So it’s official…we’re Disney bound.

Sorry that I have been a slacker of a poster this week…life has been consumed with getting my little family off to Disney tomorrow and all of the miscellaneous things that a 3 three-hour plane trip and 8 day hotel stay entails. It has been a week of wrapping up business, tying up loose ends in neat little bows, photography seminars, playing referee to my fighting spring-breakers and trying to get us all packed up for our big bon voayage. I try not to be, but the essence of me, is basically a big procrastinator. So alas, I have spent the day shopping for new clothes, buying snacks for the trip, returning library books, making bank runs etc. etc. etc. Please tell me that I am not the only nut who puts all of this stuff off until the last possible minute. I think that I secretly somehow thrive on the chaos that it creates…somehow gets my rear moving.

So we have not seen the welcome gates to Walt Disney world since 2004, when Erin was 2 1/2 years old.. Megan has never been to Disney and Erin was so young that she doesn’t remember too much of anything except being a grump to Mary Poppins. This will be a whole new experience for them and I am just so darn excited to see it through their eyes. It truly will be a trip of a lifetime, because they will never experience Disney at this age again. We only visit Disney about every 4-5 years, so by the time that 2013 rolls into town, it will be a whole new era of childhood…by then, Erin will be an official tweener. Gulp.

I am vowing to myself that I am going to take time to enjoy all of the little  things. To be in the moment. To not melt inside with the first whine of my little redhead. To simply, be present.

Until April 25th, hugs and kisses my dear friends…Shelley

I swear…at times…I have been motivated to have another child just to get good pictures of them.

Well, not really. Let’s get real. BUT, I really do wish I captured so many things of my children when they were really, really young that quite frankly, I just didn’t. I didn’t out ignorance for knowing real art, for not really knowing how fleeting those precious moments were while I was in the throes of new motherhood and to be honest, because of money. It can be expensive to get really good pictures of your children…but I wish that I had put that more on top of my priority list at the time. Who needs electricity anyway? It’s overrated. Like so many middle-class Americans, I fell victim to taking my kids, do I dare say, to Sears and Walmart. Gag. I personally think that those types of studios should be outlawed because they are just down right awful. But that is all that I knew at the time…I was working as a nurse (yawn) and had only started taking up photography as a side hobby when my youngest, Megan was first born. I tinkered around on my camera in the early days, capturing what I could of their genuine expressions and timeless little faces.

So as a result, I have all of these bad studio pictures with my kids on giant leaves or with big plastic rubber duckies next to them. I wised up quick to the backgrounds…the photographers always wanted to use the corny shooting stars background and such for a little “variety”. I thought it was a waste of time, so I finally told them that I only wanted bold colors for the background. The portrait sessions, for the most part, stressed me out to the point of no return, manuevering the kids by myself, trying to get them to smile and so on and so forth…I was reduced to a nothing but a puddle of sweat by the time we were through. I usually was able to find one out of the bunch that was do-able…just so I would not have to endure the process again for another three months.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Babies and children (well, in my opinion, we all are) are meant to be captured as they are. With real expressions and real feelings. It is the essence of who they are. The wonder and magic of them jumps out in the lens when you allow them the freedom to just be themselves when they get their picture taken. And isn’t that what we all want to remember anyway? The everyday moments of simplicity that we all take for granted…the unwarranted smile or genuine belly laugh.

That is what I strive to do with my clients…to give them real pictures and record the details of their lives. I try to follow the path of a child through their first year of life with a natural twist. I am well aware, that my style is not for everyone…but if you are pregnant, have a newborn or infant, kids of any age or a family that you just down right love and you want to capture that love and realness…give me a hollar and we’ll get to doing just that.

Below is the progress of a little fellow I have been priviledged to work with over the past 9 months…we’ll wrap up his year with his twelve month shoot in June. Please pardon the pictures being out of order…my blogsite has been putting up its’ dukes all day and not letting me arrange the images in the order that I wanted…and I finally relented and threw in my gloves, accepting defeat. You’ll get the point though at how adorable this little cherub is…

Kisses…Shelley

So here are some favorites of mine of a continuation of a maternity session that I posted recently that I did with some good friends. Spent the day capturing the end of a era for this adorable little family…the end of the baby days in our lives are always bittersweet aren’t they? The snuggles, tiny coos and delicious scents of a new born are infectious and hard to resist. But come on…let’s all admit…there is a sigh of relief when they take those first steps into the kindergarten classroom door. Enjoy these last few months my friends!

Kisses…Shelley