Many of you know I have a whole other professional career, which I am very proud of, and passionate about. However, my serious work in – and love affair with – photography pre-dates that career, and working as a professional photographer was my dream for decades. It wasn’t until I had children and chose to stay at home with them during their ongoing early years that I had to cut way back in my other career, and was able to carve out smaller chunks of time for photography projects. Four years ago today, I officially launched Roots and Twigs Photography. Long before my first “birthday”, I was booked solid with weddings, events, and family sessions, week after week. Soon after, I moved across the country and had to start all over again, which is no joke. Re-building has been harder and slower than I ever imagined, but momentum is building. Just this week, in a twenty-four hour period, I booked a local wedding and finalized plans to be flown back to shoot three big sessions back in my previous market. I am looking forward to busier times ahead!
As an incentive to bring more new clients in, I am offering 50% off all print packages for every session booked through the end of November. Session must take place by the end of 2017 to take advantage of this offer.
Professional Print Packages, Available only at time of booking
Aspen Print Package: $100 $50 >> Includes (1) 11×14, (3) 8×10, and (25) 4×6 or 5×7 Prints;
Spruce Print Package: $75 $37.50 >> Includes (2) 8×10 and (15) 4×6 or 5×7 Prints;
Pine Print Package: $50 $25 >> Includes (1) 8×10 and (5) 4×6 or 5×7 Prints
Many of you will want photos for holiday cards, or just some updated family shots. I also want to make you aware that I am available to shoot throughout the Thanksgiving holidays, so if you have extended family gathering, there’s no better time to capture some memories of your time together! I hope to hear from you soon!
I looooove working with families with dogs! They inject so many more opportunities for candid moments than many sessions offer. Plus, I am just a dog person. =) We got such beautiful light for this session, another golden hour one. Thank you so much for a fun and beautiful session, guys!
I just realized that, while I shared photos from several of my last sessions, I never blogged them, so watch me go add them! I met this fun and easy-going family during the golden hour for a park session. I love it when the parents are happy to let the kids be themselves and express their true personalities in photos. The son, especially, did this in front of my lens. Thank you so much, for such a great time, guys!
The August blog circle theme at Share Six is COLLECTIONS. I hope you’ll take the time to link around the full blog circle (next link at the bottom), and then submit to the Share Six Facebook and/or Instagram pages for a chance to be featured.
I struggled with this theme. The biggest reason was that I simply have way too much on my plate lately, and haven’t had time to plan and shoot for it. I pondered recycling some old images that might pass for the theme, but eventually settled on sharing images from my family’s recent trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We only spent 2.5 days there, along with another 12.5 days in the state, but it was just the second time my kids have been to the ocean, and they were too young the first time to enjoy or remember it. We covered many of the typical tourist sites (Currituck, Bodie Island, and Hatteras Lighthouses; Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum; Wright Brothers Memorial; and a brief stop at the Elizabeth II ship) – and hiked the dunes until we found wild horses in Corolla. Still, the best memories will probably be the simple ones at the beach. I am a lifelong mountain girl, but the beauty, serenity, and joy we shared there on this trip has me re-thinking my status! My take on COLLECTIONS is the collection of MEMORIES we created on this trip and – for the first time ever – I am not sharing six, but ten. Sorry?! As I write this, I haven’t even viewed all of my trip photos, yet I am packing to leave for another trip, so I decided not to agonize on the culling process. Cheers!
Oh, the FREEDOM at Jockey’s Ridge State Park!
Along the “trail” to the dunes at Jockey’s Ridge… Trying to avoid injuring any of the OODLES of tadpoles in the water.
Early morning on the beach, bedhead and all, and preparing to look for seashells.
They found part of a horseshoe crab.
Morning beauty and serenity.
Tossing something into the great beyond.
My hearts!
Fearless.
Sand play.
All the joy.
I sincerely appreciate you dropping by to check out my take on COLLECTIONS.Next in the blog circle is the wonderfully talented Ceri Herd Photography! Please link over and see the post Ceri has generated for the theme. For a chance to be featured at Share Six, please submit your COLLECTIONS images to the Share Six Facebook and/or Instagram pages (tag #sharesix and #sharesix_collections) by Septemeber 5th.
The April blog circle theme at Share Six is CONNECTION. I hope you’ll take the time to link around the full blog circle (next link at the bottom), and then submit to the Share Six Facebook and/or Instagram pages for a chance to be featured.
As noted in my March Share Six post, I am working towards better work-life balance. Part of that resulted in limited shooting this month, except during a family vacation and some gadget photos. The majority of the most special and intimate moments of late were captured only on my gadget or not at all, and that’s OK, as that is part of living more in the moment lately, even though I don’t have amazing images from those moments to share. In any event, I am pulling some of the images from as far back as last April, but they haven’t all been previously shared.
When I think “CONNECTION,” I think of my children more than anything else. As a parent, beyond basic health and happiness, my highest hope for my children is that they become and remain close friends for life. I work to nurture that every day and never plan to relent. Perhaps it’s because I lack that in my own life, or maybe it is simply natural for a parent to want that more than anything. Most likely, it’s both. In any event, my children are almost 3 years apart in age, and often into pretty different hobbies and interests. Like most (all?) siblings, they fight regularly, unfortunately. Still, I know in my heart that they truly, deeply, love one another. I don’t know if they would go to the mat for each other just yet, but I think in time, they will. Sometimes these authentically documented moments of them loving one another help get me through rough patches with them. They are visual reminders of the depth of love in their relationship, even when it’s a bit below the surface.
Hammock Time
I am tempted to say, “This is everything.” But it’s not, because the cumulative love shared here – and in all the images that didn’t make the final six cut – they are everything!
These kiddos are still little and thankfully their feet don’t stink (much) yet. They snuggle often and can’t stand to miss out on whatever the other one is doing, ever! If I am on my (better) hammock, both of them are on it, too. If one kid is in my lap, they both are. And so it goes with their own little special moments, too.
Halloween Day at my son’s school
After enjoying Halloween fun at my daughter’s preschool and then downtown, she and I headed to my son’s elementary school to celebrate there, as well. My Mommy heart swelled so huge, as my kids grabbed hands and ran ahead of me in the haphazard costume parade through other classrooms. Once we returned to my son’s classroom, I melted watching him welcome my daughter to work right alongside him, shoulder to shoulder, on all their fun activities – BINGO, scavenger hunt, and more. I mean, what little boy does that, when he has his entire class full of friends to play with? My little boy.
River Rock
This is the only image in the bunch that was posed in that I sent them out to the rock. Their adoring expressions as they hung out on the rock together, though? One hundred percent authentic, of course.
Soccer
They can be so boisterous and silly! However, they are also often quiet, caring, helpful, and loving. Here, my son is tying his sister’s new soccer cleats, which she just had to have because big brother had recently received some. (The same thing just happened here with roller blades, too.)
Saturday Morning Snack
I spotted them just like this, facing the wall across the room next to my office. I quietly grabbed my camera as quickly as humanly possible to freeze this sweetness forever.
Easter Morning
They were sharing a bedroom this time last year. They both slept in rabbit ears the night before Easter, then climbed into our bed the next morning. By this point, only my son was wearing his bunny ears, but have you ever seen so much sweetness between a brother and sister? Their connection melts me at times.
I sincerely appreciate you dropping by to check out my take on CONNECTION.Next in the blog circle is one of our newest blog team members, Claire Porter of Wilhelmina Photography. Please link over and see the post she has generated for the theme. For a chance to be featured yourself, please submit your CONNECTION images to the Share Six Facebook and/or Instagram pages (tag #sharesix and #sharesix_connection) by May 5th.
The March circle blog theme at Share Six is RESTORE. I hope you’ll take the time to link around the full blog circle, and then submit to the Share Six Facebook and/or Instagram pages for a chance to be featured.
My take on RESTORE is more introspective, raw, exposed, and broad than most of my posts. It is a multi-faceted view of renewal and restoration of many aspects of my life, including Spring’s return, physical and mental health, relationships, and my home.
Renovate
Being Major League DIY’ers, my husband and I have been personally, extensively renovating our homes since before we married. We are in our fourth home together, and the only one that didn’t succumb to our vision was our last one: beautiful, extremely well-built, only 10 years old and good to go. Unfortunately, there was no rational reason to renovate it in any way and thus put our own stamp on it. We lived in it for only five months before pursuing our current one. Apparently we require a project house at all times.*** I typically describe the course of action as, “We accidentally bought a second house in less than a year of living here.” In any event, our current home, known both as “The Tree House” and “our forever home,” is no exception to the renovation trend. The highest priority project at the moment is the master bedroom suite, shown here. We have been in this home just over a year and have never actually slept in our bedroom. Juggling all the crazy of every day life with kids, hobbies, and hands-on renovations keeps us quite busy!
*** In all seriousness, our first house in Fort Collins truly was a wonderful house, but it lacked the tight-knit community we wanted. When we heard through the grapevine that our current home would become available, in the neighborhood we originally wanted to buy in, it was not that we truly wanted another project house. Instead, it was that our forever home here is in “the village.” You know that saying: “It takes a village to raise a child.” We have two kids to raise and are finally living in that village we have longed for. Despite all the hard work we put into aligning our mid-century modern home with our architectural vision, we are living the dream in our fabulous neighborhood.
Restore
As far back as anyone can remember – at least since I was 3 – I longed for a classic Mustang: red convertible with a white top and interior. I am not really a car person, although I know more about them than most of my peers. Still, there has just always been something about classic Mustangs. I love old muscle cars in general. OK, I like many old things in general, but Mustang-love may well be where it all started. A few years back, my husband surprised me with my dream car for my birthday – except that Ruby has a black top and interior, instead of white. Happily, I have found I actually prefer the black these days. We were living in Washington, DC at the time, and he had been late coming home from work a few times, always to my irritation, as I was anxious for help with the kids. As it turns out, he had been out shopping to fulfill my dream, often riding the Metro train out to the end of the line, meeting someone with a Mustang for sale. Each time I was upset about him getting home late, he sucked it up and provided a plausible explanation about working late – never giving up the surprise even the tiniest bit. I had NO IDEA. He pretty much won Husband of the Universe with all the stunts he pulled in securing and hiding this car from me until the big reveal at my birthday party! Ruby is a 1967 in show car condition, almost entirely original, never wrecked, and largely restored in the 90s. We have added a few safety features and kids’ car seats, with more tweaks to go, but she’s completely road-worthy (and awesome) as is. The unofficial deal at our house is: Ruby is my eye candy and joy ride, and my husband is responsible for keeping her on the road and running well. Maybe he drew the short straw, but I think he actually enjoys his end of the deal, too, if for no other reason than giving me the ongoing joy of having my dream car. This weekend was beautiful, so he backed Ruby out of the garage, fixed a leak of some variety, did some magic voodoo work on her power steering, did a few other maintenance things, washed her, and then sent me out to drive her around a bit. My first ride of the season was relatively brief, but awesome! #mylittlepony
Renew fitness
I have recently re-committed myself to physical fitness, after a long period of time where I simply fell to the bottom of the priority list too much to provide proper care for myself. For a whole host of reasons, fitness has been a lifelong challenge for me, but I have finally reached a point in these parenting years where I can realistically prioritize my health every day, and I am doing so. I can’t wait until great weather is more consistent and I can do nearly all of my daily cardio exercise outdoors through Fall. Until then, I am grateful for my treadmill, with a view of the Rockies, on the off-days. The downside to this fitness journey is that I am spending much of my former personal photography time working out, and I am not dragging my camera along on the trails and to the fields where I often take my kids, because I am no longer sauntering along with them. I have important work to do out there, and it doesn’t involve a camera! Once our warmer weather is in full force again, I hope to hike in the mountains with my camera more, and run on the trails by our home a bit less, so perhaps I will then strike a better balance and combine my photography and workouts more.
Revitalize
No successful physical fitness approach would be complete without taking great care to nourish the body with healthful, vibrant foods. We were in a rut at my house of making huge, one-pot meals, with a heavy emphasis on filling staples such as brown rice. Given that, I had sadly, genuinely forgotten how wonderful salads can be. With my priorities in check again, we are enjoying not only wonderful salads, but more homemade sushi, summer rolls, baba ganoush, and a wide variety of fresh, whole foods. My family is vegan, and preparing enough veggies and proteins to satiate growing children is no easy feat, but everyone seems to be enjoying our recent meals more – including a return to more thoughtful and visually appealing presentations of it.
Return of Spring
This time of year is everything to me. I absolutely delight in watching all the blooming lovelies make their appearance in our home gardens, even before we have our last snowfall. With Spring’s return, I also reflect on the parallels with my own health and self-care.
Rejoice new skills and new wheels
Spring is all about new things – new babies in nature, new buds, and – in the case of my daughter – a new life skill! She recently graduated from a balance bike to this pedal bike and she is slaying the trails as I jog along behind her. Meanwhile, my son has done the same with rollerblading. Alas, they are already outpacing me, and I am struggling to figure out how to continue sharing this great, quality, bonding time on the trails with them, while allowing each of us to become stronger and more capable in our various modes of transit. I am open to your suggestions! Right now I think I will get them unicycles. That should slow them down until my running pace increases enough to keep up with them, yes?!
I sincerely appreciate you dropping by to see my take on RESTORE and perhaps learn a lot more about the person behind the lens.Next in the blog circle is Mike Wade of Rural Life Photography, our guest blogger and winner of the recent {Music} theme. Please link over and see the post he has generated for RESTORE! For a chance to be featured, please submit your own RESTORE images to the Share Six Facebook and/or Instagram pages (tag #sharesix and #sharesix_restore) by April 5th! Especially for this theme, we welcome some back story on how your image represents the theme!
I was recently invited to interview with Dads in the Wild, sharing some more information about the main Dad in my life. I hope you’ll take a moment to click below to see the images and thoughts I shared!
The February circle blog theme at Share Six is SHADOWS. I hope you’ll take the time to link around the full blog circle, and then submit to the Share Six Facebook and/or Instagram pages for a chance to be featured.
Shadows can add much depth, interest, and drams to an image. My children are getting more interested in playing with their shadows, creating shadow animals with their hands, and also taking note of their full body’s shadows on various surfaces. Even when they aren’t paying attention to their shadows, I certainly am. So here are some favorites of my kids and their shadows and a shadows and silhouettes image from Yellowstone National Park that I just had to include, as well. I hope you enjoy my collection and complete our blog circle for what promises to be a particularly interesting series of images.
Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park
Thank you so much for dropping by to see my take on SHADOWS.Next in the blog circle is Kim Sidwell Photography. Please link over and see what she has put together for SHADOWS! Again, for a chance to be featured, please submit your SHADOWS images to the Share Six Facebook and/or Instagram pages (tag #sharesix and #sharesix_music)!
Our December theme over at Share Six is BOKEH. One of my favorite types of bokeh is when it has a magical pixie dust effect, such as the twinkling lights of a Christmas tree. For the first time EVER in my life, I am living in a home with an artificial tree. I fought the occasional proposal of getting one throughout my childhood, and decorated my houseplants when I was in my 20s. Since becoming a bona fide “grownup,” I have wanted to build a “sculptural tree” – a piece of art, itself, upon which to hang ornaments. Long story short, that tree is still in my dreams. Getting a real tree was out of reach this year for many reasons, so we bought this second hand artificial tree from a neighbor Friday night. We then spent the rest of the weekend, off and on, adorning it with treasures we’ve collected and created along the way, as well as making paper garland from flower bulb catalogs and ornaments from recycled popsicle sticks. I am all about a simple, classic holiday season, so these activities were good for my soul. *** Disclaimer: Don’t judge if I end up with a shiny tinsel tree forest /\ /\ /\ and vintage color wheel(s) in the future, befitting our Mid-Century Modern Home! Also, if you know how to make that happen, please drop a line!! *** I am even handling the artificial tree well – for the most part. I miss the scent of a real tree, and the scrawny base of this thing does nothing for me. I have plans for next year, though!
Making paper garland from flower bulb catalogs.
Making ornaments with recycled popsicle sticks and talking to Grandma, thousands of miles away.
Our first Advent calendar is a big hit!
Reflections of the tree lights in the window beyond
Thank you so much for dropping by to see my weekend take on BOKEH. Now, please visit Applewood Photography to see her images, and continue the circle blog to view and comment on everyone’s work.
Please join us for this month’s theme by posting your BOKEHimages on the Facebook page at Share Six and to the Instagram gallery by tagging #sharesix and #sharesix_bokeh.
Time is this month’s theme at Share Six. I have wrestled with choosing a direction for this theme. My initial thoughts related to the seasons – the various times that cycle annually. Since I couldn’t photograph the whole year in a month, I continued to brainstorm. I thought about our daily routines at home: the distinct things that happen each and every day. But my schedule hasn’t allowed me to capture a day in the life well lately, either. I finally settled on this particular Time of the year, Fall, as well as this Time in my life and related priorities.
Until recent years, I have dreaded Fall. I didn’t actually dislike Fall at all, but I looked ahead and dreaded the limited daylight hours (along with some other perceived downers) of Winter, instead of living in the moment. In recent years, I have prioritized shifting my life perspective to a more optimistic one. Somewhere post-college, I became rather “glass half empty.” It may be a long battle to wake up sunny every day, but it will be worth the sweet victory when I achieve it. Instead of loathing Fall, for Winter’s impending arrival, I now appreciate Fall for what it is. All we have is this moment, with no further guarantees, and I think losing loved ones and having children have been great life lessons on the matter.
Everywhere I have lived has truly seasonal weather. However, never have I experienced such distinct seasonal shifts in the culture and activities as I do here in our new-ish home state of Colorado. Our conversations and activities are rarely about work or deadlines. They are about how we enjoyed the weekend, the weather, and the outdoorsy lives we are blessed with here. We don’t hunker down and hibernate in Winter, just trying to get through and make it until Spring (well, until maybe that last month of it!). We get out and enjoy it, too. Even though I don’t ski (yet?!), the enthusiasm of so many friends here who live for it, brighten Winter a bit, as well. For all of these reasons, I now FEEL and EXPERIENCE the beauty and opportunities of each season more.
I love Fall. I love everything about it. It is my favorite season during which to photograph people. It is full of gorgeous colors, crisp air, and preparations for the next beautiful season, with its own identity. Fall is also a very introspective time of year for me. Winter is busy with holidays and indoor activities, as well as cold weather fun; Spring is energized with new life and buds, and anticipation; Summer is just plain BUSY with vacations and gardening, and fun… Then there’s Fall. For me, it’s a time when we have successfully survived first of the school year madness and hit a stride, and we can enjoy some weekend family time before the holidays suck us into their chaos. My family took a day trip this past weekend to one of the many nearby mountain areas we hadn’t yet explored. The day was full of beauty, peace, reflection, and discovery. These photos are from this Time in our lives: our time with young children, soaking up nature comfortably and easily before Winter sets in, quiet time reflecting on priorities and family, and a beautiful and peaceful hike to a Buddhist stupa nestled high up in golden aspen groves. I don’t always succeed in recognizing and celebrating it, but for all its shortcomings, this truly is a beautiful Time in my life.
Prayer Flags, Shambhala Mountain Center, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado
Thank you so much for dropping by to see my take on Time! Now, please visit Sharleen N Stuart Photography to see her take on it, and continue the circle blog to view and comment on everyone’s work.
Please join us for this month’s theme by posting your Timeimages on the Facebook page at Share Six and to the Instagram gallery by tagging #sharesix and #sharesix_time.
I am happy to announce that I have recently joined Share Six as their newest Blog Contributor! I came on board just after the blog circle’s 6th of the month release, but they were kind enough to pull me in, anyway. September’s theme is {Black and White}, a theme that’s very close to my heart. Thank you so much, Katherine Cobert of Cobert Photography, for choosing it!
Black and white film photography was my first love. With digital, I have strayed a bit – and I do so adore color, as well. Still, black and white feels like home. I love the focus it brings to patterns, contrast, light, emotion, and structures, as unnecessary elements and distractions are stripped away. I found culling my black and white images to just sixto be incredibly difficult, so I recruited some help. I still want to include more, but here is what I came up with, as a rule-follower this time. With the exception of the first image, taken in early 2015, the balance of these images were taken in Spring and Summer 2016.
Prairie dog in snow, Niwot, Colorado
Lupine Structure, Black and White
Garden Beauties
Wild Horses as Storm Brews, Pilot Butte, Wyoming
“It’s a Smiley Face Lollipop”
Self Portrait
Thanks so much for taking the time to visit and see my take on Black and White! Now, please visit none other than Cobert Photography, who chose the theme, to see her take on it, and continue the circle blog to view and comment on everyone’s work.
Please join us for this month’s theme by posting your Black and White images on the Facebook page at Share Six and to the Instagram gallery by tagging #sharesix and #sharesix_blackandwhite.
Roots and Twigs Photography 