Yesterday I had the great fortune of photographing a client who lived directly across from a location I had used once before, but had not been able to find again. I am so happy to know how to get there, now! This Mommy-to-be was a blast to photograph – so comfortable in her skin and in front of the camera. I can’t wait to meet her little guy in just a few weeks!
Enjoy the preview:

As all mothers of drama-queens know, little things can make a big difference in how our little princesses (and princes) handle the more stressful life events that come our way. When Maddie got a cavity, I just KNEW it was going to be a nightmare having it filled. But we put on our brave faces and off to the pediatric dentist we went. I could not have imagined that we would have a totally drama-free experience, and that Maddie would ask on our way out “Mom, can we come back to my dentist tomorrow?” WHO KNEW!? 

Dr.  Kalantar and her staff we so wonderful with Maddie that I think she thought the whole visit was some sort of  special treat that I was LETTING her experience. It all works together – a safari-themed office with playroom waiting areas, in-chair movies (and plenty of Princess movies to choose from!), and staff that clearly know how to put children at ease. She was so proud of her new filling, and asks regularly when she can see her friends at “her dentist” again.  If you know Maddie, you know that having a cavity filled without any tears whatsoever is a BIG DEAL! I loved this practice, and recommend them whole-heartedly to anyone looking for a pediatric dentistry office with a special bedside manner.

An introduction to Dr. Kalantar:

What services are offered at Pediatric Dentistry of Reston?
 Preventive Dentistry, Fillings, Sedation, Laser Dentistry, Orthodontics.

What about your job do you like most?
Working with kids and seeing them grow in the practice.

How did you get started?
Working in area for 8 years, opened this practice in 2006.

Where can we find you (website, blog, location)?

       www.kidsdentalsafari.com
       1984 Isaac Newton Sq. W. Ste. 200
       Reston, VA 20190
      (703)435-1500 phone

What is your favorite thing to do when you aren’t at work?
Hanging out with my family, travelling, and outdoor activities.

Here are a few photos from our visit:

I have always said that watching kids grow is the best part of my job. The last time I photographed these kiddos, they were so little! Now they are “big kids” – playing sports, talking about iCarly, and super easy to photograph! One thing that has NOT changed is that these three have the most amazing eyelashes I have ever seen. Here is a little preview of our session:

J (#3) wins the summer model contest! Thanks so much to all of the gorgeous kids who participated – everyone is a winner in my book! J will receive a monogrammed gallery mount of her winning image, and will be featured in my blog header and on my website for the entire month of July – watch for her!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Thanks to my out-of-town friend Caitlin for this great referral…
We had a nice (if somewhat WARM) stroll through the garden for this session – it was a little close to bedtime, and very hot – but the girls did great in the end, and we got some great shots. Thanks for coming out and braving the heat! I think we were all just glad that at least it wasn’t raining again!
Here’s a preview of the session:

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.

This was a session that just clicked and went like clockwork. As soon as we met, I knew it would be great – such a nice family, so laid back and easy to work with. The whole time I kept thinking that these grown “boys” could be MY boys in 10 years. The similarity was really striking, and at one point, I said “I want someone to do this session for me with my guys!!” It was tons of fun, and the preview is a bit overdue, because of my computer melt-down (which should probably be a blog post unto itself.)
Here we go – a preview of the gallery:

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.