I was lucky enough to photography two very special families over this Mother’s Day weekend. It was wonderful to see and be with two amazing Moms and see how much their girls are loved. Here is just a sneak into one of the sessions. Many more to come!

A few weeks ago there was a drawing for the winner of a free session. The wonderful family you see pictured below was our winner! Thank you merelymothers (http://merelymothers.com/) for such a great Blog who supports both working and stay-at-home Moms and for hosting this Contest.

The “H” Family and I decided to head to Old Town Alexandria and walk around. There were so many great spots to choose from and the boys gave me a great work out chasing them around. It was so fun!

It was a pleasure capturing this lovely family and congrats again to the “H” Family on winning the contest!

I had the pleasure of photographing adorable Henry when he was a newborn, 6 months and now again at a year. He smiled practically the whole time and had me laughing a lot. He was such a joy to capture!

There are so many reasons I love photoshop, but it is instances like this that make me thankful for such a tool. My Grandmother passed away this week and my father sent me an image of her that was weathered and had some damage. I was more than willing to try to make this image come back to life and I am really happy with how it turned out.

My Grandmother taught me more lessons than I can ever count, but her death has taught me a lesson too. She was with us for Thanksgiving this year for the first time in a while and I decided not to bring my camera with me for a few reasons . . . 1. I do not like dragging my “nice” camera around since I am always afraid of something happening to it while I am simultaneously watching the kiddos. 2. Much to my own dismay, I have become a camera snob and do not like the way my images look on my old point and shoot anymore. Over and over these two things stop me from taking pictures at everyday events like I should. I wish I could have turned back time and brought my camera (any camera) that day so I could remember our last family gathering. I wish I could have a picture of my daughter with my Grandmother whom she was named after, but I don’t.

The first thing I wanted after she passed away was to look at her face. I went to my pictures and stared at her. I don’t think it is just because I am a photographer that I felt this way . . . I think many people turn to photos to evoke memories and feelings. It reminded me who she was, what I loved about her and some of my fondest memories we shared. It is just another reason why capturing memories with your loved ones is so important.

I put this challenge out to all of you . . . throw your camera in your purse, pocket or car and make sure to snap a few images of your loved ones together this weekend. You can never have too many memories with those you love.

I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to photograph this amazing family just a few weeks ago. It was the perfect time of year to capture some images at a local Christmas tree farm (http://www.gavertreefarm.com/) and their son was the perfect little model. He was so sweet and even asked me to pick him up and gave me a hug . . . made my day! A big thank you to this family for entrusting me to capture your family and making a 2 hour drive to see me. It was an absolute pleasure!

It is so amazing when a family interacts together so well that they do not even need my guidance . . .