watch out (north little rock, arkansas senior photographer)

Fifteen years ago I was preparing for my own high school graduation. I remember the anticipation and excitement mixed with a little fear of the unknown world that awaited me.

This weekend is prom in North Little Rock, which is a community event in our town, where the students participate in Grand March, an outdoor ceremony where we go watch with our families, take pictures and enjoy all the pretty dresses.

Then graduation is just around the corner.
Since I am around a lot of students, it seems like you can feel the coming changes in the air. Students are blooming right along with the spring flowers.

As I am wrapping up my last couple of senior portraits, I am feeling all the same anticipation I had many years ago for all the seniors I know this year.

Watch out world, here they come!

Carnival Magic cruise...days 2 & 3

When we booked this cruise I was very curious what kind of weather we would have as we sailed out of Galveston, TX in midFebruary and as we sailed south to Jamaica. I would say it was cool for about the first 24 hours. It was a fairly sunny day in Galveston the day we boarded the ship with temperatures in the high 50s or low 60s. The first night we wanted a light sweater to be outside and the next morning it was still cool. The boys played in the hot tub and rode the slides a few times, but were cold and wanted long sleeve shirts when done. By that night you could feel the warmer Caribbean air.

The next morning we docked in Montego Bay, Jamaica for a day of fun in the sun. I had a hard time deciding what was the best option for our family in Jamaica. Originally I planned to do a dolphin encounter, but as far as I could tell they were all on the other side of the island and I didn't want to do a long van ride. We instead decided to do an all inclusive beach day at the Sea Winds Beach Club. SeaWinds is a 3 minute bus ride from the boat and offered a clean private beach, lunch, drinks, kayaks, and a pool.

The boys loved playing in the sand and digging for shells. We took a short catamaran ride and really just had a lazy day on the beach. Then we were back to the port and on the boat in time for showers and dinner, this night at the Italian Restaurant which we loved! 

Carnival Magic cruise...day 1

Yesterday my parents boarded the Carnival Magic on a week long cruise of the Eastern Caribbean. If you know me you know that I love cruising. Last year we went on this same boat with my parents on a Western Caribbean cruise with stops in Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Cozumel. In an effort to remember the fun of this ship and pretend for a moment that I am there with them  I decided to revisit our trip on the Magic from February 2012.
This was the first cruise for Peter and the boys and the Magic is a great ship for a family. We boarded the ship around noon and headed straight for the ropes course and grabbed a little ice cream. We gave the boys free reign on ice cream and lemonade for the week and they jumped right on it.
Campbell was too short to do the ropes course, but fortunately he was distracted by the fun of the Bon Voyage party. He loved to the dance party and through the entire week looked for any opportunity to dance with the entertainment crew.

Our first night ended with a great dinner, chocolates on our pillow and a towel animal.

faces (little rock, arkansas baby photographer)

As my own oldest child approaches the double digits this month I am finding myself feeling a little nostalgic. Filled with memories of a time not so long ago when he was a wee little one. With the nostalgia comes a longing to hold him a little more, while he will still let me...in the safety of our home, not anywhere within a 1/2 mile radius of his school. I also find that I am becoming the lady at parties or functions that is constantly asking to hold a baby, I have never before been this lady. We are growing up.

The result seems to be that I have become that person, the person telling people how quickly the time will fly. How even though I do remember how slow one day could seem, all the days and months and years will pass and you will find yourself being the lady that begs to hold almost strangers babies. Luckily I get to see some pretty cute babies and spend hours making baby faces and silly noises. I do really love my job. 

Just last week I got to hang out with this adorable little man and we had a lot of fun making faces at each other.  

season for seniors (central arkansas senior photographer)

Unseasonably cold temperatures and three straight days of gray skies and drizzling rain have contributed to my feeling a little blue this week, but it is helping me to wade out of my gloom to look at these photos.

I took these senior pictures on a cool, but beautiful, sunny day last week, and we had a wonderful time.

I've said before that I love working with seniors because they are at such an exciting time in their lives.  They are anticipating great change ahead, and in their youth, it seems that they are able to major on excitement and minor on fear. They have their whole lives in front of them, and often, they are taking it in stride.

This season is full.  It is spring and prom and graduation and dreams about the future.  The sky is the limit.
It makes me smile.
Ethan and I had a great time with this shoot.  The locations all fit Ethan's personality, bringing out things he likes, including his love of the outdoors.

All the places we went to were either new to me or places I had not taken pictures in a long time.  I love that!
These first stops were all a build up to our final shooting point.
Since Ethan is an avid duck hunter, we ended the shoot in a swampy area with lots of Cypress trees.  We were surrounded by ducks and geese. It was incredibly beautiful!

The cherry on top of the already perfect evening was when Ethan pulled out his waders and headed into the water.

This is my favorite image of the day...LOVE!