Julia's Photo Blog

My family spent Easter weekend in Chicago at my sister’s house, which gave me the opportunity for a much overdue visit with two wonderful friends from college, Erin and Nathan.  It was the first time we got to meet their baby girl, Evelyn, who is already 5 months old.  She is super adorable, with big, beautiful blue eyes, a pretty full head of hair, and a super duper cute dimple.  After brunch and a nice visit, we went back to their house and had time for a short portrait session in their home.  I had lots of fun photographing this pretty bundle of joy (her parents say she is a really easy baby, and I have to agree from a photographer’s viewpoint!) with her doting parents.  Here are a few favorites from our little session.

Airplane!!!

Daddy had to change for work…

Yesterday I had a wonderful time doing a maternity session with Donielle and Brad.  We did a really in-depth session, spending some time outdoors in Forest Park and some time in studio. The time just flew by!  I loved how Brad called Donielle by the affectionate nickname “Donny” and looked after her by letting her sit on his lap outside in the spots that were still slightly damp from Tuesday’s rain.  I loved that Donielle came with some ideas of her own for the photo shoot (she even hand painted some blocks with the baby’s name, but since the name is a secret for now, I promised not to share those!), but they were also both open to my ideas and suggestions and pretty much game for anything!  They are an adorable couple and were easy going and great to work with.  Here are just a few of my favorites from our session. I’m looking forward to photographing the family of three once the baby gets here… judging by his parents, he is sure to be precious!

Although this was my first time meeting Jay, this couple was already very special to me because Paige, the gorgeous bride-to-be, was my very first co-counselor during my very first summer of being a summer camp counselor at YMCA Camp Lakewood. Growing up, summer camps played a big part in my life as a camper and later as a camp counselor, and while I worked at a couple of other camps, Lakewood holds a very special place in my heart as a second home where I had some of the best summers of my life.  So when Paige emailed me awhile back to tell me she was engaged and wanted me to be her wedding photographer, I couldn’t have been more excited!  That is… until she told me she wanted to do something a little different for her engagement pictures, and we decided to head downtown for a little gritty, urban glam!  Don’t get me wrong, I love Forest Park and all (what’s not to love?), but I’m a bit of a location nut, and a new location gets me jump-up-and-down kind of excited! So we found some great spots in the old industrial part of downtown St. Louis, and we spent a little bit of time on the Arch grounds and at the Old Courthouse as well.  I had a fabulous time working with these two (I think my favorite part was Paige saying she liked having engagement pictures done because I kept telling Jay to kiss her ;).  I want to thank Jay for making my “forever-co” so happy, and Paige- you are going to make such a beautiful bride!  I can’t wait for your 10-9-2011 wedding!  Here are a few faves from our session- enjoy!

On Friday I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Chelsea, a gorgeous senior from Rockwood Summit High School who is headed to Missouri State next year.   Not only is she stunning (I feel she’s got a real Elizabeth Taylor meets Farrah Fawcett classic kind of look), but she’s also a girl after my own heart- into theater, plays guitar (well, I owned a guitar and tried to play it when I was a teenager), loves Harry Potter (AND her favorite character is Ron Weasley- also my favorite character!), and she goes for the geek sheek nerdy kind of heartthrob (Jesse Eisenberg wasn’t around when I was that age, but I dig that kind of guy!). Plus, we even share the quirk of being a little pigeon toed, which she totally rocked out to her modely advantage during our session!  So I had a great time getting to know her and a fantastic time photographing her! We mixed up a little nature and urban landscape by doing half the session at Forest Park and half the session at the University City Loop. It was hard to narrow it down for the blog post because we got so many great images- but here are a few faves from our session!

I had the most fun on Sunday afternoon doing engagement pictures with adorable couple Anna & Brennen in St. Charles.  Brennen grew up in St. Charles, so historic main street was an obvious place to start, and I LOVED that the couple wanted to visit Picasso’s Coffee House, where they went on their first date, as part of their session. Some cute pictures and a few iced coffees later, and we drove over to Lindenwood University campus to end our session with some pictures by the gorgeous, enormous old tree which has sentimental meaning since it’s played a large role in Brennen’s family portrait history. We did this session exactly 2 months before their June 3 wedding, but don’t let their super cute in-loveness fool you into thinking they JUST got engaged… they were high school sweethearts and have been together 4 1/2 years now, and they got engaged almost 3 years ago!  So I think they have true love written all over them, and I can’t wait to photograph their wedding in June.  Here are just a few of my favorites from our session.

One of my favorites!!…