Erin at 6 Months

Remember Erin and JB? Well, they came in a couple weeks ago for Erin's six-month portraits. Check out these images.
I love the tie-dye shirts.
She's getting so big, isn't she?Make sure to see the slideshow and leave a comment.

Shannon and Matt

Shannon and Matt had their wedding reception a couple weeks ago. The wedding was a little earlier in the month -- in Alaska! Typically, destination weddings are in Hawaii, San Diego, or someplace like that -- places a bit more tropical than Alaska. But then, Shannon and Matt aren't all that typical.Since they didn't have their friends and family around for the wedding, they had a reception here in Columbus. We started out with portraits at Highbanks Metro Park, and then moved on to dinner at Hyde Park. There was a surprise fish cake (no, not that kind of fish cake) and some other great moments.
Take a look at the slideshow for more images and leave a comment below.

Owen is Three!

Owen was one of our very first kids when we started the Baby's First Year plan. He has come back several times, now. He was a little shy at first, but he warmed up quickly, and was as energetic as ever.
Check out the slideshow and leave a comment below.
The young rock star!
After several somersaults, he wasn't tired at all.

Rockstars!

A little back-story on this one. Way back when I was a freshman in high school (or maybe a sophomore), a friend of mine came back from summer vacation with a new electric guitar. The brand was Squier! I couldn't believe it. And it was actually spelled the "correct" way and everything. Squier is the "value brand" of Fender guitars.
Ever since then (ca. 1982 or 83) I've always wanted one. But, you know, I'm not a guitar player so it was never going to happen. Well, I recently found out that the Squier brand came out with a 3/4 size Stratocaster that was perfect for kids. Now this was something I couldn't really pass up. I got one as a prop. So, we had a lot of fun playing with it and taking pictures. I make a tiny appearance in the slideshow, but don't let that stop you from checking it out. So, turn up the volume and get a cup of coffee -- it's a pretty long slideshow.

Tooth Fairy Billboard

Several months ago, I took some portraits of two little girls. Toward the end of the session, they were playing dress-up and one of them wore a princess costume -- with a toothbrush.
That image ended up being much larger-than-life-size on a billboard to advertise a dentist's office. It's on High street going North, before getting into Merion Village. The wires look bad here in the still picture, but when you're moving in a car, you don't really notice them

It's always fun to see my photos on billboards.

Cruising the Bahamas

This is another personal post. We went on a cruise at the end of March. It was a great break from reality and tons of fun. I had never been swimming in the Atlantic and I have to say -- it's much warmer than the Pacific! And the water (at least where we were) was so clear. I always thought those pictures you see in travel magazines had the colors pumped up. That's really how it looks.
We saw a bunch of fish snorkeling, learned about Pirates in Nassau, ate a lot on the ship, won some prizes (nothing big, though), and basically had a great time with the family. We didn't take any way to check e-mail and our phones didn't work, so we were really on vacation. I took one of the big cameras, but should have left it home. I only took a few photos with it. Almost everything was with a point and shoot.
We ended up staying a couple days in Ft. Lauderdale since our plane was way overbooked. They made us an offer we couldn't refuse. ;-) The airline was great about the whole thing. They were so desperate that they looked through all of our baggage on the plane and got it off. Then they gave us two rooms in the Airport Hilton for two nights. And they covered all of our meals, too. So, it was like another mini-vacation tagged on at the end.
Take a look at the slideshow of snapshots from our trip. Remember, these are just fun, sometimes goofy, vacation memories. They're not our normal, portrait-quality images. But you knew that, already. ;-)

Baby Bonanza 2008

You may remember the post last month about the Baby Bonanza. You also may be wondering what happened, because I never blogged about it. Well, it did happen! I'm just a bit behind in my announcement posts. It took place on March 15th and it was a whirlwind of a day for us.

Not only did we have the show (where I photographed the events, too), but our son's Blue and Gold banquet for Cub Scouts was the same day. It was his last year, a crossing over ceremony, so we couldn't really bail on him. We had someone help out in the booth for the last couple hours and pack up. I drove back as soon as I could to help load up the car, then back to the Cub Scout banquet.

Anyway, the Baby Bonanza took place at the Aladdin Shrine Center near Easton. It's an interesting venue with tiered levels and lots of stairs. Thankfully, there are a lot of ramps for everyone with strollers, so that wasn't a big issue. It made it easier to load and unload the booth, too.

And while I'm on the subject of the booth, here are some pictures of it. This year we had a double booth and it was so nice having the space to talk and visit with people.
We even had a coloring table so the kids had something to do while they waited for their parent to finish talking. You can kind of see it in the picture below down on the right. Parents loved that their kids had a place to hang out instead of haning on ... to them. ;-)
One of the highlights of the Baby Bonanza each year is the Diaper Derby. Yes, that's right -- baby races. Who knew they'd be so fun? Well, if you're a parent, you can understand why they're funny, at least. Here they are at the start of the race. Off in a flash!
There was much concern when one baby didn't understand the rules. These two stopped and tried to give an explanation, not realizing that another baby was racing toward the finish line.
After the grueling race, the winner had no comment.
There were also activities for parents like how to use your stroller as a piece of exercise equipment and how to cook meals quickly that the whole family will eat.
And, of course, there was fun for parents and kids together.
That parachute looks like so much fun. I think we have a smaller one somewhere. I should go find it.
There was a lot going on throughout the entire day. And, of course, there were tons of vendors who had all kinds of things for your kids. I can't wait for next year. Though I hope that's the only thing we have to do that day. We were exhausted at the end of the day.

Sarah and Jenna

Sarah and Jenna were here a few weeks ago for some portraits. Sarah is only a few months old and already has a great personality. Jenna is a great big sister -- she loves to help out with what she can.
See their slideshow and leave a comment below.

Carson is Two!

Carson came back for his two-year-old portraits the other day. He's gotten so big. I hadn't seen him in a while. It's really cool when kids start answering your questions and they make sense.
Make sure to see his slideshow. Leave a comment below if you want.

Casey and Quinn

I've been photographing Casey and Quinn (and their brother and other sister) for several years. The family was one of our first customers once we went "full time" and have seen us through our journey. A lot has changed since then both with them and our business. It's amazing to watch them grow. Wow. I didn't mean to get so philosophical or nostalgic on you. ;-)

Anyway, we dodged the light rain last Friday to get some wonderful portraits. I'll let the pictures do the talking from here on out. Make sure to see their slideshow, too.

Nathan at 6 Months

You might remember Nathan from the first couple times he was in (3 Months, Newborn). Well, he hit the six month milestone last month and of course he was in for some portraits.
This time we did a baby parts session and he was perfect
Be sure to see the slideshow.

Ellia is (almost) one

You may recall the story of Ellia (the little girl with Treacher-Collins syndrome). There was an article in Columbus Parent about her in January (and I hear a follow-up article is coming). I posted about it in January. The last portraits we did were before her jaw surgery so her appearance has changed a lot since then. Last week I went over to her house for some updated pictures. We're going to be following her progress with periodic portraits (nice alliteration, eh?) after each surgery she has.
I wasn't completely sure how she'd act, but she was a doll. Blowing kisses and trying to get into everything.


Check out her slideshow and leave a comment.

Madeline is Two

I really can't believe that Madeline is now two years old. I guess because we have a picture of her as an infant with her brothers I just think of her as a baby.
Well, she's an adorable two-year-old, now, and we decided to put up our spring set just for her.Make sure to see her slideshow for more pictures.

Baptism of 5-year-old

Tommy got baptized a couple weeks ago! He was so cute saying his verse and was really brave to go under the water. He was so happy afterwards. He was thankful for the cake afterwards, too.

No slideshow this time. Just these images.

Cub Scouts

Well, this is the last year of cub scouts for us (at least for now). The Webelos 2s are getting ready to cross over at the Blue and Gold Banquet coming up in a couple weeks. So, I guess this is the last time we'll be taking pictures of all the scouts.

Baby Bonanza on March 15

The Baby Bonanza is Back! For the second year in a row, on March 15, we'll have a booth filled with our work -- and portraits of your kids! We'll also be offering discounts on products that we're discontinuing. Things like photo jewelry, photo bags, and photo coasters.

There will be drawings for prizes, a kids' area, and probably chocolate -- and that's just in our booth. Check out the Baby Bonanza web site to see what will be going on and who else will be there.

Be sure to print out this blog post and bring it to our booth for a gift.

Creature Canyon (Y-Tribe) Father-Daughter Dance

Last month we did portraits at the Creature Canyon father-daughter dance. This is the third year we've done this and it's always so much fun. The group is a part of the Y-Tribe (formerly known as Indian Princesses) through the YMCA. What's really cool is that the dads do all of the work to make it happen. They do the decorating, planning, and facilitating. Everyone is always so nice there -- it's great that everyone thanks us after taking their portrait. And the girls are so pretty in their dresses.
This year we used our high-speed printer to get all the photographs printed and in frames before the event was over. It was great to be able to take the portraits, choose the best ones, have all 130 5x7s printed and then put in frames in just over two hours.

Please let us know if you ever want us to do the same type of event for your group. It really is amazing how fast we can get the prints.

Sorry there are no pictures on this one -- we don't have releases from the dads.

Isabel at 2

Isabel was in a few weeks ago for some updated portraits. She has a great personality and so smiley. Be sure to see her slideshow for more pictures.

Audrey P is One!

After a long absence, I'm back to updating the blog. We'll start off with Audrey's latest session. She is such a cutie and getting so big.
It was great seeing her again (and Mom and Dad, too). Check out the slideshow for some more pictures.

Portland Portrait Party

OK, it wasn't really in Portland but I like the alliteration. Last week I flew out to Hillsboro, Oregon (which is really close to Portland) for some baby portraits. She was 8 weeks old and a real cutie.

She smiled a lot for me. At least that's my story. ;-)

Some fun Baby Parts that'll be made into a collage.

Isn't her smile contagious? I know you're smiling. Just admit it.

Yes, she has three older sisters!

They wanted a picture of me with the girls, so here you go.

Isn't she so cute?

It was great traveling for these portraits but I'm glad to be home.

And now, the first contest question of the year: take a guess where the parents met. First one to answer correctly gets a free tote bag -- with little windows that you slip prints into. Post your answer as a comment below. Some people aren't eligible to win, you know who you are.

Remember to check out the slideshow.

Happy New Year

Wow! What a crazy last couple of months. We had our best holiday season to date. Sometime this month we'll get our Christmas cards out. For, uh, next Christmas? Yeah, we're really getting a jump on things. ;-)

This post will be a sort-of "catching up" post. We have a lot going on.

First of all, thank you to all of you who stopped by from October through December. We really appreciate every customer. We also appreciate all the referrals we received from people. That's the best kind of advertising there is. And speaking of referrals -- remember, if you're a member of Angie's List, we are listed up there so it would be great to see some comments from you.

We have a picture in the latest issue of Columbus Parent magazine. It's on page 14. We also have an ad on the facing page.



The article is about a little girl with Treacher Collins Syndrome and how the family is working through the issues. The article is online so take a look if you haven't seen the print version. Our image is also on the home page of their Web site right now.

There's a fundraiser for her at Lucé Restaurant and Cafe in Powell on January 24th. There will be a silent auction (we've donated a package) and I think a portion of meals will be donated to the family. The restaurant is located at 3499 Market Street in Powell, Ohio.

In other news, one of our pictures is in the current issue of The Perspective, the student magazine of Dublin Coffman High School.

The article is about Junior Corrinne Haynes, a very talented dancer. Her leaps and moves made for some great images. I'll need to get a copy for our archive.

Our last bit of news for right now is about our new blog contests (coming soon). Each week or so we'll be having a contest with a question. Be the first to answer correctly and you'll win one of several prizes. There will be more details in a later post so check back soon.

Again, thanks for making 2007 our best year so far.

The Trotter Kids

Here are the Trotter kids all decked out in their Christmas clothes. Mom wanted a Christmas portrait but wasn't too hopeful after the session. I knew better and showed her some good ones on the back of the camera. When she came in she was thrilled with the results. I love it when that happens.
Take a look at their slideshow for more images.

Grant at 2 Years old

Many of you probably remember Grant. He's been in a few times before and now he's two! He's really changed. He was so happy as long as he had a toy in his hands -- so there are a lot of images with toys.
Take a look at his slideshow and leave a comment.

The Carrier Boys

These boys were great. I love it when they have fun at the sessions. Check out the slideshow for more images.