Earlier this week, one of my closest friends, Kelsey, welcomed her second daughter. I was lucky enough to meet sweet little Piper and photograph her on her very first day earth side. Piper joins her big sister, Avery, who seems to be settling into her new role so well. It was such an amazing experience to get to document a small part of their first day together, and I cannot wait to see how their bond develops as they grow up together. Here are just a few shots from Piper’s big day.
A couple weeks ago {on my birthday, actually}, I shot an engagement session for Nikki & Brian at the Urban Ecology Center in downtown Milwaukee. This was my first true engagement session, and I really enjoyed getting out of my element a bit. I am used to shooting mostly kids who don’t take direction at all, so it was fun to be able to play creatively and pose them a bit. Nikki & Brian were pretty laid back, and they only had one request: that I include their pup, Vader, as much as possible. That was simple, since he is so stinkin’ cute. I had a great time with the three of them. Below is a sneak peak of the shoot.
On another note, the Urban Ecology Center is pretty amazing if you live in the Milwaukee area. Not only is it an awesome natural setting for photography (with a few urban/industrial settings as well), but it’s a great place to walk, bike, and explore, and they have a resource center with a lot of fun activities and events. We have taken Ellie there, and she’s had an absolute blast. The best part? It’s free.
We spent the long holiday weekend celebrating Sonja & Dan, some of our dearest friends. They are getting married this fall, at a beautiful winery on Halloween. Instead of having traditional separate Bachelor and Bachelorette parties, they decided to have one big weekend celebration together. Sonja & Dan, their bridal parties & significant others, and their parents all headed up to Castle Rock Lake, in central Wisconsin, where we rented a huge cabin on the lake.
{As a side note, Dan & I left Ellie overnight for the first time! I spent one night away from her earlier in the summer, but she was with Dan that time. She stayed with her Mema & Grandpa all three nights, and she did great. We got some much needed adult time, slept in, and didn’t have to worry about entertaining a little person all weekend. After three days though, we missed her so much and were ready to have her back 🙂 }.
On Saturday afternoon, the women had a little bridal shower for Sonja, while the men spent the afternoon out on the lake, fishing and swimming. At the shower we made flower crowns, sipped cocktails, and learned how to be good wives {a joke, of course}.
On Saturday evening, we went for late ride on the pontoon, and went swimming in the middle of the lake after dark. It was a little scary, but oh so fun. And the sky was beautiful at sunset!
On Sunday, we all loaded on to the pontoon and spent the day out on the lake. We fished, swam, and did some cliff jumping. The weather was perfect.
Sunday evening, we got out the jet ski, and a few people tried out the flyboard and hoverboard. If you haven’t seen these before, give them a google search. They are so cool! I didn’t get the chance to try it, but from what I heard from those who did, the flyboard wasn’t too difficult. Even Dan was able to get out of the water on it {see photo below}.
Sonja has been one of my best friends for over fifteen years, and throughout that time I’ve become really close to her family. I also just adore Dan, and his family and friends are wonderful too. It was so much fun to be able to spend three uninterrupted days surrounded by good people in such a beautiful place. I absolutely cannot wait for the wedding!
By no means do I consider myself a photographer. But I do love taking and editing photos, so when I get an opportunity to take photos for friends, I jump. Last weekend, I shot some family photos for my friend, Kelsey {who you’ve probably seen pop up on here from time to time}. Her daughter Avery is 19 months old – she is full of smiles, wiggles, and curiosity, making her a fun, yet challenging, subject to shoot. The weather wasn’t great, but we made the most of it and got a few pictures that we are really happy with. Enjoy!
To capture Ellie’s one-year milestone, I decided to shoot a few portraits of her. I almost always prefer lifestyle photography over posed portraits, because I think they more accurately capture personality and I love the idea of showing people in their own element. But, there is definitely a time and place for portrait-style photography. For example, when Eloise was first born, we had studio photos taken of her and our family, and I absolutely adore them. Also, because I am constantly taking pictures of her running around our house and playing outside, I thought it would be nice to do something a little different to document this special occasion.
Let me tell you, getting a 13-month-old to sit still and cooperate was tough. Because we have a relatively small apartment with a lot of windows, I only had a small area of wall space to work with. She was constantly running in and out of the frame and climbing off her chair. When we got outside, she was even more distracted. But, in the end, I am so happy with how the pictures turned out, and I think they capture her personality perfectly.
Eloise’s feather crown is from A Tiny Arrow // romper and dress are from Gap
Last Saturday, we celebrated Eloise’s 1st birthday with a small get together at our apartment with our families and a few close friends. As you may remember from an earlier post, our theme was “with grace in her heart & flowers in her hair.” This meant lots of fresh flowers (some silk ones too), bright colors, flowy dresses, and moccasins. For food, we kept it pretty simple – brats and veggie burgers on the grill, pasta salads, chips and dip, and a few homemade sweets. We also made a pretty tasty sangria {recipe to come later}. The weather was perfect, and we had a wonderful time!
We got miss E all dressed up in a floral crown {made by my creative and oh so talented mama}, a sweet little embroidered dress, and her new moccasins. She made the perfect little boho birthday girl! She even let me snap a few portraits of her before the party.
For Ellie’s cake, we decided to make a slightly larger version of the cupcakes we made for the rest of the party goers, using a giant muffin tin. We actually just used white cake box mix and added our own homemade buttercream frosting. They turned out awesome! As you can see, E was a little apprehensive at first, but soon figured out what to do with it. I think she liked it {although, she seemed to like the chocolate bars better, just like her mama}.
We had the best time celebrating our sweet girl. Thank you to everyone that helped to make her day special. I can’t believe she is already one!
Last Saturday, I spent the afternoon with Kelsey and her daughter, Avery. Avery is about six months older than Eloise, and it has been so much fun watching the two of them grow up together and start to show an interest in each other. While Eloise was napping, I was able to snap a few photos of Avery. She is turning into such a beautiful, silly, and sweet little girl.
the pios 