St. Patrick’s Day.

I woke up at 4:30 am this morning so I could hit the gym before a busy day.  I needed to make room for some fun later!  In my adulthood St Patrick’s Day has been filled with the traditions we save solely for the day of the Irish.  Oh “black and tans” and “car bombs”, how I’ve dreamt of you since last March.  Yes, with Irish blood, I love just about anything that contains Guinness.  Of course after having a baby, one can’t indulge in so many liquid calories without some Irish guilt.  Sane?  No.  Irish?  Yes.

This year, to reward my efforts, I’m really looking forward to these Sweet Indulgence Guinness cupcakes after lunch, and a nice cold pint of the real thing after dinner!

What makes St. Patrick’s Day so special?  What I really love, besides rocking my green sweater, is the memories of my childhood.  In elementary school, while all of my classmates were taking ballet and jazz class, I was dutifully holding a ruler behind my back learning to Irish Step Dance.  In elementary school, one doesn’t necessarily like being different.  I, for one, just wanted to fit in.  But when St. Patrick’s day rolled around each year, everything changed.  My parents would take me out of school and we would travel with my dance troupe hitting every local Irish Pub along our travels.  It was something special.  Something my two brothers didn’t get to do.  Something the rest of my class didn’t get to do.  Somewhere I could shine.

We started the morning at Warwick City Hall, dancing on the steps for the mayor.  Then Warwick Mall.  The State House.  The Harp and Shamrock.  The Shannon View.  The Wind Jammer at Rocky Point.  But the very best part was finishing the day at Twin Oaks. My grandparents were regulars in the Oak Room (the back bar as we called it).  We would meet them for a late lunch, they would prop me up where everyone could see, and I would dance for the room as all of their friends passed a cup around!  If you’ve met me before, you know I’m currently about the size of a 12 year old.  Approaching 30, I still get carded.  I’ve been that way my whole life.  When I was 6, I looked 3.  (Just by looking at the photo above, you can see my dance shoes were smaller than a 4×6″ note card!)  I had strawberry hair, freckles, the whole Irish bit.  Everyone gushed.  “Who is that red-headed toddler dancing so well???”  Of course I was 6, but they didn’t have to know.  Those early days of Irish Step dancing pretty much paid for my first car!

My grandfather once said to me “I don’t get it.  When I was a kid, nobody wanted to stick out.  We all wore the same thing, parted our hair the same way.  No one wanted to be different.  Your generation, everyone wants to be unique!”  But, deep down doesn’t everyone want to shine?

Well, St. Patrick’s Day is that day for the Irish.  A day to shine.  A day to celebrate.  A day to remember your smiles and forget your troubles.  And for anyone who isn’t Irish, go throw on some green and join us in the party!

“May the sound of happy music, And the lilt of Irish laughter, fill your heart with gladness, that stays forever after.” – Irish Toast

Head into Twin Oaks today for some corned beef and cabbage and one of these delicious Sweet Indulgence cupcakes.  Unfortunately I won’t be dancing in the back bar, but perhaps you’ll see some other Irish Step Dancer in your travels, enjoying her day to shine!

The W family has been patiently waiting for this preview and I’m so excited to finally share it!  This was my last newborn session before jetting off the the Bahamas for a week with my husband so I’m just catching up with everything now.  Baby C gave me such a nice send off.  He was perfectly sweet and sleepy and adorable.  Mom and dad were SO easygoing and one could tell it was because they were so happy gazing at their newborn boy, they didn’t have another care in the world.  Enjoy your preview!

Inspired by Heidi’s well deserved tropical vacation, we’ve put together a Spring what-to-wear guide for girls that coordinate nicely with some of the new props here at the studio.  For this what-to-wear we used pieces from the adorable crewcuts collection by  j.Crew.  Check out our other what-to-wear guides here and here.

Another one of my 2010 newborns is already 1 year old!  MJ is just as handsome as ever.  Thank goodness he is so photogenic because he was not having a good afternoon when he came to visit this week.  He might have spent a total of 10 minutes actually in front of my camera, but in between crying, he flashed a few adorable smiles and we ended up with some adorable portraits after all!  Poor little man.  It’s hard work being so cute!  Don’t worry mom, these all look great!!

Talk about a beautiful pregnancy! I was prepping this preview and one of our editors said “What is with our maternity clients lately? They all look like SUPERMODELS!” Seriously! I have been just loving our maternity sessions lately. Moms-to-be come in feeling a little timid with their changing body. You know how the last trimester goes, what you bought last week already doesn’t fit, never mind finding matching jewelry and shoes! They say “I don’t care what you do, just please make me look good again!” Well, these women already look amazing, but I love capturing their beauty and making them realize it. It feels so good when a couple walks out of a maternity session and the dad says “that was actually fun, thanks!” and mom says “that was so much easier than I thought it would be!”, but the best part is when they see their gallery. When mom says “I can’t believe that’s me, I feel so beautiful!”, THAT is why I adore maternity sessions.

Well T and H were a gorgeous young couple from Boston. I was SO SAD to hear they will be moving back to California shortly after their newborn sessions because they were so much fun to work with. Hopefully they’ll fly that baby out for me to photograph again some day… or maybe I will just have to come to them! Hmmmm, Southern California isn’t sounding too bad right now (currently 20 degrees in Warwick)! Thanks for the fun morning. H, you look beyond amazing. Enjoy these last few weeks and I can’t wait to hear your good news.

Baby A is quite the fashionista!  I joke with her mom that I would love her to style all of my shoots as I’ve loved every outfit I’ve seen A in over the past year.  But I’m only half joking!  A has a greater wardrobe than I, that’s for sure!  This week we celebrated her first birthday with a fabulous cake smash.  She just loved the cake and I just loved capturing it all.  Especially the little details.  It just so happened that baby A saved her first steps for our studio!  It was so thrilling to watch and photograph :0)  Happy birthday A!  Enjoy your preview.

Baby N is surely one of the happiest babies I’ve ever photographed.  I feel like it was just yesterday that I took her newborn photos, and here she was standing in front of my camera already as a birthday girl!  N’s grandmother made her beautiful birthday skirt, perfect for her lady bug party theme.  The lady bug cake by sweet indulgence was the perfect way to end our session.  N smiled the whole way through it all!  Her joy was infectious!  Enjoy your preview :0)

I couldn’t wait to get started on this week’s previews. Any “creative type” can tell you that there are times we feel “stuck” and there are times we feel about ready to explode with ideas. In those stuck times I look for inspiration around me. I frequently browse flickr and pinterest along with each of the online retailers filling my inbox with ads every morning. I create a sort-of digital sketchbook out of anything that speaks to me. A photograph, the way the light filters through a window, a color pallet, a piece of shabby furniture, a pair of shoes I would die for. Anything really. I think admiring the beauty around us helps to shape our creativity in some way…. developing our taste as artists, and contributing to the overall style of our work. Sure it takes some time, but it certainly gets me out of my creative ruts when needed! Well I’m happy to say I’m experiencing the joy of a creative upswing these days. I feel full of ideas and short on time, but I’m really thrilled with the work that is coming out of all of it. I’ve been in total groove with maternities lately, baby’s have been oh-so-good to me, and even the toughest of newborns sessions are still ending up with a gallery I’m thrilled with!

Take this 3 month old for example. Baby G was born weighing only 3 pounds so the newborn session we planned with mom and dad never was. They instead came in for a 3 month session because they still wanted to capture him when he was an infant. By six months babies have grown so much, we didn’t want to miss these moments. 3 month sessions can certainly be unpredictable. Babies are in an in-between phase for photography. They are not sleepy like newborns, often protest being naked or laid in a basket (wouldn’t you?), but they cannot yet support themselves in most poses. So 3 month sessions can be somewhat limited in those respects. But, not baby G!! Oh was he a dream! He was adorable and expressive when awake, didn’t protest being laid in a suitcase or a planter and at the end of the session he fell asleep peacefully for the beautiful newborn style portraits that mom and dad had their heart set on when we first booked their session. G was one happy and very loved baby. Having parents who were so laid back and loving in the room made my job that much easier!! I am just loving this 3 month session!  Enjoy your preview.

I had a blast photographing our mini sessions last Friday! For anyone unfamiliar with our mini sessions, they are only about 1/4 of our regular sessions in time, lasting only about 15 minutes. With little time to warm up to the camera, we jump into the shoot feet first (literally!). Kids can run around, play and jump on the bed, all while I chase them around trying to capture all of those little expressions in between. High Energy! Mini sessions aren’t for the timid, that’s for sure! Of course last Friday turned out to be the DARKEST day in my studio all year. It was pouring rain outside and the light was terrible. Needless to say my camera settings were a challenge trying to photograph 12 children who were under 3 (hello slow shutter speeds and small fstop numbers)… but I do love a challenge! All of these little ones were absolutely fantastic. Sweet and fun and full of personality! Thanks for such a refreshing day!

Here is just a little glimpse of the fun I had with the G family last week.  They kept me laughing the entire session!  I don’t typically photograph families this large in my teeny studio, but our day turned out to be close to zero degrees with the windchill, so we were all happy to be indoors instead!!  There were so many different combinations that we photographed that I’m only sharing these two little previews so as to not leave anyone out…. or have a mammoth 2 page preview!  The love of this family was certainly a joy to capture.  Enjoy your preview.