Kelly Nelson Photography

Out with the Old!

2010-01-02T14:12:00.000-05:00

I'm a few days late with this - I had every intention of publishing this post on December 31, 2009 hence the cute title. So much for that plan....
Please meet me over at my new blog: kellynphotography.com/blog

While you're there make sure you check out the Gallery, which includes the highlights of my 2009 sessions. I won't be posting here anymore, so please update your bookmarks! I look forward to seeing you at my new "home"!

Trying to SOAR!

2009-12-29T09:18:00.000-05:00

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while might remember a post I did earlier this summer about learning to jump. In it, I talked a bit about all the things I was scared to do, and how I'm learning to get over myself and do them for the sake of being a good role model for my boys and not instilling the same fears in them that I have in myself. Another example of that occurred for me this month in the form of a photography scholarship opportunity. Me Ra Koh, whose photography workshop I went to earlier this year, announced a scholarship called SOAR!

After a lot of consternation and sleepless nights trying to figure out the perfect thing to say in the video, I created something that I think sums me up pretty well. If you'd like to take a look at my SOAR! video, I'd love to have your support! Hope you all had a great holiday. More to come soon!

The Calm AFTER the Storm

2009-12-20T15:01:00.002-05:00

Was it the "Snowpocalypse"? Or was it the "Shopper Stopper Storm"? Whatever you called it, we had a whole lot of snow here yesterday!
I first heard mention of snow on Thursday morning. I overheard a shop keeper mention 5 inches while I was out on an errand. By the time I was running on my treadmill on Friday morning, they were talking about 8-11 inches starting late Friday evening. My parents were supposed to come on Saturday morning to celebrate an early Christmas with us before they left for their vacation. They changed their plans to arrive Friday and try to beat the storm. I spent Friday running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying find boots for little C - Target only had rain boots, but they worked better than him wearing his only pair of shoes with sandwich bags over his socks. After realizing that the snow was going to impact our Saturday dinner plans (going out!) I had to face the fact that I needed to go to Wegman's to get some groceries... I've always prided myself on not rushing out to the grocery store on the day before a storm. But there were extenuating circumstances right?
So we survived that, and I spent the afternoon creating my video submission for MeRa Koh's Soar With Mera Scholarship. It shouldn't have been too difficult to do, but I let the pressure of it get to me and got myself worked into a tizzy about it. My wonderful husband came home early to help me record it and edit it, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up for our early arriving company. My parents arrived about 20 minutes before the first flakes began to fall, and we spent the evening enjoying their company and watching the snow pile up.
When we got up yesterday morning, there were already 6-8 inches on the ground and it was coming down like crazy. We bundled the boys up and they set out to help shovel the driveway.

Like the boots?! He sure does.

Big C decided that it might be a lot of fun to try his off-roading remote control car in the snow. Turns out, the snow sticks to the wheels pretty quickly and jams it up.

About an hour after these pictures were taken you couldn't even tell anyone had shoveled. Another 10 inches came down during the course of the day, giving us a total of 19" officially. Last night I took a few pictures looking out the front window. These aren't totally in focus, but I like them.

After a restless night of sleep, punctuated by the scraping and beeping of plow trucks, (can't say the plow guys here aren't thorough) I woke up early and took my camera out to document the peace and beauty of the fresh snow. This is what the sunrise looked like today.

This is my Dad's car that spent the day in the driveway. The drifts were amazing!

Our neighbor's back yard. Care for a picnic?

Back to work again this morning!

So that was our weekend. In between the snow, we had a lot of fun celebrating with Noni and Pops and Uncle Kev. Hope you stayed warm and have managed to dig your way out!

Sibling Session

2009-12-08T13:44:00.000-05:00

This weekend I got the chance to do something a little different than my usual family sessions. As I have a five year old and a two year old, so far my circle of clients has included many classmates or mommy friends with similarly aged kids. My sister-in-law asked me to come down to Hampton Roads Virginia this weekend to take some pictures of two of her friend's teenagers as a Christmas surprise. I was a little worried about how we'd do - especially since it was about 30 degrees, but we had such a blast. These two were so well mannered, so much fun, and clearly love each other (and their dad who we were surprising) a whole lot.

I don't usually post the slide show from the session on my blog, but I'm so happy with how it came out that I can't help myself today. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Miss S is 6! | Ashburn Children's Photography

2009-12-02T14:20:00.000-05:00

Last year when Big C was in preschool, his best friend was Miss S. The two of them were huge fans of "doing Art" and would bring each other pictures to school each day that they had made. I think S had a big influence on C's artistic style as every picture he makes to this day has a flower in it. Unfortunately, now that they are in Kindergarten, S goes in the morning and C goes in the afternoon, so they don't get to see each other too much anymore. We did run into them at the park last week so they got to see each other again, although there wasn't much art at the park. S is the youngest of 6(!) kids in her family, so Mom wanted to get some special pictures taken of her to mark her 6th birthday in style. I got to spend a little time with S and her Mom at the park on a beautiful Sunday morning. It was a little chilly and she was a little shy, but after some jumping, she got into it. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

She's getting ready to do a big Cheer Jump in this one!

The B Family | Northern Virginia Family Photography

2009-12-01T13:36:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of photographing the B family at their home in Arlington, VA. I met Lisa, a graphic designer, at the Me Ra Koh Confidence workshop that I attended in September. She agreed to help me create a new logo in exchange for a photo session with her family. It turned out to be a great deal for me, as she created a logo that I love! I hope to reveal it along with my blogsite redesign after the holidays.

She and her husband have been in the process of renovating their home for a long time and have finally finished it up. It was very cold on Saturday and she was really worried that I wouldn't get good light or pictures inside their house. When I got there I couldn't believe how beautiful the light was. It was like being in a studio! They had two adorable girls - Miss A (4) and Little Miss C (2). Miss A was a natural model. Her sister is stuck in that "cheese" stage, so we had to work a little harder to get some natural looking faces from her, but I think we caught a few! I hope you love these as much as I do!

Knock Knock

2009-11-20T16:38:00.001-05:00

Who's there?

Car

Car Who?

Daddy Car!

Repeat (20 times)...

This is what's been going on in our house for the past few days. Little C (and for that matter Big C) have learned about knock-knock jokes. Neither one of them really seems to quite understand the premise of how they're supposed to work. Little C has been incessant with the jokes. We all were driving home from an adventure on Sunday when he trotted this one out on us:

Knock Knock

Nobody's home. (me frustrated after repeating the above scene over and over again)

Pause

Ding Dong!

I guess maybe he does understand them...

It's been a long time since I've done a post about my two favorite boys. I can't get over what big kids they are. In fact right now the three of us are sitting together on the sofa. Big C has decided that Little C needed to be introduced to the movie Cars and he's explaining it all in great detail as we watch the race scenes from the movie. It's really cute listening to them together.

They both are doing so many new things that just amaze me. Every morning now when we get down stairs Big C has written and drawn something for us. Yesterday it was "I like my toys to be in a box", with a picture of a box with all his toys in it. The day before he drew a picture of each day of the week, and wrote the names of the days. The words may not be spelled correctly, but he's figuring out the sounding out part of reading and writing. His little bro, meanwhile is talking up a storm, has just started eating at the table with the rest of the family instead of with his high chair tray, and has sort of mastered using a spoon. He also suddenly has very strong opinions about everything, and he's much more vocal about them than his brother ever was.

We are all looking forward to the holidays this year, and while Little C has no idea about what's about to happen, his brother has made his list multiple times.... I have some work to do...

We've had a lot of dreary weather lately, but last week I took my camera out to the bus stop and caught a few cute ones of the two of them while we waited for the bus. They love to walk on the balance beam, play red light green light, and chase each other around while we wait...

The J Family Mini Session | Ashburn Family Photography

2009-10-26T14:05:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity to photograph a family mini session this weekend with three super handsome and super well mannered young men. These three made my job a lot easier. They took direction well, and didn't have any complaints about posing for pictures. We knocked their session out in 30 minutes and got a lot of great shots. Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

A bit of housekeeping

2009-10-22T13:41:00.000-04:00

Those of you who are used to coming here through blogspot.com may have encountered a warning message before you came here today. I just wanted to let everyone know that the blog will now officially be located here at blog.kellynphotography.com. Apparently there's already another "Kelly Nelson Photography" out there in the world and she beat me to the domain name. As I mentioned in a previous posting, I'm in the process of developing more of a brand identity for Kelly Nelson Photography, so you'll probably see some more changes in the coming weeks.

G Family | Reston Family Photography

2009-10-12T13:16:00.006-04:00

I've rekindled a lot of old friendships in the past 6 months through Facebook and made some new ones as well. One of those people that I reconnected with recently is Jen G. She was in my sorority at Virginia, and we lost touch after graduation. When we reconnected, she and her husband were preparing to bring a new member info their family. Within days of catching up with her, they were off to meet and welcome Mr. K into their lives. I have seen the pictures they've posted on Facebook of this cutie, and the way their family has grown, and was thrilled when they asked me to document this stage in their life. He's not quite one yet, but already taking those first tentative steps, so he was a lot of fun to photograph.

He didn't want to do anything with this chair except to try and "Strong Man" it. He didn't have much success with that, but was adorable in his attempts.

The weather wasn't great on Saturday, we actually spent 15 minutes hiding in a picnic shelter to avoid the rains, but I'm thrilled with what we got. G family, it was great to see you again and meet Mr. K. I hope you enjoy the previews here. It was a privilege to take your photos.

Fall Mini Sessions

2009-09-30T08:20:00.000-04:00

The holidays are approaching, and it's a great time to start thinking about holiday photos. I'm going to be holding a weekend of Mini Sessions on October 17 and 18. Mini sessions are ideally suited for capturing the holiday card shot or for that perfect gift for Grandma and Grandpa.

Price: $75
Location: Legacy Park in Brambleton
30 minute photo session for up to 5 family members
15-20 photos available online for proofing
Includes one digital image for use in a holiday card OR one 8x10 photo
Prints available at standard pricing (contact me for price list)

Full service sessions are also still available for several weekends this fall. Regular session pricing starts at $150.

Workshop Review

2009-09-25T11:54:00.010-04:00

As I said in my previous post, I had the most amazing weekend at the Me Ra Koh Confidence workshop this past weekend. One of the most exciting parts was the opportunity to do two different styles of photo shoots while gaining feedback and constructive criticism from not only two renowned international wedding photographers, but also working with and observing the 19 other women in attendance. The first day, we focused on moms and babies and learned how to better take advantage of low lighting and difficult surrounding situations. Can you believe that these shots were all taken in a hotel conference room, and that mere feet away was a table with left over lunch dishes on it? I have to say that of all the shots I took this weekend, this first one is far and away my favorite. This beautiful baby was only 6 weeks old, but her mom seemed to already be so in tune with her. I don't think I ever managed to look this comfortable and beautiful at 6 weeks post-baby.

There were actually a total of four babies and moms who came down to help us out on Saturday. One of the moms is actually a neighbor of mine who recruited her friend to join us at the last minute. These shots of their two babies together make me laugh every time I look at them. He was really putting the moves on her...

This final little guy was a miracle baby - born very premature, but at 9 months he's thriving and was super flirtatious with all the ladies that were taking his picture.

On Sunday we had another opportunity to watch Me Ra in action as she lead us on a series of family shoots. There were only three families that came, so it was a bit more challenging to get good shots without stepping on the other ladies toes - or winding up in their picture. For these we headed out to the streets of DuPont Circle. There is so much variation in the architecture down there it's hard to believe these were all taken within 100 feet of each other. I only had the chance to get one shot of this little cutie, but I really like the dynamic that I caught.

This family was just great. The two little boys reminded me so much of my own, both in their coloring and demeanor. The older brother was so serious and not happy about being there until we got him to loosen up and have some fun, then he started smiling for us. It really helped when Dad made some crazy monkey sounds. One think I took away from the shoot is that if I act goofy the kids don't really care, but when Dad and Mom go crazy, the kids can't do anything but laugh.

What a weekend!

2009-09-23T12:18:00.008-04:00

Wow. I had the most amazing weekend. I had the privilege of attending a Confidence Workshop with Me Ra Koh and her hilarious husband Brian. I met such a diverse and amazing group of women - each looking to better herself and her photography for both personal and professional reasons. We covered so much material - from shooting in low light to coaching families to post processing to the meaning behind it all. My husband and friends have asked me several times about how my weekend was and what I learned, and while I was able to rattle off info about my light meter and editing, I still don't think I've been able to process what I really learned about myself. I think that's going to come a little later.

Here are a few images from the weekend. These are shots of Me Ra and her husband Brian in action.

We had two different groups of models come in over the weekend, Saturday we did Moms and Babies, and on Sunday we had some families come down. Those were great and I got some shots that I'm very proud of, but I'm not quite ready to post those right now. Instead, enjoy some colorful shots from the DuPont Circle Farmer's market that I stumbled upon on Sunday morning when I went out looking for breakfast. There were so many beautiful colors and textures, I was so glad I had my camera. These people take such pride in their produce, it was fascinating watching them set everything up and stage everything just so.

I'd never seen purple peppers before! I was fascinated.

Pop Quiz

2009-09-13T21:02:00.005-04:00

Which of these kids has a Mom who takes too many pictures of him?

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. Things have been a little crazy personally here as we get used to our school and sports schedules, so I've been letting photography things slide a bit. I am working towards a total overhaul of my brand, and a more official business site in the coming months. My biggest news right now is that I'm going to a workshop this coming weekend here in DC that I am so excited about. I know I'll have a ton of photos to share along with my experiences there.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures that I took over Labor Day weekend, when we went on a surprise trip to Cary, NC to see my sister-in-law and her family. We had other plans which fell through, so we called them up on Friday and invited ourselves down for the weekend. My niece HC is the exact same age as Big C, and my nephew G is about 6 months older than our little guy. The older ones have such fun playing together, and it was fun to see the little ones try to keep up. I was hoping to do a real family shoot with them, but we since we were total pop-ins, we didn't have the chance. In spite of that, here are a few pictures of the cousins having fun together.

My beautiful niece HC

My nephew G rocking the sit-n-spin.Snacktime on the big bench

How stinkin' cute are these two? Apparently I didn't get any of Little C. He was there and had fun, I promise.

The Wheels on the Bus...

2009-09-08T15:39:00.005-04:00

So today was finally the big day. The first day of school. Finally. We were so excited this morning we could hardly stand it. Big C couldn't sit still. This is what he did all morning. He was running laps in our bedroom, and practicing his sliding. Here he is mid-slide.

He's in afternoon kindergarten, so the bus comes for him at 11:20. Which means we started eating lunch at 10:45. I think its going to take some adjusting to that schedule. We were ready by 11:05 and took the obligatory pictures on the front steps.

We measure Big C every three months on the 8th in order to track his growth (yes, we're ocd engineers), so this morning happened to be a measuring day. I knew he'd grown a lot this summer, but I was shocked that he was an inch and a quarter taller than on June 8th! Here's my big guy walking up to the bus stop.Being the first day, the bus was running a bit behind schedule, so we had a little time to kill. After running up and down the street about 10 times, he tried to do a handstand....

The bus was finally coming! We all had our hugs and kisses and then the bus turned the wrong direction and went down the wrong street. We were a little dismayed, but they figured it out.
Finally coming!
He climbed right on with a hello to the driver Miss J and never looked back.

And off they went... He had a great day today and skipped the whole way home from school. I think he's going to like it...

My Boys at the Beach

2009-08-28T14:17:00.006-04:00

So as I said in the previous post, I dressed everyone up one morning and we schlepped down to the beach to take some nice pictures while we were in Corolla last week. It was really, REALLY hot while we were there, and there was no ocean breeze. Everyone was pretty frustrated with me for doing this, but I really wanted some pictures of both boys for our walls, and I was hoping that maybe I could actually get a chance to be IN some pictures too. That didn't really work out like I had hoped... I did get some great ones of the boys, both together and separately, but nothing of me with the boys. I basically gave D my camera and then wrestled with the boys and yelled at D. They were some real winners - I was looking for one to post here as proof, but they are all so bad, I can't.
My boys on the otherhand, were charmers despite how annoyed they were with me. Here are my favorites:

Little C is very much into running these days. He'll stand there and say "Doh!" (Rhymes with Go) over and over again until someone else says it, and then he'll take off running. I love the joy on his face in these two shots.

Big C having a stare down with a seagull.Early in the morning, the beach was covered with holes and tracks from the sand crabs that would scurry in and out. Here's a great example of the wise older brother suckering his curious younger bro into sticking his arm down the crab hole... Big C's no dummy!

My favorites. I think these will be hanging up in our family room soon.

Vacation 2009

2009-08-26T13:13:00.010-04:00

We're back from our family vacation in the Outer Banks of NC. We had a great time! It was really hot, but the water was great, and we didn't have a single drop of rain until we were driving out of town to head home. The boys had a great time and were old enough this year to have a lot of fun adventures. I was so busy enjoying myself that I didn't take a whole lot of pictures. It was much more fun to be involved in the activities than to be an observer taking it all in.

We were on an adjusted schedule there, since we were in a condo with adjacent neighbors. We didn't want to let Little C sing and talk in his crib each morning like he does at home, and with the poor coverage of window treatments, we were all up with the sun every morning. D actually took this picture from our balcony one morning while he was doing breakfast duty and letting me rest a little longer. It was a beautiful view!

We started each day with a family bike ride to get coffee for D, and explore the area. We rented bikes this time for all 4 of us, with a tandem for Big C. He and I rode together each time, and D rode with Little C. Our condo unit was at the top of a hill, so I was thankful for the help in pedaling!

We were in a third floor unit, and there was an elevator right outside our door. This was the highlight of the trip for Little C. We didn't think he was strong enough to press any of the buttons, but we let him think he was helping each time. He fooled us though by pressing the alarm button one day. Apparently he decided that this is how you stand in an elevator - because that's what Big C did once:

The only drawback to our trip was that our condo was far enough away from the beach access that we had to take a "trolley" or open air bus to the beach each day. That wouldn't have been so bad, except that it could only carry 15 people, and if you've ever been to the Outer Banks, you know it's common for extended families of 10+ or multiple families to stay together. This lead to a lot of full buses, and stressing about getting to the bus in time. It's hard to be on a schedule on vacation. In order to avoid the stress, (and since we were already up so early), we typically took the first bus of the day to the beach at 9am, were eating lunch at 11am, and were headed home for naptime at noon. This left us with time to have some fun adventures with Big C while Little C napped. One day he and D went mini golfing, another day I took him to see the lighthouse - he climbed all 200+ steps to the top, and then we explored a museum nearby, and other afternoons we went to the pool. Here are a few of the pictures from when he and I went to the lighthouse. Usually, we'd meet up again after Little C's nap and go off on a family adventure. Here are a few pictures from a playground we found at a shopping center near our house. Big C learned to cross the monkey bars while we were there.

We could only kill so much time each afternoon, and were usually ready for dinner at 4:30. We felt a little silly walking into every restaurant at 5 on the dot, but in most cases we weren't the first ones there, and that left us plenty of time to go for ice cream before the boys had to head to bed. One evening we mixed things up and took dinner to the beach. Here are some pictures of how we spent most of our time on the beach. Little C was a little leery of the waves, so he liked to have a hole to sit in with the water, while Big C tackled them head on with his boogie board. He was fearless in the waves this summer!
We had a terrific time last week, and made a lot of memories that we'll cherish. Big C has already started angling for a two week beach vacation next year. We'd all love that...

For those who are curious, I did drag the boys down to the beach for a real photo session. I got a lot of great pictures that I'm looking forward to hanging on my walls. However, we also established that for this kind of thing in the future we'll be working with a photographer other than Mom. I'll save those for a later post.

News

2009-08-13T14:44:00.005-04:00

I wanted to let everyone know that I have wrapped up my portfolio building sessions, and am now officially open for business. My rates are listed in the link to the left. As the school year starts, consider booking a fall session for holiday gifts, or for your holiday cards. I plan to offer some mini sessions once we settle into fall, so check back here for details.

No post is complete without a photo, so here's one of my favorites of Little C. This is from earlier this spring after it had just rained. I think he was squatting to pick up his ball, but became distracted by the sparkles in the grass.

T Family

2009-08-10T08:52:00.007-04:00

I met the T family this weekend in Old Town Manassas to walk around and take some pictures. They were all great sports despite the heat. I hope everyone enjoyed the ice cream that was promised for doing such great jobs! I know Mom is eagerly awaiting a preview - so here are a few of my favorites.

W was a little nervous being up so high, but Dad assured him that he wasn't going to let him fall. I love it when I can get the shots that show the connections like the trust shown here.
Little Sis J was not so happy to be having her picture taken, but even though she wasn't always grinning, I think we got some cute ones anyway. Don't you love her shoes?
Every time she'd see me snapping candid shots of her, she'd get pouty and turn away. I think that those are actually some of my favorites.

And finally, Baby M. She was adorable and happy as could be.
Look at those blue eyes.
Thanks T family! It was great to see you all again.

Run Buddy, Run!

2009-08-09T13:28:00.012-04:00

Several weeks ago, D was browsing the various products at our local large sporting goods store. Since he was bored, Big C decided he was going to sprint around the "testing track" as fast as he could. This "testing track" was just a pretend track that circled some of the shoe displays. After we dragged him out of the store, he agreed that it might be fun to run in a race. We scoured the local racing paper looking for a race that would offer a short "fun run" for children. We settled on the Leesburg 10K/20K with a .25 mile kids' run held this morning in Leesburg. Although neither D, nor I were in fit enough shape to run in the big race, we decided to take the boys out there this morning so that Big C could try his skills at racing.

Here he is getting some water from his new water bottle before the big race kicked off.

As usual, Little C had to watch.
Here he is starting off the race. D ran with him, but isn't in this picture.
The race was set up so that they ran down a big hill, turned around and then ran back up it to the finish line. Kind of a tough route in my opinion. Here they are coming back into view after the turn around.C was feeling pretty good about the fact that he didn't have to get carried like the girl next to him.

Coming down the home stretch - he had a pretty good kick!Crossing the finish line.
So proud of himself and his medal. Everyone got a medal and a T-shirt. Unfortunately, they got all of the shirts in "Adult Small" size - the shirt fits me!
Congratulations Big C. We're so proud of you!

S Family

2009-08-06T09:48:00.009-04:00

Yesterday I had the chance to get together with another of our old friends from the Mommy group that I belonged to when I first had Big C. I wish we could see them more, as Big Brother B has a very similar personality to my Big C. We occasionally run into the S family at the library, but it's hard for the boys to really play together when we're shushing them, and during the school year, our schedules totally conflicted with am/pm school. Little N was born right before we moved back up here to Virginia. I can't believe we've already been back long enough for her to be this big and adorable! I met up with them at a local park, and we had a great time looking for ducks and turtles at the pond. I'm finding I'm having a harder and harder time picking my favorite shots to post here. I hope you enjoy them.

I love the expression on Little N's face in this picture. Here's the slideshow, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it crops some of the pictures sometimes. Sorry for that.

Hey Batter Batter!

2009-08-04T10:02:00.005-04:00

Here in our house, we've gone a little baseball crazy lately. (Or "Bat-Ball" if you're asking Little C.) Big C is in his first baseball camp this week, through the parks and rec center, and so far he's loving every minute of it. Little C isn't too happy each day when we drop him off and he doesn't get to stay. In an effort to set him up for success at camp, we've been playing a lot of baseball in our alley. The boys do a great job of taking turns. Every time Big C gets a hit, drops the bat, and runs the bases (usually for a homerun) Little C runs up and grabs the bat, sets his ball up on the tee, knocks it down and gives himself a round of applause. They are both so proud of themselves.

We're hoping that Big C likes camp enough that he wants to sign up for little league this fall. So far he's been really hesitant to try any organized sports because of the aggression, but I think this is going to be the one for him.

Little C doesn't quite get how he's supposed to hold the bat, and no matter how many times we correct him, he picks it up upside down.

My Favorite Team

Learning to Jump

2009-07-30T14:27:00.013-04:00

I woke up this morning to find that one of my favorite bloggers had posted a whole article on learning to jump out of your safety zone. This really hit a nerve with me both personally and with my budding photography business.

I've never been a real adventure taker. I'm afraid of fish touching me in the ocean. I hyperventilated and had to get back on the boat during my one and only tropical snorkeling trip on our honeymoon. I have no desire to ever bungee jump or any of those crazy risk taking things people do. However, I'm coming to realize as a mother that sometimes you have to suck it up and try things for the sake of your kids. I don't want my boys to end up with the same fears and self doubt that I have. I'm constantly amazed by the new things that Big C is willing to try and that he tackles without doubt or any kind of fears. This past weekend we were back in Ocean City, NJ and he did two things that shocked me. The first was that he and a friend (Mr. N from the previous post) went on all the rides at Wonderland Pier by themselves without ever looking back. Rollercoaster - check, Tilt-a-whirl - check, hot air balloons, big swings - check and check.

The second thing that he did was to jump INTO the bay at my parent's dock. Now let me say for the record that the Bay gives me the Heebie Jeebies. First, you can see the fish swimming when you're standing on the dock (yes, they're minnows, but still..) and second, when the tide goes out and you can see the bottom of the bay, it's gross. Really mucky mud, with lots and lots of icky seaweed. Anyway, my dad's been practicing swimming across the lagoon, so Big C watched him do this one day, and the next day decided that he would get in. I had to hold his hands, and lower him into the water each time, and he'd cling to my dad until he got back to the ladder. The next day, D was there with him, so he was a little bit braver, jumping in and still clinging till he got back to the ladder. By the third day, he was totally going for it. Huge splashing dives, swimming around without holding on to anyone. I decided I needed to get over myself and I got in with them. If I didn't think about it, it wasn't so bad, and I'm so glad I was able to experience the excitement of a new adventure with my son.For those of you who may doubt, here's a video proving that I actually got in the water (that's me at the very end treading water).

The last big adventure that we had this week, is that we tried out a tag-along bike for Big C, and a bike seat for Little C. We'd never tried either of these things before, but they both loved them. We were able to take our first family bike ride on the Boardwalk in Ocean City. Here we are with Pops and Little C.
This has been a big summer in the Nelson house, we're learning to jump, stepping outside our comfort zones and going for it!

S Family

2009-07-28T14:39:00.005-04:00

Erin and I go way back - she was our official driver in high school. She lived pretty far away from school, so she got a car right away. I can remember climbing in and out of the back of her 2 door Bronco hundreds of times. I'm not sure why, but I was always the one stuck in the back seat...
Anyway, when she heard I was going to Ocean City last week, she asked if I'd be interested in taking a few pictures of her kids at the beach. I jumped at the chance to take on a new challenge. I'd never really worked in that kind of wide open light during a real photo shoot. Turns out it was a pretty overcast day, and we were able to get some nice shots.

One thing I'm noticing doing these family shoots - I've got a pretty good rapport going with the 5 year old boy set. Mr. N was as chatty as could be with me, telling me all about his friends and asking about my boys. The added excitement of getting up on top of the lifeguard stand was quite a thrill.

On the flip side, Little K was very disappointed that I was the wrong Miss Kelly. Apparently one of their close friends at home is named Kelly, and her daughter is close friends with Little K. She was pretty bummed to find out I was the Kelly they were going to see, so we started off a little rough, but when Mom brought out the princess dress in the end, it was all ok.

With about 5 minutes left to go in the shoot, the sun finally broke through the clouds, and we got some great light.

And here's the slide show. Thanks S family, it was great to see you again. Maybe we can do it again next summer!

G Family

2009-07-20T13:23:00.010-04:00

I had a great photo session this weekend with the G family in downtown Leesburg. Mom was my first "Mommy Friend" after we met in a Mommy support group with our first-borns. I was so flattered when she asked if I'd take their pictures. It was a beautiful morning, and I know that Mom was stressing out about the cooperation level from her kiddos. Despite the stress, I think we got some winners. So many in fact, that I'm having a hard time choosing which to post here.

I'll start with my favorite:
Little Miss M. just turned 2, and was absolutely adorable. She's a wild one though, and it was hard to get her to sit still - she wanted to jump off every wall and rock we found. I was still able to catch her in a few quiet moments and got these shots. Don't you love the dress Mom chose for her?
Mr. C was none to happy to be taking pictures on a Saturday, so he was a little grumpy as we started off. In the end though, he came around and was a great sport. Especially when we found a tree to climb and a grassy yard to run around in.

For these last two I was doing a little experimentation with being more creative with my shots. I love how they turned out with the focused foreground and blurry backgrounds. The kids were a little reluctant to be sitting in the grass, so I couldn't get Miss M's feet, but I still like the effect.

And finally, the slide show.

Thanks G family! You were great.