almost one and so much fun | brookline ma photographer

well, when i was trying to get this blog done he wasn't one, but he is now. so, now he's one and so much fun. this is one of the two families who won my freebie sessions in the great pay it forward contest of 2011. i thought it would be fun to try and get some of that great early morning light and was so excited when she was more than willing to start the session before 8am! having grown up in brookline it was so nice to stroll around familiar streets. i had a lot of fun getting to know this family of three. they really knew the way to my heart, ending the session with a latte.

guys, let's be friends! can't wait to watch Theo grow.

photogs, if you can get your clients up early, man is that light so worth it.

xo isabel

a night out with friends | aka | i turn things into photo shoots

this summer has been so freaking bizarre. i feel like just as soon as the room stopped spinning from the whole stolen camera thing i came down with hand foot and mouth. ew. how the eff did i get hand foot and mouth. and yes, it is as disgusting to have as it sounds. i feel like i've hardly seen anyone and all of a sudden we're on our annual cape cod trip and then boom - school. after a year of trying to connect, i did finally see one someone. my friend holly (who you should check out here and here ) and her adorable kiddo baylen, met us in harvard sq. one lovely late summer evening.

we hit wagamama, which proved too difficult to try and photograph once they gave all 3 kids chopsticks. then we hit the new pinkberry in harvard sq. which i only just discovered exists. and is just so damn delicious and makes me feel like i'm being healthy and like it's ok to feed it to the kids when they maybe kinda sorta didn't eat the world's best dinner that night.

and then it just sorta turned into a photo shoot with bay. he looked like a little baby vampire to me.

and i just couldn't get over his gorgeous golden brown curls.

we (hub and i) admittedly feel a little out of place in our hood, still, but holly is just awesome and if she lived next door to me we'd be so good at bitching about the same things together!

after playing past sunset, we trudged to the train, sweaty and sticky with yogurt. the perfect end of summer gem of an evening.

xo isabel

he turned six | personal | medford ma photographer

i'm in a foggy haze. summer ended, fall has begun, the boy turned six and then started first grade, and some other here and there stress bombs. one thing i am so very excited about is all the family sessions i have coming up. fall gets busy busy and it's filling up faster than i imagined. i have a lot of worky work to get through. but sometimes, when i get stuck, it means i have to do some personal work. like a photographers version of getting up from your desk and stretching your legs. it relaxes me. it reminds me what i love about photography. an awesome picture fit to print.

i knew the boy was going to get his cherished upgraded scooter, the Maxi Kick, *seriously, these scooters are so awesome i can't even rave enough about them. i wish they'd pay me for how i try to sell them* so we went out for one last scoot on soon to be mini boy's scooter. these are the photos i get out of the boy these days. but i love them, and i love him. he's hilarious and quirky and weird and hilarious. he loves the beatles and wants to take guitar lessons. he reads like a rock star. he loves first grade.

and then there was this beautiful, absolutely perfect august night. 6 years removed from the first moment i met the boy. from the first moment i smelled his sweet skin and heard his sweet cry and felt him wriggle in my arms, outside of the alien like belly i had going on. in a cruel twist, someone seems to have brainwashed him into thinking he doesn't need me anymore.

i mean, look, kid, if you want me to drop you in the middle of a field with a few bucks, your scooter and brown dog, we'll see who's really right.

but anyway. that night, i reached down to grab his hand, to cross the street. he went for it and at the last moment recoiled. he looked up and said "i can do it mom, i don't need to hold your hand"

um WHAT?! WTF?! who told you you didn't need to hold my hand? you most certainly will hold my damn hand until it's old and wrinkly.

anyway.

seeing the joy in these faces. on these scooters. that out of body, heart pounding, eyes welling, goosebumps feeling. your two sons. happiest when together, even though they drive each other and everyone around them nuts.

6 years. for 6 years i've been the luckiest mother on earth.

to have a kid who poses like he's pooping in my photos.

winner one and winner two | two session giveaway

wow. hold on a second. let me catch my breath for a minute. that was amazing. your comments had me laughing, crying, shaking my fist at thieves, and laughing again. because seriously, who CAN concentrate when a cat's around and why can't mommy have a penis?!!? what i didn't expect was how hard it would be for me to not just say "well shit, i'll just give away 88 sessions!" lucky for me, the internet lords have come up with a site that will randomly pick the numbers so i don't have to. so, if you want to be mad at anyone, go yell at random.org

i am so very excited to announce the two winners!!

first up, we have : Katie Roman August 11, 2011 at 7:01 pm # Edit

My family has never had professional pictures taken! We have a 4-year old, a 2-year old, and a 3-month old. The other day someone asked us for a picture of our family…and we didn’t have one (not even one we had taken ourselves). We went to MIT campus and asked a stranger to take our picture…which he did, wishing us a fun vacation–we were not on vacation! =)

and second winner is : Tirzah August 12, 2011 at 2:58 pm # Edit

I thought I’d sneak in for one more entry since it’s almost noon and my little guy is napping. I agree with the PP….I would love to win, and then pay some love forward as well!

Congrats you guys!! email me at furiephotography@gmail.com and let's get your sessions set up!

i really can't thank everyone enough for participating. i truly wish i could give to everyone and also really, really hope i still get to meet some, if not all of you and your awesome families. and because no post is any good without a picture, henry says congrats!

1/125 f/1.4 iso 2500 @8pm (also, i'm going to start including stats again with my shots. if there are readers out there interested in technical posts etc. please say so in the comments! lemme know what you guys want!!)

xo isabel