Ballet Dance Recital 2016 | Dance Photographer

Before 2016 ends, it's time for me to post photos from the 2016 Loudoun School of Ballet recitals. The ballet recital is beautiful, with dancers ranging from age 7 to 18. The later classes in particular are my favorites, as watching the graceful pointe dancers is so enjoyable.

First up: the non-graded ballet classes, ranging from young dancers to special groups (dancers who are also a part of the graded classes).
Beginning Ballet

Rising Stars Recital June 2016 | Dance Photographer

It's time to post my favorite photos from the 2016 Loudoun School of Ballet recitals! First up: the littlest dancers in the Rising Stars program.

Ballet I: Neverland

January 2016 Rising Stars Dance Recital | Dance Photographer

At the end of January, I photographed the Loudoun School of Ballet Rising Stars Recital. As with other recitals, there are so many photos (although I had learned my lesson from the 2015 recitals and took far fewer photos than I had previously!). Therefore, for this post, I will once again post my favorite photo from each class.

These little ones are just so cute on the stage, and their enjoyment of dance really comes through!

For this recital, the theme was "Occupations", as you'll see in the class descriptions below.

Jazzy Hip Hop: Astronauts

Trying some Lifestyle Photography

On some of the photography groups I'm in, I'll see people posting their examples of "Lifestyle photography". For those who don't know, this is basically capturing moments as they happen, in your house or whatever you're doing - not explicitly posing, but more trying for candids, etc. It's not a style of photography that I do a lot, but last month I wanted to give it a try. My kids were each enjoying a nice warm bath (separately!) mid-day, and so I gave them some toys to play with, grabbed my camera, and captured what I could. I think it was a good experiment; I can definitely use some improvement, but I love some of the moments that I captured of my kids, and that's what it's really all about.

Here are a few of my favorites of each of them. Love these two.

Halloween Costume Photo Shoot | Child Photographer

Kids love dressing up in their Halloween costumes, and it's so hard to get good photos of them during the excitement of Halloween night. So, what's a photographer to do? How about get the kids dressed up before Halloween and do a couple of photo shoots? Both were done just after my daughter's dance class (as her hair was already done!) - we just changed into costumes and headed outside!

This first set were taken just outside of our house, near the pond. My son was VERY excited to wear his full Darth Vader costume (and use the light saber as prop!), and my daughter was happy to model her newly purchased dance costume.

Little Miss E turns 1 | Child and Family Photographer

After photographing this beautiful little one as a newborn, at 6 months, and 9 months, it was finally time for her 1 year photo shoot!

The Extended K Family | Northern Virginia Family Photographer

During the first weekend in May, I was scheduled to shoot my largest family session ever: 10 adults and 3 kids, spanning 3 generations! This shoot was so much fun. I had gotten to know one of the couples here through my daughter's dance class, and was so happy when they asked for me to do this special family photo shoot. When you have 5 siblings plus spouses, children, and grandparents, it makes for a boisterous, fun group! We all met up at their house at Lake Anna in Virginia, and took photos around the property. It was a stunning location, and the family was a ton of fun!

A birthday photo shoot | Leesburg VA Child Photographer

Last month my son turned 5. On that day, we actually scheduled our very own family photo shoot! This photographer has to get her own photos taken too, right? As much as I love photographing my little ones, I can't exactly be in those photos!

When we arrived for our shoot, the previous family was running a bit late, so we had some time to kill. In order to entertain my kids, and to get some shots of them while they were looking their best, I did my own quick photoshoot with them.

 

Love is Good | Leesburg Child Photographer

During Valentine's week, the theme for the Weekly Photo Project was "Love is Good". I had a couple of ideas for photos, including setting something up similar with the kids to what I did last year. Ultimately, I decided to shoot my children with a few of the things they love the most: their "lovies". I did see this as an idea on some photography site (I can no longer remember which!), and I was so happy with how it came out. I instructed the kids on where to lie, and then captured moments as they presented. Love these faces!

A Frozen photo shoot | Child Photographer, Leesburg VA

One cold, dreary weekend in January I set up my new backdrop and let my daughter wear her new Elsa hat (with braid), along with her Elsa dress. The result: a Frozen-inspired photo shoot of my beautiful girl! Not on that, but it was an excuse to play with my two prime lenses (50mm f/1.4, and 85mm f/1.8). This photo in particular was my favorite.

The P family: Christmas card photos

Last month I took photos of my former housemate from college and her beautiful family, for use on their Christmas cards this year. We met at the Point of Rocks train station in Maryland, just on the other side of the Potomac, and took photos throughout the park there. After warning me that her kids may not cooperate, it turned out that they were perfectly delightful! They were all so much fun to work with, and we captured some really great moments.

Back to School 2014 | Leesburg Child Photographer

I love back to school photos! This year I did a separate photo shoot for each of my children. For my daughter, I did the same as last year and took her out by our pond for an evening photo shoot. Unfortunately the weather was not as cooperative as last year, but I still captured her beautiful spirit and excitement over being in first grade.

For my son, there unfortunately was not time to take his before or after his first day of preschool (and the weather wasn't great that day either!), so at the end of his first week I did a shoot in front of the building that houses his school. One of the best things about little boys is their sheer enthusiasm and ability to have fun just running around!  I was also fortunate that, unlike some other times I have tried to take his photo, he was very cooperative with me. I think he was also very excited to be in the 4s preschool class; one step closer to kindergarten!

Little Miss J Turns 2 | Leesburg Child Photographer

A few weeks ago, my neighbor asked me to take photos of her daughter for her second birthday. She was an absolute gem to work with (which you can't say about a lot of 2 year olds!), and I could not be happier with her shoot! I mean, who can really get enough of those cheeks?!

"Elsa" outside

I finally found an Elsa costume for my daughter, and she loves nothing more than to wear it as much as possible. While we've tried to keep the costume inside, I wanted to get some outdoor photos of her. Unfortunately, after about 5 minutes we started to get rained out, but before then I was able to grab a couple of fun ones, and then play with editing to make them really pop!

Puppy love

During a newborn photo shoot at a good friend's house last weekend, I captured these photos of my daughter with their dog. The light coming through this window was stunning, and the two of them together were just so sweet.

 

Foxfield 2014: Child Portraits

Prior to heading over to the Foxfield races this year, I grabbed a few portraits of all of the kids at our house. The lighting was difficult, due to fairly direct sun, but I found a patch of shade and did my best. The kids looked so beautiful all dressed up, I was glad to preserve it!

 

Beach portraits

When we traveled to the Outer Banks for a long weekend back in March, the weather was so lovely that we were able to spend well over an hour on the beach. The best part for me was being able to capture these photos of my beautiful children.

 

Family photo shoot

Remember back at the end of 2013 when I posted all of those wedding photos? After the wedding, my brother- and sister-in-law, with their son, stayed with us for a few days before returning to Australia. For one night, my in-laws also joined us so that we could have some quality family time, as things were hectic during the wedding. While here, my sister in law asked if I would take some "official" portraits of them, and it turned into a photo shoot of the whole family, with a bunch of different combinations. We turned my living room into a portrait studio, and had some fun!

I started with my adorable nephew and his parents.

 

Silliness in the Studio

Yesterday's post highlighted the sweet shots that I captured when I put the kids in front of the new backdrop in my studio. Here I show their silly side..I can't decide which I like better!

Sweetness in the Studio

In February I purchased a few new things for my studio, including a new backdrop that I'm really liking. I popped the kids down in front of it with some props, and captured the sweetness that followed.