We love Moms!

I'm happy to say my fledgling program "A Mother's Story" is going strong, with several area moms already receiving their sessions and a few more in the works. If you haven't already read about it, the program offers complimentary sessions to moms fighting cancer, as a way to honor their struggle and preserve the memories of the time for the moms and their families. After the session, the moms also receive their choice of either a storybook album featuring the images from their session and text of their choice custom designed into a coffee table book, or a session album, with all of the proofs from their session printed as 5x7 prints and mounted into a leather archive book. If you know someone you'd like to nominate for a session, just send me an email and we can start the process immediately. To read more about it, please read the NEW and improved site devoted especially to the program, featuring a testimonial from the first mom in our series. Her words are moving and emotional, heart warming and heart wrenching all at the same time. An excellent reminder to appreciate the little moments, and an absolute reminder to me of why I do what I do.

http://moms.annbeckphotography.com

You can almost smell the baby powder...

Be still my aching heart... this run of babies I've had is killing me! The last thing our circus of a house needs is another little one, but goodness doesn't this little guy just make you melt?







He was so good the entire time.. slept until I'd finished the sleeping poses, then woke up bright eyed and content for some beautiful eye contact..



And a few of the new little family... how I love the excitement of the firstborn.. when everything is still so fresh and amazing, when all the little things we learn to take for granted still seem groundbreaking. I couldn't tell if these two were more in love with each other or the little one.. I'd say there's clearly enough to go around! :)

Tiny Dancer

The last time I saw this little girl, she was barely 18 months old.. quiet and shy, a soft little thing who hardly said a word. This time, on the eve of her 3rd birthday, she has grown into her own little firecracker of a personality and then some. Still soft and sweet.. but with a little kick!

I normally don't allow personal cameras on sessions, but how could I turn down her big brother's budding passion?






She certainly made me work for it.. but it was worth it in the end!

Love at first sight

This little girl was just as sweet as could be. Invited me into her room, showed me her prized possessions, and a few silly giggles later we were best friends.







But her most treasured new toy was in the other room... her baby brother!



He followed the sound of her voice as she fluttered about the room, mesmerized with her sing-song sweetness, completely in love, as was she.





When together, neither could take their eyes off each other, as if they were alone in the room. My only hope is that he remembers this adoration in a few years when she and her friends are convincing him to dress up and have a tea party with them... and a few years later, may she remind herself of how thrilled she was with his arrival when he's sneaking into her room to read her diary.

Oh, sweet sibling bliss. How strong, yet fleeting. ;)

Happy Mother's Day!

I told my girls the only thing I wanted this year was for them to let me take their picture. Yes, you can throw out all the shoemaker's children cliches, but the fact is I am terribly lacking (at least in my opinion) in good, recent portraits of my children. I certainly take a million everyday pictures, but my most recent GREAT shot of them together is almost two years old! And so, I begged. I used every ounce of mom guilt I could muster and got them to sit for me for all of 20 minutes. And almost every single image I got makes my heart melt! ;)







The one that will be my new huge canvas over the mantle...


And the one they earned with good photo behavior...


Hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing day... Goodness knows the moms deserve it!

Jumping Bean

I don't know what my fascination is with jumping... on the ground, on a trampoline, I've shot (and blogged!) more jumping images than humanly possible! But this one was too good to resist.. this girl was flipping and flopping like I'd never seen before, in flight more often than not. Maybe it's that look on her face, the sheer joy as her body feels weightless, if only for a moment, and her hair whips across her face in the momentum of it all.. I'm just trying to bottle that up for a second and remember the thrill!







In my defense, I did have another I loved just as much as these of her on the swing set, so much so that I was considering making a habit of shooting kids on swings, to collect with this one and others as a sort of trademark shot. Until of course a kind (but honest!) friend pointed out that marketing myself as a photographer who specialized in swingers might not be the best career move. ;)

Not exactly prince charming...

But this little princess couldn't care less!

Happy Monday! :)

Take Cover

These were actually shot on a day last week when the umbrella was more needed to sheild the sun, but they seemed appropriate today after a night of crazy weather.

Happy Thursday! Hope you're drying out safely!