Celebrating 5 | Hendersonville, NC Children's Photographer

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you are all celebrating with those that you love.

 

Today I thought I would share some of the photos that we took of

Peyton for Valentine's Day Cards and to celebrate her 5th birthday.

Warning:  It's a long post!

 

 

 

 We actually shot these photos on two separate days.  If you have ever tried to photograph your own children, you know how hard it can be to get them to cooperate.  So instead of frustrating everyone by trying to make all of this happen on the same day, we shot a few inside a couple of weeks ago just in time to have pictures for her Valentine's cards, and then we shot a few outside this week with the snow on the ground.  

Thanks for the adorable scarf Grandma!

 

 She loves dancing and being silly. 

So happy that I was able to capture that personality in these images.

 She also loves these fake glasses and books!

 We used this shot on the inside of her Valentine Card.

Of course Gizzy Girl made it into a few shots!

 Wardrobe change.

More dancing!

 

 

 Happy birthday sweet girl!  I love you more than I could ever express in words.  I can't wait to watch you explore the world as your uniquely 5 year old self.  I know it will be filled with fun & laughter!

 

Love, 

       Mama 

Blurry | Child Photographer Hendersonville, NC

Sometimes when you are taking pictures of a 5 year old little girl that

loves to sing and dance, things get a little blurry.

 These pictures certainly are not technically perfect.  They aren't tact sharp by any means. 

But sometimes the moment is much more important than the technical aspects of photography.

This is most definitely one of those times. 

 

These pictures are so HER right now! 

Which is exactly what I aim to capture in all of my sessions. 

The personality of the child at that given time in life. 

 

Do you have a little one full of personality that you would like to capture?

A little boy that wears his super hero cape everywhere he goes.

A little girl that loves to play dress up.

A little one that loves to read books.

Give me a call and we can create a custom session to document that sweet little personality to help you ALWAYS remember every cute little thing that you are afraid you might forget.

 

The Valuable Lesson My 5 Year Old Taught Me | Hendersonville, NC Photographer

Last weekend was my youngest child's birthday. 

She very excitedly turned 5 years old & taught me a valuable lesson at the same time!

 

We don't have any family nearby anymore to celebrate birthdays and other holidays with.  It always makes me a little sad when my kids don't have their grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles and cousins around to celebrate with them.  Especially for Peyton and Cooper, our two youngest.  They get so excited for their birthdays, and I always wish we could make a bigger deal of their special day for them.



 

 So on Peyton's birthday she happily opened her gifts from us and from family that had shipped things to her, with the help of two of her brothers.  She was so gitty and excited about each thing that she received.  Her new Easy Bake Oven, a baby doll stroller, a new doll, some socks and things.

 

 

As she is very happily going about her birthday day, I was taking pictures of her and feeling like a big failure of a mom for not making her birthday celebration more special for her.  I was thinking to myself that I was grateful that she wasn't even born and doesn't know anything about the big, fun parties we use to put on for her older brothers when they were little. 

 

 

 All the family and friends they got to celebrate with. 

 

 

All the fun treats and goodie bags for all the kids.  The cute cakes that I made for them every year. 

 

 

 Lots of balloons and decorations.  Treasure hunts and obstacle courses. 

 

 

 The cute scrapbooks I had made for the boys with pictures from their parties. 

You get the idea.

 

 

And literally, the icing on the cake of me feeling like a failure, was the icing on the cake.

The disgusting icing on the cake that I BOUGHT.  Not the cake I made for her.  But the cake that I stopped at the grocery store and bought for her.  When I was cutting that cake and licked some icing off my finger, it tasted so disgusting, and it set me over the edge.  I sat on the sofa while she happily ate her cake with her brothers, and I cried.  Feeling so guilty for not doing all of the things for her that we as mothers expect ourselves to do.

 

 

And do you know what happened next?  She came bouncing into the family room where I was sitting and said "THANK YOU soooo much Mommy!  This was the best birthday EVER!!!!!"  I looked at her with tears in my eyes and said "Really?  What makes it the best birthday ever Peyton?" 

She simple said "Because I got to spend it with all of you."

 

I tell this story as a reminder to all of the other moms out there, that it's not about all the STUFF. 

It truly is about spending time with family that makes our celebrations special.  For us, we can't always be with our extended family for our celebrations, but we can definitely still make our birthdays & holidays special with just the 6 of us.

 

So keep this lesson that my 5 yr old taught me, in the back of your mind as we go into the busy Christmas season.  Don't feel guilty for keeping things simple so that you can truly enjoy and appreciate spending time with your family over the holidays.  Instead, feel contentment with simple, and start noticing the beauty in the small things.

 

Much Love Friends!

An iPhone Kind of Easter | Hendersonville Photographer

 

I've never been very good a documenting Easter for some reason. 

Some things I seem to document to death, but I never have very many pictures of Easter.

No idea why.

 

When the kids got up this Easter morning and were exploring their baskets, I had my phone in my hand and snapped a picture because I was feeling too lazy to get up and get my camera.

 

And so my iPhone Easter begins!

 One of the things I like about taking pictures with my iPhone is that I can do it silently and no one even knows I'm doing it.  I wish my camera had a way to silence the shutter sound.  Had I got up to get my camera for this shot, they would have noticed and knew exactly what I was doing,  Then they would have all scattered.  Silence is golden.

 

And yes, our teenagers still get Easter baskets right along with the little ones!

While I was inside making Easter dinner, the kids were on the porch "relaxing".

Read "fighting over that table".

 While they were outside "relaxing", I was inside secretly doing this to their Easter eggs.

 We really aren't a big fancy meal kind of family. 

 Just the standard ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, noodles, some veggies, and rolls. 

 After lunch, I was sitting in the family room relaxing for a few minutes and

heard this strange noise coming from the dining room.  I walked around the corner

and discovered this little monkey slurping noodle broth right out of the pan!

He kind of likes noodles.  ;)

 After Easter baskets, candy eating, cooking, candy eating, porch sitting, candy eating, lunch eating, kitchen clean up, candy eating, a nap for dad, and some water bottles packed, we decided to go on a family hike.  We had decided on the Skinny Dip Falls Trail off of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

 

We drove for close to an hour to get to the trail (the speed limit on the parkway is 35mph, so it takes forever to get anywhere on it), and got within 5 miles of it on the parkway, when we arrived at a Road Closed sign & some rain showers!  Peyton is not a fan of hiking in the rain.  She has been there and done that.  Doesn't care to do it again.  We disappointedly turned around and started back home.

Our Easter hike turned into just a Sunday drive.

 

But on the way home we discovered Sliding Rock!  We meant to visit this place last summer, and never made it out there.  Now we know exactly where it is and will hopefully get to slide down Sliding Rock soon.  Soon, as in, when the water warms up a little!

 As you can see, our Easter was really low key.  Living so far away from family makes the holidays very laid back and uneventful.  Our first holiday after we moved to North Carolina from Ohio was kind of sad.  But I think we are getting use to it and making the most of it.  And dare I say, even enjoying it together as our own little family.

 

How was your Easter?  Did you get lazy and document the holiday with your phone?  Or did you break out your camera?  Who is coming to visit this summer and experiencing Sliding Rock with us?

 

9 Tips For Taking Pictures While On Vacation | Hendersonville, NC Photographer

Since I know many people are heading out for Spring Break in the next week or two, I thought I would share a few simple tips on documenting your vacation.

 

Tell a story

When I'm taking pictures on vacation, I'm trying to document the story of our time together as a family.  With four active kids, two of them being teenagers, we very rarely have time with all six of us together for an extended period of time.  So when we are on vacation, it's the perfect time to capture some good family time.  So I shoot with telling our story in mind.  

The Details

I didn't do a great job of capturing a lot of the little details on this vacation.  Which is strange for me.  I love shooting little details normally.  But here are a couple examples of details.  First, I like to try to shoot signs to show where we are.  This one captures both the miniature golf course and the location.  Plus a couple of cute little kids!  Shooting signs, buildings, and interesting locations can all help with telling your story. 

This is a detail shot of sorts.  It's showing that cute little tutu bathing suit that she wore for two summers and this little inflatable life jacket that we have had since Drew & Brodey were in preschool.

 

 The good, the bad, and the ugly

We all want to capture pictures of our family smiling and having fun, but lets be honest, that's not always the case.  Especially when we are on vacation with little ones.  Schedules are messed up, naps are missed, meals aren't as regular, and we stay busy and active most of the day.  So sometimes there is a meltdown or two.  Don't be afraid to capture those moments as well.  Afterall, they are apart of our story.  This picture shows Peyton as she is wilting during a round of miniature golf. 

Another little tip, when pictures don't turn out great, like the picture below being way over exposed, I don't worry about it too much.  This was one of those moments that I had to snap quickly on the fly and didn't have my camera settings correct.  But if I had taken time to set my camera for a better exposure, I probably would have missed this precious little gem of a shot.   I'd much rather have this image overexposed, then not have it at all.

Go Natural

While there is definitely a time for everyone looking at the camera and smiling, some of my favorite shots are the ones that no one even knew I was taking.  If I see a quiet moment that I want to capture, I try not to bring a lot of attention to myself.  I try to quietly sneak a few shots before anyone is aware.  Although, my kids are pretty alert to my sneakiness since I am always taking pictures of them!

 This quietly observing and sneaking in a few shots works especially well when there is a sweet connection happening between siblings or between parents and children.

 And shooting from behind is a great way to capture these connections of people

who don't especially like having their pictures taken.

 Action!

I always try to shoot my kids playing.  This is another time when I have

to be kind of sneaky so I can catch them in a natural way.

 When we go on vacation, 75% of the time we spend on the beach or in the water.  So capturing them playing in the sand always brings back lots of memories when we look back through pictures. 

 And capturing all four of them playing together is a very rare accurance.

 Capturing this smiling face is not a rare occurance!

 One of my all time favorite action shots!  Probably a little blurry, but still a keeper.  Again, I don't worry about perfect images when photographing things like this.  It's all about capturing the moment.

 

Get in the picture

I have to admit, I'm not great at this.  But I am slowing getting better.  I have started handing the camera off to other people and getting in a picture or two myself.  Brodey and Cooper are both getting pretty good at taking pictures because of the times that I have handed them the camera and gave them some simple instructions on how to frame the shot.

Lighting

Trying to take pictures is harsh mid afternoon sunlight can be difficult.  Especially at the beach where the water and sand is reflecting that bright sunlight around.  I always grab my camera when we are on a beach vacation and there are overcast skies.  It makes the light much softer and easier to create beautiful images.   If I'm trying to take pictures when the sun is high in the sky, I will often try to find some shade to take the picture in.  Finding shade can be difficult while on the beach, but when are out exploring things other then the beach, I will always try to take pictures in the shade.

Faces

It seems like most of my vacation shots end up being of people doing something or interacting with someone else.  But I do like to capture a few of them looking at the camera too.  So while action and details are great, cute smiling faces are a must too! 

 Forget the camera

One of the most important things to do at some point while on vacation is to forget the camera.  This is always a hard thing for me to do.  Beause I know as soon as I leave that thing behind, that is going to be the time when something great happens that I have to have pictures of.  But sometimes I just have to leave it behind and be 100% in the moment with my family and not worry about documenting every teeny tiny thing.  And I always have my iPhone with me.  So I can always grab a few shots with that if something to cute to miss happens!

 

So there you have it. 

A few simple little tips that will hopefully help you while taking pictures on your next vacation.

 

 

For more photography tips, go here.

 

So where are you going on Spring Break?  Stop my my Facebook page and share one of your favorite vacation pictures.