Redirect

I’ve got a new blog address, with a fancy new design. You should go check it out. And then update your RSS feed or bookmark or whatever it is you do to enjoy e | photography because, as of today, I won’t be updating this site anymore.

The new address make a lot more sense and is a bit easier to find. Are you ready for this? It’s www.emilyhawken.com/blog  Amazing right? See you there!

H Family

I loved this session. These girls were so funny and were super easy to work with. And James and Tamra are both gorgeous, so that always helps make my job easier. And, apparently, no one in attendance (myself included) is a fan of mornings, but we decided to schedule this session early on a Saturday morning, so we’d have good light. Then it turned out to be completely cloudy. Go figure. But despite that, everyone was in a great mood, and things honestly could not have gone any better.

Also, Tamra and I went to the same high school down in Arizona, but we both moved up here to Washington (and are more Northwesterners than Southwesterners). It was great to see her again after all these years.

Owen’s First Birthday

I never thought I’d be one of those bloggers who says “I’m totally behind on my blog!” But, here I am. I’ve been super busy making changes for an updated website, blog, and proofing site. It’s really exciting, but a lot of work (big shout out to Jules, my web designer/programmer/not-sure-what-to-call-you-but-you-are-amazing!).

Anyway, earlier this month I got to photograph Owen‘s first birthday party. It was a lot of fun. There was yummy food (so yummy), a cute cake (so cute), and so many babies (so many!). Oh, and mustaches. Everyone had a mustache. I don’t have a picture of mine, but it was a creepy John Waters mustache. Very easy to put on, and easy to take off.

Alright, here are the pictures you came to see.

Doesn’t that party look like the coolest First Birthday Party ever? I sure enjoyed it. Happy Big One, O!

Connor

My session with Connor was a dream. He slept basically the entire time. He practically posed himself. And he was pretty content to do whatever.  He was not even a week old at the time of the shoot, and let me tell you, that makes all the difference in the world. I always try to do newborn sessions within the first 10 days of their life because something happens shortly after that. They wake up. They are more alert and more aware of their surroundings. But when they are so brand new, they are so sleepy, and so oblivious to the world. And it makes everyone involved happy.

Here’s a little animated gif I made of him yawning. Presh.

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

Peter’s Back

It’s Peter! You know, Peter?? He moved to Arizona with his parents, so when I was in AZ last week, I got to meet up with Kate and Peter and take pictures of them! I was such a happy girl. I can’t believe this little baby I watched grow up for the first year of his life will be three next month. Where does the time go?

Peter was a little wary of me at first (as are most small children when I hold a large black thing up to my face and point it at them). But once I showed him what the big, black thing does, he was more than willing to cooperate, and by the end of the session, he was posing for me on his own. Adorable, I tell you. Adorable.

Enough yapping. Let’s see some pictures.

Nora

Let’s talk about this little beauty for a minute. She is two. She is sweet. She is happy. She is beyond adorable. She is my good friend’s niece. I met this good friend in first grade. For real. We played countless hours of Barbie’s together, and I loved going to her house because she had a scooter and a playhouse in the backyard. I got to catch up with her and her sister while I was visiting my family in Tucson recently. It was so fun. So fun.  And I still can’t get over how perfectly my session with Nora went.

 

100th Post!

That’s right, friends. This is my 100th post. And to honor such a momentous and wonderful occasion, I’m going to celebrate by giving the next person to book any session with me, an extra $100 printing credit! So whether you book a portrait session, a family session, or a wedding, you’ll get a hundred bucks toward printing. Just imagine what you could do with that! Get extra pictures of the kids to send to the grandparents. Upgrade that family portrait to a gallery print. Or add on some extra pages in your album of your special day. There’s a lot you can do. But hurry! Only one person can benefit!

Baby Donovan

I lovelovelove newborn sessions.  Seriously, they rank right up there as one of my favorite types of sessions. I love the excitement of having a new baby in a home. I love the squishy little babies. I love seeing parents and baby bonding. I just love it all. And this session was no exception. Enjoy.

J Family

I always love photographing this family. The kids are cute. The parents are good friends of mine who live far away, so it’s nice to see them. And they are all so fun. Kristin had suggested balloons for the session, which I was so excited about because I’ve been wanting to do a session of some sort with giant balloons for a long time. So this was my chance.

I was so excited because what do kids love more than balloons? Not much. I just knew this session was going to be a smashing success because I’d have six three-foot balloons, and the kids would be so excited and happy.

I was partially correct. What I didn’t account for, however, is the fact that kids hate few things more than losing a balloon. Especially a special, big balloon. So when we had a a very close call with the loss of a balloon (picture this: young boy lets go of balloon, wind carries it across the sidewalk and into the busy street, starts screaming, so mother runs into the busy street, moments before the light turns green, to fetch the balloon. She barely catches it, returns back to screaming boy and tries, desperately, to console him), the dream of the perfect session was a bit shattered.  It’s hard to recover after a traumatic incident such as that.

Before I go on, however, I must give a big, hearty pat on the back to Kristin and Aaron. And I guess their eldest child as well.  They traveled a very long  way for this session and had to deal with a lot of meltdowns, uncooperative children, and at one point, three children crying at once. Seriously, guys, you did an amazing job given the circumstances.

And after it was all said and done, I really had a good time still. No, it was not the perfect session. And that’s ok. To expect perfection is, well…silly. I don’t capture perfection. I don’t claim to. I don’t even want to. I enjoy spending time with clients, no matter how wonderfully or poorly the session goes. And the sessions that are less-than-ideal always give me some good laughs to look back on.

So, thanks J family. Thank you for traveling on an hour-long ferry ride with upset children.  Thank you for sticking it out, even though it would have been a million times easier to just go home. Thank you for rescuing that balloon, Kristin. And thank you for trusting me to take pictures of your family.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I would love to do another session involving balloons…if everyone is above the age of seven. (wink)

Charlie | Seattle Area Baby Photographer

I can’t get over this boy. He is such a happy baby. His nap had been delayed that morning, and we had to wake him up for the session. All I had to do was look at him, and he smiled the biggest, gummiest smile ever. And my heart melted into a big, messy puddle. The biggest miracle was that he stayed just as happy the entire session, which was about 45-ish minutes. This kid did not make me work at all. It was absolute heaven.

So, with that said, this post may be a little heavy on the pictures. Which is totally fine, right? I mean, I’m a photographer. You don’t come here to read.

Is it ok for me to say that I lovelovelove these pictures? And that I’m really proud of them? Also, instead of fighting my camera, I worked with it. I’m always so afraid to shoot at a high speed, but I did it anyway, and I am so pleased with the result. So, good job, me. And good job Racheal and Garrett, for being so lovely and fun. And for making a cute-as-a-button baby.