In the previous post I mentioned how Fresh48 sessions are great for those who choose not to have their birth photographed. They are also wonderful for families whose birth I have captured.

Baby Ansel was born in the wee hours of the morning. Twelve hours after leaving the hospital I returned to capture Ansel’s big sisters meeting him for the first time and the first moments of this new, larger family. Like the previous post, you can see how these sessions are different than your typical newborn session. There isn’t a lot of posing, rather I am capturing the candid moments of an event that will never be repeated for this family.

Fresh48 sessions are a newer session offering for me. It is great for people who would prefer not to have a photographer at their birth but would like “fresh” pictures of their baby – fresher than newborn pictures. Unlike your traditional hospital pictures, Fresh48 sessions are completely relaxed and for the most part, un-posed. The aim is to capture & preserve memories of your family as they are, welcoming this new addition.

Fresh48 sessions take place wherever you give birth. In this case, Amaya was born at home. When I received the call that she arrived, I made plans to go to meet her the next morning. When I got to the house, I met dad and the energetic new big brother with the best hair. Yes – I had major hair envy when I saw him!  You can see why:

Thank you for all the wonderful memories of 2012! Looking forward to a wonderful 2013. . .

A portion of 2012′s client purchases was given back to one of four organizations that has touched my heart in one way or another. Clients picked which one organization they wanted the donation to go to. I calculated the totals and yesterday was excited to make contributions to the following organizations:

The American Cancer Society, dedicated to helping persons who face cancer, received a $127 donation. I placed this in honor of my mother who lost her battle to cancer 4 years ago. www.cancer.org

I placed the largest donation, $321, to the non-profit organization called Food for Hungry Minds! This organization is run by my friend and former colleague Margie Koch. This non-profit creates schools for disadvantaged children in the poorest areas of the world. To find out more about its story, I encourage you to that a peek at their website: www.foodforhungryminds.org.

A donation of $58 went to the Autism Society of MN, which exists to enhance the lives of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. My husband and I have benefited from their resources upon learning our daughter was on the spectrum. It is great to be able to give back! www.ausm.org

The final donation of $76 went to Christ’s Children Ministries. This is an amazing ministry run by a friend of mine in the Phillips area of Minneapolis. It aims to build Christian community among unchurched families in south central Minneapolis through a ministry of outreach and discipleship to children and pastoral care and nurture for their families.

Thank you to all the amazing clients I had this year for making these donations possible! I look forward to supporting more local and international groups in the next year.

I had the pleasure of working with Baby Galen and his parents a couple weeks ago. This session was special in that the parents wanted some skin to skin pictures with baby. Often, especially with birth photography, I am attempting to avoid showing nudity. However this session it could be embraced. I love the closeness and beauty of what we were able to capture.

I have known Margie for over fifteen years now. Undoubtedly she is one of my most beautiful and treasured friends. We don’t see each other that often, but when we do I leave from our visits happier and uplifted.

The non-profit she is president of, Food for Hungry Minds, is getting a website make-over so it was a good time for her to get some much needed new head shots. I loved that I could do this for my friend.

I received the text in the middle of the night but didn’t see it until morning. It was from one of my September birth-center photography clients. Mom was in labor and they were at the hospital. This mama was only at 29 weeks, so I assumed they would be able to stop labor. I don’t know all the details, however when I called in the morning I found that they were giving her the medication to develop baby’s lungs. Baby was coming despite everyone’s best efforts.

That afternoon I went to the hospital ready to shoot a birth. Not too longer after arriving, labor stalled. Amazingly mom & her body was able to hang on for another day and a half, ensuring all the medicine to develops baby’s lungs had a chance to work. When labor started picked up again, I received the call to come back to the hospital.

Baby Rowan surprised all of us by arriving @ 29wks 3days weighing 3lbs 6oz! Rather than being born at the Birth Center the parents’ had chosen, he was born in a hospital O.R. with a NICU staff of five waiting for him. He came out looking great, getting just a little oxygen but needing nothing else. He was able to be held by mom and dad for a few moments before being taken to the special care nursery.

About three weeks after Rowan’s birth, I went back to the hospital to take a couple more shots of this family all together. Though not out of the Special Care nursery yet, he is gaining weight and looking fantastic!

Much thanks to this lovely set of parents for letting me share in their special day!

Where has the time gone? I can’t believe it has taken me a month to get pictures of Baby Voss up on the blog. I got to meet this cutie on Memorial Day along with mom, dad and big sister. He was such a sweetie!!

After having to reschedule Easton’s 9-month shoot due to rain, I was so happy yesterday evening was such perfect weather for pictures. Looking at these now I am struck. . . I remember when big sister was in her mama’s belly. Where does the time go?

Here’s a little peek of a sweet pair of babies just four weeks old! Some time in the NICU prevented us to being able to do this sooner, however it is so nice that everyone can be home together now. Many thanks to this beautiful family for having me out for photos. More beautiful pictures of these two to come!