Portraits – my niece, J

My niece, J, is 6 (almost 7!). She’s a very smart and independent little girl, and an adorable photo subject. 🙂 Read more about her between the photos.

What makes you happy? Crafts and painting. And hanging out with my friends.

What’s your favorite thing to draw? Carousel horses.

What’s your favorite game? Hide-and-seek, because it’s fun.

What’s your favorite thing about how you look? The brown dot in my eye (birthmark) because I feel really happy about my eyes, because people love them.

My sister R said: She was sad that you didn’t ask her (like you asked Z) where she’d like to go…she said, Hawaii, so she could go surfing. (That’s the Soul Surfer influence.)

Enjoy Soul Surfer, J!

Portraits – my nephew, Z

Coming in at number 5 in my nephiece portrait series is Z, age 9. Z is an energetic and entertaining boy who also becomes a model in front of the camera. It’s funny how most of my younger nephieces expressed some hesitation about doing a portrait shoot, but once we got going they often had more poses they wanted to try.

What do you do best? I do tricks on my bike best.

If you could visit another country, where would you go? Africa, because it’s really fun there and I’ll see brothers and sisters. (Should I mention that Africa is a continent?)

What age do you think will be the best? Thirties, because Daddy’s life is really good in his thirties.

4. What’s your favorite animal? A rhino. (I think this is a new preference.. I expected him to say dogs! Also, Z is such a softie when it comes to animals and he loves receiving stuffed animals.)

Check out his little raised eyebrow here. 🙂 Thanks, Z!

(PS As a reminder, these were taken at the lovely Botanic Garden in Albuquerque.)

Portraits – my niece, K

K is 10 years old. She’s one of those naturals in front of the camera, so I often end up taking lots of pictures of her. Ever since she was little, she knew how to change her poses and smiles and hold them long enough for me to get a photo.

Read more about her between the photos…

What’s something you’re looking forward to? Going to Disneyland.

(R, I hope you don’t mind that we used your pinwheel as a prop! :))

The picture on the right was posed for fun when I reminded her of the picture on the left that I took back in 2002 when she was just 1 and a half. 🙂

What are some of your favorite foods? Pizza, watermelon, green apples. (I didn’t know that when I took this photo!)

If you could watch any movie right now, which one would it be? Soul Surfer.

What’s your favorite part of church? The music.

Name a song you like to sing: A Year Without Rain by Selena Gomez.

Beautiful K. I wish I could hang out with you and the other nephieces more often!

Project 52 (10)

I guess the library isn’t big on neutral, soothing colors. 🙂

Portraits – my nephew, C

C is my oldest nephew at 11. He’s grown and changed so much since he was a little boy! I still feel surprised when he’s able to be very independent and do things apart from the family.

What kind of books do you like to read? Suspense, mystery, Greek mythology, and drawing books.

What would you like to be when you grow up? A cartoonist/comic book person, a Lego set designer, or an architect. (I see a creativity/design theme here. He’s definitely into drawing and showed me some of his pictures during my visit.)

If you could go anywhere for fun right now, where would you go? Holy Moly! Um…how many places am I allowed to pick?! First, Lego Land in Texas, then Disneyworld and Universal Studios.

C – Thanks for enduring the summer heat and a polo shirt so I could get some photos. 🙂 And it was fun drawing animals with you!

Portraits – my niece, L

Next in line is 12-year-old L. L was the first niece of mine that I was able to know from birth, and I can’t believe how tall and old and smart she has become! Well, she was always smart. Check between the photos for more fun facts about L.

What’s your favorite subject in school? English, because I really like my teacher and it’s easy for me.

What is your favorite type of outfit to wear? Shorts and a t-shirt.

(NOTE: When I called her to ask her these questions, she was in the middle of reading Twilight again. As you can see, she’s Team Jacob (just like me!).)

What’s your favorite season, and why? Summer, because there’s no school.

What’s your favorite thing about yourself? That I get good grades and I’m smart.

I wrote the smart comments in the first paragraph before I even called her for her answers! 😀 I guess it’s settled, then. What she might not realize about herself is that she’s also compassionate and caring. From the time she was a toddler she would comfort people instead of shying away from their sickness or sadness. She’s awesome!

Portraits – my niece, S

Okay, so while I was visiting family, I took each of my nieces and nephews aside for a mini portrait session. Some yielded more photos than others. I’m going to share some of my favorites of each nephiece, from oldest to youngest.

We’ll start with S, who is 16. She has the burden of being the oldest child, which I know (not from experience, just observation) is a difficult role. But she loves her younger siblings and has helped out with them a lot.

I’ve done a couple of other portrait shoots with S in the past. You can see one here. She’s always patient and cooperative with me, so it’s extra fun to take her picture. I hope that maybe I can take her senior pictures in a couple of years, though her mom (mi hermana) also enjoys photography and has done a great job documenting her kids’ lives.

Check between the rest of the photos for a little more about S!

(That’s just a temp tattoo/sticker on her wrist, in case you wondered. :))

What plays the most on your iPod? “Tight” by Stacie Orrico

What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? Mint chocolate chip.

(Ha! I can’t read that flavor without thinking of Michael Scott saying it.)

What’s your favorite thing about your little sister? Her creativity.

Thanks, S! Love the dress!

Reading

I’ve skipped Project 52 two weeks in a row now! It was kind of an accident, but instead of trying to catch up or hunt down photos for each week, I’m just picking up where I left off next week. It’s okay to not get all 52 pictures done in 52 weeks, right? 🙂

Oh yeah, and I got a Kindle. 🙂 🙂 Thanks, Dad and Mom!

So far I love it. Do you have one? Or want one? I guess I love gadgets, and the idea of having several items to read (and games to play!) all in one little portable device appeals to me. I’m excited to take it everywhere so I can read at all the unexpected waiting times, but I’m waiting for my new cover to come before I just drop it in my purse. I don’t want to wreck it! Though I do like the clean, white look…but soon I’ll have an orange case for it. Mom, you’ll love it!

[I know some of you (Brenda) will recognize what book I have on it in that photo. :)]

Portraits – Trevor

Trevor was my first senior portrait session for the class of 2012. His mom was eager to get this checked off her list, and I have to agree that now is a good time for outdoor portraits!

I was glad to be able to experiment with some masculine backdrops and poses I had in mind, and he was a great subject. Thanks for being so patient, Trevor!

What made it even more fun was that he brought instruments along. Trevor’s been playing the cello since he was in fourth grade.

My favorite part of the session was over by this old brick building, when we brought out his electric bass.

If you’re interested in having (high school or college) senior portraits done for yourself or your child, please contact me! I’m primarily an outdoor photographer, so I’d love to get more sessions in before the rain comes.

NM Trip

I’m all behind on commenting back to your comments on my blog! I will catch up, but in the meantime, thank you for the comments. I love them!

I’m also having issues with Google Reader–anyone else? It’s showing me old entries from July and it won’t remove them from the Unread list. It’s very difficult to follow any blogs with that issue, so I’m slightly behind on that as well.

Last weekend I went to New Mexico to visit my family. I have portraits to show you over the next week, but for now here are some general snapshotty photos from the few days I was there.

This cute bunny was in my sister’s yard.

After church, we all hung around my sister’s place doing Sundayish things, like eating homemade (by my brother-in-law) blueberry muffins. This is my nephew Z.

My sister, nieces and I played Scrabble.

K looks thoughtful. My dad is cooking dinner in the background.

Dinner was barbecued ribs and chicken along with corn, potatoes and watermelon. Delish! I love having meals cooked for me–something I took for granted growing up. I guess we all do.

The next day, my parents were headed to Santa Fe and looking cutely coordinated. My sister has some beautiful paint on her walls, so I snapped a few photos.

My sister and I took four of her kids to the Albuquerque BioPark, which has a Botanic Garden and Aquarium, among other things. We mainly went to get out of the house and take kid portraits, but it was really pretty there and I could’ve walked around taking non-portraits for awhile (except it was pretty hot). Last time I was there was during February when it’s not exactly lush.

WARNING: The rest of this post will contain a few spider and bug photos. If that grosses you out, just stop reading here.

This interesting spider was webbing it up near the doorway to the Botanic Garden. I’ve never seen one like it! UPDATE: It’s called a Black and Yellow Garden Spider.

I was excited that they had a butterfly garden there. I have been craving to go to one for awhile now.

There’s a man in the butterfly garden who will tell you about and let you hold a millipede and roaches. My nephews were all over it. I’ll just watch, thanks.

Next, we headed into the aquarium where there was blessed air conditioning.

Overall, it was a good trip with great weather and a fun chance to spend time with the family. And now I’ve seen the Albuquerque area in three seasons (Feb, Oct, Aug)! I guess I need to visit in the spring next–I bet it’s really pretty.