Out of the Office

I'll be out of the office for the next few weeks. My grandmother (aka Gigi) passed away this weekend and I'll be heading back to Missouri for her funeral and time with my family. I feel so blessed to have had her in my life for 40 years b/c I know there's alot of people who never get to know their grandparents. At the same time though, it makes it that much harder that she's gone now b/c I'm so used to having her here in my life. She was quite the woman of strength. She lost her husband when my mom was 6 years old and she never married again. She always wore her wedding ring that my grandfather had given her 60 years later. She was smart as a whip and even at 90 years old her mind was razor sharp. She was the greatest Gigi ever even if she did love George Bush and Sarah Palin. I'm going to miss her so much and all our little things we did together...I could always count on her to fill me in on Young & The Restless, our shopping trips to the mall, her always staying at my house when she came to visit, the smell of her Youth Dew, her always having a sweet treat for us which was usually fudge bars or frozen snickers, her cute little house, our giggle sessions, her and Sloan teasing each other and most of all her hugs and kisses. Bertha Pauline Erickson was one fine lady and I do love and miss her so much already. Here's a few photos of her from last Christmas... which is so weird to think that she won't be celebrating anymore holidays with us. It's all still trying to sink in.

Memorial Weekend Family Shoot

Over Memorial Weekend I had a few big family shoots. Holiday weekends are always a great time when big families get together and celebrate and this is a perfect time to squeeze in some family photos, too. This shoot was so fun b/c there were 6 kids (cousins) and we were shooting at an elementary playground so they could have playful shots of the kiddos. The family wore blues, greens & white and I love how the shots are colorful and happy but not "matchy matchy". This is a great tip when planning a big family shoot b/c clothing options are always tricky. I tell people to pick 3 colors and work within those colors and that will give a good variety for everyone.
There's your little photography tip for the day!





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Picnic In The Park

This family wanted to do their shoot down at the Capitol and wanted to pack a picnic and work into the shoot. It was a great idea b/c half way through the shoot the kids are always ready for a snack. They packed watermelon slices which just looked so cute and colorful in the photos. It just says SUMMERTIME! I love photographing this family b/c they are just so natural in front of the lens and they like the playful photos with their kids...which are my favorite, too!

Little Sassy Bee

I always love seeing the growth in the kiddos that I photograph. It's been almost 2 years since I photographed this family with their wee one and my oh my how she has grown. I absolutely love her strawberry hair and her porcelain complexion...what a little doll! They wanted to do their shoot at the Botanical Gardens and I had not been there in forever so we had a great time wandering the gardens and getting some great shots.

Barbie does Dallas

I went to Dallas and Fort Worth a few weeks ago to visit friends and fit in a photo shoot of one of my favorite clients that moved away. The shoot started off like this...

What can I say? We've all had days like this and this particular day Noel was hungry, not in the mood for photos and definitely not in the mood for her baby sister to play with her barbies.


Mom fed her a snack and I let her play with a pink parasol I brought and the rest of the shoot was playful and fun.

A Mama Makeover

I had so much fun photographing Ginny for our Mama Makeover special. She was so embarrassed to be photographed but she was a great sport and did everything I requested. She was like a little ray of sunshine. Her smile was contagious and I loved her laughing shots. She brought the cutest hot pink dress and I brought the parasol and they went together like chocolate and peanut butter.

Junior's Senior Photos

Junior is in the graduating 2010 class and is on his way to being a Physicians Assisant in the real world. I'm always amazed when these kids know exactly what they want to do at such a young age...me? I'm still trying to figure it out! We decided to get creative with his senior photos and go downtown. He didn't want a lot of people around so we hit some back alleys and found some really cool old, brick walls with lots of texture. He did a great job modeling and what I love about taking senior photos is that he was along for the ride to do whatever.