Holiday Letter Stuffing Time!

Yeap, that time of the year again. Where we sit in the living room, surrounded by Holiday Cards, envelopes, stamps, return labels, address labels, our annual letter... the whole Holiday card display so that we can go happily about signing cards, stuffing envelopes, sticking labels... you know the drill.

Here is what that evening looked like at our home...

The personal stack.

See Santa's little helper behind Rich to the left of the image? -- Not helping much really, but always there :)

The business stack (well, part of it really).


Aaahhh, we just have a few last ones we did not have current addresses for and we should be done :)

Happy Holidays to all!

A.-

New Toy

The new canon 5D Mark II!

After months of waiting yesterday I got the call I have been waiting for. My new camera was ready for pick up at a local store... and so I dashed over and brought it home.

I think my husband is even more excited than I am about it! He spent hours playing with it and reading the manual.

See? I grabbed it, shot a few frames, went ooohhh - ahhhhh and gave it back to him... because he is the techie in this household and he reads every little thing in the manual, figures it all out, and then he explains it all to me. I do much better that way :)

It is an amazing camera especially in low light conditions (thing weddings here :) -- Of course we wished the auto focusing system in low light conditions was better, but hey, this camera can "see" when it is almost dead dark!

Here are a couple of shots.

Rich shot this image of me at ISO 6400, 1/15 at 1.4 with a 50mm lens. All lights off in the living room, my face only illuminated by my Blackberry.

I shot this of Rich, standing in the living room with only the light that spills off the flood light that is really pointing the other way into the street, so this is just the light that spills inside the house!

This was also ISO 6400 at 1/15 1.4 with 50mm lens.

We'll be playing much more in the upcoming days and I am sure I'll post some new images as well.

For the time being, I just wanted to share :)

A.-

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving came and went and I am finally posting this. Whew. Still running behind on my posting, but here we are at last!

My husband Rich and I drove up to Asheville, NC to spend Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law’s, Isabel. My husband’s sisters, Marie & Rachel, were also there with their husbands and kids, so it was quite a crowd, but we all managed to survive.

I love going to Asheville, although this time around I was sick an not at the top of my game... but that did not stop me from capturing some of our family memories.

Mia (7) spent quite a while playing Cat's Craddle with Uncle Rich, who is the family expert. And she also enjoyed hanging out with her cousin's dog, Winston (the most adorable dog ever! -- together with my friend Christina's dog, Max that is :)


while Sam (5) played memory with his mom Rachel, or enjoyed the gorgeous weather playing with his new remote controlled car --photographed by Rich--

And here isTaylor (3) in her favorite "spot" and giving me her favorite "look" :)

Of course some of the adults had to attend to real important things...

well, there was actually one adult doing something extremely important...

my brother-in-law Scott, frying the turkey... yum!

You have to undertsand, this was not just a casual come-by-let's-eat-turkey situation... my mother-in-law had an expert plan all laid out!

including a super cute centerpiece

and the ultimate hostess touch; place cards -- expertly done by Mia...


Finally, Scott brought the best in and proceeded to carve!

After which we all "graciously" danced around the kitchen island to come out with a perfect Thanksgiving dinner plate.

After which, of course, there was...

Here are some of the players...

Rachel, Isabel, Rich and Marie.

Chris, Rich and Scott. The brother-in-laws.

Me? as usual, behind the camera. I guess I"ll have to ask Rich to get the sisters-in-law next time :)

I hope you've enjoyed my Thanksgiving tale. Next tale will be Christmas, which we will celebrate at the home of John & Maureen Salviski, my friend Christina's parents.

Until then, continue to check back for some more client postings and Andrea Taylor Studio news!

A.-

Myers is one!

He turned one on November 19, and mom & dad wanted to capture this time in his life with some professional photos... here enters Andrea and her camera into their home in Mableton, Georgia to photograph this:

Still drooling?

I know, I had a hard time not grabbing him and pressing his cheeks like an old lady :)

Isn't this the ultimate happy family?

Now, tell me you can keep a straight face with this super mischievous look?

or how about the "not doing anything" look while he holds my lens cap?

It was a fun session with an amazing family that I am glad I got to meet. They were super relaxed and went with the flow and I think we all really enjoyed the session. At least I did!

Thanks Greer & Jonathan for allowing me to capture these family memories!I hope to continue to see Myers as he grows into a little man.

A.-

Welcome Lawson

Yes, I continue to be behind in my Blog postings!

But I am doing my best to catch up... so here is a session I did just a few days before leaving town for Thanksgiving.

I went to Norcross to photograph the cuttest little newborn baby: Lawson


Isn't he just adorable?

I love his room, it has a real happy feel to it.


I met Aimee and Lawrence when I did their "expecting" session a few months back, so I was thrilled to go back and finally meet Mr. Lawson. He did great and graduated with honors from his very first professional photography session :)

Here are a few images with mom and dad, who looked like they had been sleeping pretty well... although that was not necessarily the case ;)




Thank you Aimee and Lawrence! It is always an honor to be invited into my client's lives and homes to capture moments that are so special and unique. I hope these images help you remember this time in your lives forever.

Andrea.-


... and I will soon be posting about my new clients in Mableton who have an adorable little boy that just turned one! Keep an eye on the blog!