Visiting my Sister

On Sunday morning, we did a drive down to Williamsburg, VA, to visit my sister and her family. They haven't had a family picture taken since their six-year-old daughter was a baby, and they have added a second daughter to the family since then, so they were in need of a family portrait. Since Conner has a habit of sleeping in the car, we decided to get up early on Sunday morning and drive down during Conner's normal sleeping time so that his sleep schedule wouldn't be interrupted. We got down there with no problems. Conner slept on and off the whole way, thank goodness.

I had bought some props that I hadn't had a chance to use yet, so I took them with me to use for her daughters. I haven't had the opportunity to take many pictures of little girls since I'm just getting started with this, so I couldn't wait to try my props.
We set up my backdrop stand and lights in Cierra's room. She's my six-year-old neice. The room was a pretty big size, but there was barely enough room for me to get everything in there and still have room for me to be able to fit everyone in for the family shots. That proved to be tough.





Cierra has always been a great model for me. She loves to have her picture taken, and will put up with me taking picture after picture.












However, my one-year-old neice, Shenley, wasn't even close to being happy about having her picture taken, but we managed to get some pretty cute shots with the help of my husband, who threw himself on the floor over and over to get her to laugh at him.

We had a great visit, though, and will definitely be going down there this summer to hang out and take the kids to Busch Gardens and Virginia Beach.

Best Friend Shoot with Melissa and Emily

On Monday, I met up with Melissa (who did a shoot for me this summer) and her friend, Emily. I used to work with Melissa's mom at Jane Anderson Brides, and Melissa used to model bridal gowns for us a lot. So, when I needed a model for my portfolio, I immediately thought of Melissa. And I'm glad I did. She is very photogenic and very easy to work with.

Here are a couple of shots from this summer's session:





So I met up with Melissa and Emily at Antietam National Battlefield. It was kind of cold outside, but not nearly as cold as it is this week. I am very happy we decided to do the shoot then. We were hoping for snow, but I guess we will just have to keep waiting for that. I had a lot of fun talking with the girls during the shoot. It was way too fun to be considered work. Anyway, here are some shots from that session: