Nate and Ben

Since it's our off-season from weddings, we've been able to spend more time taking pictures of families and kids in and around Buffalo. Today's blog post is chock full'o'kids courtesy of really, really cute fraternal twins Nate and Ben (their mom is a fabulous blogger, who writes about all sorts of mommery at "What a Card". So go check it out!

Ben has that killer/mischevious little boy smile that you just know lets him get away with a few things...

Super appropriate reading material (do you remember these!?!):

I love this shot Alyssa took of Nate - the light is just perfect coming in the window.

Grandpa's are the greatest :) The next few shots we got of the boys smiling are all thanks to him.

Being upside down never hurts a photo shoot either...especially not when you're three.

Thanks, Nate and Ben! We hope to see you both again very soon!!

Dear Murphy: Mackenzie's Visit

Hey there, little buddy. Well, our winter adventures are going strong, and your cousin Mackenzie came up north for a quick visit to enjoy some snowy fun with us. She was visiting for "Christmas 2," and while she was here, we couldn't help but snap some pictures of the two of you.

We started with a little portrait session of Mackenzie, who was clearly bribed with candy to participate. She's four now, so she really doesn't sit still for much, but chasing her around the house was worth it because she's gorgeous and photographs so well.

You both had a great time riding this pony -- she looks like she was being still and cooperating, but I assure you, she would look at your mom for one second, then jump off and run to another room and hide from me. I love her, but she had me tired at the end of the shoot!

Since she's no dummy, and the minute the candy bribery stopped, so did her interest in getting her photo taken, we resorted to the old hang-your-kid-upside-down-and-tickle-them approach. She was still for a minute, before she was off again.

So, the candy bribery started again... I think she had more sugar in that hour than she did all week!

Then she decided to do some stickering with her dad...

Then, she decided the portrait shoot was over.

So, she's a Florida baby. When you were born, she was in town waiting to meet you, and there's this classic video of her then 2 1/2 self saying, "Mommy, I want to go home. I miss the sun!" She has more pigment in her sking than your mother and father combined, but she really took to the snow. If she wasn't building a snowman or throwing snowballs or making snow angles, she was asking when she'd get the opportunity to again. So, her dad took her out for a snowball fight. She absolutely loved throwing her snowballs, and she had quite the aim. Her first ball hit your mom right in the face! She was having a blast...

then your uncle's aim went all to hell...

and ruined all the fun...

but she came right back with her killer aim.

Meanwhile, your non-appreciative-of-the-snow behind was inside.

When your cousin came back in, the two of you got down to some serious playing. I think you like each other.

And then you decided blinding me would be a good time. Not so much for Mommy, but you two were adorable, so no grudge.

It was great to see your cousin -- I wish we could see her all the time, but we'll see her again soon enough. And we'll write you again soon, little man. We've got some more great favorites posts from our weddings this year, and another great kid's shoot coming up. Talk to you soon!

Clare and Hailey

I got a really nice email from a local mom who wanted us to capture a snapshot in time of little Clare and Hailey, which is one of my favorite things to do as a photographer. Being able to go to someone's home and capture their little kids running around is incredibly challenging and rewarding. As a dad, I know how life can get away from you fast if you don't stop to appreciate how amazing kids are and how much joy they bring into the world. I always hope that I can capture some of that with my camera.

So, what do you get when you have a 3-month-old and an 18-month old in the same house? Well, debilitatingly cute kids, for starters, but also a handful as you'll see.


One of the things I miss the most about our son getting older is little things you just can't do with a 30-pound toddler...like the sink bath!

Meet Clare:

and meet Hailey:

Cuteness achieved...

Hailey is really into playing the piano...so we did that in two outfits :)

Clare's bow-slip was too cute not to include:

And just like our wedding posts - how could I not include, "The Kiss?" :)

Thanks for having me out!!

Sneak Peek Post

So, you know what's lamer than posting a post about how you are sorry that you haven't posted a new post (that's a lot of posts)? Posting a "sneak peek" post because you've been running ragged on shoots for a week and are behind and the LOST premiere is on tonight!

The past week we've had several kids/baby/family shoots, and here's a preview of the adorableness, in no particular adorable order:

The full posts will be up over the next couple of days.

Seriously, we'll be back on top of things shortly because it's nearly the end of January and we still haven't hit your eyeballs with our giant "BEST OF WEDDINGS 2008" post!!! We can't wait...

Ash

Ash's mom called us because she was interested in getting some shots done of him in our natural "nickel city" style. As a parent, it feels especially cool to be able to make some photographs that I know are going to always represent a moment in a family's life together. Hey - from weddings to maternity to infants to kids and seniors, etc - we're all about family. It's why we love doing what we do.

So anyway, my rambling aside, I got the chance to meet Ash and his parents on Wednesday and we had a great little shoot. Basically, if you're going to take photographs of kids in our style - you have to get on their turf and their level. Luckily, I spent a great deal of my youth fixating on galaxies far, far away if you catch my drift...so I think Ash thought I was cool - but I'm probably kidding myself ;).

I started out shooting without him knowing - I love the giant Klimt on the wall, by the way, guys!

With kids, once they hit a certain age, you can't just trick them into looking at the camera or smiling if they're not into it - I did find out later that Ash totally got bribed for his participation, but the best way to go about getting these kind of shots is to have no expectations or preconceived notions about what's going to happen visually - you just react and work with what you're given, and if you're relaxed and trust your skills, then you'll get a relaxed kid. The first thing we did was play some SpongeBob Operation.

Next we had some hang-out time with Ash's best buddy...what a gorgeous cat. I was never a cat kind of dude until I met Alyssa who already owned a sweet old cat named Wilma (you may have met her if you've been by our studio). Here's some shots I really liked for the couple of minutes we got the cat to play ball, photographically-speaking.

And then we played with some Star Wars stuff - I can't wait until Murphy is old enough for me to indoctrinate him. First was the Star Wars memory game, and then Ash showed me his nearly life-size R2D2. It responds to voice commands and has a drink holder built in...Alyssa, honey - my birthday is in July...I'm just sayin...

After some more playing we went outside to use Ash's rad, new snowball makers.

And then we took a requested shot with Ash's aviators...he wasn't really feeling the sun-glasses, but I like the shot - total thug mug. I couldn't decide on color or black and white, so here's both...

Ash, thanks for letting the dorky guy with the cameras hang out for a little while. I really enjoyed it and you are one rad little dude.