The Portrait Project…sniff…

We just completed the final public event for the $100 Portrait Project for 2009. Yes, we have a couple of private parties booked (a GREAT option if you are interested! Give us a call!), but for the most part events are over until January. I was looking back at some of our early images that we used to promote the project, and I have to admit I got a little weepy. I know, I know…Crazy, Emotional woman. But seriously, things have already changed and kids have already grown so much and it hasn’t even been a year!!! Take this image, for example…Wow. Those are my BABIES. I LOVE them. There needs to be a much stronger word than that. Just look at them! They LOVE one another! They are clearly happy! And knowing that their Daddy is the one behind the camera getting those perfect expressions to come out of them just takes my breath away! It’s like my whole world is wrapped up in this one image…in front of the camera and behind it.

And then this one…our family. You may not see the changes that have occurred since this was taken but I so clearly can. Kids have grown. That little boy is no longer a PRE-schooler, he’s a Kindergartner. There’s a big difference. It’s for real school and they count absences and everything. It’s Crazy. That baby girl is wearing her last pair of “months” jeans. You know, size 24 months? She’s all about the 3Ts now. And she now goes to school EVERY single day of the week. And it breaks her Momma’s heart because it means that they are growing up and I no longer have BABIES in this house. You understand that they will ALWAYS be MY babies, though…Right? That handsome man…he now sports a beard that his wife LOVES. 🙂 And he is probably sometimes a little more stressed than he needs to be because his wife makes him work so much. Sorry, Hon. It’s just that I have all of these really fun photography ideas floating around in my head and I know that only YOU can make them happen. I LOVE you!! The Mom in the picture? Yeah, a lot has changed with her this year, too. But I’m not really going to talk about that because it’s difficult to talk about myself. 🙂

And this one…WHAT?!?! My mom picked up the advertising card that was printed last year to promote the project today, saw this image and gasped “That’s Tess!!!” It’s hard to see how fast a baby changes when you see her every day, but Goodness Gracious has this baby ever changed! She was brand new here…she’s WALKING now. Talking, even, though we very rarely know what she’s saying. Another thing about this image? She looks very similar to another very special baby girl…Sweet Caroline. But Caroline wasn’t even born when this portrait was created! Tess and Caroline have made our family so much more FUN this year! For those of you who are not regular blog followers, the baby in this portrait is my niece, Tess. And the other baby that I’m writing about is Caroline, my other sweet niece born in May.

And, Ben. Love him. Ben was a baby here. Crawling. Now? Oh, yeah he’s ALL BOY!!! Running around everywhere, Crawling NOWHERE and always into everything. NOT a baby. But you know what? He’s gonna be a big brother soon. To a SISTER!!! And we are so thrilled for his family!

See what I mean? SO MUCH has changed and I see it written all over these portraits. I am so thankful for the people that we have come into contact with through the $100 Portrait Project. We’ve met new friends, re-kindled old relationships, met the most adorable kids around, and even met a few Miracle Children. That’s not what I expected. I expected to raise money for an organization that means a lot to me. But not the relationships. That’s been just better than I ever could have imagined. Thank you, to all of you who have participated. It means so much to Collin and me.

While we have finished up with our last opportunity to be photographed with the project before Christmas, we will be offering $100 Portrait Project Gift Cards. Basically, you would be purchasing a session as a gift to be used at a later date. For the $100 price you would be able to give the gift of a session and a full resolution digital image, and again 50% would be donated to The Children’s Miracle Network. Give us a call if you would like to stuff some stockings with a $100 Portrait Project gift card this year. And Thank You!