I knew I was missing these photos from the blog.  Last fall I was so sick I only posted about half my family portrait sessions. But there is no way for me to go back to see which ones because when I do post, I post every day or almost every day.

So I am glad I found these, because he was such a happy little guy at this session. I got about 200 photos of him just laughing and smiling-he was in that great of a mood. Here are a just a few of my favorite photos.

Today was a good day overall. I am feeling really healthy and good today, though my doctors are still messing with my meds so who knows? I saw my beautiful friend’s baby Indira today and SO wanted to take photos of her, but realized I left my camera in Boulder. If I could have a session every night, I would be a happy photographer. If my office manager could come back from vacation (only two more days!) then I could actually shoot every day and not go crazy. During the holiday, I actually do end up shooting seven days a week some weeks. Sometimes 10 or 12 a week, it is that crazy in Boulder. So, I just have to be totally healthy by then, and hire a live in maid and nanny and I will be all set.

Hmmmm, what good news to share today? I guess my best news is when I have something to talk about that gives me fire in my belly, and I didn’t have that today. So I would say the happiest part of my day was cooing and loving my best friend’s 8 week old baby. Yeah, babies are good news.

xoxo stacey

Just a super quick post tonight. Yes, I am going to bed at 9pm. I had a great and busy day. I wore myself out. I made a new friend, showed our house to a few people (we are renting out our gorgeous, light filled, 4 bed/4bath, north-central Boulder home which is like a treehouse if anyone is interested), talked with a bunch of my clients, answered emails, played with my two little ones, and then this. All in all, a good day.

I am feeling better, seeing a lot of doctors, and shooting a bit (being a photographer is what makes me happiest, well-my children make me happiest of course and then being a photographer, but that really does go without saying).

I have been photographing this family since Matthew was a baby. For some reason I did not post his two year photos, but I remember doing them, so here are his 10 Months photographs and then 2 more here and here from this session. I will have to dig up those 2 year photos and post them tomorrow. Anyways, I love this family, and love seeing Matt grow up.  I can’t wait to see what he is like at four. He was pretty serious at this session, but we still got some giggles out of him.

That’s all for tonight.

xoxo stacey

First off, this is the BEST family. I love them. They are so good to me and always think of me first. And they are so in love. Each one of them with everyone else. I have posted several photos from this session already, but really, it was such a fun session and the photos are so beautiful because there is just so much love, joy, and happiness here. And the children are pretty cute, too. And mom and dad are also gorgeous:) I am so happy they came to Boulder to do photos with me and I hope you guys come back again next year! Maybe with a new baby…? That’s just a hint, I just want to see you have another one:)

So I am feeling MUCH better. Healthy and good and way too thin but that is not the worst problem to have. I tell myself I look like a gorgeous model and that makes me feel better about it.  It is nice in a way, because my illness makes me not want to eat. At all. I have no appetite. It just isn’t there and when I eat I have to make myself, which is not often. So I do a lot of protein smoothies and Green Machines. And the only food I actually like eating right now is oatmeal and yogurt, and that is good for my tummy, so I have that going for me. Seriously, am I a Zen master at always looking at the positive of everything or what? I heard a quote recently by Wayne Dyer:

“Loving people live in a loving world.

Hostile people live in a hostile world.

Same world.”

That’s my motto for the moment.  Choosing the world that I live in. It is a great feeling.

Ok, so I have done a few shoots with this family and it is always fun to break it down with links so you guys can see the photos from all their previous family sessions (and one commercial photography shoot).

1 year of Elodie

Commercial Photography shoot (Holly was totally pregnant for these and you can’t even tell! I gained 55lbs with Amelia)

Maternity Photos (I love these, some of my very favorite pregnancy photos in my portfolio)

Incredibly stunning Elodie (this is from this past family photo shoot-I love the wind blowing back her hair like we staged it with a fan, yet we did not. I am totally serious. No fan.)

Gabriel and Daddy loving each other and having fun (also from this last family session-just a series of the same exact photo yet each photo tells its own unique story about the two of them)

I thought there were more blog posts but it is too late to look for them. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to bed now, at 10:30pm, what do you think of that?

Ok, lots of fun photography family shoots coming up! But the thing I am MOST excited about is a birth I am photographing at the end of the month. Birth photography is such a passion of mine, and I really wish more people valued it. I give a super duper discount for photographing births just because I love it so much. I am also a doula, which I think helps me capture the raw emotion of it all, you know? You should see my birth photos of Amelia by photographer Kim Rodgers, they are stunning.

Maybe more tomorrow, we shall see.

xoxo stacey

Oh, I am so loving the break in the Boulder heat wave. It is making me feel so much better and happy and alive and just good, you know?  I am so ready for some photography sessions.

Life is good now. The heat got to me more than I knew. I am spending the weekend with my babies and catching up on old work and creating new work and looking forward to some photography sessions coming up. I love how each one brings something totally new and unique and special to that family. It is on the top ten list of things I love as a photographer. I will write that list someday. Not today, but someday.

So meet Lily. She is a beautiful 5 year old little girl whose parents love her to death (can you tell?). She is so happy, vivacious, full of energy, fun, excitement-everything a five year old should be. Go mom and dad. You did something right.

No matter how many times I scold myself for letting my kids watch a movie rather than baking cookies with them, I know that I am doing something right because they are these happy, wonderful little beings that bring joy to whomever they are with. Like Lily, that have that aliveness-that quality of childhood that I see lost in so many children today because they are not getting the time or presence they need from their parents.

Someone told me the other day that she tells everyone that my children are like little angels-with their blond hair and beautiful faces and the kindness that comes from an authentic place-not a place that desires to please someone. I can’t disagree. Could YOU as a parent? I know, I talk my kids up. But I have to. That is my job as their parent. I need to think they are the most wonderful, incredible little people in the whole wide world. And I DO think that. I know every parent does, but for me it is true:) (for those of you that don’t know me, I am just kidding, but not really).

Ok. get off the computer and go enjoy this Boulder weather!

xoxo stacey

ps these photos were taken at Chautauqua in southwest Boulder-It is THE spot to take photos. On any given Saturday morning you will see about 15 photographers out there doing their thing. I ONLY do weekdays there, that’s for sure.

pps, I DID say I woud post more of her photo session and look! I have:)

Just a quick, short post to let you all know I am still here:) Since I DID say the other day that if I stop blogging for too long it means bad things. But good things are happening all around me. I am going to sleep early tonight! I will get lots of sleep. I will get healthy, I get to photograph a beautiful newborn tomorrow! How do I know she is beautiful? We’ll, bc they ALL are- to me at least. And take a look at her mama in her maternity photos, how could she not be?

STILL very, very excited to be moving into my new/old home/treehouse. I can not wait to be settled and just flop down on MY bed and just say “ahhhhhhhhh” in a dreamy way as my kids are jumping on me and creating chaos all around me. I feel like once I move in there, the world can spin all it wants, but I can stand strong in one place and really take a moment to look around and see things, you know?

High hopes, I know. but most of my hopes turn into dreams and most of my dreams turn into giving-it-a-shot, and some, not all, but enough of my giving-it-a-shots really do happen. So hope, dream, give it a shot, it happens. A simple enough formula to live by, right?

xoxo stacey

Today is just another day. Yesterday I was so sick and I think the heat is making it so much worse. Since when do we have summers like this in Boulder? I know that August is usually hot, but June-no. Boulder is better than that. Show us how laid back you are. How mellow and lovely to live in you are. We love you but we don’t have air conditioning so you can not do this to us in June.

Ah-but when I move back in to my treehouse I will have air-they are just window units since we have radiant heat in the floors for the winter (which means no forced air ducts push out the central air). But that will be MUCH better than the two fans and the dripping, cold, wet wash cloth on my forehead right now.

This is Gabriel, Elodie’s (from yesterday), little brother. I have been photographing this family from the start, and then they moved away, tried other photographers, and were never happy, so they made sure to book a session with me when they were in town this summer for just a few days.I love them-they are always so good and kind and wonderful to me and I am honored that they want ME as their photographer.

When I post more of their session (and I will because it was so perfect and fun!), I will link to all the sessions back to when Elodie was just turning 1 and learning to walk. I have said it before-one of the greatest gifts of this job is seeing the little ones grow up-to see what their personality is as a newborn and then just knowing how they will be as a 6 month old, 1 year old, 2 year old, etc… After photographing so many babies, I now just know what their temperament will be from the moment I meet them. Yeah, I am awesome. I have a super hero power. So, if you are interested in what your baby will be like in a few years, book a newborn portrait session with me. I will tell you. It is included in the session fee. Future reading. That is how good I am.

Anyways, I am working on getting healthy today, not promising anything to anyone bc that truly does get me into trouble and stresses me out. Instead, I cleaned my office to make my mind clear (it really does work), and I am just going to do one. thing. at. a. time. (I have that quote next to my computer. I might put it on the subway art I mentioned I was learning how to create yesterday. It would be perfect, and I need to remember it so many times throughout the day. One thing at a time. SO simple!

I just wanted to post these four photos together because they really show the joy and love and connection between this sweet baby and his father. These are the moments that I love to capture, and I usually get a little series like this so that it can tell a story.

That’s all for now. Might go to the hospital tonight. If I do, I will let you know, unless I am really sick, in which case I will just stop blogging and you will know.  And, if someone wants to come visit I would welcome you.

xoxo stacey

It is not often I get to shoot photographers. Well, actually, I do get to shoot other photographers and their families about 10 times a year, and I know I have said this before: it is both extremely fun (and flattering), but also really nerve wracking. Though I AM loosening up a bit.

This is my photographer-mommy-friend in Boulder and her family is the. cutest. ever. And I am so happy they had another baby because she, too, is the sweetest little thing! I did their family photos last year at Wonderland Lake in north Boulder, and they were a gorgeous family then, but now that they have baby M they are complete (or are you going to have more???!).  I love it when my friends have babies because I NEED to have babies around me at all times if I do not have one of my own. If I have one of my own, then forget it, I can only handle that one at a time. I am thinking mostly about my last baby, who was a bit, ahem, colicky, and somewhat challenging, but we made it! We lived through it to the other side and now she is the most outrageous, adorable, little firecracker there is.

So for this family shoot we went to Chataqua, which I have been photographing a lot at lately because it has just been so beautiful with the flowers, the flatirons, that dreamy wonderland-ness of it when the sun is setting. I think it was a great fit for this family, too. The only problem when you start to add more babies to a family is that it IS a little harder to get that family photo where everyone is smiling, eyes open, and looking at the camera at the same time. I personally don’t care too much about that, but I know it is always nice to have at least ONE photo like that.

I am thinking of some family photos we had when I was little that I would come across every now and then and really study. We were library family of the year three years in a row (i know, we rocked), and so they took a family portrait for the newspaper. My parents always bought a few copies and clipped them and that is what I would be looking at. And this photographer MUST have been good at getting people to sit posed, composed, and looking at the camera, because in each year’s photo we were stiff and all 7 of us (yes, I had a huge family) were looking at the camera. We were not happy or anything. It did not show who were really were. It was a good rendition of what we looked like at that moment of time, but it didn’t really tell a story about our love of reading books or anything.

My point is, when you book a session with me I chat with you on the phone to really find out who you guys are-as a family and as individuals. I want THAT to come out in the photo. There are many, many, many photographers out there that can take a good photo of what your family looks like right now, but only a few that can show the connection, love, and uniqueness of who you guys are. I would like to think that I am one of those photographers.

xoxo stacey

These are the kinds of photos I love. Not technically perfect but just fun and laid back (literally). And real. And how kids really are. You know? I would so rather have photos like these up in my home and would also rather look at these when I am 95 rather than a photos where I KNOW I am yelling at my kids and making angry faces and putting out a bunch of negative energy just so that they sit still and smile for the photographer (yeah, I am all about energy for real-I AM a boulder girl after all:).

Noah was kind of being a brat that night. I can say that bc these are my friend, Kim’s children, and your allowed to say things like that about your friends kids. In public…(maybe not???)

Well, I did not think he was being a brat, I thought he was just being a 6 year old boy-goofing off and having fun and being silly and not doing what he is told to do. 6 year old boys just don’t usually smile on cue for photographers (as a side note I hate words that are the same as letters but don’t include that letter in the actual word, like cue should be spelled que, wouldn’t you think? Or eye should just be iee and you should be u and be should just be b).

Anyways, that is why I have special tricks up my sleeve especially for these boys. They include making farting sounds, talking about farting, poop, boogers, burping, pretend burping (actually I can burp for real on que but don’t tell everyone). Basically I do whatever it takes. I am serious. I just have to do it if you want that photo of your 6 year old boy laughing his butt off and having a good time. And you do. Because you hired me as your photographer and are reading this blog bc you agree with me. Totally and completely.

A while ago, when Elijah was exactly 6 years old, in fact, I had to train him to stop saying the word “poop” bc he was literally saying it every two minutes. I did this by making him cover his mouth for one minute. Within just ONE hour he had stopped saying it. He asked me sweetly, though, if he could spell it if he needed to, and to THIS very day, he NEVER says the word “poop”, but has integrated the letters p-o-o-p into his vocabulary so much it has actually become a word itself to him.  When we are actually talking about going to the bathroom, he forgoes the use of the word “poop” and just spells it quickly. It is a natural part of his everyday vocabulary. And when I say every day, I mean every two minutes, bc even though he is not six any more, 7 year old boys are not much different.

Ok, that is enough talk about poop. If you are a new client and reading this and are appalled and don’t want to hire me now I totally understand. I mostly photograph babies, though, so I rarely am making farting and burping sounds during a session. I promise. Though if it made a 6 month old baby laugh I would totally do it.

xoxo stacey

ps. Yes, that is really all I am writing tonight bc I am working on “The List.” Which, by the way, I constantly keep losing. That is so like me.

pps. notice how Kim dressed her children? They don’t totally match but she threaded together a few colors in a subtle way. I love that-as a photographer the whole black shirt and jeans or khakis and a white shirt is kind of a nightmare. I love my families to SHOW off their personalities, whether it is by letting their kids be silly and roll around on each other and stick out their tongues, or by dressing them for a photo shoot in clothes that have style.

Ok, I AM working today on all the things I need to get done. I made “the list” (as I will now be referring to it) last night after I wrote that blog post, and it is REALLY long. I think it may take more than just a few days. If I can focus (me writing this blog post is me NOT focusing), then I can get it all done in a couple of weeks.

I spent the morning with my lovely children, just playing outside and sewing (yes! I am actually sewing again, it is part of the movement to find again the “old” stacey). Then their papa took them to the sidewalk chalk festival in Denver, which looks pretty cool (I am SO all about sidewalk chalking-it is something we do on a daily basis here at the potter house)-I am bummed to miss it but made a commitment to buckle down on old work and am going to stick to it.

So, I have marked off 2 1/2 things off my list. I only have about 200 more to go. I will keep you updated. Enjoy this gorgeous Boulder day! Ok, here I am. Off to work on “the list”.

xoxo stacey

ps. I WILL do a real blog post on this family sometime soon (how sweet are they?!), I am only going to be able to post one photo at a time for awhile while I work on “the list” bc it takes too long to put together my normal blog collage.

pps. You may actually see an influx of photos on the blog over the next few weeks-it IS something I do to distract myself from real work.

I know, this is a super heavy photo post. I am up at 1:30am, that is not too late, editing photos, after just getting back from visiting my dear friend, Kim, and her family and doing a little portrait session at this gorgeous location she found in Englewood.

Of course, I DID bring my two little ones, and the first two photos are of them. How freaking sweet are they? I LOVE them. I brought along another Kim, who is mentoring with me and helping out, and I was teaching on shooting into the sun. And Elijah and Amelia just love to ham it up, so we could not help but get photos of them, too.

Ok, so I have not posted newborn Sammy’s birth photos yet, but will soon. They are really grainy bc he was born at night and in the hospital, and I do NOT use flash, especially at a birth (what birthing mother would tolerate THAT?). So, I just need Kim to run the photos through her spiffy little noise program and then I will put them up on the blog.

So Sam is now 13 days old, and apparently he does NOT like to be photographed. He was just not a happy newborn tonight. But, what we got was sweet, and I still love all the photos, even when he is crying. He can do what he wants.

The last set of photos is of me. Me, me. Kim took photos and video while I was shooting and hanging out with all the little ones. So, this is just a behind the scenes peak.  Can not wait to show you all what the video is for! It is going to be fabulous.

Ok, off to bed at a decent hour tonight.After having the best day just chilling out with my own kids, not working, then spending time doing what I love (being a photographer), I can really rest well tonight. It was a good day.

xoxo stacey