These two cuties Mama is one of my AOII sorority sisters from College. I’ve known Cami since about 2005 and love her to death! Brantley is two months older then my youngest, he is so cute and polite! Bridgette is a carbon copy of Brantley. I have to do a double take when Cami posts pictures to make sure it’s not a picture of Brantley as a baby. At their session Bridgette was not really having it but even mad and upset, she is still so cute with all her chubbiness! This girl right here growled at me and then thought it was hilarious when I growled back at her! Cami and Trever are doing an amazing job with these two and I can’t wait to photograph them again!

I am excited to announce that Plumb Perfect Memories, LLC has hired me!!! I will be a full time wedding, engagement and boudoir photographer with Plumb Perfect Memories along with Amey Plumb! Please note, I will still be running my business Andi Eileen Photography, LLC shooting family, children, HS seniors, maternity and newborn sessions. This is an amazing opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone and take on some new kinds of sessions. The sessions that I will be doing with PPM are sessions that I personally at Andi Eileen Photography, LLC do not offer. Our business will still be separate but I will be shooting wedding, engagement and boudoir session under the PPB name.
“You can tell who the strong women are. They are the ones you see building one another up instead of tearing each other down.”

Addison was such a doll at her session, she was a plump little girl. I love all the little rolls and chubby cheeks.  Mama wanted parent and prop shots, I think we were able to do that even though dad had to work and big brothers had school. She was a little fussy at the start of the session but once she was wrapped up, she was a dream. This newborn session I moved into my living room for more room and I have amazing north facing windows that give great natural light! I am a natural light photographer and I do not use studio lights.

One of the greatest honors is being asked to capture a brand new baby. I went to school with Bentley’s dad and was so excited when they asked if I could photograph their newest member of their family. Chris is a volunteer fire fighter here in North Baltimore and enjoys restores old things. He was able to restore his old childhood toy pedal tractor and it looks amazing. Bentley slept great for the whole session but did not want to relax his fingers, he liked having his hands up by his face and hands in a fist. This newborn session was the first time I’ve used a Marco lens for all the close up detail shots. A newborns features changes so fast in the first year. I always try to get close up detail shots of the babies lips, ears, fingers and toes.

I have three little cutes come to my Valentine Day Mini session. Ava was so cute and a little shy at first but she warmed up pretty fast and I got a lot of great smiles out of her. She was a pretty pretty princess and everywhere she goes, she leaves a little sparkle and goldfish! Lol
 
Liv and Elza were up next and these cute little cousins made me work for it. I think that the age 2-4 are some of the hardest age to photograph because they are always on the move and not really sure of you as a new person point this big black thing at them. Elza didn’t want to leave her mama’s side but I was able to get a few keepers of both cousins together. My studio is in my backroom which is about 150 sqft and can get tight with a few adults and then kids. So Elza didn’t have far to go but I got some great images of her up against my grey wall too.

​Here is what our kind of Christmas looks like, we are not overly festive but the basics are covered. We have the 30 some year old advent calendar from Avon that the boys take turns moving the mouse first thing every day. We also have a pesky Elf on the Shelf that I forget to move every now and then that’s not pictured. We went simple when it came to naming him “Elfie”, I know it’s fitting! LOL If you didn’t get a chance scroll down and read my short post about our hunt for the perfect Christmas tree at The Whitehouse Christmas Tree Farm (http://www.wheelerfarms.com/). If you are local to Northwest Ohio, you should look into getting a tree from them! They are amazing and so giving. We will for sure be going back next year and getting a bigger tree. I hope that it’s not like Christmas Vacation but bigger than this one. The other pictures are of some of my all-time favorite Christmas decorations. The best decorations are the ones that are handmade from the heart. The angle was a gift from my grandma Spence and it is made from a doily I think from one of my grand grandma’s. My grandma Spence also made the quilted ornament with a picture of my boys in the middle next to my oldest son’s preschool ornament. The white snowflake that has seen its better days but I can’t throw away because my grandma (meme) Schoendorf made. All my grandma’s a pretty crafty! Then we have the store bought ornaments, engagement date and when I got a Harley Fat Bob. My most favorite one is the little crying teddy bear, when I was little I had to put it one the tree. Not sure why it’s my favorite but always loved it and the memory of pulling it out of my paper towels to hang it. My newest decoration is the chicken wire card holder and it you are wondering, yes it is from Pinterest and my husband and I put it together. One of my cheaper Pinterest projects at just around $20. I’m thinking about keeping it up all year around and just change out the cards for pictures. Here’s the link to the tutorial for it http://lollyjane.com/christmas-holiday-card-display-tutorial/. 

2016 is all about new family traditions! We ditched the mall Santa after they changed to a fake looking Santa last year, to a biker Santa and the fact that I didn’t have to pay for cheap and normaly poor quality picture from the mall. I took my Canon 6D and got some good images of them with Santa. Nothing like getting to talk to Santa and sit on a 2016 Billet Silver Tri-Glide! Jon loved it and could have talked to Santa for hours but Mason was just there for the candy cane (he was star struck and wouldn’t talk). If you didn’t know, I ride a 2008 Harley Davidson Fat Bob and its fitting that we go and see Santa at a Harley dealership (http://www.h-dsales.com/). Napoleon Harley Davidson has a very friendly and helpful staff with great selection of clothing, bikes, and accessories in their clean showroom. It is really worth stopping in to see the museum but you'll definitely want to take a look around. My husband and I also took the New Rider Course there were we earned the MSF Basic Rider Course Completion Card to get our motorcycle license and scored us a discount on motorcycle insurance. We took advantage of the free riding academy for all current and former U.S. military personnel and first responders (law enforcement, fire, and EMS) https://ridefree.harley-davidson.com/americanheroes/. Definitely something to look into and this course is much more in depth then the state course in Ohio. 

My boys are still pretty young (5 and 3 years old) and their Christmas list are not that demanding. Instead of going black Friday shopping, we went on the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree at The Whitehouse Christmas Tree Farm (http://www.wheelerfarms.com/). This is the first year of getting a real Christmas tree and it is for sure a family tradition now! I love supporting local businesses and the fact that Duke Wheeler is all about giving back makes it even better! For years they have participated in several programs like National Christmas Tree Association and FedEx. A minimum of 100 trees per year are donated through this program to help bring holiday cheer to our military families locally and throughout the world. Being a military family this definitely hits home and is a no brainer! As a photographer, I took my camera and got some great images for our Christmas card and documented our newest family tradition. We will be returning to The Whitehouse Christmas Tree Farm for 2017s tree! 

So, I’m really behind on blogging. I can be honest that really bad at it and now that the busy season for photographers have died down, I’m making it one of my goals to blog more. When I say more I mean a new post at least twice a week or even more (they might be short and sweet).

Mid-morning on Sunday 9/18/2016, my boys were watching Sunday morning cartoons and started yelling that they saw fire across the street. After a few minutes of thinking they were making it up, I put down my coffee and walked to the front door. Low and behold the neighbor’s detached garage across the street was up in flames. After the North Baltimore Fire Department was called and being told it was safe, I walked over with my camera to catch some real Hero’s at work. I did pull a rookie photographer mistake here, the first time I walked over I didn’t have a memory card in my camera. It only took me one second to realize and I ran back home to get it. This is something that I didn’t want to miss. These hard working volunteer firefighters left their home to come help their community. Many of them are my friends and some are even family.  

​“Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

This is the first time I’ve blogged and I’m not quite sure what to write. So here goes nothing, I just had my last session of September (month two of AEP) and it was some family friends. I’ve known Drew for over ten years now, he was in our wedding and my husband was in his. I have also know Sarah since middle school. I have loved watching their family grow over the past years and I was so excited when Sarah came to me to capture some memories in a family session.

She had said something to her sisters about hiring me as a photographer and also asked about having and extended family session too. This was going to be a gift to their parents from all three sisters. I course accepted! The whole family is laid back, enjoys laughing and being together. I will leaving you with some images from both sessions and hope you enjoy them as much as I do!