Seeing as how today is Valentine's Day, I thought I would share a bit about me, who I love and what I love doing! I've been sitting on this blog post for a few months, trying to decide when and how to share my personal story and introduction with you all. As a photographer, it can be pretty daunting to be in front of the camera. I've been working as a photographer for 6 years now but have always been the one behind the camera. Looking through photo albums from teen years through college, I'm usually the one taking the photo. But I know now, as a mom, just how important it is to be in front of the camera. Not only to take photos of my daughter but to be in the photo WITH my daughter. What a great gift to pass on to her and something to look back on with her!!

For as long as I can remember, I have always loved photography. I used to look through photography coffee table books and even would receive them as gifts. I would obsess over each image - looking at the composition, lighting and the storytelling before I even knew what these words meant. I started taking my own photos with a simple point and shoot camera when I was a pre-teen and entered my first contest - the local county fair. I won the Tri-Color ribbon, Best Overall, for photography when I was a young teenager. That's me holding up my sunset photo! 

I graduated high school and went on to college to study child development. I completed my bachelor's degree and went on to graduate school to follow my path in becoming a Child Life Specialist. All the years I had been working with children in various settings led me to a career in child life and I was in love!!

My husband and I started traveling after we got married and I have had the opportunity to take photos in some pretty amazing locations: Germany, Amsterdam, Hawaii, Alaska, Spain and locally in Texas and Pennsylvania. I had been so focused on finishing graduate school and starting my career as a Child Life Specialist, photography went on the back burner. But traveling really helped spark my love of photography again and I bought my first DSLR. I took a few classes at the local community college in order to learn how to use my camera properly and understand the mechanics of a digital camera. Then my friends started having babies and I thought about how amazing it would be to combine my love of photography and my passion of working with children, so I officially started my photography business in 2013. 

We had our daughter in 2014 and my love for documenting childhood and families grew exponentially. Because of my education in child development and years of experience in working with children of all ages, I completely understood just how quickly children grow and develop, especially the early years. I could always appreciate the importance of documenting those first few years of life, but it wasn't until we had our daughter that I could really grasp just how important that time is and how crucial it is to capture those moments. My daughter is now 4 years old and I look back on those early images and, through the fog of early parenthood, I cannot even remember the moment but I'm so glad we have the images to document that time with her!

So, last year I decided to hire a local photographer that offers business branding photography. In planning our session together, she really helped me decide on how I want to brand my photography services and how to best capture what I love about photography and the services that I can offer. I came to the conclusion that my biggest focus in on family. Our daughter is the center of our world and I wanted that to come through, not only in how I photograph families, but also in what I share with my clients and future clients. Family means everything to me and I wanted that concept to be my 'brand.' So we decided to not only take some business headshots of myself, but to also take family photos here in my home, with my daughter, husband and our dachshund. I am an on-location, traveling photographer, meaning that I meet my client's where they are: their home, backyard, favorite park or even the hospital where they just gave birth. And because of this, I do not have an outside studio or office. I work from home and edit right where my daughter is playing. Oftentimes, we're playing together while I'm answering emails or editing sessions. She especially loves to play 'beauty shop' and brush my hair or put in bows while I'm working on my laptop. This is my crazy life and I wanted to make sure we captured 'behind-the-scenes' of what it's like to work from home and run my photography business. 

So, this is my family, my life, love and passion. They are the driving force to better myself as a person and as a photographer and I love passing this passion on to the families I photograph each year. I am so grateful for the many families who have given me the opportunity to photograph their sweet new babies, growing toddlers and families. And I look forward to the chance to photograph previous clients and new families in the years to come!! 

What an amazing family and photo session! I had previously met this sweet family when big brother, Derek, turned one and we photographed his 1st birthday session. So, I was excited when I heard from earlier in the year when she decided she wanted to book a family portrait session this year. We settled on scheduling for the fall, once their new baby girl was a bit older and they could update their family photo. We ended up with a gorgeous fall evening and beautiful sunset light! Mellon Park is one of my favorite city parks in Pittsburgh because there is so many fun little nooks and crannies to photograph families, so I knew it would be a great option for their portrait session. We started with some candid photos of the family interacting together as I have found this is the best way to allow children to warm up to the situation and get used to me pointing a camera towards them. Plus, I had brought my daughter with me during their session and I had her in a carrier on my back, so she was able to get the kids to laugh and interact with me for some fun, natural smiles. But I primarily focused on getting the family to respond to each other and I was able to capture some really sweet, intimate moments between mom, dad and their sweet kiddos. And Derek was more than willing to give his baby sister some kisses, which was a huge bonus! 

After a few family photos, we took some individual photos of each child. I say this all of the time, but children change so much in such a short period of time and I always love to give each child some one-on-one time in front of the camera to see if I can capture some of their unique personality. It will be so fun to look back on these images and compare them to photos from when they were younger or as they grow up to see just how much they change from year to year. Derek was such a playful little guy and I was lucky to capture some of his fun facial expressions! And the image of Mom with her sweet baby girl was just so precious!! 

One of the best parts about photographing families is that I often am invited back to photograph their family as they grow! Mom, Sarah, is a friend that I used to work with and I had the opportunity to capture the arrival of their first son, Camden. So, when she emailed me with the exciting news that they were expecting their second baby, I was beyond happy for them and excited to capture their newborn session and updated family photos!! We started with some family photos in their bedroom, which had really beautiful light! Camden is a typical active toddler, so he did not want to sit on the bed for long. But that gave us the chance to capture some fun, interactive, lifestyle photos of their family! We grabbed some of Cam's favorite books and toys to play with and put their dog, Sophie, up on the bed to be included in the family portraits! And sweet baby Ada just slept through all of the fun!! 

After taking a few images outside in their front yard, we headed inside to start with Ada's posed newborn photos. Mom wanted to use neutral, gray, pink and blue colors in the set ups, so she helped me go through the blankets and props that I brought with me to decide on our final selections. We started with a super fluffy mint green fur blanket with a perfect pink wrap and headband to tie in a sweet, feminine touch. Ada definitely preferred to be wrapped up and cozy, so I made sure to have wraps prepared for each set up so that we could keep her happy and comfortable. She was sleeping really well so I was able to capture a few shots of her in a sweet side-lying pose that really showcased her tiny toes! From there, I wrapped her up and captured a few close up images to show off those little details. She has a gorgeous head of hair, full lips and long eye lashes. She looks like a perfect little doll!! So I put on my macro lens to capture a few of those tiny details, including her long lashes. Finally, we settled on a bucket pose using some blues and pinks. Mom had ordered a really sweet, beautifully handcrafted crotchet bonnet that she wanted to use in the session, so we incorporated it into the bucket set up, which really helped to tie in the pinks of the vintage quilt I brought with me. It was a really great mix of rustic, vintage and feminine details! 

Baby Ada was such a sweet baby girl and I am super excited that I was able to capture these images for my friend and her family! She is one loved little girl and I cannot wait to see how she grows and the relationship she develops with her parents and big brother Cam! 

I always look forward to photographing this beautiful family each year because they are always so sweet, lovable and natural in front of the camera! I ask them to goof around and love on each other and I always get the best expressions, especially from the kids! 

We met up in a location we've used before for their family photos - a local park with a gorgeous fall backdrop! Fall came a little late this year, so the trees were just started to change color but the sunset was absolutely stunning that evening. We had the most gorgeous sunset light coming through the trees and across the field of tall grass. We started with a few family photos to help the kids ease into the session and warm up to the camera. Because we scheduled our session during the week, I had to bring my daughter with me for the first half of the session. But she was a good helper, playing peek-a-boo with the kids and helping get those smiles and funny expressions! After everyone was warmed up and ready, I posed the three siblings together to re-create an image we took two years ago of the two older kids sitting together on my wooden bucket. But now that baby sister has arrived, we were sure to include her in this super adorable image! 

I also made sure to also capture some individual images of each child at different points during the session. Kids change so much, so quickly and how they interact with their parents and siblings can also change from year to year. So I always try to photograph them separately and within the family pose so parents can look back at this time in their young child's life. Finally, mom, dad and I snuck off to the side to grab a few images of the two of them alone together. This is another shot that I think can get often overlooked during a family portrait session. I believe it's important to photograph the parents together, not just for themselves, but also for their children. For their children to see them together, in love and snuggling with each other. And how fun for everyone to look back on later in life! I am so in love with the Recker family's photo session this year and I cannot wait to photograph them in the future!!

What another amazing year of fall minis and fun families!! Since moving to Pittsburgh almost 10 years ago, I have never regretted my time in the fall leaves. Beautiful fall foliage is never something I saw in Texas so I fully appreciate this gorgeous season each year! This is why I always love offering fall mini sessions each year! This year was an interesting year for foliage. Usually, the leaves change color at peak around the third week in October, so I always schedule my mini sessions for mid to late October. But we had a late year so my first two days of mini sessions had a lot more green leaves than I anticipated, but we still had some orange and red changes. Even thought we didn't have the typical fall foliage, we had some gorgeous sunsets and amazing family portraits! Another reason I love doing fall minis is that this is a time I get to catch up with families each year who book these sessions. Over half of my sessions were repeat clients from previous years and it was so great to catch up and see how much their children and family have grown! 

This year I offered three different dates and locations for fall minis: Schenley Park, Adams Township Community Park and Succop Nature Park. All three locations offer a beautiful backdrop, but very different styles. In Schenley Park we had a gorgeous stone path, iron fencing and the outdoor garden of Phipps Conservatory. Adams Township park offers tall, full trees and an area with an open field and tall grass. This park is quickly becoming one of my favorite locations to photograph families year round! And finally, Succop Nature Park. This is another great location for year round sessions, but they are in the middle of some renovations, so we were limited in the space we could use for backdrops. But nonetheless, it's a great park that offers a variety of backdrop spots including tall trees, trails with tall grass and a couple of different ponds. 

This was another great year of fall minis and I am looking forward to photographing these awesome families again in the future!! 

I've been so lucky to get to know this family over the past few years. Dad, Charlie, works with my husband and their older son, Parker, is the same age as our daughter, so our families became friends through playdates and special events over the years. I was so excited when mom, Angela, asked me to photograph their family and baby Winston's first birthday photos! 

The morning of their session, it was dark, cold and rainy but we powered though! The boys did so well in spite of the chilly, wet weather. We started with some family photos and got some of the best smiles from sweet Parker!! He was so cute with his baby brother and I just loved watching him hug and love all over his baby brother! Mom had two outfits for Winston, one for family photos and one for his first birthday photos. So, I made sure to get some individual images of him in each of his outfits, especially his super adorable ONE tshirt, bowtie and suspenders! He was just so super cute and was so excited to try walking around, holding on to his mama's fingers. He was definitely a mover! 

The big challenge about being a natural light photographer is the ability to be flexible. Especially when planning an outdoor photo session, I feel like I am sometimes a weather meteorologist, keeping track of the forecast, watching the radar and tracking storms. But am always grateful of my families who are flexible and willing to push through to capture a session before or after a storm comes through. And this was definitely the case with baby Winston's birthday session!

What I really love about newborn sessions, is that I get to utilize both posed and lifestyle photography styles within a session. Lifestyle photography is a perfect way to showcase connection and the personal relationships within a family. Bringing a baby into the world is such a life changing event, I especially love utilizing lifestyle photography as a way to capture this new relationship and amazing addition to their family! When mom contacted me, she was originally interested in a lifestyle session, but later decided she also wanted to take some posed newborn photos with blankets and props. She really liked the idea of also having photos traditional posed photos of Blaire, using ivory, cream, blush pink and mint color accents. So, once baby Blaire arrived, we settled on the final details for her session and planned set ups for the posed photos.

Their home was beautifully decorated for the fall season, with perfect fall themed decor and accents to compliment this fall baby's newborn session. We started with family photos in their living room before moving up to the nursery. Dad worked really hard on creating a shiplap wall in the nursery. A beautiful accent wall for such a gorgeous baby nursery! They included delicate, floral designs in the nursery for a perfect room that Blaire can spend her childhood!

For her posed newborn photos, we selected delicate and feminine details to include in the set ups. Blaire preferred to be wrapped or covered, so I used wraps to accent the backdrop blanket and headband choices Mom made for the sets. We started with a mint fur blanket, then moved on to a purple wrap with floral headband and finished with a white lace backdrop, pink wrap and delicate pink floral tieback headband. 

I feel very lucky to be able to capture newborn photos for families because babies change so much, so quickly that even just weeks or months later, these sweet babes look totally different! When I follow up with parents and they look back on their newborn photos, they always comment on how little their little one was at the time of their newborn session or just how much they've changed since that time. And this is why it's so important to schedule a newborn session because they are only this tiny for such a short period of time! 

This was such a fun session!! I have been lucky enough to photograph this sweet girl and her family since Emmy's newborn session and I have absolutely loved watching her grow into this adorable and spunky little toddler! When mom, Danielle, contacted me about photographing Emmy's 2nd birthday session, she knew she wanted to find a location that was fun and different. She decided she wanted to do the birthday photos at the Scheneley Plaza carousel and then we decided on the old wall of Forbes Field as a backdrop for their family photos. This was such a fun location and we even walked around Oakland for other fun backgrounds to capture Emmy's fun, playful personality. 

We started off on the carousel and this would be her first time riding on a carousel so she was a little apprehensive at first. But after her first ride, she was hooked!! She absolutely loved choosing the animals and the joy on her face was infectious! We made sure to get some family photos, photos of Emmy with each of her parents and then some by herself. She truly loved riding on the carousel and cried for the monkey as we were leaving. But she quickly recovered as we walked across the street to the wall of the former Pittsburgh Pirates' stadium, Forbes Field. At this point, we included their sweet greyhound dogs for some family photos. I absolutely love including family pets in family photos. They are such an important part of the family and it's something that the family can look back on later in life and remember how much the pet meant to them.

From here, we continued walking along and found the perfect dance spot for Emmy to boogey. She had so much fun running up and down the steps, dancing and twirling around with her parents and it was the perfect opportunity capture some of her personality and facial expressions. That's the best part of a photo session with any toddler!! I had so much fun taking birthday photos of sweet Emery and I cannot wait to see her again for future photo sessions!!

I am so excited to share my photography experience with this amazing couple and their sweet new baby girl! When mom, Sydney, contacted me about the Belly to Baby maternity and newborn photography package, I was super excited! She knew she wanted a sunset maternity session in an open field with tall grass and I knew the exact, perfect location for their session. We ended up with an amazingly beautiful sunset evening! Sydney and Colin wore the light, neutral clothing which accentuated the natural location and Sydney's dress completely showed off her growing baby bump and flowed through the tall grass as she walked. They were both so loving and natural in front of the camera, it was easy to capture sweet, intimate moments between them. I absolutely love photographing maternity photos for a couple expecting their first child, as we focus on them as a couple during a very special moment in their relationship - before welcoming the newest member into their family!

Once their sweet baby daughter arrived, we scheduled their in home newborn session for when baby Avery was 12 days old. When I arrived, she had just been fed and was sleepy and ready for their family photos. I wrapped her in a peachy-pink wrap that coordinated with her parent's clothing but also the peach color accent tones in her nursery decorations. We utilized areas of their home with the best pockets of natural light to photograph their family photos, including the nursery, their bedroom and living room. Sydney and I were planning the set-ups for Avery's posed newborn photos, Sydney decided she wanted to use light colors including cream, gray and light pink with fun textures including lace and fur. These colors were the perfect accent to their home decor which is light and airy with neutral and gray colors. I always recommend choosing colors for their newborn session that will coordinate with their personal family style and home decor, because families will print and hang their photos and they should accent their home style! 

I am so pleased with how the photos turned out for this sweet family and I hope they will be photos that the family will cherish for years to come!

I love photographing this family - they are so sweet and fun and I always have a really great time with them!! I first met them last year for baby sister's newborn session. They all had me cracking up and this year's family session was no different! Mom contacted me about a summer sunset session for their family, but also wanted to focus on some 5th birthday photos for big sister Annabelle. We settled on Beechwood Farms for our location because it offers a gorgeous backdrop for summer sunset photos. The sunlight shines through the trees and lights up the grassy trails so beautifully! Plus there are lots of beautiful flowers and wild grasses that really add to the natural backdrop!

We started with some family pictures and also captured some individual photos of baby Amelia, who was sitting by herself. After walking the trails, checking out the pond and all of the paths around Beechwood Farms, we finished up photos of the family as well as some special photos of Annabelle with her parents. One specific request was to take photos of Annabelle with her daddy having a tea party. This is something special that they do together at home and they wanted to include that in her 5th birthday session. I always love personalizing sessions to what makes each family special and unique. And to capture an activity that is special to this time in her life makes these photos that much more fun! Mom also brought a very special 'princess' dress for Annabelle to wear in her birthday photos. The dress was so adorable and photographed well as she twirled and spun around along the trails. I really love how her sassy personality came out as she posed with her hand on her hip or offered up a cheesy grin. 

I'm super excited to capture big brother Samual's birthday photos and Amelia's first birthday photos later this fall - I know I'll have a blast with this family and can't wait to see how much they have grown over the summer!