This past fall, as I was becoming hugely pregnant myself, I was browsing around on Pinterest and stumbled across a number of photographers who posted maternity boudoir sessions, where the lovely pregnant mama is in lingerie or not much clothing at all, showing off every curve of her amazing belly.  I decided that I would LOVE to do a session like that.

I put out a call for models and the lovely Jacklin answered my call!  I also contacted two friends: Fatima Djelmane, a past client and makeup artist here in L.A., as well as Annalee Autumn Jones, a model and photographer herself who I knew could assist with posing and help Jacklin look as relaxed and amazing as possible!  Their contributions were invaluable to the session and I couldn’t have done it without them!  I think they totally brought out the goddess in Jacklin, and that was exactly what I was going for.

Pregnancy does some pretty amazing things to a woman’s body, and I wanted to do my best to capture that, show it off in all its glory.  Jacklin looked absolutely amazing, and I hope I did her justice!

We met at one of my favorite parks here in the valley on a chilly and SUPER windy morning in January.  As most great one year olds, these two kept us all on our toes.  There was lots of grabbing dirt and rocks and shoving them into mouths (and grass as you can see from one of the photos below) and of course lots of wiggling.  Quentin gives the best grumpy faces EVER (Michelle and John refer to him as “tough guy”) and Zachary’s whole face lights up when he smiles.

I am so sad that our year has come to an end, but I hope I get to see this wonderful family again!

Mamiya 645 AFD, Portra 400, Ektar 100

We did a quick mini session in the Venice canals late last November on an overcast afternoon.  Will is a little dude on the go who wanted to show off his walking skills, and between him running every which way and the crowds of tourists stomping through our shots (seriously – never doing a session in the canals on a weekend EVER again), we were working our butts off!

We got some awesome shots.  My very favorites are the ones (of course) of Tony and Kristen snuggling their little boy.  This was also the first time that I developed a whole session in black and white (had been wanting to do that for a long time!) and I adore it.  I love seeing my friends as parents, loving on their son, seeing their faces light up when he smiles.  The best

Thank you both for sharing such a special time with me!

Thanks again, Sarah and Greg.  Can’t wait to see you next year

Through the exhaustion there is joy, oh so much joy.  I just marvel at her perfection, her amazing HUGE blue eyes just like her sister’s, her long eyelashes, her round little tummy, her little round head.  She has just started cooing and “talking” when we play with her, and has really started giving us big smiles, which is The.  Best.  She likes it when we sing to her.  Her favorite is “Winnie the Pooh”.

I love watching my husband with her, tickling her tummy with his beard, bouncing on the yoga ball with the baby strapped to his chest while typing away on his laptop.  We stopped to grab some dinner the other night and were walking back to the car, and he was carrying the car seat with the baby in one hand and was holding our four year old’s hand with the other.  From behind me I heard him say to himself “I am such a lucky man”.  I think my heart exploded.

Seeing my girls together is absolutely incredible.  Áine, our four year old, calls her little sister “Sissy” and “Sweetie”.  When her baby sister cries, Áine tells her not to be sad because “as long as I’m here, you’re ok”.  She sings her songs, and holds her for a couple minutes before telling me “Mama, you can have her back now”.  Every so often I find the baby asleep in her bouncy seat with toys around her (or on her head) because Áine wanted to share with her.  When I bring the baby with me to pick Áine up at school, as soon as she sees us round the corner she yells “MY SISTER IS HERE!”  Saoirse turns her head towards the sound of Áine’s voice, and her eyes light up when she sees her face.

Here are a few photos from the past nine weeks.  I haven’t taken as many as I’d like and the photographer in me is kicking myself for not capturing some of the smaller, quieter moments.  But I’m telling myself to just soak it all in, to memorize it and enjoy it, to be present without a camera held in front of my face.  I will be forever grateful for the photos I have taken, though.  They will always ALWAYS make me smile.

Kim’s kids were the easiest kids to photograph I have ever met.  I  pointed the camera at them and they just started laughing.  They were also so happy to cuddle together, to be affectionate and show their love to one another.  Just the best

Also, as a special treat at the end the kids had brought their Halloween costumes.  They had all been Star Wars characters and wanted to get an awesome picture of all of them dressed up.  I LOVE this shot, and so does Kim.  She wrote me after she viewed her gallery: ”I adore the Star Wars picture. It commemorates such a happy time in their sibling-hood. I know Avery is heading into the “tween” stage so the time with them playing together as three musketeers is running out – you have no idea how happy I am. I can’t thank you enough.”

And that is what it is all about for me.  Capturing moments and memories for a family to treasure forever.