Tuesday, April 26, 2011

{I Heart Faces Challenge ~ Pets}


This week's challenge over at I Heart Faces http://www.iheartfaces.com/ is Pets. Here is my entry and the story behind the photo:

So many words entered my mind when I started thinking about what I wanted to say about a sweet woman named Sheri and her love for a horse named Diablo. As I sat here and edited this session tears flowed, smiles crept in here and there, heart ached, my own memories of being around horses flooded my mind....but at the forefront of all that *I* was feeling was what Sheri must have been feeling over the last month or so knowing that the time had come to let sweet Diablo take his last pictures and let him rest. Handsome, beautiful, majestic Diablo. The.most.gentle horse one could ever know. Nothing phases him, nothing scares him....nothing seems to have an older soul than he does. Those big brown eyes just take you in. I swear you really can see wisdom and his heart through those eyes. He is one in a million...he is Sheri's baby...her pride and joy.
When she told me a few weeks ago that she was having to put him down my heart immediately hurt. I think most of us have had to endure what it's like to put an animal down, whether it be when you were a child or in your adult life. It doesn't get any easier the older you get. I actually think it's harder. You feel things more deeply, you know the finality of things...you love more. Being a photographer the next thing I thought of was only natural. I asked her if she had any pictures with him. She stopped for a minute, took a breath and said, "No. I don't. I was always the one behind the camera admiring him, doting on him...." and she trailed off and began to tear up. I got teary eyed too and asked her if she would like for me to come out and take some pictures of the two of them together and she smiled....and said yes. I have done this once before for someone who was waiting on their animal to pass and it meant the world to her to have those photos of her dogs (there were two that were ailing) that she could look back on a remember them by. Obviously one never forgets the love they have for their pet after they're gone, but they are just nice to have and to physically hold on to on the days that are tougher to get through than others.
So, I leave you with some pictures of Sheri and Diablo... I continued to shoot through her tears... I wanted to capture them in that moment and I didn't hesitate to cry right along with her as I put my camera down and put my arms around her neck.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

{Featured on I Heart Faces!!!}

Woke up this morning to an email from I Heart Faces http://www.iheartfaces.com telling me that my photo of Gwynneth was featured on their community website! EEK!! Unfortunately, you can only see the link if you belong to the forum, but I'm still tickled pink! It's always an honor to be recognized, but it means even more when you LOVE an image like I do with this one! :-)

Monday, April 4, 2011

{Gwynneth}

Going through the rest of Gwynneth's proofs tonight and this has got to be my favorite from the session hands down! This will be the last teaser I'll post until her parents have had a chance to see them all. Enjoy! *Special thanks to my Mom for the gorgeous green wrap, my husband for hand crafting the beautiful bed, Beatrice from Sweet Pea Hats for the adorable headband and last, but certainly not least, to my sister Emily for assisting me on this shoot and being my right hand gal! :-)

{Newborn Session - Meet Gwynneth}

Just a quick teaser of beautiful baby Gywnneth who visited me yesterday for her newborn session. Such a GORGEOUS baby and although she didn't want to sleep very much, I still managed to get this shot and LOVE it! This was my first time shooting a session in my house using my new flooring that I've been working on for weeks and the beautiful rustic baby bed that my uber talented husband made for me to use! I'm tickled pink to be able to hold these sessions in my house now instead of lugging all of my props to and from sessions. SO much easier! My sister Emily offered to be my assistant for this session and it was SO much fun working with her and I appreciated her help more than she knows! Enjoy this little teaser of Gwynneth. I'm hoping to release my new blog before too long and when I do I'll add some more images from her session! Enjoy!