I’ve got two more portrait sessions for your viewing pleasure today! Both of these sessions took place in West Virginia, and even though I live in Maryland and my business is based in Maryland, I’ve recently done more work overall in our great mountainous neighboring state. Hopefully my Maryland numbers will continue to grow (they’ve done well so far for 2015!) in the next couple of years and I’ll be in West Virginia much less. But for now, I’ll enjoy the West Virginia families I’m blessed to work with. 🙂 First is Miss Katelyn. I photographed her at just over one month old and boy was she pretty! Her cheeks had filled out, her skin was soft and glowy, and she was so content. She was my second baby that wasn’t super newborn…or less than two weeks old. Last summer, I decided that sleepy, posed newborn portraits that are best taken less than two weeks after a baby is born just wasn’t my style. I wanted to photograph more natural, comfortable moments of the whole family with their new bundle and knew that would be appropriate with older babies. So I went on the hunt for a family that would allow me into their home to do just that. Abbi and her hubs graciously offered to fulfill my need and I was happy to do this session with them…

Katelyn’s room was beautiful! It provided lots of good light and was decorated very well…

I always start with some mama-baby portraits during my newborn sessions…

A favorite for me!

Then we added Dad and dog!

More times than not I meet dogs who want to be involved in the session…or at least the new baby’s life. They seem to know there’s an added need to be more alert and protective at the house. Such instinctive animals!

Another favorite. 🙂 Love the light and the love of the new family of three!

I think Katelyn was asleep the ENTIRE time! Yep, a 6-week old baby who slept through an hour long session! One of the reasons photographers work with super newborn babies (less than two weeks old) is because they’re so sleepy and usually cooperate during sessions better. I’ve actually found the opposite recently. All my older babies have been content, whether awake or asleep, and so much easier to handle.

I love this shot of dad and daughter. He’s proud of the mounts on the walls in their house so I made sure to include them in some pictures. 🙂

Look at that smirk! 🙂

Such a doggie moment. 🙂

I originally thought this space was way too bright for pictures, but Abbi suggested it and we gave it a try. And I’m glad we did. 🙂

Here’s another family, but a much LARGER family. Megan, the young mama in mint, contacted me to photograph her husband’s family over the holidays while they were all in town. Thankfully our calendars matched and I got to hang out with this bunch! They were quite the dynamic group that kept things fun and interesting throughout the session. 🙂

This picture is a little messy, but I think it displays “family” so well. 🙂

Grandparents and their grandkids. 🙂

After I worked with the group as a whole and captured some grandparent-grandkiddo pictures, I worked with the individual couples and their kiddos…

Tickles are always encouraged for some added smiles!

I love this picture of the king and queen of the family. 🙂

Just the adults…

I can’t remember how we got this interaction and these laughs, but I love the playfulness and joy in the picture. 🙂

The three siblings and their spouses…

They’re all still young bucks, so I asked if they wanted to try something fun and jump in the air. They were all for it. 🙂

Oh this picture of brother and his two sisters…so great!

And a lovely candid moment between two sisters to round out the session. 🙂

Thank you to these two families for inviting me to capture special memories for them! It was an honor for JFP! 🙂