Such a beautiful name for such an adorable little girl.

As I am typing this, Gisele may be welcoming a brand new baby brother or sister into her world. Congratulations Gisele, I just know you are going to be an amazing big sister : )

 She is a big fan of sesame street and all of the characters especially Grover, Bert and Ernie.  I just love her expression just before and after her daddy brings out his Grover puppet.

It’s like she is saying….what’s that?  I have seen that before, I know I have…..Wait a minute is that Grover? IT IS GROVER!!! AAAHHH (that’s my translation….Gisele’s would be a mixture of french and english since she is currently learning both.)

Gisele is also a huge fan of singing songs and nursery rhymes. She knows all of the words and motions to the “itsy bitsy spider” and “twinkle twinkle little star”.  She is quite the little performer : )

{thank you Helene and Ian for introducing me to Gisele. I had a great time during her session. Congratulations on your soon to be new arrival, I can’t wait to meet him or her when the wee-one arrives.}

I have had the complete joy and pleasure to photograph Jorja from the time she was still in her momma’s tummy to her first birthday! I love this girl to pieces. She is always super smiley, and super happy and full of priceless expressions each and time I have her in front of my lens.

To celebrate her first big day, I wanted to do a cake smash photo shoot with her. (basically you put a cake in front of the wee one and see what they do.) This portion of her session was extra special just because at her actual birthday party, she didn’t want anything to do with her cake–so these memories are extra special.

At first she wasn’t quite sure what to do with the cake. But with a little convincing, she went right in.

First lick…..THEN

Cake Everywhere….on the walls behind her, all over the floor within a three foot radius!! Good times had by all.  After the smash was all said and done, she went upstairs to have a bath and her daddy and I cleaned up.

And her session wouldn’t be complete with out some family images.

Wow, from belly to baby–what an adventure!!

Yesterday I got together with my friend Rachel from Rachel J Photography and her family to do some photos of her daughter Linnea.

Linnea took her first steps just days before. (she is just getting so darn big!)  She isn’t quite ready to run yet, but I am sure her crawling days are numbered!

Thanks for the lovely morning. I was great to see you guys. I hope thoes little toothers come in soon!

We all have idols and people we look up to for inspiration in life as well as in business.  Carrie Sandoval and Brittany Woodall (together they form Baby as Art) are my inspirations when it comes to newborn photography.  These two lovely ladies have quite the following. Pretty much everyone who photographs newborns knows who Carrie and Britt are. They have pushed the envelope when it comes to newborn photography. 

I had been following their blog and their separate websites for about a year before I had the opportunity to meet them.  I had always thought about contacting them and seeing if they did any one-on-one mentoring or if I could go and shadow them in San Diego, but never got the guts to actually contact them. That’s when out of the blue they announced that they were having their first ever workshop and it was only open to 6 photographers…..

6 photographers, what was the chance that I would end up getting a spot? Slim….I personally know about 50 photographers who absolutely adore their work, so when I received an email back saying that I had a spot—I almost died! You should have seen the happy dance I did in my kitchen when my husband said that I could go. (It was very similar to the lotto 649 dance you see on tv!)

The weekend was almost a complete blur. My brain packed in so much information; I thought that my head was going to exploded!! It was so amazing to see them work and interact with each other and the newborns! I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Carrie and Britt are truly amazing people!

Check out the Baby as Art workshop blog to see a photograph of all of us—in a bed….in Carrie’s backyard!

Here are two images that I took during the workshop. (I can’t wait to practice the other poses I learned!)

May 31st marked Marlee’s first birthday. I was invited out to her Grandma’s acreage just outside of Sherwood Park to celebrate her day with her.

I can’t believe she is one already!!!  Time goes so fast when your having fun.

Here are a few images from her session before the party and one of her enjoying her first bites of Birthday cake.