i set up camp, and i saw.

there's this chick, Shannon Leith, who is totally awesome. she's a photographer on the other side of the country and she inspires me. sometimes, i look at her light, airy pictures and i think, i could never get those. but in my whole "i'm not going to feel down on myself anymore!" transformation, there is no room for this sort of doubt. so today, with my morning cup of tea, my camera, and Leo in his pjs, we hunkered down in the one spot in the house that i don't totally hate. the sun-drenched road rug. i sat in the middle while Leo played around with his doctor's kit, camera close by. and i thought, i'm just going to let the this all sink into me. i'm not going to search for things, but rather i will just let things show themselves to me. and see what i see. that's when i happened to notice all these words around me. i mean hell, in a kid's play room you can find an endless amount of letters, numbers and words on anything from books to puppy dog toys. but these were just little...composed images that just jumped out at me. so i shot them, and moved on. tried for the one shot deal, the best shot IN camera, and that was it.

something about the lightness of it all, the bold colors. it really made me long for spring, but also eased my heart a bit. it's close, spring that is. i imagine each winter i'll get better at being a photographer in the deep dark coldness of it all.

Leo had his little stethoscope, checking my heart, making the little thumping sound with his mouth. because the batteries are dead. and i just picked it up, the camera, and pressed the shutter. i thought i'd get nothing. instead i got this picture that makes my heart drop with love.

and then we went to my sister's house, which i was glad for. a change of scenery and new faces to point my camera at. except that let's be honest, despite three children being in the house, Mary was the only one my camera saw. oops! she's so big now and on the verge of a lot. scooting around with her long feet, which she's also just discovered.

i love looking at all these pictures together. they're so light and airy and vibrant. i love these pictures because i love them. despite the fact that i am only slightly worried that you all might think i'm crazy for taking pictures of words...

xo isabel

lazy sunday. . .

maybe sunday will be my clean up day on the blog. end of the weekend and i was trying to think what to put up here today. and i remembered a few shots recently i had taken. so, here's an odds-n-ends post. the big kid noticed the light on baby michelin here.

these are from a couple of weeks ago. my sister in law was showing me the recipe she was going to use for my nephew's birthday cake, and my niece was seriously so into this magazine. it was such a like mother like daughter moment.

and this last batch are just some i've been able to snag recently of the little man.

goodnight, and a happy sunday evening to you. i'm off to try and knock some more best picture nominees off my list!

xoisabel

the kind of repeat i like

my favorite thing ever happened today. back when i first started my biz, i offered a bundle of free sessions. Eliana was 6 weeks old when her parents scooped up the opportunity. and i can't begin to tell you how flattered i was when they asked me to photograph her 1st birthday. and let me tell you, it was a blast. with many more pictures to go, i couldn't resist sharing this little moment. snapped when i followed mom upstairs to wrangle Ellie into her party outfit.

i can't wait to share more from this lovely celebration. xo isabel

welcome! get comfy and stay a while if you like.

if you're reading this, it means you made it! yay! now, onto all that newborn goodness i was going on about. sometimes i can't even believe i am writing what i am writing. that i was lucky enough to be a part of such a time in one's life. my dear sister (in law) Tricia just had her third baby. little Olivia joined the world on 2/2/11 at a whopping 9lbs1oz. but my sister and her husband and my other niece (Luci) and nephew (Joseph) live in DC which really sucks because i love her in a crazy person way and wish she lived on my block. as i've mentioned before, my husband is #seven of nine children and they're pretty much all local with two exceptions, Tricia being one. long story short she just really misses being home and i thought she'd like me to visit right after the baby comes and maybe take some pictures, because they never get any pictures of them all together, or of the kids, and Tricia has been one of my biggest cheerleaders. when i told her i was coming she cried and it was glorious and wonderful and kittens and rainbows. i basically got to do my two favorite things, combine birth/postpartum care and photography. drool. happiness drool that is.

so, here you are. the story of little Olivia coming home and getting to know her rad siblings and letting her crazy aunt photograph her the entire time she settled into her role as #three.

and then my sister went and got all "i'm so gorgeous, i totally didn't have a baby 4 days ago" and sat for family shots. rock star.

gee, i hope you guys like looking at pictures. there are a lot in this post. also to note, this was my first time playing around with the posed infant shot. and let me tell you, it is hard! maybe it's because she's like a tiny football player and at 9lbs difficult to "collapse" but i guess we all start somewhere and so here i start.

well, if you're still here, that's pretty great. i've really enjoyed sharing my journey so far and think it's pretty awesome and also a little crazy, that anyone besides my mom reads this. and thanks to my sister who let me in for a couple of days and let me do my favorite thing ever, tell a story in pictures.

xo isabel