preview: justin+lynn

let me not to the marriage of true minds

admit impediments. love is not love

which alters when it alteration finds,

or bends with the remover to remove:

oh no! it is an ever-fixed mark

that looks on tempests and is never shaken;

it is the star to every wandering bark,

whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

within his bending sickle's compass come:

love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

but bears it out even to the edge of doom.

if this be error and upon me proved,

i never writ, nor man ever loved.

-william shakespeare, sonnet 116

congratulations justin & lynn! here is a very small preview:) hope you two have the best time in europe!

love,

m

two posts in a day you say? why yes, yes i will

i just wanted to throw out a quick note to the thousands (haha- i kid) or readers who peruse my blog. i know it has been looking lately like i am almost exclusively doing children and family portraiture. this is actually not the area of photography i am interested in or would like to pursue, as much as i adore my nieces and the families i have been photographing. i am developing my portfolio, but my goal is to shoot couples and women's photography. so if you are interested in having me do a shoot for you, but were turned away because you older than 6, come back!! i will be looking for women and couples to model for my portfolio at very discounted rates in the beginning of the new year, and am very excited for the direction i am headed. thanks for your support and reads. i appreciate it immensely.

love,
m

cadence: if cuteness had a face

here are a few pictures of my niece, cadence taken on our trip to see my other newborn niece kyree. she is a new big sister, and fitting into her new role quite well. her parents got her a newborn baby doll a week or so before the baby came, and it was adorable to see her carry it around everywhere and want to feed it and take it out with us. she is beautiful and a total ham for my camera:) i love her.

love,

m

kyree ann: go big, or go home

world, meet kyree.
she is my beautiful just turned two week old niece. 6 pounds, 14 ounces, 19.5 inches. born november 29, 2010 at 5:20 pm. evan and i got to spend thanksgiving with her parents, pete and casey, and it was so great to have all evan's family together and share the joy of the newborn. she is so tiny!! when we first arrived at their house i was scouting out areas to shoot, and gathering props that i wanted to use and making a list on a piece of paper to help me remember some ideas i had. i came back at one point to find that pete had written his own ideas for the shoot:

mixing cocktail at wet bar
skydiving (tandem? solo? possibly formation of olympic rings?)
contemplative look with cigar
hugging a cactus
lion tamer (find whip. with chair?)
machine gun demonstration
playing bagpipes
trapeze artist (flyer? catcher?)

he thinks he is HILARIOUS:) my favorite was the cigar pose, although we were unable to work it into the set. maybe in a few months. anyways, congrats to pete and casey, and welcome kyree. you are greatly loved:)

love,
m

thanksgiving eve, and the art of the self-portrait

first-off i want to thank everyone so much for visiting my blog and giving me great feedback and comments!  it means a lot to me, and i appreciate your support!  thank you to those who are booking sessions:)  you rock, and i am so excited about our time together!   i have had a few friends complain that i do not put any pictures of myself on the blog, which is tricky, but i tried this week.  the hat is because my hair looked AWFUL.  that is the only downside to short hair- pillows and the ensuing bed head they create.  evan jokes that basically i wear a hat to work every monday because i sleep in too late and my hair is a mess.  so here are a few self portraits i took with our bedroom mirror.  thanksgiving is tomorrow.  i wish all of our family lived closer to each other and to us so that we could have one giant turkey fest, but it is not to be this year. but here is what i am thankful for:

my best friend, lover, soulmate, and beloved:)  you mean the world to me, and i would not be who and where i am without you

my loving family (downings and wards) for your love, support, and guidance

my sisters (erin, callan, and lisa) and brother (brendan) for being the best sibling i could ask for

my beautiful niece cadence, and my nephew and niece who are still "cooking" (mason and kyree)

my grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins

my dear, dear friends, both near and far

my eyes, to see the world and be able to share it in my own way

i hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving day with whoever you share it with, and that you take some time to tell those you love how much you love them:)

love,

m