I am very proud to collaborate in this new project with my newborn artwork. Fourteen beautiful images were chosen from my portfolio and printed as fine art gallery wrap canvases in 24×36″ size. Two of these were hung just in time for today’s open house.

Please excuse the quick and poor-quality pictures:

a very spacious labor & delivery room.

a postpartum room.

They are quite large and beautiful in detail, it’s so exciting to see them displayed in this new building.
The remaining 12 will soon grace more walls and I will update when they are hanging.

This is a 20×20 metallic float wrap print of  macro shots that I took last year. It is a limited edition and available for purchase.

The metallic photographic print really brings out the colors and details and it looks much, much better in person, you just have to go see it. It is mounted in a way that makes it stand out from the wall, adding depth to it as the focal point. I like how it doesn’t need framing, and it really goes with any kind of decoration.

In addition, I granted Jack Rabbit permission to use one of my newborn images for this awesome idea:

It’s a larger-than-life birth announcement masquerading as a celebrity movie poster. This particular one is really big, about 3′x5′ (if I remember correctly), but they offer all sizes with on-site printing. I think it’s a really unique idea and it would make a fabulous new baby gift.

If you live in Tooele, go pay a visit to Jack Rabbit Press and Books. If you’re from out-of-town, just consider a road trip.

It is located on 40 West Vine Street in Tooele, Utah.

Last time I was there, the owner, Pamela, invited me to bring some of my macro work for display and sale.  I was very excited and grateful for the offer- I love macro photography and love to see it in print as well. So I chose my favorites and designed a 3-piece gallery wrap canvas collection:

Please excuse my poor arrangement- I was too excited to ‘show’ these so I stacked them to take a quick picture. Pamela will be hanging these up on the wall.

The tall piece is 24×16 and the accent pieces are 16×11, all on 1.5″ gallery wraps.  They look absolutely fabulous in person!  The colors are nice and warm, you can see all the details of each photograph, and the gallery wraps are outstanding. And I love the canvas texture, always so timeless and elegant.

These are available for sale and they are the 1st in a limited edition of three.

Now, you have to take my word for it, these look amazing in person and if you are local, you will have to go take a peek. Don’t forget to tell Pamela that I sent you.

In my photographic journey and search for a personal style, I have developed a classic approach, the ‘less is more’ point of view. I mostly prefer a simplicity of set up and sparsity of props as to lend a more timeless feel where the baby is the focus.
Of course, there is lots to be said about the right use of an accessory, like a hat or a baby blanket. And because I like to offer new and different things to my clients, I prefer to knit my own, so as to have some kind of exclusive props. I have also bought several pieces in Portugal (like diaper covers and throws) and you will not likely see any of the same in other photographers’ portfolios.

At the present, I have several in the stages of being designed, knitted or waiting for the right little model-

a newborn hat and yarn for more little hats (this is hand spun and hand dyed merino wool, the best quality and so soft):

one baby blanket in orange tones and one baby wrap in natural tones, both knitted with hand dyed mohair yarn:

and on my needles, another mohair baby blanket in brown tones:

Of course, a lot depends on my little subjects- sometimes I plan to use a certain piece and then the baby will not have anything to do with it, so I wait for the next chance.

When you schedule a session with me for your newborn or older baby, don’t hesitate to ask for a certain piece or prop that you like from my portfolio. I will be more than happy to accommodate your request.

And some recent examples:

- pink mohair newborn wrap

- blue striped hat (also have one in pink):

“A house is made of walls and beams;
a home is built with love and dreams.”

This is somewhat of a personal post for me.  I have had these on my walls for a few months and I want to share what I have done (plus, my good friend in Portugal has asked to see them!).

My house is  very simple. Sometimes I wish I lots of walls with lots of wall space for photo displays, but this is what works for us right now. And, as you can see, I can still have large wall prints on my walls and make it work. It’s all about doing what you love with what you’ve got.

This is my front room, large window and front door to camera right, kitchen/eating area to camera left.

The square prints of each child are display wraps in 16×16 size (I love the display wraps because they come ready to hang and they look very clean in design).  They are headshots and larger than real life but I like close ups a lot. I wish I could have gone larger but we really don’t have more space. The Salt Lake Temple framed canvas is roughly 34.5×17.5. I know you’re probably thinking it doesn’t really go with my kids’ headshots but religion is important to our family and we like to display prints and objects that are dear to us.

The display ledge houses my collection of Willow Tree figurines but I placed these prints there for a reason. They are mounted 8×10 prints on easels- do you see how small those look in comparison to the 16×16 ones? I know most people think 8×10 prints are wall portraits but you can really see how puny they look; in fact, they would be quite ridiculous if hung on that wall.

Truth be told, I really love this wall, it’s my favorite in the house, I love looking at these sweet faces everyday. The kids love them too. I plan to update these every 2-3 years or as my fancy strikes.

This is like my personal reminder of why I started this journey in photography. I wanted to take better pictures of my children and here they are- my favorite pictures of them as personal and meaningful art on the walls of our home.

And this is what custom photography should be all about, beautiful displays of art featuring those you love the most. The wall prints, display wraps and gallery wrap canvases that I offer are professionally printed and archival, the quality is the best available in the market nowadays. They will literally last for generations. So don’t be afraid to go large and choose your favorites to go on the walls of your home, it will be the best investment you make in the memories of your family.

And since I’m sharing this much, I might as well give you a tour of my front room (the following ones were taken on another day, hence the difference in light and color):

This another view of the front room. On either side of door are 2 more 16×16 display wraps, ones is a collage of my favorite macro shots and the other is a collage of my trip to Portugal last Summer.

You can see the same easels with the mounted 8×10 prints- each easel has 3 different prints and I just rotate them for display. The frame in the middle is a Philips digital frame and the kids love watching the slideshow.

You can see down the hallway- the framed print is roughly 23×20.5 and the family collage display wrap is 20×16. We are due for family portraits, I must confess those were taken over 2 years ago.

These displays are a work in progress and will change as I take new photos and have new favorites.

And since I love large prints so much, here’s a little incentive for you- if you have had a session with me in the past year,  I’ll offer a 20% discount on any wall prints, display wraps and canvases 16×16 and larger. Just send me an e-mail and I will be happy to help you choose your favorite in the size that works better for your wall. I can even help you design a wall display when you order more that one.  I’ll extend the same offer to any new clients who book sessions for their children in in the next few months.

And then I want to see the pictures of your home with your favorites on the walls.

This is my oldest set, sent to me by my mother right after I got married. This is the set my family had when I was growing up and I believe it may be older than me. In fact, the baby Jesus figure doesn’t even match the Mary and Joseph figures, but I still love it, it’s my favorite. The making is traditional Portuguese folk lore painted clay.

This one was also sent by my mother. It’s newer and I believe of Italian making, painted fine clay or rough porcelain, whichever you prefer .

This is a Willow Tree, I love the texture on it and the closeness of the figures.

This is my newest set. It’s probably made of painted polymer and might even come from China, noting fancy for sure- I just like the details and the expressions.

Here’s the close up of baby Jesus from the above set.

Merry Christmas!

“Photography takes an instant out of time,

altering life by holding it still.”

- Dorothea Lange

This is a ‘Thank You’ post- a sincere thank you to all my clients for inviting me into their lives to capture their precious children. I love meeting new children and I always love capturing their personalities, taking that little bit of time and freezing it for posterity. They will never be like that again, at whatever stage they are,  and I hope that the images I took are able to bring joy every single time they are looked at.

Here is a collage of each child and/or each session I had in 2009- hope these little faces will bring some joy to your heart this Christmas season:

Thank you for such a wonderful year in 2009! Here’s to all the best in 2010!

“One of the hardest things in life
is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.”
- James Earl Jones

Just like an image is a powerful way to convey emotion and character, a deliberate word is worth it’s weight in gold. Before I delved into photography, I loved words and their meaning, and playing with both. I actually have a Master’s degree in English and Portuguese and I loved writing and reading (still do!).

I came across this idea on another photographer’s blog a while back, and fell in love with it:

I made this one with words that relate to my photography business and used my business colors as well. It does not have all the words, I quickly realized I’d need twice the space in order to include all the words that I wanted.  And then I suspect new ones would be emerging all the time. Still, it’s partly like the word version of all my photography work, I love it.

Now I’m working on a personal version that will include the names of everyone in my family and words that have special meaning to us, that will describe who we are as individual and as a family. When I’m done, I plan on getting it printed as a large gallery wrap canvas so I can hang it up next to our family portraits. It will be a project for 2010.

“So live that your memories will be part of your happiness.”

I can’t believe it’s been over 3 months since my vacation to Portugal! I finally had some time to sit down and put together a collage of some of my favorite spots that I visited on my trip, namely in Braga and Lisbon. These are memories that make me happy! I love my country, it’s such a beautiful place! These images almost make me homesick again.

I will have this printed as a 16×16 canvas and I will be gifting it to my mom (I hope she doesn’t see this!) since she was my travelling companion. I wish I could see her reaction when she gets it.

Come back to see a very special session that will be posted later this week!