mason & family | whitehorse children's photographer

On the first weekend of December, I had planned a giant party at my studio... to launch my new location. Days before the big event, Noah was helping me get invitations ready for mailing and upon noticing the date he says, "Mom, I wasn't going to say anything but you know that Aaron Pritchett is performing a benefit concert at Porter Creek the same night as your Grand Opening..." Now, Noah know's that I've kinda been a fan for a looooong time so not only was I disappointed that folks would OBVIOUSLY be at the concert rather than my party but that also meant that I would miss the concert too! Talk about bigtime bummer.

So I phoned the school to see if I could deliver a few gift certificates for portrait sessions to be auctioned off at the benefit concert and when I spoke to the principal, he asked me if I could attend the concert with my camera equipment to photograph the goings on. Ouch. This just keeps getting worse and worse! I told him about my dilemma and he kindly invited me to join a few friends at his house after the concert for a party with Aaron. I thought that was a great consolation prize and set about preparing for my party with a little less disappointment.

Once I got to the party, I met Aaron and spoke with him and his fabulous girlfriend, Jessie about doing photos with their son, Mason while they were in town. Now, bear in mind that mystudio looked like it had been hit with a cupcake bomb so the studio was out of the question for shooting. Turned out their schedule the next day was booked pretty solid with a dogsledding tour but I made a suggestion - that I bring my gear with me to document their experience... and yeah, the accepted. Cause they're cool like that.

The following images barely scratch the surface of hilarity that made that dogsled tour so memorable... I won't even tell you how many frames I shot that day. Ever ridden on the back of a snow machine down 2 hours of bumpy trail (almost bailed once!) with a large camera up to your face? How I avoided a black eye, I'll never know.

Aaron, Jessie, Mason, Christine & Roger, thanks so much for including me in a super fun and incredibly memorable day.

parties and prizes | whitehorse children's photographer

Last weekend was the HUGEST weekend in the history of weekends!! I hosted my Grand Opening party with the help of some seriously fabulous women. I had a vision for the party vibe and the amazing Lindsay Schneider & Jerri Huddle of Sweet Tooth Events brought the magic. I explained my idea, showed them a few ideas (thank you Pinterest!) and this is the unbelievable awesome table decor and confections assortment that came forth!! To say I was blown away would definitely be an understatement.




All the cookies were handmade, hand decorated and when they were in my hands, savored like the sweets connoisseur that I am :) I mean, seriously, they were every bit as delicate, sweet and perfect as they appear.


The fudge was unreal too... There were enough confections on this table to put a person into a serious sugar coma. It was EXACTLY what I had envisioned!
And of course, if a person is having a themed event, it wouldn't be complete without a giant glass bowl full of M&M's that match the color scheme, right?


These little tasties were easily my favorite... I have a secret stash in my office that I've been rationing out over the past few days... nom nom!
And these bad-boys were pretty much the center of attention on the table altogether. They are.... (are you ready for it??!!) black forest PUSH POPS!!!! That's right, just like the candy. Layers of brownie-ish cake snuggled up between ooey gooey layers of fresh whipped cream and cherry goodness. Not easy to eat but TOTALLY worth the trouble!!

Okay, I confess, I have a secret stash of these too. They are the PERFECT combination of salty & sweet, chewy & crunchy. Caramel & chocolate covered pretzel sticks. Yeah, I pretty much died and went to confectionery heaven.

The dessert-scape...

and yeah, rock candy. Cuz why? Cuz why not??


This is the dangerous duo who dished up the delicious dessert display (oooh! What an alliteration) Jerri Huddle (l) and Lindsay Schneider (r). My heroes.

There were giveaways all around the studio and these two below were generously sponsored by Angellina's Toy Boutique and Bella Home Decor.

The winner of the Angellina's Prize Pack is Lindsay DeHart! Yay!! I'll be calling you to arrange pickup of your prize!! Congratulations!!

The winner of the Bella Home Decor Prize Pack is Marlene Jennings! Yay!! I'll be calling you to arrange pickup of your prize!! Congratulations!!

And lastly, the draw for the 20x24 standout mounted print from Vanessa Falle Photography is Katie Johnson!!! I'll be calling you and making a note in your file that you have this to redeem on a future session!!

A huge thank you to each and every person who came out to the Grand Opening. I know this is a busy time of year and I'm sure you had to skip out on attending something else in order to be here and for that I'm extra grateful. It was a lot of work to bring this event together and I'm so happy to have been able to share it with everyone who came out. I will be closing the studio on Friday December 9th for the remainder of the year and will be back in full swing as of January 3rd 2012. Those who have sessions scheduled throughout December, we'll still be shooting but I won't be keeping regular hours. I need to get my tree up and the kids will be out of school soon, with Ray working out of town, I don't want them hanging out at home solo that much and I definitely don't want them wearing out their welcome at Grandma & Grandpa's!

Much love and happy holidays
XO

emersyn | whitehorse children's photographer

Last year, I did a very special giveaway on my Facebook Fan Page. This is the family who won the big prize and while it took a few tries to get their sweet little girl, Emersyn to get over her camera shyness, we managed to not only create a lovely assortment of images for their wall gallery but we also documented a span of nearly 6 months of this pretty little girl's life.

We started in the summer out at my farm which is just outside the Whitehorse city limits. The light was delicious, the colors were stunning and Emersyn was as sweet as can be!

But of course, when you're little and just not "feelin' it" you can go to pieces and cry your heart out and everything stops just so we can try and get you to be happy again. We wrapped up this first attempt when this little doll decided it was over but I just had to grab one outtake. This is so characteristic of this age. Kinda cracks me up, to tell ya the truth!

Then, later in the year, when I had everything moved into my studio, mama Rachel brought Emersyn down for a second attempt. The outfit was perfect, the lighting was great but Emersyn really didn't think it was the right day for photos... so after about 20 minutes, we had to think about rescheduling. No biggie. It happens. Can't force these things...

And finally, mama figured it out... send Emersyn to the studio with her AUNTIE! We had NO tears, only smiles and silliness! Love the peek-a-boo!

When it comes to toddlers, persistence pays off. I have so many great images to choose from to show this family in their online gallery... Glad we kept trying because it was 100% worth the effort. Always is :)