lucy [mini session]

i was super nervous - i had already gone through two interviews at the law firm (where i currently work, phew) and was sitting in ashli's office.  all i could think was: this woman is the corporate/legal carrie underwood. i hope she doesn't figure out what a complete doof i am...

 during the interview she asked me about my photography business and casually mentioned that one day i would have to take pictures of her little girl, lucy... 5 months and one new big kid job later, here we are :)

lucy just turned one and she is all smiles :)  we played and bounced and tried to keep our bows and ribbons in our hair that gusty saturday morning - she LOVED shep (the oldest puppy) and was as easy going as they come.  enjoy little miss lucy!!

oh i just love this next one:

lucy sat on the stool for all of  1/4 of a second... but i love the old wooden backdrop

aaaannddd then we got too cold and went inside

i just think this is all kinds of sweet:

love:

alright ya'll i'm finally turnin' in - night!

creason clan [mini session]

i just can't get enough of this family - thankfully i'm related to them, so i get to see them lots :)  katie is one of my favoritest people ever (she makes choir practice much more entertaining than it would be otherwise... ps - we're going to ROCK our duet in the christmas cantata!!), jp is super cool (he let me play the aladdin video game on his old school play station thing when i was 7 and made really realistic car noises when he pretended to shift gears - best cousin ever) and conner, well, he's just the happiest, cutest child i have EVER met. i love him. i might be slightly biased, but seriously, he's precious.  yeah, you're right, i'm not biased... he IS the cutest/happiest child i've ever met.

and i will lead off with an image that might possibly be a personal favorite - i'm kindof proud of this one:

in all fairness, it might be impossible to take a bad picture of him. THOSE EYES!!! can't get enough. he's going to be a heartbreaker. 

and i'm going to follow that up with this, because it proves that katie is also STUNNING

such a sweet family :)

you can see where conner gets those baby blues:

so much happiness abounded during this shoot - its what makes me love what i do!!

<3 

 thanks ya'll!!!

luke [mini session]

there was a LOT of pressure with this shoot - luke is one of the poster children for SEARS (yes, the department store) and has his picture taken almost as often as he brushes his teeth by studio photographers.

he was SO energetic (mama, i don't know how you do it) and just so darn cute!!  he wasn't particularly interested in the christmas setup, but i managed to snag this:

he helped me feed gambler (the horse) and this was the look he gave me when i told him he couldn't climb through the fence:

it was a fairly windy (and consequently chilly) saturday, so i tried to convince luke that going inside would be warmer, but he just wanted to look out of every window he could find - he definitely wanted to be outside

so back out into the cold we went!

mini model status :)

i think i'm in love <3 

ACTHA trail ride [Zuni, Va]

until this point, the only horses i've been closely acquainted with were my very own HOSS, misty of chincoteague (if you have to click on the link to know who that is, i'm ashamed of you. and your 4th grade teacher) and my cousin's pony thunder (i think that was his name? could've been lightning, but i'm almost 87% sure it was thunder) who pinned me against the side of the barn and tried to bite me one day when i was trying to feed him... and despite my vivid, yet brief, disillusioned childhood fantasy of taming my very own wild pony from the eastern shore, i'm still slightly intimidated by these four legged power houses. i mean seriously, they could CRUSH you on a whim, or kick you so hard your heart could stop, or break your neck because they don't like the way you sit.

so when i was asked to be the photographer for the first annual ACTHA trail ride in Zuni, VA - i have to be honest... i was slightly (if not completely) terrified of what the day would entail. horrible horrible news headlines flashed across my mental newspaper: young photographer trampled by stampede of angry equines, girl sacrifices camera in desperate attempt to outrun pony...

yeah.  kindof freaking out.

thank goodness one of the first things i saw when i got there was this:

because from that moment on, i knew this was going to be WAY more fun than i had ever anticipated.  enjoy the spoils of my sunday morning/afternoon :)

i liked this one :) he seemed sweet

spurs!!

so much win.   

minnie was NOT happy about those ears going on...

clown? rainbow bright? funfetti cake? 

the fall colors were GAWGEOUS

there were six obstacles that each rider had to complete.  the second one was the 'mailbox' - riders had to approach the mailbox, put mail in, close the door, take it back out and close the door again. sounds simple, but a lot of the horses didn't want to approach the mailbox at all.  the beautys below performed BEAUTIFULLY though ;)

approaching the dreaded mailbox

another costume contest entry!

first place!!

if you're an ACTHA rider you can check out the gallery!

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mini session [PREVIEWs]

today consisted of:

1. waking up at the CRACK of dawn (good thing i got that extra hour of sleep last night!!)

2.  sitting on top (that's right, on TOP) of my jeep for about 6 hours - i was the photographer for a local trail ride today... blogpost on that later in the week, but you can go to my facebook page to see a ssuuhhhwweett picture of one of the entries in the costume contest

3. attending danny's pancake supper for his boyscout troop (i mean, a girl's gotta eat, it might as well be breakfast for supper)

4. posting these PREVIEWs from saturday's mini sessions - these were some of the cutest kids ever ya'll :) more to come soon - in the mean time, enjoy!!

lucy :)

conner :)

luke :)

stalk the facebook page for more!!