a well documented little dude

My nephew's in for a visit, which means one thing: Photo Shoot! (That and swimming and visiting baby chickens at the farm and catching up on kisses.) It was a rainy day, so we shot in my make-shift studio; I like the clean look, don't you? Between me and his Nikon D90-owning mom, this brown-eyed boy is going to be one oft-photographed child. Okay, enough with the dashes, take a look:

pink

After having two boys (two amazing, wonderful boys), this cherub's mom finally knows what pink dryer lint looks like. I met the one month old today and fell instantly in love. She looks just like her eldest brother, though girlier. Here are a few favorites.

the beautiful pout

This was a super exciting shoot for me for a few reasons. For one thing, I was shooting a teenager, which I don't get to do enough. I adore teenagers. I used to write for Teen People. Regularly. On purpose. Also: Seventeen year olds follow direction. A shocker, I know, but that's nearly unheard of in the the toddler set. Even cooler was the life coming full circle vibe I was getting. You see, this amazing gal (who asked me to take model portfolio shots) is the sister of kids that I used to babysit! These kids had masses of curly hair and were ridiculously cute and even more ridiculously well-behaved. (Seriously, they informed me when it was their bedtime.) I took some of my first black and white film shots back then with my hand-me-down Minolta 101. So on this job, instead of feeling old (that would be too easy), I felt lucky to be able to continue to document this amazing family.

surprise

I've been itching to post photos from this shoot, but it was a father's day present for a lucky Cold Spring daddy. And who am I to ruin a surprise? I'm so excited to share it now that I went a little nuts on this post. PS: Can you tell what little J's favorite color is?

farm friday: strawberries

Fourth of July marks the end of strawberry season in this neck of the woods, so last week, I decided to schlep the girls up to the Thompson Finch farm in Ancram, NY. It's organic, which was the reason for the hour and a half drive (a slight disaster, but that's a whole other story). I did the picking, they did the eating. (And eating. And eating.) Still, we were left with loads of leftovers, which I cut up and stuck in the freezer to make smoothies. I'm digging the recipe my friend Evelyn makes, which is berries, a little bit of banana, crushed ice. Greek yogurt, some agave or honey, and a generous handful of chopped mint. Enjoy!