{Little Baby Leo} | Twin Cities Newborn Photographer

Finally getting around to blogging this little cutie.  I visited newborn Leo’s house a couple of months ago for his first little photo shoot, and I could not have asked for a more adorable subject, and helper!

Baby Leo was a great sleeper for the session, and his Big Sister Jessa was so much fun to chat with!  I could tell she was super excited to have a Little Brother.  She joined us for a few photos!

Are they not adorable???  They’re going to be SUCH a wonderful set of siblings and I can’t wait to meet them again!

Love,

Christine

{Tess} | Waconia Portrait Photographer

This post is kind of long, and a long time coming!  Better late than never, and I definitely wanted to show you these images somewhere besides Facebook, where colors are dull and images are unsharp.

This Portrait shoot came together for many reasons.  Tess is one of my good friends, and she’s currently undergoing a complete physical transition.  She has lost a great deal of weight, and has changed her life to commit more time to making herself into the person she wants to be.

I’m documenting her transition, for a few reasons, but mainly because if you see yourself in the mirror every day, maybe you forget how far you’ve come.  It’s like watching our children grow.  We see them every day, and other than their pants becoming too short, we can’t really SEE them growing, but when Grandma sees them for the first time in 5 weeks, she exclaims that they’ve grown a foot!  In the same way, if you’re undergoing a major life-change like weight-loss, and you see yourself every day, you don’t SEE the change.  But if you get your portrait taken every 6 months or so, you’re amazed at the difference.

The other thing is that, while what we see in the mirror is the current us, maybe we have a crazy mind-set, for whatever the reason, that we’re not good enough, not beautiful, not amazing, and the way we see ourselves in the mirror reflects this perspective, no matter how inaccurate.  Every person is beautiful and amazing of course, but if you haven’t liked how you’ve looked for awhile, or if you’ve been told mean things about yourself (whether in words or by actions) for so long that you start saying these things to yourself, it can be very difficult to change the way your brain works.

It’s always a good idea to tell that inner voice to shut up when it starts harping on you, but sometimes it helps to see yourself from a new perspective.  Have you ever walked by a window and caught your reflection in your peripheral?  At first you wonder.. who is that?  Then you look twice and realize.. oh wait, it’s me, and.. I kind of like how I look.  You see yourself in the same mirror every day, with the same flat lighting that highlights every imperfection and makes you look perhaps broader than you really are.  No one else sees you with quite as much of a critical eye as you see yourself, and every amazingly beautiful person you meet probably has an internal voice nagging them about something that no one else sees, and that doesn’t really matter.

The point is that I wanted to show Tess how I see her, and that she is beautiful, and.. a little of how far she has come in her transition.  The best part is, Tess is game for this. She had a few ideas of how she wanted her images to look, so we got a little fun with light.  Plus, I wanted to try out my Lensbaby in studio.. Enjoy these images!!  They are from the heart.

Love,

Christine

{Tess} | Waconia Minnesota Portrait Photographer

Yesterday, my friend Tess stopped by for some food and fun.  Tess has been working hard lately and losing weight, and she looks beautiful.  We’re doing periodic portraits to document her progress, because sometimes when you see it in the mirror every day, it’s hard to remember where you began.  This one was my favorite:

Isn’t she beautiful?

Love,

Christine