Dance recitals mean dance portraits. My daughter is in dance class and absolutely loves it. She loves being on stage and thrives on the attention. Stage fright is definitely not an issue with her. This was year two of classes and I realized the DAY BEFORE her recital that I still had not taken her official dance portraits. Slacker mom indeed. So I set up all my equipment (which was a BREEZE compared to getting her dressed), dressed my daughter, did her hair (oh the ballet bun…gah), and took her official portraits. She was thrilled. Mommy was not quite so thrilled (seeing as I’d be getting her all dressed again the NEXT DAY for her recital *cough*ballet bun*cough*), but I can blame no one but myself.

Until next year ballet bun…

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I had the pleasure of photographing this First Communion session at Lock Ridge Park in Alburtis PA back in May. This was my first time at this park and boy was it beautiful. So many places to inspire beautiful pictures, and of course I had the PERFECT model for those portraits. We went all over the park -even the places that required a small hike to access. Didn’t matter that she was in a gorgeous white dress, she was fearless. Between the ruins, the bridge, the old mine tracks and the flower garden there was no end to the beauty we found here.

This was such a fantastic session and I really hope to make it back to Lock Ridge Park again soon. I bet fall sessions would be gorgeous here too! 😉

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This family was the first of my NJ mini sessions a few months ago (yes, I am painfully behind on my blog). Tina and I worked together once upon a time, and were pregnant with our first two kids at the same time (when she got pregnant with her daughter, I may or may not have plugged my ears and pretended not to know -though I did have fun snuggling her when I took her newborn pictures). It was great to meet up again.

It was super fun to see the whole gang together. This session was a mix of First Communion, Baptism, and family. Which was perfect. What a beautiful family too. The boys are definitely boys and made me laugh the whole time. They just wanted out of their suits and to be able to run around. They were great sports about everything.

Boys being boys. 🙂

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Meet beautiful Olivia! I was so thrilled to be asked to take her First Communion portraits during my mini sessions. We had a beautiful warm morning and she was such a pleasure to photograph. I love the dresses and accessories little girls wear, right down to their adorable matching shoes! Plus Olivia was up for everything; sitting down, leaning against the fence, etc. all while wearing her dress. Made it fun for me!

Did I mention how beautiful she is?

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I’m taking a quick minute to give a personal update (even though I know I am about 4 sessions behind on this blog; I’ll catch up I swear!). This weekend my we celebrated my son’s First Holy Communion. It was a very special, fun, and hectic day. Alex, in his typical fashion, was not at all nervous about this day. I remember as a kid when it was my first communion I was a ball of nerves. Not my kid. Cool as a cucumber. In fact, walking into the mass during the processional he was all smiles and waving to family members. All the other kids were stoic or reverent. My son would’ve stopped to shake hands if he could have. That’s not to say he wasn’t taking it seriously, because he most certainly was. He was just THAT excited.

Then, minutes after receiving his first holy communion, I snapped this shot. Which is so emotional to me. I know my kid, and in this moment not only was he praying, but I know he was also releasing his nerves. Alex can put up a great front, but mama knows how he ticks.

OK, back to the day. Being a photographer, this day was WAY more stressful to me than it should have been. I needed to have GOOD seats. And not just any ‘good’ seats. I needed to be seated in the center aisle, on the end, and on the left (since the boys would be on the left side). Since no flash was allowed I knew I needed to use a long focal length that allowed me to open up and not jack the ISO way up (have I lost you? Sorry). Oh, and then I wanted to be able to run along to the side to get an action shot of him actually receiving the communion.

So yea, my goals were completely rational and doable.

Except it was a FULL ceremony. Naturally.

I didn’t want to be obnoxious and block any parent from doing the same thing I was doing, so I talked to a couple friends before the ceremony started and planned to jump into the pew with them to snap pictures of our kids. But then at the big moment I couldn’t find where they were seated! Because that’s how these things work right? Thankfully I found my son’s classroom aides who allowed me to squeeze into the pew with them to snap my pictures of the actual moment. Which I am grateful for because I LOVE having the actual moment and his reaction to it documented. Talk about special.

Let’s get started.

Since I have ants in my pants I was able to grab some pictures of the kids lining up to walk into the mass. My little man is so used to mommy having a camera in his face that seeing me at the key locations during his ceremony was in no way a surprise to him.

Guess who spotted the family?

Lining up for the big moment

THE moment. And I got it.

Oh look, mommy is here too. 🙂

After the ceremony we snapped a couple pictures with his friends, but didn’t hang around to take our formal pictures. It was midday without a cloud in the sky and so crowded that I decided it was better to take pictures near our house. Besides, I had already taken Alex’s formal portraits so I wasn’t going to fight the crowds for bright, squinty eyed pictures. If it was a cloudy day I might have made a different choice, but this worked out best for us.

A couple of Alex’s formal portraits.

And then day of with nonno and nonna

Our little family

Then it was time to party!

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