Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 5:42am
It seems like twins are becoming quite a fixture in my studio here lately. I met these two adorable girls a couple of weeks ago, and I was amazed at how completely identical they were. Typically, I can pick out some characteristic of a twin that will distinguish him/her from the other. This time was definitely different! :) These girls wore the same expressions, rubbed their eyes at the same time, and even gummed their baby dolls the exact same way. Completely and utterly fascinating….
Their mommy gave me the ultimate challenge for this session: to photograph the twins “together” in her great-grandmother’s christening gown. Since there was only one gown and two twins, we had to get really creative to make that possible. So, with a little planning and with the help of photoshop, we were able to achieve our goal. I don’t get into doing composites a whole lot (mainly because I’m lazy), but in this instance, it was worth my time.
I had a blast hanging out with these gorgeous girls!
Two different gowns here:
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 1:26am
It’s taken me quite a while to come up with the right words for this post. I am still not quite sure if I have them. I loaded the pictures a few nights ago and decided to write about little Andrew and his family after the pictures had loaded. I started; then stopped. I stared at my computer blankly until around midnight when I had decided that the only words that I could come up with seemed trite. I called it a night and went to bed.
Just as I was starting to fall asleep around 1 a.m. (it takes me awhile), I heard the familiar screams coming from the room next door. Campbell (my seven-year old) was having her usual night terrors. Hoping they’d pass as usual, I waited it out in my bed and tried to go back to sleep…. until I could hear her whimpering at the side of my bed. Ordinarily, I would have put her in bed with me, but both Jason and the dog had claimed over 80% of the bed, and frankly, there was nowhere for her to go (plus, she’s kind of a tornado in her sleep). I quickly told her that it was just a dream, that she’d be okay, and to go back to bed. I was exhausted and just ready to go back to sleep. When Campbell went back to her room, she was sobbing because all she wanted was to crawl in bed with us. Well, the sobbing led to an asthma attack. This meant I had to get out of the bed, retrieve her nebulizer and find some Benedryl (don’t hate) so that the poor child would sleep. This led to my spilling the Benedryl twice AND knocking her cup of water to the ground in the process of trying to get back to her room. At this point, I was INCREDIBLY annoyed and all of my “niceness”…..well, it no longer existed.
That’s when I stopped dead in my tracks and thought of Andrew’s parents. Andrew has a rare progressive and life-threatening movement disorder that causes him to have little control over his tiny body. Because of his constant moving, he rarely sleeps….and typically only when he is being held by one of his parents…. which means THEY rarely sleep. When Andrew’s mom contacted me about getting some family pictures with Andrew, she stated that she wanted to capture him while he was still a happy baby and that we needed to do it quickly as his abilities had decreased a good bit in the last month. Needless to say, I was very apprehensive about our time together knowing the state of emotion and exhaustion the family was in….not to mention that it would be a difficult session simply because of Andrew’s constant moving. Despite the fact that the session was a bit of a challenge, I walked away from it feeling blessed that I had met two wonderful people who believed in cherishing every single moment with their child….despite their exhaustion and frustration. I can’t imagine the struggles that they face…..from the lack of sleep to the multiple doctor/hospital/physical therapy sessions to the fear of what lies ahead for Andrew. But for now (and for the time I was with them), they are cherishing him and loving him unconditionally in a way only a parent can do.
Which brings me back to my annoyance with having my sleep interrupted. Sometimes I take for granted how easy I have it. Yes, I like my sleep….but I love my children so much more. And I need to cherish them more…..hold them tight every day….live in the moment a little more…carpe diem….allow my daughter to claim 10 of the 20% left of the bed. We only have them for so long. Thank you to Andrew’s parents for reminding me of that. I am blessed to know you.
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 4:10am
I adored meeting these three beautiful kiddos last week. Not only were they incredibly sweet, but can I just say that they have some of the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen?
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 3:17am
Okay, technically, these aren’t spring pictures. In fact, they are from a couple of my fall mini-sessions that I never got around to blogging (oh, there are so many of those….I’ll catch up eventually!). However, with the 70 degree weather we’ve been having lately, I’ve got a little spring fever (albeit a little premature since I know it’s going to get cold again). So I searched for my most “springy” not-yet-blogged fall pictures to share with you. And they are getting me in the mood for spring. Now, if only this 70 degree weather would stick around awhile…
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