I just love it when I am able to drag in an extra set of hands and get in front of the camera for one of my fun themed sessions.  This time I was so blessed to have my mom, she is such a great sport!  I have been planning to do some fun paint sessions for my Spring/ Summer special. However, I never can get my family to cooperate, or find a shutter clicker. This time it worked out!

Working with kids, especially your own can be difficult. There were a few bumpy moments getting started, but eventually we were able to get started. 
 It was so much fun, really really fun. I was certain my sweet, sweet husband would not enjoy it at all, and as always I anticipated a melt down from at least one child, and not being the one taking the pictures makes me a little anxious. However after giving my mom a quick tutorial on camera usage, setting all the camera settings, and some general direction we were off and running. 

I made the paint mixture with washable tempra paint mixed 50/50 with water, added some sponge brushes and let the games begin.  The brushes were great they held a lot of paint and made a great splatter when slung at each other.  Also they were the perfect size for little hands. 

The kiddos were itching to get started and I didn't even have the last paint open, before my littles were slinging paint on me.  The giggles, laughter, and one small bought of tears. were music to this mommas ears. I so love it when we an all have fun together.  Even Daddy cracked a grin and laughed out loud. 

These pictures are not a typical posed family session, they are more an action packed journey from solid white clothes to paint splattered colorful goodness.  

Lots of grins, and lots of fun, contact me to schedule your paint fight session today! 

Often times, I will be inspired by a location. Many times that location is not available for me to shoot at, or it is ridiculously difficult to access and there fore not suitable to drag a pregnant woman, or infant to! 

The other day, I was wondering around our property with my family and we came to my kids "special spot" This is literally right in my back yard, through a cow field. It truly is a special spot, nice and shady. The magical tinkle of water coming off of a WATERFALL! Surrounded by giant boulders and rocks, all covered with this awesome green moss. It is heaven, in my back yard, Who knew? ( my kids and husband apparently)

So needless to say after I was introduced to this magic, I desperately wanted to have a photo shoot there. Enter Janice, and Emma. These two have been in front of my lens since there was just one of them. Even more they are just beautiful ladies inside and out. I invited them out to come play in the woods with me.  

A small setback due to weather and sick baby and we were on our way. One short kubota ride to the location, a brief tromp through the woods and viola there we were.  

It was a little cooler than I anticipated so we adapted my initial vision of a naked baby to a baby wrapped in a soft white blanket. with little toes peeking out! I got the ladies settled and grabbed the camera to start shooting while mom and baby got settled for our nursing session.  However Emma had a different plan the and new surroundings, magical sounds of water, birds and a crazy lady with a camera, were just to much for her little eyes an ears. She wanted to take it all in. So some shots are more pseudo nursing! Sometimes you just roll with it! Shifted gears to a mommy and me session, results awesome.  

The setting, working with wonderful people, and the most adorable nature loving baby ever created some amazing images. Mommy and me, and nursing sessions are great for Mothers day, or just celebrating any day as a mom. The bond between mother and child is so precious and amazing, capturing those special moments for you and your children is such an awesome and priceless gift.  Contact me to discuss your own special mother and child session. 

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine...

What a wonderful theme for a first birthday! Miss Klaire and her momma sing this song often enough that it has become a family favorite! It even flowed over into the planning of little misses first birthday party and photo's.  
What better way to convey sunshine than with yellow! Yellow can be tricky to work with, it tends to leave a color cast on the subject and can make little ones look jaundiced.  So by using a lot of white to balance out the cast we were able to create a fun party set for Klaire's session, yellow with pops of pink, and orange were a perfect backdrop for her lovely little self.  

I had this inspiration minutes before the session of attempting a more formal, stylized portrait of the birthday girl. All in white, to highlight her beautiful, big, brown, eyes. She is such a lovely little girl. So we repurposed a newborn wrap and popped on a super sweet headband and viola some awesome portrait styled images. Some of my favorite from the session.

For her last set, I wanted to mix it up a little  and throw a lot of color on set, a stark contrast to the mostly and all white. I employed a seldom used backdrop, yellow damask, coupled it with a dark wood floor and a funky rag rug I scored from my church rummage sale and viola. A wonderfully cheery set perfect for a little lady to sit and play blocks.  Her orange hair flower was just the right pop of color!

All in all this session was one of my favorites to put together. I loved all the set's the theme wasn't super restrictive and allowed me to use alot of my own ideas and creativity. The images turned out great, and thanks to my handy dandy cell phone and current play list of little kids favorites we captured some fun smiles of a beautiful little birthday girl.
Here are a few images from her session, follow me on Facebook to see more of my work, and catch the entire session! 

Happy birthday little man!  This particular smash cake session was somewhat sentimental for me. His momma was one of my first maternity sessions and he himself was one of my first newborns.  Now he is so big, and one year old! 

Sometimes it is fascinating to see how much they grow an change over the course of one year!  His session was very much all boy with tones of grey, blue, and white. Clean and Classic. We had a good time, even though he wasn't feeling all that great, he was a good sport for all the clothing and set changes.

His smash cake session was also another first for Little Mother Photography. Roman was lucky enough to have a Smash and Splash session. I think that the water was his favorite part of the entire thing.  He splashed and splashed! 

I am super excited to offer these sessions now as a part of the smash cake package!

Here are a few outtakes from his session, I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed making them.  If you like what you see please take a moment to find me on Facebook and Instagram (littlemother1).

This precious little lady was just six day new when I was lucky enough to take her picture!  Such a tiny little lady, but full of it!  Ive never seen something so tiny make so much of a mess. All in a days work, nothing a bit of laundry and sunshine wont cure.

Her session was so much fun, I so love when momma is excited and happy to have newborn pictures done. This momma was on it. She contacted me soon after baby was born and we scheduled her session very swiftly.

Miss Sonya was so much fun to work with, a little bit who liked to stretch, I had to be quick to get her in her pose then grab my camera. Keeps me on my toes.

We used the nest set for her session and it was super cute and springy, perfect for an Easter weekend baby. She even consented to a pose propped up on the edge of the nest, not all babies like that pose.

Here is just a sampling of her session, enjoy!

Oh darling Tallulah, this session was so much fun to plan. 
 Tallulah, this name needed strong colors and big flowers. nothing soft and pastel for her! So I settled on orange and purple, a classic color combo, that speaks to a little lady with a big personality. Keeping it simple, with several combinations of the two colors, gives the entire session and cohesive feel, and flow.

This session was a great foray into some of the mommy and baby poses I have been itching to try out. It seems simple to pose momma and baby, so natural for a mother to hold her child. But photographing these moments and making them look "right" is a little more tricky.  I was so blessed to be able to photograph these two beautiful ladies.
Not in front of the camera, but most assuredly a great help was big sister. She was an awesome help to her momma and me for these mommy and me poses. I love having extra hands in the studio! 

Mommy and me sessions are so wonderful, because lets face it, new mommy' s work hard, and deserve some photographic evidence of their new status of mommy, of one, two, six....

I am excited to offer more stylized poses for mom and baby now with the newborn packages. Stay tuned, her on the blog, on Facebook and on Instagram (littlemother1) for more examples of these poses and all the sessions!

Oh sweet little Vera, what a darling little lady. I do mean little, she was the tiniest baby I have ever photographed.

Also the most solid sleeper I have ever had the pleasure to work with. What a little doll, she stuck and held what ever pose we put her in. Barley made a fuss and was just a great little baby to work with.

All new mommas and daddies love their babies. and Miss Vera's parents were no exception. One of the best parts of my job is speaking with new mom's hearing their birth stories, and listening to the obvious love in their voices when they talk about those new babies.

I really enjoy hearing about it all, from labor, to nursing issues, baby wearing, and just how awesome it is to be a momma. I have three little ones of my own, and some days its a fresh reminder of just how wonderful they are. To step back and remember those first days, when it was all to new and amazing. Before they start talking back, and making giant messes out of glitter and diaper cream.

I am so excited to share these sweet images of the Little Vera, there were so many wonderful images from her session, I wont bog you down with all of them. However it will be hard to choose which ones to share here! Enjoy....

Happy first birthday Miss Clara, I wish you the happiest of days!

Some babies, are very serious, studying their surroundings, taking it all in, and making mental notes. Clara was this type of baby, very serious about my toy basket and snacks. Not so interested in my set, lights, or camera! 

Like most first birthday sessions, her momma and I spent a lot of time moving her back to set. Trying to keep her attention, and distract her from the things she wanted to see! I love to see little ones explore, and discover their worlds, it is my favorite part of being a parent.  It really doesn't bother me when the little ones want to explore the studio.  I just consider it a part of the profession and roll with it. Gentle redirection, and lots of snack breaks and well get those pictures done!

Clara was no exception to the toddler rule, once they figure out how to move them, those little legs will not slow down!  She is such a sweet little lady, and so serious. I was a little worried because we didn't get all to many big smiley faces. The pictures were great, and mom reassured me she's not a smiler and serious is a ok. Nothing makes me feel better about the work I do than capturing peoples personalities, be it babies, toddlers, children, or adults.  We aren't all smiley happy people all the time. 

Miss Clara your pictures are a study in baby contemplation, and we love you!

Here are a few peeks at Clara, celebrating her first birthday, enjoy