Oh my goodness, y’all. This year’s busy season is getting the best of me like never before! To say I’ve been burning the candle at both ends is a bit of an understatement, and I’m paying for it right now - I came down with the worst chest/throat cold the other day and have been sidelined ever since. The silver lining in this cloud of congestion is that I’ve finally been forced to focus on the stuff that I’ve been slacking on while I’ve been running around everywhere, including BLOGGING. Holy cow, this one is overdue!

Before I get into talking about this adorable session, I want to mention that in the midst of my busy season (just because I apparently like to make things more difficult for myself), I’ve been preparing to finally publicly share the series that I’ve been pouring blood, sweat, and tears into for the past year. (As have all of the amazing folks involved with its creation.) If all goes according to plan, especially if I’m still stuck in my house, I should be posting it all on Monday. EEK. I’m equal parts excited and nervous and just SO ready to put it out there. Stay tuned!

These handsome, little fellas found their way to me via my auction donation to Women Who Rock, an amazing annual charity concert and event that benefits Magee-Women’s Research Institute. I swear, I meet the most wonderful families through my charitable donations. Enter Milan, 3 1/2 years old, and Miko, 2 1/2 years old, the most high-energy, hysterical, coolest little dudes. These brothers looove super heroes and action. During their consultation in their home, they got to show off their best Kung-Fu Panda impersonations, leaping around while karate kicking and chopping. I knew that these guys needed a really vibrant, fun, bright session to best capture their personalities. Milan and Miko’s family were in the process of redecorating their home when we met, with a plan to incorporate mustard-colored accents. I proposed that we photograph the session on a yellow backdrop. I could shift it in post-production to be more “mustard” and tie into everything and it would be a great color for a high-energy vibe. As a result, we created a stunning image collage for their entryway, with a gorgeous canvas gallery wrap of the image of the brothers sweetly hugging right in the center.

It’s always fun to see how the kids’ personalities transform once they’re on the set in the studio. Milan was a natural, posing like he had modeled a thousand other times before, while still interjecting with the occasional super silly 3 1/2-year old funny face. Miko softened in this really incredible, sweet way and I managed to capture his tiny, tender spirit. When they were together on set, though - that was party time. They just had such a blast together, which was heartwarming to be privy to. To top it off, Mom is also a female entrepreneur who owns her own salon, and as a result, these boys had the most FABULOUSLY-styled hair. I’m so excited to work with this family again next year and to watch these #brothers grow up!

Three words to describe the session: Modern, Artistic, Fun

(All of my portrait clients choose three words from a list of how they'd like to describe their finished images. You can click on any of the three words at the bottom of this post by the little tag icon to see past sessions that chose the same word. You can also see how different combinations of words leads to the creation of different images.)

Pittsburgh Children's Photographer, Pittsburgh Child Photographer, Pittsburgh Family Photographer, Pittsburgh Photographer, Pittsburgh Children's Photography, Pittsburgh Child Photography, Pittsburgh Family Photography, Pittsburgh Kids, Pittsburgh F…

It’s always a fun change of pace having a family of all adults in the studio. A lot of people don’t know that I also photograph “big kids,” but, yep! If I can photograph a 3-year old moving target, I promise that I can create a gorgeous image of your (stationary) family noooo problem. (I tend to book these as 1-hour Basic Sessions. An hour is usually all that we really need when everyone is old enough to sit still and take direction. ;) ) These multi-generational Pitt fans came to me for a more classic session, including some group images and images of their sons together.

The Donahoe family has been connected to mine forever, although I never had the pleasure of really getting to know them until now. And, when I say forever, in my case especially, I mean forever: Jean (mama) was working in the delivery room when I was being born. She’s a really wonderful woman and a recent cancer survivor, and the family decided to come have some formal portraits taken now that she’s healthy.

I’m going to go off on a little tangent, here… **SIDEBAR** Sometimes, it takes something big or scary like that to remind us just how important it is to have our portraits taken, so that we can exist in them forever in a way. I’m a super big proponent of this. Any time that I’m going to photograph children and the parents are on the fence about hopping in for an image or two, I will emphatically encourage them to do so. It’s never going to be the “right” time, guys, honestly. You may not ever lose the silly 10 pounds that you want to, that no one really notices but you. You may not have it allotted for in the budget *this* year, or the next, or the next, or the next (you see where this is going?). But, those images are going to be something so special to you, and beyond that, they will be SO special to your children. If you’re apprehensive to get in front of the camera, I hope that you can overcome that with them in mind, because someday, those images will be all that they have. It is so important to exist in images.