Real life is beautiful.

08.13.10

Welcome to the world Baby Evan :)

Photographing a birth is a tricky tricky thing. You can’t really schedule it, you aren’t in control of anything, the light is generally difficult (or even downright horrible), emotions are running high, and without fail, babies seem to arrive in the middle of the night. Because of all of the craziness surrounding them, I usually only photograph births for people that I am very close to.

But when Mindy expressed to me her excitement about having photographs from the birth of her third child, I couldn’t turn her down. Her excitement was contagious! So we settled everything, and I marked off three weeks in my calendar as “On-Call for Evan birth.” I’m ever so thankful that Mindy ended up going into labor towards the beginning of that time frame… it’s certainly easier on my stress levels! I got the call from her on Sunday afternoon… she wasn’t certain if this was “it” or not, so she had me standby while she went to the hospital to get checked. A few hours later, she texted back to say Baby Evan was definitely on his way. I grabbed my gear, hopped in the car, and headed downtown.

I love when I arrive at the hospital and a mother in labor looks this awesome.

The whole evening was pretty smooth… There were a couple of times when Mindy changed position and it affected her blood pressure. It was amazing to see how quickly everyone responded.

Thankfully, everything quickly went back to normal :) Mindy, her husband Brett, her sister Joanna, and I… just waiting.

Brett had surgery to perform early the next morning, so Mindy invited him into the bed to get a bit of sleep. Seriously adorable.

I can’t remember why Brett got kicked out of the bed… but I moved onto the floor to give him more room to spread out on the couch. I think he finally got some sleep in there somewhere.

Finally… it was time to push. Love the light in this detail.

Mindy was a serious trooper, and sometime after 3:00am on 08/09/10, Baby Evan arrived.

They cleaned him up pretty quickly so that Brett could take him to his mother.

What a beautiful family… Mindy is just radiant, and I love how proud Brett looks.

Fun angle.

There are so many emotions in these images.

Gotta document for family and facebook friends :) I love cell phone pics!

Introducing the amazingly adorable Baby Evan.

I headed for home at around 4:00am or so… Exhausted, but exhilarated to have been a part of such an amazing experience.

The plan was for me to go home, get some sleep, and then head back to the hospital the next day so that I could capture Evan’s brothers getting to see him for the first time. I grabbed a nap at home, and then headed back to the hospital around lunchtime on Monday.

Evan’s brothers are Colin (3.5) and Ryan (2), and they are ridiculously cute. Mindy wasn’t exactly sure how either of them would respond. Ryan, particularly, is at a hard age to try to explain the new baby concept to.

When they arrived, we were quickly amused by how excited Ryan was about his baby. He was all smiles.

Colin, on the other hand, seemed slightly unsure.

But he figured it out :) They were both really excited to hold and touch and snuggle with their new baby. Colin had a million questions, and Ryan just refused to relinquish his hold on his brother! “MY baby!” He would yell.

Colin wanted to hold him, so Mindy took him so she could reposition… Ryan was not excited. He wanted to keep HIS baby :)

Colin seems pretty comfortable :) I think both brothers are going to do great. They look like pros!

Mindy and Brett, thank you so much for allowing me to document this amazing event. I can’t wait to watch your family grow! I will see you in a few days!

Enjoy your birth story slideshow….

(I think I’m done blogging for the day… 6 posts is probably more than I should’ve ever attempted, whew. I need a nap!)

xoxo

-amber

Posted in babies, birth, families

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08.13.10

Baby Ella is One!

It seems like just yesterday that Nathan and I photographed Grant and Sara’s wedding (while simultaneously seeming like an entire lifetime ago- life was very different then!)… and now, somehow, I just photographed their child’s one year session. Man this stuff happens fast.

A brief recap of Baby Ella’s first year…

Session 1- Adorable (screaming) newborn

Session 2- Utterly squeezable 4 month old

Session 3- Gorgeous and smiley 8 month old

And session 4… Beautiful, expressive, and amazing. Ella is one!

I’m not exaggerating when I say this baby is incredibly expressive… check out just a couple of the awesome faces she gave me during the hour and a half that I was hanging out with her.

Annoyed (why is this random person in my space?)

Inquisitive (You can totally tell she is processing what Sara is saying to her)

Excitement

Amusement

Pouting

Utter glee :)

Mischieviousness

Exhaustion (the result of skipping your nap on portrait session day)

She’s amazing, isn’t she?

When I asked Sara about some of the things she never wants to forget about Ella, one of the things she mentioned was Ella’s obsession with playing with curtains and blankets. I love stuff like this… these are the fleeting experiences that would so easily be forgotten…

I love seeing Sara with Ella… She’s such an amazing mom. I love this series… There’s so much happiness in them.

And then there was some tickling… Ella apparently thinks her mother is hysterical.

Being ticked is exhausting :)

You know you’re a big girl when you can crawl all the way up the stairs… Stairs are hard work!

I love the expressions in this… It appears that Ella is unsure of whatever Grant is finding so hysterical.

Grant is completely in love with his girl. It’s so obvious.

We stepped outside in the sweltering heat for a few minutes… I loved these two images of Grant and Ella. I couldn’t decide which I liked better… do you guys have an opinion?

Ella seemed somewhat unsure about the bubbles… There are a couple of other images in the slideshow that show off her expressiveness :)

There’s something very compelling about this quiet moment. It draws me in. I love this one.

The heat and the mosquitos started getting to us pretty quickly… so we headed back inside. I’ll leave you with this final image of Ella “terrorizing” the kitty… again, a fleeting moment that would’ve easily been forgotten. I’m pretty sure this one is going in my favorite favorite favorite folder :)

Grant and Sara… it’s been an awesome year. I feel honored that you guys invited me into your lives the way that you have. I hope we do it again :)

Enjoy your one year slideshow!

xoxo

-amber

Posted in babies, photographer fun

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08.13.10

Baby Maggie & big brother will- summer session

Last week, I had the privilege of spending an evening with Sally, Stephen, Will and Baby Maggie. As always, I was absolutely amazed at how much Baby Maggie had grown up in the few short months since I last saw them. (You’d think by now I wouldn’t still be surprised at how much these babies change… but apparently I’m easy to surprise :))

Baby Maggie at 4.5 months old.

One of my favorite images from the session. I’ve actually had several requests for “images just like that” from other clients since I posted this one on Facebook… Sadly, it doesn’t work like that. This one belongs to Sally… no one else gets this EXACT image :)

She is seriously cute, isn’t she?

I think Sarge gets a cameo like this at every session… He’s always looks at me with his big sad eyes. I just have to let him be the star of at least one image.

Poor Baby Maggie was teething like mad… she was slightly crankier than normal. I felt bad for her. She didn’t really want to listen to a book… she just wanted to be snuggled :)

It was about 65 billion degrees outside, but it’s summer, and Will’s a boy with a new playset, so we certainly had to go out and play. It was quite fun, even though I might’ve whined about the heat… a lot.

One of my favorite feet shots in awhile. I love that they’re dirty from playing outside.

Seems like the perfect time for a popsicle :)

Maggie isn’t really into “playing outside” yet…

I’m so excited that Will finally seems to really like me. He’s gone through stages where we weren’t really friends :( I was afraid that maybe I wasn’t his type ;)

He loves playing ball in the backyard with his dad. Will’s job is to catch or hit things… Stephen’s job is to make sure his aim is perfect :)

Maggie was fussy, which we were attributing to her teeth… and then we realized that it was really time for her dinner. Oops! She was SO excited about her bottle :)

Happy baby!

I love family interaction… all of the expressions… there’s always a story behind every image like this.

Baby Maggie has just started eating solids… and she’s not sure if she likes them or not. She was super cute as she went back and forth between desperately wanting the spoon in her mouth and quickly spitting it back out :)

Yay, baby feet :)

Tickling is evil. Have I mentioned that previously?

Bath time is always one of my favorite things to photograph. One of my favorite pictures of Will was taken during a bath… and that seems to often be the case with many of my clients! I always get excited when clients mention this as a part of what they want to do during our session.

When I asked Sally for some of the things that she never wants to forget about Sally and Will, she said this:

“I was so worried before Maggie was born about how Will would do with her. He is so sweet and loving to her and I would love to be able to capture that between them.”

Will’s kind of a wild boy. By that I just mean, he’s all boy. He’s rambunctious and loud and crazy and fun. I didn’t really see him as the snuggling type.

But I was wrong. He’s a fan of his baby sister. It’s quite adorable.

Maggie was starting to get ready to go down for the night, so while Sally was hanging out with her, Will and Stephen had a pillow fight. Like I said, Will is all boy :)

He’s such a handsome boy. I can never get over how big his eyes are… and how long his lashes are. They’re spectacular.

Sally and Stephen, I adore you guys. Can we please hang out in real life… before your next session? We miss you! I hope you love your slideshow :) Thanks for spending your evening with me.

love,

-amber

Maggie is an easy sleeper. Sally rocked her about twice, and she was out cold.

Posted in babies

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08.13.10

the week of insanity – final installment

(public service announcement- A large percentage of the images in this blog post were taken by Nathan :) )

I finally arrived back in Minnesota, was picked up at the airport by my amazing husband, and arrived back at Nathan’s family’s house well after everyone else was asleep for the night. I’m pretty thankful for that, as I was so exhausted. I immediately climbed into bed… and had a wonderful night of sleeping.

Thursday was a wonderfully relaxed day spent by the pool, and then on Friday we got up early and headed out to the Mall of America. I’d never been, and I was super excited to hang out with the family there. We took the kids to the Lego store and then spent the rest of the time riding rides in the amusement park :)

Then it was time to head back to the house for the main event of the week – Nathan’s Grandma’s 85th birthday.

Family dinner…

While Nathan’s mom and aunt Karen cleared the table after dinner, we retreated to the living room to listen to Grandma tell stories from her childhood. I love that Addy is so snuggly and excited about spending time with them. These images are priceless to me.

Grandma was telling a story, and she got to the part where you knew she was about to get in trouble, and Addy covered her ears… She knew what was coming and she didn’t want to hear it. So funny :)

Brianna was all over the place. She’s so adorable :)

I think Grandma was enjoying being the star of the show :)

Then it was party time :) I LOVE how Grandpa takes care of Grandma. He’s so devoted to her. It’s incredibly inspiring.

I love the expression on Grandma’s face in these images with her birthday cake. She’s so happy. Nathan captured this beautifully.

Seriously, how cute are they? We were also celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary… Pretty awesome.

Again, Grandpa taking care of Grandma… precious.

Mom and Aunt Karen put together a huge scrapbook filled with cards and notes and emails from people for Grandma’s birthday. She was so surprised. Her emotional response was really sweet.

I love technology sometimes… Nathan was able use his phone to share the video of everyone surprising Grandma earlier in the week. Very fun.

Toward the end of the celebration, another cake came out of the kitchen. Dad’s birthday was the following week, so he got a little mini cake all for him. (I love Uncle Dave “helping” Dad blow out the candles in the background!)

That evening, after the kids were in bed, all of the cousins went out and watched a movie. It was a fun time. We got up early the next morning, packed up, and headed home. The return trip was uneventful, thankfully… I was ever so excited to get home and sleep in my own bed (and take a long soak in my tub!). What a crazy fun week.

There a couple of extra images from Grandma’s party in this slideshow… if you’re interested in more family fun :)

much love,

-amber

Posted in my life, my travels

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08.13.10

PictageU- the whirlwind review (pt. 2)

After the shooting sessions were completed on day one, the speakers, our ShootQ friends and the Pictage crew headed over to Maggiano’s for an absolutely delicious dinner. I just got hungry thinking about how good the gnocchi was. Yum. The company was spectacular as well… and it was SO nice to finally detox after the crazy day and night and day I had experienced. The evening ended up stretching out fairly late, and I think Rachel and I finally stumbled in the door at around 2:00 am. I was more than ready for some sleep.

I was given a “sleep in late without having to feel bad about it” pass, and I ended up using it. I arrived at the workshop just in time to hear Garrett (the last speaker of the day) finish his presentation, and then all of the speakers took the stage for a Q&A discussion panel.

We then broke for lunch (they served macaroni… and I am convinced that it was just for me:)). Immediately following lunch, we headed back to the house where we had worked the day before, for a second day of shooting sessions.

This day was a different process. There were three different groups, and each group had 4-6 photographers. Each photographer was to have 10-15 minutes to “direct” the shoot while the others watched/waited and I stood by to answer questions/provide instruction. I simultaneously needed to make sure I captured at least *some* images of each family. It was pretty crazy, but again, the Pictage crew managed to keep it completely organized and it ran very smoothly.

Family #1- This mother was a serious rockstar. She and her kids modeled for two different groups… which was about 2 hours of being cooped up in one room. I have never seen a mom engage so well under that sort of pressure. Seriously, she deserves an award.

Family #2- how adorable are these kids?!

We wrapped up the day, said our goodbyes, and I headed back to the Atlanta airport to rejoin my family in MN. It was seriously a whirlwind two days packed with wonderful old friends, fun new people, and lots and lots of learning and sharing!

(By the way, my flight back to Minneapolis? It was delayed, making that round trip one of the most ridiculously messed up flights of my life. The best part of the story was the reason for the delay… I’d never heard this one before. They delayed the flight because they “couldn’t find the flight crew.” Hysterical.)

One last post from the Week of Insanity coming soon… and then about a million client posts!

-amber

Posted in babies, families, my life, my travels, photographer fun

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