Do you remember this beautiful mama-to-be I previously shared? Her sweet baby boy was born and I headed down to Ellicott City, MD for his newborn portrait session.

As a family photographer, I love watching my families grow. Newborn sessions are such a sweet beginning to our relationship. The particular family I have been photographing since their daughter was still just a growing bump on Mom, and I feel blessed to have been able to document their milestones.

This portrait session actually took two trips! At first, he was wide awake and fiesty for the camera, as you can see here.

Wide awake babies may not curl into sweet little poses, but you can still get some great lifestyle portraits, documenting the new family getting acquainted and loving on each other.

Still awake…. sweet little boy. I love capturing moments between father/son and mother/son.

More Daddy moments…

And some family portraits, including the proud big sister!

Baby boy was still ready to party and Mom had her heart set on sleepy curled newborn poses, so I came back down to Ellicott City a few days later where he slept like a dream for us.

I love to capture little baby fingers.

Ahhhh, is there anything more precious than a sleeping baby?

A recreation of a portrait of Daddy and big sister when she was only a few days old.

Isn’t he just a handsome baby?

A note on hanging baby portraits, newborns in hammocks and other “trick” portraits…. these are composites. Please don’t ever try to hang a baby in fabric, a hammock, sling or other prop without taking safety precautions! A baby is a little human, not a prop. In this image, the baby is actually only about 2 inches off of a large beanbag that I carefully edited out with Photoshop. Mom and Dad are holding each end of the fabric and have also been edited out of the image as they are extremely close to the baby. A newborn’s safety is my number one priority and this sort of image is only attempted if they are in a deep sleep.

© lux amoris

Ever see a photographer who starts out with a 365 day project, or even a 52 week project and never finishes? Yeah, me too. Well, I recently joined a group of a few other busy photographers who decided to commit to a 12 month project! If we fail this, we’ll be taking donations for a time management seminar. The best part is that it will be totally candid, lifestyle shots of each of our own families/lives. We don’t even have to dredge up random people or make our kids pose for us. We’re calling the series “The Story of ________” and we’ll each be filling in our own blanks. At the end of this post is a link to another photographer who participated and she’ll be linking to someone else. It’s a whole big circle of stories in pictures. Click through and enjoy!

Click here to continue the Life Story Series chain!

© lux amoris 2011

Stuck on what to wear for your upcoming portrait session? Play off the fall colors with this warm color palette. Blues add pops of color for a mostly neutral color scheme. These outfits give the flexibility of layers as the air begins to chill, especially in those breezy and cool Baltimore, MD evenings.

If you haven’t gotten your holiday portraits yet, give me a call! I have ONE remaining session left before my holiday cut off. It could be yours!

© lux amoris 2011

Today’s photographer spotlight is on Beth Orey of Tip Toe Photography from San Antonio, TX.

Image by Kelley of k|d loftis photography.

Check out her work at http://www.tiptoephotography.net, and you can find her on facebook here.

1. Why do you love this image?
I love this image because I think photography is all about connections… Connections between the people in the picture, connections between the person in the picture and whoever is looking at it, and connections between our present and our past. This is a picture of my daughter, the whole reason I really started all of this photography stuff, and when I look at this picture of her, I see her beauty, her attitude, her energy, her voraciousness. I see her. I see myself in her. And I see a moment captured in time that I will look back on in 20 years and think to myself “Her fourth birthday pictures…I can’t believe she was ever so small, but I remember her.”

2. What were your settings with this image?
2, 1/160, 200

About Photography…
3. What brought you to photography?
I’ve always loved photography. Ever since I can remember, I dreamed of being a photographer. For some reason when it came to actually choosing a path to travel in life, I didn’t think this was one I ‘could’ take. But I’ve always felt that pictures moved people in a way that nothing else could. Pictures of your loved ones are frozen moments in time, they’re absolutely priceless and incredible.

4. What type of Photography do you specialize in and why?
I specialize in portraiture for children, babies, newborns and family. Again, it all boils down to those connections. Saving points in your history for you to reflect on in your future. From the tiny little toes of your newborn baby, to the laughter of your rambunctious toddler, to the love reflected in your eyes while you hug your growing-up-too-fast child, it’s all too precious not to capture.

About your life?
5. Outside of photography, what are your interests/hobbies?
I actually went to school and got my degree in Patisserie and Baking, so I’m definitely a foodie. I love to bake and cook (too much, in fact!). I love to spend time in the kitchen with my family, to cuddle on the couch with my two beautiful kids, to sit outside on the porch with my husband when it’s cool outside, and to just relax with a book.

6. Who or what inspires you?
It’s been said before, but it’s the same for me – my family. My family and the love I have for them, and the love I know they have for me, inspires me in everything I do. There’s not one thing in my life that I do without thinking of them.

7. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, doing anything at all, where would you be, what would you be doing, and why?
I would be strolling through the countryside in the place of my birth with my husband and kids. I was born in Scotland and they’ve never been there before – I’d love to be able to share those precious memories with them and make some more at the same time.

8. What song can you listen to over and over again?
I’m not a big radio person, actually! I hear a song and I memorize it fairly quickly, so I can sing along, but I really don’t have a favorite song. Now, I can listen to Harry Potter (any of them!) on CD over and over and over again. And I have!

9. Can you tell me some quirky or little known fact about yourself?
I’m so boring, lol… I’d say that something quirky about me is that I can’t sit still and do something like watch TV. I can watch TV but only if I’m reading at the same time or playing on my iPad (Angry Birds!) or some other mind thing. I hate driving because I feel like it’s wasted time and I could be doing something else instead. It’s rather aggravating, actually!

10. If you weren’t a photographer, what other profession would you pursue?
I would definitely be making wedding cakes. I’ve done them for a few friends and family members and it’s just a passion of mine. Birthday cakes are fun, too.

I have been literally counting down the days until this family portrait session. A fellow Baltimore photographer’s family recently welcomed into their arms and hearts a beautiful little girl from China. I was jumping for joy at the chance to document their love together as a new family of five. And what love they share! Big brother and sister just adore their newest sibling and laugh and love and play together as if they’ve known each other their entire lives. It was truly a heartwarming evening, and I feel privileged to have been able to witness it.

They met me at my favorite field here in Bel Air, MD (may it rest in peace, as 3 days ago it was bulldozed to make way for a shopping center) and I sat back with a smile on my face and a camera in my hand to watch the magic unfold.

For family sessions, I prefer to sit back and give everyone a chance to just be themselves. Silly, serious, playful, cuddly… I want to document you being YOU for your family portraits. And these guys were experts at it! No sign of PCS (photographer’s child syndrome, which my children suffer from extreme cases…. as soon as that black box comes out, they either run and hide, or roll their eyes at me and make faces the entire time)– just perfect interactions, perfect laughter, perfect love.

I know this session was supposed to be dedicated to family images, as Mom is a talented photographer, but I couldn’t help myself and had to get at least one image of each beautiful kiddo.

And of COURSE I needed one of all three. I can’t get enough of these kids– talk about adorable. And well behaved. And photogenic. And loving.

Laughing, laughing, laughing. I love it!

Ok, that little boy TOTALLY cracks me up. He’s a character.

Mom and her daughters, loving on each other.

And the boys of the family- I love the interactions between father and son.

I think this is my favorite family image of the day. I love how the apples play off the red in their outfits.

and yes, I still love silhouettes. We had to climb Mt Everest to get here, it felt like, and I was caked in mud by the time we were done, but I would say it was worth it, wouldn’t you? This was total spur of the moment, of Dad and the girls, more of a test shot to check the light….and I fell in love.

The clouds were rolling in fairly quickly as you can see, but we had just enough time to get a few family silhouettes before beginning the trek back down the hill.

It was a magical evening. I feel lucky to have been a part of it.

© lux amoris 2011

© lux amoris 2011

Today’s spotlight is on Kristy Franks, of Studio Six Photography.

You can find her on the web at http://www.photographystudiosix.com/ and on facebook here!

1. Why do you love this image?
I love the field that we put the piano in. It was a long time vision of mine to do a piano in a field so when I found this field of wildflowers and I had the perfect client for this session and we found a piano we could use it was just magic to me.

2. What were your settings with this image?
Taken with Canon 5d Mkii and a 50mm 1.2L, natural light, f/2.8, 1/320, ISO160.

About Photography…
3. What brought you to photography?
I feel in love with film photography in high school but had my heart set on medical school at that point so I went to college to pursue that. When I married my husband in 2006, I again fell in love with photography through the process of hiring our wedding photographer. It wasn’t until I had my first biological child though that I really started to see that capturing my child in pictures is a gift that I needed to give to them. When I turned 18 my parents handed me a stack of Polaroids, I wanted more for my kids. So I got passionate about documenting their childhood and it set me on this path.

4. What type of Photography do you specialize in and why?
I don’t have a specialty. Throughout the years I have thought I would specialize in various things (boudoir, weddings, newborns) but I keep coming back to the fact that the variety keeps me fresh and keeps me on my toes. I love that in the same week I can photograph a birth, wedding, and boudoir, that keeps me happy!

About your life…
5. Outside of photography, what are your interests/hobbies?
We have 4 kids all together. Outside of photography there isn’t much, haha! We have a great church though and I love the people there. I also like to spend time with my husband. He is a great man and he keep me on my toes too.

6. Who or what inspires you?
Light! I am so in love with light. Children, their wonder of the world inspires me.

7. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, doing anything at all, where would you be, what would you be doing, and why?
We need a vacation bad. I would love to go to Hawaii. Even if it was a working vacation (hint, hint universe, LOL).

8. What song can you listen to over and over again?
None. As I stated above I am not a fan of doing the same things over and over again. I get bored too quickly!

9. Can you tell me some quirky or little known fact about yourself?
I think I look cute in hats.

10. If you weren’t a photographer, what other profession would you pursue?
I love weddings so it might be fun to be a wedding planner. I also think that I could run a bed and breakfast someday.

Three times a charm, they say, and this was certainly the case with this beautiful Ellicott City family. We had a heat advisory reschedule, a severe thunderstorm reschedule and we were THIS close to scheduling the session during the hurricane. The stars finally aligned recently and we were able to have our Love Story session.

We started out with some snuggles and reading one of her favorite books to give this delightful little girl some time to warm up. Curious George is awesome!

Then we moved on to some of her favorite things– her dolls. She just cracked me up! I love working with children because they are so natural, so real, for the camera. From fits of giggles to her own private language (and some good ol’ toy tossing and rolling around in the grass), she not only kept me on my toes but had me laughing the whole time. I wish I could bottle up some of that energy and keep it for myself!

You can’t leave out Mom and Dad! When was the last time you had a portrait taken of just you and your spouse? Your wedding? Don’t be shy!

Rolling in the grass with Daddy! So much fun!

A rare quiet moment with Mommy and with Daddy. It melts my heart.

Daddy-Daughter laughter! I think wrestling around with Daddy is a universal thing. Daddies are made for fun.

Snuggles and laughter with Mommy, also a universally happy thing.

And all three. Can’t you just feel the love?

The delightful, spunky, silly, beautiful, smart queen of the castle. Look at that mischievous twinkle in her eyes– she just radiates fun.

More family cuddles and love.

And finally– rolling in the grass. My favorite!

I truly think we laughed the whole time. There was never a dull moment with this little girl. She reminds me SO much of my own daughter, I just loved working with her.

And now for the BEST part!

Many people ask me what the main difference is between the signature Your Story session and the luxury Love Story session. There are a lot of little differences that I would be happy to go over in detail with you if you are interested, but here is the big one… all Love Story sessions include a videographer who will be quietly documenting your memories. I’ll take that video and combine it with your portraits to create this:

What do you think? What better way to preserve your memories than a beautiful slideshow fusion of video and still photographs, to really document your Love Story.

© lux amoris 2011

I’d like to thank our judges for making the tough selections for this year’s Baltimore Photowalk to benefit the House of Ruth.

Mollie, of Bloom Photography from Austin, TX
Desiree Hayes, of Desiree Hayes Photography, from southern California
Blair, of Blair Blanks Photography, from Baltimore, MD
CJ, of Cheryl Jacobs Portraits, from Denver, CO
Stacie, of Stacie Turner Photography, from West Hartford, CT

The competition was fierce this year, as we had SO many talented photographers participating.

I’d like to start with the popular vote contest. I posted here on my blog last week a poll containing all the entries to this year’s contest asking for everyone to vote on their favorite image.

Our popular vote winner with 23 votes is….

Stuart Johnson!

It was a close contest, with the runner up at 22 votes.

And now onto the judges decisions…

Our third place winner will receive:
$75 Gift Certificate to LCH Photography and Design
Shadow Knotty Top Beanie from Twysted Yarn
$50 Gift Certificate to Charms of Life
Custom wooden handle OR self inking stamp by Rubber Stamp Press
$50 Gift Certificate to Melissa Davis Designs
Nikon Coolpix S5100 by Service Photo
Total Prize Package Value
approx $394

And third place goes to….

Stuart Johnson! Congrats on the double win!

Our second place winner will receive:
Portfolio Theme for wordpress (blogsite template) by FolioJam
Delightful Set Photoshop Actions by Itty Bitty Actions
$75 Gift Certificate to LCH Photography and Design
Lens Critter and hat from Bluebonnet’s Designs
$200 gift certificate to My Four Hens
8×10 Jasper Lilly Frame

Total Prize Package Value:
approx $643

And second place goes to…

Crissie Traugott!

And our first place winner will receive:
Custom blogsite by Exquiture
Memory Lane Photoshop Actions by Swiss Miss Design Haus
A Wordsmith for Photographers Guide (winner’s choice) by Wordsmith for Photographers
$100 gift certificate to The Album Cafe
Photographer Wall Guides, sets I, II, and III by Ariana Falerni
$75 gift certificate to Marshmallow Dog Templates

Total Prize Package Value:
approx $3,850

And first place goes to…

Gail Montgomery!

A huge congratulations to our winners, and a huge thank you to our sponsors. I hope you all will come out next year for the Third Annual Walk! http://www.baltimorephotowalk.com

Winners, contact me to collect your prizes!

Thanks again to all who participated!