top five of 2008

happy new year!

i almost hesitate to do a list. but it gives me a chance to go back through the portraits i've done throughout the year and see how much i've grown. i really feel like i hit my stride this past holiday season. i hope the good groove continues!

without further ado, here are my top five favorites from 2008. and they may not be the best pictures of the year either. a lot of times, my favorites have a back-story that speaks to me more than the actual shot itself.

for example, peter pan and mr. giggles. oh, how i love these boys. no matter what i said, mr. giggles would snicker and laugh. he totally made my day. this picture wasn't my favorite from the session (i actually liked an individual of each of them more, but then that would take up two slots, so...), but it's my favorite of them together because of how much fun and silliness it shows. total boys.



this picture of the beautiful miss ac is one that i love because it is different from most of what i get to shoot. this portrait was taken in one of the historic homes downtown on south battery. the setting was just perfect. and when i shot it, i knew i had it. i love the dramatic lighting. and i love LOVE her toes!



these two boys were obsessed with the olympics. so, mom decided to have them race up the beach and back. poor little brother didn't stand a chance. but he figured out a way to win: he just turned around early so that he made it back to mom first.



this beautiful girl is very special to me. i blogged about her back when i shot this portrait. i've known her for years and she was in my awana group when she was in 3rd and 4th grades. i just adored her then. i told her mom once, when she was in her awkward phase, that she was going to be the prettiest in her already impossibly beautiful family. and my, is she ever!



finally, i don't shoot a lot of weddings. i have a pretty specific style and personality and i want to ensure that it's a perfect fit between me and the couple. well, this couple was a total blast! michael and i left the wedding saying how much fun it had been, even though we'd been working the entire time (well, i had at least). anyhoo, i could pick a lot of shots from that wedding, but chose this one. just because.

big sale coming...

stay tuned. it's going to be a great sale for anyone who had a session in 2008 and would like to order more prints. huge.

another year gone

it seems just yesterday i was writing my post titled, "happy birthday, beautiful dreamer." and here we are again. another year has passed and you are now seven. you aren't a baby anymore, even though you will ALWAYS be mine. you are definitely in the "tween" stage, which is a day i thought we'd not see for a long time. you seem so old and wise and very much a girl and not so much a little kid.

you are now in first grade and at the top of your class. i'm glad that you love school and want to do well. you work hard and make sure that you get your work done. you don't always love doing homework, but i really can't say that i blame you there. you say your favorite subject is recess. but i know that you do the best in spelling and Bible verse memorization. you really are my child, even if you don't look like me so much.

i know we butt heads. i think that has to do with our having the same personality. i see myself in you and the looks in your eyes. it's crazy! i know that granny and poppy are secretly laughing that i really did have a child just like me. i KNOW poppy is since he mentions it at least once a week or so.

i am so proud of you. i don't think i say that enough. i am proud of how determined you are to be a good student. i am proud of how creative you are in the stories you tell and the drawings you create. i am proud of how you try at soccer, even if you aren't a natural athlete (and how it's obvious you're just having fun even if your team loses). i am proud of how you always at least try what i make for dinner, even if it really doesn't sound that good to you. i am proud of how kind you are to new children. i am proud of how you aren't afraid to be you.

i am grateful that God put you in our family. i can't imagine life without you. i can't imagine who would make me laugh every morning, even when i would rather be sleeping. i can't imagine what i'd do without my little monkey, always climbing trees. i can't imagine driving around without hearing, "louder, please?" because you love music just as much as i do. and i don't know who would put the sprinkles on my cupcakes. if you weren't here, my life would be a lot less exciting and fun.

thank you. you are my beautiful dreamer, my sweet adeline, my princess peekins and my monkey. you are mine. and for that, i thank God every day.

i love you. happy seventh birthday, sugarplum.

oh, mickey, you're so fine!

i cannot believe it is finally here! i first made this vacation reservation in august 2007! so, i've been planning and paying for quite awhile now (sixteen months)! and it's here! we leave tomorrow afternoon! the kids are bouncing off the walls. ian wants to leave N.O.W. addie wants to totally skip school tomorrow (not going to happen). but, if all goes well, we will wake up in "the world" on tuesday! woo hoo!

i am a bit of a disney nut. i'll admit it. my nephew said today that i must really like it. i told him that like was an understatement. something about disney makes me feel nine again! and seeing it through my kids' eyes is just even better. the last time we went, ian had just turned two and addie was almost five. so, they are now two years older and it will be fun to see how their experiences are different. will addie still be afraid of any hint of a villain? will ian pass the height restrictions on more rides (because he IS tall enough, but i hear that the height checkers can be picky)? how many times will i tear up? it really is my happy place.

anyway, in honor of our trip, i'm sharing some two-years-old pictures! the one of ian with lighting mcqueen--that's about as close to pure joy as you'll get. he STILL loves his cars! and addie, she was a ham for the camera even then! this time, she has her own camera, so i will be sharing some of what she captures once we come back! she seems to have already developed a knack for close-ups. i have NO idea where she picked that up! ;)

i hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving! thank you to my clients for the wonderful holiday season! it has been a crazy busy one, but i'm so grateful for every single client, so many of whom have become dear friends!

happy birthday, boo

i cannot believe it's been four years already. i tried to convince ian to just skip his birthday this year, and to stay three for longer. but he wouldn't agree. and i guess i can't stop him from growing up. he is truly now passed the baby and toddler stage and is a little boy. sob.

he is my love. and he totally has me wrapped around his finger, even when he's being ornery. and goodness knows he can be ornery. :) but he's such a sweet love, that it's hard to get upset with him, even when he is not behaving. i really am a softie. but it's true what they say about how boys love their mommies. and mommies love their boys.

what can i tell you about him? well, he loves cars, especially pixar Cars. it's a love that he hasn't grown out of for years. he is fantastic at playing the cars game on our playstation. he can beat me! he loves dinosaurs, of any variety. he loves pirates, especially the veggie tales pirates who don't do anything. he loves balls and sports. he loves to talk. and talk. and talk (almost as much as his sister). he loves mcdonalds, and would eat there for every meal if we'd let him.

he is exuberant. he loves to have fun and laugh and wrestle with daddy. he loves to go to school twice a week. he loves to sing the "goodbye, cuddly cubs" song (from school). he loves when it's time to pick up addie from school, even if they fight about half of the time. his favorite song to sing is "the pirates who don't do anything." and we sing it every night before he goes to bed. he loves the song "jingle bells." and he loves to play. and he hates, absolutely HATES to have his picture taken.

my beautiful

everything i've written in this post, i've erased. it just doesn't sound right. so, i'm just going to leave it as follows:

you know how when you look at something or someone every single day, you sometimes get so used to the beauty that you take it completely for granted?

what do you do...

...with two very well-behaved boys whose mother has told them to do whatever the photographer says? (hee hee hee)

you roll up their pants and stick them in a fountain! (with mom's permission, of course)

way overdue post

let's see. since my last blog posting (other than the two posts about the preschool), i have had eight sessions. so, yeah. i'm way overdue for a posting!

things have been super busy here. i'm up to my eyeballs in proof albums and orders and holiday cards! but i can't complain! i appreciate my clients more than words can ever say. so many of you have become good friends. and it just doesn't get any better than that! i'm thrilled that you've all allowed me to capture memories for your families. it's quite an honor for me.

without further ado, here are some portraits from my many recent sessions! enjoy!

mr j makes me smile

first, i have to brag on a client, who has become a great friend. she owns a preschool and i started taking their portraits last year. last month, she had her husband build an old-fashioned swing for their fall portraits! are you kidding me? that is the coolest thing ever! she emailed me last week and said that they were glad i was part of their family. and honestly, that comment made my day. because that is what i want to be--part of your family, so to speak. i love all of my clients, but it makes my day to become friends with you, to get to know you and your kids better. and to watch your children grow up, and be able to capture that for you. i don't ever want to be just "the photographer." and, in the past year, i've become friends with this particular client, whom i never even knew until the first time i met her, just before i photographed her girls. now, i totally adore her and her girls (and her husband is nice too--after all, he built a swing and i am so grateful for that).

now, i do meet lots and lots of kids. and i fall in love with all of the kids i photographed. each child has something special in him or her, and i love to discover that. and there are some who make one smile just hearing their names mentioned. mr j is one of them. i seriously grin whenever i take his portraits. he's just one of those kids with an infectious grin and giggle. and you just want to smuggle him home with you and keep him. of course, i think his mom might not like that. but i also think she knows. she knows how irresistible her little man is. sigh. and if this first picture doesn't make you smile, then something is wrong with your smiler! :) :)

seriously

okay. i don't even think i have to say anything. but have you ever seen such a perfect cherub face?

final weekend sneak peek

i was a busy girl this weekend. i had two sessions on saturday and one on sunday. and something tells me that my event in beaufort scheduled for saturday is going to get moved. thank you, hurricane hanna!

anyhoo, i met this mom originally in beaufort, where amy did a wonderful job photographing her girls. this family has family in town (with a gorgeous house on the battery) and were up visiting them. so, we decided to do some family portraits with mom, dad and the girls! just in time to get an early jump on my Christmas rush (and it IS going to be a rush).

i love r. she has a wonderful story and is one of those persons that you feel like you've known forever, when you meet her. i was so honored to be able to photograph her entire family (even though dad doesn't appear in the sneak peek). and is she gorgeous or what? seriously. stunning. sigh.

the twins. are they cutest? we had fun talking about birthdays and madeline and bikes. such cuties!

so, here ya go, r. i know you've been waiting!

wild dunes sneak peek

saturday evening, i headed out to wild dunes for my standing "labor day weekend" appointment with the r family. i've known the mom for a few years, but only get to see her once a year. one of these times, we're going to coordinate it better so that she and i can have some extra time to visit! i am so proud of her and all she has accomplished since i last saw her. she has spent this past (slightly more than a) year working to get healthier and more in shape. and she looks totally different from when i last saw her! i'm so proud of her!

needless to say, i love this family. last year, the younger boy (mister l) didn't much like my camera. but this year, he was so sweet and polite and always willing to interrupt his play for me, even when i wanted him to keep playing and pretend i wasn't there. and his eyes! oh his eyes! he seriously has THE most beautiful eyes that i have ever seen!

mr t is just a joy. he has so much energy and is a truly fun spirit. the picture of him has significance--this boy loved the olympics. so, this is his track and field racing pose! and both boys would race up and down the beach over and over.

just a few...

sneak peek for a gorgeous senior

a few weeks back, i photographed a beautiful family. you know. the ones where the kids were impossibly gorgeous! yesterday, i was able to photograph the youngest daughter's senior pictures. i can't begin to tell you what an honor it was. i mentioned before that i've known her since she was in elementary school. she was in my awana group. and i've always just adored her. she has a sweet spirit. and she's just one of those that you know is a good kid.

we dealt with the heat. we walked around downtown for awhile. and then traveled to boone hall plantation. we did some different stuff, and i promise i didn't ask her to do anything too crazy. well, except take her shoes off for almost every picture. but seriously, teenage girls out there, those sperrys are ugly!

i had three sessions this weekend. hers was the first. so, miss m, i hope you enjoy your sneak peek!

my new site is live!

it's live! my website has undergone some changes recently, with an updated design and bigger pictures. the set-up is different from before, but we'll all get used to it together! check it out and let me know what you think (same address: www.emilymcginnisphotography.com). if you absolutely have to see the old one, you can still find it hidden at www.emilymcginnisphotography.com/jinky.

i know i sound like a broken record, but my holiday season is getting packed. i have no openings after october 4. none. not even one. i have two saturdays open in september and october 4 open. so, please, if you need a saturday session, call me now! i still will take limited weekday evening or morning sessions.

picture for the day (ian sharing some ice cream):

it's time

yep. it's time. it's time to start thinking about your Christmas and holiday sessions and cards. things are certainly picking up here. i've got three portrait parties on the calendar. so, i will not be offering mini sessions this season. if you would like to schedule a mini session, i will be more than happy to let you know the dates of the scheduled portrait parties and you can contact their hostesses. i'm pretty sure the november party is full, but we may be able to squeeze in another client or two there.

beaufort clients, i will be in your area on september 6. we're planning to get our portrait party done before everyone's schedules get too crazy with sports and school. this party will be hosted again by ryan, so see her for details. the first session will be at 9:15 and we'll go from there. i'm looking forward to a full day. this party will be the only one i'll have in beaufort, although i will still be available for individual sessions on other dates. we are doing this party on a saturday so that the whole family can come and you can get your holiday card pictures done!

so, now for a sneak peek at some of the templates i'll have available. of course, this is a sampling. i don't want to reveal all of my cards yet!

random thoughts

good morning! i just wanted to let everyone know that i've had to do a slight price increase on prints and canvases. the difference is only a few dollars. :)

this summer has been a great one! i've met several new clients, including some visiting from out-of-state. i've enjoyed this season, but am definitely ready for cooler weather. i know we won't be truly "cool" for a long time still, but i'll be happy with temperatures under 90. i'm starting to book september. i only have one saturday left available in october (of course, i can still work you in on the weekdays).

i am planning a mini-session event for my clients in beaufort. i'm still ironing out the date and location. this fall's minis will be held on a saturday for those of you wanting family portraits. i'm hoping this will be convenient for everyone.

addie started first grade on monday. she's getting used to going to school all day. at least she gets two recesses. i've also been coerced in agreeing to one hot lunch per week. she, of course, has chosen hamburger day. what can i say? my girl loves her burgers and fries. see the picture below for her thoughts on all-day school.

only two saturdays left for october

if you need a saturday session for the holidays, i only have two left in october: the 4th and 25th. i do have limited availability during the weekdays still. november is already booked solid. i have canceled my mini sessions for now. i'm always open to changing my mind, but for now, i've got two portrait parties booked and another one possibly coming up too.

next week is back to school! addie will be starting first grade on monday! we're doing her "back to school" session on saturday morning!

here's your picture for today! :)

impossibly gorgeous family

seriously. when you have four children, what are the odds that every single one of them is going to be breathtakingly gorgeous? this family is dear to my heart. i have known the youngest girl since she was in my awana group at church, when she was in the third grade. she might have been in that middle school awkward phase, but i knew she was going to turn out to be a stunner. and is she ever. but you know what's even better? she's got the sweetest heart and is just a love. i adored her then and i adore her now. her sisters and brother are sweethearts too. i only wish i knew them better. :) mom and dad are two of the kindest people you will ever meet. i have a tremendous respect for both of them.

one thing i like in my sessions is a lot of laughter. sometimes, it can be hard with mostly adults because younger children usually provide the laughter. but this family is not stiff and posed. they were relaxed. we laughed and had a blast. and those kinds of sessions are the best kind and yield the best pictures!

anyway, i'm droning on and on, i know. so, to shut me up, here are a few from my session with the impossibly gorgeous family: