Another session with clients who have been with me since very early on. Did I already mention that the best part of this job is getting to know my clients and follow their kids as they grow? Although we have had many sessions over the past few years, this is the first in their beautiful new  home. I was lucky enough to get to photograph the extended family for the second time, and loved seeing their cute little cousin again, too! Thanks for another great time, guys.

Gallery coming soon… here is your preview:

These clients are some of my most special.  They have been with me since their oldest was a newborn, and I have now photographed baby sister a few times as well. This session was a blast. Miss A cracked us all up with her “joke” songs, and little sister is the most delicate little flower of a thing you could ever hope to see, and we got a great “first steps” shot! These girls and their family are just so precious – I am so thankful for clients that stay with me through the years so that I can watch and record the kids as they grow!

So excited to start what I hope will be my regular blog format – Meet the Clients Q&A. After you check out their session, check out the suggested links to my clients’ favorite charities and local businesses!

Meet the Clients – The Strollo Family:

How did you hear about me: Through our friends, Karina Lynch and Dave Bohley

What is your job and/or favorite hobby: We love being outdoors – running/walking in the park, playing tennis, swimming, etc.

Tell me one funny/interesting/unusual thing about yourself or your family: Together, our parents have 90 years of marriage under their belt (my parents will celebrate their 48th anniversary in June while Mike’s parents will celebrate their 42nd anniversary in August).  We think this is a wonderful example of love and commitment that we hope to follow.

Do you have a favorite charity or public service organization you would like me to link to? And tell me why you support it? Turning the Page (turningthepage.org) – because it’s DC-based, promotes literacy/education in the public-school system (we’re both proponents of a quality public education).

Do you have a local business you would like me to link to? Biagio Chocolate (www.biagiochocolate.com) is a place we love (of course, we don’t go as often now that we live in the burbs).
Describe an average day in your life: Well, now it involves feeding, burping, changing diapers, bathing, and only occasionally, sleeping!

Tell me what you hope your portraits will mean to you in 20 years: It’s hard to imagine now, but because our daughter grows so quickly, there will come a time that it’s difficult to remember her being so small and us being so young.  We want to keep the memories of our beautiful little girl as fresh as the crisp photograph on the next page of the photo album.

Meet the Clients – The Larosa Family

How did you hear about me: I was presented a gift certificate for a newborn/family photo session with R.David Photography from my best friend Jennifer at my baby shower.  I thought it was such a neat gift and after my session last Friday, I now know why…the photos turned out stunning.

What is your job and/or favorite hobby:  I work with the TV Show “America’s Most Wanted” and hear the worst of the worst stories.  But once in a while positive things happen too…so it makes it a very rewarding job.  I’ve assisted the host, John Walsh for over 11 years…he is one great man and thankfully giving me some time off to raise my new son, Dean.

Do you have a favorite charity or public service organization you would like me to link to? And tell me why you support it?  My favorite non-profit is the non-profit that my boss John Walsh and his wife, Reve co-founded after the abduction and murder of their 6-year old son Adam…The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (www.ncmec.org).  NCMEC is a 501C3 charity with an A+ rating…they do amazing work for children and their families.

Describe an average day in your life:  Hmmmm….an average day in my life….that has changed dramatically since the birth of my son on February 6.  It use to be get up and go to work and see what the day brought my way….sometimes normal office work, other days in the studio getting a show done, and finally the best days walking the halls of Congress with my boss to get some legislation passed for victim’s, children and their families…no one does it like John Walsh…he is the man when it comes to making things happen.

BUT for the past month….my days and nights have merged together and all that is important is feeding, changing and loving my new little man, Dean.  Oh and let’s not forget feeding, walking and playing with my puppy, COLE (an 18 month old black lab).   I am surrounded by all boys in my house and wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Tell me what you hope your portraits will mean to you in 20 years: In 20 plus years from now I will look back on my portraits of Dean, Cole, Derrick (my husband) and myself and probably cry.   I know…no matter how great we treat Cole (my puppy) he won’t be around in 20 years and I already am freaking out about that.  He was my first love and after watching “Marley and Me” I am not looking forward to the end.  As for my Dean…I will show all his friends how cute he was and remember his cute sounds, baby breath and how many times he has pee peed on me and Derrick (and guests).  As for my husband and I….I will think…time for botox and ohhhhhh I remember those days! In all honesty I look forward to the future and hope and pray it brings health and happiness for my family and friends.

So, most of you probably already know that I have been working for about a year on the planning stages for Flashes of Hope at DC National Children’s Medical Center. We are finally looking at getting started. Sponsors are in place, the hospital meeting took place last week, and we are finalizing the details to do our first in-hospital shoot within the next month or so. In the meantime, the email inquiries from the website have started coming in. This family needed photos done soon, and so rather than waiting for the first FoH hospital date, Frankie and I went to their home and did a session in the living room. It was a reminder that behind all the prep, and the fundraising, and planning, and meetings, it’s really just about the children and their families. This is what we can do as photographers to give back. If you are a photographer considering this kind of work – please do it. Is it hard? Yes. Is it too hard? No… it’s not nearly as hard as what these families are going through, and its such a real and relevant way to use our work to give back. And there is a lot of joy and happiness in it, too! We still get smiles and laughs and talk about favorite sports and bands and actors and singers. If you know of a family who would benefit from the gift of pro bono photography, please email me. It’s a gift to be able to do this.

Another session with great repeat clients – did I mention that watching kids grow is the best part of my job!? We met at the mill for this session, then drove to a hill for the final silhouettes. It was great seeing this beautiful family again, and the kids were so adorable!! Here is a preview of our session,  gallery will be coming soon, folks!

Thanks to all the great families who brought their kiddos out to my June GoCity Kids promotion – the Summer Faces Fashion Model Contest! The winner of the contest will receive a gorgeous monogrammed 11×14 gallery mount of their winning image and will be featured on this blog and my website throughout the month of July!

Here are the entries, in no particular order…you may vote (and have friends and family vote) once per day. This should be a close contest – all these kiddos were gorgeous! The voting buttons are at the bottom of the entries.

PLEASE NOTE! I know that #8 looks VERY much like my daughter. But rest assured, she is not! I did not enter my own child in my contest, I promise!

Something not as common for me… early morning. I am generally an early-evening shooter, because I don’t normally get “up-and-at-’em” early enough to avoid harsh late morning light. But with all of our swim team obligations this summer, I decided to start making some early morning appointments and just toughing it out with an alarm clock.

The light IS beautiful at 7:45am…

*Apologies again for any color inconsistencies while I am proofing on the laptop – I suspect everything will have to be tweaked once the Imac comes home…

That was the subject of much speculation leading up to this session – LOCATION!  After going back and forth several times on possibilities and pros and cons, we ended up at the park closest to home. Funny how that happens. And, as usual, this location pulled through with flying colors. Add in a great looking family and you get a beautiful session. Here is a quick preview. Thanks for being so wonderful to work with! Your gallery is coming soon.

There is an old saying that “You can’t go home again” – and often it’s true enough.

But sometimes you can. Our dear friend/teacher/mentor Joseph celebrated a “milestone” birthday this week, and the Paperchase crew turned out for a surprise-post-trailride bash planned by the ever- organized and  fabulous Saturday morning riders.

It makes no difference whatsoever that the old Paperchase Farm has not existed in its original form for more years than I care to remember. What matters is that when we all get together on the farm with the vague smell of horses and leather and hay in the air,  we still feel perfectly at home – old friends and new.

Amid the celebrating, there was a lot of:  “How can your kids be so big??” and  “How did we get so old?” and “How long has it been since the last time I saw you?” and of course “Are you riding?”

But the resounding theme, the question that kept going around and around was:  “Remember When…??”

There seems to be so much to remember – the horse shows in the heat of summer and cold of winter – jumping in the pool with your riding clothes on because you were so hot you thought you would die, and braiding when you thought your fingers would freeze off. The Christmas parades, mock hunts, wine rides, and tailgate parties. Hunt Night. The Tuesday night lessons, both on horseback and watching from the old judges stand. The trips to Kings Dominion where the ride down 95 was as memorable as the day at the park. All the great horses we have known and shared with one another. Watching kids go from leadline to college in what seemed to be the blink of an eye.

And the sweetest moment for me – when someone told me that one of her strongest memories of Paperchase was of me – at 19 or maybe 20, galloping by on Lady, bareback and in a hackamore, caution thrown to the wind (quite literally, and probably stupidly). Thank you for that,  Sharon. Somehow that meant alot – to think that someone remembers how I rode when I was so young that it never even occurred to me that I could fall off…
Those days are gone – but boy, it’s easy to remember how it felt to sit on Lady.

At any rate – my point is, sometimes “going home again” is just sharing a history and keeping those memories alive. And for that, I know we are all eternally grateful.

So from all of us – Happy Birthday – and thanks for the memories.