The funny thing about women growing up and changing their names is that sometimes you don’t realize you already know someone until you see them in person.  The mom of this adorable little one-year-old was actually a sorority sister of mine and through all our emails back and forth to set up the session I didn’t realize we had known each other back in college.    It was fun chatting about our college days while capturing the smiles of their little blue-eyed cutie.

Now that my holiday sessions are done and most portraits orders have been distributed, I can relax and enjoy the newborn sessions that I have scheduled for this month.  This was the first of the newbies: a little 9-day-old baby girl.   Her mom loved her in pink and frilly, so we had a lot of fun playing with accessories.

I first met this little blue-eyed charmer last year and I had the opportunity to photograph him again this fall.  This time he was full of words and ideas for what he wanted to do for our session.   We had a blast traipsing around town and exploring, and I even managed to get him to sit still for some photos by wowing him with my car’s remote control.

I was honored to photograph the brave man and women for the second annual breast cancer survivors issue of Fairfax Woman and Alexandria Woman magazine.  When the issue came out a few days ago I picked one up and enjoyed reading everyone’s stories.  They are truly inspiring.

I was lucky enough to get to spend the weekend helping to celebrate my little nephew’s first birthday, and while I was up in PA we took a little time for a mini-session to honor this occasion.   His little smiles just make me melt.  What an adorable and sweet little dude he is!   For his birthday his Aunt Em gave him a suitcase with hope that he will come visit us down in Virginia ; )

So try, try again was the lesson of the day.  First of all, this was our third attempt at scheduling a session, and finally things came together and we were able to make it happen.  Then at the session after a bit of coaxing we managed to finally get big sis to join in the family portrait that mom had been hoping for.

And finally a couple of signed pictures I found that presumably were exchanged by my Grandmother and Grandfather while he was in the navy during WWII.

I got to spend a gorgeous morning back at the botanical gardens with this fun family of 3.  The gardens are in bloom with cherry blossoms, daffodils, and other spring flowers helped fuel the creative spirit of this adorable 3-year-old.  And the turtles, koi, and geese we found along the way added to the fun of our little photo adventure!

What better way to spend a morning in the studio than with 2 friends, their husbands and new babies.  I think it’s great when you can share the experience of new motherhood with close friends and have your kids grow up together.  The little 4 month old boy was full of smiles and giggles for me for our short session.  The little girl was a bright-eyed 7 week old, who preferred to watch our session than sleep through it ; )