A Year At a Glance

Since today is the last day of my first official year in business, I wanted to post about the sessions and the people that have put me, and kept me in business.  :o)  Some of these sessions were paying sessions, some I did for free and this first one, I "traded" this session for a night of babysitting.  Talk about a bargain (for me!)! 

My sister's roommate asked me to take pictures of her and her sister since her sister was visiting.  I went to the apartment complex where she lives for the shoot.  It offered a lot of neat places that served well as backdrops.  I really enjoyed my time with these girls.  They are naturals in front of the camera so I didn't have to do much directing.  Talk about being photogenic and beautiful!

 Becca & Rissa Prather

My second shoot of the year took me to Texas.  I had "met" Gabbie online on a "mommy forum", so up until now, had never met her in person.  She was wanting to get family pictures done and was asking my opinion about a photographer, etc.  For the price she was going to pay this photographer, I told her she could fly me down for that same price and I would do the pictures for free.  At this point, I was just looking for some experience.  She loved the idea, so, next thing I know, I'm a plane flying to Houston! Fun!   I spent a couple days there and had a fantastic session with them, managing to get a smile or two out of Joey in the process!  This picture was instantly a favorite so it was no trouble at all trying to choose one for this blog post.

 The Richmond Family

This session had been planned for months.  During my late night editing sessions, I would chat with his then pregnant mama.  She gave me advice on my website and various things about my business.  She was a big help and I appreciated her believing in me and helping me out by giving me some business.  Being one of my earlier sessions and my first newborn session, there are so many things I wish I could differently, but you have to start somewhere, right? 

 Maddux Picket

Early in the year, I advertised on Craigslist trying to drum up some business.  This family found me via Craigslist, making them my first clients that I didn't know. I was pretty excited to get their business!  We chose the Nelson-Atkins Museum as our location.  It is quite beautiful in the spring time!  Robbie, the 2 year old, was very rambunctions and did NOT want to have his picture taken, but it was nothing that a little patience and bribery couldn't take care of. I definitely worked for my money that day though!  lol

 Thompson-Wright Family

This adorable little guy, I am proud to say is my nephew.  I'll take any opportunity to snatch some shots of him, so when my SIL came up for a visit, I asked if I could take some pictures of him.  This picture is not anything special photographically speaking, but I adore it.  This was taken shortly before Father's Day.  As you can see, he's holding his "daddy doll".  At the time, his daddy, my brother, was serving in Iraq as a helicopter pilot.  I admire my brother for so many things.  Jay is a lucky little guy to have James as his daddy.  I will always appreciate the sacrifices that military men and women make as well as the sacrifices their families make.  James, Alisha & Jay, I LOVE YOU!!!

 Jay Erickson

I was quite flattered when my cousin, Amy, contacted me about doing family pictures for her.   We settled on the Nelson-Atkins Museum as our location since it was about the half way point for both of us, AND, b/c I still didn't know any other cool places to shoot at the time.  It was a pleasant evening for shooting a pleasant family.  Amy is such a sweet person!  Her son is as ornery as his mom is sweet!  lol  He provided lots of laughs.  :O) 

 The Rose Family

My cousins kept me busy this year!  These little cuties belong to my cousin Shawn and his wife, Amy.  I originally was supposed to do family pictures, but Shawn had to work that night so I ended up just shooting the boys.  Because of communication breakdown, we hadn't decided on a location previous to the shoot.  We ended up at a little park across the street from the Nelson-Atkins.  There were very few people there so I thought it would be perfect.  They would be in their element and there would be no distractions.  What was I thinking?  Putting two boys on a playground and thinking there would be no distractions?  Crazy I tell you!   I had to climb up and down, chase through, under and over, run, crawl, etc.  You get the point.  But it paid off.  I got some great pictures of them just being themselves.  Being boys.

 Alex & Gavin McConnaughey

These families are the best!  I love watching them interact with each other.  Jessi and Nate (the couple on the left) decided to renew their vows for their 10th anniversary.  They asked me to be there to document the event.  I was honored to be there!  Before the ceremony, we took some family pictures.  I'm happy to share that Nate and Jessi are expecting a 3rd child.  E.D.D. - sometime in April. 

(I have lots of really cute baby props, Jessi...)  ;o)

 The Oldham Family

These babies were not supposed to be born until June, when we took these pictures.  They came a little early which prevented us from doing maternity pictures.  Crystal, another cousin, asked me to take family pictures when the twins came home from the hospital.  I loved the colors she chose for them to wear!  It brought some freshness to this otherwise H-O-T evening!  Did I mention it was hot?  Sweat was dripping off everyone! 

 The Bergkamp Family

Josh and Tricia.  Two of my favorite people to shoot.  Josh is my baby brother, so bossing him around in a photo shoot comes quite naturally.  ;o)  And I do have to boss him around a bit.  He tends to lose focus so I have to remind him of why we are there.  Seriously, though, we really do have a lot of fun.  They bring their own uniqueness and sense of humor to the table.  I love how comfortable they are in front of the camera.  They just get into each other, doing their own thing and let me take pictures of them interacting with each other.  I love it!  They are getting married in exactly 22 days and I get to photograph their wedding.  I can't wait!

Josh & Tricia (Coor) Erickson

Cherie, Cherie, Cherie.  What a woman she is!  Cherie and have known each other since high school.  We were the only two in our graduation class.  lol  Every Tuesday night was Taco Bell and Walmart night.  Cherie and her family came up to KC in July for her dad's b-day.  Her and her siblings wanted to get their picture taken and framed to give their dad as a gift, so I volunteered to do the picture taking.  After the sibling pics, I took a few of her family.  Cherie is a great mom and one of the strongest women I know!  Props to you, girl!

The Burkett Family

A photographer friend of mine passed my name along which resulted in me booking this wedding.  This couple was cute and had an interesting story.  The wedding was really for his family here.  They had already gotten married in CA, then came here for the formal ceremony.  Next year, they're flying to

Columbia to have a ceremony with her family.  They had a beautiful outdoor wedding!

 Corey & Claudia Terrill

My mom asked me to take some pictures of my second cousin, Kylee, so she could make a photo book for her to give to her grandparents, who have raised her since birth, for an anniversary gift.  Kylee was so excited and was the perfect little model.  She came prepared with changes of clothes and an upbeat attitude.  We went to Loose Park to get a variety of looks and spent a couple of hours there, then headed over to the Plaza. 

 Kylee McConnaughey

This sweet pea and her parents go to MY parents church.  My mom mentioned this little newborn at her church and I was dying to use some of my new  props, so I asked them if they would lend me their baby.  They were willing participants and drove the hour drive so I could take pictures of their baby who was barely a week old, if that!  This was my favorite picture of the bunch!

 Penelope Kiser

Ok, I'm not gonna lie.  These are the cutest kids EVER!  At least in my opinion.  ;o)  Of course, they ARE my own, so I have to have that opinion.  Even if they weren't my own, I would think they are pretty darn cute.  On this particular day, I grabbed my camera and we went "exploring".  A favorite past time of ours.  We found an old train station which I think is a museum now, but on that day, it was closed.  I took advantage of there being no people there and grabbed some pics of my kids.  The individual pics of them are hanging in my house.  To me, they are STUNNING! 

 Andrew & Katie Bain

In the spring, I did a Cute-Pie Contest on facebook to generate some fresh business.  Ok, I was just looking for business, period.  These two cutie pies won the contest and a mini session with me.  I found this old chair in my basement, so I took it out to my backyard and got this gorgeous picture of them.  If you couldn't tell already, yes, they are siblings.  :o) 

 Ethan & Reagan Seaba

Right after I did the session with the Cutie Pie Contest winners, this family came over for a little session.  I was following her pregnancy so she came for more maternity pics and we did some family ones as well.  Since that fabulous chair was already out in my backyard, I had them traipse across the tall, wet grass to get some pics in the chair.  The colors they were wearing just begged for me to put a vintage feel on it and I love how it turned out.  Not too long after this (meaning, several weeks), they had a healthy baby girl. 

The Wilmouth Family

I go to church w/ the fabulous Fracassas and was also priviledged to have them as my disciplers.  They had a son getting married in August and hired me to do the wedding.  I went to meet the couple and touch base with them and immediately fell in love with their look and couldn't wait for the wedding date to arrive!  The venue they used was such a cool place!  It was a fun day and a fun experience for me. 

Spencer & Lauren Fracassa

Ami & Jesse.  Need I say more?  lol  I knew Ami when she was a little girl but had lost touch with her over the years.  I stumbled across her name a few years ago thanks to facebook.  I friended her, thus catching up with her mom in the process.  Ami then started dating this guy, Jesse.  When I saw their picture, I thought they were the hottest couple ever!  I really wanted to do a session with them, but didn't know how that would happen since they lived in Texas.  Then they got engaged.  They were going to be in NJ where her mom lives, so surprise!  Mom flew me out to do an engagement session with them.  Thus, fulfilling my dream!  They were a lot of fun and I can't wait to do their wedding in May!

 Jesse & Ami (Hadley) Lile

 This is the group that tagged along with me in Atlantac City while I took pictures of Ami and Jesse.  I thought I'd snap a picture of the group of them.  :o)

The New Jersey Crowd

While I was in NJ, I did a ceremony.  This was one of my favorite shots.

 Mitchell-Jones

On my way home from NJ, I took a little detour over to PA to meet another of my "mommy friends" that I have met on the forum.  Veronica and I have a special connection so I couldn't wait to meet her in person.  She has a very smart little boy who we teasingly say is going to marry my daughter someday.  :o)  They took me to the downtown area and we just walked around taking pictures in front of some really old, really cool buildings.

 The Rodriquez Family

This was my first photo shoot after my shoulder surgery and my first photo shoot that I drove to without getting the butterflies in my tummy.  I at first attributed it to being on vicodin, but I haven't had them since.  Exciting!  This was also my first cake-smash shoot.  A lot of firsts for me!  He wasn't into the cake that much.  We had to keep pulling him back to the cake.  lol  It looked good to me!

 Carter Scheer

My Cutie-Pie Contest paid off!  Wendy, the pretty lady in this photo is the aunt of the cuties who won.  She became a fan of my page in order to vote for them.  She saw my pics.  She liked.  She hired.  Woohoo!!!  Ok, I may have fibbed a little in the above post.  I said I haven't had the butterflies since that shoot, but I have to admit, I did with this one.  I knew David way back in the day when I was a little girl.  I hadn't seen him in over 20 years and on top of that, I knew that he and their oldest son despise having their picture taken.  I knew I had my work cut out for me.  We went to the Plaza area and did most of the shoot under or on a bridge.  Much to my surprise, David and Wes actually smiled!  I got some good family pics, but this one is by far my favorite! 

David & Wendy Seaba

This cutie is the little brother of one of my brides (Lauren Fracassa).  Her mom liked my work so she asked me to do Charlie's 2 year pics.  She suggested Unity Village as our location and it immediately became my new favorite (as you will see).  Charlie's 9 month old niece came to the shoot and with her help, we elicited some smiles out of this normally sober little guy. 

Charlie

Seth is Charlie's little brother.  I did his 1 year pics right after Charlie's shoot.  It was no trouble at all to wrangle a smile out of Seth!  He was full of smiles and was a lot of fun. 

Seth Comer

Remember my dream couple Ami and Jesse?  One of Ami's friends saw her pics and asked who her photographer was.  It was me!  I just love word of mouth.  April herself is a budding photographer so I look forward to watching her grow as a photographer and in her own business.  But she was still kind enough to have me take her family's pictures.  Allison wasn't a fan of having to sit still for pictures, so we let her run around and do her own thing and we ended up getting some very natural pics.  I liked how they turned out.

The McCoy Family

Ah.  The Taylors.  So much to say about them.  I first met the Taylors when I was 9 years old.  At that time, they only had Jonathan, the guy in the back, far right.  One by one, they added to their family and gave me another baby to love on and to hold.  The three kids to the left of the pictures, I taught in kindergarden.  Two of the three have now graduated.  Sigh.  So, back to present day.  Dave and Lesly are now grandparents and for one Sunday, the entire family was going to be together.  I made the familiar drive out to Pleasant Hill and spent an hour with them, having lots of laughs during that time.  They're a hoot!

The Taylor Family

Andi is someone else I go to church with.  She is one of my most faithful Cubbie workers!   We had talked about doing a session last May but it never panned out.  We nailed down a date though in October got some amazing pictures here at Unity Village.  Dominic was quite the poser.  I loved him!  The "twinkies" as they are so lovingly called were the explorers, running here and there, but they weren't screaming at me so I was happy.  :o) 

The Cornine Family

My sister, Jini, and her housemate, Becca, asked me to take some pictures of them so they could decorate their house.  Ok, they didn't say that's what they were going to use them for, but I think they should.  Both are beautiful girls, inside and out.

Jini Erickson & Becca Prather

If you didn't know it already, I go to a BIG church and I know a lot of people.  I met Carol while doing pictures for the Easter Egg Hunt we had at our church.  She took a card and said she was interested in having pictures done of her family.  Months passed by and I figured she must have looked at my website and didn't like what she saw.  But then she tracked me down this fall and set a date for me to come out to the family farm.   Mike enjoyed choosing spots for posing.  He'd make a great assistant as he's a very take charge kind of guy!  lol 

The Medlin Family

We were originally going to do their pics at Unity Village, but since "everyone else" was doing it there, Carrie wanted to choose a more original location.  So she went exploring and found this great location.  Unfortunately, I didn't know where it was until I got there and it was at peak sun.  Since I didn't yet have my 580 EX II, it was practically impossible to get a good shot there.  The shadows were horrendous.  So we improvised and drove over to Lowenstien Park where I snapped a few on the bridge.

The Scheer Family

I was asked to take pictures of the guest trick-or-treaters that attended our Light the Night.  This adorable garden gnome was one of my favorites.  She's also the daughter of my bride and groom, Lauren and Spencer Fracassa. 

Adley Fracassa

This family came to me b/c of word of mouth.  I love it when that happens!  I was a little nervous going into this, but the second I met them, I was in stitches.  They have a way of putting people at ease and making you laugh like crazy.  Seriously!  This is a blended family and the kids behaved as though they get along spendidly all the time.  The entire family is funny and it was truly my pleasure getting to meet this family and capturing some special moments for them.  This was their "model" pose. 

The Beckley Family

It was SO COLD the morning of this shoot.  Poor little Zachary was nearly in tears he was so cold.  But they toughed it out and we nailed it with this shot.

The Stone Family

My session with the Harris took place right after the Stone session.  We stayed at Unity Village.  I try to use different spots at Unity so everyones pictures look different.  Kevin is a firefighter so I was suprised that we were able to come up with a date where their whole family was together and I had a sitter at the same time.  Thankfully, it had warmed up slightly by the time their session rolled around so it wasn't quite as painful.  :o)  I'm secretly in love with K3.  :o)  Something unique about this family - their names all start w/ "K". 

 The Harris Family

I think my cousins have kept me in business this year.  This is my cousin Danny and his family.  The occasion for this shoot was celebrating Tagan's one year birthday. 

The Barnett Family

Did this shoot really take place?  We scheduled and rescheduled and finally made it to the day it was supposed to happen.  I drove all the way to their house, took a test shot outside before I got out of the car and to my horror, there was no memory card in the camera.  It then hit me that my spare was also laying on the table at home.  I very reluctantly knocked on the door and gave them the horrible knews expecting to be thrown out right away.  Thankfully, they lived just down the road from Best Buy so I quickly drove over there and paid an outlandish price for another memory card.  Sometimes, you have to make mistakes.  B/c it worked out in the end, I'm glad I made this one.  You can be sure I will NEVER leave my house again w/out a memory card!

The Scheer Family

My parents' church asked me to come and take pictures for their Family Day.  I chose this picture b/c this lady is very special to me.  This is my Grandma Barnett.  :o)  I spent many nights at her house when I was a teenager and I will forever treasure those memories. 

Bonnie Barnett

This picture was also taken at the Elm Grove Family Day.  I wanted to post it b/c these are my parents w/ my kids.  They are the best grandparents ever!  I'm so grateful my kids get to grow up near them.  Once a week, one or both of them get to go spend the night w/ Grandma & Grandpa.  Every time they go, they find a special suprise laying on their pillow.  There is a room at their house called "The Grandkids Room" and it is decorated just for them.  My kids are very lucky to have grandparents like them!  Mom and Dad, I love you!

Jim & Toni Erickson, Andre & Katie Bain

After doing the Seaba family pictures, Wendy asked me if I would be able to travel on a spur of the moment notice.  Her sister would be making a visit from Japan, but since it was military, she didn't have an exact date.  She wanted to have pictures with all the cousins.  Well, the dates worked out, so off to Topeka I went.  They took me to this beautiful lake where the options were endless.  Unfortunately, the two oldest boys were sick.  Dylan was the sicker of the two and at the very end, he commemorated the event by throwing up.  Poor kid.  

Cousins

My aunt gathered her brood together and had me come take pictures of them.  It was the first time in many, many years that I had seen my cousin, Patrick.  It was a good reunion. 

The McConnaughey Family

In early December, I did a Christmas party for a corporate company.  During a lull in the action, they asked me if I'd like to sit down and have dinner.  They sat me at table 7.

These were the decorations I saw while sitting at the table.

And this was the gentleman that I sat beside, who was nice enough to carry on a conversation with me about photography.  He told me he didn't know anything about it, but he seemed pretty knowledgable.  He was very nice and I was very appreciative of his gentlmanly manner.

My last event of the year...a wedding!  Ashley Willoughy, now Dignan, was just a tiny toddler when I first met her.  Her older sister Rachel asked me several months ago to send Ashely my info b/c she was getting married and looking for a photographer.  I sent it.  Heard nothing.  I assumed she went with someone else and then I got an email saying she wanted to use me, was I still available?  I asked my sister to assist me and had a great time as we made the 2 hour drive to Jeff City.  Loved the drive.  Loved the wedding!  Loved the company!  It was a beautiful, unique and simple wedding. 

Nick & Ashely Dignan