First off, let me apologize for my lack of blogs lately. I'm currently working on what I think will be my best before and after ever. No, it isn't something in photoshop! I basically gutted the studio last year, had it re-drywalled, painted, and now I am laying all the floor by myself which is a pretty big task. It is really starting to look great in there and I can't wait to share it with you!

(I can't think of a clever segue here so I guess I'll just jump right in ;)

Sunday I took pictures of the wonderful Cour family! Their little boy, Ethan, was feeling a little under the weather but luckily we got a few smiles out of him, haha. Monday Emily sent me a message saying that Ethan was a finalist in the WDBR “Babes of Summer” contest! So I figured if I posted a link here all my blog stalkers would help him win!

To vote for Ethan go to: http://wdbr.com/Babes-of-Summer-finalists-/4510558 Ethan is the little boy in green and white. (no I didn't take the pictures)

Here are the pictures of him that I did take!

How could you not go vote for this little guy?

The beautiful Cour's

I'm going to try and post another blog tomorrow about Anna's amazing Couture Shoot but for now, go vote for Ethan!

I think the weather in Central Illinois is best described as bi-polar.  We've had rain, we've had sun, some places had snow... lately we've even had some of these in the same day, haha.  

Tuesday was one of those rainy/warm and sunny days.  After the rain, rain went away for another day some amazing clouds came out!  I wanted to go out and practice with the Q flash but I couldn't find a subject fast enough.  I sped out to my little cousin Parker's, dressed him up like a cowboy, and headed out to try and catch the clouds.  Unfortunately, they must have heard I was coming because they were basically gone by the time we started shooting.  

No worries though!  I got some really fun shots of our little John Wayne, haha.  Here's a quick one!

Well I'm all out of clever at the moment! haha I haven't had much time to blog lately so I thought I would take a few minutes to tell you why! Lately I've been putting putting together some new coffee table books (which you will see soon), working on my new proofs site (which I will be unveiling soon), and taking pictures, of course! I've been working 80+ hours every week for the past couple of months trying to get everything ready for the new studio. Luckily I have a career that I am truly passionate about and so it doesn't really seem like work. We're only given one life to live. If you are wasting your time in a job you hate, it's never to late to start over. If you are driven enough you can do anything. Anyway, before I start getting deep, here are a few pictures from yesterday's session! Right before he tried eating the dirt, haha.

I went over to Lake Land ag ain the other day to watch Chelsey Sullivan play softball. In the 11 years I've known her I had actually never seen her pitch. Her last home game was Wednesday so I thought I better check it out and take some pictures for her while I was there. It was so hot out! I wish we could skip right through summer and get to spring already. I can't take the heat, haha... although I have been getting to ride around with the top down on my car a lot! Here are a few pics from the game. I love taking pictures of pitchers because their faces are so intense! I had to leave the game early so I could get back for a session. I took pictures of the two cutest babies ever, Mylee and Aiden! I have to admit that before this session I wasn't too hip on baby pictures. I guess I just felt that I was confined to the studio to take them. I would much rather be outdoors. So I did some brainstorming and came up with some different ideas. I actually loved taking these pictures and working on them. They make me smile every time I see them. Mylee was a little fussy but Aiden was cracking me up the whole time. I don't think I have ever seen a baby smile so much! I think Mylee was "praying" that the session was going to be over soon in this picture, haha. This one actually made me laugh when I opened it on the computer. Their expressions are priceless. I did a lot of photoshop to get this effect. This session was a lot of fun and gave me a new perspective on baby photography! Get ahold of me if you have a cute baby! I want to take more!