If you wanna have a successful photo shoot with a 4 yr old you HAVE to go on an adventure. That’s just the way it is. You have to pick flowers, climb mountains (or mounds of dirt,) pretend to be mermaids, climb ladders, blow bubbles and play with balloons. And to get some smiles while doing all of that, you have to let them scare you, making them giggle with delight when they do. Miss Carter Lily is all about adventure, so she was pretty cool with letting me take photos of her while we went on ours.  Here are some highlights from our adventure.

We picked flowers…

…and put them in this really cool basket.

This ladder was just her size. She didn’t stay on it too long, but long enough for me to get this.

Later she showed me her beautiful new dress that she was going to wear for her Birthday Party. And then her mama let her PLAY in it!!!

So we got some shots like these.

Of course, she got to keep her balloon that she affectionately named “Ballooney.”

Thought this one needed to be B&W as well.

Thank you miss Carter Lily for letting me explore with you. I had the best time!

Meet the Murrays. They happen to be one of my favorite families. When we first moved to Beloit, Janet befriended us and made an effort to introduce us to the town. One of our first attended events here was with her and Doug at Beloit College. Over the years, I have sung on stage many times with Janet (she has a beautiful voice) and I have grown to love her dearly. I had the best time hanging out with all of them in their neck of the woods (literally, they live near the woods right next to turtle creek.) As a family they love to spend time walking and exploring near the the creek, so that was what we decided to do for the shoot. It is so beautiful there right now.

The fields were just so gorgeous with wild wild flowers and phlox.

There is a stretch of pine trees that have grown into a canopy,  it made for a great spot for these next photos.

I made them explore…I love this photo because while they were walking I asked them to stop and turn and smile at me. The first time, Janet just got what I wanted and did it in this perfectly fun and spontaneous way (she’s such a good actress So then I made them all do it like her.

This one just screams “Golden Child” doesn’t it. lol.

Some photos just need to be turned to black and white.

Thank you Murrays for a fun afternoon and for trying silly things with me.

I’m not gonna lie, these 2 cuties gave me a run for my money! They never stopped moving and my knees are bruised from crawling very fast all over the floor while trying to keep up with them (I think it’s time to invest in some knee pads.)  Their mamas were probably pretty tired too as they also worked hard.  I got to photograph both kids when they were in, and fresh out of, the oven. They happen to be cousins who absolutely adore each other and it is really sweet to watch them together. It’s been so much fun watching them grow over the past year and a half, and I am giddy over the photos that we ALL (kiddos included) worked so hard to get.  The bruises were totally worth it!  Here is a preview of the little cuties (I’m sure their grandma’s have been anxious to see.) You might wanna grab a cup of coffee or a soda because it’s a long one.

First, here they are in, and fresh out of, the oven.

Addisyn is the oldest.

Teagan came next.

Teagan went first and made sure that my floors were nice and polished (using his little knees.) He loves Curious George. I mean he really, really  loves him.

“T” is for Teagan, and Tractors, and Telephones, and Trucks.

You may remember his Daddy’s favorite tin tub from his first shoot. Well, it made an appearance again.

Good thing I have a nice big window up there. His mama says that he likes to look out the window ant home and watch all the cars.

Addisyn was next and all ready to go in her pink cowgirl gear. Her and her mama own some horses, so she is sure to be a cowgirl someday. I love these next photos because they look a little retro to me.

“A” is for Addisyn, and Aprons, and Apples.

I made these giant paper flowers for Addisyn’s shoot. I just knew she would look so pretty surrounded by them.

They also made great accessories.

Just a simple sweet smile.

2 Cuties in a tub is a good way to end don’t you think?

On Friday my baby got a mouth full (and I do mean FULL) of metal. Full set of braces on top, full set on bottom, and a big hunk of metal glued to the roof of her mouth that will expand the width of her mouth. Poor thing could barely talk, eat, or swallow. I think she was excited about getting braces initially (because you know kids kind a like that stuff sometimes) but once it was all in she was bummed about how it felt in her mouth. To make her feel better, we got her all prettied up and did a photo shoot of her with her new BLING. She loved it and totally worked the camera for me. As you will see, she is quite the little model. I loved it because it gave me a chance to play more with the AMAZING light that I get in my Attic Studio during the day.

I swear,  she’s never seen an episode of Next Top Model. It must just be from having her mommy take her photo all her life.

Braces have never looked so cute!

Last one, I was experimenting with different light techniques. Used my reflector on her in this one to get the background a bit darker. I think she was ready to be done.

This little boy is gonna be smothered with brotherly love, seeing as he is the youngest of four boys! I was so excited to have him and his beautiful mama Katie be the first clients in my home studio. While the space is not quite finished yet (all the fun little decorating and touch-up details etc…) I worked on getting the shooting area cleaned up and ready so that we could get baby Colton in while he  was still little enough to do some of the following:

What is it about a baby in a basket? It’s like those kitten videos on you Youtube. You just can’t stop “awwwwing.”

Just a sweet backlit shot of mama snuggling him.

Can’t resist those little fingers.

He was just small enough to fit on this chair. I was hoping he would be because I had this all planned out and knew it would be so cute if we could pull it off. He wasn’t really happy being on that hard chair, but he tolerated it just enough to get some good shots.

Ahh, nice and soft. I think he liked this better.

I think these are my favorites from the shoot. I was not sure at all if this would work and Katie was a brave mama to try. Don’t worry, she was right there  just inches away the whole time. It amazes me how babies can just sleep anywhere.

Couldn’t resist snapping some from the other side.

Thanks Katie for letting me photograph your precious little guy.

Our Ash joined wrestling this winter. It was basically an intro to Wrestling Club where they practice twice a week, learn technique and then have “meet” at the end of the season.  Her PE teacher was one of the coaches and suggested that she would probably like it and do well. Of course we knew that she would be one of very few girls, but she really wanted to do it, so we said, “why not?”  Over the past year and a half we have been getting to know her better and discovering more and more about her personality. And, she has been having fun exploring options and opportunities that would never have been available to her in Haiti (especially being a girl.) She is pretty diverse in her interests. She loves to sing, dance, dress up, and do girlie things. Yet, she is athletic, extremely competitive, and loves to play aggressively. Whenever given a choice between athletics or arts, she always chooses athletics.  I love that she is so bold and not afraid to try new things. I, however, need a lot of practice at being a “sports” mom.  1) I am like the least competitive person I know (unless it’s 80’s trivia) so it’s hard for me to get motivated to yell things from the sideline. Because truthfully, I don’t really care who wins, as long as everyone is having fun. 2) I can’t yell. I simply can’t do it. I can sing and belt out a note like no one’s business, but when it comes to yelling, I just can’t get very loud. So, I feel bad that Ashley probably can’t ever hear me yelling encouragement at her. Maybe I should start bringing a megaphone. That’d make me at least look hardcore. Anyway, here are some photos from the one meet they had at the end of her season.

She had some decent moves (according to my husband who actually knows about wrestling.)

Unfortunately, she had to wrestle boys who totally outweighed her, so even if she took them down, she couldn’t keep em down.

She really had a hard time with not being able to keep them down. I don’t know if during practices she got to wrestle smaller kids, but she did not deal well with it. We felt really bad for her cause those boys were pretty big.

She’s pretty scrappy!

This little girl was cracking me up. She was a brute. The funniest thing was that she would just pin all these boys, then so effortlessly lay on them while looking up and smiling at her parents.

Ash wrestled her friend Quinn last and that was a little bit better of a match since he was a little slimmer than the other boys.

So, when she did get him down…

She was able to hold him down.

Of course, Quinn had his fair share of take downs.

I must say, it is very hard to watch your daughter being wrestled to the ground by boys. But, the lesson involved overrides any uneasiness I have.

I really don’t consider myself to be a High Maintenance Girl. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty girly. I do like flowers, and jewelry, and pink. But, I’m not one of those wives who expects her man to “get it right” on Valentine’s Day, Anniversary, etc… I’m not that into frivolity (yeah, it’s a real word, look it up.) either. So usually if I want a gift, it’s something I really need or have been wanting for a while. Now I’m not saying my hubby isn’t a generous and thoughtful gift giver who, even though not expected of him, makes me and my girls feel loved.  I am saying however, that he is a pretty lucky guy because my V-Day expectations of him are pretty low. Perhaps the fact that the day comes so closely behind Christmas and His Birthday, which results in us being all gifted, treated, and dined out, also lightens the pressure. This year, neither of us really felt the need to do anything special just the two of us. But, I had an idea to do something really special for our girls. Something that would make them feel so loved and appreciated and that they would hopefully remember for a long time. So, this is how we spent V-Day 2010.

We told the girls that we were going to make them a “fancy dinner” in which they could request any dish they wanted. They both agreed on Haitian Chicken, with Beans and Rice and Dad set out to spend hours in the kitchen (that’s one of his specialities.) We told them that they could dress anyway they wanted and even let them put on a little make-up. I had them make some handmade decorations to hang, but didn’t tell them much else about what to expect.

Why would I ever pay for cheesey decorations when my girls make pretty things like this?

Abra was sad when she woke up in the morning and didn’t find her Valentine’s Gift in her room. I wanted to put it on their chair, so they would find it when they pulled the chair out.

Mmmm. Red Velvet Cake is always a winner for Valentines.

The girls saw these “personal watermelons” at the store and wanted to try them.

I made the girls wait till everything was set before they could come into the dinning room. Candles lit…

Crazy Light Up Cups on and full of pink lemonade…

I even put the silverware on the plates to make X’s and O’s.

This was the reaction to all the fanciness.

This was Ashley’s reaction to dad being the waiter, telling her the menu, asking her what she’d like etc… She loved playing along.

They loved their crazy cups.

Dinner is served.

Happy girls.

We also gave them cards with a love letter written to each of them. They felt like pretty special little girls I tell you (which they are.) It was the best Valentine’s Day ever.

Haven’t blogged for a while since my busy season (photography wise) has wound down. I thought it was about time to post something more personal seeing as how I’ve been really terrible about that. I think I should add “Blog More Personal Photos and Stories”  to my very long list of resolutions for the new year.

The Henry Household has been known to keep a tree up so long that by the time it makes it to the curb, all but three needles remain on it’s brances. No doubt I get my Christmas Decorating Tendencies from my mom who always left them up well into January for us to enjoy.  We usually had at least three trees each year. Now, she has a huge old home where she sports 9 themed trees! I’m not that bad, but this year my girls each got a pre-lit pink tree to put in their room.  And, I usually have at least 2 other real trees each year. This year I’ve been  thinking about all of the variations in family traditions and decor at Christmas Time and about why I choose what I choose. I think the way I decorate at Christmas says a lot about me, my home, my personal style, and the things I love. So, I thought I’d share them.

Most people can’t say (or wouldn’t admit) that they chose their home because they could picture it decorated for Christmas when they walked in. Much to my husbands dismay, that’s pretty much how I fell in love with my 100 year old home. When we bought it, the ceilings were coming down, and it was filthy and smelled like animal urine. Still, when I walked in and saw the room pictured below, I knew that my Christmas Tree would look beautiful in it. And, I am not afraid to admit that I chose to paint it blue so that it would match the tree. I love my home at Christmas, it’s the one time of year that I forget about everything that needs to be fixed or updated and just enjoy.

Every year Erik and I have this debate about our tree. I want it as tall and wide as we can get. Afterall, isn’t that what 9 ft ceilings are for?  He always wants to go shorter to avoid having to trim some off when we get it home. One year I listened to him and I was so disapointed. This year I got my way!

Part of my Christmas obssession is collecting vintage decor.  In general, I gravitate toward anything mid-century.  I spent a lot of time with my grandmother growing up and have so many memories of her home (that never changed.)  That is probably why I find so much comfort in items from that era. I vividly remember her old christmas ornaments, and I have a weekness for ”Shiny Brite” glass balls. They can be found pretty cheap at little thrift stores if I’m lucky, or for a bit more on ebay if I’m looking for specific ones.  None of my vintage goodies are worth a lot, but they make me pretty happy.

I also love pink, and pink and blue combos. I pretty much consider pink a neutral (think about it, it goes with EVERY color.) I know they’re not traditional Christmas colors but, again, saw a lot of it mid-century.

“Shiny Brite”  goodness.

My vintage card wreaths make me happy too. Some of them have messages in them and I love to look through them and think about the happiness that the greetings brought to their receipients way back when.

O.K., so my dining room was not actually painted for Christmas (eventhough it is green.) It was painted to match my grandmothers dish set that we use at Thanksgiving.  But, I think that my vintage table cloths go pretty well in there.

I also love my little vintage Japanese angels and Christmas girls.

Kissing Angels were so mid-century.

My stair railing is the perfect place for me to hang more shiny briteness.

This year I wanted to add some of my old Family Christmas photos into the mix. Can things from the 80’s now be considered “vintage?” If so, some of these are vintage photos. lol.

The second tree. Our living room is not so vintagey.

The second tree was the girls tree. My sister in-law and brother in-law and their 2 girls are here. They did not get to decorate their own tree this year, so they brought some of their ornaments and all four girls decorated the second tree however they wanted.

I thought it would be fun to have them string popcorn and cranberries for garland. I think we may do this every year.

My girls new pink trees that were waiting for them Christmas morning. Beginning to pass the torch.

I’m planning on leaving my Christmasy goodness up as long as I can.

Each wedding I photograph seems to have it’s own personality and style.  While I try to be consistent with my style and technique,  there are really very few elements that I have control of throughout the day. Being willing to adapt to the  days environment and events, interpret it all, and then produce stylized images that evoke the mood and feeling of that day, is what my job is all about.  John and Mary originally wanted to get married closer to Christmas, but had to settle for a date in November.  I learned yesterday that Mary loves snow. While it didn’t snow yesterday, all other elements of their day made us feel like we were in a “winter wonderland.”  One of the elements used to create that wonderland was pretty dramatic lighting (My favortie kind!) Here are a few images from their day (some dramatic, some a little less.)

The ceremony took place at their church which is Life Church in Roscoe, IL.

The groom.

The bride.

They were pretty happy and full of emotion all day.  It was beautiful.

They had a great group of friends supporting them.

This was a really important element to them. I love how it captures the enjoyment that they experienced throughout their day.

I loved the silver branches they used throughout the decor.

The cake was beautiful and wintery.

And last but not least. Reception dance floors always provide great dramatic lighting.  I usually shoot a little with my flash and a little without on the dance floor.  It’s worth it to mix it up in order to get shots like this.

Congratulations John and Mary. Thank you for letting me be a part of and document your day!

This Family is one of my favorites.  Little Avenlea is just about as cute as they come, and such a petite little doll.  She reminds me a little of my Abra at that age-little, but with big beautiful blue eyes.  Both Randy and Kelli are teachers and, with their love for art and literature, are sure to raise Avenlea to become one cultured young lady.  It was really cold for our shoot, so it wasn’t too long before Avie was done with the smiles. The ones she did give, however, were pretty adorable. Here is their peek.

 I just love this one.

 This was Randy’s childhood wagon.  It was a perfect fit for Avie.

 You simply cannot beat a cuttie sitting in an old wagon in a field.

We were getting to the end of the smiles. I was pretty much making a fool out of myself trying to get Avie to even smirk. At least mom and dad found me amusing.  I think this would make a wonderful Christmas Card!

Thanks Greenfields.  I hope Avenlea slept well for ya last night!