Baby, it's cold outside, here in Minnesota, but that doesn't mean that your family can't have a great holiday photo, even when one of your family is just that-- a baby.  Keen eyed viewers of this photo might recognize little Alexa, for whom I recently took newborn photos.  Her wonderful and creative mom, Jessica is a friend of mine and a graphic designer, expert crochet-er, baker, seamstress and all around creative expert.

We met on a beautiful, but snowy day at the gorgeous Silverwood Park, a new favorite of mine for photos in the chill of a Minnesota winter.  Because Alexa is still so little they only wanted interior shots, but the huge gorgeous fireplace made the perfect wintry setting for a Christmas card photo.

Aren't they the cutest family?


Of course, as a friend, she took some of us.  Look at that gorgeous wood!  This year we decided to go cheesy MN matching flannel for our holiday card.  It seems that we picked the perfect year for it with the absolutely Minnesotan way the weather has been behaving lately.  We certainly are living up to all of the stereotypes!

 Meet Al and Barb.  a wonderful couple, great parents and grandparents.  Not that I'm biased or anything, but they happen to be my parents.  On a recent visit I got a few formal portraits of them as well as a few more informal while we were out enjoying a bit of family time.  It has taken way too long for me to get them up here,  but I wanted to share Noah's Gi-Gi and Grampy!

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Today I got to do one of my favorite things, have a newborn session.  It was made even more fun by the fact that, the baby was super-adorable and it was a gift session to a coworker of my husband's and his wife.  Little Liam is two months old, and so was able to stay awake for a while and give smiles, but also very kindly slept for us for a while.  It was so great to see a family so happy and to know that Liam will be growing up in a home filled with laughter and love.

It was also great to finally get to meet Erin, Liam's mom.  She and I have had very similar stories for the past few years-- moving for a husband's promotion and relocating without knowing anyone here in MN.  Hopefully we'll get to see you again soon!


Erin, this is one of my favorite photos I have taken, ever.  Your little one is just gorgeous!

A few days ago I had the pleasure of hanging out with my dear friend Holly and her daughter Emma.  Holly was a friend of mine when I lived in Michigan, and then fast-forwarding a few years life found us giving birth just days apart and living in MN just a few miles apart.

Her Emma is such a sweet little lady, and it has been great to see her and Noah grow and change together.  And for the most part I have been successful at resisting naming her as Noah's future bride.  I'll leave that for when they are in preschool.  :)

Of course I grabbed a few photos to commemorate the two of them reaching the milestone of a year and a half, and I loved how beautiful Silverwood Park, even though we had to remain mostly inside because we were getting together on the coldest day of the fall so far.  Some of the first white flakes fell outside as we sat by the fire and caught up.

.  At first, Emma wasn't so sure about this goofy guy hanging out with her.

Sometimes working in my profession is a wonderful thing-- I get to work with wonderful clients and see them at some of the most important moments in their lives.  The new babies, graduating seniors, couples on the verge of marriage are all wonderful reasons to love photography.  

Recently I was delighted to get a phone call from Denise, mom to Leah and Kyle and wife to Rick.  She told me that she  had seen the work I had done for the Marra Family and their son, Nick, and wanted to discuss a family session for her family and dog, Sammy.  It is always an honor to hear that a client is happy with your work, and to have someone else want to book me based upon that is doubly so.  

This past weekend I paused from taking on clients to enjoy a bit of time with my family who were in town from MI to see my husband and I, but even more so to soak up a bit of time with the short one-- their adoring and adored grandson.

I have been so busy that I haven't had time to edit a bunch of photos from that session, although I did do some more formal shots of my folks that I will put up a few from later, but I just had to add this one basically SOOC (Straight Out Of the Camera).

He is the reason that my work takes about twice as long, the reason my formerly folded laundry ends up all over, and recently he was the reason a potato was in our bathroom, but I wouldn't change him even the tiniest of bits.

My son's other recent hijinks?  How about opening up the dishwasher so he can stand on the inside of the door to reach the top? Kisses? Rubbing our faces and making cooing noises when we remind him to use gentle touches? (He can get kinda grabby.) Discovering and identifying his belly button?  He also is obsessed with spices and smelling, and today got cinnamon up his nose.  He also loves going to get a sweater or one of his shoes and telling me, "Go?" as he walks over to the door that leads to the back yard.

I love my mini-man so much, and it was so wonderful to get to spend some quality time with my family on the weekend at the apple orchard and playing trains down in the family room.

Thanks for visiting Gi-Gi and Grampy!  It was just what we Westons needed!

Little Miss Layla is as cute as they come, and last week I had the wonderful chance to capture some of that cuteness with my lens in her 9 month session.  Her mom is hoping to use some of the images for her birthday invitations, and has been waiting patiently for me to get up this session preview.

Look at this cutie!  She is already pulling herself up, which presented some challeges, but her being so sturdy also gave us the chance to do a ton of poses.



We visited a favorite nearby park, which is just gorgeous lately with the light coming through the trees and the autumn colors.   She sat so well for the camera, thanks to mom being a bit of a photo buff herself, but was asleep mere minutes after we carpooled out of the park.

A bit out of order, but I couldn't resist sharing a sneak peek of the darling little one I got to cuddle during my newborn session this week.  Jess is a friend, and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to photograph her new little one, Alexa.  This was also my first opportunity to see her new house, and it was so much fun to have a loud, long session as her older daughter played trains with my Noah as we captured these images.  Despite this, Jess was able to soothe her little one to sleep, eventually, and I am so looking forward to editing the rest of the session.






Congrats again Momma!

Hannah and I had met prior to our session last weekend, but I don't think that I realized how much of kindred spirits we were until she told me that the props she wanted to bring were her camera and a couple books.  She is planning on studying them both next year when she begins college.  I was excited at the chance to have a session filled with camera talk as well as book talk, and our looong session that ranged from the West River Parkway on down to the Mill Ruins near the Stone Arch Bridge did not disappoint.  It was also nice to have a bit of a feminine vibe going on after several male seniors, and to be able to do completely different posing.

Hopefully, Hannah, you will think that this preview is a great reminder of a fun evening, as well as worthy of our super long session!

Look at the eyes on this girl!  She told me she wasn't good at "looking at the camera and posing."  Yeah, sure.
 I'd be kind of curious to see what the photos she took look like, but I'm sure I don't look as good with my camera up to my face.

 Love the book props!
 The mill ruins down by the Stone Arch Bridge make a gorgeous backdrop, but you have to dodge other photogs to get the shot you want.  I think we saw 5 other photographers working.