September's Senior Shoot!

My first shoot with Mary got rained out which is very uncommon here in Austin, Texas but we really needed the rain so in that sense it was good. We reworked our schedules and met up this past week to get her senior shoot knocked out. Mary told me she liked the city and bold colors but wanted to work some water into her shoot as well. So, I went off on one of my scouting trips around Austin to see what new and exciting spots I could find that I hadn't ever used before and what I thought would fit what Mary wanted. We started at a cool coffee cafe in South Austin that has the most awesome color blocks on the front of the building. Once there and as we looked closer we realized they are aluminum cans that have been flattened, painted and collaged...it made such a cool background to work with! Mary's green eyes and green shirt popped beautifully off of the colorful blocked wall. She brought along her cute poodle named Lily who the best little model I've ever had. Then, we hopped across the street to Sweet Mama's Bakery for some shots with a touch of Austin or as the window says "Keep Austin Sweet" which was perfect for Mary. Then we finished with the water shots which were a bit more elegant and natural. I really love how everything came together...take a little look and check out some great shots of our senior shoot with MMMMMAAAARRRRYYYY!!!

Baby "C"!

It's only appropriate that my next post on here be the baby that was born from my last blog post! Oh my goodness, what a little cutie pie! He is absolutely adorable and we got some really cute shots of him as well as the family. This family is one of my absolute favs because they just roll with the punches. I have not gotten to photograph any one week old newborns before. I have photographed many a baby but it seems the baby is usually around 2 months old before I get to photograph them so needless to say I was a bit nervous about handling a newborn so I discussed this with the family. They were good with helping mold the baby and handling him for me. In preparation, I went to Pinterest for inspiration with newborn photography and I found some really amazing photo ideas. One of the ideas, was mom laying on the bed and the baby curled up next to her and their faces were almost cheek to cheek...very beautiful. Our version was a bit different. The baby wasn't swaddled so his arms and hands kind of went into a position as if you were going to act like a hopping bunny and then we got to laughing so hard because we busted out into, "What does the fox say? Dink, dink, dink da dink to dink!" So, Rachael went ahead and did her hands into a "bunny hop" position as well and I was nearly crying from laughing so hard. Our beautiful mother/son PInterest inspired shot turned into our very own original "baby/animal photography by Brandi Nellis". And, that is why I love this family! They rolled with it and just let what happens happen! The other super fun shot that I have to comment on is dad watching football with his son. This was Chris' idea and I love the originality and realness of this shot. The photos of dad cradling the baby in black and white are beautiful but this is Chris...funny, football lovin', sports watchin' dad. Hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's BAby C!