Our three little amigos!  Landon is on the left, Madison with her natural 70′s hair is in the middle and Blake with the broken right arm is on the right.  We threw them all together for a quick shot before starting Landon’s first year session.

Last week all three of our kids celebrated their birthdays!  We like to knock it all out at once.  :-)  The baby hit the lovely 1 year milestone while the twins turned 4.  They feel like big kids now.  All of us are eagerly anticipating our big birthday celebration coming up soon on a Disney cruise!!!  Growing up, my family would pile into 1-3 cars chock full to the brim with adults, kids and gear and make the 5 hour trek across the desert to California for our annual trip to visit family and go to Disneyland.  Those were some amazingly fun times hanging out with all of my extended family.  We always did big group vacations.  Luckily, Guy has a love for travel too so we do as much of it as we can.  We would love to make Disney a yearly event for our little family too!

Every once in a while I feature a local business that I love here on the Lifelong Impressions website.  Soon you will be treated to a look at The Cakerator.  She has put together a post on how to order a specialty cake.  There will be some wonderful eye candy too as we share some images of her creations.  We have a sneak peek at her amazing work with Landon’s first birthday cake!

We didn’t think we’d even get to start Landon’s session…

This cake is soooooo adorable.  Maria asked me what we wanted, and all I could think of was that Landon loves to be outdoors no matter the temperature or weather.  She came up with this super adorable cake.

Landon went right for the green lizard on top.  He thought it tasted ok.

The ants had some wires on them Maria said to take off and they looked perfect marching towards the cake.

He seemed a little unsure of digging in.

He laughed at all four of us encouraging him.

Then he got a few little tastes.

His one and only good big bite!

Love the tongue out.

And he was done.

We headed to the back yard for a little outdoor bath time.  We have a shot I love hanging in our bathroom of the twins in this tub.  One of these will be going up in the bathroom as well.

This face totally cracks us up.  He does the squinty eyed fish lips to make us all giggle.  It works every time.

A little nature curiosity.

Ahhh, happiness.

My little sweetie pie.  Have I mentioned on here how this kid loves to cuddle?  Well, he LOVES to cuddle, and I love to cuddle with him.

He’s grabbing at the tall grass next to the tub.

Landon loves to splash.

And he loves to tease.  Guy was holding up a diffuser to soften the sun, and Landon was making faces back and forth with him.  Good times.

I just love the direct look and the lighting here.  So pretty!

Everyone was relaxed and we had such a blast.

This old depot is a great location for it’s worn wood and deck around three sides making it great for images both morning and afternoon.  Of course, we got had a pretty overcast day making pretty much any location usable.

This building was perfect for these guys.  What a great color to show off their vibrant personalities!

We could have shown an entire sessions worth of fun and cool images with these four siblings standing right in this very spot.

We were cracking up just before this shot when Marcus {on the right} takes his gum and puts it behind his ear!  He says, “I learned that trick from “Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory”.  These looks here are perfectly representing their personalities. 

These two look so much alike.  Seeing the sisterly love makes me miss my sisters who all live far away.  Sisters really do have a special bond.

A fun shot using some on location flash to add drama.

This is probably my favorite shot in months.  I love the way the colors and setting all combined with a great naturally engaging expression all came together.

As moms we don’t often get an image us us by ourselves.  But here, Maria, is in her moms session to capture her moms kids and ends up with her own shot.  We should all get in some images by ourselves.  Both our parents and our kids would love to see just us.

Talk about at ease in front of the camera.  Place. Focus. Snap.  Done.  Repeat in a new spot.  :-)

Teens are so much fun to photograph.  It is a great time of life and most have a joy in the present.

Would you have guessed this sweet family is also dealing with dad battling cancer?  No, you wouldn’t.  They have such an amazingly positive spirit of hope and love.  I hope his battles are triumphant and they make many happy memories even during this time of trial.

The greatest part of being a photographer is being able to capture my family and life in images.  When beautiful spots appear with the perfect weather we can take full advantage.  The other morning there was some beautiful fog.  We got out of the house too late to get the images I’ve been waiting to get of this property with a cool barn and a cool pair of trees in the middle of a field.  BUT, this tree lined drive was perfect and accessible to use.  We made a little pit stop on the way to school to grab a few images.  Madison was feeling ill which we found out the next day was a bad urinary infection {my poor girl} so she was definitely not up for being in more then a couple images.  The boys cooperated nicely!

I’ve been waiting very impatiently for Landon to get big enough so that we can take a lot of fun images of the boys playing and interacting together.  This way we can do a really fun wall collage in the boys room featuring mostly the boys.

The boys even had matching hairdos.  One really cute thing they do is hold hands in the car while we’re on long drives.  It is so adorable.

Landon now walks way more then he crawls.  Since he is a 30 pound 10 month old that is amazing!

Landon’s face lights up whenever he see’s his big brother.  They love to play, wrestle {oh my} and do things together.  It is so fun to watch and one of the best parts of having more then one kid.

My friend Brandi of B4 Photography {Website – Facebook} marked the first anniversary of her mothers passing from cancer yesterday.  Like me, she isn’t much of a crier.  She cried much of yesterday.

A few months ago I talked to her about doing a guest blog post for me.  My charitable program, Ella’s Touch, provides a session and CD of images for families with an immediate family member who is terminally ill.  Brandi took the time to do a family session with her mother before she passed. Another friend, Melissa Zihlman, of Melissa Zihlman Photography {Website - Facebook} took beautiful simple images showing their family connection.  I wanted to share these images along with Brandi’s words here on my blog to inspire others to capture these special family relationships before losing their loved one.

Q: What inspired you to have the session with your mom?

A: Having lost twins in the 5th month of pregnancy, I was led to volunteer for “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep”-an organization who gathers photographers around the nation to offer free bereavement photography for babies/children who are terminally ill, dying, and, in some cases, already passed.  I knew how important it was for me to give to these parents because I knew how they felt.  I think that was the first time I ever thought about “what would I do if…”  I just never imagined I would be there again.  Through my work for this organization, I met families who reached out to me with terminally ill moms, dads and grandparents.  I began to gift photo sessions to them as well.  When my mom became terminally ill, it just seemed natural that we would document that last stage of her life just as we did all the other stages of her life.

Q: Was your mom receptive to the session at first?

A: She was.  She admired me for the volunteer work I did.  She thought very highly of me for that.  She knew how important those photos were to those families.  I approached her and she did groan a bit because she had lost some hair, weight, etc.  She didn’t look like herself.  She did them for us and also for herself.  We didn’t have any photos of her with my youngest daughter.  One would think we would have several with me being a photographer, but, as most photographers know, you spend a great deal of your time working for others and you often forget to pick up the camera for yourself.  She was so happy when she saw the final product!  She kept saying over and over how happy she was that we did them.

Q:  Did you or Melissa have a specific vision for the session?

A:  Not really-I know from experience that you don’t get a lot of time to shoot these sessions.  It is very emotional work and I didn’t want to overload Melissa with any “we MUST have this or that”.  I think I told her-”she won’t sit for long-we need a family pic, one of her with the kids, each kid and with her sister”.  The whole process took maybe 20 minutes.  Really, I just wanted her to capture us loving my mom.  You cannot plan those kinds of shots.  Those just happen.  Melissa did an amazing job of capturing the love and the heartache in the room that day.

Q:  Were the images captured what you thought they would be?

A: They were everything I hoped for and so much more.

Q: I know it has been a short time since your mom has passed, and hope this question isn’t too hard for you to answer. How do these images make you feel when you see them now?

A: I cry each time I see them–even now, writing this, thinking back to that morning, I am crying.  It is so very painful to lose someone you love and still need in your life.  I also smile when I see them.  I remember how it felt to put my arms around her that morning.  I remember her hand and how it felt on mine.  I see her strength and wisdom in her photos…and I also see her humor-as she did a special shot for us and it makes us giggle every time I see it.  Most of all, I think of the love we shared.  That journey was hard on everyone in my home but I would do it all over again, year after year, if it meant my mom would be here for me to talk to and take care of.

Brandi:  More than anything, these photos aid us in our healing.  She will never come back but we have these memories preserved forever–and they aren’t HER, but they ARE the next best thing!

Brandi has been in my thoughts and prayers especially as she has hit this one year anniversary.   Thank you so much to both Brandi and Melissa for sharing their time, talent and emotions with us!   Both of them are wonderful photographers in Roanoak and Grapevine Texas.  Please consider using them if you live in or visit this area.

If you know anyone who would qualify for an Ella’s Touch session please speak to them {or yourself} about getting a session.  Facing loss one knows is coming will never easy, but we can capture those special family connections to treasure.

As an update: Ella who inspired Ella’s Touch passed away September 15th, 2011.  I will write about the experience in a couple months.  She is a special little girl who really touched so many lives.  My family is forever changed because of her life.

For more information about Ella’s Touch including the submission form to request an Ella’s Touch session, please visit the Ella’s Touch page:  Ella’s Touch

Please contact me directly if you are interested in purchasing any fine art prints.

Shannon  -  919-585-6433  -  shannon@lifelongimpressions.com

Being a mom of three now, I have witnessed how incredible and necessary each one of my children are.  All of them individually take my breath away regularly.  Their little quirks make me laugh.  They wake up looking for love and cuddles.  We have a great morning ritual.  The kids will come into our room and climb into bed with me or us if Guy is still home.  We’ll greet each other happily and sing a good morning song to each other.  I miss these mornings on the days when we have to rush to get ready.

With each passing day and year these three children of mine grow and develop as unique individuals becoming more interesting and fun.  With each newborn I get to photograph, there is a glimpse of his or her amazing future as they develop and grow building bonds with their family.

Baby Kaeli has two adorable big sisters excited for her to join the family.

Like Guy and I the family moved into a new home right around her birth.  Crazy times.  While we were doing the session dad and another guy were tearing down & replacing the stair railing.  Once they are done with a few modern refinishes their home will be amazing.

The day was unexpectedly a bit gloomy with just enough light to create a little space for these shots.  Kaeli cooperated nicely doing a great job with being moved and even smiled a little for us.

We pulled dad away from work for a few shots of the three of them.

Such a sweet trusting baby held in dads arms.  Notice the Love is Bald wristband?  Each year he leads an effort to raise money for children’s cancer and shaves the old noggin.  Check out the Love is Bald Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57169628230.  I’m sure they would love help!

This is my favorite image from the day.  These two are so stinkin cute together and you can tell they adore each other.  Kaeli is totally missing out on this joke as she happily sleeps.  This is exactly the type of image she will love most when she gets older.  Kids absolutely love seeing images of them with their parents and when those parents are showing genuine emotions of love, laughter or hope.

Mother.  The most important person in Kaeli’s life as a newborn.  She does the lions share of the day to day care during the first few months all while lacking the full rested sleep our bodies crave.  Kaeli is in beautiful hands.

Halloween is also right around the corner.  We are certainly all busy picking out what we want to be for Halloween.  Madison is all set since her beautiful costume from last year fits perfect this year.  This year instead of being a pirate lady she’ll be a princess with it!   Last year Blake was a pirate, but this year he wants to be some kind of superhero!   Here is an image of the twins from last years Halloween dress up mini sessions.

Speaking of Halloween sessions…  It is definitely that time of year and it is time for you to schedule yours.  Give me a call or send an email to set up your appointment.  919-585-6433 or shannon@lifelongimpressions.com

With the birth of Landon, we welcomed home the most awesome baby.  He is so good and sooooo low maintenance.  The twins were definitely high maintenance and either one of them would have been considered high maintenance on their own as well.  It is such a treat to have such a happy and content baby.  He smiles all the time, wants to sleep regularly {including almost all night!}, loves to be held, loves to chill on his own and just generally brings us all joy.

A couple weeks after Landon was born I had my tailbone removed since it had been paining me for 8 years.  Being up and about was no problem, even a few days post op, but sitting at my computer was an issue.  Posting new images and articles on the website was one of the things to suffer from the inattention to the computer.  I was still doing sessions and working on clients orders, but not really able to do much more then share a few images on my Facebook page.  Sharing images there is all good, but it is so much more fun and interesting to put in the comments and backstories!

Here are some images from the last three months.   It’s going to be so hard to only pick one image from a session!

We did a pirate and princess theme session with Miles and his sister.  It’s so fun to dress up little kids and celebrate the beginnings of their imaginations by representing their playtime in images.  Just other day our daughter, Madison, stood up on an old hard cover suitcase and announced, “Ladies and gentlemen.  Blake and Maddie will now present a show for you.”  So cute.  Anyway, the images of Miles and Ava will also be used in their 3rd birthday party invitations for their pirate and princess themed party.

There are so many non crying images, but we call this one “Missing Daddy.”  He is currently deployed for a year to Afghanistan and left just 2 months after she was born.  Both mom and baby Ava can’t wait to have him home again.

Ryan is celebrating his arrival to 18 months with joy.  We had a very busy session chasing this little guy around.  His brother Anderson was in a few shots too.

Capturing relationships with extended families is one of my favorite things.  It is so rare that most people take the time to capture these special relationships as adults.

Emily, my summer intern, got to practice shooting my friend, Sandy’s, two girls.  I took the position of second shooter and let her take charge of the session only jumping in occasionally to give advice and suggest poses.  While she had the older of the two girls off on her own, I got this beauty of mom and daughter.

Of all the baby milestones I photograph, the six month {sitting not crawling} age is my favorite to do an urban session.  They aren’t going anywhere so we don’t have to worry about them stepping in glass or eating rusty stuff.  The textures and colors are so awesome in the background and create a stark contrast to a babies beautiful new skin.

Newborns are just so precious.  Little Julian loved the hot humid air and slept contentedly while we moved him around for different poses.

Just before we gave Emily and Drew cakes to smash up, we captured a few poses of them just sitting for us on the grey backdrop.  This is one of my favorite images all year out of all my personal and professional images!  I love their joy an her advancing on me… 

Newborn Hazel is a sweetheart.  I think her voice is also just like her older sisters!   I always enjoy capturing Heather’s family.

Coming in September Adrian and Jennifer will be getting hitched!   We had a lot of fun marrying Adrian’s love of architecture with Jennifer’s more traditional design wishes.  It was so much fun getting to do both urban and green for both the engagement and bridal sessions.  It is so hard waiting to share the bridals!

Here is one of the only images I can share from Jennifer’s bridals.  :-)

Emily has been a huge part of the last few months while she interns with me.  This girl will definitely be going places with her fantastic natural talent and great personality.  My kids love her.  They tell her they love her all the time and also include her in their prayers.

Mom was thinking of putting Miles and Ava into modeling so we did a mini session for a couple images to submit to an agency.  After capturing them both individually we got a few super fun images of them together.

Baby Hazel {still in mom’s tummy} with her big sister & mommy.  I love how sweetly excited Cora was here in anticipation of meeting her baby sister.

We had lots of family visit us after Landon arrived.  Corri is Guy’s sister.  She asked if they could do a session while they were here.  YES!  I love to capture our family members.  It is so much fun to see what they order.  Corri basically bought the store.  :-)  I’m pretty sure she loves getting her items at cost because she is family.

Josh is a very interesting person to talk to to and to have in front of the camera.  He shows a range of emotions and looks.

Keatyn’s 3 month session was at home.  I loved how they remodeled and decorated their home.  It’s no wonder they sold their home quickly when they decided to move back home to Louisiana.   I’ll miss being able to photograph Jade’s adorable girls with their stylish outfits mom picks out.

During her fall semester last year she decided to change her major from textiles to photography.  She enrolled for the spring semester at Appalachian State completing her first black and white film photography class along with other general prerequisites.  She has also been learning digital photography and editing on her own.

She ended up interning with me this summer after he dad and I struck up a conversation on photography.  He let me know his daughter was looking to intern this summer.  I gave him my card, and she emailed me.  After looking at her work on Facebook, I thought she would be a great match for Lifelong Impressions photography.  She has a natural eye for composition and light which is an awesome foundation.

This image is my favorite of all from this session.  To me it really represents the Emily we’ve gotten to know.

Everyone in my family has enjoyed getting to know Emily this summer.  My kids get almost as excited to see her pull up into the driveway as they do their daddy.

We are about half way done with working on a client website with all the lovely information and forms available not on password protected pages as they are now.  

I’m very excited to get the client website done and sent out to all my clients!

Emily is a learns new information quickly and adds value with her design sense and techie shortcuts I love to learn.  Anything to get things done more efficiently is a bonus!

By the time we are done this summer I think she’ll be ready to network and build a business of engagement & wedding photography with all the other young adults she’ll be networking with in college.

With each of the sessions I see her work done on her own and with me there are more great captures.  

Like me at her age she is a little shy, but I think she’ll break right out over time especially when holding the camera.  The camera is like a free pass to be so different.  I can’t explain it.  For me when the camera is in my hand there is no such thing as personal space like showing someone how to pose with their spouse essentially snuggling up to them or picking lint and other debris off shirts and pants.  There is no way I’d be doing that without a camera in my hand, nor would there be any reason to come to think of it.  :-)

My son, Blake, is not a boy who likes to get dirty.  In fact, his hands are not allowed to get dirt on them at all and must be cleaned off right away if they get anything on them.  The morning we went out was both hot and humid so he wasn’t digging the field with the dirt and tall weeds. 

Thankfully, I also brought a tricycle for him to play with while Emily was in front of the camera.  He got into posing with Emily very quickly.  After I was done with her she took a crack at photographing Blake since she has been nervous to photograph kids.  Starting with one she has a relationship with was great.  I can’t wait to share some of the images she took of Blake as soon as I have some time to edit personal images.

Love this shot of her!

Followed closely by this one! 

The images towards the end of any session tend to be my favorites.  I love the edit on this one as much as the image itself.

She and her parents also agreed on a senior image to hang on the wall {a little late} from this session.  It was one of the 6 like this horizontal laying down image.  It was well worth laying down in the weeds and old leaves to get her favorites!