If you are at all familiar with my work or keep up with my blog, then it goes without saying that I care a great deal about the families I work with and I have the utmost respect for their choice to invest in having me document their memories through my photography.  Aside from the fact that building a relationship with my clients is incredibly important for me to do my job effectively, I just truly deeply care for the people I work with.  I don’t just do this to make my living, I do this because I deeply care about giving people beautiful and meaningful photographs to look back on and take joy in reliving how beautiful and joyful their life was over and over again.

There are a few families who I have spent quite a bit of time with and just recently finished their first year of life series – including Penelope and her family.  I’ve already shared a bunch of these on my blog before but I really wanted to put the highlights of each session all together for you to see now that we’ve officially completed the last session (last of the series I should say).  I don’t have anything real clever or fancy to say except that it is just really cool to look at these all in one place and see the progression of time and how much as changed..

At P’s pregnancy photography session, we just hung out at home and then finished up photos at a little empty train yard within a five minute walk from LJ & Michelle’s apartment.  I remember right when we went outside the sky started to turn this beautiful, albeit ominous, shade of purple.  And then right as we finished up the session the sky went totally dark and it thunderstormed that evening..

Pregnancy sessions are fun, but they often feel a little more about clients getting the first chance to know and work directly with me.. which I suppose made it all the more hilarious that my sandal strap broke and LJ had to carry me back to my car on piggyback.  Nothing says good first impression like making a person who has known you for about 90 minutes carry you on their back for a few blocks.

A couple months later we had their newborn session, which was a lot of fun as I already had gotten to know LJ & Michelle at their pregnancy session and honestly I felt this really great instant connection with them right off the bat so returning was more like visiting friends for me. We did some photos at home and then we did photos at the LP Conservatory – they had their holiday display up and while in the past I might have considered that kind of thing cheesy, the holiday cheer of the decor was absolutely spectacular.  I also remember loving so much the Giving Tree inspired paintings that LJ made for P’s nursery..

Next we had P’s 3 month baby photography session.. again just a few simple shots at home and then we went to grab a coffee at a local cafe.  I wanted to do something completely different than the other two sessions we had already done together, so I did a lot of grainy B&Ws with just a few color images – the way the sun reflects off the snow in just the right spot and at the right angle is so magical to me.

For P’s 6 month session we went to Grant Park in Spring.  We just walked around and then found a spot in the grass to lounge.. I really wanted to go somewhere to capture all of the blossoms on the trees and I think this was the perfect spot to go to in the city.  It was so much fun to not only work with nice weather for the first time with LJ, Michelle & Penelope but it was so neat to see how much P had changed and to get a glimpse into her budding personality.. though she was honestly just as smiley and happy as she was when I saw her at her 3 month session (that gummy smile just kills me it’s so cute!).

For P’s 9 month session I decided to drive up to their lake house in Wisconsin. My original plan was to go and hang out all day, maybe do some lounging and have margaritas.. but things had just gotten so hectic in my schedule at that time that I could only squeeze in an hour with them and breakfast.  And actually I just looked back in my planner to see exactly what I had worked on and this is how my weekend unfolded before the session.. That Friday I spent the night at the hospital for a birth photography session; Saturday I second shot a wedding with a photographer friend from 3-11pm; I woke up at 3:45am on Sunday morning to drive up to the lake house for P’s session at sunrise, did photos in about an hour and had breakfast; and then I drove back to the city to return and finish photographing my birth family at the hospital. Sometimes I don’t have any clue how I take on what I do.. it’s bananas I tell ya.

Ah and finally P’s first birthday photography session… in addition to P learning how to walk, some big changes included Michelle’s amazing haircut and the fact that they had just officially moved into their very first home.  Leading up to the session I had another crazy weekend of work so Michelle made us all mimosas to enjoy while we hung out and took pictures.  Such a great way to kick off the last of the series I’d say.

xo