Charlotte was wonderful! Quiet, fun and mature with a radiant smile! Charlotte and her Grandpa met me at a beautiful little church in Gladstone where we proceeded to take advantage of our surroundings. Lots of cool little nooks to shoot in! Also, she came prepared with lots of great clothes to choose from, which always makes for a fun time of outfit picking and brings variety to the photos.

Don’t mind me…or the “artistically” out of focus image. Okay, not so artistically, but just plain out of focus. It’s hard shooting a self-portrait with regular arms and a 50mm on a cropped sensor!

Hi blog readers! It has been a little while, hasn’t it? I am hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas and were able to see family & friends. This time of year is always busy and hectic and crazy for so many people and I am not the exception. The rush of Christmas, usually a casual birthday celebration (turned 27 yesterday) and then the rush for prepping the end of the year and the beginning of another. Whew!

Well, this one is long overdue, but with the holiday break, I was unable to get them all edited and posted!

I had a wonderful time with Hannah, (accompanied by her mom and sister!). We met out in Blue Springs on a very cold day at Burr Oak Woods nature center. It ended up being a great place to shoot at. Lots of fun hanging out in God’s creation.

Enjoy!

I’m a sucker for teasing hair, laughing at trees, and native prairie grasses (which can grow to be 8 feet tall)!

Hanging next to a cool observation fence right off the trail.

Loving the flair of the sun mixed with bench…I saw spots for quite a while after accidentally looking at the sun. Whoops!

Sorry Hannah, for making you get comfy on a log. I know you thought you were going to have fun, but at least the bugs and bears were hibernating!

I loved her layered look with the scarves and coat and all the layered tops. Take notes, ladies!

Pretty smile!

Yeah, I have an affinity for dumpsters. I’m weird, I know.

The setting sun rocks for beautiful light. So warm and fuzzy, even on a cold day.

Color!

More color!

Pretty tops and cool shoes make for fashion, no? Wee.

There we went with the tall grasses again.

Look, it’s a deer…okay, it’s really mom & sis, who were dears, but not the kind with antlers.

Aaaahhh! Crazy people!

Elise is an exciting, outgoing and personable young woman who comes from a wonderful family. I was so excited to shoot with her a few weeks back when the fall colors were slamming the world with golden hues. It was right after daylight savings, so we ended up shooting as the light quickly faded each evening, spanning over two days of short sessions instead of one longer session. It worked out because she lived (and we shot near) my house, so there wasn’t a lot of traveling involved…I think the results came out pretty dog-gone fun.

She is one of those people whom it is hard to take a bad photo of. Don’t you just hate that? Makes me jealous. Her natural smile is at a constant “on” state and she has no “off” button. I think God stuck a smile on her face and forgot to make her able to frown. Anyway, Elise is creatively talented and radiant.

I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them.

Elise, I am going to post the surprise photos up tomorrow on my blog. I think you’ll like them.

She climbed a tree and hung out for a while while I stood on my tippy-toes and tried to get some pics. Kinda cool, huh?

The Little Blue River, where we shot some of the time, was just beautiful this time of year.

It was chilly out, so we made use of the faux fur on her coat. Always looks good in black and white…

BIG brown eyes!

Laughing. Laughing. Laughing. It’s funny, she thought I was stupid for making her laugh at the rocks. I surely can’t make people laugh at my jokes, so rocks will have to do.

TALL grass and gorgeous sunset through the trees.

I loved the set with her hat and the leather jacket… It is sooo fresh.

Laying on the wicker on the front porch. Too fun!

Get out of the mulch! She is hanging onto the rails of her front porch and standing on the red mulch. I think I stepped on some irises…woops!

Laugh at the tree. Laugh at the tree…not that tree, the OTHER tree!

Weeeeeee!