Montana, Ooh Na-Na // Pittsburgh Children's Photographer

While I am super appreciative of all of my clients for choosing me to be the one they trust to photograph their beautiful babies, it is always incredibly flattering when someone from out of state finds me and makes the trek to the studio. So, imagine just how surprised and humbled I was when I received an inquiry all the way from Montana! 

These little girls could not get any more stunningly gorgeous. Emma, 9 years old, and Esabelle, 6 years old, are talented dancers who especially love to tap. Eden, 3 years old, looks up to her big sisters and loves to twirl and dance and pose around the house. We, of course, needed to include the baby of the family, Jette, 1 year old, for a lovely group portrait that ended up printed on a large canvas as the perfect gift for Dad. These girly girls were incredibly sweet: an adorable mix of shy, bubbly, poised, silly... I could go on and on. We wanted these images to be both personal heirlooms for the family and images that could serve as portfolio images/head shots for talent work. With this in mind, combined with Mom's personal style being more on the chic, classic side, I decided to shoot this in a really clean way, reminiscent of a late 90s designer denim advertisement. (I wardrobed them in shades of denim and white to stick with this vibe.) I knew that with their porcelain skin and light blonde hair, they'd just POP so gorgeously on a black backdrop, and I desaturated the images a good bit in post to make them look even more angelic and dewy. I really hope that I get to work with these girls again if they're ever back in the city - this session was just so dreamy and this family is so lovely!

Hair and makeup by Tori Bivins.

Three words to describe the session: Modern, Stylized, Sophisticated

(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.)

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La "Bella" Vita with Arabella + Kai // Pittsburgh Children's Photographer

I love, love, LOVED photographing these two vivacious little ones.

Arabella (Bella, for short), 6 years old, is an amazing big sister to her baby brother, Kai, who was around 7 months old when we photographed their session. Bella enjoys participating in pageants, fashion, and all things girly. She is incredibly sweet and extremely talkative and inquisitive. I so enjoyed just chatting with her for a bit during our in-home consultation and checking out her Monster High doll collection. Kai had recently begun crawling, and there was no stopping those wheels now that they were in motion - he was a little speed racer. Kai is also quite possibly the smiliest baby that I've ever met, and there was constantly so much joyful expressiveness in that little face + sparkly eyes.

I chose to photograph the session on off-white to match the family's wall colors, while selecting wardrobe that would make the kiddos really pop in contrast. I also made sure to include a beautiful white fur coat that Mom had worn as a little girl and passed down to Bella - I adore when we can incorporate a garment with sentimental meaning in the wardrobe, and it perfectly matched the sophisticated, wintery vibe we were aiming for. That photo of Bella is probably my favorite from this session. She looks like an old Hollywood starlet, ready for her closeup.

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

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Red, White , and Blue with Sam + Claudia // Pittsburgh Children's Photographer

I want to start this one off by saying that I hope you all had the most wonderful holiday, whether that was Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Solstice, Festivus - whatever. I hope that it was fabulous and that you got to spend some quality time with your loved ones eating way too much food! I have unfortunately been pretty sick for the past few weeks and fell behind on a bunch, including my blogging, so I'll be playing catch-up a bit. I felt this session was the perfect one to share heading into the New Year - pretty lights, shimmery party outfits, and joyful, little giggles!

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I was totally overwhelmed by just how adorable Sam, 2 1/2, and Claudia, 1, were when I first met them at their gorgeous home. Respectively post- and pre-nap, they were personable, curious, and a joy to be around. I knew that we would have a wonderful session together.

In their questionnaire, Mom told me that creativity was "welcomed and encouraged," which is totally music to a photographer's ears! I decided to take this opportunity to play around with some more creative lighting for a portion of the session, incorporating some vibrant colors (for vibrant kiddos!) and playing around with motion blur. In order to also keep the session simple + sophisticated, I photographed the kids in classic white tee/denim outfits on the black backdrop for a sleek, editorial feel. We kept blue as the thematically dominant color throughout in order to match the gray/blue color scheme of the family's home and unify the three different sets of the session. Lastly, we got to incorporate the blankets that the babes sleep with - their most cherished, fuzzy possessions! (Whenever possible, I jump at photographing little ones with their favorite stuffed animals + loveys. Those images tend to hold such sentimental value with time.) Keep your eyes peeled for the first image, where Sam is making the most hilarious "model face." It cracks me up every time that I see it.

We had the super colorful images from the first set printed on metallic photo paper as wall art for their home and HOLYYY COW, I loved them SO much! The colors absolutely jumped and danced off of the paper. I'll be sure to share a look at these on social media soon - I just had to print a few samples for myself from this session, too!

Three words to describe the session: Simple, Artistic, Sophisticated

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2017 Ambassador Preview: Ariana + Valentina + Maria // Pittsburgh Children's Photographer

When I received Ariana + Valentina + Maria's ambassador application, I was totally floored by how gorgeous these sisters were. Ariana, 13, Valentina, 5, and Maria, 3, share a beautiful bond as sisters, but are each so unique and special in their own ways. Ariana has a warm, compassionate spirit and volunteers her time to help children with special needs learn how to dance. Valentina is fiery and vivacious, and can pose herself like a little professional. Maria is a firecracker, silly, sassy, and hilarious.

I wanted to give these pretty ladies a chic, feminine session, and with spring on the horizon (finally!!!), settled on a floral theme. We incorporated flower petals, a lovely sheer vine backdrop, and the beautiful flower wall that Paper Petals of Pittsburgh created for the studio.

Good things really do come in threes.
Here's a sneak peek of Ariana + Valentina + Maria's flowery Ambassador Session!

Three words to describe the session: Modern, Pretty, Sophisticated

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2017 Ambassador Preview: Sydney + Claire // Pittsburgh Children's Photographer

I knew long before meeting 10-year old Sydney and 3-year old Claire that we were in for a lot of fun together. These girls exude so much life and joy from every image taken of them, and I couldn't WAIT to get them in front of my own camera.

With a seven-year age gap between the sisters, I wanted to ensure that their Editorial session was not only enjoyable for all involved, but also that the concept suited both of them equally. After learning that the girls bond over their love of pretending to be kitty-cats together and that it's a favorite game in their household, I knew that would be a purrrrfect motif!

Shortly before the girls' session, I received a call from a reporter, Anya Sostek, with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She was interested in the unique way in which I photograph children and celebrate what makes them special, and she wanted to come observe a session at the studio. I said "yes," of course, and I chose this session because I just knew that she would have a good time with these two effervescent littles.

The article was featured in print in yesterday's Sunday Magazine.
You can read it online HERE.

Here's a sneak peek of Sydney + Claire's kitty-themed ambassador session!

Three words to describe the session: Fun, Innovative, Sophisticated