…that I am going to blog it in all of it’s wonderful parts. Here is the playdough part, Mama made homemade playdough in all the colors of the rainbow, and put them in beautiful mason jars, and then we let the little ones play. It is what they love right now, so why not capture THAT? I so want to capture who each child is in thismoment. Amelia loves baby dolls, ELijah is obsessed with aquaponics. Need to come up with some theme for my own children. Baby dolls, fish, and plants…we’ll see what I ome up with. MANY more amazing photos from this shoot to come, this was just a small part. *Hope* mama Hay is getting a blogfull of bliss right now!

So, this was another quick shoot for the workshop. We found an empty porch in my neighborhood, hooked up a hammock chair, and got Melissa and baby Hazel snuggled in there. Barb really wanted to do some breastfeeding shots, which I love to do too. It is one of the sweetest moments between a mother and a baby, and it is gone so fast.

I stopped breastfeeding Amelia a few months ago, and *may* not have any more babies (still working on adam), and it was so sad to think that I might never breastfeed again, so I am glad I have some beautiful shots of Amelia and I, too. But, I do have to be totally honest here, I am SO glad that breastfeeding is over for now-she was one of those babies that just wanted to be hooked to my breast all the time but would NOT settle down or snuggle in. So it was like fighting a little monster that was attacking my boob. A monster with teeth.

So, after a full week of organizing the workshops (running around nonstop morning to night), then two full days of trying to get in touch with clients and take care of my own business, I woke up this morning and sat down with Adam to have our usual “what are we doing this weekend” meeting.

He listed off: clean out the basement, move our storage locker stuff to a bigger storage locker, move the huge aquaponics system from our kitchen to our bedroom (wtf? that is SO not going to happen-I do NOT want 80 fish and a bunch of plants in my bedroom), visit some greenhouses, and then go work on our other house where we have renters. I looked at him, stunned. Exhausted. Disbelieving that what he just said could be real. I told him that sounded lovely, and that he and BOTH kids should have a fun day doing all those things while I take a bath and pour over all my photos from the workshops.

So, that is what I am doing now. They just left the house, and I am slightly (extremely) giddy. This house, that is almost always filled with at least 10 kids, neighbors, friends, and relatives at the MINIMUM, is now TOTALLY empty. Just me and our new little kitty, Simba. Life is good.

xoxo stacey

ps, here is Hazel 1 day new

I have a very long list of sessions and family times to blog. Millions of pictures. Well, at the very least, thousands. I can cut that down to a few per blog post, but that is so hard! I have so many photos on my computer, I hate deleting any of them. But, a few days ago, I went and deleted about 1000 of my own family photos. So hard, but it had to be done. I think I have taken 10k in the last two years, just of my own family. How will I enjoy that when I am old? I am going to cull them down to the best, then make an album for every year, and then blow up the very best as canvases and float wraps.

Anyways, this was Adam’s 35th birthday party. 35! We met when I was 21. We are getting so old (well me, I am a mere 31, so there). He is looking GOOD though. Gotta get a good pic of his newly finished tattoo (my bday present to him, along with a weeklong meditation retreat).

Off to Breckenridge for the weekend for a family only-no shooting at all-feeling free and being well kinda weekend.

Because my boys love those babies I love these two photos, for sure. Adam *finally* told me the other day that he “wasn’t against having another baby if the circumstances were right.” Told ya. It would just take some time for him to come around. I have been saying this forever! Glad the day came. Coming up with new baby names as I write….

Super wonderful sales manager Reg, with her new baby. Love those baby feet! So sorry we have to represent the competitor’s baby sling. What’s up with that Reg?

And then it turned windy. We were being blown all around-crazy Boulder wind.Eli’s face ROCKS. (fyi-my Elijah is in blue here-Eli is the one rocking the yoda extreme jedi scream there.

ps. if you know me well, then you are not wondering why my husband’s 35th birthday party blog post is all about kids and babies. There were indeed a lot of adults there, but they are just not that cute.

xoxo stacey

This was such a sweet, fun family portrait session. Mom had warned me beforehand that the little one was a ham for the camera, but that I would have a harder time photographing the two older boys. Well, the session started, and the youngest one could not help but be super silly. He is 6 years old-just like my Elijah, and Elijah is goofy anytime I bring the camera to my face now. He *used* to be the perfect little model, but now I have to be extremely off the wall silly to get a good, genuine shot of him. So, it is good that I have had practice recently. I was just crazy and goofy with the boys the whole time, and they were able to sit back, relax, and have fun. One trick that always works for older boys (for those photographers that read my blog), is to make them make a silly face, then a normal face, then a silly face, then a normal face. I keep belly laughing the whole time, so when they have their “normal face” on they are smiling and their eyes are lit up. I did not include any of the silly face pictures in this family’s gallery, and mom was disappointed! I should have know-I love it when my own kids are being goofy and having fun. So I went back and added those in-nose picking and all. And she loved them.

I love, love, love photos of family interacting together. They are some of my favorite shots. This family ended up getting a 10×10 fine art album, and it was such a pleasure to create because the whole shoot flowed like a story. Now I want to find a photographer in the Boulder area that can make my family have so much fun so I can have an album like this.

xoxo stacey

Such a beautiful little newborn baby. I first photographed him on the darkest, gloomiest Boulder day yet this year, but somehow (because he is gorgeous) I still got really great photos. Since his parents live close, I stopped by a week later to take a few outdoor photos. So the first four photos were done at 2 weeks, and the last two photos were at 3 weeks. Look at how much more awake and aware he is at three weeks! I honestly love photos of awake newborns just as much if not more as the sleepy, squishy ones. The problem is, when a newborn baby is awake, their arms are flailing all over the place, their eyes are often crossed, usually one eye is closed or half closed, and those type of photographs do make you feel as cozy and warm and blissful as the ones where they are all curled up on their bellies and sleeping soundly. But Luke was so calm while he was awake, and it was easy to get him to look at the camera, which is unusual for a newborn.

Happy Father’s day to all! I am happily spending the weekend camping with my family in the mountains above Boulder. Hope you all have a beautiful day!

xoxo stacey

Boys will be boys. Yes. I can not imagine having three boys.  All the intensity, the noise, the dirt. I know it is a no-no in Boulder to talk to about gender roles and kids, but really, my son loved trucks and airplanes, and my daughter just adores baby dolls, shoes, and purses. And I tried as consciously as I could to raised them neutrally. But, what I loved about this family, is that each boy totally has his own personality and they are all three so, so different. That is why I love those close up photos below. Because I took them all in a row, and each one really captures how they were during the shoot. Can you guess which one I had to work that hardest with, chasing him the whole time and trying to get to play with me and have fun?And we did it-we got so many really fabulous shots.

This family is so cool. They are so laid back and happy and fun and the kids are so loved. Mom and dad are both neuroscientists. But-they created an awesome cloth diaper this past year and started a business, which has TAKEN OFF. I am so happy to hear stories like this. The diapers are so popular they can not keep them in stock-that is how great they are. To see them, you can check out the website for GoGreen Diapers here. Once they launch their new site in a few weeks I am going to post all the adorable product shots I got for them, so stay tuned. I love, love, love doing baby and kids product photography.
Well, I am back from San Francisco. Whew, that was a whirlwind! 10 shoots in three days, with two babies traveling with us. I need to rest now, for sure, but will write more tomorrow!

xoxo stacey

I just *needed* to post a few more photos of this beautiful baby girl. This was such a beautiful, perfect shoot. The light was gorgeous, Ella was super happy and totally in to whatever we were doing, and even though it was still winter, it was a warm day. If I knew how other photographer’s posted full galleries on their site, I would do it for this one, as every photo was just precious.

There are three spots left for my mommy and me mini photography sessions.  Those filled up super fast and I opened up the 22nd for sessions as well. The spots left are April 16th, at 5:30pm and 6pm, and April 22nd, at 6:30pm. April 23rd is all full. Contact me if you would like to set one up!

xoxo stacey

Yes, those are mine. I feel so lucky to be able to say that, because I have the sweetest, most loving children in the world, and I am so happy they belong to me. It is a little sad that I do not take photos of my own kids that often. I had been meaning to do this shoot forever with another Boulder photographer, and it just did not work out because we were both so busy. And then I was going to do the shoot with a friend that is a fabulous photographer in Denver, and of course we could not make that work either, so finally, on the coldest day of the year, I dressed my children up, took them out to the field-and they lasted exactly 2 minutes. Bad idea, mom. I would have canceled any kind of outdoor baby session if it were that cold, and yet I decided my own children would be able to take it. Wrong. But I did at least get this one beautiful photo of Amelia that day.

So, a few days later, when it was slightly warmer, I got them all dressed up again, hauled all the props that I wanted to try and use out into the field, and was able to get in a good 10 minutes of shooting.  I totally feel for my clients now. It is A LOT of work preparing for a portrait session. You have to get the kids cleaned up, fed, diapers changed, children bribed, baby bottles packed, etc… And on top of doing that for the kids, you have to somehow find the time and space to take a shower, put on make up, do your hair, and have clothes that are not wrinkled and dirty (does any other mother out there feel like they always show up places looking ridiculous?). And then husbands are the easy part. Give them a pair of clean jeans, a nice shirt, and pop the baby onto their laps as they are figuring out how to download their next android app. Well, that is what it looks like in MY house anyways. So, suffice it to say, I decided that this would be just to get photos of the children, and not the whole family this time.

And it was fine. But I, nor my big camera, hold that awe and newness for daughter anymore that normally comes with babies I don’t know as well. She just wanted that big globe the whole time, and if we tried to do anything else or if we tried to get her to look at us she simply ran away with the globe. Though, our Christmas card still rocked this year.

We will be planning a family session with a photographer who is not mommy for the spring.

xoxo

stacey

6 weeks is a great age to photograph. It is almost impossible to get those sweet, squishy, sleepy newborn portraits because after about 2 weeks of life a baby totally wakes up. You will see. Once your baby is 10-14 days old she will be awake so much more than she ever was before. She will start looking around, knowing when she is with mama or daddy and she will begin to understand that there is more to the world than just her. No more foldy, bendy, posable babies. At this age, they love to stretch out, open their eyes, and look around.

But it is the nature of being a new parent that you don’t quite think of calling a photographer in those first few days. You get so wrapped up in the newness and sweetness of your little baby. So, I get a lot of calls for newborns between the ages of 2 weeks and 6 weeks. And I love doing them. Mostly because I really love lifestyle shots. By that I mean photos of that are not quite posed.  Mom and dad loving on the baby in bed, mom nursing, daddy holding his baby up over his head and looking into her eyes. I love that kind of stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sleepy newborn photos with all the fun knit hats and cocoons, but I think I love more the photographs of mom gingerly playing with one of her baby’s little toes, or snuggling with her in the rocking chair.

Oh, and the eyes. Most early newborn portraits have to be with the baby’s eyes closed because they are still so cross eyed when they they are so new. It is just the truth, they can not focus their eyes, and so when I take a wide awake photo of a baby just a few days old, they are going to look a little out of it and dazed. By six weeks, however, they are trying so hard to be able to focus their eyes and see things, so it is much better.

For example, Olivia. Isn’t she just breathtaking? So tiny too-at six weeks she is 8 lbs. She is the same weight as most of the other newborn babies I photograph, but she is much more present. I just love her-her eyes, her perfect little face. I also have to say I love that wall in her nursery. I am not sure if there is a local store where you can get these, but all of my Boulder families tend to have those cool wall decals. Love them!

Olivia’s mom and I talked on the phone for quite a bit when she initially called me. This mama had a natural breach birth! I was so happy to hear that. A lot of you know that I am also a birth doula (though my passion now is birth photography), and it is straight to cesarean birth for breech babies around here. I read an article recently though about how Canada is moving in the direction of training all their birth practitioners in delivering breech births. Apparently the the risks of a cesarean birth are about equal to that of a vaginal breech birth. And there are only TWO doctors in the Boulder/Denver area that will deliver a breech baby! I could not believe it. We really need to get more birth practitioners in the area trained to do these types of deliveries. It would be great to have more options. Olivia’s mom was set up to deliver with Boulder Nurse Midwives (whom I love!) and had to seek out a doctor in Denver to help her deliver in the end. Anyways, I just think she is amazing. That is a great gift for her to give to her daughter, and I love to hear stories like that so I thought I would pass it on.

xoxo

stacey