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As it is for many people, winter is my down time. Beginning right before Christmas and going until usually April or so, people are just not thinking about photo shoots. And I can’t blame them. The weather is icky (usually…what is up with this weather lately?!), they’re trying to unwind from the Christmas craziness, and life in general is just not as conducive to taking photos.

Or so they think .

I love winter photo shoots because I am forced to think differently. Even with the warm weather lately, it was still a bit too chilly for this little guy this morning. We tried spending some time out by his parents’ beautiful pond, but the wind was just too much for a 3 month old. So we headed back inside to warm up and just spend some time playing. I loved it.

Somewhere along the line I forgot how to have fun with Hailey. At first, I was really good at it. I worked during naps, and when she was awake, it was all about her. We painted, colored, played with her toys, took walks, you name it. But then, she stopped taking a couple 2-3 hour naps a day and I began needing to work during ‘Hailey time’. And then, it became all about work. I am constantly trying to find things to occupy her time so I can work. It’s gotten out of control. I lost my sense of priority big time. Last week, we had the luxury of having daddy home for the entire week. Every year he gets the week after Christmas off. Usually we are busy doing things, either traveling or doing home improvement projects. But this year, we had nothing. We got a week of hanging out as a family…and it rocked. I don’t think I checked Facebook more than once. I know I slacked on my posting of anything AMP related, and we all survived. Life went on. Nobody dumped me as a photographer because I was off line for a week. Heck, I’m sure nobody even noticed. But what we got out of that week was something to be treasured.

In just a very short amount of time (less than 4 months now!!) we will no longer be a family of 3. We will be welcoming a precious baby boy into our lives. Things will be insanely different. I’m not really big on new year’s resolutions…I figure if there’s something that needs to be changed, do it today…not just because it’s a new year. But that’s just me. However, if I were going to make one, it would be to focus more time and energy spent on my family. To take the time to stop and do something with Hailey and not be checking my phone or trying to write a blog post at the same time. She deserves to be more important than my work. Period.

Did you make a new year’s resolution? Or should I say a ‘today’ resolution (because you don’t have to wait until the new year!) I’d love to hear about it!

Yet another session I am so so far behind on. If you missed it, we announced yesterday that we are SO happy to be adding another little Krager to our family in May! My first pregnancy went pretty well. I couldn’t complain about anything the first few months. Sure, I woke up feeling hungover every day and couldn’t make it through the day without a nap in my office during lunch, but I was so lucky to have dodged the morning sickness bullet.This little nugget, however, is a whole different ballgame. So when you add all-day-long-sickness to the crazy fall photographer schedule…it’s not a pretty outcome. Which is why I am blogging sessions from July . Please forgive me.

I am so happy to have met this little family. The three of them are so happy together and were so welcoming to me. We had a great time just hanging out at home and playing with their little girl just before her first birthday. My very favorite kind of session.

 And last but not least, part 3. This is my idea of the ideal session. We meet up at home to get those ohsowonderful homey lifestyle shots, then we dress up and head downtown, then we get all casual and go play at the park. Perfection. You see that first full size black and white? The one where they’re all snuggly? Maybe my new favorite .

Since starting my One Frame A Day project back in January, I have gotten a lot of questions from friends and other photographers. I’ve also taken a LOT of pictures . Only one of the makes it to the one-a-day file, and I feel bad for the rest of them. They just hang out in a file on my hard drive. So I thought I’d give you a peek into my one-a-day rejects, if you will .

On this particular day, me and my mini  me were out shopping. There is this super cute shop with this adorable little snoopy ride on it. As soon as I saw the blue wall, I knew it would be a fun place to get a one-a-day. So we pulled up and she immediately locked in on the ride. All I had to do was pop in a few quarters and snap away .

I am so at home here. As I worked through ‘part 2′ of this session (you can see part 1 HERE), I felt all cozy and warm. Like, I wanted to snuggle with my computer. Weird. I know. But I cant help it. ‘At home’ sessions are my chocolate cake. Everyone is so relaxed, comfortable, themselves. And isn’t that what our goal is during our session? To capture your adorable little family in the most natural way possible? Don’t get me wrong, I love a park session or a fun downtown session, but our lives are not spent all dressed up in heels wandering around the park.

Something magical happens when a toddler gets to show me his room. They often grab my hand and pull me in, so excited to show off all of their treasures. This is what photography means to me. This is where I am at home.

In my own photography (as you can clearly see in my One Frame A Day project) I feel it is so so important to create visual memories of the simple, day to day happenings that we are going to want to look back on in 30 years. Personally, I will be much more likely to pull out the album of a true lifestyle session than a more formal session. I will want to flip through those pages a million times with my grown up babies remembering when she walked around in mommy’s heels and jewelry like such a big girl, or when she first learned how to ride her bike. Or that beautiful-slightly stinky-worn-stretched out-loved beyond belief blankie that made everything better. Or the way only a round of If You’re Happy And You Know It and that dang binki could calm him down when he was really really out of his routine and just needed to be comforted.

Many of my clients are opening up their homes to me and letting me glimpse a sliver of daily life. I hope they will continue to do so because it is the greatest honor for me.

This session was so. much. fun. We basically split it up into three parts, and this is the first. We visited one of their favorite streets in downtown Decatur. There was an adorable little popcorn/candy store that we had so much fun with. The little guy is Ben. He is a character! He would sit and wave at everyone driving by….it couldn’t have been more adorable. And let’s talk for just a second about how amazing these three look! We actually got stopped at one point and Andy got asked if he was running for office . I’m anxious to share the rest, but there were just too many for one post.

Daddy tickles are the best. We dodged the rain tonight and got to shoot outside! This little cutie even got to hear my stupendous rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider . Lucky girl.

Holy moly. I need to move to California. Like, now. It was somewhere in the upper 90′s with 198% humidity yesterday morning as we began our session at grandma’s house. I looked like I’d just jumped out of the lake by the time we were done, but at least we laughed our way through it.

 We had so much fun that morning. We did nothing but play around in the back yard with trucks and water tables, swings and popsicles. Sounds like my idea of a fabulous Saturday morning. At-home sessions are truly my fave…everyone is more comfortable and relaxed and we can take our time and do what we need to to make the kiddos have a blast.

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