Isabella

Canon 5D Mark ll, 50 1.2L, 2.0 aperture, 1/200 shutter, 1/250 ISO

Here are a few favorites from my time  Alison Venable Johnson and her lovely children’s clothing line, Parbella. That is her daughter, Isabella, in the above photos. She is such a classic beauty, and so much fun to work with. God blessed Alison with a lovely daughter, inside and out. She is truly a natural, and kept us laughing a good bit of the time. She took me by surprise with her funny one-liners like, “Make sure you get my good side!” and ” I could do this all day, I was born for this!” She is only six. So smart, funny and beautiful, just like her mommy, and grandmother too. We had a tea party at our shoot last year. It was real hit with the girls! This year, we had a lovely ribbon swing, some colorful tires and a indoor set as well. (It was over a 100 degrees our first day!)  Here are just a few from our time together. So hard to pick! Enjoy~

Ravishing Reagan

Sweet Allie

Lyndsey in Pastels

Blu the Beautiful

Shy Savannah

Miss Catherine Style

Bellani in Magenta

Stunning Parker

Brianna so Happy

So Sassy

Little Girl Dreams

Pretty Pinks and Blues

The Natural

Sweet Richelle

Canon 5D Mark ll, 70-200 2.8 L, 3.2 aperture, 185mm focal length, 1/200 shutter, 100 ISO, Canon 580 EX ll flash off camera to her right at 1/4 power using a 60 inch umbrella

Go ahead, breath again. This photo does take your breath away. This is one of my favorite shots of the day from the first of a two-day shoot with Alison Johnson and her Parbella clothing line. We did a shoot for them last spring, and had a tea party. You can check that shoot out here.

Honestly, I think this could be my job forever and always if the children’s fashion industry would have me. I absolutely love working with sweet little girls like Richelle, here. She is the daughter of my friend, Elly Simbara. Elly brought her out in the 100 degree weather today for our shoot, and I am so grateful! Richelle looks like a doll baby, and has since she was born. What a a beauty she is.

Well, it’s another full day in the heat tomorrow morning, so this a short blog. I hope to have another favorite shot tomorrow to show you!

Peekaboo Smile

Canon 5D Mark ll, 50 1.2L, 2.2 aperture, 1/1600 shutter, 50 ISO

This face says it all. He is not worried about whether he is doing everything right, or if there will be enough food or clothes for him. He is full of joy. He is here, and happy. He is two.

Got this lesson served up fresh for me today as I walked over to our pool. There they were, two two-year-old boys, (under the care of a watchful mommy), living the good life; splashing, laughing and playing until they were too tired to keep their eyes open another moment. My day had been heavy, as I once again concerned myself with things that should have been God’s alone to carry. This will happen every day if I do not reign it in. Today, I was grateful for the joy and freedom that little Carson and Tripp demonstrated for me. Sometimes the best lessons are learned from children. Life is sweet. Put it in your sippy cup and soak it down.

Matthew 6:25-27 & 33,34 ~ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?… But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Just Do It

Sweet Smile

Happy Boy

Okay, I have to admit I can’t stand it. There were so many great images from our day with Parbella, that I have to add a “part 2″ to this post! ( and I still won’t get them all in!)

Here are a few ( okay, a lot!)  more images of our wonderful day with these lovely princesses and amazing dresses from Alison Johnson. Enjoy!

This photo shoot was pure joy, and you are about to see why. This is the much anticipated shoot for Parbella Childrens Clothing, a beautiful line of clothes for girls. We decided on a tea party for the scene of our shoot. We had 12 beautiful little girls and their parents here last Friday. It was 99 degrees that day, but I hardly noticed. Seriously, I don’t think I felt the ramifications of the heat until that night, and my body fell into a heap into my bed. It was just so much fun. The girls seemed to enjoy themselves, and those that didn’t even know one another became fast friends over the course of the day. They sat there, tea cups in one hand and a cluster of grapes in the other, talking like little women. I was so impressed with them all.

When you see these photos, I hope you will get a glimpse into the fun we all had. Such stunning little beauties, dressed up in Alison Johnson’s designs, feeling so pampered and special. It was any girl’s dream day. I heard several of them say more than once that it was “the best day ever”. This of course blessed me beyond belief. It is my joy to help precious little girls on their journey to feel beautiful and treasured. Alison also shares this conviction. I think that is why we work so well together! I hope you enjoy a few of the photos of the day. I had such a hard time choosing which ones to put on the blog!

I am so excited about this new project I am working on with Alison Johnson. She is the creator and designer of Parbella, a beautiful new children’s clothing line, that I have fallen in love with! I met Alison while shopping for my new Imac. ( A very good day!)  She was taking a cookie break with her beautiful daughter, Isabella, across the hall from the Apple Store at  The Kneaded Perk and I was getting my usual coffee fix. I couldn’t help but be drawn to her and her beautiful daughter, Isabella. They were so precious together! I introduced myself , as I am prone to do, and we got to chatting. When I found out that she designed children’s clothing I was intrigued and asked her if she had a photographer yet.  She said that she had been doing all of her own shooting and it was getting to be too much for her.

I was excited! I have been considering a change of direction with my photography for awhile, and I loved the thought of focusing primarily on children, especially for a specific designer.  I asked her about her clothing line, and told her a bit about what I do. We exchanged business cards and and said our goodbyes. Not long after, we began to exchange emails and make plans to experiment together on a project or two. I am so excited! She got her samples in for her Spring line, and I have the opportunity to show them to the world! I am in the middle of lining up models right now. I need sweet little girls in sizes 3T and 6.

These dresses are stunning and the fabrics are divine. I am not going to give too much away, but here are a few sneak peeks at what I have hanging up at my house.:) If you have a little girl in your house, you are going to love these! More to come soon!!!

This is Olivia. She accompanied her daddy who is a friend of mine to help with a recent photo shoot. At the end of the shoot, I asked her if I could take a few photos of her with her pretty flower in her hair. She agreed, but was very shy. I love her innocence and sweetness she so easily portrays here. Isn’t she stunning? Love the one of her with her daddy at the bottom too!

Have a great week! I am off to Colorado for a nice vacation with my own family. Can’t wait!

I had to do more than one favorite photo this week, because there were so many I loved in this shoot! These are my friend Linda’s beautiful kids and I loved these shots!!! So sweet.

I got to go play at my friend Kelly’s house last week. There was no agenda, except to get a couple shots of her for the Veterinary Clinic where she works. She is a vet, and I secretly envy her. I wanted to be one when I was a little girl. I  brought home every struggling animal I could find as a kid. My poor mom. Every spring I would bring home a baby bird that had fallen from the nest and do my best to nurse it until it was ready to fly. Don’t  think I ever succeeded.:( Anyway, when I hit Chemistry in high school, I assumed God had other plans for me. Therefore, I have deep admiration for anyone with the brains and skills that Kelly has. She is also an artist, so she got both. Not sure how fair that is, but I love her anyway.

Here are some pictures of her and her two youngest boys just playing on her farm. She has baby chicks right now and I loved just walking around observing and photographing all of it combined. Joy, sunshine, laughter, innocence and just sweetness. Wish I could do that all time. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did shooting them.

We had a wonderful day photographing Eli and his mom and dad last Saturday. We had baby sheep to play with as well as some sweet chicks on loan to me from my friend Kelly. I think Eli thought he was at the zoo or the park. I am not sure who had more fun, but I am pretty sure it was me. Eli is the apple of his mom and dad’s eyes, as you can see from these photos. Photographing children is so much fun as they are in a world of their own, and not worried about how to smile or behave. We just let him play and the magic came through.

Enjoy the photos of sweet Eli. ~