Often times I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have a job doing something I love in the company of amazing people.  This year’s senior class is proving to be a great group made up of motivated, hard-working, kind and generous kids.  I’ve been leaving each and every session feeling so encouraged and inspired by my subjects.  Anna, a senior at Mahtomedi High School, is one of this year’s graduates.  She has an incredibly sweet disposition and has one of those smiles that lights up a room.  It’s clients like this that make it so fun for me to get up and go to work every day!

When this client approached me about capturing everyday moments with her family I couldn’t have been more excited for the project.  Her boys are at such fun ages and I can’t blame her one little bit for wanting to document this time in their lives.  My goal was to walk into their home and let moments unfold naturally and to capture the boys doing what they do on a daily basis.  That’s exactly what happened and below you’ll see how the day’s events unfolded.

I arrived and found Henry playing with his blocks:

When he realized he had an audience he excitedly starting stacking another set of blocks:

And, what goes up….must come down!

When I asked him what happened to his clothes, he climbed on the table and told me he was a big boy now (a.k.a. potty trained):

I was in the process of snapping a few portraits…

when suddenly he gave me “the look”.  As a mother of two boys, I know this look well.  So off we ran down the hall:

We made it just in time…WHEW!  He washed his hands (with soap) without an ounce of prompting from me!

Little brother was ready to get in on the action when his mom mentioned it was time for morning smoothies!

He was so excited about drinking out of a “big boy” glass!

His mom threw a little spinach in his smoothie and we waited patiently to see his response.

I think he liked it, but I’ll let you decide!

After snack time the boys looked through books…something they both love to do!

A little brother snuggle time:

When it was time for me to leave I asked Henry to help me find my shoes…he found them all right!

Senior season is in full gear here at the studio and I couldn’t be more excited.  This is easily one of my favorite times of the year as the snow has melted, the days are longer, and I get to shoot outdoors again!  Even though Whitney and I were dealing with some incredible wind (by incredible I mean 30-40 mph wind gusts) on the day of her session, we still managed to work through the shoot and by the end we both decided just to work with the wind as we were both tired of fighting it.  Whitney and I had quite a bit in common and she really made me miss my days of teaching high school.  She is incredibly sweet, soft-spoken and smart!  So smart that she was one of 6 students accepted into a competitive college program for next fall.  I’m so excited for her to venture off to the next phase in her life!

In the art of photography there is so much potential to lose the subject in a sea of color, props and editing.  While it’s fun to scout new locations and utilize new backgrounds and environments, I find it very refreshing to scale back and let the focus stay solely on the person I am photographing.  On this particular portfolio/comp card shoot with Maeve, a model with Privileged Modeling Agency, I had an opportunity to do just that.  It was a nice change of pace and I love that I got to know Maeve in a way that allowed me to capture images that I believe truly convey her personality.

Based on the title of this blog post I bet you’re expecting to see photos of a high school senior, but no…let me introduce you to the ever-adorable Addison.  She just turned one year old and she is on her way to Harvard!  Yes, you read that right…Harvard!  O.k., O.k…she isn’t actually heading to Harvard but her Daddy is.  This beautiful family recently received the news that Dad was accepted into Harvard’s graduate school program and in a few short months they’ll be packing up and heading east.  Luckily they have friends and family are here so I have no doubt I’ll have many more opportunities to photograph this beautiful little girl over the years.  I’m very much looking forward to hearing about their ventures!

The series of photos below made me giggle!  I’m sure a lot of parents have experienced this exact scenario!

When I met my client for her shoot she was sitting at a table passing the time reading a book…I knew from that moment we would get along just fine!  Not only did we share a passion for books, but we also both love all things fashion, brick oven pizzas and a host of other things!  She is also from Como Park where I spent a few years coaching their varsity gymnastics team.  Needless to say, we had a wonderful time working together and neither of us could get over the summer-like temps outside!  It’s certainly not typical March weather in Wisconsin.

Working with this little guy was a hoot!  His mom packed a few nostalgic pieces from both her and her husband’s childhood to include in the shoot.  Little Sammy was like a kid in a candy store playing with the goodies his mom brought along which definitely made my job easy!  He was just as content as could be as we worked our way through the box of props stopping only twice!  Once so he could watch a fire truck whiz by and another….well, I’ll let the picture speak for itself!

 Break 1: Watching the fire truck go by…

Break 2:  He’s a boy through and through…

I’ve been away all week attending a photographer’s convention in Las Vegas.   I loved meeting so many wonderful people in the industry and it was great reconnecting with some of my friends.  While I was gone we had quite a few client orders come in, so today I’ve been busy packing them up and getting them ready for delivery.  This is truly one of the most rewarding parts of my job…seeing finished work leave the studio on the way to clients who I know will treasure the images for a lifetime.

It’s hard to believe this little guy will be off to Kindergarten next year!  It has been such a treat for me to watch him grow over the years and see his personality take shape.   He has character galore and his enthusiasm about going to school is absolutely adorable.  He told me just how excited he is to learn math, science, but most of all he is excited about reading…a kid after my own heart!  Considering my youngest son started Kindergarten this fall, I know all too well how hard it will be for his parents to watch him get on the bus for the very first time next year.  Something tells me there may be a few tears shed!

If any of you follow my This Lunch Rox blog you’ve probably heard me mention someone named Maria quite a bit…if not, here’s a little backstory:

Maria Emmerich is the person responsible for my family’s transition to a healthier lifestyle.  You can go back and read about it HERE, but to summarize…I had been working out for a little over a year and was so frustrated that I wasn’t achieving my weight loss goals.  A friend of mine from the gym introduced me to Maria one day while we were working out and I learned that Maria had a book called “Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism”.  I purchased the book that day and the rest is history.  Everything she wrote in her book made perfect sense to me and since then my family and I have taken baby steps toward a healthier lifestyle and the results in how we all feel is nothing short of amazing.

Maria and I  talked often at the gym and over the years have become quite good friends.  She encouraged me time and time again and helped me achieve not just my weight loss goals, but also helped my family learn healthier eating habits.  Words really can’t express all that she has done for me.  The fact that I am no longer plagued by sugar cravings, tired for most of the day, forgetful (the list goes on and on)…it truly feels as though Maria has given me the best gift a friend could ever give.  With her help I’m so much more awake, alive and energized and my day isn’t consumed (pardon the pun) with thoughts of food than I’ve ever been before.  I can safely say that my life has changed for the better because of the hard work and dedication Maria has put into her research about food and how it affects our bodies.

Not long after I purchased Maria’s book I learned that she wrote the book as a way to fund the adoption of two precious boys in Africa.  For two years I’ve agonized with her as they were met with one delay after another.  They were matched with their sons over one year ago and expected them to be home shortly thereafter, but yet again there were delays.  It has been heart-wrenching to know how eager Maria and her husband, Craig, were to get those boys home yet have absolutely no control over it.  Imagine the joy we all felt when we received word that they got the go-ahead to head to Africa to retrieve their boys.  They kept me updated on their travels back to the states via texts and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when they finally touched ground in the United States.

Maria and Craig were so eager to have photos taken of their family that they invited me into their home just days after they arrived.  I didn’t want to interfere at all with their bonding time so I quietly observed and captured moments as they unfolded.  It took every ounce of energy not to pick these little guys up and snuggle them to pieces during the session.  Luckily, since then I’ve had plenty of opportunities to spend time with them and they have given me the unofficial title of “Auntie Jamie” which absolutely makes me heart sing.  The little boys will always hold a very special place in my heart to say the very least.