My Blog

ajira - March 3, 2010 - 6:56 pm

Beautiful post Sarah. I love the same things about women- how different we are and the connections between us, the innate strength and tenderness, the gift of life. Amazing. This little one is shining already! That first shot makes me smile- looks like she’s getting ready for something big!

02.17.10

Twins!

Posted in Uncategorized

So… big news!

Soon, Ariel and I’s newborn site will be live! We have been working on this site since last summer, so I hope y’all are excited to see the fabulous babies we’ve shot since then. It’s been quite a ride… but we’re SO excited to be moving forward and getting our site launched! Just a few more details and we’re ready to show the world! YAY! Thank goodness, too, since I could really use something to cheer me up. I mean, you can only listen to funk SO long… heh.

Wanna know who’ll be making their debut on our new site? Well, these two will definitely be included!

We can’t wait to show you it all! These twins gave us a run for our money and really WORKED us… but it all worked out good, don’t you think? Thanks mom for being SO patient with us! We can’t wait to see how these two grow up.. their personalities were so strong already. Seriously!

Happy Tuesday all!Leave some love for the girl in a funk.. I’d really appreciate it.

Posted in Uncategorized

10 comments

Becka @Studio222 Photography - February 17, 2010 - 9:38 pm

Awww… what little angel faces. Adorable.

Julie Wagoner - February 18, 2010 - 12:02 am

These are so soft and beautiful! Love the eye contact from such a tiny baby in the second one!

Billie Mitchell - February 18, 2010 - 2:15 am

Hi Sarah!

Beautiful newborn pics. I especially love the feet picture. And the one of the baby curled up on the black is gorgeous.

I feel your pain in regards to the website building. I’m trying to put the final touches on mine as well. I’m just about ready to show it to the world though. It’s very exciting!

Good Luck!
Billie

Marla-Dee - February 18, 2010 - 2:16 am

Awww, Sarah, these are simply adorable. I love how you captured their faces, it makes my heart melt ♥

Stay strong and I hope you are de-funk-dified soon. I feel what your going through and I hope all works out. Congratulations on your beautiful niece too, she’s precious! xoxo

Nicole Williams - February 18, 2010 - 3:21 am

Beautiful work!!! LOVE the squishy, adorable babies!

Bri - February 18, 2010 - 4:44 am

Beautiful soft light! Loving the unique perspectives and crops on these. Congrats on your (soon to be) new site!

ajira - February 18, 2010 - 7:24 am

What darlings! Great images Sarah!

Katherine - February 18, 2010 - 11:41 pm

These are beautiful. You did such a wonderful job with these!

mandy - February 22, 2010 - 2:00 pm

what a cutie! I just love that last feet shot.

Bruce - May 21, 2010 - 6:28 am

what a cutie! I just love that last feet shot.

02.15.10

What it is (rock steady baby…)

Posted in families, my life, photography, the funk

Aretha Franklin is awesome. Nothin like a little funk to get you out of… well, a funk.Let’s call this thing exactly what it is.

I am in a funk.

Perhaps it’s the cold dark winter here in the upper midwest. Daylight is short-lived, and cold temps are hard to face for this many months in a row. We still have a good four months till we de-thaw up here. Uff-da. Maybe it’s the fact that about a month ago, we were informed that my husbands position was being consolidated. He is welcome to apply for the new job… but, no guarantees. Also, there was no end-date given, just a big, fat, happy question mark. My husband is the sole breadwinner for our family. Not good news. Additionally, our son, Mason, has been having difficulties in school. We are currently in the process of getting a diagnosis on the spectrum… in the meantime, it is a day by day struggle for him. Some days are good, some are not so good, and some are straight up horrible. Not gonna lie. Add an ego-maniac of a three year old and here we are – stressed to the max, and finding myself with NO inspiration to do anything with my camera.

Have any of you felt that overwhelmed? What do you do to overcome it?

Today, I turned up Aretha extra loud and danced with said ego-maniac. It felt good to let the worries that penetrate every moment of my days lately slip into the beat of the funk.

So. What it is. Rock Steady Baby.

It’s a funky and low down feeling.

Last week, all of us got sick – the explosive kind of sick that make owning a carpet cleaner worthwhile. In a weak moment of blog surfing/couch laying/ralphing, I debated selling my camera equipment… after all, money may not be here in a few weeks. I mentioned the thought to my husband. “I’ll divorce you” he said. “I’ll divorce you if you sell your equipment.” While I know he is being dramatic, the impact was enormous. While he isn’t coddling or super encouraging, him stating those words to me mean a lot more than he’ll ever know. This dream of mine is important to him, too. It feels good to know that sometimes. Especially in those weak moments.

Then the last day I was sick, I got a phone call. My baby sister was in labor – two weeks early. Four hours later, I got a call that said baby was HERE! Even in the midst of a funk, you can’t help but be swept away by a new baby– especially if it’s your own sweet niece!

Introducing Evie Amelia:

And so I keep plodding along… learning to rock steady, baby. Sometimes you learn those things from the tiniest, most unexpected places… like Evie.

Welcome to the world, girl. It’s not always easy, or what you expected, but if you move your hips to the rhythm of what it is, you’ll rock steady. With a little bit of prayer and a lot of luck, your auntie will be there to show you how.

Posted in families, my life, photography, the funk

1 comment

ajira - March 3, 2010 - 7:02 pm

Sarah. I can completely relate. Things have been tough this side as well, and in moments of despair I’ve wondered the same thing- if it wouldn’t be better to sell my equipment. Thankfully my husband encourages me as yours does. And my heart steps in to remind me that this is it- what I love, and what I want to model to my son.

I dance to Aretha with my son almost every day. It’s our thing and it’s beautiful. Gets our hips moving to ‘the rhythm of what it is’!

01.19.10

(we are family)

Posted in I heart faces, families, photography

Well, I LOVE photographing families, right? So I only thought it was natural to enter this week’s contest at I heart Faces – “We are family!”

I spent a few minutes looking over my favorite images, and this is the one I have chosen to enter – but seriously, I have had some ROCKIN families to photograph! Awesome!This one jumped out at me because – well- I am a complete SUCKER for kids with their daddies. Seriously. You can tell by the look on this dad’s face that those three beautiful kids will NEVER question how much he loves them – just complete awesomeness. I leaves me awestruck, actually. I love that.

This IS family. Support, joy, exuberance, trust, and radiance.

Man, I LOVE this picture. Pulls at my heart strings every.single.time.

Happy Tuesday Everyone! Be sure to check out I Heart Faces by clicking the icon up at the TOP of this post! I’m off to think up some great ideas for my self-portrait tomorrow… let me know if you have a suggestion!

Posted in I heart faces, families, photography

19 comments

Raven - January 19, 2010 - 7:42 pm

I can hear the laughter in this picture. The red of the pine needles (?) balances out the green of the forest – nice complimentary colors that help to focus where they meet: in the middle on the family. nice job!

amanda thiessen photography - January 19, 2010 - 7:51 pm

beautiful capture!

Lena - January 19, 2010 - 8:31 pm

I love the true joy that came out in this picture! Absolutely beautiful and inspiring.
Great job with this capture!

breckenrcook - January 19, 2010 - 10:23 pm

Love it!

Merlot - January 20, 2010 - 1:09 am

What an AMAZING photo! So beautiful and happy

kristen - January 20, 2010 - 3:48 am

WOW. what an image. so moving, it made my heart leap & I gasped out loud.

Rhonda Kane - January 21, 2010 - 12:28 am

This is really nice Sarah.

Michelle Sibley - January 23, 2010 - 2:49 am

Absolutely gorgeous picture, the colors, setting is perfect. But, mostly the love shows up beautifully here. I just started checking out your blog so I know there are many more treasures to find. Come see me at my blog if you get a chance.
http://michellesibleyphotopage.blogspot.com/

Karli - January 23, 2010 - 7:18 am

This is one of my favorites. It’s like dad just came home from work and the kids are so excited to see him!

Sally Watts - January 23, 2010 - 7:03 pm

I LOVE this image!
By far the one that spoke most to me.
The framing with trees and colors and emotion and spontaneity and clarity–it’s all just incredible!

Life with Kaishon - January 23, 2010 - 7:47 pm

I just adore this picture. It is very, very beautiful! Congratulations on being a winner this week. It is wonderful!

Jane - January 23, 2010 - 9:22 pm

Congratulations! Gorgeous photo. You captured such special emotions in the father/children shot. Love it!

Becca - January 24, 2010 - 1:59 pm

This is just beautiful! I love the moment you captured – and your photography is gorgeous!!

Shawn - January 26, 2010 - 6:27 pm

You have a super clean, fun style that really makes your images enjoyable to look at. the blog looks fantastic as well.

Nicole Dalesio - January 28, 2010 - 7:39 am

Wow, this is so professional and beautiful. Congratulations!

Best wishes, Nicole

Marla-Dee - February 13, 2010 - 1:49 pm

I remember seeing this photo before and thinking what a great representation of family it presented. It is very heartfelt and warming and I love the expression on the Dad’s face! Great job!

wildgoose - February 24, 2010 - 4:44 am

Hi Sarah,

I found you through your Perfect Duluth Day comment regarding Duluth Daily photo. I love this picture – I do a lot of work with Dads – or I have anyway and am hoping to continue with it.

DO you have any more like this?

I am thinking that a showcase of local photographers of pics of Dads and kids would make a great promotional piece or fundraiser sometime. I am in the beginning stages of setting up a new fathering organization in this area, and I have a strong arts and community organizing background so I am always thinking about funding and promotion. Just thinking out loud here …

But this is really great.

Amy - April 23, 2010 - 3:53 pm

I LOVE this image!
By far the one that spoke most to me.
The framing with trees and colors and emotion and spontaneity and clarity–it’s all just incredible!

Bruce - May 22, 2010 - 7:21 am

Hi Sarah,

I found you through your Perfect Duluth Day comment regarding Duluth Daily photo. I love this picture – I do a lot of work with Dads – or I have anyway and am hoping to continue with it.

DO you have any more like this?

But this is really great.

01.19.10

Babies make me drool

Posted in Uncategorized

So, I have this thing for photographing babies. It’s kinda funny, because when I think about it, I didn’t *think* I would love photographing babies, but I do. See, last year, I met Ariel; another photographer in my local area. She is one of those “OMIGOSH her stuff is GORGEOUS” photographers… amazing, really. You can check her out http://www.akatzmarkphotography.com/index2.php < there.

She is the one who got me into newborn photography. Together, we have photographed loads of beautiful new people, learning all along the way. I will always be grateful to Ariel, for her amazing eye and art, and for her reaching out to me and seeing something in me that I couldn’t yet see in myself. Because of her, I am where I am today. If you read this Ariel – THANK YOU, how you knew I’d love newborns so much I’ll never know!

Anyway – last week I got to photograph a baby without Ariel, a first for me. Four hours away, I drove to meet Cooper, and he was NO disappointment! I was nervous on my own and not as sure of myself as I should have been, but Cooper proved to be the perfect little model.

Isn’t he a sweetheart?

A couple of people have asked me what lens I use when I shoot newborns – and my answer is always the same. I’m kind of a minimalist at the moment, so I shoot almost 100% of my newborns with only a 50mm 1.4. That’s it.Now, keep in mind that when I shoot with Ariel, she has her own special combination of lenses that she uses. But, for me, it’s always a 50. Always. LOVE that lens. I am a firm believer that simple is best!

So yea, I LOVE babies, without a doubt! And, luckily, I just became an auntie for the first time last week to an adorable baby girl, and have ANOTHER (yes, ANOTHER! weee!) niece coming in February. Awesomeness! Something about new babies just gives me so much warmth in my soul – like something I can’t describe. I have the best. job. ever.

I know y’all are going to have happy baby dreams now, right? Even if you don’t, feel free to leave some love for sweet baby cooper, or for the adorable baby in your life!

Sweet Dreams!

Sarah

Posted in Uncategorized

7 comments