baby Ava

Meet baby Ava, who, as her mom will tell you anyway, is destined to be the future wife of my son Harry. There’s pretty much no question in her mind, and it didn’t help the argument against this predetermined plan when I showed these pictures to Harry and he started kissing my camera screen. Ah well, who am I to argue with destiny?

These pictures have been anticipated with much excitement (I’ve known Ava’s mom Michelle for quite some time) by everyone involved, and this cozy in-home shoot was just what I needed this week. Jakob & Michelle’s apartment was the perfect backdrop- I’m a sucker for record players & retro furniture- and Ava was in a great mood. This is just the kind of shoot that reminds me why I love this job.

happy (late) holidays

Well, hello there folks. It’s been awhile. I didn’t mean to be rude in not wishing you both a merry christmas and a happy new year… but well, I’ve been spending the time relaxing and enjoying family. I know it’s a little late, but happy holiday madness…. I hope you had a good one!

Here’s a few shots for you of my little man enjoying his first Christmas. He’ll be 1 in two weeks time… can’t hardly believe it.

PS…. there’s a lot of snow left. It’s not melting. There’s supposed to be more to come. I think it would be incredibly fun to do some sessions in the snow. If you’d like some snow pictures, give me a call (417.622.1379) or email me (markn@9artphoto.com) this week to set up a session while the white stuff is still here. If you do, the sitting fee is on me!! (NO sitting fee. Maybe that’ll help you brave the cold).

Tessa and people she’s related to….

Remember Tessa? Well she’s back… or rather, I came back, to good ol Nevada Missouri to meet the whole family! Guess she’s used to me by now; she didn’t mind being front and center for some of the shots (the first shown here, especially) and got a lot of teasing from both me and the family. It was a lot of fun working with the parents and grandparents. They’re a very likable family, all around!

Andrew family

Well, with kids going off to college and a few years between them and their last family portrait, the Andrews decided it was time to get some family pictures done for the wall as well as the christmas cards. We met up at the park and then skipped across town to get some nice variety in the shots. Thanks guys for your suggestions and also for being so willing to climb around for me!

As I told them, I’m not the ‘I want your fingers placed like this’ sort of photographer… more the ‘would you be willing to climb up there?’ kind of photographer…

quality time academy (school pictures!)

So now I’ve had my first experience taking school pictures. Those of you that know me and my work at all know that my photography style doesn’t exactly go hand in hand with the usual ‘school portrait’ format. But one of my favorite clients- mom of little Oliver (click here for a refresher)- asked if I’d do pictures for the preschool that Oliver attends, and I decided why not?

I, of course, put my own spin on it, and after getting over my initial inhibitions about taking pictures of 20 kids within a 2 hour period, had a LOT of fun. Turned out to be a great experience- and I can’t wait to hear what the parents think of the modern take on school portraits!

baby Megan

One reason I love taking pictures of little kids? They’re about 10 times more expressive than an adult. Whereas adults know ‘smile for the camera’ or ‘look serious’ and have trouble with much more than that (my face freezes up in front of the lens just like anybody else), kids don’t pose for you or make any pretense at all about showing what they’re really feeling. This leads to some very authentic and often hilarious expressions.

so it’s not that I don’t enjoy shooting adults; but I will say that there’s something refreshing, as a photographer, about getting down on a baby’s level and seeing how many expressions you can catch!

And I open up this batch of photographs with baby Megan’s perfect ‘what do you think YOU’RE doing?’ face…

The Tureks

Well it was just one of those days… we had a family shoot planned for the park in gorgeous Carthage… then we woke up and it was 40 degrees and raining. Not to be deterred, we decided to do the shoot at the Turek family’s home outside of Oronogo, Missouri instead… and I think we came out better than if we’d stuck with the original plan! The inside shots were very fun and personal, and then the rain even slacked off long enough for us to get some great backyard shots too. Thanks to the Tureks for opening up their home to the photographer!

Christina and family…

     Christina hired me to take some casual pictures of her family. Her little niece was a bit annoyed at being woken up from a nap, but the baby’s younger cousin got her smiling long enough for some fun shots. i’m always up for the challenge of capturing a hard to catch expression- and persistence never fails to pay off. Thanks to the family for working with me in such cold weather! [gallery]