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Sunday, April 23, 2017

Caroline and Monroe at Home | Lifestyle Photography

I wish more people would request lifestyle photo sessions!  Maybe I should suggest them more often?  I got giddy when Lauren asked if we could just shoot the kids at home in their environment.  Earl is deployed again, and it would just be easier for her to stay at home with them.  Understandable!  But I think her request driven by convenience turned out so perfectly.  I’m probably sharing way more photos from yesterday than I should, but I just can’t resist.  Watching these three run around and enjoy one another was such a treat!  And I like to think I’m also providing a glimpse for Earl of how his better three-quarters are spending their Saturday mornings while he’s gone.

I haven’t been posting much on the blog because, well, I’m getting ready to shut it down.  I’m officially closing the business at some point this summer.  I’ve been shooting since 2009, and it’s just time for a change.  I love photography.  I love capturing moments like these and what these photos will (hopefully!) mean to Lauren and Earl down the road.  To some extent I will still crave that, and I’ll find ways to get my fix.  But I can already feel my focus shifting away from photography.  I’ve worked full-time the whole time, and it’s nice to have a free weekend every once in a while.  It’s nice to be able to read a book without feeling guilty because I have clients waiting for me to edit their images.  It’s nice to not have to force myself to go sit down and edit when I’m not in the mood because timeliness counts in customer service.  It’s also nice to not have to worry about making everyone happy.  Because you can’t.  I’m ready to do me for a little while, and to find out how photography fits in with that at this stage of my life.

I probably won’t delete the Facebook page, just because so many people’s photos are shared there.  But I won’t be renewing my hosting for this blog, and that means everything will vanish.  There are too many of my own memories to let that happen, so I’m looking at having books made to memorialize it…  We’ll see.  In the meantime, text or email me if you want some lifestyle photos!!

 

Posted in Business, Children, Families, Lifestyle, Personal, Whittle Steps
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Sunday, December 11, 2016

Those Toenes Kids

I love kids.  Pretty much all kids.  But some grow to have special places in my heart, and Emma and Jace definitely have done that.  It’s impossible to believe Jace has turned two and graduated Whittle Steps with this session!  We had a great time running around at the Bagdad Mill Site Park – the kids could run around safely with no traffic, and we even managed to slip in a few photos of Lydia and Justin alone.  (What you can’t see in some of those photos is Emma pulling at Lydia’s leg just out of the frame.  HA!)  I read that the county planted over 200 trees at the park last week, so I’m really excited to get over there and see it now.  It may be my new favorite place to shoot, as long as all the new trees didn’t mess it up – and I have a hard time imagining how they could have!

Merry Christmas from the Toenes family!  I wasn’t going to post the little card I made for them, but since Justin already put it on Facebook, I feel okay doing so.  Haha!  Secret is out, leaving Lydia scrambling for another holiday greeting.  😉

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Posted in Children, Whittle Steps
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Sunday, December 4, 2016

Hello Sweet Emma

You may remember Lilly’s newborn photos on the blog a couple of months ago.  Sweet Emma is her new cousin!  I am so excited that I got to capture both of these new baby Eggarts.  I can’t wait to watch them both grow up, too.  Having a cousin so close in age is really a treat, and I just know these two will be best of friends like Della and Jackson have been.

Speaking of Jackson, this is the third time I’ve had him in front of my camera, and he is one of the sweetest little guys I’ve ever met!  While we were waiting for Emma to nurse, he showed me all of his favorite iPad games and how to play them.  We had a cute little chat while he was sitting in the studio, and I’d occasionally just snap a photo of him without him realizing what I was doing.  The result is a cute little collection of childhood expressions.  I hope his mama loves them as much as I do!

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Posted in Children, Families, Newborns
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Sunday, December 4, 2016

The Ricky Palmer Family

This time of year is hard as a photographer who also works full time.  I know everyone who schedules a session in these last few months of the year is thinking of Christmas cards and gifts, and the pressure I put on myself is real.  I’m always really careful not to over-schedule myself so I can get photos edited and posted timely.  One thing I can’t plan for, though?  The flu.  Oh, I got my flu shot!  But then I got a strain that wasn’t covered, and I didn’t realize it until I was already two days in – too late to go get Tamiflu.  So on Thanksgiving day, when I had planned to wake up early and edit before heading to my sister’s house for lunch, I instead battled a fever and chills.  So much for that four-day weekend to catch up!

So Jessica and Ricky’s photos are later than I’d like them to be.  It took all week before I had the endurance to not crash immediately upon getting home from work.  Hopefully they’ll think they were worth the wait!  I loved the fact they wanted to shoot at their beautiful new home in Jay!  I watched the progress photos as they were posted on Facebook, and getting to shoot out there was really a treat!  The home looks new and yet like they’ve been there forever, if that makes sense.  Like it’s just meant to be!

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Posted in Children, Families
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Sunday, November 20, 2016

Smelling flowers with Sarah

Sarah is another of my Whittle Steps graduates that I got to visit with for family photos recently.  We went back to one of her favorite places, and she checked out almost every flower there was.  Sarah even cooked up a little mischief when she stole her daddy’s hat – but she gave it back, placing it firmly on his head for him.  Kind of.  I mean, she got it back in the general area where it belongs.  Sarah is such a beautiful little spirit, and I love what has become my yearly visit with her this time of year!

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Posted in Children, Families
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