the pair of girls I photographed last weekend in Longview. Between the two girls and them switching outfits every 20 minutes or so, we captured everything from classy, to serious, to just plain silly. I got several fun and funny ones of them together, but just couldn't pass up posting these 5 individual shots. Maybe I'll come back and post some of the candid ones soon! :) It was so fun, girls!

Once again, click the image to enlarge.

Calm, Cool, and Collected - at Seven? :)

Last weekend when I was in Longview visiting family, I had the opportunity to photograph two sweet seven year old girls. Here is the first of the two. I was glad she wasn't "cheeze-ing" it up too much, because I think her "look" is really calm, confident, and collected in all of these shots. Not too many second graders can pull that off and look as natural as she did! It didn't hurt that her mom let me photograph both indoors and outdoors of their gorgeous home. Thank you again! I will be sending you a link to the entire album this week.

Click on the image to open it a bit larger and with more detail.