Shannon Holden Photography

The Hipstamatic iPhone App. I first saw it on a friend’s Facebook page. I downloaded it yesterday and drove my family nuts for the next two hours as I chased them with my iPhone. This app is addictive and so fun!! It turns boring old camera-phone pictures into funky, vintage snapshots that remind me of the pictures in my family photo albums from the 70’s.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my iPhone?

Much love,
Shannon

This session was one I enjoyed tremendously. While I love that so many of my portrait sessions focus on babies and young children, it is a treat to work with older kids. As we are shooting, I often tell Mom to get her kids laughing, to bring out those natural smiles, and it’s so fun for me to hear the jokes and tidbits she uses to elicit a snicker or two. It gives me a peek of what my kids will be like in a few years.

Zach and Abby were fantastic to work with. They both show such strong, grace-filled hearts, and such genuine character. It was actually freezing the night we met for their portrait session, and Zach had very recently suffered a sports injury to his hip, yet neither of them complained one bit and they made my job so easy!

Their mom happens to be someone very important in our lives, as she is our oldest son’s teacher. I can hardly express the blessing she has been to us this year. She has poured so much love, guidance, and prayer into her students, and we are so thankful for how she has helped our son thrive in school. With only six weeks left in the school year, I am sad to see it coming to an end so soon!

If you haven’t already, please join us over in Facebook world at the Shannon Holden Photography Fan Page! There you can catch up on blog posts, catch a random SHP tidbit or two, and browse some other session sneak peaks. I admit, I’m tickled pink when I see a new fan has joined my page. Just click on the link or the image below to reach our page.

If you are a client and a Facebook addict user, like me, feel free to tag yourself in the photographs from your session so they will show up on your profile. If you’ve had a past session with me and you’d like me to upload a few images for tagging, just let me know!

Shannon Holden Photography’s Facebook Fan Page

Much love,
Shannon

Do as I say … not as I do.

I tell my clients all the time … please call me to reschedule if your child is sick the day of our session. It is a rare exception that an ill child does well for their portrait session. Who could blame them? If I’m feeling crummy, I don’t want a crazy lady with a camera singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider in my face either.

So why on earth didn’t I take my own advice?

Back in the Fall, in the midst of my crazy busy portrait season when I was working about 80 hours a week, I was also stressing about getting my own children’s holiday portraits made. I get a little obsessive about my kids’ annual photographs. And this time, I heard the clock ticking … you see, my 6 year old had a very loose front tooth. I really, really wanted to get those photographs made before that tooth fell out.

So after our weeks and weeks of seemingly endless rain, we finally had a sunny weekend in the forecast, and I had a Sunday evening clear on my calendar. But on Friday afternoon, I found myself at Urgent Care with that same 6 year old, who had a 104 fever and chills, and a diagnosis of H1N1. The children’s holiday portraits would just have to wait.

On Sunday, my son was actually very perky. And much to my surprise, my kids were truly excited about their portrait session this year. They couldn’t wait to head out to take pictures. My sick one was especially enthusiastic. I sincerely had not planned on going through with their session that evening, but he insisted he was feeling up to it. So my husband and I spent the next hour getting them dressed and ready and driving out to the photo location.

When we arrived, I turned around to the backseat to see my child looking like he’d fallen off a train. The poor thing had run out of every ounce of energy he had left. I said we should just go back home, but my sweet boy said, “No, Mommy. I’m okay. I can do it.” Bless his heart. He wanted so badly to make Mommy happy.

Now you tell me … does this look like a child who feels up to modeling?

We made just a few photographs that evening, upon my son’s insistence. But we called it a night quickly. Thank goodness, he got over his flu in about a week, and we had another sunny evening come along before that wiggly tooth fell out. I’m thrilled with how my children’s portraits from our second session turned out. I’m planning a gallery wall in our living room made up of these images.

And I learned my lesson. Sick kids don’t make good portraits. Trust me on that one.

Much love,
Shannon