by Shelly | Nov 14, 2014 | family, men |
This family! Oh my — THIS family is one of my favorite that I ever have photographed!
What do you do when you have two swoon-worthy college and high school aged sons and it’s been a while since you’ve had family portraits made?
YOU DO IT!
You get a date on the calendar and you make it happen. NO EXCUSES!
It’s no small feat when school and work activities and travel are chaotic. It takes an extra level of commitment to clear the schedule and get everyone into the room in good clothes all at one time, but it is Sooooooooooo worth it.
Kudos to the K family! They DID IT!
Setting up family portraits with older boys takes a special skill because showing a strong and fun relationship in an age-appropriate way can be tricky. What works for toddlers or ten-year-olds tends to fall apart and smell sorta cheesy once the kids are taller than their mother — and I LOVE that challenge.
We were facing some weather challenges and we couldn’t let that stop us either. So, rather than dodge thunderstorms, floods, and mosquitoes, we got a little bit creative and shot in the atrium of Mr. K’s office building. It turned out to be absolutely perfect — and we had air conditioning! That’s such a nice thing to have in this part of the world and it was a HUGE bonus for us!
These boys are handsome. They’re cool. They get along beautifully, and they like to be a little bit silly and goofy too.
Thank goodness! Laugher can carry a family a long long way.
THAT is what I wanted to show.
In a very short time, these boys will both be out of the house and living on their own, but the K family will always have some great artwork on their walls capturing these fleeting and very special days.
I’m so proud of them for making the effort to spend an evening in front a camera, and I am delighted that they spent that evening in front of MY camera because we had one heckuva good time together!
Does your family need portraits one last time before the kids scatter into their own grown up lives? Call me today. Let’s make it happen!
by Shelly | Oct 14, 2014 | baby, family, maternity |
What’s on my mind tonight?
It’s this super sweet family. Tomorrow they will increase their family size by FIFTY PERCENT! 
That’s right! Fifty percent! Sometime tomorrow Baby M and Baby H will join their two big brothers in one of the sweetest young families I’ve met in a very long time.
“OH Daddy, what have we gotten ourselves into? I don’t know, but it’s going to be SWEET! “
Tomorrow is going to be a great day for being born! Friends, please join me in praying for a safe and healthy delivery for two new little Aggie Girls!
by Shelly | Aug 9, 2014 | pets, special project |
I did something just a little bit different this week, and as a result, I fell a little bit in love.
I went to meet and photograph some cats that really would like to go home with a human and STAY.
Oh my catnip, was it fun!
For starters, let’s meet BOOTS —
Boots is a big gorgeous two-year-old hunk who would do well in a home without human kids – — or at least someone who is a real neatnick.
You see, he has a tendency to play with things and eat them. Things like toys and yarn.
As much as he loves hanging out with the staff at Green Trails Animal Clinic in Katy where he’s staying, he says he’d much rather not have to do that surgery thing . . . AGAIN.
OOPS! BURP
So, how did I chance upon Boots and his buddies?
There’s been a sign about adoptable cats on the door at our veterinarian’s office for so long that I almost quit noticing it. Then the last time I stopped in to pick up some meds for our geriatric Aussie, I learned that the clinic currently has 10 cats and 16 kittens that will need to find fur-ever homes.
The kittens aren’t quite ready to go yet, but all the rest of these guys can go home with you TODAY. They are all HEALTHY.
They’ve been spayed or neutered and micro-chipped . . . and they get handled and loved on every minute that the staff can spare.
Oh, and did I say . . . they’re HEALTHY!
So let’s meet some more of this gang.
Seventy is a lovely two-year old Saraparilla Sweetheart. She loves her catnip mouse, and she tells me that she’s really ready to trade in her clinic crate for a cushy pillow in front of someone’s television. She especially likes to watch old sappy chick-flics but says she could learn to like football and WWF.
-MEOW-
Now, if you’d like a cat that’s going to keep you laughing, then you should meet 116
He’s just 19 weeks old. He’s a big lover, and probably the most playful in the bunch. Oh so active. This guy will keep you hopping.
He’s also the brother of 115 below:
115 has a purr motor that you can hear across the room. He’s extremely curious about things, but very cautious at the same time.
Smart Kitty!
I personally think that 115 and 116 would love it if they could stay together.
—PURRRRRRRRRRRRRRR—
So, have you noticed that not all of these cats have real names? Their numbers started remindnig me of Jean ValJean, the hero of Les Miserables —
Valjean, known only as 24601 before he re-entered the free world once told Marius “You have love. That’s the only future God gives us.”
—
This is 107. She’s a playful 10 month old female tabby who needs love. She needs a future. Do you see some Cosette in her eyes?
I do.
meow meow meow
And now there’s ALICE.
Alice might be a Maine Coon Cat. She’s a big ol’gal at 13 months.
She’s got that deep growly kind of meow — the kind that says she knows what she wants and you ARE going to get it for her.
She’s very vocal, a big lover, and playful too.
If I could take one of these kitties home, I think Alice would be my choice but our geriatric Aussie would probably think we were breaking in a replacement for her, and it’s just not worth the trauma.
-PURR-
Our next guy is #76.
He’s a two-year old tabby with piercing green eyes. In addition to lots of love, he needs a special diet because he’s prone to urinary problems, but the clinic staff says that as long as he stays on that diet he is as good as gold. I only told you that in the interest of full disclosure, but SERIOUSLY, it shouldn’t be a huge issue in finding his new home.
-MEOW-
Awww ——— Next we have 113. He’s just 18 weeks old, and he’s a sweet mellow bundle of love. I think the 13 moniker makes him a lucky charm for somebody.
PURR-PURR-PURR
Our next guy, who looks like a Russian Blue, probably needs a Russian name.
But he’s shy and he doesn’t speak Russian — OR English for that matter.
He probably wouldn’t care if you named him Sobaka, which means DOG in Russian. He will just be happy for you to notice how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL he is.
In the meantime, we’ll just call him 120.
-PURR-MEOW-PURR-
And finally, I’m thrilled to introduce you to Snow White. She’s a two-yearol Blue Point Lynx who finds great comfort in her very own cardboard box.
Yep — a cardboard box. She’s NOT a high maintenance gal.
She’s a bit cross-eyed, but she’s a sweetie who deserves a Happily Ever After.
Dontcha think?
-MEOW-
ALL of these cats are safely tucked away waiting for you to come visit during business hours at Green Trails Animal Clinic.
They’re at 19825 Greenwind Chase, Houston, 77094.
You can talk to their caretakers by calling 281.492-6100.
Again — they’re all healthy, spayed and neutered, microchipped in case they happen to go wandering — and they just want a home to call their own.
Go take a look. If you don’t take home a new family member, you’ll at least leave a little bit of your heart behind — and there’s nothing wrong with that.
MEOW!
by Shelly | Jul 3, 2014 | senior gals, senior portraits |
Katt and her family traveled a long long way for her senior portraits.
Okay — they were in Houston anyway, but they planned their trip so that it would include time for a senior portrait session in our studio. Oh, my. We had a great time creating stunning images unlike ANYTHING that her classmates back in Midland, Texas would have.
Some of our best sessions begin like this one did . . . with my senior in the magical hands of Rachael Elise Walker of Elise Artistry.
Rachael spends a full hour or more right here in the studio with our seniors, enhancing all their best features and creating a high-fashion look that’s sure to turn heads for the rest of the day
— and for years to come in our heirloom portraits.
Katt looked absolutely SUBLIME in her edgy black and silver-sequined prom dress, especially once she put on those attention-getting yellow platform heels.
WOW! Talk about PUNCH!
Katt rocks her high-fashion look so naturally that, you might be surprised to learn that she knows her way around the barn, too. In fact, we shot her portraits the same day that she sold her two beloved steers.
I was really really proud of her for keeping her emotions in check, because I KNOW I would have been a big blubbering mess if I were the one wearing those yellow shoes.
FFA was a big part of Katt’s high school career, and she especially wanted to make sure that we captured some images to remember an FFA classmate who had lost his life to cancer just a few months earlier. We created a little storyboard for his parents featuring Katt, a sentimental souvenir Batman cape, and of course, her bright orange “Team Chuck” bracelet.
Her aqua lace top looks like it was just MADE for my beach-house, doesn’t it?
Just keeping things cool and breezy! That’s all.
If you think Katt looks familiar, and if you’ve followed my blog for a while, you might actually remember that time I photographed her and the rest of her family a while back.
They are a SUPER GREAT FAMILY, and as an added bonus, we got a guest appearance by her sister, Liz. So whaddaya do with fun loving sisters when they’re in the studio together?
You put them in “THE BOX” and let them play.
Congratulations on your graduation Katt — and best wishes for a super college experience at Tarleton State this fall.
by Shelly | Feb 4, 2014 | family, special project |
Meet The DunGums. They’re a fascinating family. Cobbled Together, Empty Nested, and Widely Scattered. I adore them!
I can hear you now. “What kind of name is DunGum, anyway?” you’re asking.
Well — it’s like this. A few years back, Mr. Dunn, the father of three teen-aged sons met and married the gorgeous, sassy and over-achieving Ms. Mangum who came as a package deal with two sons of her own, and they all piled into one big testosterone-laden house. Before long, the older kids started heading off to college, and soon even the younger ones followed. Somewhere in those family formative years, in an attempt to make everyone feel equally a part of their combined family, they light-heartedly took on the name DunGum.
There, you have it. Better than the Brady Bunch, huh?
Of course as time passed, some of the sons started adding special young women to the fold, and for several years we have tried to get everyone together for that iconic family portrait. We came pretty dang close once, too. Pulled their living room sofa out into the front yard and piled it full of people, but still someone was missing and it never seemed right to produce the canvas.
With kids off at colleges all over the country, and holidays split with among other parents and new in-laws and out-laws, ski trips, and knee replacements, anyone else would have given up, but not Lynet. Kudos to her for being open to a new approach.
We realized that we’d just have to catch everyone when we could and build from there.
Our portrait session spread out over several months, but eventually we captured each individual as well as the married and/or engaged couples. together. We shot with two backgrounds every time. A simple black backdrop and a brick wall. Just a little variety but enough consistency to tie everything together.
Once all of our images were created, we selected a wall sized image of each individual or couple as well as smaller secondary prints of everyone. Lynet wanted a variety of shapes and sizes to hang together on one wall, and my print lab did a beautiful job of formatting the selections into thin-wraps — lightweight, ready-to-hang frameless photographic prints with a mounting block centered on the back.
I’ll have to share a picture of the finished wall at a later date. It’s very nice. While it is not a single traditional family portrait on one canvas, the DunGum’s portrait wall does capture the essence of the entire family at this one stage in their life. Isn’t that what a family portrait is all about anyway?
