Birthday at the pool

You may remember Alex and little sister Emma from one of my earlier blog entries. He is now a big 4 year old! And, after just a couple of weeks of swimming classes he is fearless and skillful in the water!
Little sister loves water too, so having a birthday celebration at the pool was the perfect way to celebrate this enthusiasm.

Atlanta surprised us with clouds, wind and highs in the 70s, but this did not dampen the fun had by all.

This family has won one of my photography certificates at my kids' school fund raiser, and they chose to use it to have this special day remembered photographically for many years to come. We got a LOT of wonderful images!

Here are some quick highlights:

Days of Summer ~ special offer

Between now and the end of September, I am offering a special session + product combo.

The "Days of Summer" offer includes:
~ a 45 minute outdoor family session (for up to 5 people)
~ a one-week link to a minimum of 30 professionally finished images for easy viewing and ordering
~ two 5x7 gift prints on linen paper
~ one four-image 8x8 mounted storyboard with display easel (similar to the one shown below).

All this for the refreshing price of $125!

As an added bonus, if you decide to order custom holday cards using images from this session, you enjoy 25% off the cost of cards when ordered by October 1st!

Book your Summer-sweet session now, these are mostly weekend and afternoon time slots and are going fast.

Bring a friend and split the price, if the people count stays below five and the duration under 45 minutes.

(this session and the gorgeous prints and storyboard make a delicious gift that anyone would love!)

Two years

Two years of Mary, and an incredible amount of love and joy brought by her in our lives!

Happy birthday, our love!

They are 3!

William and Nicholas turned three earlier this week! Here is a collage of a couple of images from a few months ago -- looking forward to our next photo shoot!
Happy Birthday, big kids!

Sophia

A quick image of pregnant Sophia, my newest doula client and one of the sweetest people I have ever met:

"Common Ground"

An interesting documentary (7 minutes long):

They are magic!

My kids have magical super powers. Here they are demonstrating levitation:

Martha

The one who welcomed me those many years ago, who was my mom-away-from-mom and gave me shelter and love then, and still does now.

Happy Birthday, Martha!

Life, Liberty, Happiness

I am an American now, as of 08/08/08.

More of baby boy and family

A few more of my favorite images from yesterday, of Octavian and his family:

Octavian: 8,8,8,8,8

Sweet little Octavian was born today 08/08/08, weighing 8 lbs 8 oz.

He is obviously a very special little one, and very loved by Mommy, Daddy and super-caring big brother Flavius.

Here is Octavian, at 12 hours old, smiling at the camera!

And a sweet moment with the two brothers getting to know each other:



More pictures will follow in the morning.

Decorative details

From a walk around our neighbourhood tonight: somewhat abstract, colorful patterns and textures are quite visually pleasing when put together.

And another one:

Motherhood glow

Two more of Mihaela, a couple of weeks before becoming mother of two!






And -- happy birthday to big boy Flavius, who turns six on Wednesday!

Sweet Summer

Summer seems to have the lion share of the year's birthday parties. Here is some recent sweetness I got to delight in:

Things I love

Some things that make me smile:

- baby feet
- a really shallow depth of field (pictures where the focus is on a very narrow plane, and the rest of the image is blurred into an impressionistic blend of shapes and colors)
- Mary

All of them are in this picture, taken today:



And, by the way, Happy August! (one of my most eventful months, historically)

Postprocessing fun

I love playing with the images in my digital lab almost as much as I like taking them. There is still a lot of potential that can be brought out of a picture after it's taken, and sometimes I revisit some of them and work on them some more, as my interests change and my skill set (and tool box) evolve.

Paying it forward

Today, we were photographed by the talented John Michael Cooper. He and his wife Dalisa are on a tour of the country, teaching their workshops. Along the way, they are offering "roadside portraits" to photographers and their families, inspired by the wonderful David Williams.

It is now my turn to photograph a photographer's family, in the spirit of this Pay It Forward project.

If you are a photographer in or around Atlanta, and would like to be my subject (together with your family), please send me an email, telling me when did you have the last pro photographs taken of your family, and any other reasons for which you'd be the perfect candidate.

I am looking to complete this session within the coming 30 days.

Looking forward to doing my part!

Here is a quick image I took today of JMC and the magic sofa during a quiet moment.