SWEET!

(cupcakes by: Trophy Cupcakes (omgsogood), decorative wrappers by: Bella Cupcake Couture)

Tomorrow I will be joining the live audience at the CreativeLIVE studio for a holiday cupcake and cookie decorating class. I couldn't be more excited! If you haven't heard of CreativeLIVE, run -do not walk- to their website. They offer amazing courses (most often about photography, but creativity has no limits!) that are FREE when viewed live, and are offered at an amazing price as downloads. It's a world wide classroom at its finest.

So you can imagine how stoked I am to get to learn about delicious decorations in this amazing manner! I love baking, but let's just say I lean towards unfinished cookies and cakes with messy toppings, because I can never get icing just right. I cannot wait to learn!

I hope you'll join me in the morning by tuning in LIVE, and if you can't make it, I'm sure the class will be more than worth purchasing the download.

P.S. If you know me even a little, you will know just how bad my sweet tooth can be! Don't get your hopes up that any finished delicacies will actually make it out of my kitchen, unless it's to pose for a portrait!

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Reflecting

One thing I love about photography is that it may be cold outside and ready to snow, but I can lose myself in an image and just like that, it's summer again. For a moment, Bella is newly three, the sun is bright, laughter is everywhere, and the air smells of grass and dandelions.



And then, back to my hot chocolate and dark cozy windows and I trudge nostalgically through a year of family photos. :O)

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Feeling like fall

Who else has been up to their elbows in pumpkins lately? Perhaps even a few pumpkin lattes?

(Not up to your elbows, of course.)

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! Well, and a happy October for that matter!

For me, autumn is all about the leaves! We've been having such a wonderfully dry autumn here, and it's the first year that Bella has really gotten to play in the leaves! Last year, Lillia couldn't stand the sound of leaves so piles of them were OUT! This year has been so much better.

It reminds me of being back in New England. We even had frost-coated leaves this morning, and I ran Bella out of the house to show her. Yes, I love fall that much.

These images of Bella playing in the leaves sum it all up for me. Happiness, anticipation, wonder, and freedom. All in one big pile. :O)

I would love to hear how you're celebrating this fall!

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Golden

Boy, do I have a great sneak peek for you tonight!

This was a session thrice rescheduled, and we were so lucky to catch one of the last days of beautiful evening sunlight. My favorites are below - I couldn't help but share a few more than usual!

What a family! Ashwin is the perfect mixture of sweet, goofy, and energetic. He was all over the place exploring the park.

Such a gorgeous evening, and such a delightful time spent with friends! We also did a few head shots during this session for Tara's business, Startup Recroot, so there's more to come!

P.S. My parents moved cross country to join us here and my schedule gets busier every day! I'm working on posts left and right and can't wait to share some of this year's favorite client slideshows with you soon.  :O)

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On photographs and time

How many years will it be until no one remembers who you are?



I just watched this brief documentary on school portraits, those images dreaded by all students and loved by (almost) all parents. They show nothing but a shell of the vibrant person inside, give no indication of our actual selves, and serve only to document the passing of time. And that last reason is why so many people cannot resist them.

At the end of the documentary, the narrator observes that time is relentless and no amount of photographs will keep us from disappearing from memory. I'd like to hope that it's not true, but time will go on forever, I suppose. Still, I hope dearly that my girls and their children will see our endless flood of photos and someday piece together who I was and am to them. Maybe in that respect, the legacy will continue and there will always be a bit of me (and them) trickling down through time.

A few years ago, Vivian Maier became posthumously famous after a historian came across hundreds of thousands of undeveloped images she had taken in her lifetime. Amongst them are millions of people frozen in time, and I wonder how many are already forgotten. We can imagine so much about them from Vivian's very candid images. I can only imagine how much more would be lost to time if she had sat each person down and asked them to smile. There is so much to be gained in documenting more than just the shell.

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A bit on hair

I'm not really big on doing hair. Bella didn't need a hair cut until she was two, and I started trimming it mostly to keep it from tangling and hanging in her eyes. After her third birthday I gave her bangs, which I trimmed again this week (but they seem so plain). I think next time I will try to go for this look again, which she had in April. It is the perfect shape.

And don't mind Bella. She was burning up with 103 degree fever this day, but thoroughly enjoying a movie in her new birthday dress.

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April

One I found of Bella from April.  I'm chipping away at our family photos, little by little.

I also have some great sessions to share. Time to get blogging!

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