2015
What an amazing year. I met so many wonderful people and worked real hard to define and refine myself as a photographer. While I was sad to let a few facets of my business go (Newborns & Events), scaling back has allowed me to follow my true passion for Portrait and Enchanted Sessions. While 2016 will bring even more refinement, I wanted to take a look back at 2015 and share with you my top ten favorite images along with the reasons why I love them so much!
By the way, these are not in any specific order....it was hard enough just picking ten, there is no way I could rate these further!!!
This photo captures the balance between strong masculinity and fragile innocence. Nothing can tear at heart strings better than a Father and his daughter and this image does just that.
This was my very last newborn session and it was also probably among my best. Newborn photography is an art in itself. It takes tons of patience, skill, talent, planning and practice and a bit of luck in order to nail a session. It took me several years to be able to achieve an image like this....but it sure paid off! Of course this also made it an extremely difficult decision to let it go. I leave this niche behind me knowing that I achieved what I set out to. I take with me tons of experience that I would have never learned otherwise and I am thankful that I was able to provide many families with memorable images of their newborns!
This photo just makes me happy. Every time this little guy has been in front of my lens he has been nothing but smiles and giggles. When I see this picture I get all warm and fuzzy inside. I love my job! 
Ok. Let's talk about this gem of a photograph. First of all, those eyes and lips are KILLER. Truly a photographer's dream here...but there is such a great story behind this photograph and that is what makes it place in my top ten. Mom needed holiday pics for her twin boys and daughter and called me in desperation after two failed attempts with the big box studios. Her boys DO NOT like unfamiliar situations nor do they like strangers (the camera doesn't help). The goal was to get just ONE usable picture. Of course the day of the session comes and it is bitter cold outside. Mom pulls into the parking lot only to find that one of the twins got car sick on the drive completely ruining his carefully planned and coordinated outfit. Of course this makes everyone unhappy. There was no lack of tears! Due to the weather we needed to get this done quickly and just as Mom predicted, both boys were NOT happy with the situation. Thankfully, by the end of our 30 minutes and through lots of tears, we got some pretty beautiful pictures...with a few smiling ones. But this particular image? Yeah...this one takes the cake.
Most of my clients are young children and families. When this family contacted me about doing a photoshoot for their teen I was over the moon thrilled. Teens are pretty darn cool (at least when you aren't their parent). They are full of life, adventurous and willing, most love the camera and the best part is that they have some attitude. I don't mean attitude in a negative way, I mean the attitude that shows they have the world at their feet and are ready to jump in full throttle and conquer it! This girl was the sweetest thing - smiles all around and a very talented singer to boot. For this particular photo I simply asked her to "give me a little attitude", and this happened. 
This picture just captures a true moment of joy for this family. I may have provided some direction of what I was looking for them to do, but once I stopped talking they just had fun. No posing or fake smiles. This is a memory captured forever.
What's not to love here? Any child that sees their parents kiss is shocked, horrified or disgusted. The expressions of these children cannot be coached. Awesome!
This was an "out of the box" shoot for me. Rocky's Makeup and Hair artist, Rachel and I coordinated this shoot for fun. Nikki (the model) was all game for the session. She came prepared with an entire wardrobe including endless accessories and we just played. As a photographer stepping outside our comfort zone and pushing boundaries, doing things we don't normally do is what allows us to grow. This shoot accomplished that for me.
Simple. Elegant. Sweet. Between the smile, the demure glance at the ground and those eyelashes....Gaahhh! This photograph is one that needs to be framed and shared forever. Personality in a picture! 
The truth is, not every photo session goes as planned, especially when dealing with toddlers. The expectation is always smiles and laughter, but sometimes that doesn't happen. That does not mean the session is a bust... there is a lot of beauty to be found in all emotions. I think this image demonstrates that. There are so many emotions going on here...a little anger, a little frustration and her eyes are welling up, but not yet spilling over quite yet. Not only is this a great photograph, but it's truth. Photographs are so much more meaningful when they are truthful.
There are so many reasons I love this image. Perhaps the biggest reason is because this session was SO MUCH FUN! I truly love spending one on one time with my women clients. So many of us fear being caught on camera because we worry so much about our appearance. But when we let down our defenses and accept and embrace ourselves our inner beauty shines through. This client and I laughed and enjoyed ourselves this entire session. No pressure, just two women chatting, laughing, posing and having fun....doesn't it show? And what a bonus for the light to be as perfect as it was! 
NOTE: This session made such an impact on me that I will soon be offering specific sessions geared towards women. Look for my EMBRACE SESSIONS which will be debuting in the next few weeks!
For my next blog post I will explore my top ten Enchanted Images!