Last week just flew by, and I took wayyyy more pictures than necessary to fulfill my Project 365 duties. I should probably cut some out of this blog, but I like being able to use this project to document our daily lives, and if I delete some then I will be missing out on telling the story of how busy this past week has been!
Ft Worth Newborn Photographer |Week 12
Ft Worth Newborn Photographer | Project 365 | Week 12
So this past week was Spring Break for my munchkin. I’ll go ahead and admit that I was not super excited about the prospect of Spring Break. I do love having my little guy home with me every day, but I am also wise enough to know how this goes. Generally, by the time any major break from school is coming to a close, all parties involved are ready for our regular routine to resume. In fact, last Monday….only three days into Spring Break…Holden asked me, “Mama—can I go back to school yet?” I guess that is a testament to how much he loves his preschool and his teachers. My boy also takes after me in that he really doesn’t enjoy being stuck in the house. He wants to go outside and play every day–rain or shine, cold or hot. I like the outdoors too, but I have my limits. If we aren’t outside he will tire out of playing in the house within a day or two. The boy has tons of toys to play with, but I think as an only child he misses the social interaction with his peers. I was also a little nervous about Spring Break because I had no game plan going in. Normally I would do some research and try to plan out our days so there is stuff on the agenda. This break caught me unprepared though, and I started the week with a totally blank calendar. Surprisingly though, I’m going to give Spring Break 2016 an A+. I went totally Type B with things and we just took it on a day-by-day basis as to what activities to engage in. The week ended up being beautiful weather wise, so there was a ton of outside play, going to the park with friends, bike riding, etc. We also had several major outings, and the time has just flown by.
75/366: AMAZING spring break weather. 80+ degrees in March and I’m not complaining one bit. We made sure to have our dinners on the back patio almost every night.
Ft Worth Newborn Photographer | Week 11
Am I really on Week 11??!! The first part of last week was uber rainy, so we were trapped indoors for a lot of it. I feel like I have exhausted my creativity for documenting our daily lives indoors. I love looking at other Project 365’s for inspiration, and I am always blown away by the gorgeous lighting some of my peers are able to capture inside. The thing is, my main subject is 4 years old and wiggles a lot. Between trying to get a photo of him (while he is actively protesting) and trying to get proper lighting, I am really getting sick and tired of being inside. Anyway, things warmed up toward the weekend and we had a few days together as a family that were really nice.
Ft Worth Newborn Photographer | Project 365 | Week 11
68/366: My son had an ENT appointment about an hour after school, so we had time to burn between release and the doctors. I decided to stop by the new Fresh Market as I had never been inside. Such a clean and yummy looking grocery! I am mostly an Aldi and Wal-Mart girl as I’d like to retire one day, but every now and then I enjoy the glamorous life by visiting a place like this. Anyone in the mood for jelly beans?
Ft Worth Newborn Photographer |Project 365
Another week of Project 365 has come and gone for this Ft Worth newborn photographer! I am loving all the spring weather we’ve been having, so I will need to make an effort to take my camera on outdoor outings for often. This past week was ridiculously busy, so I definitely struggled to get in my daily photo. I phoned it in a little this week, doing a lot of plant life and photos of the animals. This week is supposed to be extremely rainy, so also not super promising for doing anything exciting. I will have to start getting creative with all the rainy days ahead.
Project 365 l Week 10
61/366: Like I said, last week was uber busy and on this particular day I totally spaced on getting my daily photo done. It was probably 10pm when I realized that this needed to be done. My house is pretty quiet by that time of night, and my husband and animals and I were gathered around watching TV. Set the camera up with a self timer on the dresser and let it click away a few times while we continued to watch. A super grainy photo given the only light source in the room was TV, but I’m gonna embrace the grain and call it a win for getting this day in the books. Not sure what we were watching, but my best guess is some “Fuller House” on Netflix. I am positive my husband will want to be on the record as saying he is merely enduring this show and not enjoying it.
62/366: Another beautiful spring-like day. Here is a macro shot of one of our redbud trees. They only look like this for about 2 weeks each year, so I always make sure to get a photo.
Ft Worth Newborn Photographer |Week 9
Here I am, wrapping up the month of February for my Project 365. I hope everyone had a fantastic and special Leap Day yesterday! Yesterday the stars aligned in such a way that my husband was home and I had the day off from my duties as a Ft Worth newborn photographer. Plus, Holden only goes to school T, W, Th so that meant all of us were together after lots of time apart the past few weeks. The weather here has been AMAZING, so we made an impromptu visit to the Ft. Worth Zoo. I grew up in a house with three sisters, so I really have no idea what ‘normal’ boy behavior is like, but my 4 year old son is currently obsessed with toots. I am assured by my husband and the internets that this is a totally average thing for little boys. Anyway, he has been really into watching this Youtube video of a hippo tooting. Yes, I have my husband to thank for that gem. (PS- When do men find the time to look up all these random Youtube videos?????) So, needless to say, the whole zoo excursion for Holden was all about locating the hippo exhibit and *fingers-crossed* that they would have flatulence that day. We did find us some hippos, but they weren’t in a very gassy state. They mostly hung out in their pond. Daddy assured Holden that the bubbling water was just the hippo’s tooting underwater. We are a ridiculous family. Despite this small setback, we had a really nice day at the zoo. So, that’s all I’ve got for a special Leap Day story. Oh, I also ate a Dairy Queen blizzard. And they got my order wrong. The injustice. When I am going to consume 800 calories in a dessert I get very sad when it is the wrong thing. Without further delay, here’s my Project 365 for Week 9!
Project 365 l Week 9
54/366: Rain, rain go away. I’m posting this in black/white as well as color. I really just couldn’t decide which I like better.
Ft Worth Baby Photographer |Baby Ava
Meet Miss Ava. This precious girl came in to my Ft Worth baby photography studio earlier this week as part of a sitter model call. I had some precious outfits for her to show off and she did a great job! I hope her mommy and daddy are equally pleased with the results. Miss A was also one of the coolest babies I’ve met. She was a bit fussy at the start of our session—nothing out of the ordinary given that it can be a little intimidating for a wee one to have all the lights and a strange lady acting a fool with a giant camera in your face. Mom decided to put on some Adele tunes and slowly Miss A began to thaw out. She warmed up even more once Big Brother came over to be my helper.
Ft Worth Newborn Photographer | Week 6
This Project 365 is finally getting easier! I felt little inspiration this week, but still managed to complete my daily assignments thanks to this being a habit now. Each night before going to bed I mentally catalog what is happening the next day and what could possibly be worth taking a photo of. It doesn’t necessary mean that we have anything exciting or milestone-oriented going on, just something that might be slightly out of the ordinary that makes that particular day unique. This has helped me a lot. Now the bigger challenge has been keeping up the editing of the photos and sitting down once a week to plug through it all.
I am thankful to this Project 365 for giving me a creative outlet outside of being a Ft. Worth newborn photographer and Fort Worth baby photographer. I LOVE my job, but it definitely helps to use my camera in different ways and in different scenarios so I can stay on my toes. You might notice this week that many of my images were taken with a fisheye lens. There is no particular reason other than that’s what I happened to have on my camera at the time so I decided to go with it. If you want to learn more about fisheye leneses, or any of the lenses in my camera bag, check out my “What’s in my Camera Bag” post from last year. Here’s my Week 6!
33/366: Ye olde truck. My husband working on his 18 year old truck. We have a mostly loving relationship with the truck, as it’s been paid off for our whole marriage and it’s actually part of our own love story. My husband intended to propose outside at the LSU lakes, but it was a rainy evening and he ended up popping the question in this very truck, so that makes it very special to both of us. Of course, being 18 years old means that the truck regularly needs TLC. My husband likes to fuss and grumble a lot during these maintenance moments, but then later on he will pontificate on the greatness of his truck and how he wants to keep it forever and ever amen. I definitely thought he deserved a photo with his other love.
34/366: Our first fur baby, Rufus. Rufus is 9 years old now, and since I already had the upstairs studio setup from a shoot earlier in the day I thought I’d give him his photo moment in the sun. I did a similar photo with our other dog, Bailey, a few months ago which you can view here. This way I can have matching photos of them to display someplace in the house. Rufus is the more cantankerous of our pups, so convincing him to sit still for a photo op was an experience.
35/366: Holden at basketball practice. Most of basketball practice for his age group involves running up and down the court, and he loves being wild and free.
36/366: Fridge.
37/366: Magnatiles, one of my son’s favorite toys. He uses these magnetic blocks to build all sorts of imaginative things, including space ships, towers and rainforests.
38/366: Superbowl Sunday. My sister, Lindsey, came over and made some brownies with Holden.
39/366: Holden loves practicing in his Paw Patrol workbook. Based on his birthday his school will likely track him into transitional kindergarten next year (basically like pre-K but upped a notch). We have been doing a lot of workbook practice and learning games to make sure he is ready for his assessment.
Heather of H. Parker Photography is a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer also specializing in baby photography in Fort Worth, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Dallas, Trophy Club and Roanoke.
Ft Worth Baby Photographer |Cameron
I was just thrilled to have baby Cameron visit my residential studio in Roanoke earlier this week. I first met Mr. C when his parents brought him to my Ft. Worth newborn photography studio for his newborn session (which you can see here). I can’t believe how quickly time flies—this lil’ dude is already a sitter and ready for his close-up again. In fact, Cameron’s mommy was super awesome for letting me use this chunky hunk for a model call. I had a few new sitter boy outfits to photograph and this little guy was perfect for the job. The shortie romper is from BeeTee Boutique and the pant-legged one made of linen fabric with the textured stripes is from Moonlight Little Knits. As a Ft. Worth newborn photographer, my aim is to capture the first year of your child’s life in perfect detail. I love being in my residential studio working with itty bitty newborns, but it is always a joy to be able to capture this perfect age where babies are sitting (and not yet crawling). Around 6-8 months, most babies are beginning to exhibit their personalities and the facial expressions in these sessions are to die for. I think we can all agree that this one is a real gem: 
Sorry—I just can’t resist posting something like that. I know it’s mean to let babies cry but honestly this was just the very first frame I took of Cameron and he hadn’t quite settled into the session yet and was a little nervous probably by the crazy lady babbling to him (me) and the lights and newness of the place. After this photo Mr. C was a delightful model. I usually only promise 5 pictures for model calls, but this little guy probably has closer to 15 or 20 that I just can’t weed down. Are you looking for a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer or Ft. Worth Baby Photographer? Please check out my website or contact me for additional information. The best window to capture your little sitter is around 6-9 months before he or she is crawling. Of course, not every baby adheres to the same timeline, and I am happy to work with babies who are at all stages of development.
Heather of H. Parker Photography is a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer also specializing in baby and child photography in Fort Worth, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Dallas, Trophy Club and Roanoke.
Ft Worth Newborn Photographer | Model Call
**ATTENTION DALLAS/FORT WORTH PARENTS: NEWBORN MODEL SEARCH** H. Parker Photography is searching for Ft. Worth area newborns for a model call. Babies must be due in late February or March. The session will take place in Roanoke, TX at H. Parker Photography’s residential studio on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday at 10am.
Session fee of $200 will be waived! Client will also receive $50 print credit. Client must attend image reveal ordering session 2 weeks after newborn photos. For consideration and to learn additional details, please email heather@hparkerphotography.com. Please include babies due date and gender when emailing. Feel free to share with friends who might be interested. Thank you!
Heather of H. Parker Photography is a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer also specializing in baby photography in Fort Worth, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Dallas, and Roanoke.
Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer | Erin Tole and Rachel Vanoven Workshop Review
I love my job as a Ft. Worth newborn photographer, so I can’t tell you how excited I am to share my experience with Rachel Vanoven and Erin Tole through their “Same/Different Workshop” held in Ft. Worth, Texas last week. If you are unfamiliar with Rachel Vanoven and Erin Tole, they are newborn and family photographers who are basically the best of the best. These ladies are world renowned and people from all over the globe aspire to attend their workshops. I just happened to luck out in that they were doing a workshop less than 20 minutes from my home in Roanoke!! Check out their websites for baby cuteness overload (Rachel’s website and Erin’s website). I love Rachel and Erin because their work is timeless, and that is really what I always strive to reflect in my own photography. I am a firm believer in education, and as a newborn photographer in Ft. Worth, I try and attend at least one in-person workshop per year. You can read about the workshop I did last year with Silver Bee photography here. There were only about 12 spots for this particular workshop, and I believe they sold out in less than an hour, so I consider myself supremely lucky that I was able to grab a spot. It was fate because these ladies are my photography idols, and I never expected to be able to get away to one of their workshops. For the workshop, I had the chance to observe both Erin and Rachel as they soothed and posed a newborn. I also saw Rachel do some parent/newborn and sibling/newborn posing. Both of the babies we worked with were absolute dolls, and barely made a peep the entire session. It was great having such zonked out babes because it really gave Rachel and Erin a chance to go through many newborn poses in a short amount of time. My greatest take away from this workshop was seeing how Erin and Rachel both have completely different workflows in their newborn posing. Rachel seemed like she had a more structured flow that covered all the bean bag poses before moving on to props. Erin was more flexible with her flow and shifted regularly between posed shots and beanbag shots. I loved seeing how these great artists took different approaches to achieve their end product. In my own work, I feel like there is room for improvement with my newborn workflow and I can’t wait to implement some of the transitional ideas I learned from these ladies. We spent some of the afternoon going through the editing and marketing aspects of this business, and then moved on to outdoor family photography at Bear Creek Park in Keller. In fact, we shot in the exact location where I did my 2015 fall minis! Of course, it is January and everything now is dead leaves and dirt, but these talented ‘togs found a patch of green grass and, most importantly, great lighting which is all you really need. Same reason I have chosen that spot two years in a row—great lighting– at the right time of day. Kind of made my heart happy to know that these celeb photogs chose the same location as yours truly. Te-he. Beyond the actual learning aspect of the day, it was so enjoyable to be around a group of ladies who all shared the same passion for photography (especially newborn photography!). This is such a niche environment, and it is funny how we get so excited chatting about prop vendors, flokati rugs and the best white noise aps to keep a baby in the zone. Definitely felt like I found my tribe! Plus, Erin and Rachel are total sweethearts with lots of personality. Even though these women are basically photography celebs, they were completely down to Earth. I am looking forward to hosting a model call in the near future so I can perfect some of the new skills I learned. Again, I can’t say enough what a lovely time I had and how much I gained by attending this workshop. I feel it is so vitally important to always grow with my photography, and my time with Erin Tole and Rachel Vanoven certainly added to my newborn knowledge.
Heather of H. Parker Photography is a Ft. Worth Newborn Photographer also specializing in baby photography in Fort Worth, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Dallas, and Roanoke.