Recent Sessions

I am going to try to condense some of my recent sessions prior to vacation in this one post. It's been a busy summer for me! Which is good. Vacation was good to try to catch my breath and recover a bit from nonstop sessions and proofing and spend a lot of quality time with my family! We took the kids to KiddieLand in Melrose Park several weeks ago with some friends of ours, I swear it was one of the hottest days ever! We seem to hit it on the hottest day every year we go.

If you've never been to KiddieLand it's an experience. Retro feel, complete with rides from the 40's and 50's. All well maintained. The arcade is filled with cool classics like Centipede and Galaga! The water rides are paced perfectly for the 3 and over crowd. On Mondays, when we seem to hit KiddieLand, there is hardly any wait for the rides (except the bumper cars which are perpetually in wait mode).

I abstained from taking my camera, partly because I am making a commitment to soak in the moments. That being said, I wish I would've grabbed at least my little point and shoot because the joy of childhood is all too short and KiddieLand is the place to take them when life is still filled with wonder, joy and innocence.

Prior to vacation I had the pleasure of grabbing moments of time with Elizabeth and her two dads. It was a terrific session, 2 hours with the most wonderfully creative and loving family. I loved that her dads got into the session action, coming up with ideas of how to use Miss Elizabeth as a prop! ;-) This is Elizabeth at 5 months of age.

In early July I also had a session with little Jack and his fabulously fun parents. We had a great time together as well. These Chicago folks KNOW how to have a good time!
Jack is a huge Cubs fan, apparently so is his daddy! This is Jack with Maggie (who loved me all too much) and his pet monkey. I swear, the monkey just *knew* to look at the camera here. To be honest, I don't think Maggie was a fan of mine!

In late June, I had the pleasure of photographing Miss Gianna.

What a little lady! She has the most fantastic hair, long, beautifully wavy. Easy to see why, she has great genes. Miss Gianna was a complete princess during our session, a ballerina princess, that is. Here is Miss Gianna at 3 years old.

Also in late June I was lucky enough to shoot a session that touched my heart completely. Meet Austyn and his dad, Austyn was here in Chicagoland for his very first visit to the Midwest. : Lots of firsts for Austyn and his dad. One of my favorite shots of the whole session, this was printed up as a large Gallery Wrap canvas and really is truly to die for gorgeous. Here's Austyn on his first of many firsts vacation with his dad.

A session with 4 kids is DESTINED for chaos, right? Not so much. It *was* busy but we had a great time! My friends Wilson, Emma, Abi and Rachel were the most darling, best behaved family of four kids I've ever met, in fact they are just spectacular kids all around. All of them so sweet, I wouldn't have minded spending the whole day with them. Oh wait! I did!! :-) A fun session at the garden was born. Meet my pals Wilson, Emma, Abi and Rachel. Four beautiful kids and I still cannot get Emma as "hat girl" out of my head! Last I heard, Rachel's Brownie the Bear was still M.I.A.. Let's bow our heads in a moment of peace in hopes that Brownie finds his way back to sweet little Rachel (my Audrey Hepburn!) and the warm, loving home of Beth and her gorgeous family.

Their mom, Beth, was a real trooper. She came out to our home and we ended up spending the morning together with all the kids just hanging out like old friends waiting out the rain. It never stopped raining (of course). She packed them all up late morning and went home. Of course, as she was half way home it cleared up and got sunny on us! (Murphy's Law). Beth is a real trooper and packed those kids right back up and brought them out to me again. We had a small change in venue, a total of 12 outfit changes, numerous "situations" that we set the kids up in and voila! A masterpiece of four kids.

Yes, I was tired afterwards but the results are stunning! Beth ordered this image as a Christmas Card insert and it made my day because I just love the familiarity and sibling love so apparent in this shot: