Ahh, I just get so excited when it’s time to photograph Clara!  I cannot believe I met her at two weeks old.  And here we are at 2 years old already…time does fly too fast.

Clara & her parents met me at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis over the weekend.  It was a pretty sticky, hot day, but we made the best of it.  All the time we kept Clara going by promising her a look at the turtles in the Quiet Waters pond.  When we finally came through on our promise, she was thrilled!

Take a quick look at all the fun we had & at Clara’s wonderful outfits!

You may have heard me repeat this fact before, but I have known Clara since she was 2 weeks old.  Her momma contacted me way back then to get some newborn shots & we have been clients & friends ever since.

And that is my ideal.  I don’t want to just photograph someone’s family & then leave.  I mean I usually am only with you for 2 hours, but I invest a lot of myself in those 2 hours with you & the hours afterwards looking back over your sweet faces!  I want my clients to feel like we made a connection, like we bonded, like we could be friends.

Okay, enough emotional-ness…on to Clara.  Clara is lucky to be born where each major milestone sort of coincides with a holiday/season.  She’s about 15 months now & we took her to downtown Annapolis for some fall/Halloween photos.  Her momma & grandmothers MADE her awesome pirate costume!  And Clara can even say, “ARGH!”

And the knit hats….OMG!  Clara’s mom turned me on to a cool shop through Facebook called CrazySocks Crochet.  Kelly always finds the coolest things and these hats are definitely “in” right NOW!  I even got sucked in & bought a pumpkin hat for a prop!  Awesome.

Well, now on to the reason you are even looking at this post…photos of Clara!

I mentioned in Day 81′s post that I was borrowing studio lighting from Severna Park Photo.  I decided to try it out one more time – in a more controlled setting – to get some shots of my new CD/DVD cases for my digital clients.  These are completely un-edited, which was sooooo nice!  I think it shows them off pretty decently.

And for those of you wanting to know, here are the specs on these cases:

Template: Design Aglow “For Collectors of Art & Style” DVD Cover

Printer: White House Custom Colour (WHCC)

Model: Clara

How do I get this case for my digital images?

Now tell me you’ve been a faithful blog reader for the past year & have waited with as much anticipation as I have for this little cutie to turn one!  I mean come on!  Haven’t you followed her sessions every three months?  Haven’t you waited to see what great outfits her mommy has picked out?  Haven’t you waited to see what new milestones she’s accomplished?  Well, if you haven’t, then shame on you.  Don’t you know you have to LOVE everything I LOVE?  I forgive you…so keep reading…

These are a few sneak peeks from Clara’s 1-year session.  I was out of the country on Clara’s actual birthday, so her mom & I scheduled her session for the week after I returned.  I cannot believe how much a baby can change in just three short months!  Clara has gotten so much older!  Where is that little baby?  She is cruising, talking/babbling, making animal noises, and almost walking!

I have so enjoyed our sessions this past year.  It’s just hard to believe that I came to her at 3 weeks old and now she’s one!

Happy Birthday, dear Clara.  I can’t wait to see you grow even more!

Well, I’ve been a busy little bee lately.  And very happy about it, too!  A smile always comes to my face when I get an e-mail from Kelly about taking Clara’s next set of photos.  I just love love love seeing her grow & change each time I visit…and she’s not even mine!  This is why I love my job:  I get to meet new people, invest in their lives, capture meaningful moments for them, & in the end, come out with friends!

You might remember Clara from her Halloween/6-month photos.  Well, she’s gotten even bigger & cuter!  It’s almost Christmas & Clara is as well dressed as ever, plus she is crawling, babbling, saying “uh-oh”, and she smiles at me! (a little)  Besides Clara’s uber cute & stylish outfits, what I really enjoyed this visit was a book she had.  It’s “T’was the Night Before Christmas” and upon turning each page Clara is read the story by her grandpa on a recording!  How cool is that?  So whenever she wants to hear his voice she just opens this book & he’s there, reading to her!  I want one for my girls when I’m away this coming March in Ethiopia.

Thank you again, Kelly, for inviting me in to your home.  And it was good to see you again “Grammy” and wonderful to meet Clara’s daddy too.  The smiles she gave when you came ’round were priceless!  Enjoy Clara’s first Christmas…