These next two posts are brother and sister – shot on different days in separate Signature Child Photography Sessions here in Kansas City. I love it that mom gave me creative license to rock one location and one outfit each. I also shot their entire family this fall – so you’ll be seeing them again in another blog post. FYI: Now is the time to book your own Spring season sessions as spots are filling fast. Mention you saw this blog post and receive a complementary 10×10 fine art print with your completed session.

I say it often: Most of the time, I don’t need a large space in terms of location. And that’s exactly what we got in the next few shots with this tiny patch of sunflowers off the side of a road. Some might call it a ditch. I call it “a little pocket of wonderful.” And, yes, I was dying over the styling of her outfit – Mom made the accessories as well. These are great examples of how to dress your children for their photography sessions with all the right elements (layers, textures, colors).

I’m all about color – lots of it. Drowning in it. But oh my. I think my love affair with rich black and whites is back on:

I shoot lots of newborns and babies, but also photograph tons of children each year. To see more sessions like these, visit my main website at www.kamibradyphotography.com and choose “Portfolio.”

Now booking 2012 maternity/newborn/child/senior/family sessions:

As I hold out a specific number of newborn sessions each month to ensure I offer everyone my very best time and attention, it’s never too soon to get on the books for 2012.  If you’re an expectant mother, schedule your session prior to the baby’s birth to ensure we hold time slots around your baby’s due date for a newborn session within the first 5-10 days of life.

We attended this year’s Imaging USA conference in San Antonio and watched Hanson Fong’s presentation about lighting and light modifiers indoors and outdoors. One after another, he showed what we deemed to be beautiful shots taken in natural light outdoors – taken in open shade or backlit the same way many of us do today. Then he showed those exact same images with just a pop of off-camera light and/or reflector and “wow” is really all I can say. The images went from great to fabulous. In the first issue of PhotoVision 2011 (I highly recommend this series!), Angie Monson shows how she rocks the off-camera flash (with her 7 foot softbox out in a field) to overpower the sun during a family session and maintain that beautiful, crisp, deep blue sky and clouds.

So armed with a desire to play, Carmen and I loaded up the 4Runner with the giant softbox, strobe, our 580EXs, a 5-in-1 reflector and three willing participants (thank you, Kim!) We quickly discovered that our master plan to power the strobe remotely was a failure. Nix the softbox. We’re flexible, right?

So onto the 580EXs and reflector. While I’m typically used to backlighting in strong, high sun conditions, we purposefully placed the boys with the sun falling on their faces and then adjusted our camera and flash settings to expose correctly and overpower the sun. Many of the shots of our beautiful girl were taken solely with the gold reflector to get a warm glow and sparkle back up into her eyes with the sun behind her. All in all, I’m glad we played and can’t wait to get the right generator for the strobe to try more new things. Enjoy some of my favorites!

P.S. the beautiful fabric flower bouquets are from Little Rue.

But, at six months, she’s every bit as beautiful as the day we shot her newborn session. And with those bright eyes and great expressions, she’s even more charming.

Oh wait. That’s a different story. One that I would love to turn back the clock on and create a different outcome. Not even bootcamp class in the falling snow late yesterday (yes, we’re that hardcore around here … LOL) could take my mind off the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach over that game.

This little story, however, has a much happier ending – thankfully, that toothy grin also brought joy to my broken Jayhawk heart. Something I believe his mom and I share today.

This story is the second installment of “Sam I Am” … you might remember him from his newborn session. And now he’s a happy, on-the-go, six-month-old with the sweetest little disposition. These are some of my favorites shot natural light in and around their home:

Just a few more days to take advantage of my Spring special on Facebook – check it out in the profile picture on my fanpage.