Stay Tuned

This week is going to be a good one.  So many fun things going on.

• I will be shooting kids {Wow–that sounds bad–but you know what I mean} at a Legacy Village store on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I am hoping for lots of fun images to share.
• Aaron and Rachel’s engagement photos…coming to a blog near you.
• A “What-to-Wear” that will inspire any couple to schedule an engagement session. {Covered briefly in the newsletter…and, uh…speaking of the newsletter, are you signed up?  …And why not?  Sign ups are below and I promise not to flood your inbox.}
• A three month old with the sweetest little disposition you’ve ever seen.
• Our March contest–nominate a deserving family or couple {details to come}
• A wedding vendor interview

On second thought, that’s going to take more than a week but it’s such good stuff.  Don’t miss it!

And, because a post without a photograph is like March without sunshine, here is a shot of a booth Dave set up at Westfield Mall in North Canton this past weekend.  Did anyone see it?

Akron Infant Photography {V Sneak Peek}

There is something about a baby that just melts your heart…

and {Baby V} is no different.

Ten tiny fingers…

…and ten tiny toes…

…one pouty mouth and an adorable nose.

Check out that hair…

And his smile…so sweet…

…good night and sleep tight {Baby V}.

Thanks {S} & {M}.  I loved meeting your little guy and look forward to watching him grow up.

Hands {Photography Contest}

For a long time now I’ve had a project in mind.  I’ve wanted to photograph people’s hands holding mugs–mugs of tea, coffee, hot chocolate.  The drink isn’t important.  It’s the hands. …elderly arthritic hands, young chubby hands, worker hands…you get the idea.

When I Heart Faces shared their weekly contest theme of “hands”…I wanted to participate since I too love them.  {Hands that is.}  Unfortunately my project exists only in my mind so I had to settle for the models that I know and love.  {And, frankly, the only ones I can afford.}  I took about 20 shots of our little art time yesterday.  I think this one is my favorite.

I enjoy the contests because they present a new challenge for me each week.  It’s nice to be creative in a different way than just in the studio.  I love photography but sometimes the last thing I want to do is pick up the camera at home.  I Heart Faces gives me a fun reason to do just that.

Because I didn’t know her then… {Why I Love Photography Part II}

They’ve always said I look just like her but I never saw it.  I didn’t know her then.

I didn’t know her when she fell in love, when she became a mom, when she watched her babies grow up.  I never imagined her to be anything like me.

But…then I saw the photographs.  She was just like me.  She was young.  She was a mom.  She did watch them grow up.

I wish I had known her then.  I think we would have been good friends.  But that would be impossible.

I would have never really known her without these photos.  They opened up her life to me and helped me see her as she was…not as my grandma…I already knew her that way.  But as a woman and a mother.

She has Parkinson’s now and her health and speech have faded with the last few years but because I have these photographs I will always know a part of her that I never got to see.

Why I Love Photography…

Doogie Howser.  (Did you know there are complete websites on Doogie?  His entire journal can oddly enough be found here! And, if you are too young to know what I am talking about…watch it here.)  I’m serious though.  There was an episode of Doogie Howser that made me decide then and there that I would always take pictures.  I didn’t plan on doing it professionally at the time but I pledged to always photograph my life.

Doogie (the young MD) watched an elderly patient as he struggles with losing his memory.  He becomes more and more annoyed with the old man’s questions and for some reason I vividly remember another doctor’s response after he complains:

“His memories are the last connection he has with his life…{His} life is behind him.  His memories are all he has left.  To him, forgetting is like dying.”

And later Doogie says:

“Forgetting is like losing them all over again.”

I’m not sure why but it stuck with me.  Someday I won’t be able to recall specifics anymore.  Someday the details will all be forgotten.  But, if I have photos…I can remember.

And there is so much I want to remember.  Like this:

and this…

and this…

{Bonus Points for the person that can name the mildly famous person beside Zeke.}

Here’s to Doogie, cameras, and the hope of remembering.