Two Cuties

These are two precious girlies that I've photographed before, when the youngest was just a few weeks old.  They're ridiculously cute.

Photog BFFs

So I wanted to let y'all know about two other local photographers who happen to be very good friends of mine.  I suppose we're kinda one another's competition, but only very slightly.  Our styles are really different, and our bread and butter comes from different places.  Anyway, here they are:

Ginny B - www.ginnybphotography.com.  While Ginny does a lot of portraiture (and she has a brand new studio!), she also does tons of event photography, which I do not.  She's also fantastic with seniors (the graduating kind, not the retiring kind), which I am not.  She's a wonderful girl, and she's quickly becoming the bar mitzvah queen, so reserve your party with her now!!

Dwayne Hills - www.dhillsphotography.com.  Dwayne moved here from New Orleans a few years ago, and you can definitely feel that sultry flavor in his photos of women.  His stuff has a very polished, commercial quality to it.  He makes women look and feel gorgeous, and he's completely non-pervy, which I was a bit surprised about.    He's totally sweet and fun.  I truly think all the mamas out there should be photographed by Dwayne, especially if they need to feel sexy again!  Above is a photo Dwayne took of Me and Jack.  

Dwayne is also starting a series of workshops for photographers (www.dhillsworkshops.com/lighting.html).  I've added another photo from his marketing info for this workshop.  It was created using a low-key setup, which he'll go over in the workshop, along with several other setups!

Enjoy!

chocolate eyes!

So I'm going to be posting peeks into some of my sessions when I have time.  Here I go!  This is an adorable little girl that I've already photographed I think five times, starting at about six weeks!  You can probably find her in a couple of my galleries.  Her hair and eyes are just like chocolate.  I LOVE the screaming one.  That was at the end of the session, and she was d-o-n-e.  Love it.

Good Stuff

I just wanted to provide some info about a few other businesses that I love and support.  I always imagined this must be what blogging is like.

1.  Austin Baby (www.austinbabystore.com) carries all kinds of Earth-mama stuff.  Tons of cloth diapers, natural baby products, etc.  They also have several lines of baby apparel from local designers.  Very cool place.  It's really the only place to go for all of that stuff in one spot!  If you're a new mama, or a bored pregnant lady, looking for something to do for an hour, go to Austin Baby.

2.  360bebe (www.360bebe.com) makes gorgeous baby slings and baby clothes.  I met Emily (the founder) a couple of years ago, and I have done product photos for her site a few times.  She is a beautiful person and a hip and cool mama.  Her slings are stylish and comfortable, and she's local!  You can buy her stuff in Austin Baby and Due Maternity, as well as on her Web site.  I'd love for someone out there to bring me a baby girl in some of Emily's clothes!

3.  Soma Vida (www.somavidaaustin.com) is the coolest concept I've heard about in a long time.  It's this place down on Rosewood (very close to my new place), that bills itself as a "work-life balance center."  They offer acupuncture, massage, yoga, and the like, but my favorite thing is called "co-working."  I can take my MacBook up to Soma Vida (they have child care on Tuesdays and Thursdays) and work, not in the isolation of my home, but around warm, sweet women!  Of course, now I have Angela full-time, so I haven't been spending as much time there as I did at first, but I wanted to tell everyone about it because it's such a refreshing and inviting place.  Plus, that 12-1p.m. TTH yoga class (taught by Dawn of Yoga Yoga fame) is not playin' around.

More to come!

the family portrait.

Here it is.  The first post.  With this, I enter the blogosphere.  Anyhow, I'd like to discuss the topic of family portraits, which are probably my least favorite portraits.  Nontraditional family portraits are a whole different animal, although most clients won't go for something as wacky as I'd like for them to.  Even I, though, have grandparents breathing down my own neck for a photo of everyone together and smiling.  So my trusted assistant, Angela, took a photo of us in my studio for that purpose.  We have spent a lot of our time on family shots this season, and families have spent a lot of time asking us what to wear.  The reason I'm posting this photo is for everyone to see a pretty good example of clothing that looks great together without matching.  The best thing is that we had all of this in our closets already!  I think the colors look great together, and we look casual enough to be cuddling with each other, which is probably the most important thing.  I have to confess that my little family might be my worst clients ever.  Angela only got about 10 shots from that session, through no fault of her own.  Our children were impossible that day, as they were the day I tried to take photos of them in their Christmas pajamas.  By the way, I'm totally dying for a family to take their holiday photos in footed pajamas.  I'm talking Mom, Dad, and the kids.  Pleeeeeease???