Hinshaw Family, Baby's First Christmas

Christmas is most people's favorite time of year.  It is a great time to be a child or at least feel like a child for a little while.  What a special time for a growing family.  Baby McKinley and his parents, Jennifer and Richard will have their first Christmas together this year.  This is definitely something to remember and record for the future.  They met with me at Avon United Methodist Church to take some family photos for the holidays.  Mr. McKinley is usually a very calm happy baby, although he had to voice his concerns over the dress clothes he was wearing.  He, of course, looked very handsome.  Richard, among other things, works for the Avon High School band program.  Jennifer heads the dance department at Avon as well, and that is how I met her.  I have a hunch that McKinley will catch the artistic bug in years to come.  I hope they enjoy their holiday together.  I also hope they enjoy these photo sneak peeks! 

 

A Bloomington Christmas

Family photos take on a whole new meaning when one of those family members has special needs.  It is difficult to get daily activities taken care of let alone extra excursions to a photo studio. In the past month while photographing my clients at Cornerstone as well as working with this family, it has become all too obvious that family photographs shouldn't be something that special needs families miss out on.  I feel honored to have the opportunity to give families portraits that best represent their unique situation, as well as providing a level of comfort in their own home.  As a gift to the Laughlin family for Christmas, I was asked to shoot some portraits.  The Laughlin's have a beautiful house, every inch of which is decorated for the holidays.  I had a great time with Catherine, her two daughters Sophia and Olivia, and step-dad Jim.  Sophia even painted her sister's fingernails to help her get ready for the occasion!  They have a beautiful family and I hope that the photographs do them justice.  They are a very sweet family and I know they mean a lot to those around them.  I hope you enjoy your early Christmas presents!!

Halloween with the Bordens

It's Monday night and I am watching the Colts hopefully beat the Texans on Monday Night Football.  That means that I had my Sunday open for some photos. Also, in Avon, they Trick-or-Treated on Saturday night, which left my Halloween open to take some family photos with the Borden Family.  Sarah and my sister grew up together.  She is now married and has little 14 month old Maya.  Maya was very eager to get home and put on her Tinkerbell costume.  At least that's what I'm going to tell myself, she was having an "independent streak" while we were shooting.  It all worked out though.  We spent another gorgeous evening at the IMA.  It was a little chilly, but still a great session.  Enjoy a sneak peek of our session with the Borden Family!!

Pelkey Family

Fall is such a great time to take photos.  There are so many great opportunities for photos out in nature.  The Pelkey family has great locations in their own back yard, literally.  Kim was put in contact with me through my sister.  They both work at Avon.  I was a little worried about the weather Saturday morning, but everything turned out great.  I got to shoot family photos with the Pelkey family, Kim, Bob, Logan, and Brooke, and Rocky the cat.  I had a great time working with this family and I think they did a great job.  I hope they enjoy their photos!

Fall at the IMA

There has to be a first time for everything, right?  Last week I had my first opportunity to shoot at the Indiana Museum of Art.  I have been to the museum, but never walked around the grounds.  It is really beautiful, and there are great places to shoot around every corner.  Apparently we had the right idea because the IMA was swarming with photographers!  Below are just a few of the photographs I got of Hillary and Michael.  I know Hillary from work and she wanted to get some photos for the holiday season.  Hillary and Michael just got married a month ago, and are eagerly awaiting those photos as well.  I can't forget little Bruty, their 4 year old dog.  The other first for this photo shoot...Hillary has a pink stroller for Bruty, because he doesn't always want to keep up.  Check out the last photo for a view of the doggy stroller.  Enjoy!

"Why didn't you think of that before?"

So the story begins with a Facebook contact from Brooke about a request for family photos.  Brooke is getting married soon and I assumed they wanted a nice photo for the Christmas season coming up.  Well through the grapevine I found out that Brooke's parents would be involved.  Finally I confirmed our photo shoot appointment and found out that it was going to be a big family shoot with Brooke, her fiance, their little boy, her parents, her sister and her little boy.  Oh My!  The more the merrier.  When we got to our early morning (read: brisk, early, cold) they also brought their cute family pets, Mitzy and Daisy.  Come to find out that these photos were actually a birthday present from Brooke to her mom.  No pressure there... :)  Not to mention that her mom and my mom have been neighbors, and school board colleagues, for many years.
It was a beautiful sunny Fall morning.   Great day for photos, although, Mr. Carter had more important things to do, I believe, until dad bribed him with a toy!   Oh, the things kids will do for an Ironman figurine.
I hope you enjoy the taste of your photo session below.

Like I said, Carter was only mildly entertained... I just had to include this one. 

Comment at will.

Avon Senior, Leonorlouise

I first met Leonor while working with the girls of Avon's Junior Miss.  She contacted me to take her senior photos and we met Friday for a great evening session.  Let me tell you, Miss Leonor was a Diva!!  She totally rocked this session.  She wasn't afraid of my crazy ideas, and had great ideas of her own.  It was definitely getting cold and she was even willing to step into the cold water with her prom dress on!  Her niece was also involved in the shoot.  Little Madison was so cute, and adorable in her Colts cheerleading outfit.  Although, she was more interested in the bubbles than posing for pictures. :)  I would be too, given those two options!!
Here are a few sneak peeks.  Enjoy!!

"Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot!"

What a great weekend of photography.  I was put in touch with Daniel Watson via a family friend.  We met last week to plan his senior photo shoot.  He is very cool and open to lots of ideas.  Daniel is a senior at Covenant Christian High School.  He is a very good student, accomplished pianist, active in theatre and very into his family's vintage car collection.  He even gave me a trip in the Volvo featured below, which would have been much cooler if I hadn't been such a dork and not known how to get myself out the door - it's tricky!  Daniel knew he wanted to get some photos with the piano, so I set out on a mission to find us a beautiful setting with a grand piano.  The wonderful people at the University of Indianapolis allowed us to use the Lilly Performance Hall in the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center.  They had a great grand piano.  Special thanks to Jessica who helped us move everything around and ran the lights for us.  Daniel had to take his SATs Saturday before pictures, and was still up for getting dressed up in a suit and tie.  Then, Sunday, Daniel invited me to his house to take more photographs.  I love the opportunity to give seniors, and other clients, the ability to have unique photo sessions that no one else will have.  I hope you all like these sneak peek shots.

Daniel was not impressed with my Shakespeare reference!