Perhaps the Biggest Form of Flattery...

Today I received an e-mail from a friend in Chicago. I did a shoot for their family when his daughter was three months old. Many of you have seen this portrait series on shelves in my studio... but none of you have seen this rendition!

Both Laura and I opened up the e-mail and were STUNNED. He tattooed it on his back! My goodness, I guess he liked the original picture! (Note: I didn't take this actual picture of the tattoo - that would be his lovely wife Andrea. I just burned, color tweaked, etc. I stuck the logo on to ensure those who might use it would have a tough time pulling it off as their own work.)

But anyway...

Scott, if you are reading this, I am completely flattered. (I hope it didn't hurt too badly!!)

Merry Christmas everyone! (Time to get wrapping again!)

Beth

More Catch-up!

A couple weeks ago, I met up with Stephany and her son. They brought her son's costume and we had a riot. Here is one of the collages we prepared for her...

Last week, I was visited by two tiny little doggies. Aren't they adorable????

I don't post this stuff a lot (due to privacy issues) but I came across this picture tonight and I thought I would post it and use it to tell a story. One of my clients plays for the Detroit Redwings. (Don't ask who, I won't tell you - I really do go out of my way to keep identities confidential.) But when I first met him last year, he walked into my studio, and I asked him to hold his child. I then looked at the two of them and realized his hands were ENORMOUS. I couldn't see the child's body - all I could see were hands! I never told him that, I just switched the pose and kept going.

Last week he stopped by again and brought his championship ring to include in some of the more fun pictures. Look at the size of his finger relative to his son's thumb! (This picture makes me laugh.) It makes me wonder about the size of Warren Sapp's rings!?!

Here is another collage we prepared for a client. Her daughter was not excited about getting pictures that day, and was a tad defiant. We definitely used that to our advantage! I think the picture of the left is so funny...

This is commercial shoot I did my favorite wine store ever: Simply Wine in downtown Birmingham.

I am sure you guys recognize these little guys. I am always amazed at how well these two get along...

More Little Santas...

So that's it! Whew!.. can I breathe now???

;)

Time to stare at the tree for about 15 minutes and then hit the hay...

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Beth

Daddy-Daughter Dance

A little while ago, I received a e-mail that was truly humbling: a local elementary school had requested I shoot their Daddy-Daughter dance. They weren't shopping for photographers - they wanted me! I was blown away - and very flattered.

Well, I happily accepted, and on December 6th I shot 93 families in 180 minutes. (1144 pictures to be exact.) Now I have shot 600-person weddings, dealt with craze brides, etc, etc... but I have NEVER worked that fast in my life. It was a rush!

The highlight of the night had to be when the DJ played "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". The little ladies (literally) screamed and started dancing like crazy. (It reminded me of the New Kids on the Block concert I recently attended... 60,000 screaming 30 and 40 year old women... but we won't go there tonight...) I never knew Cindi Lauper was a hit with the 5-8 year old crowd!

Anyway, here are some of my favorites from the evening.

Enjoy!


The girls all got these beautiful head pieces to wear while they were there... They had ribbon coming out of the back and the girls loved them!

This was the reaction to Cindi Lauper... ;)

Catch up!

I looked at my blog today, and it has been way too long since I have managed to update it. I think that's probably how it's going to be around here during Christmas - no blog updates during November and December. It is just too insane!

We actually wound up hiring a third person just to help us play catch up! (Thank you Alicia!)

So, I am not going to write a lot (because there are lots and lots of pictures...) but you can see what we've been up to here...

Enjoy!


This is the Tiffany's Box Baby... truly one of my favorite little babies to photograph!


Her newest pal, the gorilla.




Mom brought her costume... soooo funny!

Beautiful little face!

The look of death (directed at me and mom)... "Get me out of this thing!"

A super fun outdoor family shoot. I met these guys in March (I think?). They are a wonderful family, and I am fortunate to say that I see them a lot. Their oldest son is an extremely talented photographer, who I am sure will one day give me a run for my money! ;)

TWINS!!!!

This is a collage I did in celebration of their two new beautiful little girls.

Little Santa...

This little boy never ceases to amaze me. His mom is one of my best friends in the world (and I am still getting used to seeing her with a stroller!) He's so cute though....!

I love this photo with the Santa fuzzies everywhere. ;)

The boy who started it all.... three years later!

I was really pleased with these pictures. The best part is that I didn't ask them to pose like this. These are just their natural mannerisms. Adorable!

Insta-smile...

I have to be honest... days are lonnnngggg right now. It's crunch time here. So, as you guys know, that means lots of Pandora for me!

I just had to let you guys know about a new great find... Pandora + Debbie Gibson. Seriously,... are you in a bad mood? Need that extra 'oomph' to get you through your day? Pull up Pandora and type in Debbie Gibson. HILARIOUS.

I have just been listening to Paula Abdul, some serious Pat Benatar, and of course my favorite for a good giggle - Tiffany!

So funny!

;)

Beth

Three Little Ladies!

I think you all know this, but I absolutely love infant shoots. Yes, they take forever, but there is something about those tiny little hands against mom or an older sibling that is just awesome.

I recently had a session with three sisters, and they were a lot of fun. I remember the girls fondly from one of my earlier sessions this year (so cute!)

Here are some of my favorites from the session...

Enjoy!

The McCarthy Family

Last night I was visited by some old friends of mine from college. Joe (Dad) and I had many engineering classes together, and I fondly remember struggling through Calc III with him. We survived, despite the nutty professor.

He and his wife (who I have also known forever) now have two kids, and they are adorable!

Here are some of my favorites from our session...

Enjoy!

Beth

The Black Family

My last appointment on Saturday was the Black Family. They have a toddler and a new little girl. The oldest girl was a riot. The two of us played catch for most of the shoot. ;)

Here are my favorites from our session. (I love the one with dad!)

Isn't she gorgeous??

The Joy of Children's Photography

I often get comments about how folks are amazed that I can do seven shoots in one day from babies to huge families, and it doesn't bother me. Yes folks, I actually enjoy it! (You should see the looks I get from dads when they think about repeating their somewhat traumatic photo experience over seven times. It's funny.) And yes, sometimes we get tears in the studio. But we are trained to know what to do when that happens - and we have ways of getting the tears to stop to get what we need during the shoot.

The funniest studio session I ever had was last Saturday. We were pushing the kids to the limits (they had been shooting for over 45 minutes) but we decided to try for one more picture with the grandparents and grandchildren. This is how it went:


My personal favorite is the two girls in the lower right corner who are consoling each other and putting their hands over their ears to block out the screaming. At this point, all the parents in the studio were just rolling with laughter. It was so awful it was funny.

But we did get other great shots from the day - just not any at the end! ;)

This little boy found my glasses... so funny.

Blog update: So I have had three people ask me if those were my real glasses. Actually, I am legally blind without my contacts - but no, those are not my real glasses! These are glasses that I got as a prop for silly pictures. (I think it's hilarious that folks thought these were my real glasses!! If I showed up wearing those glasses to a shoot, would you guys let me take your pictures?? ha ha - probably not!)

The Gates' Girls

On Saturday morning, I met up with the beautiful Gates girls. We were jammin' to "I Like to Move It -Move it". (I have absolutely zero idea what the real name of the song is.)

These are some of the more formal photos from the shoot. My favorite is the second picture. Aren't they both gorgeous???