Happy Halloween!

This year's carving artistry courtesy of my sister.

If you’ll be in the east St. Paul area tonight with costumed little ones, drop me a note and stop over for photos!

I have been jonesin’ hard to do some newborn photos lately so when my cousin brought her one month old to town when she came for her brother’s wedding (more on that later!), I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to photograph this tiny little one. Even at a month old, she was practically pocket-size.

I’ve photographed big brother (who is now much bigger and who I just might sneak a few more photos of in a few weeks when they all come back) before but before my blogging days. You might recognize him from my main website though.

You think blue eyes run in the family much?

It took a few attempts before she really wanted to fall asleep. Poor me, I had to hold her a few times. A tragedy really, all curled up tiny in my arms, falling asleep. The life of a photographer, I tell ya. And after she fell good and sound asleep, I put her down and took all her clothes and blankets off! There’s no justice in being so little…but I love how easy they are once they’re asleep. :)

Little baby rolls, so cute!

And my favorite for last. How could you not love little baby loaf? What a peanut.

I was so, so sad when they had to leave (we did this session on their way to the airport). She’ll probably be all growed up by the time they come back in six weeks. :(

I haven’t been doing much personal photography these days. I’ve been pretty busy photographing cute kids and weddings and when I’m not…well, sometimes the camera needs a rest, too. :) But a few weeks ago, I was invited on a fall foliage trip with my Dad, Uncle and Jeff Morgan of Elm Studio. (If you’re new to or new help with photography or your camera, you should check out his workshops…he’s an excellent instructor.) My Dad and Uncle spend a lot of time touring the back roads of Wisconsin and knew some good locations so we headed out at a very dark early morning hour in order to make it well into Wisconsin by sunrise.

A sampling of pics from our trip:

It was nice to get out and just mess around for myself. I’m hoping to do a bit more of that this winter. But for now, I’m back to editing kiddo pics!

I went to visit Miss N in her beautiful St. Paul home on Sunday morning. We shot indoors and out, in a few different outfits, and even included their patient (but-not-really-allowed-on-the-bed) dog Dorothy in a few of the pictures.

Check out the explosion of color in these shots!

Here’s another cutie that I met via Woodbury Days. Miss A (I sure do have a lot of A names!) and I met at a park in Woodbury and spent quite awhile running around, collecting leaf and stick treasures, throwing things into the lake and acting out various Little Mermaid and the Girl Who Drives the Boat scenarios. A great imagination on this one, lemme tell ya. :)

A few months ago, I got a call to shoot something I’d never done before…a Bat Mitzvah. I originally thought I was booked for the date requested (which is why I shouldn’t try to arrange bookings while I’m in the car) but it turned out I wasn’t and Mrs K. sounded so nice on the phone that I was totally excited that I was available. I warned her that I knew nothing about Bat Mitzvahs and she promised me that she would clue me in along the way.

Cameras aren’t allowed at the actual Bat Mitzvah ceremony so I met the K Family at Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul on Friday morning for the rehearsal. We did a few family portraits beforehand and then went inside to the Sanctuary where I got to witness some lengthy reading in Hebrew from the Torah done by the lovely Miss N. Of course, I couldn’t understand any of it but it was very impressive to hear and I’m glad I got to experience something new!

Really, how cute are these girls?