estitxu +1

.

we’re all grown up now. when did that happen? esti and i go way back to those carefree teenage summers. back when your biggest worry was getting bored or not knowing what to wear. fast forward a decade or two and she books a maternity session with me. of course, i have a million little stories of way back when, so doing this session was definitely a fun time full of ridiculous memories (like when she made me sleep in a room full of china dolls and marilyn manson posters staring at me) and it was obviously a thrill to spend some time together after all these years. we got lost in the tall grass, abandoned castle, and ended up hanging out until way past sunset, joking at each other’s flaws, and catching up on life. so it seems that maybe we haven’t grown up so much after all. 

mays +1!

thunderstorms. that’s what we kept seeing when we checked for the weather that day. dreadful. scary. lightning. russ, his wife sarah, and i kind of decided to give it a go anyway and we went to the lake house to try to capture the emotion during this special day. i can see how to the average bystander it would have seemed like any other rainy summer day, but to them it was a milestone. not only was it their 7th wedding anniversary. not only where they celebrating the life of their toddler and a baby girl on the way. no. they were also celebrating 15 years together. yes, they are one of those lucky couples who found each other as early as high school, fought to make things work during the college years, and now can reap the benefits. it’s a bit odd to think of having spent half of their lives together, but for them? They wouldn’t have it any other day. they make it look easy. so with all of that in mind, and scattered showers here and there, we were able to get enough of a break from the rain to do a session and enough rain to break the session into little manageable stress-free chunks. so next time they’re calling for rain and i?m around? i think I’ll just pull out my camera and start all over again.

hello chloe!

no words. truth time: everyone who knows me knows i am a big talker. let’s just get that out of the way from the very beginning. it is because of this that i find myself equally surprised every week by the exact same thing. you see, i have been photographing newborns and new families all year long, intensely, and i have to say that every time i look through the photographs and try think of what to say about them on their blog post I find myself to be at a complete loss for words. yes, i really enjoyed meeting josu and jina and their gorgeous chloe. yes, it was an equally fun and challenging experience. and yes, i absolutely love what i do… but when i look at their big smiles and glowing faces. so fresh. so new. so absolutely pouring with love, surprise, fear, and complete delight over their brand new baby girl… all i can say is that it might just be true, a picture is worth a thousand words… so here’s a couple of them to get you talking! 😉

hello tiago!

pack mule. that’s what i looked like on my way to this newborn session. in addition to my regular gear bag, when i shoot a newborn session i also have to bring all sorts of props along with a backdrop. because public transportation is so great in spain (and parking spots are so hard to find) i happen to be dragging all these things around the metro. you can imagine how splendid i look when i get there. but not as splendid as this little family, of course. i will always have a special place in my heart for marcos and juli. probably because i’ve known marcos ever since we were both 16 or so. it’s such an interesting thing to be able to see who you were when you met and also see how far you’ve come. and he has really turned into the family man! i was delighted when we first booked a maternity session for this firstborn hugo, and even more so when we booked our maternity session this summer for little tiago, but i have so say that my favourite so far has been this newborn session with tiago. he has the cutest cheeks, adorable little face, and tiny little fingers. and he slept like a log through the whole session. every time i look back at these photos i can’t help but smile at how genuine everything is. the love. the smiles. happiness in it’s purest form. and that definitely makes it all worth it.

juliana +2!

 

i got a call back. i guess it was two years ago when i ventured into the woods with marcos and his gorgeous wife juli to do a maternity photo shoot. we got completely lost, but wound up finding some perfect little spots for corners. all in all, totally worth it. so i guess it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise when they wanted to do another photo shoot for baby #2, this time with big brother hugo who was sure to steal the show. so we went to a park and blew bubbles, made silly faces, and had a fabulous time just playing around and taking portraits for this growing family. and in the middle of all the silliness, somewhere, it suddenly hit me that i will be the girl behind the camera for some of the most precious photos of this young family. and for that huge honor all i can say is thank you… and congratulations! 

marcos & juli::: maternity

in retrospect, maybe we should have brought a map. marcos, his wife juli and i had arranged to meet up and do a fun maternity photo shoot in a specific side of the beach in sopelana. as we got in the car and started heading that way we realised… we weren’t sure which way to go. somewhere in the excitement of planning this day we had all lost track of where we were going. literally. we knew exactly where we were going but no idea how to get there. after an emergency call to my friend “who knows every beach” and many wrong turns, we decided to give up and walk around the surrounding woods, hoping to at least be able to get a few good shots in before the sun went down. oh, and the sun. the sun was sitting perfectly in between the trees, it was definitely shining down on us. it is worth mentioning that as i laid down my backpack and jacket against a tree while i took photos of these two, a nearby dog decided to mark it’s territory… on my stuff. so that was fun! haha. after a while venturing in the woods (big points to juli for venturing while 8 months pregnant!) we were eventually able to find the spot we’d been looking for. the sunset was there to welcome us and we were happy to take advantage of it and take it from there. all in all, the photos turned out great and i think that it was well worth getting lost and having to toss my jacket in the laundry! 😉

congratulations marcos and juli, i can’t wait to meet him! 🙂