The Big "1"

Up today I have a recent session I did last week for a little beauty who turned one. It's such a BIG birthday!! We had fun with the simple backdrop setup for this session. I love simplistic set-ups where your subject is the main focal point. It really brings attention to the little features, especially for babies. Their big eyes, long lashes, tiny fingers and toes, and all the other little things we love about them!

We also made sure to get some with mom, dad and both mom and dad together. I think it's truly important to have a child/children with each of their parent's separately. It makes a beautiful way to hang multiple photographs on your walls to fill the space with everything important - LOVE. :)

I hope you enjoyed the few sneaks I have shared with you for this session. Stay up to date by entering your email address on the top left to receive new blog posts straight to your inbox!

And, don't forget, my "mom + me" mini sessions are just a short month away! Be sure to contact me to book your time slot as soon as possible.

Smores Project

Hi there! I have something crafty related to share with you today that I took photos of because it was too cute to NOT share.

I made up these little S'mores bags for my son's Cub Scouts Blue & Gold annual dinner. We decided on a camping theme, which was totally fitting. I found the inspiration on Pinterest and made my own version.

I started out taking red and orange tissue paper and cutting them into rectangles. These happened to fit perfectly the width of my clear bags.

I then alternated the piles so I could grab one stack and stuff into the clear baggies. I used 2 sheets of each color, alternating them. These will be your "flames."

 I then stuffed the tissue into the bags and set them aside.

And for the YUM part - the S'mores! I used Golden Grahams cereal, mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips. I bought them separate and mixed them in the biggest bowl I have.

And there is another shot, just because.

And one more at a different angle. 

I used 2 cups per baggie. I had willpower with this project.

Here is the baggie with the snacks measured out. What I did was put 1 cup on either side of the tissue so it was evenly distributed.

And here they are all tied up. I made a LOT of these. 160 to be exact!

 Here they are on the tables. We placed 10 (one for each seat) in a circle around the table numbers to mimic a campfire. They were definitely a HIT at Blue & Gold!!

I hope you enjoyed my little project today! I provided all the photography for the event as well. I will post those in another post! Stay tuned by following my blog via e-mail. 

New Leaf Photography | www.newleafphotography.net | Portrait Photographer in Northern Illinois

Playing Catch Up on Project 52!

Hi there! Winter took hold and I wasn't inspired to shoot the prompts for the past couple of weeks, but today, the sun it out. It's "warm" out for here in the winter. And I had an urge to get caught up!! I figured I'd do that all in one blog post. I'm behind the last two weeks, and then the current challenge concludes this blog post. Enjoy!! Be inspired by all things around you.

Week 7 | 52: Pastel (Colors)

Since I live in a house of testosterone, I don't have much by way of pastel. And Easter is next month, so I wasn't waiting. I had to find SOMETHING for this prompt. And my mom would say I always dress all in black and darks (well, she IS right; aren't they always?!) so no luck in my closet. I turned to my little plate of lemons. They're fragrant. Cheery. Yellow! Yellow is a pastel, right? So there I had it. My inspiration. When life hands you lemons...you shoot them of course!

Week 8 | 52: Perspective

I hate this thing, but it helps me hold myself accountable for my progress with watching what I'm eating and working out daily. Today, we had a good day together, but this is the perspective I take on this weight loss journey. One day at a time. One pound at a time. 

Week 9 | 52: Shapes

My youngest (5) is really into cutting, so I let him loose with construction paper, glue and crayons and scissors. These are some of the things he's made me. I have a knife, many hearts, his handprint with his name in the middle, a fortune cookie (the fortune read "Logan"), I think a leaf, and the other green item, I'm not sure what it is, but it's a picture of him on it with his name!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my latest images for these challenges. 

All images ©New Leaf Photography 

www.newleafphotography.net | www.facebook.com/mynewleafphotography

Week 6 | 52: Happy!

Hi there! This week's prompt is fun. So many ways this could go. Happy. There area a lot of things that make me happy. Yes, yes, coffee is one of them!! Then there are my kids. My husband. My dog. My hobbies. My books. OH so many things. But I wanted this prompt to be about something kinda silly that makes me happy...

I chose something that makes me happy and smile every single day. There's a reason this little guy sits on my kitchen counter, where I spend a TON of time throughout the day. How can Baby Groot NOT make you smile?! And if you bump or wiggle him, he dances. I. LOVE. IT. And if you don't know who Baby Groot is, well, my friends, you NEED some Guardians of the Galaxy in your life. Like right now. 

Thank you for checking out my photo this week for the My Four Hens Project 52 challenge. Make sure you follow my blog via email (sign up right on my page) to receive all updates!

New Leaf Photography | www.newleafphotography.net

Week 5 | 52: Small

I know, I'm late again with this one. I struggled too with this prompt, but I think that's the purpose of these projects is to really push you and make you think!! Well, I'm on overload then ;)


For this one, I decided to use something that is always a huge part of play time around here for my oldest - Legos. I think most people with boys can say it's a huge part of their kids lives, too. I'm always amazed at how quickly he can build a Lego set, by himself, with just reading the instructions and then he comes out of his room with this. I'm amazed. He's 9 and what I'd call a "master builder." (Come on, you have to have seen the Lego Movie by now?!)

Something so small is such a huge part of who he is. And so is Star Wars. This is DEFINITELY a Star Wars household!!

Thank you for checking out my photo this week for the My Four Hens Project 52 challenge. Make sure you follow my blog via email (sign up right on my page) to receive all updates!

New Leaf Photography | www.newleafphotography.net

Week 4 | Project 52: A Part of Me

Hi there! I know I'm late posting this for this challenge, but for a good reason. You see, I struggled big time with this prompt this time. I think when you go a project like this, you want this amazing image to be so striking and glorious and it's full of pressure. Sounds silly since this is for fun and learning to shoot less but more (yes, that makes total sense) in a year. As any type of creative individual, there is immense pressure to create something amazing each and every time you pick up your camera, paintbrush, pen, "insert-tool-of-choice-here" that it it sometimes too much!

I had the perfect image I had wanted to capture for this prompt because it would have been true for something that is a part of me. But I didn't. Why? I simply ran out of time to capture it for this week. And why didn't I have time to take just this ONE simple photo? You see, because I was preparing to spend the weekend with someone important. My oldest. We don't get much alone time just he and I, to do fun things and connect with each other. Life is a constant hustle. School. Housework. Day-to-day tasks. Sibling. Pets. Spouse. Cub Scouts.

We had a weekend camping trip to a cabin with his fellow Webelos (1 and 2) and their parents. My husband and I decided that I would go on the next camping trip, and I went. :)

So what I did this past weekend was my spend time with him. A. PART. OF. ME. And I did something that took a LOT out of me...I brought my camera with us, but I didn't pick it up. I wanted to be THERE in the moment. Not behind the camera. I captured some images with my iPhone, nothing to be noted as amazing or great photography, but it was in the moment, quick snapshots of our weekend. But I was there.

Here we are on our hike that we took with the group. I don't typically post photos
of myself, let alone sans makeup, but it wasn't about me. It was about him. About us.

We took a hike.

We made a knife pouch together.

I watched him help his fellow Scouts made the parents breakfast Saturday morning. Seeing the proud look on his face was enough joy for the entire day.

He taught me (along with about 5 other people!) how to play chess. And I won.

We played Scrabble.

We bonded.

And I realized, he was my prompt. He is a part of me. A BIG part of me.

I was the only mom there, and while I felt a bit out of place at first, I realized I was right where I should be - with him.

Week 3 | 52 Photo Project

This week's prompt was something I thought would be super easy. Being a natural light photographer, I didn't think twice. Yet, here it was Saturday night, the day before the new prompt goes up, and I started getting worried about getting a shot. Sadly, it's been so gloomy here that it's been hard to pick up the camera to photograph much. So I waited. Waited for a sunny day. Then waited for something cool to strike me to photograph for this week. Nothing. 

Then tonite, while thinking quickly about it, I decided I've never taken photos in the dark/with a single light source. Which led me to this capture. It's not perfect, but it says what our nighttime routine was at this point in time. Lights on in our TMNT bed tent so I could turn on his lullabies for him to fall asleep to. I suggested grabbing the pop light that came with the tent to help mom get "some" amount of light into this to try to expose in the dark! It did help, and while it's not perfect, it's perfectly imperfect. Just the way life is right now. 

© 2015 | New Leaf Photography | www.newleafphotography.net

Project 52: Week 2

Hi there! I'm back, just in time because next week's prompt goes up tomorrow. Phew. I was waiting for the right moment and idea behind the prompt for this week which is STORYTELLING. I realize that this could go so many ways, but I figured I'd tell my "story" of how I spend most of my days.

My oldest is in school, so he's away but that leaves me with my youngest (when he's not in school...it's our last year of being together almost all day every day - it's the big K next year).

I wanted to tell our story in one photo. I think this sums up most of our days. Playing in pajamas.

I wish I could reiterate the conversations and pretend play that goes along with this image. He reenacts the scenes from TMNT episodes and then adds in his own flair. It's pretty funny to listen from the other room. He loves his turtles. If he's not playing turtles, he's coloring turtles, or pretending to be  in training like the turtles with his shell and sword, sais or bostaff. It's really cute that he gets so into the characters. This is his story. And mine.

I hope you stay connected with me via the blog or my Facebook page, as I'll be sharing the images I photograph for this project. At the end of the year, I will be making these into a photo book for myself. I cannot wait to see what I photograph this year.

Happy 2015!

Happy 2015 to everyone!! I have big ideas and plans for this year, including many personal and professional goals of mine that I'm anxious to dive into. One of them was the desire to start a personal photography project. There are two types I've come across in the recent years. One is a 365 project, which is just like it sounds. You take a photograph every day for an entire year. It helps to inspire you by seeking out new and fresh things to photograph daily, learning to embrace getting that one photo for each day regardless your schedule, and to better your skills all around. I wanted to start a bit smaller scale than that. That is a big undertaking for me at the moment, so I opted to start with a Project 52. You take a photo based on a prompt for that week and photograph it! It's one photo a week. For me, that was much easier to commit to. That means I have an entire week to find something/someone that inspires that prompt.

I chose to join in on My Four Hens Photography project this year, or M4H Project 52. It's amazing to see the other fabulous images that are shared on her Facebook group already!! And I'm only in the first week.

This week's prompt is FRESH. Well, I could have taken so many different photos, but my week has been a bit crazy, so I decided to bake a cake today. Yes, I did actually bake the cake for this prompt, BUT in my defense, I did have overripe bananas that I needed to use, so that's the other reason for baking the cake. Hey, when a creative mind gets an idea, you just roll with it.

I did. I baked it, served it as an afternoon snack for myself and my two kids after my oldest got home from school, tossed some raspberries on the plate for um, nutritional value (totally had NOTHING to do with the color or anything), and snapped away. Here is the image that I loved.

I hope you stay connected with me via the blog or my Facebook page, as I'll be sharing the images I photograph for this project. At the end of the year, I will be making these into a photo book for myself. I cannot wait to see what I photograph this year.