I love these black and white maternity portraits. They’re so classic, and I like how they’re a little different from my usual style (since we used a backdrop) and yet they still very much have my style, especially the moments between the two of them.

It’s refreshing when people embrace the beauty of pregnancy rather than hiding from cameras because they feel big. And can it really get any more beautiful than this? I have several favorites, and they’re constantly changing every time I go through the session, but I think the very bottom left one on this post is at the top of the list.

After we took these, we went outside for some more fun and colorful shots. Some of those will be coming up in Part II!

During her pregnancy, S has had a lot of cravings for Sweettarts so I thought it would be fun to incorporate them into our session.

Remember this baby I’m obsessed with? Here’s more from their session. I don’t have a lot to say on this one that the photos don’t say for themselves. This baby was adorable and fascinated with the camera. I admit I’m posting a lot of the photos that made me laugh as opposed to the “awww” photos, but her expressions are so cute and so full of personality, I couldn’t resist.

Some of my favorite portraits I’ve ever taken I was never hired or asked to take, like the ones below and these ones where the dad had just gotten back from a 30-hour shift and his daughter was still in her pajamas. The subjects didn’t get dolled up, no one was dressed in nice clothes, kids weren’t told for days they were going to have photos taken, no one thought about what they’d look like on camera. They just went on doing what they were doing. I would love to be hired to “stealth shoot” a family’s daily activities or even take photos of a family wearing their normal jeans and t-shirts without any coordination or thought whatsoever as to how they would look.

I was on vacation in Ohio a few months ago and staying with one of my good friends. One morning, as she was just getting back from a run and sat down to read to her granddaughter, I ran and grabbed my camera. These are a few of the images I took, and I love them. They’re so sweet, so full of personality, and so real. Real life is artistic and worthy of printing on canvases and displaying. Slowly but surely I want to show the rest of the world that.

It’s always a treat when you meet new clients who instantly feel like friends, which was definitely the case as soon as I met this couple. Too bad for me they’re moving soon, but at least I’ll get another session with them in about 7 weeks to photograph their baby girl! For now though, here’s a teaser of their beautiful maternity sesion.

As I was saying in their preview, this session started out with down-pouring rain, lighting striking all around, and not much clear sky in sight. We were pretty worried since they were moving at 4:30 in the morning. I was determined to figure something out, but thank goodness we didn’t have to resort to Plan B for long since the rain cleared 20 minutes into the session.

I could not be more relieved, especially with some of these amazing shots we got! We all got wet and muddy in the process, but you do what you have to do! When we were out in a field it started raining again, and after getting some protective gear for my equipment we kept shooting in the rain! I wish everyone were so laid back and willing to relax and just have fun in their sessions. I think most people would have been worried about how their hair and make-up looked — and not that that stuff isn’t important — but Stephanie was all for going back out in the rain which made for some awesome photos in my mind. I love that in some of them you can see the rain falling if you look closely. So cool! There’s a shot in their gallery of all four of them running out of the field in the rain also which I didn’t end up having room for in this sneak peek. Love it!

This session was so much fun even if we did walk away with some seriously dirty clothes (and cars)! Luckily we walked away with some great images as well. Here are a few of them:

Okay, I have to admit something: I am a little obsessed with this baby. And by little I mean a lot. She is SO cute and the most laid back baby ever. It was a blast going through the entire session on my computer when I got home. Some of them are sweet, some are happy, and some are downright hilarious. (And don’t think for a second that I’m not going to include some of the hilarious ones in their gallery.) I can already tell I’m going to go overboard editing these. I couldn’t even narrow it down to one for the preview. It was hard enough narrowing it down to three!

You’ll see what I mean when you see more from this session.

What started out as a very worrisome stormy evening ended up giving us THIS gorgeous sky! And I couldn’t be more grateful (for the change of weather and for the fact that this couple was so amazing that they willingly got rained on and covered in mud along with me this session). I’ll give you more details when I post more from their session, but let’s just say there must be a higher power because my pleadings were answered when the down-pouring rain started to lift 20 minutes into their session. Whew! With them moving at 4:30 the next morning we didn’t have many back-up options.

Here’s a preview of what’s to come.

Temple is a small(ish) town surrounded by huge cities, and I constantly hear people talking about going to Austin or Dallas to get their culture fix. But pretty soon, that will be easy enough right here in town.

Enter: Art by the Glass.

When you attend Art by the Glass, you get to begin and finish a painting all in one night, taught expertly by the unbelievably, incredibly talented and skilled (I can’t emphasize this enough) Geoff Kilgore. Bring some wine, eat some good food, and create a work of art all in one night.

I love that this is a class for self-professed artists and non-artists alike. Their sign is so great: “No talent required”. Sounds like my kind of painting class! They’ll even be hosting kids’ birthday parties!

Co-owners and operators, Geoff Kilgore and Stacy Brocker, have created a beautiful and relaxing studio for Art by the Glass, and classes open to the public will be starting in a matter of weeks! Having witnessed their first class, I can tell you this is not something you should miss! I was truly honored to be involved in this project in any way and was so thrilled to take photos for their website and marketing.

Anyway, I’ll get you more information as soon as they’re up and running and I can get MY hands on more information. Meanwhile, enjoy these photos! Don’t you want to just jump in and start painting? I know I do!

Meet the owners!

Isn’t she gorgeous? I mean, seriously. Who here wouldn’t kill for that hair?! If my hair looked like that I might actually grow it past my chin at some point. Ha!

This high school senior was a lot of fun to spend time with and she has so many great shots to choose from! I’m so excited for her to see her whole album. Here’s just a small peek into her images.

Six months old already. Wow. The thing is, I can’t believe it was only six months ago that I had her (feels like a very long time ago), but at the same time I can’t believe she’s already sitting up and halfway through her first year of life. Sad! And yet it’s so fun at the same time. So many mixed emotions that go along with this parenting gig.

Everyone says to me, “I bet you take a ton of pictures of your baby, don’t you?” But then I realized…lately I’ve been so busy with other people’s family photos that I hadn’t been taking as many as usual. So I pulled out the camera today to document her first days sitting up on her own and thought I’d squeeze some personal photos in between sessions here. She’s still pretty wobbly but it’s a big step.

I love the one where she’s scrunching up her nose because this is so her lately. She scrunches up her nose and breathes really fast in and out her nose to whine at me. I think it’s so cute, especially for a whine technique. I love this kid!