This little princess has been a Priceless Reflections by Melissa client since she was just a few days old. I’ve had the pleasure of watching her grow and the honor of documenting her life through portraits for her family. On this day, she was real trooper and full of laughs, giggles, and that batting eyelashes look that every little girl seems to master to get what she she wants.

Recognize her from the top of the Smugmug site where you view your images after the session? She’s growing up!

As Mom to two boys, I can relate to that incredible bond between mothers and sons, and this session really rocked my socks because I got to focus on their relationship. No distractions, no other STUFF, just mom, son, and me… along with some seriously killer light.

That’s not to say it was all serious and deep – we have too much fun for that!

Mom’s got a heartbreaker on her hands. Oh, those eyes!

Piece of really cool but totally useless trivia: Mom attended college with my husband in Carbondale. How cool is that?  Let’s all bust out in a chorus of, “It’s a Small World!”

I’ve been blessed to photograph the “B” family for the last 3 years or so. Blessed because they’re a unique family full of love and compassion and yeah, a lot of fun. The expressions on their faces are so much fun – just look at a slice of our day.

How can you resist smiles like this?

Clients often ask what happens if we have weather-that’s-less-than-perfect for a session. A little rain doesn’t stop the Fowler family and it doesn’t stop me. Just look at what fun we had and what great images they’ll have of their time playing in the sprinkles with that crazy Melissa photographer lady.

And then my personal favorite. This is a piece of art for their home – it’s fun, it’s colorful, it’s welcoming, it’s playful, it’s THEM. No one’s looking at the camera, no one’s cheesing… it’s a real moment and it’s why I’m here.

I’ve been photographing the Fowler family since Miss G was only a few days old and splashing in puddles suits us just fine. They wanted me to come back and play the next day – now THAT is a successful portrait session!

Oh me oh my! What an incredible week I had last week, shooting literally thousands of photos of some of Cincinnati’s best and cutest families, kids etc!  From eensy weensy babies, to big kids and their parents, what a week it was!  Here’s just a sneak peek preview of some of the FUN we all had last week!

Huge SHOUT OUT and Mega-THANK YOU to Dana and Ben, who were my assistants.  Ben took some awesome shots – and Dana, as always, was the best assistant of all time!  Thank you to both of you for the help!

Without further adieu.. check out some of the fun from last week:

One of the best parts of living here in Phoenix is our proximity to all things “Western” … cowboy hats, cowboy boots, and big belt buckles.  Coming from Cincinnati… well, it’s taken some time to get used to seeing these things frequently, but it’s really cute how all the little ones get into it!

This little cowboy was SO very excited to sport his brand new cowboy hat … so during his photo shoot of course we had to bring it out for a few shots…..

I met this charming West Side couple at the Civic Center in Scottsdale for pre-wedding portraits.

They were getting married at the courthouse but still wanted fabulous engagement-style  portraits to remember the day. They’re super sweet, so very much in love, and they made my job so easy.

Just look!

They celebrated the big event at a small Brazilian restaurant with family and close friends and I can’t wait to show them the rest of their images !

“Where’d she go?”

“Has anyone seen Melissa?”

“Hello… hello… hello… ::echo fades into the distance::”

That’s me. MIA. Missing in action. Gone. Absent from the blog. I’m so sorry!! It’s just that life and work got hectic and something had to give. Couldn’t be family. Couldn’t be friends. Couldn’t be clients. Couldn’t be the holidays themselves. That left the poor blog.

My New Year’s Resolution?  You’ll be seeing a lot more of me in 2010! (now, is that twenty-ten or two thousand ten…. the things we have to ponder!)

We could not have asked for a more perfect morning to shoot this session – it was actually overcast (hard to believe here in the Valley of  the Sun!)… weather was beautiful, and look at how adorable these two sisters are!

I shot this session at the DC Ranch Market Street area …and really loved it!  I’ll definitely be heading back to Scottsdale to shoot here… so many possibilities!

Without further adieu…meet this morning’s beautiful sisters:

Ah… I love my job!  I recently had the pleasure of shooting these two adorable siblings.  They were SO cute – little Sienna was the most well behaved girl I think I’ve ever met.  (Including my own four mini-me’s…).  She followed directions wonderfully and did whatever we asked her to do!  And her 6 month old smushable little baby brother…… six months of total preciousness!  Smiles, smiles, and more smiles!  (Oh yeah, mom and dad were pretty cool, too!)  Enjoy these few previews while I’m working on putting up more recent sessions…