I photographed these girls earlier in the summer and wow have they grown in just a few short months. These cousins are so lucky to be able to grow up around one another. I hope that they will be lifelong friends. Here is a little sneak peak.
A little quiet reading time at the end of our session. They were so engrossed they didn't even notice me right under the book!
Sunday morning I got to hang out with some of my favorite people. I have been taking pictures of this not so little girl since the day she was born. I think sometimes that she must thing that I have a big black growth on my face where my eyes should be...
There are a ton of pictures... here are a few of my favorites...
Lots of people think that because I use natural light and because we live in Wisconsin where it is cold for much of the year that I only shoot in peoples homes in the winter. Not true at all. There are tons of fun, funky, unique places to play for part or all of a session. Here are some shots from a downtown laundromat. I had a blast hanging out with miss phoebe Friday morning and I am pretty sure she enjoyed her new indoor 'playground.' Thanks for trusting me on this one, I just grabbed a few to quickly edit. Can't wait to get to the rest.
It is easy to remember the things you don't like about winter in Wisconsin. Shoveling, snow-blowing, ice scraping, shivering, darkness, freezing.... do I really need to go on? But then I think about some of the great things and today I was thinking about hats. I love hats on kids and I love finding great hats.
I have found unique hats at winter/holiday craft fairs. I love to support your local artisans/businesses when I can. I am so bummed that I have previous out of town engagement and will miss Madison's Holiday Craftacular on Dec 6th. In the past it has been a great show and they are moving it to bigger diggs this year. If you have a chance head on over. I recently mentioned Capitol Kids and Wild Child on Monroe street also had some great kids hats last season. Sometimes hats appear when you are not looking for them - I got a great kids hat at Whole Foods the other day when I ran in to pick up a few items, The hat was fair trade and had super colors.
Here are some more of my recent favorite hats. It is like an easter parade in winter... well not exactly!
If you have not shopped or explored etsy for all sorts of handmade goodness you are in for a treat. There are amazing things to be found on this great site and here are a few of my current favorite hats.The great part is many of these can be made custom for you!
The Brinster Lux can be found here
Burry Babies etsy shop will make you these adorable pixie hats in custom colors - get one for a newborn today - they look awesome in pictures (almost makes me want to have another baby)
These Funky Loopy hats - don't look like much not on a head, but they are seriously cute on actual children.
with a matching scarf
Don't have time to have someone handmake you a hat. There are the usual suspects in the cute hat department. This year seems to be especially good for widely available adorable outside accessories.
You can try ...
Hanna Andersson. They have great options for girls, boys or babies (the zippity zany hat was one of my favorites for my daughter when she was little, she could not pull it off and she looked crazy cute in it.)
The Gap has some really nice sets for girls, boys, even little girls.
Even old navy has some cute and inexpensive hats - stock up, the kids seem to lose them at the end of the winter when all you can find in the stores are swim suits and shorts - and it is still 32 degrees and snowing outside!
Anthropologie has a small but adorable selection of cute kids items including a few hat (and dress) sets I am drooling over. I think it is because I want to hear my daughter say "owl" repeatedly. I can't explain why it is so cute, something about the way she says the "l" Makes me smile every time.
Really it seems as though you can't turn around in a kids store and not see some nice head topper. I think it is a really great way to get excited about winter and they look great in your winter portraits!
If you are looking for great toys that you can feel good about giving (great selection of toys kids love and they review the safety issues of their toys carefully) OR you are looking for awesome outfits for your kids portraits, holidays or just everyday wear: head on downtown to Capitol Kids tonight and do a little shopping. A portion of your purchase will be donated to Madison Children's Museum And if your kids are five or over they can hang supervised at the museum while you shop!
People ask me all the time what should my kids wear for portraits? One of the places I always mention is Capitol Kids. Their clothes have great colors and textures. They don't have logos that would distract from your kids faces. They have dressy clothes and great comfy, yet stylish and fun play clothes. They have some great hats.... really I just like that the clothes that this locally owned shop carry are fun and funky and bright and playful and unique, just like the personalities I see in so many kids.
If you have not yet stopped in Capitol Kids while walking around the farmers market on a Saturday morning, you should now. I think it is great that they are having a benefit for the Madison Children's Museum. Our membership to the museum has been one of the best kid related investments we've made. It has saved me on more than one rainy days, snowy days, or those just need-to-get-the-kids-out-of-the-house days. I love supporting local businesses and organizations and I adore cute kids clothes and great toys - reat things that go together!
You may not think of November as an ideal outdoor portrait month; however, that is far from the truth. Outdoor session may need to be punctuated by indoor warm-ups (hot chocolate helps!) But even in a brief run outside during an indoor session can yield lovely results.
I was very lucky this past weekend to spend part of an afternoon with this amazing family. We started at a local park and then took a little drive to one of my favorite local hiking spots. The weather was amazing (though a bit windy in spots) and the kids joyfully explored the woods. Anna is my son's teacher and and I was so honored to be asked to spend the afternoon with them to capture their family. The boys are so adventurous and full of life (not to mention polite and agreeable) and Kyra is amazingly sweet, curious and so very adorable. I really could have photographed them all day long.
Here is a sneak peak of our session....
I still have a bunch of editing to do on this session but hopefully this will allow Anna to get some sleep. :)
This is my best friends family. I have known Kristin since 8th grade. I have no idea how it is even possible that we are old enough that one of us could have a 10 (soon to be 11) year old) and two other adorable boys as well. Anyway, these guys were great. We spent the better part of the day cruising around Milwaukee's western suburbs and other than Mike getting a wee bit sunburned, I think we had a good time. I have a ton of photos from this session and most of my favorites were taken at the land they own where they will build their new house. I love the idea of capturing what came before the house.
I just love the flowers in Bryan's hand --- oh, makes my heart melt. Thanks for hanging with me and for waiting while I moved to finish the photos. Next time we'll have to get some of the family with the new puppy!
This session was great fun. One of my favorite urban locations and an awesome chill family playing with me for a great morning. Oh and the cheeks on big brother made me smile every time I looked through the viewfinder .
Thanks Katrina - Hope your guys are enjoying your new baby boy!
I didn't plan to take the summer off blogging. I also didn't think that my summer would be overwhelmed by house selling, buying and moving. I am not complaining. We were very fortunate in early June we decided we wanted to move, we put our house up for sale, sold it about a month later, found a new house and moved in August. I know that there are people who need to sell their houses and can't and people who want to buy a new house and can't get the financing to do so. However, the task dominated my summer and certain things (like sneak peaks and a new website) fell by the wayside. I will post some of my summer favorites soon. I am glad to finally be back to my online home.
And for your enjoyment (okay maybe only mine) here is a photo comparison,
This first picture was taken the week before we decided to move and put our house up for sale.
The next picture was taken two weeks ago. To me (and maybeit is just because I am his mom) he looks so much older in the second picture. He did a lot of growing this summer while I was packing and unpacking boxes!
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