Today I feel like a ladybug: bright and colorful with a voracious appetite.

Today I feel nostalgic. I want to feel holiday cheer the way a child does. Could Santa be real? Will it snow and shut down the city? Can we walk and sled in the streets?

Today I feel like stargazing. With a hot cup of spiced cider in my hands I’ll make up names for made up constellations and reflect on how tiny we are in this big old universe.

Today I feel like a leaf. I’m clinging to my base for dear life but nearly ready to succumb to being blown around wherever fate will take me.

Today I feel surreal. It’s as though all the bustling of holiday shoppers, downtown commuters, and noisy traffic jams are being whisked around, not of their own accord, but by the crispy cold wind that cuts sharply through our layers.

Today I want to feel passion and time stand still.

Today I feel blessed. It has been a very successful year and I’m ready to wrap a nice little bow around 2011 and send it on its way.

Today, I imagine the Wales family is feeling some of the very same things but for very different reasons. With a little one due to arrive this spring and news of the sex of their baby just days away, they’re surely feeling all this and more.

Julia, whatever you’re feeling today, I hope these images are received with joy and excitement. May your holidays as a family of three be filled with much celebration and jubilation as you transform into a family of four. I look forward to seeing you all again in a few months once the little one arrives!

The Sullivan family and I hiked around the woodland trails and grassy fields near the Daybreak Star Cultural Center at Discovery Park. Have you been there? It’s breathtaking! There are 534 acres to discover and although I’ve been to the park many times, I had never been to this section. I love shooting in new places. It makes me feel like a contestant on Iron Chef America…minus the cooking. I arrive with a mission to create something beautiful but have no idea what ingredients I’ll have to work with. “Welcome to Discovery Park!” announces the host. “Today’s secret ingredient is the Sullivan family. You have one hour to create as many portraits as you can. So now, with an open heart and an empty memory card, I say unto you in the words of my photography instructor, ‘Let’s make some memories!’.” And then we literally start running around in every direction until they’re dizzy and I’m on my own. My crew has done an amazing job of following my every request. Stand here. Jump there. Laugh. Run. Play. Smile! And now it’s up to me to assemble dozens of images onto a page and present them as artistically as I can to the judges. Someone ooohs and another awwwws. Grandma giggles and Mom tears up. My work is done. Until next week.

Brooke, thank you for choosing me to photograph your family. It’s truly an honor….and was a whole lot of fun. J

We spent the morning traipsing around Pioneer Square, poking in and out of alley ways, jumping over puddles, and meeting the friendly characters that inhabit this funky, historic neighborhood. I think they like it here! And what’s not to like, really. Seattle is one of the most beautiful urban cities in the country! Come boating season, they’ll know exactly what we mean. For now, they get a taste of Fall meets Winter, which means gorgeous colors in soft overcast light. A perfect combination for family portraits and holiday cards if you ask me!

Trust me, being one person up against 7 live beings with 7 different personalities and 7 different agendas is a lot of work. Most people, when asked to capture a beautiful family portrait (preferably vertical and at least two of them to be hung in the living room in predetermined frames) would run away when they saw what I was up against: boys running their hearts out in opposite directions begging to play duck, duck, goose; a sweet little girl unable to keep up with her brothers and pretty much uninterested in them anyway; a no doubt exhausted mother who had been planning this in her mind for so long; two overly excited dogs running circles around all of us and peeing on my camera bag; one father who shakes his head and looks embarrassed at this scene that plays out in public for everyone to see. I tell them this is normal. This is my job. This is what I love to do.

Like a magician, I transform the chaos into a family portrait. Something they can hang on the wall…big…in those predetermined frames. I only need less than a second to record who they are right now. Each one of those personalities is present; not covered up with a “say cheese” grin. This is the Bhamra’s…in all their fun-loving glory.

She was excited. She had been looking forward to this all week. I was excited. I got to the session a little early and decided to make a stop at the grocery store for lemons and tulips – a colorful merging of two seasons. I brought bubbles and a blanket. She brought Mozart and pink dresses. She was excited. I was excited.

It was a beautiful, bright, sunny morning with intense light flooding through chrerry blossoms and bouncing off the lawn. I was nervous. She coudln’t remember how to skip and couldn’t believe we wanted her to climb up in a tree. She was nervous. We spun around in circles and ran back and forth until we got warmed up. She had fun. I had fun.

When I got home and loaded her images onto the big screen I smiled. Her personality is huge. Her expressions are so true. And then I got pissed – because I am not perfect and because I still make mistakes. Because while we were laughing and running and kissing Mozart and climbing trees I didn’t anticipate how much that intense light would bounce greens and pinks off her blond hair and light skin. My Lastolite diffuser saved a lot of shots but there are others where the green trunk of a tree gave her a bruised looking eye while at the same time pink blossoms gave her lovely locks a new punk-do. I was pissed and then I got over it.

We had a really fantastic session and there are still a lot of good shots. I did some research on the color spill problem and put together a great tutorial for you so you don’t have to make the same mistake. Stay tuned for a Sunday School lesson coming here to the blog real soon! In the meantime, check out the darling Miss Sophia….

It cracks me up how the big dog/little dog complex plays out. Cooper thinks he’s little, wants to sit in your lap and can be bullied by Jaxson…all ten pounds of him. They’re great playmates though and it was a blast rolling around in the grass with them….and trying to keep slobber off my lens. Don’t miss out on the rest of their cuteness. Be sure to click on the slideshow link to see more!

Click to view the slideshow!