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?

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:

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 !

A few weekends ago I photographed a lovely Bat Mitzvah at Temple Emanuel in Tempe, and followed the party to the Kiwanis Indoor Wave Pool – talk about a FAB place to celebrate! All of the kids  enjoyed swimming and games of tug-of-war while grown up family and friends had time to sit down and catch up.  The best part about a pool party in Arizona — the weather!  A gorgeous day – sunny and 70`temps made this day a joy, from the wee hours of the morning, til the partying was done!

If you know of someone in the Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale area planning their Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah, be sure to tell them about Priceless Reflections by Melissa at 623.239.2437.

“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!)

Sometimes you can’t go wrong.  Take a gorgeous, sunny, bright Phoenix day, add in the mix a fun-loving, beautiful family, and what do you get??  (Ok, don’t guess, I’ll tell ya)  You get the most amazing photos of a family that truly eminates love and happiness.  What else can I say??  LOVED this session that we shot in downtown Phoenix near Cooperstown and Copper Square.

You guys have been so patient and I **so** appreciate it!  I’m working feverishly (still!) to get all the sessions from Cincinnati previewed and proofed !  There were SO many gorgeous kids, families, babies, seniors, etc…. here’s a small sampling of what I’ve got previewed so far… more to come, I promise, I promise!  :-)

See!  I really wasn’t kidding – so many beautiful clients! More to come… soon… I promise!

Previewing another session from my marathon-shoot in Cincinnati a few weeks ago… these girls were beautiful, and ready to pose for the camera!  A photographer’s dream come true – they were fun, sassy, and adorable!  Just one preview for now as I work up a few more to share…..