I was so honored tonight to photograph a ‘family reunion’ of sorts. Leslie contacted me to do some photos of her family as a gift to her mom for her birthday. Leslie didn’t tell her mom, though, that she was also flying her mom’s sisters in for the occasion! And with one in Atlanta, and one in Portland, Oregon, I’m sure that wasn’t an easy task! They were a wonderful family to work with and I hope June had a wonderful birthday!! Thank you to the Pasquini family for the great referral!
Delaney came in for her 6 Month Baby Plan visit!! If you can believe it, her eyelashes have gotten even longer!! What a happy, smiley baby she is. We had so much fun dressing her up, and she had just as much fun posing. I’m telling you… there’ s a fashion model in the works here! I couldn’t leave the studio without doing a few Sneak Peeks for Adam and Michele:
Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July weekend!
Meet Cameron! Cameron celebrated his First Holy Communion in May, and his mom and I were finally able to nail down a time for a session last evening! We did some shots of Cameron, all handsome in his Communion suit, and then we had some fun…. Cameron is on the Canon McMillan 8 year old All Star baseball team, and we had some fun with baseball shots! I love these types of sessions. It’s sad because all too often we get caught up in the day-to-day activities and forget to document children in portraits. So, you end up with a ton of baby and toddler pictures, some bad school pictures thrown in the middle, and then High School Senior portraits. I loved to document Cameron at this age, it’s such a fun time in his life, and I hope his Mom and Dad enjoy these Sneak Peeks until all of the proofs are ready! I’d like to welcome the Hyde’s to the Portraits by Natalie family!!!
I’d like to welcome Blake and his Mommy and Daddy to Portraits by Natalie! I did what I’m now referring to as a “Express Lane Session” with Blake. We sneaked in a quick shoot before the wedding in Denver. I think it was literally 10 minutes from start to finish! Blake was such a trooper… and I would have love to have more time with him. Hopefully when his mom and dad are in town to visit sometime soon they’ll stop by! In the meantime, here is a little Sneak Peek:
Those eyes…. I know, right???
Wow.
That is all I can say about John and Michelle’s Denver wedding. They were married in a castle, the mountains had me saying “Whoa!” at every turn, there were horse-drawn carriages, bagpipes, a dance floor on the castle roof… it was just amazing. John and Michelle are such a wonderful couple. I made the comment during that evening that you can tell how much John and Michelle really like each other. Of course, all couples getting married are in love, but you can see that they have a deep friendship as well. I could put 50 “Sneak Peeks” up on this site and not even scratch the surface of the amazing scenery that was all around us. So, I’ll focus 10 Sneak Peeks on some of my favorite moments from the day.
I really enjoyed shooting my first Destination Wedding. I might be hooked! It was nice for me creatively to get out of my comfort zone and photograph a mosaic that I had never seen before. Thank you to John and Michelle for entrusting me with your memories. I can hardly wait to get through these several hundred images!
I’d like to welcome the Simon family to Portraits by Natalie! They came in recently with newborn Grady and his big brother Noah. We had such a good time. Noah has eyes to die for, and Grady is the sweetest little bundle! Please join with me in welcoming Noah, Grady, and their Mommy and Daddy to the Portraits by Natalie family!!
I was so happy to welcome the Griffin family to PBN today! Nathaniel and his little brother Benjamin waltzed into the studio like they’ve known me for years and we began snapping away! We were able to get some in-studio shots and then we went outside to have some fun. I just love two little boys together… soooo sweet! You just expect a frog to hop out of one of their pockets! Nathaniel and Benjamin are about to welcome a new member to their family soon too! Until then, we’d like to welcome these sweet boys and their Mommy and Daddy to the Portraits by Natalie family! We look forward to growing with you!
So it has been a looooong two weeks here at PBN as I deal with technological drama. My computer will not be back into fighting shape for another two weeks at least. This has created a whole mess ‘o problems around here, but I’m doing everything I can to get back into tip top shape as fast as I can! But as you know… even without computers, the show must go on here at PBN!! We’ve had quite a few adorable faces come in the door in the past two weeks, and I’ve been itchin’ to get to work on their pictures. Well, today… the clouds parted and the photoshop program that I have on my dinky laptop decided it would work for me at full capacity! So, it is with great thanks to my wonderful (albeit slooow) laptop that I bring you these “Sneak Peeks”:
First, we have adorable newborn Kayleigh. I’d like to welcome Kayleigh and her Mommy and Daddy to the Portraits by Natalie family! Kayleigh was a referral from our friends The Garczewski family, and I know Kayleigh’s Mom is so excited for these proofs to be ready. Here’s a peek:
Next we had a visit from the Fox twins for a 1st Birthday portrait session! Lleyton and Delaney are just getting big so fast, and I’m trilled I was able to share so much of their first year with them:
Hot on the heels of the Fox celebration, the Klasnick family came back to us for Sydney’s 1 year portraits! How about these eyes:
We were also able to do a shoot with Sydney’s sister Noelle, who is proudly cheering on the Pens! GO PENS!!
And who remembers the teeny tiny baby that was PBN’s Christmas card spotlight for 2008? Can you believe that Owen is six months old already?? Check out this cutie bug:
And why not end our little stretch of 1st Birthday sessions with a bang? And WHAT A BANG IT WAS!! Look at who’s turning 1 already!! The Lemonovich Quads!!! We celebrated their first birthday with them and even got to sneak a few shots of Big Brother Luke too!
Whew! What a crazy few weeks this has been! But, things are starting to look up, and look like they may be back to “Natalie Normal” pretty soon. Yes, I’m “working my way back to you, Babe!”
And I have to say this: These past few weeks have been tough. When you are not able to control your own business as you wish, it is really frustrating and terribly disappointing. These things happen, equipment breaks, and even 3 month old computers aren’t immune to faulty parts. I get that. But if this little ‘crisis’ has in any way inconvienenced any of you, I sincerely apologize. Please know that not only do I value your business, but I value your trust as well. I was in a bit of a funk over the past two weeks because of this craziness. Then when I had one baby come in after the other recently, I was reminded…… Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. The Lemonovich quads in particular are such a testament to this. They were born so early, and they have overcome so much in the last year and it is truly a miracle from God that they are even with us. And here I am upset about a goofy piece of machinery?? What? That isn’t what life is about. The million little tiny things that make each little face light up…. that is what it’s all about. And that is why I became a photographer in the first place. In 10 years, this drama with my computer will be all but forgotten. But, the smiles and twinkle in the eyes of all of the children in this post alone will still shine bright. These images will endure, and that is what my business is all about. So thank you to all of my wonderful customers, and those of you who have not yet walked through my door for your smiles, your giggles, your tears, and your lives. Thank you for sharing all of them with me.
xoxo, Natalie
I sent every customer whose address I have in my database an email this morning explaining my computer issues. In case you didn’t get it, here’s the gist:
My brand new computer is a lemon. The motherboard crashed over the weekend, and it will be on it’s way back to Hewlett-Packard for repairs this afternoon. So, I will be computer-less for about 2 weeks. (*sigh*) So, my Outlook account for my email is all wrapped up in that computer, so I have no way to access that account after today. I have set up a temporary account for this reason: pbnassistant@yahoo.com Please use this account to email me until further notice. IMPORTANT: If you have emailed me in the last week and have not received a response, please re-send to the new address. Some of my programs went one by one over the last week, and Outlook seemed to be the first.
As always, feel free to call me at 724-986-9955. Thanks so much for your
patience and understanding.
ISN’T TECHNOLOGY GRAND???????
Hello All~
Just wanted to let everyone know that my Microsoft Outlook is having an attitude today and will not let me reply to emails. I can read everything that’s coming in, but I can’t respond. So… if you are emailing, I’m not ignoring you!! Until I get the Geek Squad in here later today to figure it out, I won’t be able to respond to you. If it’s urgent business, I’ll give you a call. Other than that, I’ll just wait to respond when I get things fixed.
Thanks for understanding!
A consumer who HATES Windows Vista (…never had so many computer problems in my life!)
