Patrick | {Kentlake 2012 Senior}

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Patrick and his parents, Jim and Kim, for Patrick’s senior session. We started out with some clouds, but quickly discovered that it was much warmer than we though and the sun decided to join us for the session. What a nice young man Patrick is…and such a great sport about all of the photos. Typically, the guys aren’t as excited or eager about the senior photos and although Patrick might have preferred it to be a quick session, he was cooperative and willing to do whatever we asked of him. I enjoyed getting to know a little bit about him and one thing it was obvious he is quite passionate about is working on cars…he wants to be a mechanic and is hoping to attend Wyo Tech school in Sacramento. He’s eager to explore a new community as well as learn all he can about something he loves doing. As we left our first location, he saw a truck that was not in great condition and said something about he’d love to get his hands on it…his mom just shook her head and I asked if the truck was a “challenge” and something he loved…she said absolutely!!  Patrick is not only working hard in school this year, but he’s also working part time at Arby’s. I asked him if he liked any menu items BEFORE he started working and if he still liked the particular items….he said that after working around the food all the time, he’s not as fond of those items…I can certainly see how that would be the case no matter what foods you worked around often. I admire him and any high school students who manage to balance school and work, with goals for the future in sight to keep them going.

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Patrick has a great smile and was so relaxed, that he made my job easy!

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undefinedundefinedIt was evident that Kim and Jim are quite proud of Patrick…he’s the youngest (the baby!) and next year they will have to adjust to an “empty nest” at home, which they seemed to think they could manage!

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It was quite funny, whenever I asked Patrick to be serious and not smile, I think he broke out in an even bigger smile…it was so funny, but after a while, he managed to do this…although I really did love the big smile he ended up with when we started out!

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Another passion of Patrick’s is snowboarding, so we figured we could grab a few photos with the board, although the weather wasn’t anything close to what he needs to start out the season. If he’d had his way, we would have been at the mountain and he would have shown me how well he did this, but it just wasn’t possible this time of year. I told him that he should give me a call this winter and I’d be happy to come up and watch him on the slopes…so maybe you’ll see a bit more of Patrick during the winter on the blog!

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Football has been part of Patrick’s fall activities for the past 5 years, but some back problems kept him from playing this fall, although I think he’s probably busy enjoy with work, school and working on cars…when he gets a chance!

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undefinedAnd here is that great smile again, despite the fact that he was probably melting in his jacket for these photos…as I said, he was a great sport during the session. It was a pleasure to meet you, Patrick and I wish you the best for your senior year and your future! Thank you, Jim and Kim, for entrusting me to capture your son’s senior photos!

Mary | {super sweet}

What a great morning I had with this little beauty, Mary, and her mom, Melinda, a couple weeks ago.  Melinda had contacted me about a session for Mary who had turned 3 this summer and she was hoping to get it in while the weather was still nice. We first met at a small “tot lot” in our neighborhood, as we both live in the same neighborhood…we got acquainted, I met Mary and set up a date and time for the session. The morning we met for the session it was a bit cooler, but that did not slow Mary down one bit! She is a REAL beauty and her mom had told me she didn’t like to smile much for the camera…I was determined to find that beautiful smile and capture it. Well, it didn’t take long before she couldn’t contain those smiles any longer and we were running and playing in the park and I managed to captured some great smiles! Mary is so sweet and was a real delight…although she just turned three, she certainly seemed older three and when she smiled, I certainly couldn’t contain my own smiles…how can you not smile when you are around someone so sweet and fun! Not only did I have the pleasure to photograph this sweet little girl, but now, whenever I drive past her home, I have a friendly face to wave to and say hello…and I look forward to seeing more of this little girl and watching her grow up!

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Mary “tried” to play coy when we first got to the park…and she hid behind her mom, peeking out, I manage to capture this adorable smile – I knew it would be a great session!

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This beautiful little girl has an incredible natural streak of blond in her hair…which is stunning and who wouldn’t love to have some natural highlights like this…it’s truly amazing and just one more incredible feature that adds to this beautiful little girl!

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Yes, I know generally the goal is to capture the beautiful smile of a child, but when I saw this…I couldn’t help but click the shutter…it’s such a natural look that I instantly fell in love with…

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SMILES…Mary has the BEST smile and when she does smile, her eyes just light up…this little girl is going to be a REAL beauty when she grows up…good luck to her parents…start your game plan now!

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When I see this picture, I just laugh…and I’m guessing that Mary’s parents have seen this look before…I’ve seen it with my own children and even my granddaughter…and those eyes, Mary certainly knows how to play the game and I would imagine it would be hard to say no to that face!!

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Kisses for mama….such a sweet moment!

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Ahh, bubbles, what child doesn’t enjoy bubbles and Mary did a great job of blowing them, as you can see by this bubble!

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You can see where Mary gets her beauty from…her mother, although I must say, I haven’t met her dad…all I know is that I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Mary and Melinda and capturing some special memories for them. I look forward to getting to know them better in the future and capturing some more “memories” for their family!

It’s My Party | {Celebrating Indy}

As promised, here are just a few photos from the birthday celebration for Indy! It couldn’t have been a nicer day, the skies were clear, temperatures around 80 and many family and friends came out to join Jason and Katie in celebrating INDY! As I said in the previous post, this little one is exceptional…this was not your typical one year old birthday, it was quite the event and let me tell you, Indy enjoyed EVERY minute of it and I don’t believe I heard her cry except one time when someone took the empty juice box away from her! Not many this age can handle a couple of hours of such excitement, but this beauty did just that! I am guessing that her parents were probably more worn out than Indy by the end of the party. Kids, big and little alike, enjoyed the evening which included, swimming, trampoline jumping, lawn bowling, visiting, eating and of course, watching Indy who managed quite well as the center of attention.

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As I said, a beautiful evening…right on a nice little lake in Auburn, you can see how peaceful it is right here. Jason and Katie, thank you for asking me to capture some very special memories for you and I look forward to capturing more special memories for your family in the future!