Cooper turns one!

It was time for Cooper's one-year session, so his mom decided that she wanted to shoot it at the Pleasant Valley Farms pumpkin patch. I'm always all for a new location, so off I went to Sand Springs. One thing Ashley forgot to mention was that it was out in the middle of NOWHERE! LOL! I kept driving and driving and driving until I finally came upon their house...and what do you know, the pumpkin patch was right near there. It was a very cool place with a really nice (ornery) owner. :) Cooper was a breeze to shoot the first time I worked with him, but on this day I think he was feeling a bit under the weather. Even so, he managed to make his big blues eyes sparkle and give us a few smiles anyway. Happy Birthday, Cooper!

Miss Rori {and Momma too!}

It was so nice to see Rori and Kendal again. The three of us remember SO well the last time we met it had to have been at least 140 degrees outside! LOL! So we were all thankful for some beautiful weather for our session. Once Miss Rori slapped on her lip gloss...she was ready to go! She is such a sassy little doll! Check out a few from our session:

Auston | Bristow High School

Auston was a hoot to work with! I have to give him a bit of a hard time here. It takes him longer to change than it does most girls. His girlfriend and I had to "style" him because he was a bit of a blank canvas...hehe! But he's adorable and quite the jokester...so that made it all worth it. :) I would say he's probably in trouble with his girlfriend, too, since he got the inside of her new car all muddy after tromping through some of our locations...sorry Madison!! I hope he washed your car for you (though I probably know better)!

Best wishes, Auston, for a very cool senior year!

Carrefour Associates

I wanted to send a thank you to the nice people at Carrefour Associates for allowing me to come into their office and shoot head shots for their employees. Carrefour Associates is a management firm for Crossroads Hospice. Seeing a photographer first thing on a Monday morning is probably not what most of them had in mind to start their day...but they were all very nice and "put up with me." :) Thanks again!

The Manus Family

FINALLY! This word applies in more ways than one! First, it was that we had to reschedule this session TWO different times due to the crazy weather...and second, because it has taken so long to get the so-called sneak-peeks posted. Sorry, Melissa...and thank you for being so patient!

We managed to outwit the wind and outwit Miss Aislinn in order to come up with some beautiful family photos for the Manus family. The girls are adorable! Thanks for making the drive down, and I hope to see your family again soon!

Cindy | Oologah High School

My husband and I traveled to Oologah for Cindy's session. I was actually very glad to have his help for more than just navigational purposes. This session was rocked with some hurricane force winds...and it took more than just one set of hands to keep everything together! I was a little disappointed not to be able to utilize our beautiful location to it's full potential due to the winds, but we did the best we could and came up with some really cool shots. Cindy was very sweet and fun to work with. Good luck with your senior year, Cindy!

Perspective

Do you ever get so wrapped up in your own life of chaos and frustrations that you don't bother to be thankful for what is around you? I try very hard to be thankful most days, but honestly, there are some days I have a hard time. The past couple of days have been that way for me.

I came home this evening and found a blog post by a very talented online photographer friend named Jane Bingham. Take a few minutes to read her blog. She had posted a very special message to another dear friend, who also happens to be a photographer, named Chris. Both of these ladies are cancer survivors. And while I don't presently know Jane's status with her cancer, my friend Chris is really struggling.

Jane posted a very important and special message on her blog for Chris. I'll be honest, it made me cry. It made me think of my friend, Chris. And it made me remember what's important...not how busy or messed up my day has been.

Thank you, Chris, for being my friend. Thank you for being the funny, sarcastic, caring, always interested in others, person that you are. You know the road our friendship has traveled...and it's been a special one to me. :)

Thank you, Jane, for being such a talented photographer and for having just the right words to send just the right message.

Thank you for my perspective today.

The Windler Family

For one of the few days it was actually sunny a week ago...I had the pleasure of shooting the Windler family session. Steven and Amy were really nice and they had two of the biggest, prettiest Labs...Gauge and Zoey. The pups were pretty wound up from the drive down to Bristow, but after we let them run it out, they did really well for most of the session. By the time we got to the end of the session, however, Zoey (the white one), snubbed me a bit. She decided to close her eyes on almost every shot! It was hilarious! It was like she was being a diva and she was done! Here are a few from the session: