Newborn Photos in Minturn, CO - Ellory

I feel like I can't start every blog post with 'I'm so far behind on my blog entries', but I really am.  This session is from the beginning of the summer and according to the temperature outside, it's already fall here in the Rockies.  

Miss Ellory was fantastic during our newborn session, with her beautiful big blue eyes.  She was so alert and happy to play around the bean bag.  I kept saying over and over again that she reminded me of my kewpie doll that I used to carry around as a child.  

More posts to come shortly, in a much more timely manner!  I need to catch up before the fall rush starts.  I can't believe the leaves are changing already!

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Newborn Photos in Eagle, Colorado - Cash and Jess

It was kindly pointed out to me yesterday that I haven't posted "anything on my Blog...or Blurb...or whatever you call that thing" in a long time.  Thanks Mum!  Well, when it's put to me like that, I figure I better do something about it.

I seem to be shooting lots of families with 2 boys at the moment.  Maybe it's just something in the air in this valley, but there really does seem to be an influx of boys here.  I was so happy to do a newborn shoot for Cash the other day in Eagle and his big brother Jess got in on the action between photos.  Here are a few of my favorites from my session with these handsome brothers.

I love this prop and I hardly ever get a chance to use it.  It's a hanging basket cover from Home Depot!

Big Brother Jess, hamming it up.

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Vail Village Family Photos

I'm a little behind on posts, so I'm going to start with some pics from a recent shoot for my friend Brighton and his gorgeous family.  Brighton is an old friend from my days of working on top of Vail Mountain.  He had asked me to capture some photos with his wife Melissa and their children, Thandi and Themba while they were in Vail for a ski trip.  We decided to meet in Vail Village and I have a few regular spots around the village that I like to use for shoots.  Due to all of the ridiculous snowfall we had this winter, all of my regular haunts were completely useless (unless you wanted shots of your family waist deep in snow).  We finally settled on a great little pocket park and got to work on some nice family photos.  However, most Colorado families will tell you that if there's one thing we all love about living here, it's playing outdoors.  Much to Themba's delight, we decided to take some more candid shots, that I feel truly capture what family life is really like up here in the hills.  Here are a few of my favorites.

To see more, go to The Vail Family Photo Collection

Vail Baby Photos - Violet's Valentine's Session

Well, I'm sure everyone is coming down from their sugar highs now that Valentine's Day is out of the way, but I have one more sweet treat to share.  Miss Violet came to have some Valentine's photos taken in early February, and I've been waiting to share them because they were going in a special book for her grandparents as a Valentine's Day gift.

We did a very quick 30 minute session and she was a dream!  We came up with 6 different ideas and she let us change her into all kinds of outfits with different backdrops and props.  I loved some of these ideas, so I need to remember to do something similar with the boys next year.

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Vail Newborn Photographer - Greysen's Newborn Photos in Vail, Colorado.

One of the greatest things about being a portrait and event photographer is that you get to capture some of the most exciting moments in people's lives.  It's always nice to see old clients and to catch up with them again when their next exciting life event for occurs.  

I shot Kimber and Phil's Wedding nearly 2 years ago, so I was so happy when they asked me to take family photos with their new little man, Greysen.  He was such a joy to capture!  We had a fantastic time trying different ideas and playing around with a few outfits, including a Florida Gators Onesie (don't tell any of the Bulldogs fans that frequent my house!).  Here are a few of my favorites from our session.

I apologize if none of this makes sense.  It's far too early in the morning and I'm not caffeinated yet...

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Pudding Painting in Gypsum. Through the Lens Series, Entry 19.

How much time have you spent ogling over interesting tidbits and crafts on Pinterest?  I know for myself, I always look at things on there and think 'I could totally do that and I'll definitely try it one day' only to forget about 5 minutes later as soon as something more important comes along like laundry or a screaming toddler.

Thankfully, my friend Kim found a kid-friendly Pinterest activity that only involved 2 ingredients.  The 2 ingredients for Pudding Painting are pudding and food coloring.  Other non-edible essentials include lots of space, old sheets, wet rags, paintbrushes and paper.  Clothing is optional!

As any mother out there knows, children of a certain age tend to put everything in their mouths.  This activity was designed to get them used to painting and holding onto a paintbrush.  If they wanted to eat the paint, it was completely edible and slightly delicious.

Here are the results.  Thank you Pinterest!

Step 1:  Take any kind of vanilla pudding and a few bottles of food coloring.

Step 2:  Add a few drops of food coloring.  A little goes a long way.  We used 2 -3 drops per Snack Pack.

Step 3:  Give each child a spoon and a brush and place them over a large piece of paper.  Don't forget a drop cloth!

Tip:  Ask your local newspaper for their leftover rolls of newsprint.  They'll usually give them to you for free.  

The end result...not too much painting was done and there were certainly no masterpieces to hang.  It sure makes for one cute mess though!  Don't forget to have wet cloths ready to go for a quick clean up.  

Follow up on Father's Day. Through the Lens Series, Entry 18

In case you had your head under a rock somewhere and you didn't hear, yesterday was Father's Day. Some Dads I know were spoiled with tool boxes, ladders and Omaha Steaks.  My Rusty was pretty easy to please with a few IPAs from a couple of our local micro-breweries and time to go mountain biking.  Regardless of how you celebrated, I hope all of the good dad's out there were able to feel special in some way yesterday.

In honor of Father's Day, I've put together a few photos of my husband that I think show how much of a good Dad he is.  They're from a special day a few weeks ago when we were able to take Maxwell to the very spot where we were married.  We haven't been back there ourselves since our wedding, so it made it extra special being able to go back there together as a family. 

To give credit where credit is due, I think the second photo was taken by my brother Jaycen, who is also an excellent father. I just wanted to point that out before we get into any copyright wars!

Studio Photos in Eagle Vail with Evan. Through the Lens Series - Entry 13

Evan was only 19 days old the first time I took photos of him and he was small enough to fit in a tiny blue basket as he slept. Fast forward 7 months and now he's a gorgeous baby boy with the longest eyelashes in town! Evan was a dream model and he sat and babbled and giggled for the whole session. He even brought his own sheep. A man after this kiwi girl's heart!

Click here to see more Baby Portraits in Vail, Colorado.

The Levy's 20th Wedding Anniversary in East Vail. Through the Lens Series - Entry 12

The Levy's had plenty to celebrate on their recent trip to Vail.  Stef and Jay were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary and it was the 10th year that these 3 wonderful families have vacationed together.  Stef had coordinated everyone to perform a well rehearsed dance number to surprise Jay when he arrived home from a day on the slopes.  I had to hide in the pantry while everything was being set up, and as the music started I had to jump out of the pantry and capture everyone's slick dance moves as they came down the stairs. With tuxedo and bridesmaids t-shirts on, everyone made their grand entrance and then Jay was whisked away by the dancing crowd and onto the back patio where an elaborately made ice sculpture was waiting.

The 3 mother's met when their kids started going to daycare together in Texas.  Those 3 babies are 16 years old now!  Each set of parents have been married for approximately 20 years, so it was fun to take photos of all of them holding their wedding photos, outside in the snow.

This was such a fun event and the kids were unbelievably polite and sweet.  Here are a few photos from the day.  Happy Anniversary Stef and Jay!

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Engagement Photos in Vail Village with Niki and Ben. Through the Lens Series - Entry 11

Well, this post should bring me up to speed with my postings!  It's been absolutely chaotic around here with a ton of photo shoots and I'm trying to squeeze in a few more before my upcoming trip to New Zealand in April.  We're leaving in 3 weeks time and I have more shoots and more editing than I know what to do with, plus Russ is being whisked away to help open a restaurant in Maine and another in Alabama within the next couple of weeks.  It's definitely a happy kind of chaos though as we're both working on things that we love.

This is my favorite part of the winter season...the first day of spring!  Spring in the Rockies means skiing in a
t-shirt, spending more time hopping from deck to deck on the mountain than actually skiing and some really great free concerts to keep the Spring Breakers and locals entertained.  It's also universally a time of new beginnings and a great time to get outside and take some photos.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to be asked to take engagement photos for Ben and Niki.  We decided to take the photos in several locations around Vail Village.  Niki and Ben were boyfriend and girlfriend in 7th grade and they met up again last year.  Ben proposed in January and they are planning a wedding for next year.  They were awesome to work with and extremely photogenic, so that makes my life much easier!  Here are a few of their engagement photos.

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First Birthday photos in Eagle Vail with Emma. Through the Lens Series - Entry 10

I thought that this entry would bring me up to speed on my blog entries, but I'm still one post behind so I'll have to work around the clock to get where I need to be.  The Through the Lens series started as a way of ensuring that I posted at least one entry per week.  Luckily, I've been a busy bee this week with 4 shoots, so I have plenty of material to post here.

Last week marked the first birthday of Miss Emma Louise, so we had ourselves a wee photo shoot to celebrate the occasion.  It was an unseasonably gorgeous day in Vail and I shot the session with our porch door open to let in lots of natural light and we had no problems with temperature.  Our biggest problem was trying to keep Emma and Maxwell from crawling out the door. To have a little girl in my house with lots of ooey gooey pink loveliness was a nice change.  The pink decorations were left over from Emma's first birthday party, so they made for great props.  Kim (Emma's mother and my dear friend) was able to borrow 3 baby chairs for the day.  They were so fun to play around with and the perfect accessory for children that aren't quite standing yet.  I really need to invest in some of those!  The highlight of the shoot was definitely the cake smash.  Emma was more interested in putting her feet in the cake!  

Kim and I were pretty exhausted after the shoot so we celebrated on the deck in the spring sunshine with a well deserved glass of wine.  I love the spring time in the Rockies!  Happy first birthday Emma Lou.  xxoo

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