Michele, Hilly & Max

Ok. This portrait session is one of my favorites for so many reasons. My friends, Michele and Hilly, are so special to me. I've known Michele since before she met Hilly (which is hard to remember now because they are just so perfect for each other). Back in 2002, I photographed some family portraits for her and her sister as a gift to their parents for their anniversary. How amazing is this picture, and look at Harvey... he's hot! (sorry, bit of an inside joke.)

Soon after that session, Hilly proposed (yay!) and I photographed an engagement portrait session at Piedmont Park in the exact spot where he popped the question.

When their wedding came around, they wouldn't allow me to photograph it because they wanted me to enjoy the wedding as a guest, (which I DID!) but of course, I HAD to photograph their first dance.

And now....little Max has joined this beautiful, loving and fantastic family. We had such a fun evening - reading, jumping, eating dinner, taking a bath and generally just watching Max being a bundle of cuteness. Michele and Hilly have been blessed with Max and it was such a pleasure to photograph this next chapter in their lives. As Michele says, I will be photographing their entire lives, and I can't wait to sit down with them and go through all the pictures of their amazing little "dude." I couldn't resist starting off the slideshow with this awesome picture. You guys ROCK!

Click the picture below to view the slideshow.

WARNING to Michele, Hilly and family:
DO NOT BEGIN THIS SLIDESHOW WITHOUT A BOX OF TISSUES.

Love you guys!

a teaser

And because I know my dear friends, Michele and Hilly, are DYING to see pictures from yesterday's portrait of Max, here's a teaser....



More to come this week.

Harper's 1st Portrait

What a week! I am still working on getting the pictures from New Orleans up so check back soon. This past weekend was a busy one with two portrait sessions, a wedding consultation and a shoot at B'nai Torah for the membership directory cover. I'll start with adorable Harper.

Harper's mom acted quickly back in December when we offered discounted gift certificates for the holidays. The timing was great because Harper was born just a few months ago and they have been anxious to schedule a time for me to start photographing her. This is the first of the Growing Baby Portrait Collage series so I am really excited to see how much she changes over the next year. It was wonderful meeting this beautiful family and seeing the love that mom and dad have for little Harper.

Enjoy the slideshow by clicking the picture below!

Day 1: St. Bernard Project

So this is the house that we worked on today. It's in St. Bernard Parish. It's owned by a wonderul old man who used to be a shrimp fisherman. We spent the day insulating the house, ceiling and walls. I've never had such great knowledge of fiberglass insulation. I have a bunch of pictures but can't seem to figure out how to get multiple pictures here from my iPhone without doing multiple posts. So if anyone has an idea, please comment below. Off to sleep....

Arrived and settling in

So, Nick and I arrived in New Orleans tonight without any travel drama. It's amazing! Our group is 16 strong and everyone seems really nice and excited to start working. Our day tomorrow starts early at 7am - translation: so early that I don't remember what that time of day looks like. I am so - correction - we are so not early risers. We stay up usually til around 1 or 2am so getting up tomorrow is going to be interesting.

But I am so excited to finally get to the first project and get my hands dirty. Since all of the renovation I've done in the last 2 years has been on our house, I'm excited to put all my newly acquired knowledge to use. Did you know that I know how to do drywall, tile, paint, stain and I'm really good with a hammer? I am! They are so lucky to have me. :)

More tomorrow with some "before" pictures.

Helping Out

This week, I am headed to New Orleans for an amazing opportunity. Nick and I are volunteering to help rebuild New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It was the costliest tropical cyclone to ever hit the US and is responsible for an estimate $81 billion in damage. It's hard to believe that 3 1/2 years after the storm, families and communities are still trying to rebuild. From what we've heard, the volunteer efforts have tapered off so we are really excited to help out and offer our support. Here's some info about the two projects we'll be working on:

St. Bernard Project removes barriers for families who wish to return to their homes in St. Bernard Parish. They are able to completely rebuild a house that has been gutted to the studs in 12 weeks and for $12,000, with a lot of volunteer labor. Since August 2006, they have helped 184families and recruited 10,000 volunteers.

School at Blair Grocery is a project started by teacher, Nate Turner. He has turned this neighborhood grocery into a home school for community youth. The goal is to teach the kids not only the standard disciplines, but also environmental education, community awareness, social justice and organic farming. They are even using adjacent abandoned lots for their own organic gardens. Check out the video of Mr. Turner discussing the project.


If you're interested in volunteering, the organization we're working with is Jewish Funds for Justice.

I hope to blog while we're there, with before, during & after pictures, and more information about what's needed in NO, so be sure to check back.

STuFF - Sara's Totally Fantastic Finds (Episode 3)

This image provided by GeoEye Satellite Image shows Washington D.C.'s National Mall and the United States Capitol (top), in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 taken at 11:19AM EDT during the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The image, taken through high, wispy white clouds, shows the masses of people between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. (AP Photo/GeoEye Satellite Image)

Check out some more amazing and inspirational images from President Barak Obama's Inauguration at the 44th President of the United States. The photographs are not only from Washington, DC but from all over the world where people watched the monumental day. Thanks, mom for passing this on to me!