The Lemon Family!

As we walked through the park near her house taking pictures, Jen asked me if I do a lot of family portraits.

Being more candid than I probably should have been, I answered that I do them on occasion, but truthfully, they are the hardest. I think back on that now and do a mental face-palm - who says that when they're photographing a family??? We joked about how it's easy to get photos of happy people at weddings and that adults are able to listen to instructions.

But the thing is...her family was not at all hard to photograph, and I'm not just saying that. They are seasoned pros at having their pictures taken - Jen and John tell me that their holiday card is epic (and now I'm dying to see)! Jen was so well prepared with fun props for the girls (she is a woman after my own heart, being the fabulous Etsy shopper that she is) and very aware of the light and how important that one factor would be to making great pictures. Seriously, y'all...that's a photographer's dream! Even Hannah, who's eight-going-on-eighteen, had a ton of energy and fun poses already thought out. The Lemons were truly up for anything and I am head over heels in love with how vibrant, lively, and lovely their family pictures turned out.

But I'm pretty sure I fell in love with their family before I saw their pictures - I think it happened the moment Hannah met me at the front door in a ruffled, sparkly skirt. That's when I knew I found my dream clients!

The girls' rooms take me back to my imaginary bedrooms from childhood...I would have fainted if mine had been so fabulous! Jen is amazing when it comes to decorating and her girls love hanging out in their own special spaces. Quinn loves to have tea with her toys...I dare you not to awwww.

It looked like clouds were rolling in, so we high-tailed it over to the park shortly after I arrived, and fortunately were greeted with a beautiful early-fall afternoon.

So another thing that makes Jen awesome - she has started a tradition with her girls where they take a picture of their feet every year. I LOVE this! Someday when their feet are all the same size, they will look back on their yearly foot picture and smile at how the years have gone by. Such a unique way of marking the time!

Among the props in Jen's magic Trader Joe's bag (I mean really, could we shop in any more of the same places?!) were these adorbable hats...the girls wear them with such sass!

Then came out the giant lollipops. Originally we were going for the pops covering their faces, but they ended up being too tempting...

And just too stinking cute...

I love this picture of Hannah and her dad. I guess I get a little bit sentimental about these kinds of things...but they are so close and I hope she'll treasure this forever.

The girls...

Even though Quinn would rather run and play than sit still to have her picture taken, there were a few quiet moments that she was kind enough to let me capture!

Probably one of my favorites of Hannah - she is such a free spirit!

We had to sneak in a few Mommy and Daddy pics...

Laughing at something one of the kids did...

Of course, everyone needs a good picture of their family walking off into the sunset...

The reward for making it through the session...eating one of the gigantic lollipops. That made everything worth it!

I loved capturing Hannah and Quinn and Jen and John - and I seriously cannot wait to see your Christmas card (add that to the 10,192,859 reasons I'm excited for the holidays this year)!

xoxoxo...A

Annapolis in the Fall

I took a lot of pictures of Annapolis in the spring. And summer.

And then I saw the sun setting outside of my window yesterday and it hit me like a load of...well, falling leaves (oh, bad, bad joke), that I had no pictures of my favorite place in the fall. I've been admiring the colors for weeks and didn't have any way to prove how awesome they've been. So I grabbed my camera and ran outside to catch the last of the sunset and the vibrant colors, afraid they wouldn't be around much longer.

I didn't know what I was looking for exactly, but just captured anything within a five minute walk that got my attention. Most of the time it was color. And I have to admit, there were times I was inspired by this guy who is way better at capturing nature in a compelling way than I am.

Get ready to see a lot of leaves...because what else screams fall?

And...I am thankful that I live in a place with four seasons. I probably won't be saying that when I have cabin fever, or my car runs off the side of the road, or I slip and fall on an ungodly small patch of ice, or we lose power again for a week as a result of some huge snowstorm we're supposed to have this coming winter. But the changing climate, temperature, and weather always gives me something to look forward to, and a change of scenery, something to photograph.

Have a great weekend!

At two. Izzy.

So I'm pretty sure Izzy is the cutest two year old ever.

My favorite thing about playing with her and taking her picture was at the end of our session. After playing out in the wet grass for awhile, we went inside to dry off and do a puzzle. Izzy is so smart. She was able to put every piece of the puzzle in place. And as each piece found its home, Izzy had a celebration. "I did it!" She'd exclaim, throwing her hands up in the air. To her, even the small things bring great joy.

But aside from her awesome puzzle skills, she has the sweetest smile and adorable bright eyes. We had an exciting adventure in the cornfield at the back of her house, and explored all of the wonderful things that fall brings out in nature. And just like most two-year-olds, Izzy's most favorite thing is her mom, who got showered with loads of sweet baby kisses. Mwah!

The walls of corn towered high over her, but amazingly, she never lost her way!

Izzy's got the high fiving down.

Izzy, how old are you?

Blowin' some kisses.