JPSearcy Photography Blog

Yes, my niece again!  We had a very nice visit with her last week.  I thought we may just have to bring her home!  Of course, I had to do a little mini session.  After all, it HAS been what, a month since her last mini session with me?!  What I REALLY wanted was a great shot of her with the boys.  Well, that wasn’t going to happen this time.  Maybe next time.  But this one made me laugh (she looks SO not amused! LOL!):

And a few more shots of her beautiful little face:

And lastly, doesn’t this one kind of look like she is doing the chop along with the voice?!(FSU)  That’s right, Leslie, DEAL WITH IT! LOL!

Thanks for letting me be a proud aunt!  *sniff* It will be a couple of months until I get to see her again. 

Yes, my kids again!  I recently redecorated my office, and thought, “I need some NEW photos on the walls now!”.  I am SO lucky that my boys will humor me (with minimum bribing involved).    All this little session cost me was dinner out (which I needed a good “date” night with my boys anyway, so it was win-win!).  

I am also very lucky about how close they are.  They are 5 years apart, so I really wasn’t expecting them to be friends.  But ever since my little guy was born, the two of them have had a very special bond.  Of course, they don’t get along ALL of the time, but I would say they get along MOST of the time.  I love that they want to hang out with each other, they want to play together, and they just like including the other, even when they have friends over.  I guess that is why I am partial to the “brother” photos of them.  

Here are a few from our little outing!

that my BABY is now 12?  Today is his 12th birthday, and he reminded me this morning, “this time next year, you will have a TEENAGER in the house!”.  Help me now!

Today, as I tend to do every year on my kid’s birthdays, I look back at photos of them, and just wonder why in the world time is going so fast.  It seems that he was just born last week!  We were so young (didn’t think we were young, but we were!), and really had no idea what we were in for.  My big boy.  He entered this world at a very large 12 lbs and 23 1/2 inches long.  Everyone commented about how big and gorgeous he was.  He seemed just the right size to me!  We brought him home from the hospital on Thanksgiving that year.  He was bigger than our turkey! LOL!

Before we knew it, he had already turned a year, and bypassed the walking stage.  He liked to RUN!  (And yes, of course he liked the Noles even back then!)  He went to his first game in Tally right before his 1st birthday.

We blinked again, and another year flew by.  For his second birthday, we got him an “art desk”.  We were constantly trying to find things to keep him occupied in the house (because we lived in upstate NY at the time, and it was FREEZING most of the year).  He loved his art desk, and used it every single day.

Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with 12 years worth of snapshots!  But here is one more that I really loved (it looks like she is waving at me!).  He was in first grade, and needed a photo of his pet for school.  I insisted that he be in the shot with her too.  Afterall, she has been a part of the family for as long as he has! LOL!

And I have posted recent shots of my boys on my blog, so you know what he looks like now (plus now, he hates having his photo taken!).  He is a big, strong, sweet, caring boy, and I love him to death!  And he would do anything for his momma.  Even let her take ONE quick snapshot of him on his 12th birthday as he was running out the door to school this morning.  LOL!

Happy birthday baby!

Even MY parents have to book a session to get their holiday photos done!  They said that no one would want a card with just them on it (not true, by the way!), so they do one with the entire family (not possible this year), or my boys.  This year, they wanted their session at Epcot.  But they didn’t want it to really LOOK like Epcot.  No problem!  Not only did it force me to take a day off and have fun with the family at Disney, I got to “play” in a new location!

Now, they did get a peek at them last night, and they chose their favorite for their cards.  I am not allowed to put up the one that they want for their card (since I have family that reads my blog!), but here are a couple that I liked!

OK, it is a little bit AFTER halloween, but still counts as halloween weekend, right?!

Just wanted to do a quick post and share my boys on halloween.  My youngest came up with the idea that he wanted to be Mario (from Mario brothers).  My oldest was set on being something scary, but as soon as his brother said he was going to be Mario, he said, “that is a GREAT idea!  I am going to be Luigi, and we can be the Mario brothers!”.  Now, I LOVE it when they do coordinating costumes.  But I know he is getting older, so I wasn’t going to push it.  But he made the decision himself, and I loved the idea too.  

Just a couple of snapshots before they went out trick or treating:

And it will be the grown-ups turn to dress up on Saturday night!  My husband and I are going to an adults-only halloween party, and we are REALLY looking forward to that (but don’t count on me posting photos of that!).  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Yes, even I get excited to have my boys photographed.   You would think that having a photographer mom, they would just love sessions and volunteer anytime I asked.  Well, you would be WRONG!  They do not enjoy sessions, but the tolerate them, because they are really good to me.  I wanted to get some shots of them while I had a little time.  Here are some that I really liked:

*This is what they LOVE about sessions: when we are almost done, we do jumping shots!*

Well, to be honest, I am not sure that I am!  Football is taken pretty seriously in this house.  But up until this year, it has been consisting of lots of watching on TV.  Now, my oldest has decided that it was time that he give this sport a go.  He has been working so hard all summer to get in shape for the season.  And now that practice has started, he is learning so much.  And the part that is making it worth it for me, is seeing how much he is enjoying it.  

His first official game was this weekend.  I tried my best not to embarrass him being “photo-mom”.  I was very good.  I stayed in the stands and didn’t call out to him so I could get a better shot. LOL!  Hopefully later in the season, I can get down a little lower and get some better shots.  But for now, this is what I have to work with!

He is #71 playing nose guard here 

And congrats team!  We won!  The boys all worked very hard.

Wow, that was wonderful!  I truly enjoy my family vacation every year.  This year we went up to Maine and then drove down to Boston for a couple of days.  It was so very relaxing!  And every year, I *try* to get on the other side of the camera (to prove to my kids when they are older that Mom really WAS there! LOL!).  It is very difficult to get yourself in the shot, especially when you are a perfectionist like I am!  But I have learned to let go, and just get in there. 

This year’s family shots were my husband’s idea.  He wanted sunrise photos on top of Cadillac Mountain (which we are told is the first place the sun hits the USA).  Well, sun rises pretty darned early in the summer that far east!  The sun cracked the horizon just before 5am.  EARLY!  But it was very neat to go see.  And I also have to thank my brother in law, who woke up early to come with us to press the shutter for me!  Such a good sport!

One I liked of my guys!

And one I liked of me and the boys (after sunrise, we went down to the beach).

I have lots more to go thru, but I just did a quick memory card dump, and pulled these couple off to post!  But before the rest of mine, I have a couple sessions to work on that I did while on vacation.  I tell you, THAT is how much I love my job.  I even did sessions while on vacation!  Not many though, I am not crazy!  Just one from Maine and one from Boston.  Check back in a couple days for their sneak peeks!

And last thing.  I have finally gotten all caught up on my e-mails from when I was gone.  If you e-mailed me while I was away, and I haven’t gotten back with you, that means your e-mail got lost in cyberspace somewhere (don’t I worry about the silliest things?!)!  Please e-mail me again, as I am officially back at work!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you wonderful mothers.  Yes, I do realize that YESTERDAY was Mother’s Day, however, I took the entire day off!  Strange, but true!  I had a wonderful, relaxing day with my family, and I loved it!  I hope you had your “perfect day” too.

Part of our Mother’s Day tradition is me getting on the other side of the camera.  It is very hard for me to do that, as I am most comfortable TAKING the photos.  However, I do understand how important it is to be in photos as well.  My boys know it is coming every year, and they are really sweet about doing it for me.  

Here are my little boys!

*I wore heels, so I would still be a bit taller than him, but he is catching up with me! LOL!*

*And my baby*

So many times, I have trouble getting the moms into the photos with their kids.  They are fabulous about getting the kids photos done, but aren’t comfortable getting in there with them.  Well, I highly encourage you to seize the moment and get in the photos too!  Don’t wait until “my hair is longer”, “I lose 20 pounds”, “the kids are a little older”.  Do it now!  You won’t regret it!

Yes, those kids DO look familiar. They are mine! Photographer’s kids CAN be the toughest to photograph, because they always have a camera in their faces. However, not my little one (my big guy does pretty much hate photographs!). He plays up for the camera and we have a great time. He thinks he is a model!

So, when my kids are trying to earn money, they offer up sessions! They are both saving up for some new things, and instead of pulling weeds or doing extra household chores, they came up with a proposition. They would do a session at the location of my choice, and would cooperate for as long as a “real” session lasts. For a price!

The timing was great, because I had been wanting to try an “urban” location downtown. I had only done it once, and it wasn’t with kids, so this would work out just fine. Turned out to be a pretty good session with lots to choose from. Here are a few of my favorites:

My little guy:

My big guy: