It was a VERY tight and exciting competition!!  We had over 560 votes!!!  But, in the end, D. took it by just a few votes!  I am absolutely blown away by the response I got from this competition!!  Thanks so much for helping to make this so much fun!!!

Second place: H.

Third place: K.

BUT, because I absolutely love the clients I work with, and I am a big marshmallow at heart–plus I know just how hard everyone worked to get as many votes as possible, I am going to award the top five  photographs with gift certificates for a 2010 classic session as well (these can ONLY be used for a 2010 session–no prints.)  This includes photograph D, H, K, F and E!!

I just want to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in this competition!!  All of these women are beautiful and awesome people!!! I am truly amazed at how many people came to vote!  Please come back and visit often!!  Also, if you are a client or a possible future client, follow me on twitter to be given even more opportunites to win little occassional contests.  Take care!  xoxoxo 

Thanks so much for voting!!  I’ll have a winner to announce later on today–A LOT of of votes!!!!  Have a  great morning!

*****ETA:  24 hrs. left–voting ends @ 11:59 pm Sept. 27 (Sunday)****** 

AS OF NOW 11:56 pm Sept. 26:  1st~D 

                                                          2nd~H 

                                                          3rd~K

Maternity photography is one of my favorites!  I am so blessed get to work with such BEAUTIFUL and amazing women–and capture such a special time in their lives! 

I want to try something a bit different…Please vote for your favorite image.  You may not know these women and I know that they are all fabulously beautiful–so just pick the one that makes your heart happy, gives you the most goosebumps or brings a tear to your eye! The subject of the winning photo will receive a 2010 classic photo session for them and their sweet little one!  Thanks! 

Leave your vote in the comment section of the blog and only one vote per person!

*Edited to add: Votes are welcome till Sunday night–midnight.  I will announce the winner on Monday!!  Keep the votes coming–y’all are AWESOME!!

A.                       

B.

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D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

J.

K.

L.

M.

N.

O.

P.

She is by far my hardest subject to photograph.  My son, cake–my daughter, not so much! 

But, the other day, we received this lovely little dress in the mail.  Nervously, I showed it to her and to my surprise, she loved it!!!  She begged to wear it the next day and paired it with her bright orange boots she got for her bday and came out looking like this!  How could I not photographer her???  So, I nicely asked (okay, pretty much told her I was gonna get my camera to take a few pics.)  To my surprise she wanted to do it (okay, sort of…)  Anyway, we only had about 10 minutes to shoot these, so I was sort of rushed, but, am pleased as punch with how they turned out!!

I don’t know what it is about this last one, but I really love it–I even love our dog sniffing around in the background!

Not only were these guys GORGEOUS–but they were also amazing to work with!!  So kind and sweet! 

If they look a bit familiar to you it might be because their mom is the owner of Bittersweet~a very cool and hip shop in the wearhouse district of Charlottesville.  If you haven’t been–go!!  It’s totally worth the trip!! 

I totally think they could both be models…look at them!!

Gorgeous blue eyes.

Gorgeous brown eyes.

These are so fun~love their interaction.

We did a few on the tracks–do tracks much, cuz I mostly shoot younger kids.  I was really excited to try this out.

This is one of my personal faves–just LOVE IT!

A little fun on the tracks!

It was truly a great pleasure to work with y’all–I hope we can do it again sometime!!

Oh, yeah, and, don’t forget to follow me on twitter!!!

Yes, it is true, I have finally drunk the Twitter koolaide!  I have resisted long enough–and finally gave in!  If you are a Twitter-er or have been considering becoming one–please come follow me!  I promise to be interesting and exciting entertainment for the whole family–hee hee–nothing like some false promises huh?? Well, I do promise to do some awesome give aways to new and, ahem, seasoned clients who follow me! Plus who knows, you might, just might find out some amazing fact that you never knew about me–reason enough right there right?!? I hope to see you over there!

Yes, that is right, I now have an 11 year old!!  Where has the time gone??  I am so thankful for the past 11 years with her–she truly is one of the greatest joys of my life! 

We had a great time celebrating–first we headed to King’s Dominion to celebrate with just the four of us, and then we headed to Charlotte to celebrate with some family and friends!  

I have tried to make my kids birthday cakes every year–with the exception of a just a very few–one of which was because Emma actually wanted a grocery store bought cake that had Dora’s big old face on it–and nasty purple icing.  I tried to talk her out of it, but she had her mind made up–5 year olds!!!  It was really hard for me, but, amazingly, I survived!  Anyhoo, this is the cookie cake that was requested this year…

The birthday girl.

The birthday girl giving me the “mom, that’s enough with the photos” look.

Opening presents–she had a little help.

Swimming!!!!!

And…we also had a great start to the new school year!  I now have a first grader and 6th grader. 

And, yes, the forced hug.  After about 10 trys I got this one–not too bad.  The funny thing is they actually are the best of friends, but, ask them to hug, and sheesh, you’d think that I’d asked them to eat worms!!!

So, when I am not busy shooting this is what’s been going on around here–my life.  Take care everyone–happy, fun fall!!!

I was privileged to work with another awesome family in Richmond!  Their children had the most beautiful, dark, declicious brown eyes!  Take a look…

And, they were such a cute, sweet, loving family!  Got some great interactive shots!  I love this first one and how you can see mom and daughter and puppers in the background.

I just really, really love this one!!  I really need to make it a point to do more with swings–so fun!!!

Special shots for mama.

His little expression just cracks me up!  Isn’t he just beautiful??

Thank you so much to this sweet family for inviting to be a small part of their lives!  I had a blast! 

Remember this sweet little angel…whit the head full of hair??  Well…

here she is now…still with an amazing head full of hair!  And talk about stunning!!!  I could just stare at her photos for hours.  I honestly cannot get over how much babies change and grow in the first year!   If there is ever a time to photograph, the first year is definitely it!!

Such a fun shot!  Love this perspective!

Gettin’ some mama love…

Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful, sweet little baby girl with me–she is absolutely precious!  Be back soon with more!

So here they are . . . at least some of them.  My collection of 2009 Holiday cards.  I hope you love them as much as I do!  I truly feel like the selection gets better each year!!  I have so many faves I am not sure which one I will use for my own family.  If you are interested in seeing the full collection shoot me an email and I’ll give you directions on how to view.