New blog...

I'm abandoning faithful old Blogger now, moving onward and upward to fancy shmancy WordPress for my blog.

So you'll want to visit the new blog at the new location to see any posts after Jan 2010.

Thanks for visiting!

-Jess

Perfect silly crazies

I met big brother T when he was just a little rolly polly guy - and I've loved watching him grow. His sister M is a big girl of 3 now - incredible how fast the time has gone. The two of them always have such a fun time together. I love this one :


And getting a crack out of each other is the best:


In their fun new house they have this big bay window, so the kids gave me a little dance show and we played studio setup a bit. Worked like a charm!


Super closeup of M's fabulous hair and beautiful eyelashes:


And no less for the Mister:


We had a break in the cold last weekend and got to run outside for a bit - the kids loved jumping with mom and dad:


And tumbling around everywhere:


Race ya! (Don't call DSS about the lack of coats - it was 40 degrees out, I swear...)


So fun to see you as always. Congrats on the new house!

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Two big boys and their fantastic hair

I haven't seen big boy J since he was his little brother D's age - and now he's a big brother, having a fantastic time with his little brother. They were both just balls of energy throughout the photoshoot last weekend - and this is my #1 favorite shot of the two of them. It's terrible of me, but it just cracks me up how J is hollering as he puts his full body weight on D's little hand, and D's expression is just so perfect. Ouch!


My second favorite shot - this just tells the best story:


Gorgeous boy, and for some reason I really adore the lock of mom's hair that is in the corner of this frame - it shows a really neat sense of movement or something.


D getting a tickle from his mama:


And then I have a favorite serious shot of both of them...


And this one too - love the lips so much:


The boys had this fantastic antique fire truck in the living room for the pictures - really cool:


Group cuddle, with pup included.


So great to see you guys again! Can't wait to show you the rest of the pictures.

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Brrr! One month old in January

Brrr! It's cold outside. What better way to show how cozy it is to be a little one month old cutie in January than to take a snooze in a hat and a cozy blanket? This is beautiful baby S, and I met her last month for her newborn pictures with her family, and this past weekend I got to go back and have a session just with her.

And I think this is my favorite sleeping picture. It's a little more non-traditional, as sleepy baby pictures go, but I love how she's hiding her face under her dimpled little hand.

A funkier version of the sleeping girl picture:

Now eventually they start to wake up. And this time was no different. But the waking up faces are the BEST! I couldn't choose between this one for the blog:

And this one. Which one's better, do you think?

And then of course you have the fully awake sweet kissy mouth:

Twinkley eyes:

Mama suggesting big brother T give his baby sister a kiss "Right here..." Baby sister seems agreeable to the idea.

Big brother, not so much. But gorgeous in his own right!

Don't you love the way T is looking at his sister, so playfully? And she's so alert!

Wonderful to see you guys again as always!

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You spin me right round, baby

As I went back through these pictures to choose my favorites, tons of the ones that made me smile the most had 4 year old N upside-down. She had such fun getting tossed around during our pictures last weekend, it was the best.

This was my 8th photoshoot with little N - starting when she was a wee one of only 4 weeks old, through her six month pictures, her baptism, her 1 year old birthday party, and 2, 2 1/2, 3... and now she's such a big girl of 4! It was so wonderful to carry on a conversation with someone I've known for so long - and now all of a sudden she's so communicative, so seemingly grown-up. She is a delight, and I love when I get the chance to see her.

OK, ok. Enough yammering - get to the pictures!

This is my favorite, hands down. LOVE everyone's expressions, and the hand in the air is just the icing on the cake.


How old are you now? Love the consideration as she counts it out for me.


Almost as tall as mama:


A squeeze from Dad brings a huge dimpled grin:


Grandma and N ponder the snow...


And more crazy upside-down tosses:


Last Christmas tree shot of the year, I bet...


Wonderful wonderful to see you guys as always. Thanks so much for having me back!

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Last photoshoot of the decade

This morning I had my last photoshoot of the decade. It's been an amazing 7 1/2 years of baby photography, and where better to end the decade than with a beautiful four day old little lady? I was so happy to get to meet her this morning!

Here she is with her big brother T, who was so sweet and loving with her:


Such alert, beautiful eyes!


And Daddy gave big brother T a lift on his shoulders:


A little mommy/daddy/sweet girl time... I love her expression here!


I think this one has the nicest expressions between mama and her girl:


And a quick snooze mid-shoot always helps:


Family hug:


And a Pippi squeeze:


I like this with the whole family plus Pippi having a giggle:


Wonderful to see you guys today - thank you for having me over. I'll send all the rest of your photos ASAP for cards!

Article on The Small Story

What a lovely, lovely article by Cara Solomon at TheSmallStory.com about our Help Portrait event last Saturday.

Click here to read.

Season of giving

You know what's funny? Location shooting with two kids in tow when it's 30 degrees out and you're losing the light. Well, actually, I don't know if funny is the right word. ;)

Normally I'd never bring my own kids on a photoshoot (actually, I've never brought either of them before - not likely to be repeated), but this one was a quickie, for my friend Amy at Chubbybum Cards. She had this cool idea of getting photos of her kids putting money into a Salvation Army bucket, so that she could make a card for herself with a giving theme. But I had visions of the yucky Stop & Shop parking lot, without any light... crowded with people... so I tried to dissuade her. But then the other day I was walking out of Macy's at the South Shore Plaza and I looked across the parking lot at the setting sun and called her. "Amy! I found the perfect bucket with the light I want! Meet me here at 3:30pm tomorrow and we can get photos for your card!" (I may have said it with not quite so many exclamation marks in my voice.) So I zipped over to the Plaza after preschool pickup today and met Amy and her two gorgeous kiddos. You'd never know I had a 4 yr old wrapped around my leg and a wailing six month old in her stroller behind me as we shot this, right?

Luckily it doesn't even matter - this shot makes me smile so much - the two guys walking into the frame in the back cracking up are the best part.


Can't wait to see what she comes up with for her card :)

Help-Portrait Boston

What an incredible day! Fourteen other photographers and I came together today to take some pictures just to make people feel good. And look at that. It made us feel good too.

The brainchild of celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart, Help-Portrait is "a community of photographers, coming together across the world, to use their photography skills to give back to their local community. On or around December 12th, photographers around the world will be grabbing their cameras, finding people in need, and taking their picture. When the prints are ready, the photographs get delivered. Yep. It really is that easy."

This Boston crew had an amazing shoot today at Germaine Lawrence, a residential treatment center for adolescent girls. We shot over 50 girls, aged 11-18, and though I don't want to put any of the girls' photos up here, here are a few I snapped of the crazy photographers and the setup there.

We set up four "stations" in the gym:


And the best part was the group of volunteer hair and makeup people (thanks to Empire School of Beauty in Warwick, RI) who came and did hair and makeup on all 50 girls! The aroma of hairspray wafted waaaaay down the hall :) But the girls really felt like rock stars. You could see it when they came for their photos - their eyes were twinkling.


Lisa grabbing some crazy shots of two of our fabulous volunteers (as we waited for hair and makeup on the girls... this stuff takes time, after all!):


See what I mean? You go there, hoping to make other people happy, and you just get happy yourself.


Meg getting a kick out of her subject:


A couple of the sweet photographers gave the girls a chance behind the lens, too - this girl has a future in fashion photography ahead of her...


Another switcheroo - photographer as subject:


It was not only an incredible day because the girls were so awesome, but it was also great to get to spend some time with like-minded photog peeps. This team of people has been meeting and planning this event for months now, and I can't thank them enough for letting me join them after I wasn't able to attend ANY of the planning meetings.

Great day, gorgeous photos - I'm so excited for the girls to get their prints (kindly donated by iPrintfromhome.com). I think they're really going to love them.