Cuteness Overload

First and foremost, I'd like to introduce you to my new neice, Kylie Alyssa. My sister-in-law and her husband welcomed Kylie into the family on September 16th and she had her first official photo session on Saturday at 4 days old. She is a doll and we are so happy to have her as a part of the family!



This is her with big brother, TJ. If these were mine, this would be huge in my house! :)

I've had this shot in mind since I noticed her daddy's tattoo (that's their last name)...he was a great sport to indulge me!


Carter was the winner of the blog contest where my kids picked the photos they liked best. Remember, Grace picked Carter standing beside a lego spongebob. He won a free session and a free 11x14 print. Carter loves skateboarding so we incorporated that into the session!






This sweet four month old is the daughter of a friend of mine. Mom likes simple and classic so that's just what we did. Little Zella Ann is baby number three in her family and was so happy and content. She let me photograph her and chat with her mom as long as I wanted. :)





This little seven month old was so cute I could hardly stop gushing over him long enough to photograph him. The rolls, the skin, the fuzzy hair...my goodness. His parents and big sister were probably thinking "Yes, we think he's pretty cute too...now take his picture please!"






I didn't know if I'd ever get to meet this sweet, young lady. Her session was rained out twice, but the third time was a charm. I think she was worth the wait!





It was time to get my sister's kids in front of the camera again--so here's the diva and her brothers.

DJ is 15 and way to cool for me and my camera. :)

Dalton is 7 and loves the camera...for now.

Paige is 18 months now and still the diva. It took her a little bit to warm up but once she did, she was great!




This little two year old cutie almost wore me out at Tanglewood. Last time I saw him he was barely walking and this time I could hardly keep up with him!






Whew! Did you make it through all of last week's cuteness? If you enjoyed any of these let me know....blog comments make my day! :) I hope to update again soon and it seems to me to be about time for another contest so stay tuned...

Crazy Busy

Things have officially gone from busy to what I call "crazy busy" around here. I am shooting more sessions this month that I have ever shot before in a month! I am looking forward to seeing you if you are someone who has a session this month and I hope you'll bear with me I as try my best to keep up with all of the editing and proofing. Here are a few sessions that kept me busy over the weekend:

Copper is one now and just as cute as ever!





This is what he does if his daddy says touchdown!


Peyton started sitting up just in time for her sixth month session. She has to be the most laid back baby on the planet, just taking it all in and smiling and talking to me the whole time!





On Sunday I had my first senior boy session ever, although I have had quite a few senior girls now. Josh was a great guy to start off with since he was quite the ham for the camera and had some great ideas for his portraits! His mom and I joked that shooting senior boys is just like shooting toddler boys--you don't try to make them do what they don't want to do and you give them plenty of breaks for drinks and snacks. In his defense, it was pretty hot and muggy yesterday evening. :)





...and a smiling one for mom.
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Baby Milestones

As I was editing some of my sessions from last week, I realized that they were a great way to illustrate some of the baby milestones that we are looking to capture in a baby's first year.

Early last week I had a session with newborn Connor. He was just under two weeks old in these photos and perfectly illustrates why I like to get newborns in the studio as soon as possible. Notice his little legs curled up in the fetal position--not only do they look adorable but they perfectly hide his "parts" for naked baby photos.


Also notice how bendable he is at his young age. He doesn't mind at all laying there all bent up because he's been that way for a while in mommy's tummy.


Connor also happened to have gorgeous little lips! If his mommy had waited even a week longer to bring him in it would have been much harder to get these shots. Those newborn babies change so quickly. So if you know someone having a baby who might like a session or if you yourself are expecting, be sure to contact me as soon as the baby is born. I know it's a crazy time (I've been through it a few times now!) but we don't want to let those fleeting newborn characteristics slip away. I always work newborns into my schedule


After the newborn sessions, I usually see babies back in my studio for the three month session as they begin the baby plan. If they didn't have a newborn session, this is often the first time I meet a baby plan baby. Last week I photographed Luke at almost three months old. At this session I am looking for baby to hold his head up and maybe give me a smile or two. Luke was an absolute pro at head control, but he made me work a bit harder for the smiles! His parents say he's one of those babies babies who seem to have an "old soul" and I agree. Check out that head of hair he has!




After the three month session, I usually see babies again at six months of age. I encourage parents to wait until baby is sitting for this session, even if we have to schedule it at 6.5-7 months. Once baby is sitting it opens up many more posing options and we can even head outdoors for photographs such as in this session from the weekend. Miss Amelia perfectly illustrates the six months milestones--sitting and beginning to show a bit of personality!




This is also a great time to include some fun props. Amelia brought her classic mustang walker. What a sight we were cracking up at her in the middle of the street at Old Salem while she checked herself out in the rearview mirror and beeped the horn with her nose!


As you can see, parents can be included in any of these sessions as well.




It's also time to choose the winner of that set of 25 Christmas Cards. I used a the random number generator at random.org to pick a number between 1 and twelve for the twelve comments left on the last post.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

2

Timestamp: 2008-09-09 13:58:49 UTC

As you can see, number two was chosen so Shelby, you win. Congrats and contact me whenever you're ready to order your cards! Be on the lookout for more contests on the blog soon.

Summer's End

~To view holiday card designs go to www.uppercasephotography.com and click on client proofs, then holiday cards. To order holiday cards please email me at julie@uppercasephotography.com~

We celebrated summer's end this Labor Day weekend with beach sessions at Topsail Beach. I shot sessions on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings and amazingly the weather cooperated for all three sessions. The first two nights we even had gorgeous sunsets over the sound (the third night some clouds rolled in right at sunset and covered the gorgeous color). I had so much fun with all three families and I hope they all had a great time as well. There is nothing like a family together on the beach. Here are a few from each evening:

This gorgeous family has 6 year old Olivia and are expecting another girl in December. Yes, I know it's hard to believe that some women can look this amazing while pregnant!







I have been photographing the baby of this family for her first year, but this time everyone got in on the action! In addition to being lovely subjects, they are great friends and we enjoyed grilling burgers at their house and letting the girls play together.








And finally, this family came all the way from Greensboro for their session. It was little Joshua's first time seeing the beach this summer so I'm glad I was able to capture it for them.






Now that summer is officially over, it's time to look forward to fall--a chill in the air, leaves changing, and football of course! Before you know it, the holiday season will be upon us, so let's celebrate the end of summer with another blog contest. For this contest you'll need to go to the website and view the holiday card designs (directions on how to do that are at the beginning of this post). Leave a comment on the blog telling me the number of your favorite design. Everyone who leaves a comment telling me the number of your favorite design will be entered in a drawing. The winner will receive 25 free 5x7 front-only cards in the design they choose as their favorite! I will announce the winner in the next blog post so make sure you enter now--good luck everyone!