self

40 is around the corner...
and i am battling major self image and aging issues.
so i created this collage to take a look at 'myself' in photos over this past year or so.

lots of reflection going on in my brain this week...

precious family memories

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i am always excited when i am asked to do a family photo shoot with a new baby. it's a chance to create history. to document passion and intimacy which will forever be referred to. to work with light and laughter and love and envelope it in a series of moments in time. moments that can't be recreated. i am passionate about the job and strive to always make the time i spend with families memorable.

my session with this family was no exception. they were so open to different poses and different settings but the smiles were all original i promise. that is very important to me.

(addisen was not her smiley self so we'll be meeting again in a few months to document those. but mom and dad were so fun and at ease with the camera. thanks for making the afternoon together time well-spent! and i look forward to getting some more smiles from addisen in our next session.

love, life and photography

i love people who love life.
i treasure people who appreciate just how fragile we are.

i am honored to have been invited into jacob's hospital room and into his life. i am honored to know his struggle, his parent's struggle, sarah's struggle. i am even more honored to know these people not for what they've been through--but, more importantly, for how they choose to live their life. they enjoy every day. every smile, every tear, every setback, every win. they enjoy life as it was meant to be--by savoring every moment as if it had been their last and embracing the bumpy ride along the way.

to learn more about this family--they do a much better job than i would so i refer to their website for details, history and an accurate account of their story:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jacobhallberg

jacob and his family were appoaching day 120 in children's hospital in denver when they were able to bring him home to celebrate christmas together as a family.

i show up where i do my best--to take photos and to freeze moments in time. it was easy for me. their smiles were geniune. their love was geniune. and it all showed in the images. simple. perfect.

as with each of us--this may be jacob's last christmas with his family at home. it may not be. but for that day in december when i was there armed with my camera and every lens i owned--we took advantage of the day and the moment. i hope you enjoy the images as much as i do. and i hope you learn, just like i did that day, that we need to treasure the simple moments in life more. that we need to document the simple interactions that unfold to create our lives and to savor them over and over as frozen moments in time.

just as john lennon best said it: 'life is what happens when you are busy making other plans'.

happy new year maria, joakim, jacob and sarah. here's to today--AND to tomorrow!