Black Hills Photo Shoot Out - Sep. 30-Oct. 2, 2011

 This past fall I attended the 2nd annual Black Hills Photo Shoot Out. The weather was gorgeous with temps one day reaching 90 degrees, not what you would expect in the hills the first of October!

Some of the workshops I attended were Working Cowboys, Birds of Prey, and Downtown Deadwood. This year's workshop was held centered around the beautiful northern hills. Spearfish Canyon was at it's peak for fall colors. All this great scenery while hanging out with photog friends; life doesn't get any better than this! Check out my friend, Nancy Tesdall's photos here.

Happy New Year from Tim, Krystal, Jacob, Audrey, Eva, and Isaac!

It was great to see Krystal & Tim and their kids again! Isaac is talking up a storm and he is nuts over tractors so bringing him to my studio with my husband's antique tractor collection in the next room can be a distraction! We had Isaac on a pedal tractor but that was too easy for him to hop on and off, but when we put him in the car, we were able to "contain" him to one spot for several good photos! Happy 2nd birthday to Isaac and happy New Year to the Paulson's!

Maternity & newborn session; John and Alisha have a new baby girl!

A fall maternity session with John and Alisha; I feel so priveleged to capture this special time in their life as they prepared for the birth of their first child. Their joy was contagious - so it was a very fun session on a nice fall afternoon........

And then a few short weeks later, Macy arrived! And the following photo session was even more fun. What a beautiful little family! Congrats John and Alisha!

Family Photo Session with Kyle, Kristi, Sienne & Willa

My New Year's Resolution is to try to get each photo session on my blog - I am liking how the photos look better on this format than FaceBook these days. So wish me luck on keeping this resolution! I'm off to an early start with one of the family sessions I did the day after Christmas. Sienne is big sister to Willa; both girls are such cuties! They remind me of my girls at that age which doesn't seem that long ago but was 25 years ago! Time slips away so quickly, I'm glad I can help save these memories their girls at this age for Kristi and Kyle!

Sienne was such a big helper, I may have to hire her as my assistant!

Can you believe it is almost 2012!

I just love chubby little baby hands!

Their tops say it all, these are happy girls!

Christmas Day with my great neices; Claire and Norah

Christmas Day was very relaxing, we spent the day with my brother and his family. I wanted to take some photos just for fun and my great neices Claire and Norah were very accomodating, they have not yet learned to run away from me when I pull out my camera. Thank you Claire and Norah for letting me take photos "just for fun, you made my Christmas Day!

Our family's Christmas

2011 was a year of bounteous blessings for our family. One of those blessing was being able to take my photography to the next level by opening my studio on main street Wakonda and through my photography I have met so many wonderful people. Through the year I have had the opportunity to photograph some children as many as 4 times! Wow, what fun it has been to see these babies grow up right before my eyes (lens). My head is a whirl with ideas for my business in 2012! But I'll share those ideas a little later. This post is on the personal side, a little bit about our family's Christmas.

Our tradition is to have our main celebration on Christmas Eve. We start by attending church at our country church that I attended growing up (my parents farm was just to the east of the church, we always walked over); Pleasant Valley Lutheran between Vermillion and Wakonda.

I love seeing all the families who live away return for Christmas Eve service. My favorite part is singing Silent Night with all the candles lit. Above is my great nephew Sam. As you can see, he needed a nap to get him through the rest of Christmas Eve.

And then it is home to begin feasting and opening presents. We only get a few quick pics done before we kick back and enjoy the rest of the evening; below are our daughters Emily and Ashley. Emily and John Freeburg were married Nov. 5th and live in Gayville. Ashley and Nick and Noah live in Beresford. I love having our girls close by! 

And here is my husband and I; proud grandparents to Noah who was a big part of my inspiration to specialize in child photography!

We are blest with two great son-in-laws who take very good care of us (and our girls); Nick keeps our computers running and helps with emergencies, and John spoiled us with a gourmet feast of giant king crab legs. Life is good!

From our house to yours, wishing you health and happiness in 2012. And thank you for letting me be a part of your family this past year - I hope you are enjoying your photos!

Kelly - Vermillion High School Senior

Kelly came into the studio for her indoor portraits - she was very relaxed in front of the camera and we had a very fun session! The bonus of being a photographer is how fun it is to meet new people - I know Kelly's parents and other relatives (her uncle and I were classmates) but I never had the opportunity to spend time with Kelly - her personality is as sparkling as her smile :) I don't think we attempted too many serious photos with Kelly because that is just not her as you can imagine when you look at these photos!

Lauren - Vermillion High School Senior

Wow, Lauren, you have the most amazing eyes; a photographer's dream. Hope you are having a wonderful senior year and are making enough memories for a life time!