Geneva Photographer: Come One, Come All!

I have a wonderfully big family filled with lots kids, chaos, fun and love.  I am blessed that my family all lives so close to me and at times I take for granted how easy it is to see them!  My kids are best friends with their cousins, and it is amazing.  So when I get the opportunity to photograph an extended family I jump at the chance.  

This family celebrates the 4th of July every year together and travels from Colorado and Ohio to all be together in Illinois.  This year they decided to surprise Grandma with a photo shoot with her 5 hilarious grandkids.  These kids had me laughing the whole time, and you would have thought they were all siblings.  It was so sweet to see all of them playing and running and jumping and giggling with one another.  I loved it!!!  And they are so cute!!!!

So thank you so much Carlson Family for the opportunity and here are some of my favorites!!

St. Charles Photographer: Getting our before the storm...

I am catching up on blog posts today, finally!  Summer has kept me from my computer...but not from my camera!  I have been photographing this family for years and it has become such a nice annual tradition to work with them!  Unfortunately our crazy summer weather got the best of us and we had to reschedule a bunch of times due to rain, but we finally beat an incoming storm with this photo shoot.  

We also made a quick stop for some treats at The Sugar Path in Geneva, IL to celebrate a 1st birthday!  This series of photographs of James eating his birthday cupcake is my favorite!

Geneva Photographer: Welcome Evie Jude!

So many of us have waited for the big day, when one of our most fabulous friends welcomed her baby girl, Evelyn Judith, into the world.  This little surprise is the most lovely little thing.  She is giving all of us our baby fix and shaking up this house of boys...so watch out world!  

I was so lucky to be able to photograph Evie Jude.  She was delightful...and of course beautiful!  So enjoy some of my favorite photographs from our morning together.

Geneva Photographer: And Baby Makes Three

Its been a long winter, but this day the sun came out and it was the first time that I felt like Spring really was near.  Granted it snowed today, but I am still hopeful for Spring!  Spring always brings new life, and so it was so perfect to be photographing this couple as they prepare for the birth of their baby girl!  

Good luck Jeremy & Lindsey as you prepare for the home stretch!  Can't wait to meet Baby Lorang!

Enjoy these sneak peeks...

Geneva Photographer: 3 in one day!!???

Third blog post in a day has to be a record...and hopefully good luck :)

It feels good to be catching up and making my way down my long long list of To Do's.

So my favorite Canning family is next up..

They rock. Plain and simple. Nicest family and so much fun! Little Colbie has these sparkling blue eyes that are just so beautiful and is always dressed like such a fashionista.

So another year, another family portrait for them...and even though Colbie made us all work for every smile she gave, the final product makes it all worth while!!!

Batavia Photographer: A Birthday Celebration!

Amy planned such a great celebration for her mom's birthday! She planned a whole weekend of fun activities including a surprise visit from her mom's best girlfriends, a great dinner party, and the weekend concluded with a big birthday brunch that I showed up for to get some great shots of some special time with some very important friends and family!

West Dundee Photographer: Happy Halloween!

I love when I photograph babies around Halloween and their parents bring out these adorable costumes for me to photograph them in! Well Gina is the best at coming up with adorable outfits for her little baby girl...and the halloween costume she had for her was the best! Nothing cuter than a little baby as a monkey :)

So here are a few of my favorites!

Geneva Wedding Photographer: A Love Story

Maggie and John are the IT couple!

Maggie made the most beautiful bride and John was a strikingly handsome groom...and to think they told me when we first met that they are really unphotogenic...ha! They have to be kidding, right?! I find it hard to believe that they have ever taken a bad photograph in their life.

So the weather was up then down, rainy then sunny, but in the end it ended up being a gorgeous day with a lot of celebration to be had! I had a wonderful time getting to know John and Maggie and getting to know all of their friends and family.

So here are some of my favorites from the fabulous day!

Wheaton Photographer: With Friends

It is always a hilarious experience to photograph my friends...and especially their kids! This family is a group that are my closest friends. It has been a friendship that has stretched nearly 20+ years (that is too big of a number!)!!! Within all those great years of friendship, we have had many great moments together...many of which will not be posted here, but my fondest moments were when Jessica and I were pregnant with both our children at the same time and in turn basically raised our kids together. I feel lucky to have seen their kids grow up and especially those moments with our first kids!

So it was a beautiful afternoon that we got to spend together, with me behind the camera catching funny laughs, quirky glances, and funny smiles. It was a great day!

So here are a few of my favorites that I feel capture their family perfectly!

Enjoy!

Geneva Photographer: The Winner!

I was so excited that this family won a gift certificate to my studio! It was such perfect timing too...their twin daughters were just getting ready to turn one so we definitely had some celebrating to capture!

It was such an interesting day...not sure if you remember the wild fire that happened in Minnesota, but ironically our area in Illinois was affected. All day I wondered why everything smelled so smokey! Even at this photo shoot I was amazed at how the light seemed to really really be streaming through the trees and I could actually see the sun rays. So after I found out about the fire and started editing these photos I realized that the smoke from the fires really made the light so beautiful in these shots. I guess there was one perk to dealing with some smoggy air!

So here are some of my favorite of this gorgeous family!

Geneva Photographer: A Little Time with the Baby!

I thought that it was so sweet that these parents wanted to get portraits taken with only their youngest child (of four...all girls!!!) for her 1st birthday. What a nice way to spend a little time focused on just one child! I love it! This photo shoot was all about her, and that is how it should be on your 1st birthday!

I think she was loving having us all to herself...such a cutie!

Here are a couple I love!

St. Charles Photographer: Moving On...

I have a really lovely history with this family, and I was so happy to get the chance to photograph them again. I met Erica a few years ago at church. She was the pastor until her recent move to the city. The first time I photographed her family it was her amazing idea to capture some amazing moments with the four generations of women in her family: her mother, daughter, grandmother and herself.

After the passing of her grandmother earlier this year, I was felt so blessed to have been able to photograph her grandmother at a time when she felt great and looked beautiful! I know her whole family loved that they had some beautiful photographs to remember this incredible woman by! Also, what a wonderful thing to be able to pass down to her daughter.

So my newest experience photographing her family was inspired by her idea that she wanted to have family portraits taken in St. Charles and at the places where they spent the most time as a family...they wanted it as a memento since they were moving away.

So here are a few of my favorites that really show what a beautiful, fun, eclectic family they are! Thank you again Erica for allowing me to spend this time with you and your family!!

Batavia Photographer: 6 months sure flies by!

Whenever I am hired by a family to photograph their baby as a newborn, 6 months and then 1 year, I am always shocked when that time goes by and it is time for me to photograph the baby again! The difference that 6 months has on a baby is incredible!

This little girl had the same effect on me! She was so tiny as a newborn (as they all are) and had just a teensy bit of peach fuzz on her head. Now she has this beautiful red hair growing in...and she is a beauty! She has the kind of red hair we all wish for, not too red, not too blonde, not too brown...but a lovely combination that will for sure make her the envy of all her friends!

These parents sure make cute kids! Their son is pretty darn cute too...and he always has some good smiles ready for me!

Enjoy a few of my favorites!