I met Erica “back in the day” at PYM Camp and years later Scott and Erica met during a week of camp that we were all working.  It’s so fun to think that I was there when they first met! I remember the next year setting up for games with Scott (we were on Sports staff together…imagine that!…me!…sports!….find the humor???)  and him going on and on about how excited he was for their upcoming wedding. He was gushing like a teenage boy. Awww…  They got married and we still kept in touch year after year.  In 2005 they came down and stayed with my hubby and I for a few days. (Really they just wanted a free place to crash while they visited Busch Gardens and Water Country! Ask Scott!)  The four of us got along great and it has been a yearly tradition ever since!  We’ve ventured our way up to Maryland a few times too.  As much as I HATE (can’t stress that enough!) the drive, these guys are worth it. Awwww…

Last summer Erica and I were chatting about their upcoming visit and I asked her if she’d have any news to announce when she got here.  She of course said no but I just had this gut feeling that she was pregnant. They came and went and no mention of a baby….so….I thought I was wrong. Fast forward to August…we’re on vacation in Nags Head and get a call from Scott & Erica…and….they were expecting!!!  They had JUST found out before they visited in June and wanted to wait a bit before they announced. See?! I called it!!!

So last weekend we made the AWFUL drive up to Maryland to meet the newest Warner.  He was so sweet and snuggly and was an AMAZING model for me!  Here are a few of my top favs from our session. Notice I said “top favs” because I have LOTS of favs!

This blanket was made by Scott’s grandmother. Before she passed away she made one for each of her grandchildren to give to their first borns.

How cute it he??? He did this all on his own!

Modeling my new antique bed prop. Isn’t he beautiful?!

Nothing sweeter than baby feet. LOVE. <3

This one’s for Daddy. He coaches for the Westminster Owls.

Being a Valentines’ baby we had to throw some hearts in the session!

I know Erica has waited a LONG time for these pictures. What a beautiful blessing.

This might be my most favorite. I just love how calm and secure Kaeden is resting on his Daddy’s shoulder.

Had to get the other “sibling” in a shot! Misty the cat!

Recently I had someone tell me, after viewing some of my images, that I “must have really great lights.”  I think God can take that compliment because I shoot almost exclusively in natural light. All of these newborn images were taken with nothing more than beautiful window light.  Here’s a “behind-the-scenes” shot of how I setup my newborns.  I am taking the picture standing directly in front of their front door (large glass screen door, only source of light).  It’s about 1:oo PM so the sun is nice and strong. You’ll see in this shot a few of my “must-haves” for newborn shoots; including a heater fan, white noise machine and a CUTE baby!

Like all the fun labels? You’re welcome.

And the resulting image…

Something tells me I’ll be making many more trips to Maryland to photograph this sweet boy.

When we got to the hospital I was a nervous wreck. These sessions are SO hard. Especially for someone who is a mother herself.  It’s impossible to not immediately place yourself in that mother’s shoes and take on the achings of her heart.  By God’s grace alone I made it through.  And my husband? He was amazing. Brandon’s “day job” is a mortician so he was the perfect partner for this session. Even the nurse said, “Well that’s convenient!”  It had never occurred to me before how appropriate it was to bring him along.  The parents had an outfit for the child and I was hesitant to put it on myself.  I asked the nurse if she would do it but then realized that this is what my husband does every day. It was simple to him. He knew just how to handle the child and was absolutely incredible.  When my emotions tried to get the best of me he was there with his calm, constant voice.  What a blessing he was to me today.

To Mason’s parents, I am so incredibly sorry for your loss.  Your son is beautiful and I was truly blessed to meet him. I pray that God holds you both extra tight as you mourn your sweet boy.

Mason was born sleeping at only 34 weeks. He was 4 lbs 4 oz and was 19 inches long.

If you would like to learn more about Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, please click here.

**Edited to Add**
I want to make sure I reiterate that these sessions are 100% free to the families. They will receive a CD of all images at absolutely no cost to them.

I thought about titling this post “I was only a month late” but then I could just imagine all the pregnancy rumors coming from that so I decided to change my verbiage a bit.

I had great intentions of getting my client gifts for 2010 out right before Christmas so folks could open them right around the holidays.  Let’s just say life got a little busy and these labors of love didn’t get finished and in the mail until last week!  Ah well, at least everyone still has 11 months left to enjoy their gift!

These calendars are 5×7 prints with a linen texture finish that I mounted to a thin magnet backing. If you look closely you’ll see a sneak peek at the new logo and look of AKP! A brand new blog and updated website will be rolling out soon! Woohoo!! This change has been months in the making and I can’t wait to reveal it all to you!

Thank you again to all of my 2010 clients! I am honored to be your photographer!

Yesterday we received our package from the Gap that included:

*a $500 gift card (woohoo!)
*a high-res DVD of the video that’s on the casting call website (SO much cooler to watch that full screen)
*a CD of  “behind the scenes” shots (I’ll share some below)
*a CD of the high-res file of the final image they chose for the voting site
*multiple copies in various sizes of the final image of Ryan

They also included an enlargement of the full image of which they cropped his torso from for the final “shot.”  I really love it. I think I’m going to have it custom framed for sure. Any ideas on how I could make it special? Should I write on the mat “Gap Casting Call 2010″ or get something made that says that to adhere to the frame? Thoughts from my creative readers out there???

Here’s the full image. The color is a little off because I scanned the hard copy so I could post here.

Isn’t he handsome??

And if you’d like to purchase your very own Ryan Killian outfit:
*The red polo HERE now $11.96
*Plaid pocket shirt HERE $26.95
*Red Gap logo hoodie HERE now $21.56
*Jersey knit pants HERE $14.50
*Striped socks HERE $3.00
*High top sneakers HERE now $19.99
For a grand total outfit cost (including some sale prices) of $97.96  Crazy that he’s wearing roughly $100 in clothes!

I promised a few behind the scenes pictures. Please note that these are NOT my images.

Let the shopping begin!!!

His mommy sent me the sweetest thank you email with these adorable pictures attached. Couldn’t help but share!

Tanner- you are very welcome! I can’t wait to get those baby blues in front of my camera again!

First, here’s a pull back shot so you can see how I set up the mini-studio.

Typically our couch sits right against three large windows in our living room. For the shoot I pushed it across the room so the back was facing the windows. I draped a large white furry throw that I use for newborns over the back of it to create the “backdrop.”  I then grabbed that wooden box (also used for newborns) so Ryan would have something to sit on. I knew if I just asked him to stand in a certain spot it wouldn’t work.

So 15 hats later (13 of which made the cut), this is the final result….All shot with natural light, no flash…

For those curious, a description of hats, clockwise:

*Blue beach hat- from Anderson’s, oddly enough. Happened to see it while I was in there eating lunch one day. It has a huge octopus on the back of it.
*Orange hat with wool- from the Gap
*Giraffe hat with poms- this was from our trip to the Rainforest Cafe in San Francisco
*Striped elf hat- also from the Gap…also used in a few newborns shoots (as a cocoon)
*Striped beanie- actually from last winter, it’s from Oshkosh
*Red cable knit- from Old Navy- also appeared in the infamous Valentine card of 2010
*Shark hat (Ry’s favorite) – from the Gap
*Furry Fair Isle hat- from the Gap (and on backwards, btw…. I let Ryan put all the hats on himself)
*Teal/lime pom hat- one of my favorites, I think it’s from JC Penney??
*Camo beanie- a present from Ms. Ann
*Orange/blue striped- my most favorite hat of his, from Babies R Us actually
*Panda hat- this was a gift from his Aunt Deb that came with an ADORABLE matching outfit! (from Gymboree)
*Baseball hat- from the Gap, surprise surprise

And to close, I snapped a few of Ryan without a hat on to show his crazy-long-way-overdue-for-a-haircut-hair…

I love this little boy. Just love him.

Congratulations to TANNER!  The ornament will be heading your way!

{A special thanks to my Ryan for helping choose the winner! Too bad he insisted on sitting in the worst light possible…. ah 2 year olds.:) }

Congratulations to the Sigler boys for rocking the contest with 238 votes!!! WOW!!!!  You have won a 16×20 mounted canvas of this amazing image!

Not far behind was another set of twins, the brand new Richardson girls!  How fun that the contest ended with two sets of twins whose daddies both serve in the military being the front runners? Love it!  As a congrats to the runner up, I’m offering Brad and Stacy a 16×20 mounted or gallery wrap canvas of their image at half price. (Shoot me an email Stacy and we can talk details! )

AND because I’m feeling extra nice today…… everyone whose image appeared in the AKP Best of 2010 album will receive a $25 print credit good towards any future session!!  Simply email me at amy@amykillian.com to claim your prize! (You have until Friday, January 7th to respond.)

2010 was an awesome year for Amy Killian Photography and I’m excited to see what God has in store for 2011!

Be blessed!

When Stacy and Brad first found out they were having twins I begged her to let me photograph their newborn session. This was my first set of newborn twins and the girls were SO good. Perfect angels.  A photographer friend of mine agreed to come along and help me with the shoot and I couldn’t have done it without her. Thank you Barb for your help! You are amazing!

Ok, ok enough talk. Let’s take a look at the beauties!

Meet Devyn & Morgan. A double dose of God’s amazing grace.

All that being said, when Denise Collazo contacted me and explained her request my interest was perked. Denise is a Christian female artist and needed some new images for her upcoming album release. Upon reading her email I began to get excited about the opportunity to step out of my “box” and take on an entirely different type of session.  Her shoot would take place right in the middle of my busy season so it was a nice creative diversion from the other family sessions I had going.

We met up in Downtown Hampton (on a very COLD Saturday) to shoot her session. I was nervous at the beginning wondering if I’d be able to give her the images she was envisioning. After our session I thumbed through the images and was very encouraged! I think they turned out really well.

Denise gave me the go-ahead to post the images below as they’re ones she’s chosen not to use in her album artwork. Some are very similar to the ones she chose so you can get a basic idea of what the session looked like.  Enjoy!