White Feather a la Marie Antoinette

My middle daughter just got married and the obvious choice for an entry to the white challenge on Iheartfaces would of course, be... a bride in her wedding gown.  But my favorite photograph that I took from that day was this one of my youngest daughter.  The hairdresser was inspired by a photograph my daughter had given her and she ended up with a very Marie Antoinette look.  The hairdresser told her she could give her hair a more platinum blond look by powdering chalk on a nail file and dusting her hair.  I can't believe my little tomboy has grown into this beautiful young woman who loves to primp and dress so girly, who loves shoes and pretty things.

We all agreed she looked very french, very Marie Antoinette.  (Can you believe she is half Mexican?  If I didn't have her at home, I would have taken her back to the hospital thinking she wasn't mine because she was born with strawberry blonde hair)  A creamy white peacock feather was added for the final touch and I had to photograph her satisfied face, happy with how she looked.

This photograph was taken in natural light and processed using Flora Bella Luxe II collection using "Milk"...what else for a white challenge?  You can see more wonderful entries featuring WHITE here!

Oh that beautiful baby! Those beautiful baby eyes!

My new favorite thing is to take closeups of baby faces, feet and hands for a triptych.  This little girl has the most amazing big brown eyes framed by pretty eyelashes that twinkle along with her shy smile.  I like it best in black and white so her eyes are featured.  It is a fitting entry for the beautiful eyes challenge at Iheartfaces.  You can see more beautiful eyes here

  

New BFF for LIFE!

The new grandson is here and he has a built-in BFF in his big brother! I was practicing my newborn photography and JoJo's big brother Dominic wanted to get close.  It's funny that when he talks the baby opens his eyes real big and turns his head right towards his big brother.  We will all enjoy them growing up together and we know they will be the best of friends.  I think this is the perfect entry for the new Iheartfaces challenge on friends.

You can see other other entries here.    

...so I love props of all kinds with kids photography, but sometimes it's the simple things that make a memorable shot.

I have buckets and blankets, wagons, pinwheels, baskets and platters, knitted cocoons, tutus and headbands, fedoras and beanies, vintage suitcases, typewriters and telephones.    I have backdrops of all sorts from fabrics, boards, tin and printed professional nonglare vinyl/canvas.  Because of years spent in the antiques business, I entered into children's photography ready for any type of image a parent could desire.  

But it's not always about the props, it's about the kids.  Not stiff posed kids but sweet innocent children who believe that the prop is a real part of the moment.  That's the hard part.  That's what I am good at.

I am the oldest kid in the studio.  I am the kid that didn't have any toys (or friends) in childhood, or that took the pain of my childhood out on the few toys I had...I didn't deserve them.  I wasn't good enough.*  So I become the child along with the one I am photographing.  I am excited to play with these toys and share them with my new friends, we have a good old time.

I noticed with my own children that the toys rarely got played with regularly.  They preferred the box or the adventure of imagination.  We played together making costumes, blanket forts and tea parties.  I now chase my grandson, crawling on all fours as a dog or a cat.  We play peekaboo and marching band with the pots and wooden spoons.  

His baby brother is due any day now.  I wanted a picture of him interacting with the baby in his mama's belly.  We've been reading books about babies, I wonder how real all of this is to him.  So I made him a new toy to "talk" to the baby with.  This is a shot of that interaction.  You can see more shots of this 10 minute mini session on my Facebook fan page.
  

See more images with props at Iheartfaces  latest challenge here.

*Note:  I am fortunate that my family has overcome the challenges we all suffered when I was a child and I have a wonderful relationship with my parents.  They love being great grandparents and I look forward their continued wisdom in my life.

...so crazy can be whimsical (in a photographer), right?

I look like a normal baby boomer grandmother but inside I cherish the wonder of a little girl, I have a running quirky commentary asking "WHY?" and can be quite the smarty pants.  That's why I love photography.  I can express that in my photography.  I think that's where my daughter Samantha get's her slightly off center point of view in her photography as well.  Is that what whimsy is?

When my oldest daughter had a bug party we helped plan and made a photo booth as well as photographed the festivities.  Samantha did the face painting and this is her favorite shot from that day in the Iheartfaces.com whimsy challenge.  You can see more whimsical images here!