JFP photo blog

Happy New, New, New Year!

In honor of the impending new year, there are all kinds of new, fun things to check out around here.  First, as much as I have enjoyed my lovely little Typepad blog, there is now a NEW BLOG  Run right over and check it out and be sure to memorize it quickly (or bookmark it, add it to your favorites etc...) as this one will only be here a little longer...never fear, all the old posts can still be found over there.  Second, I have done a complete overhaul on the website.  I have been having so much fun changing it all up!  (really, I did it all for myself as it all makes me so giddy and school-girl giggly)  Third, I have done some re-arranging and fancied up the walls in the studio...hopefully photos will be coming soon.  Anyway, all that business should help explain the complete lack of blogging around here for the last litle bit (never mind the whole holiday thing).  Anyway, go check it all out and let me know what you think....you know how I feel about comments!!!

And here's a little peek at a cutie that braved a slight hurricane for me.....you'll see more of her in the very next post....

The Director

This week the loved and lovable Kitty came for his photo shoot.  What I didn't know when scheduling Kitty was that he would be bringing his "people".  That Kitty is such a diva.  His "person" came right in, set up a chair at the edge of the backdrop and announced "I am the director" and then proceeded to let me know what Kitty is and isn't comfortable with.  "Kitty doesn't do that", "Kitty doesn't like that", "No, no, Kitty likes to be thisway", and then he would jump in and grab Kitty.  Who knew that Kitty was so particular?  Anyway, I think I clicked the shutter about 5 times and then Kitty was all done modeling but I think we can work with what we got....

 

That's Kitty's "serious" look.....think "Blue Steel" (and why can't I think of the name of that movie??  Help!)

 

The director coming to poor Kitty's rescue. 

Hope you are all feeling Zen about your holiday preparations and are ready for the kids to be home on break...that starts for us this afternoon and I actually can't wait!  I have all kinds of big, festive plans in my head....we'll see if they make it out into reality!

Attached

(This project was inspired by this site sent to me by my very smart friend.)

 

I have a kid who is attached to a special something.  Her special something is a blanket.  She can't leave home without it.  It has been loved to death.  Over the years there has been some angst over its demise.  So much so that another one was knitted, and now a third was has joined the exclusive club.  Though she did tell me last night that it wasn't quite as good and she wasn't quite used to it yet.  The newest one is now wrapped inside the 2nd one so that it can absorb some of the goodness.  If you checked out the first link above, you will know what is coming....here's my attempt at preserving this memory for all time (just in case they do actually, in fact, completely disintigrate.

 

Old B

  That is the special mini pillowcase it has to travel in now as it is basically just a pile of yarn now...you can see the many repair jobs performed by grandma.

 

New B

 

While New B is in better shape than Old B, but if you look carefully you can see that she has had all her edges repaired (see the darker yarn?) plus many holes in the middle.

 

New-New

(name hilariously inspired by the Teletubbies)

 

 

A slightly different color as the original color is no longer available....but this one is fresh of the knitting needles, no holes or mending to be seen.

Anyway, this is one of her Christmas gifts.  All three printed and hung in her room (though not quite 40 x 60 like the hippo from the inspiration...really,go check it out).    Love this idea and have scheduled a session with someones special "kitty" next.

 

Hope everyone's feeling some holiday spirit by now.  Mine finally got here yesterday when I finally hit on inspiration (or was inspired by someone else) for, not 1, but FOUR different hard to shop for people that I love.  Even better, all kind of handmade gifts...or at least full of time and effort and love (awww....how cheesy is that?).

Traditions

So, perhaps you can tell it is officially December on the blog?  We are busily finishing up all the photography related holiday stuff and happily moving onto the family fun portion of Christmas.  That means less blogging and more playing.  Here's a little taste of one of our favorite holiday traditions....a trip downtown to see the big man, ride the carousel, see some snow falling, and a special out-to-dinner treat.

 

The boys.

 

 

(Note the giant swollen lip...guess who is going to be singing "All I want for Christmas are my FOUR front teeth")

 

 

The girls.

 

 

The snow falling.  A gold star for you, if you can spot the newest addition to our tradition. 

(Here's the link to last year's photos in case you need some clues.)

If you have a favorite holiday tradition leave a note in the comments so we can all adopt your as one of our new ones.

More blogging sometime...in the meantime enjoy all the fun holiday stuff!

Music Man

So I was going to show you all kinds of stuff this week...some Thanksgiving shots, some new albums, etc, etc...BUT last night my big kid earned first place for his musical composition in his school-wide art competition!  I couldn't be prouder and I so wish I was technologically skilled enough to somehow post my (incredibly sub-par) recording here so you all could hear it.  I get teary-eyed every time he plays it...of course that might have something to do with the fact that I can absolutely not fathom how he can do these things or where he gets his skills (ok, I do have an idea, his great, great uncle was a concert pianist and such...aren't genetics amazing?!).  So in honor of this momentous occasion you get to see some photos of him doing one of his favorite things...

These were taken less than a year ago and already he looks like a completely different guy.  I mean, I know little kids change a lot and quickly, but sometimes I forget that works for big kids too.  Guess I better take more pictures of him....won't he love that?!

 

 

 

OK, enough about my fabulous kid for now.  You can be sure that I will let you know how it goes at the district-wide competition.

The Obligatory Snow Photos

So we are now on our second snow day of the school year nd can I just tell you how much I love it when the district announces the closure the night before.  There is all kinds of sleeping in potential.  Never happens.  Nobody wants to waste  minute of their free time by sleeping in.  So here we all are, up and out of bed by 6:30 so I though I would share the obligatory snow photos from yesterday.  Love shooting in the snow...world's best reflector!

 

She just makes me giggle with her little fakey smile.  She's so good to me.  The other two just make faces when I've got the camera (sadly an inherited trait).

 

Unless of course they are actually doing something fun (like hugging their dog) and not really paying attention to me.

 

(By the end of this post, if I'm feeling brave, you may very well have learned where this kid gets his lovely and super photogenic expressions.)

 

 

Guess who had the most fun?  She got to play with her friend at the park...I didn't get a signed release from his parent, but I'm throwing caution to the wind and posting the photo anyway....

 

 
A little post wrestling snuggle.

 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I'll tell you that todayI am especially thankful for him.  Perhaps not so much his amazing fashion sense (he will be the first one to tell you that form follows function...hence the lovely combination of things) but he is definitely the handiest guy around.  Yesterday he rescued our furnace from imminent death...something about a frozen condensation something or other...and on the coldest day of the year.  Hooray for him!!

And now for our genetics lesson of the day...

 

That's where my poor children get their photogenic-ness from.  And now you all know that I totally feel your pain about being photographed.

Enough of that.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Enjoy the impending festival of eating with your drawstring pants on!

Picture Perfect

Finishing the holiday photo sessions with a bang.  Not just one of my all time favorite families, but we got to shoot outside while it was snowing!!  (Alright, it's not like there was a blizzard or anything, but it sure was fun...and we are making up for it today with snow everywhere!)  Anyway, here is a quick sneak peek to hold mom over until her gallery is ready (hopefully soon so they can have holiday cards to mail out before it's too late!)

A few from in the studio...keeping warm...

 

 

(cute goofy face on the little man and an AWESOME photo of mom...GORGEOUS!)

 

Then we bundled up and headed out....

 

 

Somebody was excited!

 

 

LOVE the hat!

 (and so glad he kept it on for more than a minute...faithful blog readers, you will remember that this is the little man who actually dislikes hats so much that he pulled a hat all the way off during his newborn shoot...I mean days old and he knew hats weren't his thing)

 

Running!  Whee!  Absolutely adore the glee on big brother's face!

 

 

Such big smiles from him...all morning...hooray!

Saved the best for last....

 

Love, love, love.

More coming soon...I'm thinking a snow day tomorrow means a completed gallery super soon!

She's Crafty

She's just my type.

(Just wanted to show my wide range of musical interests...Sound of Music on Wednesday all the way to....well, can you name them?  I bet a few of you can.)

WARNING:  If you are in my family and stand a chance of getting a Christmas gift from me, either stop reading this post now so you can be surprised, or read on so you can pick exactly what you would like.

So we're starting to get a little holiday spirit around here and it all started with a fourth grade school project.  The middle kid will be participating in Market Day at school here pretty soon.  (Think gigantic market where you can buy all kinds of "handmade by fourth graders" loot with fancy, pretend school money...that's the best kind of $).  Anyway, she has opened her own little sweat shop at home, though  I will admit I have been itching to craft so I volunteered readily.  Here's what we have been working on...

 

 

 

This is the one I'm hoping she will hold for me. 

And then since we were already being so crafty, I decided to try out a different project.  I'll tell you right now, the big one is for me.

 

 

I love ribbon.

Happy Friday before Thanksgiving!  Woohoo!  Let the fun begin!

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

(My sincere apologies to Rogers and Hammerstein)

This song has been floating around our house for a few weeks now (someone is learning to play it on the piano and someone else has decided to commit the lyrics to heart) and is completely stuck in my head BUT I thought it summed up this fabulous session perfectly, with a few adjustments...for those of you singers out there (you know who you are and so do I) feel free to sing along.

 

 

Girls with umbrellas and cute matching rainboots.

 

 

Pink leopard leggings with pink frilly tutus.

 

 

The biggest brown eyes that you ever did see.

These are a few of my favorite things.

(Singers, you have to skip the "dog bites" portion of the song here)

 

 

Running and swinging and stomping in puddles.

 

 

A fabulous raincoat handmade by her grandma.

 

 

A wonderful family with hats I adore.

These are a few of my favorite things.

Alright, so that wasn't any kind of lyrical genius, but you get the idea.  Sadly, I couldn't figure out a way to fit in grinning or adorable....

 

 

Here's a little proof that she is both of those things, in spades!

We (or at least I) had the best time at the park!  Love these kinds of sessions!  Thanks for taking me over there and for playing!

Goofs

Sometimes I have to beg my children to be guinea pigs.  Like this last week.  Needed to try out a new light.  Just thought I would share the proof that your kids are way more cooperative than mine, who are complete goofs.

 

 Then a little cheese to try to appease the "great & evil mom-lady"....

 

 

Of course, it is totally hilarious when there is smoke emanating from the evil dragon's ears...

 

 

(I do secretly enjoy that one...but don't tell the little beasts.)

And then sometimes, it's just not worth the fight and I try for something I think I can control....

 

 

(though again, secretly love this one because I have one of all their feet from when the littlest one was born)

Then a moment of obedience and we get this nice photo...

 

but then in the blink of an eye it all falls apart and we get this....

 

 

which I actually love WAY more! 

Nothing better than bringing my kids closer by giving them something to laugh at together...specifically the "great & evil mom-lady".

 

And then, in a moment of weakness, one of them decides to cooperate....

 

 

and it wasn't him.

 

 

Love her....

 

 

and am slightly obsessed with her lashes.  Lucky girl.