Getting the camera out for *me*

This June, I've photographed hundreds of children and teens for the dance portrait side of my business. It's fun seeing all of the (mainly) girls all dressed up in their recital costumes, feeling special and pretty and excited for recital - and I'm happy to play a part in that excitement. But as many of you know, I have two kids of my own and oftentimes it feels like I take pictures of everyone's children but mine. Sometimes I need to take pictures just for me, and there's no better place for me to do that than on my family farm, south of here in rural Kansas. My great-grandparents bought this farm back in 1880, and it's always been a magical place for me; and my kids love it as much as I do.

My goal recently was to get some sunset portraits of my kids on the farm, so we went to the meadow at the time of day photographers like to call "the golden hour," ... but unfortunately my little boy's allergies went crazy in the meadow so I only got to photograph my daughter. And my daughter wasn't that thrilled with the photo session herself, until we (my twin sister and I) pulled out the "America's Next Top Model" card deep into the golden hour. So not a perfect portrait session - which seems to happen quite often when I want portraits of my own kids!

I thought I would share a couple of her - I plan to get a little more personal here and there on my blog from here on out so you all can get to know me a bit better. Anyway - here's my daughter on the farm I love so much.