Lauren | Colorado Springs Senior Photographer

Lauren is the daughter of one of the girls in our neighborhood bunco group. Her mom, Sherry, is a riot so I’ve loved getting to know her daughter better. Lauren is the sweetest girl ever! Such a good kid. I hope my girls are as nice as Lauren when they’re teenagers. She just started her senior year, so we had a great time playing under cover from the rain at the Flying Horse Club. It started pouring as soon as we got started! We had big plans to go to the Santa Fe trail after, but that’s going to have to wait until this weekend since everything was a soggy mess. Thankfully, there are some beautiful arches and stonework at the club so we still had a great shoot there. She is GORGEOUS, so I wasn’t about to let the weather ruin it for us! I can’t wait to shoot Lauren in a more nature-y setting this weekend since that is more *her*.

 

My babies are fwee!

So, um, I started this post weeks ago, saved it as a draft, and forgot about it. Oops!!

 

My twins turned 3 on the 5th. Sniff!  Because of Pinterest, I did more work on this party than I ever have on a party. I learned so much about the design end of Photoshop. I will be back with a more detailed post about their birthday party with pictures taken by my fabulously talented photographer friend, Kim. First, though, I attempted two different shoots with my kids to try and get ONE decent picture. Yeah, that didn’t happen. This was the best I got. We went outside the next day and played around on our front steps, and I got some beauties of each of them then. No good ones of all three, though, so those will be separate posts because this one would be way too long otherwise!

                              

My favorite.

                              

Josie's Birthday Party

For Josie's second birthday, her parents decided to throw a "driveway party." They cleaned out their garage, set some delicious food on a table, and asked everyone to bring their own (alcoholic) drinks and lawn chairs. It was such a great (and relaxed!) time, we decided to do the same thing for the twins' birthday in a couple weeks. I'm horrible about taking pictures of my own kids, so I took the opportunity to bring my camera and just shoot for the fun of it. I've missed that!

Isn't he the cutest little boy? Those eyes! He makes me wish we had a boy.


Birthday girl


Abby, my oldest


The happiest kid you'll ever meet


Cora dressed herself


Abby's bff




I love that Abby's not afraid to get dirty and rough


Aspen


Emma


Cora

The J Family -- Colorado Springs Natural Light Family Photographer

Remember Josie? She's growing up so quickly! She just celebrated her 2nd birthday a couple weeks ago, so I got to play with her again. Like most of us, her parents don't have many pictures with all of them together so we did a whole family session this time. We weren't able to shoot long before a storm hit, but we still had a great time. Later, I'll post a few pictures from her ice cream-themed birthday party. It gave me some great ideas for my own twins' 3rd birthday party coming up in just a few weeks.

Maggie -- Colorado Springs Senior Photographer

You may recognize Maggie from the family/maternity session a few posts back. She is GORGEOUS and a complete joy to work with! We had so much fun just the two of us on her senior shoot. She loves nature, and worked at a nursery last summer, so we were very excited to head over to Red Rock Canyon Open Space for her shoot. I hope my girls are as nice and friendly as Maggie when they become teenagers!

Avery Ann -- Colorado Springs Newborn Photographer

Ok, seriously? Have you seen a more adorable newborn? Little Avery is such a doll! Her little expression while sleeping kills me in this shot! She was one week old here, and she almost makes me want to have another one. Ok, maybe not, but I loved getting my baby fix. I got to spend lots of time holding her and snuggling her. Swoon!

G Family

A couple weeks ago, I posted a quick sneak peek from Angela's maternity session. We also did a ton of famiy shots, so I had a record number of images to go through. I had such a difficult time narrowing it down for editing! Here are some of my favorites from that day.

I got to play with their newborn, Avery Ann, just yesterday, so I can't wait to show you a few of that sweet baby very soon!

Session Info Card–Colorado Springs Photographer

Once upon a time, Robyn at Paperie Boutique had a “buy the store” sale over at her template store, Fit to Print. I’ve admired her marketing materials for years, so I was gleefully took advantage of this! I finally got around to playing with a few of the pieces recently, and created a session info card to add to my welcome packet. This was something I’ve been wanting to have for a long time, but didn’t really know where to start. Before I had the card, I’d include a very wordy letter with the same information, but I always worried key points got overlooked since it was pretty long. The Fit to Print templates helped me take that letter and break it down into easier to digest sections. My card is a combination of Design One, and the now retired Design Three. I printed them through ProDPI. I love that ProDPI moved to Denver not too long ago! Turn-around time for my orders has been crazy fast now that they’re just an hour away. Clients have been so impressed that I’ve been able to deliver their print orders within a couple days since I receive them from the lab so quickly!

 

Angela -- Colorado Springs Maternity Photographer

I had the pleasure of shooting Angela's maternity session in her gorgeous home in Cascade. We were pretty concerned about the weather because it was really cloudy and cool all morning long, but cleared up beautifully for us once we started. We had so much fun, I think I shot a record number of images for me on this session. More to come soon. :)

We'd planned to meet again this afternoon for their ordering consultation, but this baby had other plans. She is being born TODAY! Congratulations to Ryan and Angela! I can't wait to meet your new baby girl!

Wall Display Ideas

Displaying portraits in your home can be very daunting. What size works best on which wall? Should you group a ton of smaller portraits together, or showcase a few larger ones? Consider your portraits art for your walls--the most personal type of artwork. Also, remember your walls are much larger than they appear, so while a single 8x10 print seems large, it will actually appear tiny on a wall by itself.

You do not have to start with a large grouping, but rather you can build on that year after year. Eventually, your walls will showcase a lifetime of memories for you to share with loved ones. These images will be cherised for generations!

I hope these sample wall displays will assist you in choosing portrait sizes that work best in your home. They will make it a little easier to visualize the different sizes and groupings on your walls.

A Family -- Colorado Springs Family Photographer

A few years ago, I met Susan at a friend's house for Bunco, and knew right away she's a riot! Her laugh is infectious and you can't help but have a great time around her. We lost touch after that, but she recently contacted me after seeing Vanessa's pictures and we did the whole "don't I know you?" bit. I was thrilled when she asked me to shoot her family because this was going to be such a fun, laid-back session. I was so right! Her whole family is terrific and a hoot to be around. And look how gorgeous they all are!









They decided on Garden of the Gods for their photo shoot. You can't ask for a more stunning background! The big mountain is Pikes Peak, and those rock formations is Garden of the Gods.