Sammy

I love six-month olds! Sammy is a bit older than that but the same things apply. At this age, babies can't crawl yet, so they stay where you put them and the smiles are absolutely brilliant!
Sammy's "Baby's First Year" photo session was a shower gift to good friends of ours. Our sons have been friends since kindergarden and I am excited to follow Sammy's life in the family in photos. Plus it gives me a chance to catch up with a great family. It doesn't take long for things to change! So you gotta keep up. Looks like she's a keeper. :)

Sports and Memories

Below is a post of a photography session I was fortunate enough to be asked to do, a basketball game of a Catoctin High School basketball player, Renee. Her father, Keith, a Catoctin alumni has taken on the task of keeping up the family scrapbooks with his children's athletic achievements inside. Sometimes he has taken the photos himself, but this time, he had decided to hire me to capture this moment in the life of his daughter.

Being a former Catoctin Cougar myself, I happily accepted the invitation to photograph Renee.It was fun for me to head back to the old high school, run into a few people I know and see how the next generation of my classmates is coming along.

What I really found so amazing, was the foresight that Keith had to have Renee's game professionally documented. If you are the same as me, your childhood photo album has a TON of photos of you in your first years, maybe a few in your tweens and next to none in your teen years. Is it because we are not so cute or amazing anymore? I don't think so. We just get so wrapped up in the busy-ness of our lives and now, our teens lives, that it rolls by and we don't think about capturing it.

I'm not sure how Renee felt about being the focus of my attention and lens that day. But I do hope that when she sees these photos again in her future she feels happy. Happy to remember how much fun she had, how talented she was and how much her father loved her.

Renee , Catoctin Basketball 2009

Jackson, the cattle herding dog

For the past two years, I have been working with good friend and "agriculture" warrior Becky Long Chaney, on a series of agriculture education books as told through the eyes of her twin daughters, my goddaughters, Rianna and Sheridan. Our first book was about their experience raising an orphaned beef calf, "Star" called "Little Star, raising our first beef calf". The second book taught children about the dairy industry called "Mini Milk Maids on the Mooove" and yes, there are supposed to be three ooo's! We are working on the third book now. Star has had her first calf and the story continues. Yesterday, we focused on Jackson, the Chaney's cattle dog and family companion. In earlier books, he's been photographed doing his puppy antics like eating the kid's homemade ice cream and losing his head inside a pitcher to lick out all the milk. Lately, he's really started growing his herding skills and I was able to photograph him trying out his skills while moving the herd of Herefords. It was fun watching him be bold and back off in turns, depending on the audacity of the animal. It's so obvious he loves doing it.

This one's not about to be moved by something less than half it's size.
It's all in a day's work for Jackson.

Easter Egg Hunt for the Animals

Easter Egg Hunt for the Animals CLICK this link to view a slideshow of the egg hunt.

I had the opportunity to photograph the"wildest" egg hunt I've ever seen. With the help of members of the Lewistown Mt. View 4-H Cloverbuds, who created paper mache' eggs to hide treats in and about twelve dozen colored egg, Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo had an egg hunt for their animals. Monkeys, bears and tigers searched their enclosures, high and low, finding their treats. The zoo guests were just as excited to see the animals find them as they were cheering them on.

Tommy!

I had such a good time photographing Tommy who is nearly six months old. This is a great age because it's usually full of smiles and Tommy delivered. But I have to say, it "took a village" to elicit these great expressions. Mom, Dad and both grandparents used their best laughing, squeaking, and zerbert sounds to keep little laughs coming. There was even some singing of Tom Jones! Who knew a six-month old would dig that! Thanks for all your hard work.

It's photo sessions like these that reinforce to me what I've known as soon as I took that first photo. Taking photos is not just clicking the shutter. It's creating an atmosphere, an experience, a relationship with your subjects and then capturing the feelings and expressions within that experience.

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul and one of my favorite images to take are very close photos that highlight the sparkle and personality from the eyes.
The expression on Tommy's face here between his parents is priceless.

Thanks again, I enjoyed myself.

Peyton Turns One!

I absolutely loved this photo session! I had the opportunity to photograph Peyton and the many changes of his first year through the "Baby's First Year" plan which includes four sessions from several weeks to the first birthday. I really enjoyed documenting the changes of his life, from sleepy baby up to a boy bursting with personality and smiles. It was amazing to see how much he had changed each time. For his first birthday photos, we did a variety of images including some outdoor shots walking with Mommy and Daddy, playing with some puppies and my favorite, demolishing a birthday cake.

What's so fun about these is Peyton is tentative at first and looks to Mom as if to say, "Can I touch it?"


Then he starts getting into the eating and smashing bit a bit more.....
Now, he is really happy with himself and all the good cake he has in and on himself.
After the party is over! Don't you just feel like that sometimes? I can't believe I ate the whole thing. Although he didn't eat anywhere near the whole thing! It makes me smile each time I look at these. Thanks to Peyton's family for letting me get to know the family and for choosing to work with me to capture those precious first year changes and memories.