Reflections by Luna

Tips for eliminating Fake smiles Kids are completely unpredictable. They can be so adorable and easy going and laughing uncontrollably one minute, and the next minute, turn that charm off completely. They will typically smile for you all day long until you put them in front of a camera, then they freeze up like a deer in headlights. We want to avoid the gritted teeth and bug-eyed forced smiles during our session. Here are some things you can do to help all of us have a fantastic session and guarantee that the smiles that I capture are genuine smiles and not forced. If you have any other ideas/suggestions please feel free to comment on the post and I can add them for future clients. My goal is to capture the best memories possible for you and your family. Here are some things you can do: 1. Make a list of things that your child thinks are funny and send it to us prior to the session. This way, we can be prepared and add these things into our bag of tricks. 2. Also...

Christmas time and the holidays are one of my favorite times of the year. Its a special time were families become closer and really focus on what is important things. Sometimes family is far away and you can only talk via phone or video chat. But sometimes they are able to come and visit. This year was a special year for the W family. For the first time in several years. the entire extended family was together. 6 families, 22 people, all in one house. 4 generations. I had the privilege of photographing this family on Christmas eve. There was so much love and excitement. Sisters, cousins, aunts, grandparents, great grandparents, grandkids, and great grandkids. All together sharing joy and laughter. I love capturing memories like these. The patriarch and matriarch of the family were still very much in love which was shown when they did their couple pose they immediately kissed. The rest of the family just cheered them on. They created a beautiful legacy and it was a gift ...

Earlier this year I did a maternity session with this family. Mom was 37 weeks pregnant and so ready to meet baby Lucas. Dad was just oozing with pride and love for his little family. Baby arrived approximately 2 weeks after our session and is now a month old and is the cutest little guy. Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing his 1 month photos as well as taking pictures of the family together with their new little one. The love that flowed from these two to each other as well as the little guy was overflowing. They were so happy and I loved being able to capture these sweet little moments of new parenthood for them. I am looking forward to continuing to capture these moments in the future as the little one grows up. Being new parents can be rough and comes with its own set of challenges. Baby L was born with infection and had to be in the NICU for a week. Mom choose to stay with him while daddy continued to work. It was a rough first week but they made it through. There will b...

There are special moments and then there are moments that take your breath away. I am sure that is how this couple felt when they met way back in high school when they were 15. They have been together ever sense and as B said "They just don't make men like that anymore." She definitely got a keeper. Their kids were just as cute. They adored each other just as their parents adored each other and their kids. My favorite part of this session was capturing the one picture I wasn't planning on. It was a spur of the moment picture that turned out amazing. While I was taking their couple pictures the little ones were crawling around. I was able to capture the kids playing and being kids as well as the emotions and love the parents have. It was again one of those moments that take your breath away. Did I plan that shoot? No. But it is probably my favorite shot from the entire session. I love how it turned out. Oh and if your wondering... The best way to get an 18 month...

The family dynamic of this family was a little different than those I have photographed before. There was a 7 year age gap between the kids but you could hardly tell. They acted like best friends. When I asked the brother to give his sister a piggy back ride, he only hesitated for a second and her only reaction was "I hope he doesn't drop me. But she loved every second of it and you could tell they had a strong bond. The family picture with them holding hands was a little different for them but when I added in a fun prompt of "look at the funniest person in the family" it started everyone laughing as they looked at the dad and they all seemed to relax. You could tell how close knit they were. No matter how I arranged them, they always had a smile on their face. Probably one of my easiest families to photograph. I really enjoyed capturing these memories for them and hope to continue to do so in the future.

This couple has been together for a while and recently got engaged and is expecting their first little one. C and her fiancé A have a great relationship and can laugh at a moments notice. He made he feel at ease even though she feels huge at 37 weeks pregnant (adorable as well) They are super excited to meet baby J. When she said she could go anytime, she apparently wasn't kidding. Baby J is currently on his way to make his appearance. The one thing she wanted was a way to remember her pregnancy with him. She really wanted maternity pictures to capture these precious moments and memories that will be hard to hold onto once he is here. I am so glad I was able to put this in stand still. Baby J you have awesome parents. These are moments you will never forget and that you can look back on. You did it. You carried a little one for 9 months and now he will be here to celebrate Christmas for you. Being parents is amazing and he just couldn't wait to meet you!

Recently, I had the opportunity to do a session with a family I know from church. They have 4 kids and their parents were visiting for Thanksgiving. Photographing older kids is soooo much fun. They were giving each other piggy back rides and just joking around. It was so easy to get fun natural expressions from them. We did some posed and some not and you could tell how close this family was. The emotions that they shared just by being close to each was awesome. The oldest child is 16 and the youngest was 9 and you could tell they were very close even with the age difference. The sisters were inseparable and the brother was protective but sweet at the same time. I was also able to capture the grandparents who have been together for almost 50 years. You could still see the love and adoration for each other beaming in their eyes. And the love they had for their kids and grandkids. It was an honor to take pictures of such a sweet family and to capture these reflections and memories f...

Pregnancy is a special time in a woman's life where she goes through the changes physically, mentally and emotionally to prepare for the little one growing inside of her. Most mom's experience a sense of pride and joy in their upcoming bundle and can't wait to meet them. My latest client was no exception to this rule. She had the Pregnancy glow down to a T and her husband was beaming with pride at the idea and excitement of their new little one. She is due in Mid November so we had to get her in for a quick maternity session before little baby L made his entrance. We choose the pumpkin patch because it was a fun theme with Halloween coming up. The dad got a kick out of comparing belly to pumpkin and they had a wonderful time just relaxing and having fun sharing their excitement of their love for each other and their little one. The love for each other and this little baby was what I was hoping to capture in this session. Here is a sneak peak from their session. Fami...

When you see a picture on someone's wall or someone's phone what do you think of? Do you think about that person in the present or do you think about the story that picture tells. When I look back on the pictures we have taken over the years, I think about the moments in time that were captured. Some of my favorite pictures both of my family and of those I have done pictures for are those special moments when you see the gleam in their eye and their life story is literally captured in that minute. Their love for one another is literally captured in that one second of time when the shutter snaps shut. Every time the shutter closes that moment becomes part of the past but also part of the future because it becomes a story. It is a story that will be told for years. "that one time when we took family pictures...." It is a special moment between the photographer and the photographee. A picture is not just capturing a moment, its capturing a special moment worth thousan...

Birthdays are celebrated every year but there is something special about a first birthday. The first birthday marks the transition to toddlerhood, to independence, to being able to talk, walk and do things on their own that they couldn't do the first year of life. It's a special time for the family and for the little one and is usually celebrated with a fun theme. The photoshoot I had this week I got to help do just that. I got to capture little Ava's 1st birthday so that it can be something she remembers forever. She is the youngest of 4 siblings and you can tell by the way she looks at them and her parents that she just loves life. Her sister and mom were right next to her while she tried out the cake and her brothers and dad were watching close by. She even tried to feed them some of the cake from her finger. It was super cute. They did a hot air balloon theme and she was fascinated by the balloons. Capturing moments and memories like this is why I love doing photograp...