Maternity photography is not a type of photography I do all the time. When I was pregnant, the last thing I could ever imagine doing was get in front of the camera, so I guess I have a silly stigma in my head that everyone is nuts like me (and I so wish I had pictures of that time in my life). Considering how much I love newborn photography, you’d think I’d do more maternity, and make a bigger effort to market it since they kind of go hand in hand. Luckily, Stefanie still sought me out and commissioned me for the session, and brought a ton of ideas to the table that I had fun photographing, and hope they love. In case it was going to rain, we had decided to start the session at their home and end at Rock Springs if the day allowed. Check out the gallery to see more of the images from the day.

So this post was supposed to go live yesterday for their 2 month anniversary, however, my internet hates me, and I couldn’t upload their images (turns out lightning was the culprit). A photographer’s blog isn’t too helpful without actual images, eh? Anywho, know I’m up and running.

These images are special to me (and my sister who helped). Obviously, all my sessions are special, but this one was for close family. It is so important to capture wedding day festivities, so when Matt & Kara asked me to photograph their day, I was honored and excited (and honestly, slightly terrified to not disappoint family).  Check out the gallery for more of Matt & Kara's wedding pictures (they start on the second row).

While most of my weddings are based in central Illinois/Decatur, I went home to Oak Lawn to photograph their gorgeous wedding day.

I am so excited to finally share the images from the Stringer wedding May 9th.  As many know, I had three weddings back to back in May.  In addition, I had 10 milestone sessions in the same time frame.  Needless to say, I'm so blessed, but just a tad busy getting everyone's sessions edited and sent off.  My apologies for those that haven't gotten my usual turn around.  Here's a link to more of the images from the day!

The days leading up to the big day had me sweating.  Literally every day had rain forecasted, and the forecast never failed us.  Luckily, the day of, the heavens parted during the ceremony at St. Patrick's, and the rain held off long enough for us to head to Rock Springs and get our bridal party portraits done.  We were cut short just a tad by rain, but we got more than enough pictures for Emily & Brandon to love forever, and Emily dancing in the rain with the parasol.

As many of you know, newborn photography is one of my favorite forms of photography.  No time is more precious to me than those first few days, and I love that people bring their newborns to me to capture these early moments.  I'm so thankful to be able to do something I love so much.

On to Eli.  This little guys loves to sleep!  He was a dream baby to photograph, and his older brother and sister were so extremely photogenic, they were awesome kiddos to work with.  Clearly, they love their roles as older siblings, and I bet they find joy in helping mom with their little brother.  Check out the gallery here to see more from their session (he starts about half way down)!

Besides my normal set, mom requested I incorporate a truck that dad built. 

How this year has already gone by, I am totally bewildered!  Cruz first came to me for his newborn session, and then again for his 6 month session.  It's been such a joy seeing this little  man grow, and always with a smile on his face.  Check out his 1st birthday session gallery here!

We started off with our session in Forsyth Park since it was nice enough to do an outdoor set.  From there, we headed to my studio to get the smash cake underway!  Cruz came pretty close to tapping out during the cake smash, he was almost too tired to eat his yummy cake, but he got a tad messy, and just messy enough to get the tub out and suds up!

Mom made it to the 1 year mark with nursing, so she asked if I would capture a few images of her nursing Cruz.