Catch Your World

hug your sister!

You can see where this is going right?

Here it comes......

Luckily Maggie thought this was all in good fun, just another exuberant hug from big sis Marina :)

*mine*

My babies.  My sweeties.  My constant sources of amusement.  My artist, and my architect.  My two gymnasts.  My inspirations.  My goofy, silly, amazing kids. 

Haven't shared any of mine in a while - so as these August babies get ready to turn 10 and 8, here they are :).

I'm going to get yelled at...

...for this blog post.  It's ok, I can handle it :). You've seen posts on this blog from Mistie, my friend and assistant.  Now you get to see Mistie :). 

I take pics of Mistie's kids pretty regularly since they're best buddies with my kids.  Every once in a while Mistie jumps in there for a few with the kids, but like most adults (specifically moms!) she doesn't have any recent, nice images of herself.  I hear it all the time from moms - we tend to be the ones pulling out the camera all the time, taking tons of shots of our kids, both by themselves and with dads, grandparents, siblings.  Sometimes someone takes a few shots of us with our kids, but we're probably wearing a t-shirt and cutoffs, or we're at Disney with the castle in the background and a dozen strollers around us and are holdling a diaper bag and have a sunburned nose.  You know what I'm talking about, admit it!

So when Mistie said she'd like some pics just of herself, I slapped myself on the forehead and said OF COURSE YOU DO!  We all should. We're not just moms, we're women.  So here's Mistie.  She has crazy-curly hair and the bluest eyes you can imagine.  She's an awesome friend and a great assistant to me at the studio, willing to paint walls in blazing July heat and help me put backdrops together a half hour before a client arrives. 

And any of you other moms who can relate to having no nice portraits of yourself - BY yourself - in many years, a studio minisession might be just the thing :).

This image was 'technically' an outtake - taken as I literally fell down because of something we were laughing about - but it ended up being one of my favorites :)

More fun at the gardens

These two cuties hadn't been to the gardens since they were babies, so they had tons of fun exploring! 

Secret:  at the moment I took this pic, there was a mosquito perched on Ava's nose getting ready to bite!  We took him out in Photoshop.  I hope she didn't get bit!  I didn't see it happening, I was concentrating on capturing those beautiful eyelashes :).

A happy moment :)

I always have favorites, from every session.

But sometimes, a picture just grabs me and makes me so, so happy I captured it.

As soon as the shutter clicked on this one, I knew I had a favorite.  When I downloaded the cards onto my computer, I literally yelled "YES!!" as this one popped up on the screen :).  Love it, love it, LOVE IT.

Serena is the daughter of the owners of Pickles & Ponytails boutique in Sarasota. I first photographed her and big brother Brandon when Serena was just a newborn.  Mom and I were planning this session and hoping to get some shots to put up in her store.  Serena was super cooperative through several outfit changes, and we're looking forward to adding some pics to the store soon.  Stop by to see them!  You can order online too, but you've got to see how cute her shop is :).

I have to thank Brandon - he is the reason for most of the laughs we captured of Serena.  Big brothers are pretty hysterical yanno, especially when they are giving the photographer bunny ears :D.  Thank you so much Brandon!  You are such an awesome big brother, and a genuinely nice kid :).

I probably dont' have to mention, but Serena's outfits are all from Pickles & Ponytails.  Cute cute cute!  The store has boy's clothes too, sizes up to 6.

the 'other' west coast

This fantastic family from southern California was visiting relatives in Sarasota - relatives that happen to be long-time clients of mine.  I was so happy they decided to do a session while they were here. 

What a bunch of good sports too!  As those of you who live here know, it has been positively *wilting* hot lately!  We started at the waterfront, then took a Starbucks break before continuing.  ICED Starbucks that is :).

Stuck inside

Ally was visiting from Chicago, and we hoped to do beach portraits.  But with the incessant rain last week, we got rained out twice!  We finally opted for a studio session because we ran out of time to wait for a dry day.