I couple things about Kylie and I's recent getaway to New England didn't exactly go as planned, namely that pesky little bout with phlebitis and the aches and chills I had for the first couple days.  We were supposed to stay with my cousin Aaron, his wife Jen and their kids our first night after flying into Boston, but because we weren't sure what was going on with me and at the time suspected the flu, we thought it would be best for Kylie and I to get a hotel room that night to avoid getting anyone else sick.  We were really bummed because we love hanging out with them, and we weren't sure we'd get another chance to on that trip since the the next day we were supposed to drive to Maine.  Well, the following morning I woke up probably looking and surely feeling like death eating a cracker, so we postponed the start of our drive to Maine to see if we could find a doctor to visit and see what was going on since I had this scary looking thing going on with my leg.  Turns out there was a small clinic with doctors in our insurance network literally right across the street from my cousin's house in Swampscott.  It was bizarre to travel all the way from Dallas and be right across the street from Jen and Aaron's house, see Jen and the kids in the front yard, and talk to her from across the road without being able to just go over and hang out with them. Anywho, long story short, Kylie and I ended up ditching our Camp Crystal Lake-ish hotel in Stowe, VT the last night of our trip to be able to head back to Swampscott (near Boston) and squeeze in our visit with the Reames clan since by then I'd been declared a non-pandemic threat.  We got to their house just before the sun started going down, so I called right before we arrived and suggested we could try and squeeze in a couple quick photos out of the remaining light to see if we couldn't get something for a Christmas card image. Here's a few of the casual images we got.

Little Alexandra's grown a ton since we saw her and the rest of the family last November in Dallas.

Spencer and Alexandra now have a killer playground set in their back yard.  Don't think it didn't cross my mind do go down the slide.  Backwards. And upside down.  In a rare and unfamiliar return to better judgement, I bailed on that idea.

This is what pure, uninhibited fun looks like.

Love. This. Photo.

Meet Chesney.  She's an American Mastiff, and she's still just a pup on her way to to being around 150lbs if I remember correctly.  She's a horse already, but she's the sweetest horse you'll ever meet.

And finally, Jen picked up my camera and snapped of this little gem.  Notice Spencer in awe of my [quickly fading] high school quarterback skills.  I've still got a little left in me, although by the look on my face, it appears I just pulled my aorta on this particular throw.

Thanks again, Aaron & Jen for your hospitality.  We love you guys and can't wait to see you again!

Everytime I photograph the Tacketts, it's a trip down the proverbial memory lane for me. Not only have I been friends with Jerry and Tina for a little over 14 years, this photo of their then newborn little Trinity was one of the first I ever took for somebody else.  Oh they didn't ask me to... I just took it sent it to them like I was Ansel Adams or something.  Before that I was just playin' around with a camera trying to figure out the difference between an aperture and an f/stop. (Turns out it's a cruel photography industry joke... there is no difference.)  Truth be told, I'm not really sure how I even got that image other than pure serendipity because I didn't have a clue what I was doing with my camera at that time and for some time after that... and I'm sure I spent at least an hour in Photochop fixing my technical incompetence with the camera. Fast forward 5 years, and we've all come a long way.  I now know the aperture vs. f/stop gig, and little Trinity is, well, not so little.  I've had the pleasure of seeing this princess grow up right before my eyes.  I've probably got a thousand photos of her from her first five years floating around on hard drives, and Kylie and I were blessed to have her as our snowflake girl at our wedding in Indiana back in January of '09.  It's not all about Trinity this time, though.  Jerry and Tina have been two of my best friends for almost as long as I've been in Dallas.  Jerry did the honors of being my best man at the wedding and Tina, well, she's the sister I never had... and my creative sounding board.  Oddly enough, in the years A.T. (after Trinity), we've never really done an official family session with all three of them.  We've grabbed a few images here and there, but we finally carved out some time to create some images of the whole tribe.  And because Tina's always photographing the rest of the family in addition to her clients, she rarely gets in any of the photos.  Soooo, last weekend we fixed that.  We headed downtown near the Deep Ellum Arts District and got our family photography session on. Here's some of my favorites from our session.  Check out Trinity already strikin' a pose like a pro in this first one.

Love this image.

Like mother...

... like daughter.

Trinity busted out her Hello Kitty guitar and started rockin' it out.

Mom and dad were instant groupies.

Love this image of Tina playin' and Trinity singin'.

Ready.

Aim.

Fire!

Precious image.

Rachel & Lance came in this evening to view their images.  We laughed.  We ate chocolate chip cookies.  We talked photography.  We watched iPhone videos of their three 8 yr old boys rockin' it out on their guitars at home.  We had fun.  These two are so laid back and easy going; it was truly a pleasure spending time with them, and I think we really got some great images in their "just because" session.  Besides the sneak peek image I posted yesterday, here's my favorites from our time down in Deep Ellum.

Love the relaxed moment in this next one.

They rocked this one.

This was one of the last images we took, and it was getting dark, so I had my assistant Sara go up to the next stairway landing and hold a remote flash with a small softbox, pointing it down at Rachel & Lance.  While not a perfect image from a technical perspective, there's just something I really like about this image.  It's kinda got a vintage movie set feel to it.

The session was over and we had walked back to our cars and were about to drive home when I just put a flash on the ground behind Lance & Rachel trying to see if we could get something interesting.  I think we did.  Thanks, you two, for being game for "just one more".

Before Kylie and I headed to New England for vacation, I had the pleasure of photographing one of my peers in the photography industry.  I met Rachel through a photography forum a couple years ago, and we were also in the same photography class this past spring at Texas School.  Turns out her and her husband and their three triplet boys live about 15 minutes away in north Dallas.  Who knew? This is a milestone year for Rachel & Lance as they celebrate their 15 year anniversary, and Rachel also turns 40.  To commemorate this year, Rachel approached me about doing a session of just her and Lance 1) to capture this chapter in their lives and 2) well, because they haven't had any photos of just them taken since their wedding.  I always get excited about photography sessions where my clients want to do what I call "just because" sessions, where it's not a wedding, engagement, new addition to the family, etc., but just a time in their life they want to document and remember through photography. Rachel and Lance come in tomorrow to see their images for the first time, but here's just a little preview of what they'll see.  I'll post more images after their appointment.

I've been on a bit of a run photographing little ones recently.  Next up is Thorsten (pronounced Tor-stun), the first addition for Beth & Ferdinand, wonderful friends from of foundation group. More to come on this little guy, but here's quick little peek of what's coming to the blog this weekend.