Inspire Project 52-49

This week was a no-brainer as to what I was going to post for the IP project. It nearly fell on me, and I immediately grabbed for the camera and knew this is what I would post this week! We have been bombarded with snow and ice this winter, and here is some proof of it! These icicles are crazy and there is no sign of them melting any time soon! What is your photo of the week?

Inspire Project 52-50

This week for my Inspire Project 52, I kinda cheated by using a photo of my son. Although it is an outdoor photo, the reason why I selected this, (even though it's not the best photo for multiple reasons!) is because it was his first time out in the snow! The photo itself shows nothing fancy, no crazy f-stops and fun settings it just captured how Michael reacted to being out in the snow storm. If you have any outdoor photos you'd like to share for this project feel free... out outdoor month is coming to an end so post away now, for you don't know what next month will bring! :)

Michael 8.5 weeks

So I'm totally aware that of course I think my son is adorable, but I just can't get enough of him! I also swore I would post 1,000 pictures on facebook but I never swore I wouldn't do it on my blog, so here are some pics of my adorable son. Look at this precious face!
For those of you that know both Mike and I, who does Michael look like?

Oh, he's so innocent!
LOVE the happy expression!

He's full of smiles, he started about 7ish weeks and I hope it continues forever!

So serious

Happy!

My handsome little boy! I can't believe how quickly he's growing, but I also am enjoying every waking moment!!! More to come I'm sure :)

Amanda & Peter - Engagement Shoot

One foggy weekend morning, I took a little drive down to Milford to photograph this fun and super sweet couple. Their home is right on the beach and despite the heavy fog, it was the perfect place for their session. They will tie the knot in November down in Westport at the beautiful Inn at Longshore. Here are some of my top pics...

I love this, they were chasing the birds but I love this filter, it looks so old fashion to me!

Amanda & Pete- I've had a great time getting to know you and photographing your session. Although your wedding is a ways away, I am looking forward to capturing your special day with your friends and family.

Tiny little baby

It was such a pleasure to photography this little girl. I had met her parents a few years back before we photographed their wedding! When 'R' & 'S' emailed me telling me they had just had a baby I was so happy and excited for them. Having just had a child 2 weeks before them, I knew exactly what they were experiencing as new parents. Here are a few favorites of mine from our session. 'S' and Mommy
Snuggled in Daddy's arms
I love how she is looking at Daddy, she knows who he is!

What a beautiful, alert little girl

Such beautiful, dark hair!

'S & R' it was great to see you and meet your newest addition to your family! I hope you enjoy your photos and every moment with your baby girl!

Inspire Project 52 -51

As we have been bombarded with snow here in CT I decided to simply step out my back door and photograph the beautiful trees. We are supposed to get more snow tomorrow so I might add more to this, if I'm able to get on the roads, but the snow covered trees just look awesome! Have you been inspired to take a photo by the beautiful winter weather (or summer weather depending on where you are!) If so please feel free to share!

My Son

Before I entered the world of "Motherhood" there were several things that I SWORE I wouldn't do when I became a mother. These were things I had observed from family, friends, even strangers as I closely watched how people parented their children. These are just a few that are coming to mind, if you have things that you swore you wouldn't do, I'd like to hear it!

1. Being late. Why just because you have a child does that entitle you to be late? So your excuse is it's another body to get dressed, fed and out the door, well my response is, "plan ahead! You know you have that body to feed, and dress so get up earlier, do it faster, I don't care just don't use it as an excuse!" Well I am guilty of falling into this trap, and I HATE being late!!! My excuse is the feeding schedule and how long he nurses for, it is NO excuse for being late, but now my eyes have been opened to WHY you other mommy's run late and I apologize for critiquing you for it!

2. Put my relationship with my husband, Mike, BEFORE the baby AND when we actually do have a moment alone to NOT only talk about the baby. As a new mom this is SO hard to do! When you spend every waking moment with this child and just adore his every move it's so hard NOT to talk about it! And as for putting him first, I always swore to people that every marriage needs this for before child, it was just you, there is no baby with out you both so make time for each other. Although we have only been parents for 8 weeks, I still TRY and make time just for us. Even if it's just a few moments each night, it really is so important and I do believe that, BUT, not talking about my baby is VERY hard, you spend every waking moment with someone and then try not to say a word... IT'S HARD!

3. Weeks. WHY must you refer your pregnancy AND even more so your child's age in weeks. Are you trying to out smart the rest of us? Are you really trying to make us think that hard? Just say they are 2 months or almost 2 months.... again, I am guilty of this, however I am desperately TRYING to round to the nearest month!!!

4. The other thing I hated was when you asked people how you know you are in labor, their response is, "you'll just know" What a crumby answer, I mean I'm asking you to tell me how YOU knew so I was on a mission to be able to tell all you how do you know, and sadly my answer, "You'll just know!" :)

What I have made good with:

1. Letting others watch him. I could never comprehend why women wouldn't let others watch their babies. I'm not saying strangers, but your mother, father, mother-in-law, sisters, close friends etc. If you trust them, WHY wouldn't you let them watch your baby? It's good for you to get out even if it's just to run to the store, to take a shower, to just have a moment for yourself! I will make every effort to NOT give up on this

2. Not letting child sleep in bed with you! It might be because between my husband, my large yellow lab, and myself there isn't' much wiggle room in our cozy queen size bed, BUT regardless I do not want my child sleeping in our bed with us, there really is no reason for this in my opinion and it's a bad habit to break!

These are just some things that have come to my mind, I would love to hear what you have to say about this as I'm sure many of you think the same and many of you disagree! The bottom line is whatever makes your life easier and you and the baby happier, do what works for you... I sure have :)

Inspire Project 52

Ok so as we sprint into 2011 my fellow photog, Sandra, and I decided we were going to take on a "project" that would inspire us to get out and shoot things on a weekly basis, these "things" would be a variety of different topics, not just or normal, weddings and people. We are calling this Inspire Project 52. The goal is for us to get out and shoot but we are also encouraging you to do the same. It would be great if you too wanted to share your photos or comments, thoughts or even ideas of things we can do in the 52 weeks ahead. I would love any feedback you'd like to give as well! So each month I will give the topic, so for instance this month is outdoors, it can be ANYTHING outdoor related, and yours can even be a photo from the past, however mine will all be current. You will see they are nothing crazy just something that you like or you thought was neat. I chose this beach shot because I was down in Milford on the beach and just looked down the beach and though how beautiful! The fog was so thick yet I love the minimal houses and the distance you can see. You just can't go wrong at the beach! What's your idea?

Welcome 2011

Wow, it's hard to believe it's already 2011, where does the time go? This past year of course was filled with so many amazing things for me, personally with the pregnancy and birth of my son, Michael. It was also a good year in business considering I was having a baby at the end of wedding season and in the peak of family portraits for holiday cards! I have some amazing clients, thanks to all of you, who supported me throughout this year! Before we get too far into the new year I figured I should update some goals for the year and encourage all of you to do the same. It's too frequently that we think about the goals but don't take the time to write them down so therefore often forget about them. If you'd like to share any of your goals, I'd love to hear them. They can be personal, business, silly, anything, as you'll see I have a mix of it too!

Mine aren't in any order, just goals in general. Here I go.

Goal 1: Promote/market my business better. With all the technology out now, I need to really take advantage of it and reach out to different people. As much as I love all of you and never want to lose you, I also want to meet your family, friends, and co-workers to see what other awesome people there are out there. I want to re-do my website, and post more regularly on my blog and facebook. However, I promise NOT to post things such as, "I just went to the grocery store" because I know you don't care!!!

Goal 2: Make time for myself and my hubby and I. Of course now with the greatest addition to our family, the birth of our son, I always promised my husband that we would ALWAYS create time for us, I have tried for the last 8 weeks to do that but it is hard as sleep is so unpredictable, however I never want to lose the "us" and strongly feel you need to make time for just the 2 of you. BUT I also want time for myself. I love more than anything taking care of my son, my dog and my husband, but I also LOVE a little down time. For me the simple act of going to the gym is something I now cherish.... which leads to my next goal:

Goal 3: Start running again. Gosh, to think what it took to make me miss it. I don't know if many of you know this but I was a big time runner! I ran 3 seasons in high school and then got a college scholarship to run at CCSU a division one school. It was the best decision I had made and a fun, yet intense part of my life. I LOVED running, and I was good at it, but then towards the end of my senior year, I had had it, I was tired, bored and just ready for it to be over. I honestly thought it would be a two week break and I would be back at it, well that was almost 9 years ago, I'd say it's time to get back into it! I'm really looking forward to the warmer weather so I can take advantage. I want to take my son and my dog for daily runs and maybe once I get back into the swing of things I'd like to think about running a half marathon, or at the very least a few good road races.

Goal 4: Document my sons life. I always fear that I won't take the photos that I encourage all of you to take of your family with my own. I don't want to document his every move, but I'd like to keep up with taking monthly photos at the very least, and hopefully more than just the first year too! And maybe even every once in a while throw in pics of us as a family as well, even if we aren't in the shape we want to be, pictures are so precious and something that will be treasured forever!

Goal 5: Be more thankful. I always internally am so appreciative of so many things but often realize I don't communicate that. Why is it so difficult to say thank you, or to say, " you look great" and to really be thankful. There is so much in my life to be thankful for and I'd like every day to be verbally thankful. Here are a few that come to mind now. I'm so thankful for my beautiful, happy, healthy son. I'm thankful for the amazing man I married who is my best friend and who supports me in everything I do and who made me the happiest woman in the world with the birth of our son. I'm thankful for my family, for their health, and happiness. I'm thankful my parents are finally traveling and are able to do so. I'm thankful for my job, I love being a photographer, I love meeting people and leaving you with photos that will last a lifetime and bring happiness to your lives. I'm thankful for technology, for facebook, for blogs, for email, for skype you name it, how amazing is all this? I'm thankful for hugs, kisses and I love yous!

That's what I've come up with so far but maybe as the year goes on I'll come up with a few more. Feel free to share your goals for the year too, maybe we can all encourage each other to stay on task and reach those goals!