Shannon Holden Photography

As I mentioned in my recent post here, we have a new baby cousin in our family! Precious Hudson Robert arrived just after Thanksgiving. My cousin’s family lives in the Washington, DC area, and their favorite photographer recently moved out of state. During our Thanksgiving visit, as Heather and I browsed some local photographer’s websites, we decided on the spur of the moment that I would just fly back to DC after Hudson was born! How thrilled I was to be his first photographer! Unfortunately, my ticket was booked for the weekend that the DC area with hit with a massive amount of snow, and sadly that same day, my husband’s grandmother passed away. Heather and I agreed that it would really be best if I postponed my trip rather than get snowed in, especially at a time when my family here needed me.

Thus, Hudson was already several weeks old by the time I got to DC just after Christmas, so he really wanted no part of the sleepy, curly, newbie baby shots. Nonetheless, we had 36 hours for this session, and in that time, we finally talked him into a snooze or two! I couldn’t resist a few more images of Riley and Jake while I was there. These two just grow more stunning every year. And they are so in love with their new baby brother. What an honor and a blessing it was for me to get to spend this weekend with them. I only wish we lived closer, so it wouldn’t have to be months in between our visits!

Welcome to our family, sweet Hudson!!

Much love,
Shannon

Darling Larissa is almost 9 months old. We had so much fun at her session. Her mommy brought along such a great wardrobe for her little girl, some beautifully sweet dresses and this adorable pink tutu, which she tells me she found at Baby Gap, in case you would like one for your little girl! Larissa is a very curious baby, quietly observing the world around her for most of her session. She was quick to flash that smile when her mommy sang to her though. And towards the end of her session, she was very eager to start exploring this fun park where we met. We have lots of crawling photographs.

The very last portrait happened on our way out. We thought we were wrapped up and done for the day and were heading back to our cars when I spotted this gorgeous setting behind one of the buildings. We helped Larissa get her footing to stand next to the rock ledge. One shot was all it took … perfect!

Thank you Larissa, Mauro and Elizabeth for a delightful morning. I truly enjoyed working with you!

Hannah is a cherished friend to our family, so it was truly an honor to create her Senior Portraits. We headed out into Historic Roswell on a gorgeous evening, just before twilight. Hannah is such a beautiful and genuine person. She is natural, funny, intelligent, and warm. She has all the personality of a vibrant young adult, yet she has a wisdom about her that makes her seem much older than her years. She is also quite creative, and it was so fun working with her on this session. She came up with many of her own poses, spotted a few interesting nooks as we explored, and was even adventurous enough to climb a tree for a great shot … twice! She made her mom and me a bit nervous, but isn’t that a teenager’s job anyway? And I had to laugh when  Hannah’s mom tweeted an iPhone picture of me shooting Hannah mid-session. Gotta love modern technology!

Hannah, I hope you enjoy your senior year to the fullest! Thank you for the opportunity to be your photographer. It was my pleasure!

Gorgeous Liam was about 8 weeks old when we met for our session. This can sometimes be a difficult age to photograph, but Liam made my job easy! He was so bright eyed and curious about me and my camera. The light in his nursery was wonderful, so we spent most of our session shooting in there. The light colors in the decor and the bright windows made for a perfect portrait setting. Liam stayed awake for most of our time together, but finally in the end, we were able to talk him into taking a snooze which let me capture this last sweet image of him with his loving Mommy.

This was a session in which I was particularly drawn to the black and white finish on the images. Nothing can equal the crisp, clean feeling of a black and white photograph, and the emotion it conveys. Truly timeless.