Deck the Halls | Annapolis family photographer

This past Friday I had one of my most fun family photo shoots ever. I didn’t know a thing about this family before I arrived and I was a bit nervous because of how cold the weather had become. They wanted to do half the shoot outdoors in the woods and trails behind their home and the other half as an indoor candid shoot while they decorated for Christmas.
That all changed the moment I walked in the door and met mom and Dad, Lynne & Chip and the girls, Hunter and Hayley, they welcomed me in like I was part of the family.
After bundling up for our walk in the woods, we headed out into the cold. It took awhile to get little Hayley to smile for me, but once I cracked the code, she was all smiles and bubbly the rest of the night.
After roaming around the woods and finding some nice little spots, we decided that we were cold and headed indoors.

As the family got ready to decorate the living room and tree for Christmas, I took advantage of the down time to photograph their very photogenic cat…who eventually got put into a Santa outfit. He was quite the character and quite a poser too!

Then, the decorating began, and little Hayley perked right up and showed me that she wasn’t shy at all. The family was so funny as they donned their Santa hats (yes, I wore one as well) and each took on a job placing lights on the tree, wrapping garland around the branches and hanging the ornaments. Lynne has a tradition where they each decorate a wreath to be hung on the windows of the home. Each one took their wreaths and added there own special touch while I documented the tradition.

I loved this shoot because rarely does a family just let me document their traditions…I love doing this because it’s real and these are the memories that they would want to remember…not all the posed shots.

Thank you Lynne, Chip, Hunter and Hayley for being so welcoming and trusting me to be your photographer for the holiday! I had so much fun with you all…I could have stayed all night and kept taking photos. Thanks also for the wonderful glass of wine…I think that was a first and much appreciated 🙂

Fairy hunting | Annapolis, MD family and child photographer

Months ago, I took a great yoga class from my friend Lara Bontempo…in my class was Sheila, a funny, beautiful woman who I loved chatting with before and after class. Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting her beautiful family and photographing them around Annapolis. Sheila, her husband Patrick and their very beautiful daughters Mallory and Emerson met me at 49 West Coffee to start our little photo journey. As I might have mentioned before, I don’t like to plan out my shoot too much so I wander from place to place, usually discovering new and interesting places and scenes. This day we started with a bit of an urban feel as we wound around the neighborhood just off West Street. We had one of the most beautiful days this fall, so I was happy searching for the warm colors of fall hidden within the side streets of Annapolis. We found some sweet spots, threw some bright red leaves, laughed and got a bit goofy. Then we took a mini break and headed down to one of my favorite spots, Amos Garrett Park in Murray Hill. It was here the shoot became a bit more candid as the kids ran around and blew bubbles & looked for fish. Just as I was ready to call it a day and put away my camera, I heard Mallory and Emerson talk about looking for fairies. I couldn’t leave yet! I had to help them find fairies! Actually, I put on my long lens, stood back and grabbed some of my favorite shots of the day…the kids just being kids. I even got some nice shots of Sheila and Patrick before I left. This was a perfect shoot! The kids were so much fun. Mallory, in my opinion has a future as a fashion model…those looks could kill! Emerson was our comic relief for the day…she said the cutest things as she sat in a tree (her fairy house) speaking very quietly.
Thanks Sheila and Patrick for a wonderful morning! I had a blast with you and your kids! Enjoy your photos!!

cute cute cute | Pennsylvania and Maryland photographer

July 20-28th:

I’m overlapping my weeks a bit to keep this blog up to date…I’ve had a whirlwind of shoots in the past week and I’m going to wrap them all into one big post of photos. It all starts in New Oxford, PA, my hometown where I find myself going back to more and more to photograph old friends and their families. It’s always nice to go home, even for just one day. This particular time, I spent an evening with Karen and Chad and their two sweet little girls, Emery & Vivian. We had a nice time down by the stream just about a 1/4 miles from their great farm house. Vivian had started walking recently, so I was sure to grab a few shots of her stumbling around the grass…so cute!

Next up was a weekend trip up to my favorite place, Philadelphia. I went to college there and lived there for 5 years, many of my closest friends still live there, so any time I have a chance to get away for a weekend, I head straight there. I spent the first night with some old friends from my youth and their little baby, unfortunately I was so exhausted from a very long workday and drive that day that the camera never came out, but I didn’t feel too bad about it because they have a few amazing photographers who are friends or family who are always taking photos of their little guy, so there is no shortage of footage for him. Then, I drove downtown to Northern Liberties to visit my college buddy Dan and his wife Amanda and baby Charley. I always have such a good time with these guys and Charley has the most easy-going personality any kid could have, so photographing her is pure pleasure. We had a great day of killer burgers and drinks & watching Charley beat the heat by splashing in her baby pool.

I hated to have to leave Dan and his family, but I was excited for my last stop on Sunday morning to see my old school friend Heather (we’ve been friends since 5th grade!). She and her husband Craig were having Abbey, their adorable little one, baptised at the Methodist Church where they attend. Heather had asked me to be there to photograph the ceremony and then to stay to document the BBQ they had back at their home with most of Heather’s family, lots of nieces and a nephew and part of Craig’s family and his niece. There was no shortage of kids on this hot summer day, so being the smart people they are, they had 3 kiddie pools set up in the backyard for the kids to splash around in. It was a great day, I got to catch up with Heather and her family and enjoyed being a part of Abbey’s special day.

Lastly, I had an engagement shoot with the cutest couple, Courtney and Nick. We met at 49 West and walked around the neighborhood on a very pleasant evening. I was so happy the heat wave had passed and that we could enjoy the night without sweating like crazy through the shoot. Unfortunately the bugs were still around and poor Courtney got a nice bite during the shoot…sorry! I had such a fun time with this couple. They were so natural in front of the camera, I didn’t have to tell them to do much…they just did it! I also appreciated that they were willing to be a bit creative for me…which I noticed right away when I saw her holding two big black and pink pinwheels that they had made for the photo shoot (their wedding theme will have pinwheels in it). Thanks guys for being so patient with me!! See you Saturday night at the wedding I’ll be shooting for Nick’s cousin!

New blog format… | Annapolis, MD photographer

So, I’ve been getting a bit lazy with my recent blog posts. I love all the families and kids that I photograph, but find that after a long shoot, and a long edit…I run out of steam. I’m going to try a new format…a weekly blog post that sums up my high points of the week, personal, professional and miscellaneous information that I find interesting that week as well as the photos that I like from the week. I’d love to hear your feedback good and bad in the next few weeks so that I can tweak my posts to make them interesting and fun to read on a weekly basis. So…here it goes!

Week of June 8-15th:
Top 5:

1. Swampcandy Rams Head gig: My main squeeze, Ruben Dobbs (aka: Swampcandy), is a musician who plays 1920’s/30’s style Delta Blues and singer-songwriter style songs that can’t quite be summed up by any one genre. He and his upright bass player, Joey Mitchell have had a regular gig playing the Rams Head Tavern rathskeller bar every Tuesday night from 10-1.
This duo makes you stomp, clap and move and you feel the dirty blues jump up right to your soul. I hear them ALOT and I am still not tired of this true roots music. You must check them out! Click here for a swampcandy schedule.

2. Family shoot in Kent Island: Liz wanted a family photo session with her two girls before she and her boyfriend moved to Australia (where she is from). It was a beautiful day on the Eastern Shore….except for the seaweed on the beach, the massive amounts of mosquitoes, the bright bright sun, the ants, and a bit of heat. All that aside, the shoot turned out great and I think I captured some nice photos for her to take with her to the land down under. Thanks guys for putting up with all the obstacles! I forgot how Maryland summers are along the water 🙂
We did find a nice little spot in Stevensville to go to for a different scene before they went off to have dinner at Rustico. Have a great move Liz and Ian!

3. Documentary project: I am obsessed with documentary photography & films and have missed doing documentary photography since I left The Capital Newspaper back in 2007 where I was a photojournalist for 3 years. While I try to shoot in this style as much as I can, I still want more. I’ve been throwing around a few ideas in the past months about what subject matter I wanted to tackle and document for a week, month, year, whatever it took and see where it led me. I’ve finally made the right connection with a local media goup called Annapolis Sound that will allow me to move forward on one of my ideas…very exciting! Stay tuned to the blog for updates on this project (which I will talk about more once we get the thing going).

4. Great motivation: I am constantly looking for inspiration all around me. We creative types can never be satisfied with what we are doing…we are always looking for the next thing…
I’m currently inspired by a great humanitarian photographer, David duChemin. I have big dreams of becoming a humanitarian photographer and the more I read, the closer I feel to getting there. Then, I read his recent blog post called ‘Begin’ and I realized that I need to stop reading and dreaming and get out there and kick some butt. So it is.

5. Housewarming: A bit late for a housewarming (we moved on New Year’s Eve) but with Ruben being a musician and me a crazy self employed photographer, we couldn’t get our schedules together to host a party. This past weekend, it happened…and it was good. Over 50 good friends and family members showed up, we had some awesome Maryland crabs from Wild County Seafood in Eastport, many friends joined in on a live music, session, & tons of food and drink were brought by our awesome friends. As the sun set, the tiki torches and fire pit were lit and the party continued. The live music moved from electric to acoustic and more food was thrown on the grill. I finally hit the pillow at 3am…what a day/night. It’s so nice to have such great friends and a great house to host a party at!

a princess who wears sunglasses | Maryland family photographer

One of the packages that I offer is the “Day in the Life” shoot. It’s one of my favorites because I get to spend three whole hours with a family and can take my time documenting them. It’s so fun to get to know a family so well…such was the case this weekend when I got to spend time with Jen & Amy and their adorable little family.  Jen and Amy have an energetic and very silly 3 year old named Gracie and two very cute new additions, a set of 2 1/2 month old twins named Dory and Luke. Needless to say, Jen and Amy have their hands full but I don’t think they ever missed a beat the whole time I was there. For having three kids under age three, I was very impressed as to how smoothly the shoot went. Nice work ladies!

We started the shoot in the downstairs playroom where Gracie entertained me on her new drum set that she just got for her birthday, dressed up in a princess outfit complete with tiara, sunglasses and heels and played with some of her favorite toys. Then we moved upstairs to begin photographing the twins. They were so very cute and had such a cool little bond…one of my favorite shots is of the two of them holding hands…priceless! I spent the next hour bouncing back and forth between the twins nursery and Gracie’s purple room while Amy and Jen remained calm feeding the twins and reading to Gracie. Our last little adventure was a chilly walk down to the playground where Gracie finally got to let out some of her energy and enjoyed running around for a bit. At the end, we took advantage of the beautiful weather (even though it was chilly) and got some nice photos with the fall colors.

Thanks Jen and Amy for inviting me into your home to document your family! You are both so lucky to have such wonderful kiddos! Hope to see you again when the babies get older…I think a first birthday party shoot would be fun! Double the cake, double the mess!

Sunday funday | Philadelphia family photographer

The next day in Philadelphia, I had a meeting with an old friend whose son’s bar mitzvah I will be photographing in February (which I am super excited about). Then it was off to the Art Museum to meet up with my college buddy Adam and his wife Jeanette along with the two kiddos Chase and Kellen. It’s still funny for me to think of my college buddies having kids…I still remember all the crazy antics from Philly U so it’s funny and wonderful in the same breath to see them “all grown up”. Adam makes a wonderful Dad…which I always knew he would be…he comes from a large family and had his fair share of nieces and nephews before having his two kids, so to say he had plenty of practice is an understatement 🙂

The weather was amazing that day…it was actually a bit hot! The sun was shining brightly…which I’m not a big fan of for photo shoots, so I stuggled a bit with the light. We spent just over an hour shooting at the park behind the museum while doing our best to keep the kids happy and entertained.

Then, a short trip over the bridge to NJ to their home in Cherry Hill where I took some more photos of the kids…this time in their world, which they seemed to like alot better 🙂

Adam and Jeanette…it was fun hanging out Sunday-wish we could have had a chance to talk…seems like I got a bit distracted with picture taking that I forgot to socialize! I’ll be back in a month or two, so pencil me in for some hang time!!

love those chubby cheeks | Annapolis Baby Photographer

Halloween morning I arrived at the home of Ryan and Berry and their little baby girl Nora. Nora was a hoot from the start…sticking her tongue out, staring curiously at the camera and trying to eat her toes…she was a joy to photograph.
We had a fun little family session in the living room since it was raining outside then moved on to Nora’s room to let her crawl around, sit in chairs, play with her stuffed animals, and continue to crack us up with her funny facial expressions. I just love when a little on has a strong personality at such a young age…I love it even more when I can capture it. Berry had a cute little outfit, complete with a little tutu that worked as such a fun element to the shoot…nice work!

Berry and Ryan…thanks so much for having me over to document Nora’s fun personality…hope to see you again on her first birthday!

 

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

I had the pleasure of going back home to my hometown once again last weekend. This time was for my sister’s very good friend’s wedding…BUT while I was home, I also was booked to shoot a senior portrait session and a family session with some wonderful friends.

*more about the wedding later…still working on that edit**

Sunday was hot…and I mean HOT. When I got to the home of Jeff and Jacqui and their 4 kids, it was already hot and humid…not my favorite shooting conditions, but once we got started it went perfectly.

I first went out around my hometown of New Oxford with Jordan, who will be a Senior next year….I still can’t believe the “kids” are this old…but then again, I can’t believe that I’m 30 already 🙂 I met Jordan’s Dad when I was 3 years old. He was a high school buddy of our exchange student from Denmark (back in 1983), so I’m sure he has a hard time seeing me “all grown up” as well.

I had  a few ideas of where to go for Jordan’s portraits, but I didn’t know they would be what Jordan wanted. After taking him to my first place, and him being very receptive to my ideas, I knew I was on the right track. It was so nice to spend some time with Jordan and get to know who he is now…I was impressed to hear that he’s into making films so I asked him if he had any ideas for places to shoot…he did and it turned out to be a pretty cool idea! Jordan…I hope you let me know when you finish your first film…I would love to see it!

After an hour of running around the town and taking some fun shots, we went back to the house and grabbed the rest of the crew. We piled into their mini van and took off in another direction, toward a friend’s farm. Along the way, we stopped by a church that had some great rocks in the lawn and used them as our first props. Then we hopped back into the car and went to the farm where the old barns and stone walls were perfect backgrounds for some more family portraits.

Jeff, Jacqui, Jordan, Seth, Faith and Hope…I had such a wonderful time with you all on Sunday. Hope…I am sorry I didn’t take more photos of the kittens at the farm to share with you! It was so nice to spend some time with you and get to visit…it had been too long. Hopefully we’ll be able to visit again soon!

Nice to go home…

It’s always nice when I get to go home to Pennsylvania for a photo shoot. Especially when it’s for an old friend.  Since leaving my hometown in PA 13 years ago, I haven’t seen many of the people that were part of my family’s circle of friends. We’ve kept in touch…thanks to facebook and our parents talking when they see each other around town, but other than that, it’s hard to keep track of everyone back home.

This past weekend I got to spend a Sunday morning with Nicki and her husband Dusty and their two adorable kids Lexi and Mason. I’ve seen photos of the kids as they were growing up, but haven’t had the pleasure of officially meeting them until now. We got super lucky on Sunday as the rain stopped just in time for our hour long shoot outdoors…which was a blessing because the house (her in laws) that Nicki had me meet them at was a perfect setting for a photo shoot…I just wished it was my yard!

Lexi was cute as can be all dressed up and ready to be photographed. Mason was just as cute, but ready to run around the yard and not be photographed…which offered some comic relief to the morning. I couldn’t believe how much Lexi looked like Nicki (who is quite beautiful herself)…she is going to grow up to be quite a stunning woman…watch out Nicki, you’ll have your hands full 🙂

I had so much fun with the kids that I forgot to have an adult conversation with Nicki…this happens when I start shooting…I go into a zone. So, I apologize Nicki for not catching up and visiting a bit more. I hope you guys enjoy your photos! (especially this first one…it really cracks me up!!)

An evening on the beach

Yesterday evening was wonderful….I got to put my toes and the sand and I got photograph some wonderful people.
I met up with Amanda and her sister Sam and Sam’s adorable little girl Emma at my home in Eastport. We took a short little walk over to a great spot right by my house and had a wonderful photo session with some amazing light. Emma was too cute as she ran up and down the dock and played with her new dolphin friend “Daisy” that she got at the Baltimore Aquarium the day before. Sam and Emma were in town from Alabama to visit Amanda who is now living in Annapolis…so they took the opportunity to get some awesome photos taken of the three of them for their mother who lives in their home state of Oregon.  I can’t imagine how hard it is to be so far away from your kids and grandkids, so I am very happy that I was chosen to capture this fun moment in time when all three of them were together.

After a little session at the first spot, we ran back to the house to do a quick change (and visit my turtle Sebastian). When little Emma came out of the bathroom in her next outfit, I immediately thought about Shirley Temple singing “on the good ship, lollipop….”. The girls then informed me that they had both worn that dress when they were her age…very cool!

We took a quick drive a few blocks down the street to another little beach and took a bunch more photos before the sun was setting…it was such a beautiful night.

Thanks girls for a great session and THANK YOU EMMA for being such a GREAT KID!!! 

Enjoy your photos!

Baby Ethan

One of my best friends in Annapolis, Kristen has a great friend Lauren who just had little baby Ethan. As a gift to Lauren and her husband Brad, Kristen had a great idea to give them a Freckle Photography photo shoot! What a good friend she is 🙂  So I’d like to say THANK YOU to Kristen for hiring me to do this shoot…it was a pleasure to meet your friends and especially baby Ethan!

So….this morning I drove to Alexandria to meet Lauren and Ethan at their cute little home just outside of Old Town. I was promptly greeted by there very adorable and excited Goldendoodle, Match. Lauren was standing in the doorway holding Ethan and my heart melted as soon as I saw him…he was just precious! We got right to work (since Ethan was in a good mood) and began taking some photos in his yellow nursery. Then we moved onto the master bedroom where the light coming in the window was just perfect. Ethan was a gem to work with…he didn’t cry at all, just fussed a bit as I documented every little detail of his little self-the little toes are always my favorite! 

Then we moved out to the front porch to get a few shots of Match and Ethan together. It was a great day to shoot….nice and overcast! After taking an adorable photo of Match, Lauren and Ethan on the front porch of their home, I was a bit bummed that her husband was at work…I thought that it was such a good photo and to have him missing was just wrong…..BUT just then, Brad pulled up and hopped in some photos with the family…now the shoot was complete!

Thank you Lauren, Brad, Ethan and Match-you were all a pleasure to work with and a very photogenic family! Congrats on the new joy in your life! I’m sure I will be seeing you guys again soon! Enjoy your photos!