I ♥ Faces -- "Beautiful B&W"

I just love this picture. It was taken during my biggest family session so far, and here we were getting some pictures of all the cousins. These boys were all so fun to work with... The younger two were especially showing off what characters they were. So cute!

Check all the beautiful B&W photos at iheartfaces.com this week!

I ♥ Faces -- "Oh So Silly!"

These are my sisters. They are both pretty darn silly, but the one on the left in this picture is particularly a crack-up sometimes. Here she is doing what she does best: making my other sister laugh. (I had a few crazier pictures from this shoot, but I didn't want to embarrass them too much! ;-))

Check all the silly photos at iheartfaces.com this week!

I ♥ Faces -- "By the Book"

This picture may not make much sense at first glance. I mean, where is the "book" mentioned in the theme, anyway? Well, take a closer look. There it is in the center of the picture, on my girls' laps. I was trying to get a cute picture of them looking at a book together. Instead, they used the book as a platform on which to play with their plastic animals. Why on earth a lion, a miniature zebra, and a giant octopus are playing together, I will never know... But they were playing right along, having a whole long conversation between their animals, right there on top of that book! (I thought it was pretty cute.)

You may also notice that DD#1 on the left has her arm in a makeshift sling. She tweaked her wrist a little during some rough play with Daddy the previous night, but with the fuss she put up about it, you would have thought it was broken or at least badly sprained! So I wrapped it up and put it in this little sling, and thankfully this activity with her little sister kept her mind off the gruesome pain for a little while. (It magically got healed when Daddy decided to play with her again that night, though... Hmmm...)

Check out lots more great "by the book" photos at iheartfaces.com!

I ♥ Faces -- "Family Fun"

January 11th.

One of my favorite family pictures I've taken thus far is this one from my very first session after I'd opened up for business. :-) Check out lots more great family photos at iheartfaces.com!

I ♥ Faces -- Best Face Photo from 2011

2011 was a great year for firmly establishing a significant place for photography in my life. I got my first DSLR, my first prime lens, opened a little photography business, and learned a TON! (I had a ton to learn, so it was good I started learning it!) I had the opportunity to photograph quite a few families and got so many beautiful faces into my camera that I had a very difficult time narrowing it down to my top choice for the year. But of course, nothing pulls at my heart strings like my own babies, so I kept coming back to a few photos of my three little cuties. In the end, I had to go with this one of my two oldest.

Yes, they really do love each other and give each other spontaneous hugs like this! When we go for walks, one will get several paces ahead of the other, then turn back, and they will call each other's names as they go running into each other's arms. Of course they have their moments of arguing and bickering with one another, but overall they are total sweethearts, and it shows.

Head over to iheartfaces.com for many more awesome entries!

I ♥ Faces -- Silly Holiday Photos

This week, I ♥ Faces (iheartfaces.com) is having another just-for-fun photo challenge featuring silly holiday photos. I had two from this holiday season that I thought fit the bill...

#1: Nine out of twelve of my parents' grandchildren,
blowing out the advent candles together on Christmas evening...

(Picture taken almost entirely by the light of the Christmas tree, hence the graininess.)

...and #2: This picture of one of my brothers with my youngest daughter,
who was apparently NOT happy about having her picture taken at this particular moment.


Reminds one of the Greek comedy / tragedy theater masks, no?


(Not my photo... no entry in challenge!)