Little Miss A

I met Libby several months ago when I did a Valentine's Day mini-shoot for her daughter.  We hit it off right away and joked about how similar our two girls looked. (don't you agree?)  When she approached me about doing her little lady's 2-year-old pictures, she was chock-full of ideas!

 Persnickety dresses, red poppies, ice cream....it sounded like a photographer's dream! I threw in a few ideas of my own and suddenly we were facing a 3 scene, 3 outfit change photo shoot- in just one hour's time! 

Sure, it was a bit hectic....balloons were lost, ice cream was dripping, bubbles frantically being blown...and yet, we did it!

Here are some of my favs from sweet Little Miss A's shoot. 

Happy 2nd Birthday you little Ice-Cream Queen, you! 

Wishing you lots of love... xoxo

 

Feel free to share, pin, like...or leave a comment!

It's nice to know that you've stopped by! :)

"Jordan"

I had this picture in my room as a child that I absolutely loved. 

It was of a blond little girl playing in a field of yellow and white wildflowers.

It was a picture of a painting- the edges still ragged from where my mom had ripped it out of a magazine. (Reader's Digest, maybe?) 

She gave it to me because the title of the picture, in tiny quotations at the bottom, was "Jordan". 

I loved it so much that I put it in a frame (torn edges and all) and kept it on my dresser.

I used to stare at it every day, wishing that I was as beautiful as the little blond girl
 and wondering why some famous artist would choose my name of all the names in the world.

(I hated my "boy name" growing up)

I have no idea who the artist is and I had completely forgotten about that picture until I started culling these images from a recent session with my little one.

These pictures are literally my "Jordan" painting come to life- beautiful blond girl and all. I have searched endlessly for this painting on the internet but can't seem to find it anywhere. If I ever do stumble upon it, I will share it with you. 

But for now, I am just sitting back and basking in this "full-circle" moment. :)

 

Mother's Day Giveaway!

Becoming a mommy has been one of the most rewarding, yet most difficult experiences ever. I truly treasure being a mother (even amid the tantrums and endless piles of dishes) and I salute and appreciate mothers everywhere in a way that I never could have, before I entered the realm of mommy-hood myself. 

With Mother's Day approaching, I wanted to give back. I am offering one FREE (completely free- no up-selling or hidden fees here!) mini session to one deserving mama. 

Think that could be you? Do you know someone who fits the bill? 

Here's what you have to do:

Email jmaconachy@yahoo.com by April 25th.

Be sure to include:

1. Mother's name & ages of children

2. A short story about why you/she deserves this photo session

That's all! 

*Date of the photo shoot TBD by the lucky Mama & myself, but will need to take place within the month of May 2013.

I will announce the winner on April 26th right here on my blog!! :)

Good Luck, Mommies! I can't wait to hear your stories!!!

Giving Back

When my good friend, Liz Labianca asked me to help assist at her group "Momtering" (mom mentoring) session, I was more than happy to tag along. 

I'm not going to lie, though, I was nervous. What if I got in the way? What if I wasn't as helpful as she needed me to be? Good Lord, what if one of the moms asked me a question that I didn't know the answer to! 

I was nervous about being put on the spot in a room full of strangers.

Well, it was a lot of worrying for nothing. Yes, of course, there were times where I second-guessed my helpfulness, times when I was put on the spot with a difficult question, times where my knowledge was challenged. But guess what else? For each moment where I felt useless, there were 5 where I felt that my presence was helpful. When challenged with a question, after stopping to think, I found that I already knew the answer. These amazing moms were enthusiastic, at times overwhelmed, but always eager to learn and apply their new-found knowledge. I learned something from them and their fearlessly confident teacher, Liz.

This experience made me realize that although there is always more to learn, I need to stop questioning where I am in my journey, and embrace it, share it.

 

I'm not sure if many of you know this about me, but I used to be a teacher. Participating in this day of learning made me realize something that I always used to instill in my students: teaching others something you have learned only instills a deeper understanding within yourself. 

 How quickly I had forgotten the power of sharing.

So thank you for the continued inspiration, Liz. 

And thank you to all of the moms for reminding me of this invaluable lesson.

 In honor of "giving back" I am going to start taking limited questions from you! Simply email your photography-related question to jmaconachy@yahoo.com. I'll be selecting a few questions once a week/month (who knows, I'm still working all of this out!) to answer right here on the blog,

starting...NOW!

So, ready? set? Submit!
(You can request for your name/info to remain private!)

*Included are selected images from Liz's Momtering session with my settings attached. 

Happy Shooting, friends! :)

Bunnies!

So, this year I offered very limited Bunny Mini-Sessions. They were a blast & the bunnies were just the cutest. I think it is a testament to the "adorable-ness" of my clients, that they can sit next to these cute & fuzzy bunnies, and STILL steal the show! Here are some of my favorites...

 

 

 

Framed

"Fathers be good to your daughters...

Daughters will love like you do."

 This photo was submitted to the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

18 months

So, I've been taking pictures of Q every month since that surreal day we brought her home from the hospital. Every month, I also wrote to her (old fashioned pen-and-paper-style) in my journal. After 12 months (when those convenient little onesie stickers ended) I stopped taking the monthly pictures. (Don't worry- she got plenty of camera time anyway!)
Well, I'm not sure what happened to time, but suddenly she is 18 months old...halfway to being 2!!! I figured it was a big enough milestone to break out the old "monthly picture" photo shoot again. I've always taken her monthly pictures in her bedroom, so I decided to keep with the theme. I also took a page from the fabulously inspiring DrewB, from Mom*Tog and decided to actually publish my letter to Q this time around. Skip to the pictures if you want. But, this one's for you, Q...

Q, Quinnie the Pooh Bear, Cake, Quinner, Quinosaurus, Quinniest, Bean, Pumpkin Noodle Soup (don't ask), Quinnie Boo Boo, Love Bucket, Angel Baby, My precious Quinlin Rhys--

       

Wow, I don't even know what happened...but all of a sudden you are 18 months old! That's half way to being 2...which Mommy can't even think about right now without tearing up. I thought you were such a big girl when you turned one a few months ago, and now when I look back at the pictures from your birthday party, you look like such a bitty baby. 

Daddy and I were looking at your pictures the other night, trying to pinpoint the exact time and place where you started looking so "old". We decided it happened somewhere in the past month. Something changed...your hair grew in, your chunk baby cheeks melted away, and you sprouted up like a little bean pole.

Although I miss cradling you in my arms and feeding you baby food, I love watching you grow, too. You are such a little person now with a mind of your own! You run EVERYWHERE, climb on EVERYTHING (I blame MyGym for that one), you love car rides, bathies, and eating. You request 'tatoes for every meal and say mmmm after every bite, which makes me just want to kiss those little mashed potato covered lips. You rock some major bed head, are obsessed with turtles, love reading, and you can't get enough of  "Melmo", "Buddies", "Mo" or "Rella" (aka Elmo, Curious Buddies, Nemo, or Tangled). Mommy's had quite enough of all of them, if I'm being honest.  You love stacking blocks until they topple over and you will sit and play with your Disney figurines for hours. I love finding them lined up on every and any hard surface around the house...except for the little purple octopus, which mommy constantly thinks is a tarantula.

You are such a free spirit and you are finally starting to give me the "cheese" face when I break out the camera. I know, as a photographer, I shouldn't encourage this....but it's the cutest little face I've ever seen and I want to pinch those tiny dimpled cheeks when you give me that smile! You love to dance, squeeze your puppy, and rearrange and delete all the apps on mommy's phone. You are also obsessed with the potty and it's hard to believe that I may need to actually start potty training you soon! 

You are my sunshine, and you always be. You are growing into such a loving, happy, spirited little girl and I love that you now have an opinion and a say in everything! (Did I mention that your new favorite word is "no"?) You seriously are a little ray of sunshine in our lives. I can't believe that there ever existed a time when you weren't in it!

I love you my tiny little angel girl...no matter how feisty you may be at times! As so, as I tell you every night before bed, "Mommy loves you Quinlin Rhys, more than anything in this whole wide world. She loves you forever and ever and always, no matter what. And don't you ever forget it."

xoxo

-Mommy

A little comparison.

(Don't judge my photography skills back then, baby...Mama didn't really know what she was doing!)  Eeeeee....look at how teensy you were!!