The Hendrickson Family

After Christmas I met up with the Hendrickson Family, visiting from Utah, for their session in the Freight District.

Their 6 month old baby girl was all smiles!

Love the toothless grin

December Portraits

Now it's time to catch up on some of the winter & holiday portraits from last month.

I started out December with a Groupon feature...and sold 300 sessions! This will be a busy and exciting year for sure! I hope you enjoy all the new work.

This maternity session resulted in some really beautiful images that are among my favorites of the month.

These twin sisters were adorable and love the camera.

I think he's making out his Christmas list in his head here & is more than ready for Santa!

I love babies and this little sweetie came equipped with the most squeezable cheeks. I couldn't help holding her just for a bit between shots.

A super fun couple's session on the Plaza. This was a great day for it too! Still completely in love when they cuddled & looked into each others eyes. I love that! I can't wait to photograph their daughter's senior session in a few months.

This baby had patience & curiosity like you wouldn't believe. She was usually looking everywhere else but at me...the studio lights were especially fascinating. And I love her curls!

An in-home engagement session. A first for me! I love my job. I get to do new things & meet new people every day! I loved this moment of them in their living room, all trimmed for Christmas.

Another great session on the Plaza. This one with the Silva family. Some of them were only in town for a short while for the holidays--all the way from Africa, so it was a fantastic time to get some photos with everyone together.

Out with '10, Welcoming in '11-- Groupon, Weddings, Portraits, oh my!

I cannot believe how fast the last few months of the year flew by...and that I haven't posted new work on the blog since October. I have some catching up to do! The holidays are always busy with last minute photo sessions, orders, album designs from all those summer & fall weddings and this past holiday season was exceptionally busy.

December was a whirlwind with being featured on Groupon on the 2nd and 3rd of the month. Followed by Julie & Joe's wedding on the 4th in New Town St. Charles, MO. Parties, holidays, (getting horribly sick), wedding consultations (from all those newly engaged couples over the holidays) and already LOTS of new portrait sessions happening and more being scheduled every day, even into June & October.

So, first comes Julie & Joe's long overdue blog post (I posted first on Facebook where I know they check more often). This is for the viewing pleasure of everyone else. ;o)

Julie & Joe were married in a cute little chapel in New Town St. Charles, MO, a "New Urbanist" kind of planned town. The kind of town Norman Rockwell would have approved of. Especially the quaint tree lighting ceremony that was about to take place as Julie, Joe & I took portraits after their ceremony around the town square. People either find the town adorable and cozy or... a little creepy in all its perfection. A bit like the town Jim Carey lived in in The Truman Show. But I am one that loves this town for all its charm.

Their reception took place not far away and they ended the night by jumping into the band & playing a few of their favorite tunes! Here are some of my favorites from their day.

Starting with the dress...



Lots of help with the birdcage veil. I love these!!

Some of you who are followers of the blog may recognize these shoes in white from Ashley & Adam's wedding. I love them in black too! Very dramatic. They went perfectly with their theme of "Old Hollywood Glamour."

Joe, always posing. Even when he's not trying to be, he's still a ham.



Okay, so Julie is my sister-in-law, so this wedding was very dear to my heart. I cry at every wedding I cover at some point during the day. But I have to admit it was pretty hard to shoot through my own tears on this one. The second I looked over and saw my mother-in-law taking gasping sobs as Julie made her way down the aisle, I lost it!

This chapel is really special to Julie & Joe because Joe is a master Venetian plaster craftsman and did all the plaster work in this building. There are not many like him in the country who can do authentic historic plaster work. He trained in Chicago and has even worked on the Kansas State House in Topeka, KS. He's a true artist.





Brrr! A quick exit into the frigid temps through some bubbles before dashing right back inside!

My fave...



Joe's mother made their cake. It was delish!



I love Julie's {crazy} "batter up" bridal bouquet toss. Haha!

Finishing the night by taking over the band! Joe's brother/best man on vocals.

MariAlice's Newborn Session

MariAlice was born at the beginning of July and we did her newborn photos about a week later. She is the sweetest little thing! She definitely didn't like any draftiness on her so we had to be patient in getting her sound asleep for the 2nd half of the session. Mom knew just what to do though and it all turned out beautifully. She slept like a champ as I moved her and got everything just right. Here are some of my favorite images from her session.

She's so alert already! And I love how she still has the newborn wrinkles.

A precious little package

Emma, Jessa & Baby Luke's Portraits

I met these three cuties last week at their home for some portraits of baby Luke, only 3 weeks old. Then we headed to Downtown Lee's Summit for some time with just the girls. I could have held Luke all day & I love the girls' curly hair!