Awwwwwwwwwwwww

That's the only title I could think of for this blog post. When I look at this cute little face and those amazing blue eyes I can only say "Awwwwwwwwwww!"



This little guy is my grammar school friend Nicole's baby. I took him at 2 months old (Christmas photos) and I wanted to take him again for his 8 month portraits.

I drove to meet them at Villanova University yesterday even though it was about 100 degrees. We desperately tried to find all the shady spots and I ended up getting so many great photo ops of baby and baby & mom.





Even grandma got in a couple shots and I'm so pleased how the 50mm lens performed for all of the shots!





There were so many that I love but I'm still editing them slightly and I may share more soon.

JuJu

More from Erin & Noel's wedding.

Lil "JuJu" is so super cute. I had to give him his own blog post.

Such a little man in his tuxedo!

Avon By The Sea & The Figura Sisters - Creative Edits

If you know me....you'll know that I love to put a little twist on many of my edits. I always do the classic color edit but when I really love a photo I can't help but give it some kind of twist in Photoshop.

Below are edits I did last night of the Figura Sisters from our beach shoot near Spring Lake & Avon By The Sea, NJ. To see more from their shoot click HERE.

I look at the photo and try to imagine what "emotion" I'd like to evoke with the photo. Sometimes it's a simple B&W conversion with the levels tweaked on the darker side, sometimes it's an action where I lower the opacity so it's not as intense and other times it's a texture applied - just because I like to be "different." LOL! These edits are not everyone's cup of tea but I love them. It's my way of being creative even though I'm "on the job."

In the examples below you'll see quite a few of the Pioneer Woman's Vintage action applied to quite a few of these (I didn't leave the action exactly as it finished...I lowered the opacity on it.). I felt it worked with a lot of these. Maybe it's because they reminded me a of a jean company advertisement from a magazine...and the softened antique look worked really well.

(click to view LARGER....much better that way!)

The same antiqu action as above, lowered opacity, and then B&W conversion over it.







I love a great texture. You can really do so much with them. It's not for everyone....but it's definitely for ME!



I really like the tones on this one! It's an action that I stop a 1/4 of the way through and then I undo a few more steps to get this coloring. I also burned the sky to make it more dramatic. My kind of sky.....



Sisters will be sisters. I love this conversion...I burned the sky a bit here as well.



The antique action again but this time I barely lowered the opacity.



Another texture!




Simple B&W conversion...



And another texture!

Family Portraits at Farrington Manor

When I photographed the "S. Family" Communion party I was given the opportunity to take some of the families outside on the beautiful grounds of the Farrington Manor and do family/children's portraits.

Even though the families had under five minutes each - I think I was able to capture their personalities in the selection of photos that I provided them.

To see all of the blog posts for the "S. Family's" Communion party click HERE.

Here are some favorites of each of the families:

(click to view LARGER)

You Couldn't Even Stage Moments Like These If You Tried!

Final photos to share of the "B. Family!" I've completed all of the work from their session with me.

Thanks to the B. Family for letting me spend a couple hours in your lives. You have a great family and you can tell by the interactions and love you see in the photos. Thanks for a great session! As I mentioned to "M" - this is why I do what I do!

To see all of the B. Family photos posted in the series click HERE.

(Click to view LARGER)