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!

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.  

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!

Fall has sprung- although maybe only Spring is allowed to actually do that, but it feels as if it has sprung and brought some relief from what has been a rainy, oppressively hot summer.  The cooler days has also given me the chance to break out my son's fall duds and buy him some new shoes- one of his great obsessions and one of his first words, although it comes out more like, "sssuchuees." 

So needless to say, my already achingly adorable son was looking rather dapper and cozy in his fall clothing, and I decided that it was time to try out one of my new props that hasn't had the chance to be put to good use.  As the mother of a toddler I am always on the lookout for props that will entice busy bodies to pause, even momentarily, to get some good shots.  And recently I found this tiny yellow chair for a steal and fell in love. 

There are currently 90,098 pieces of children's clothing available on Esty.  And most of them do not have photographs that differentiate them from the crowd of other knitters, embroiderers, sewers and such.  For my client, Irish Woolen, I knew that her woolen sweaters and hats were gorgeous, but nevertheless needed something more to help them stand out from the crowd.

These are some samples of the concept I think we will be going with after a final okay from the client. (Please note that these images have not been edited as I normally would and the location-- a nearby bike path-- is not typically one I will be choosing for the real images.)  When I work with someone, even an Etsy client, whose photos size, number and basic color scheme are all dictated by the site, I try to keep in mind the feel and look of that shop and create images that fit that client.  I also look at typical listings of like items and think of what I can do that will showcase the unique selling points fo my clients products and how to showcase those selling points. 

On a recent cloudy, but mild day, I grabbed my little man-- who is usually smiley and giggly, and ran across the street from our house to the Mississippi River Regional Trail and did and impromptu photo shoot of him. For some reason he was Mr. Serious that day.  Perhaps he could sense that I was going to make him model the wonderful and dreaded Bear Snowsuit, which is hilariously and achingly cute, but also renders him nearly completely immobile.