Good Times in the Gulf!

Ahh, the beach!  I recently returned home from a fabulous vacation in Gulf Shores, AL with my sister Jessie and Brother in law Heath and their kids, and the matriarch of our family, the one and only Grammy!  (Papaw decided he would stay it alone at home because he couldn't take the thought of 28 hours in the car with his grandkids.  What a party pooper!)  It was a dream vacation.  One of those where you actually get to did your toes into the sand, lay back and crack open a cold one without having an itinerary to follow.  Ok, to be honest, my two and a half year old was a monster off of his schedule and at the time I would have rather jabbed hot pokers into my eyeballs then take the 14 hour drive down and back with him again, but nearly a month out from returning home, all I remember are the rosy, happy, relaxing parts, like the dolphins, incredible views, beach walks, great food and even better company! 

In my dream photography world, I'd be able to walk out of my amazing, perfectly lit studio, right on to the beach.  I mean really, there is nothing in good old Indiana that even comes close to rivaling the ocean.  So, I was more than happy to indulge myself  in all of the beauty and whip out my camera to snap my sister's family.  My niece Tatum was as always, an obliging model, but lo and behold I actually got REAL GENUINE smiles out of my nephews who normally moan and groan every way step of the way through a photo shoot.  I guess the beach makes everyone happy!  I would venture to say that in the 10 years that I have been photographing these kids, the ones of them together is the best I've ever taken.....and that alone was worth that 14 hour drive!!!  Until next year...... 

Celebrating One Year Together!

This was a monumental shoot for me, because while Will was celebrating his first birthday, I was celebrating the one year anniversary of my taking on photography professionally (in addition to working full time and raising my rambunctious toddler!).  If you follow my blog this little guy probably looks familiar to you.  He was my newborn "test shoot" when I was starting my blog, and I have photographed he and his siblings three times since. He is also the precious yawning face on my business cards, so clearly he has a special little place in my heart!  It's hard to believe it's been a year...for both of us!  He celebrated my diving face first into a cupcake and I celebrated by looking back at all of the smiling faces, happy families, new lives, little faces I've gotten to see grow, and people I've gotten to know over the past year.  I love photography for a multitude of reason, but mostly because I know my work brings as much joy to my subjects as it does to me.  My work will live on for years on living room walls, in wallets, Christmas cards, birth announcements, wedding albums and scrap books.  What an honor to have each and every one of my clients ask and trust me to capture some of the most beautiful and important moments of their lives. A photographer is nothing without a subject to capture and their story to tell, so thank you all!  Here's to another beautiful year and many more beautiful memories, for both Will and I! 

Much Love, Kendra 

The Produce Mom: Macky in he Middle!

If you live in Indianapolis and you haven't heard about The Produce Mom, you must be living under a rock....or ok, to be fair, maybe you're one of the last people on Earth who isn't on facebook! (Yes Mom, I'm talking to you).  The Produce Mom is just like you; only with way more energy and some mad cooking skills!  She's a mother of two young boys, who works full time and happens to write an amazing and witty blog about cooking healthy, delicious and EASY recipes for your family.  The key word here for me being easy!  Everyone who knows me, knows that I am domestically challenged, and even I have mastered and served some of her recipes to my boys!  I was incredibly excited when she asked me to document her son Mac's 2nd birthday party at Gymboree and the post party gathering for family at her home, complete with an appearance from the one and only Elmo, (did I mention, that this woman really knows how to throw a party?)!  The food, as always, was amazing and you can find all of her recipes and more at www.theproducemom.com.  Check it out, and check out the baby blues on little Mac!  What a fun day to celebrate a fun little boy!

Little Sister

Meet the beautiful little Miss Avah, who was just 7 days new at this shoot!  I don't know what it is lately, but the last several newborns I have photogrphed have had no interest in sleeping during their sessions and little Avah was no excpetion.  She stayed awake and alert, just checking me out for two whole hours!!!  She didn't even fall prey to my trusty hairdryer trick!  All was okay though, because she was a perfect lady and barely made a squeek in protest of me moving her around, and you get the bonus of seeing those big beautiful eyes!

I met this little lady's mama through my GNO (girl's night out) group. We get together every Monday to drink wine, eat good food and and yell at the TV while watching The Bachelor, so I was so excited to photograph her new baby girl since I've seen her belly grow over the months....(yes, we are fully aware that The Bachelor is a terrible show, but it's so bad it's good, and we love to place wagers on the craziest chicks!) 

Avah's big sister  Alana was terribly excited to become a big sister, and terribly excited for her phoshoot, and just thrilled when I snapped a few of the two of them together!  In fact she said many times throughout the session as I was clicking away "Oh, that one's going up in my bedroom!".  You can already feel the love between these two!  I would like to be the first to extend Avah an invitration to join GNO whenever she's ready!  Avah, will you accpet this rose???