Curtis Family

Alright, it is now time for the final set of pictures from this photo shoot…. the family pictures!! All in all, I had SO much fun photographing this beautiful family!! And when I say beautiful family, I mean just that – they are a BEAUTIFUL family! I was so appreciative of how they all treated each other the whole time we were taking pictures. Grace and Jacob are so respectful of their parents and of each other, and Nick and Amy didn’t have to yell at the kids to get them to behave. (I have witnessed other families getting photos taken by other photographers and there was so much yelling at the kid so much to sit still and smile that the kid started crying.) As you can see from my photos, I like pictures even when they don’t look perfect (in the sense of everyone looking at the camera and smiling). Some of my favorite pictures happen when kids aren’t looking at the camera because they are so much more genuine. Kids get distracted, they look away while laughing, and they even space out and start staring sometimes. But to me, that is okay, and even good. I enjoy kids being kids (within reason haha). I didn’t mind when Jacob and Grace would start talking to each other because to me, that showed something more significant than the ability to get fake smiles – that showed me their love and care for each other. It also showed that they value each other as brother and sister more than they value me as a complete stranger, which again, is a good thing in my book. So thank you Curtis family for being YOU and being AWESOME!! :)

I also want to quickly say that I was especially thankful for the perfect weather we had! I always get nervous about rain but we didn’t have any. And I was actually concerned that it would be too cold that morning, but it warmed up so quickly without getting too hot. :) It was a great day for me! :)

Grace and Jacob

It’s day three, so now you get to see Grace and Jacob together! These two together were just adorable!! Jacob seriously loves his sister so much, and Grace obviously loves her brother so much! It was sometimes difficult for me to get pictures of them separately because Jacob always wanted to do what she was doing. They were both so patient with me as I had them walk around to various different places in the park and sit still while I took their pictures. I knew that all they were thinking about was how excited they were to be going to the zoo after I was done the photo shoot. (I did use their excitement to my advantage to get some of these adorable expressions.)

I especially love the pictures I have of them holding hands. I asked them to stand next to each other, and this is what they did! And then there is the way Grace is looking at Jacob in the last one!! SO CUTE!!! Tomorrow I will post the family pictures!! :)

Grace

Alright, it’s day two, and as promised, here are more pictures of the Curtis family! Today I am focusing on Grace. Isn't she so beautiful? As I was going through her pictures, I kept thinking that she reminds me of porcelain dolls. She has that perfect blond, wavy hair with curls at the ends, big blue eyes, and plump rosy cheeks. And she embodies her name in the way she acts and talks, even at such a young age. She was so sweet and gracious to her little brother who wanted to be in all her pictures with her. And I don’t think I have ever witnessed anything as cute as Grace was when she discovered she had gotten dirt on her white leggings. She kept pointing at the spot and saying, “Uh oh!” It was seriously so precious! :)

Check out my blog tomorrow to see pictures of Grace and Jacob together!! You won't want to miss it!! :)

Jacob

I had the chance to photograph this wonderful family a couple weeks ago!! I will post the family pictures on here, but first I wanted to focus on some of the other pictures I got during the photo shoot. I was able to spend some time photographing each of the kids, Grace and Jacob, individually and then also together. And let me tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed these two kids! They are not only some amazingly cute and good looking kids, but they were both so sweet and courteous!! Thank you so much to the Curtis family for giving me a chance to meet you all, and more importantly, capture this precious time in your lives as a young family!!

So I am going to start by posting pictures of Jacob. I had so much fun photographing this little guy! He has such a sweet and innocent personality! You might not be able to tell from these pictures, but he was actually pretty hesitant for me to take pictures of him, especially by himself. He was a little camera shy. But he didn’t seem to mind as much when he had his sister next to him. He wanted to be with her and be doing whatever she was doing. But I managed to catch a few pictures of this handsome little guy looking and smiling at me. :)

Isn’t he so cute?!?! :) I am so glad that he was willing to put up with me having a camera pointed at him. :) I think he finally warmed up to me by the end. :)

I will be posting one set from this photo shoot a day, so stay tuned for more!! :)

Hannah

Hannah is graduating!! Ahhh!! Where has the time gone?!?! I can't believe how much she has grown up over the years! I will never forget the opportunity I had to help teach a middle school girl's sunday school class that Hannah was in. And now she is graduating TODAY!! This seems unreal! 

Hannah has always been one of the most laid back and easy going kids I have ever known! She does her own thing and she does it well!! I am gonna miss her SOOO much!! 

These are some of my favorite pictures from our shoot, but honestly, I had a very difficult time picking because she is so gorgeous in all of them!! :)

I was so blessed to be able to photograph this beautiful young woman!! 

I am SOOOO PROUD of you Hannah! And I am so excited for your future!!! You are an amazing young woman!!! :)

Josh

This was an especially difficult photo shoot for me because I have known Josh for basically his whole life, and it is so hard for me to accept that he is graduating! I had SO much fun taking his pictures! We started out at the beautiful Botanical Conservatory. We stopped in the butterfly area first, but unfortunately, none of the butterflies would get close to Josh. (I had one land on the back of my leg!) So we moved along to explore everything else. We had so much fun in the first room. We took a lot of pictures at the top of the waterfall because it was just so awesome being so high up! He told me it is his favorite place in the gardens and I would say it’s mine too. :)

We went through every room in the Conservatory and they kept getting progressively hotter, so we didn’t spend very long in the dessert room which is the last room. We only went into the entrance of the room to get this shot. :)

We left the Conservatory as they were closing and headed to South Side High School which is where Josh will be graduating from on Saturday!! I was very impressed with the architecture of the building. It has so much character in the pillars, the bricks, the ivy, and the fountain with the quote inscribed above it. I wanted to capture the beauty and the history of this great school so that Josh could always remember it. 

As we were getting close to finishing up our photo shoot, Josh wanted the last pictures to be of him in his cap, gown, and cords. I think that is probably when it really sunk in for me that this guy is graduating!! I will always remember when I used to be taller than him, and I will never forget those two or three months when he suddenly became half a foot taller than me. :) I highly doubt that I will ever witness anyone else have such a dramatic growth spurt in such a very short amount of time! 

Josh, I am SOOOOO PROUD of you!! It was such a joy and an honor for me to take your senior pictures!! 

Congratulations Josh!! :)

Caleb - Newborn

I had the honor of photographing this handsome little guy!!! He melts my heart with his cuteness!! He was such a trooper with everything his mom and I put him through!! :) He managed to be comfortable enough in every position we put him in that he just fell asleep. :) I don't know what he was dreaming about, but the little smiles that popped up occasionally were SO ADORABLE!! :) 

And I have to talk about that hat!! That amazing little hat was handmade for him by Vicci's Little Critters. If you haven't heard of her, she is freakin AWESOME!! She mostly makes stuffed animals, but boy am I glad she decided to make this hat because it is TOO CUTE!!! You should probably check out her website: www.viccislitttlecritters.com or take a peek at her etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ViccisLittleCritters. :)

This bow tie was too big for Caleb, but he didn't seem to mind at all. He just kept napping in his basket. :)

So I have to tell you the story behind this bookshelf. This was made by Caleb's father per a request by his mother. :) I already thought the bookshelf was awesome the instant I saw it, and now I think it is incredible that it was handmade!! At first I didn't think that we could get Caleb to fit in the cubby, let alone to stay without being held. But his mom and I were able to work together to make it safe for Caleb. I am sure glad we finally figured it out, because I don't think that will ever be happening again. :)

Caleb's dad, Jason, is in the Air Force. He actually got deployed one week before Caleb was born and he hasn't met his son yet. Pictures like these are all Jason has right now. I am so blessed to be able to help Jason get a chance to see and hold onto these fleeting little smiles or these adorable yawns from his son. :)

Thank you Jason for your service!! And CONGRATULATIONS on being a daddy for the first time!! :)