Senior Portrait Session :: Kayla W.

One of the things I love about photographing seniors is finding out what they are passionate about. And many of them get to do things I would have only dreamed of in high school...like traveling internationally for sports, student exchanges, and missions trips. Kayla, an Elizabethtown senior, contacted me earlier in the summer to talk about her senior portraits but we needed to wait until she returned from a month-long stay as an exchange student in Australia to coordinate our schedules for her senior portrait session. I asked her if she was missing her "Aussie home" and she gave an enthusiastic 'Yes!' and mentioned that toward the end of her time there she missed her family and wished she could take them back there to live. One of Kayla's passions is painting, and she has plans to pursue art beyond high school with applications at several colleges.

Kayla's family has a special connection to the Mount Gretna area (Kayla's mom grew up there) so I was excited to explore a new area for photographing...and although our first date was rescheduled, yesterday we were blessed with an ideal mix of clouds and sun which allowed me to play with light and shadows and just plain have fun. Kayla chose to wear some great colors and fun prints that also worked perfectly to complement and contrast the surroundings. I know I probably say this every time, but I have some new all-time favorites from this session~ and I just love her beautiful green eyes!

Bits of Life :: Harrisburg Kennel Club Dog Show (August 09)

It's quite possible that some day I may become a dog show addict. Don't know what it is about the atmosphere of dozens upon dozens of dogs of all breeds competing to be the 'best of show' ~ but it's better than any reality TV show for me. (Of course if you know me, I don't watch much TV so maybe that's not an accurate comparison.) Anyway~ the owners are excited, the newer handlers sometimes a little nervous, the judges show confidence in spotting the best of the breed, fur is floating in the air and everyone is more than willing to share the wonderful traits of his or her particular breed of dog with anyone who simply asks.

Back in April I posted some images from the All-Breed Dog Show in Harrisburg and a few weeks ago we returned to the Farm Show Complex to attend a second dog show. Just for fun, my husband and I tried taking four kids and that excitement lasted all of ten minutes for the five year old. Unfortunately, we got there at the end of the day and the dogs were just plain tired out, which made for some mellow images. I learned my lesson and next time we'll just stick to me taking the oldest, who is now ten, since she just plain loves all dogs and is really into learning about the different breeds. We are already planning our trip in November to the Kennel Club of Philadelphia show! Hope you enjoy a few images here from our short-but-sweet dog show experience.

Just plain tuckered out...




Awaiting some final grooming touches


By default, my sister-in-law owns a pug so I must photograph pugs


I liked her "comb carrier"...can you find it?


Show time!


Another time 'round the ring


These dogs are HUGE and stunning. This one's just plain handsome.
Love the marble coat.


Contrasted by the starlet.
Couldn't get a good image but she was attentive to the handler!


Another in "the price of beauty" series I might start.

Senior Portrait Session :: Katie

The third try was a charm for Katie's senior portrait session~ on our second rescheduled date last week, I was just minutes from her house when the sun was blotted out by clouds and literally put a damper on our plans. Thankfully tonight's weather was exactly what I had dreamed of for this location at her family's charming farmette~ the perfect evening sun with the occasional cloud to create multiple areas of gorgeous light. It didn't hurt much either that her mom has an amazing green thumb, which gave me multiple locations to work in! And with Katie's natural beauty and sweet demeanor, it was just heaven from a photographer's point of view. She will be a senior at Lower Dauphin this fall with plans to major in art after graduation. Thanks for your patience, Katie~ I hope the wait was worth it!

Senior Portrait Session :: Zach

The August weather here has been so unpredictable~ seems downpours occur any time of day and a string of thunderstorms last week wreaked havoc on any type of schedule for photographing. Finally, this weather 'tide' has turned and yesterday I met with Zach and his mom, Shawn, on a sunny but warm afternoon. Shawn is a wonderful friend of mine and I graduated high school with her and Zach's dad. I could not get over how I kept looking through the lens and looking at his dad as a teenager! Zach plays soccer for Palmyra High School and, though he's just beginning to contemplate college choices, he plans to continue playing soccer in college and possibly study finance. For his senior portrait session, in addition to the more traditional images, I wanted to try something a little different for the images with his soccer jersey. What do you think?

Senior Portrait Session :: Brittany

When Brittany, an Elizabethtown 2010 grad-to-be and her mom met with me a few weeks ago to talk about location and clothes (something I like to do with clients before their portrait session) I was overjoyed that they both shared my love of "old" things like run-down barns, old stone houses and locations with rustic charm. With Brittany's looks and great choice of clothes, I just knew in my heart this was going to be a match made in heaven. We could not have picked a hotter day of the year, with temps in the 90's but feeling like 100~ and yet we were having so much fun exploring this property that we barely noticed. The lighting was just amazing and the images turned out exactly how I had dreamed they might be. Thanks, Brittany (and mom, Robin) for being a little adventurous~ and indulging in this idea with me!

Senior Portrait Session :: Kayla

I am always excited when seniors contact me and tell me they want something unique for their senior portraits (and even more excited when Mom is all for it too!) Kayla, an Elizabethtown 2010 grad-to-be, loves art and music so we tried to incorporate a little of each into her portraits to show her personality~ she has a sweet and beautiful spirit which shines through in everything she does~ I hope these images reflect the beautiful young woman she has become. Blessings to you, Kayla, in all you do!

and just for fun...

Baby Portrait Session :: Twin Boys @ Six Months

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hanging out with the two of the most adorable little men I have met in some time. Baby boys C & L are the sons of Eric & Robin, who were given a Circle of Life Photography certificate as a gift from friends for a baby portrait session (this is an obvious hint/reminder that gift certificates make awesome baby shower gifts!! okay. done plugging now ;-) I am still in amazement at the boys' sweet dispositions and their ability to nap anywhere at the drop of a hat (I saw it happen~ seriously they can fall asleep anywhere, with very little fuss!)

While the boys are identical twins, I was happy to find out that they have enough physical differences for someone with a trained eye to tell them apart~ which helped me a lot in figuring out who-was-who after I got home and started going through the images. After a little dilemma over which ones to post...and trying a few different processing effects, here are the ones I was particularly tickled with... feel free to post a comment if you like one (or more) in particular and I hope you enjoy these little guys~ check out the adorable hats Mom found for them~ accessories like this make a world of difference in portraits and take super cute to over-the-top adorableness!

I know most Moms don't like pics of their kids with Nuks, but this stage
really is so short that it's wayyy cute~ both now and years later!