MAGGIE HOLMES Photography and Scrapbooking Blog

Christmas in February??!?

Wow, two posts in one day! That is very rare for me!

I took Emily out one morning last week so I could get some pictures of her in her Christmas dress or her "Chris Chris dress" as she calls it. Things like Christmas dresses just seem more cute and more sweet when they are little like this. I didn't get the chance to do this in December but knew that I would regret not taking her out so I figured that February is just as good in the grand scheme of things! Right? 

She is definitely at a difficult age for taking pictures... not as anxious to sit still and smile for me as she once was! :) But, I took my best assistant, Matthew, and together we got some fun shots! He is great at holding my reflector and also getting her to be happy or to giggle when the time is right! (He can make anyone smile with his cute personality!)

I have been dying to edit these and couldn't wait any longer so I pulled one into Photoshop tonight and ran one of my actions super quick. I know I always say it but I simply can't get enough of her. I have lots more to play around with and can't wait to print the photos so I can start scrapping them!! It makes it even more fun when you have pictures that you love and are anxious to work with!!

P.S. My March beginner/intermediate Photography Workshop is filling up quickly! If you want a spot, don't wait to register!! I always feel so bad after they fill up and I get emails from people saying that they waited too long and didn't get in! Will also be announcing the next Advanced Workshop soon. If you are on the waiting list, you will get first priority so watch for the email!

It's {NOT} beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

My house still has glittered pumpkins and owls and orange leaves which don't really tie into the whole Christmas scheme.....

We have broken out the Holiday tunes on my IPhone though......

So I guess you could say that it is beginning to sound a lot like Christmas over here (just keep your eyes closed) :)

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I think I have talked before about how Emily Jane is head over heels in love with her daddy... seriously it is not an exaggeration! You can literally just see it in the way she looks at him -- all gaga eyes and everything! It is hysterical! 

Well today Brian was already gone to work when the rest of us got up but when we came home from taking the boys to school, his truck was in the driveway. Emily spotted it and like she always does started yelling with utter excitement "Daddy's home, Daddy's home, Yeah, Hooooooray" (and her arms go up in the air when she says Hooray!) 

Then she let out a big sigh and said to me "My daddy is so cute!"

Oh how I love her..... and him and their cute daddy/daughter relationship!! It makes my heart skip a beat!

Sneak Peek for Smith Family: Utah Family Photographer

Busily trying to keep up with editing around here.... I try to give a sneak peek to every family but as we all know, that doesn't happen every time (especially this time of year). Some families will see their images for the first time when I present their entire online gallery.... Sorry I don't have time to give sneaks to everyone... and thanks for being patient!! I have the BEST clients!!

As usual, I am loving editing the images from my Utah mini sessions. I think it is safe to say I am in love with Utah photo shoots.... it's really a shame I can't go up there more often! 

I adored this cute family (and actually I adored all of the families I got to work with).... didn't I say I have the BEST clients?? :) Jenni and I were actually friends in high school but I didn't know it was her until I got to the shoot and recognized her. It was great to see her all these years later with her beautiful family. I wish we could have chatted more and caught up a bit but I was too busy snapping away with these cute kiddos....

 

 

 

 

 

I guess that was a little more than a sneak peek.... I couldn't resist! That first one of the kids is my fave!! I heart little girls in hats! It is just too cute!! 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are all having a great week! We got our fall/halloween decorations up this week and so it finally feels a little fallish around here. We are trying to get to the pumpkin patch soon too since Brian and I will be in Africa later this month! Lots to do before then and lots of fun things I want to do with the kids while they are on fall break........I am feverishly working to tackle my to-do list and I have to say we are making good progress! 

filed under: Maggie Holmes Photography, Arizona and Utah family and children's photographer, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements actions, PSE actions

She Melts Me... Literally

This little girl... 

well I honestly can't even finish the sentence... she just means so much to me that I don't have the words to explain it... and it's not that I don't adore my boys because I do and nothing can replace those relationships between mother and son, but she melts me in a completely different way... a sweet and sassy and cute and spoiled rotten with girlie things kind of way... it is just awesome and seriously indescribable.

This last one just gets me... right there... and literally chokes me up for the words to describe how much I adore her. She is why I can't focus on scrapbooking or editing photos lately except when she is asleep because I literally can't stop squeezing and kissing those cheeks and cuddling her and playing dollies with her and following her around in her "ship shops" (flip flops) and "oh piffy cutes" (oh pretty cutes -- necklaces and bracelets and bows)... I will have countless days in the future when she is grown up and gone to scrapbook the days away and edit photos but I will not have unlimited days of enjoying this... they go too quickly and are too precious and I don't want to miss one of them...

I love her...

filed under: Utah Kids Photographer, Maggie Holmes Photography, Family, Urban Photoshop Action, Family Photographer in Utah and Arizona, Actions for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

My Boys in SLC: Utah Children's Photographer

Recognize these three little guys? When I was back up in Utah a couple of weeks ago I managed to fit in a few photo shoots of my own kids. Tried some ideas that I have wanted to do for awhile. It's amazing how a few bottles of soda can really get them having so much fun! I love to capture pictures like this of my kids where they become unaware of me and the camera and they are just laughing and being silly and being themselves! And I can't say enough of how much I love all those Utah locations! Going through all these photos is getting me so excited to go back!

Happy Thursday! We are still in our p.j.'s around here... just taking it easy today and spending lots of time cuddling on the couch with my two youngest... lately I have been thinking a lot about how they grow up too fast and how I can't stand the thoughts of missing out on any of this snuggle time! I love it!

(Actions Used: Can you guess?? Used my urban action on this one...along with some other color tweaking. The urban one is definitely my favorite lately!)

(filed under: Utah Family Photographer, Urban Photo Sessions in SLC, Downtown SLC Photographer, Child's Photographer in Utah, Photoshop Actions, Photoshop Elements Actions, Urban Action for Photoshop, Salt Lake City Photography)

Sneak Peek for Natalie: Maggie Holmes - Gilbert Family Photographer

So many fun shots from this shoot! I can't wait to edit all of them, but I had to post a quick sneak peek!L Love these girls!! Lots more to come!

(Camera Settings: 50mm 1.4 lens at SS 1/400, f/5.6; Photoshop Edit: I used my Urban Photoshop Action at 87% opacity from my Color Mix Photoshop Action Set)

filed under: Arizona Family Photographer, Arizona Children's Photographer, Gilbert Children's Photographer, Phoenix Children's Photographer, Phoenix Family Photographer, Family Photographer in Arizona, Children's Photographer in Arizona

Loving the Colors... and the Kids!

I am still loving the bright colors from this photo shoot and I am also loving the fact that I was able to get a lot of great pictures of them. They were seriously all being so good... maybe it was because I haven't done a big shoot like this with them for quite a while and so they weren't actually sick of me! :)

I always strive to get that perfect family portrait when I do my photo shoots... you know - the photo that we all dream of in our heads... where every child is sitting perfectly and smiling and just looking.... well, angelic... am I right? But the funny thing is that as I go through the images of my own kids, my favorites never seem to be the ones where they are all looking and smiling... and I did actually get some of those, but the images like this just seem more touching and more dear to the heart. I love that Nathan is being a cute little sweet heart standing there... and it really just depicts him to a t. He is such a little cutie right now and while we are so proud of each new thing that he learns to do, we just can't stand seeing him grow up. He is at the best age!! And then I love the way that Matthew is looking at Tyler and laughing his little heart out and Tyler is doing the same. You can just see the giggles and the joy and the happines throughout their entire bodies and I love that! And I also love that little miss Emmy Jane is looking over at them with that sweetest little smile and sparkle in her eyes, as if she is laughing along with them and telling us that she is a part of the big kids group too... and again, that is her to a t right now... she follows them around and plays "car car weeee" (Mario Kart Wii) with them and she tries to do silly things to make them laugh and then laughs at herself along with them and she is always clip clopping around the house in their big flip flops because they are simply WAY better than any of her shoes. Anyone would know that right?

So in the end, I guess I need to just change my definition of that perfect family photo because to me this is the perfect family photo... the one that makes me happy, and makes me smile, and makes me think about them more deeply, and makes me feel their personalities, and will one day make me remember lots of fun little things about them and who they were at this point in time... now that's perfect right?

I'm thinking about getting a big gallery wrap canvas of this and putting it in my entry way... I mean BIG!! What do you think?

filed under: Arizona Photographer, Arizona Children's Photographer, Gilbert Family Photographer, Phoenix Children's Photographer, Phoenix Children's Photography, Gilbert Children's Photographer, Photoshop Actions, Photoshop Elements Actions

quick update

to let you know that i am alive! :)

i know i have been neglecting the blog recently and it has been WAY too long since i have updated my personal blog... 

we have just been super busy and it seems that more than ever these past couple of weeks when i go to sit down at the computer i have opted to instead go snuggle on the couch with nathan and emily or sit in the backyard watching the kids all run through the sprinklers.... 

it seems that all i hear about lately is facebook and twitter and blogs and message boards etc etc and while i am not against any of it, i just find that i am always trying to maintain that balance between keeping up with all of this internet/computer/blogging world and staying present in the here and now with the things that matter most: my husband and kids and my faith and the things i can do to help and be with those around me. 

and more than ever lately i keep realizing that my kids are growing up in an INSTANT and that before i can even blink, they will be grown and gone and it makes me so sad and it makes me even more sad to think that i might miss some of it because i am spending too much time on the computer...

and so i am trying more than ever to stay focused on being present when i am with my family and to keep it all in balance and especially to not feel guilty if i do go a month or even two without posting on my blog and to not feel guilty if i don't jump on the twitter bandwagon.... because i just can't do it all... and that is ok!

but anyway, much is happening and i do have much to blog about and lots of little tidbits about the kids that i need to write down before i forget them so i will try to get to that soon... for now here is a bit of what we have been up to...

brian and i went to washington dc last week and that was a blast!! lots of photos that i haven't even uploaded yet and he even went to the live butterfly exhibit with me at the natural science museum! what a guy huh? 

my little sis and her adorable baby, aubrey, are in town... did i mention that she is adorable? we are going to take pictures tomorrow because i just can't let them leave without doing a little shoot! 

since i have probably bored you to death by now and i know that i have completely been rambling, i will leave you with a couple of photos of my little emily jane, who by the way is just not so little anymore... can you see why i have been missing lately?... i just can't let this little girl grow up without me being there for every little second of her life!

(sorry about the captions on there... i edited these for a tutorial that i did over on the studio calico blog last week about my actions and i only saved them with the captions... if you are interested, i explained what actions are here and showed how to use them here and then showed how to mix and match them here.)

well that turned out to be not such a quick update after all... obviously i have a hard time doing quick blog posts... maybe if i could be quicker, i could post more often! :)

Sneak Peek for the Romney's

Even though this little guy did not want to sleep for us, he was still happy and content most of the time -

despite all of the outfit changes and different spots we were putting him in! 

We typically get few (if any) shots of newborns with their eyes open, but he was wide awake in most of his! 

I can tell that this little bundle of joy will bring a lot of happiness to his parents!

The perfect little foot shot.... It was like he knew what I wanted him to do! I was giddy with excitement during this and I always wonder after if the parents think I am a little kooky because of the things I say while I am shooting. It is just makes me so happy when I know I am getting the shot I want and I can't help but shout for joy! :)

Those beautiful little newborn eyes - trying to stay open and wanting to take it all in... yet they are still so fresh and new and tired and wanting to close at the same time. 

This shot makes me wish I could have a peek into his mind.....

The happy family... Baby B was loving being outside... he was so calm and just at ease.

Will share more soon!

Pink Rug

Here is a photo of that pink rug I was telling you about from Target! I love it!!

Emily just happened to be wearing an outfit that matched the rug perfectly the day after I got it and she kept coming in and plopping herself down right on it! I think she could tell that it was something different and she thought it was cool and felt the need to sit on it!! I didn't complain though because I grabbed my camera and got some cute shots of her!

(And yes, she is 18 months and I still give her a bottle sometimes! With my boys, I was so strict and they were off of it before they were even 12 months but I just don't care as much about those details anymore I guess! She will drink from a sippy cup just fine but she loves the bottle more and sometimes I just want to give it to her.... partly because I don't want her to not be a baby anymore and I am holding onto her babyhood for as long as possible and partly because she is so comforted and happy with it. I know it has to go soon though.... and I think it will make me more sad than her! They just grow up too quickly!)

P.S. If you have emailed me and I haven't responded yet, I am sorry! I am still behind on emails from being out of town last week and I think there are also some that may have been overlooked amongst all of the typepad emails I got from the Peachy Cheap giveaway. I am sifting through them and trying to respond as quickly as possible. If you don't hear from me soon and have a question, don't be afraid to email me again! :)