Gina, David and Michael

What a great family!  A true pleasure to get to know and work with!  We had a nice time on this shoot, I think it shows in this sampling of shots from the day.

Allison - First Communion

I'd like to share a few of my favorite pictures from my communion studio shoot with Allison.  I loved working with Allison, every expression she made transformed her face so beautifully!  It almost looks like a different child with each expression!  I'm definitely enjoying these first communion shoots with such beautiful little girls, like Allison!

Kyle & Julia

 A sneak peak at my shoot with two precocious little 4year old twins, Kyle and Julia...

May I offer you some "CHEESE" with that?

OK, listen.... I'm gonna level with you.  I'm not the biggest fan of the Communion Portrait.  There, I said it.  Granted, I haven't done a ton of research in this area, but when I think "Communion Portrait" it's usually set on a white (or *shriek* pink!) background, all is fuzzy and soft, light and ethereal.  Dirty and sweaty second graders' hair is washed, slicked, tamed and combed or curled into ringlets.  Pokemons, Mighty Beanz, Barbies and Bratz dolls are pried out of little hands in exchange for bibles and rosaries.  After some debate and coaching by mom and dad on the perfect facial expression, and the all-important-last-minute-lick-and-comb from mom, these little ones are ready for their close-up!  Now I have to be fair, there are some very lovely portraits shot in this style.  But my problem is, not much about that look really appeals to me, personally.  I guess for me, what it all boils down to is... the resulting portrait is  a little too much "cheese!" for my taste.  But just like a little plant waiting to emerge in spring... (Specifically, those patient little plants of Spring 2011)  You know what?  No matter how long it is put off... It's bound to come up eventually!  Enter my first Communion Portrait shoot client...

Gianna is almost 8 and a life-long friend and neighbor to my little 8 year old daughter, Miranda.  Gianna is making her first communion this May.  To do this portrait, I had to really think.  What is communion about?  It's a rite of passage, an acknowledgement that this little one is now old enough to understand there is significance to their beliefs and religion, that they are crossing a threshold between small child dependent on their caregivers for everything, to the beginnings of independence and individual thought.  And as a parent, everything about this step is, well, dramatic!  But in my mind, drama isn't necessarily sappy, blurry and soft.  I took a little bit of a different approach.

So dropping the white background and opting for black...  Here are a few of my first "First Communion" pics with Gianna.  After this, I am proud to say... I no longer dread the Communion shoot - on the contrary, I am so excited the next one!

Gianna was an AWESOME subject!!  This normally silly, goofy and happy little girl was perfectly "pious" for our shoot!  But toward the end.... well a little bit of the Gianna that I know just couldn't help but sneak out!!

I'm not saying I can control the weather... well, OK... maybe a little.

What a winter we have had!!  We toughed it out, weathered all the storms and a few weeks ago - it seemed like we were over the hump!  One glorious day we had 70 degrees and sunshine!  I even got out my flip flops!  But here we sit a few weeks later, and spring is the only thing that's flopped around here lately.

This winter...  A never ending cycle of snow day after snow day.  Storm after storm.   Stuck in the house passing around all manner of illness brought home from school by germy little hands.  After a few months of this, well I had had enough!  I decided to mount a Facebook campaign - a personal quest to bring winter to an end.  My strategy, to post a new beach picture every day until the weather changed.  Well, I don't want to brag, (well, OK, maybe a bit...) but as soon as I began posting, it caught on with others.  They posted their summer pictures and then their friends posted their summer pictures and maybe... just maybe... it had a little something to do with the fact that the snow stopped.  Temperatures began to rise.  Cautiously, we began to believe!!  Even Puxatawney Phil joined in, refusing to see his shadow and promising us an early spring!  But, alas... thrilling though our victory was, it was short-lived.  After a month or two our would-be powers ran out.  And yes, although spring did in fact arrive right on time, so far the only thing it has brought to us is a couple of wet cold and snowy storms.  And f-f-f-freezing temperatures.

So I think it is time for action again!  In rebellion of this gloomy, cold and sometimes snowy spring, I'm sharing some of my favorite beach pictures from 2010.

Preview

Unseen Buds (alternate working title: *#@* ALL THIS SNOW! I'M READY FOR SPRING!!!)

Below is one of my photos, which is actually a conceptual photograph meant to represent Walt Whitman's poem Unseen Buds.  This poem reached out and touched my heart.  It and speaks to me personally.  I feel like I now am bursting with all these "unseen buds" below my surface that I really never knew were there!  I'm thrilled to be on this journey in photography and I hope you all are able to share in this with me!

Unseen Buds

By Walt Whitman

Unseen buds, infinite, hidden well,

Under the snow and ice,

under the darkness,

in every square or cubic inch,

Germinal, exquisite, in delicate lace,

microscopic, unborn,

Like babes in wombs, latent, folded, compact, sleeping;

Billions of billions, and trillions of trillions of them waiting,

(On earth and in the sea—the universe—the stars there in the heavens,)

Urging slowly, surely forward, forming endless,

And waiting ever more, forever more behind.

Unseen Buds

My First Blog Post!

Well, welcome one and all to my new blog!  I'd like to take you all on this exciting journey with me...

Through this blog I will be sharing:

• New developments and events in my business.  
• Updates and stories behind the images of all the little munchkins of Little Moments Photography. 
• My personal experiences, discoveries and inspirations of  delving into the world of Fine Art Photography with my newest venture, Laurie L. Arends Photography.
• Of course......  LOTS AND LOTS OF PICTURES!
• And maybe a few giggles along the way, just to keep it interesting!

Hope you tune in often!

Laurie