jodifieddesigns

My sister.

Just a few days before Christmas I got the pleasure of doing a much anticipated photo shoot with my very pregnant sister, Abbie and her husband Chris Enlund.  I've been dying to photograph her growing belly and MAN did we do one heck of a shoot!  We started at The Jewel Box in Forest Park, then hit the upper entrance to The Muny, met up with the rest of the fam at The City Museum, took a few at Christ Church Cathedral, one or two at the St. Louis Public Library in downtown St. Louis and finally ended up in an alley lost in some neighborhood while on a wild goose chase with out mom!  By the end of this day we were all exhausted and Chris wanted to kill me, but man we got some good shots and MAN is she a gorgeous momma!

Her album is to the right, Abbie's Belly.  Go check it out!

Thanks Ab and Chris! I had a great time! Can't wait for that little girl to get here so I can smother her with photos too!  :)

Christmas Cards FINALLY

I finally figured out how to post the Christmas cards I've been working on! FINALLY! These are just a few of them, but it's a start! Next year I will have designs already created for you to chose from b/c the custom designs, although the most fun, take me the most time.  Anyway, here is a sample of my Christmas designs!

This was a flat card

This was the inside of a fold-over card... the front is just a photo of their children with a polka-dot border

This was a design I had posted that this family chose... I turned it into a fold-over card for them with their sentiment on the inside

This was a flat birth announcement

This was definitely my favorite to do this year b/c I thought their idea was so GREAT! Too cute!

If I find time I will post the others I've been working on, including our own Christmas card that went out last week!

banner

Just an update... Billy and Jenny are also my new banner family!

ALSO,  if you have downtime in Jan/Feb when it's still COLD outside but want photos, the Jewel Box at Forest Park is a great indoor space to take photos! OR, snow photos bundled up in coats/scarves/mittens/boots is always fun too!

And I am always available for birthday invite, party invite, baby shower, birth announcement, or any kind of design you could possibly need!

Happy Winter!

Billy and Jenny

If you haven't already checked out one of the most beautiful pregnant women ever, go check out the Billy and Jenny album! Now that I've officially changed over computers, I don't have their photos on my new MAC Book Pro, so just head over to the album.

Working with them was SO easy! Billy cracked me up b/c all I had to say was "ok SMILE" and he would flash this amazing model-like smile! He was unlike any man I've photographed EVER! Including, especially, my own husband!  :)  They were so cute together and so much in love.  I think my favorite time is interacting with a couple about to have their first baby. They are so full of hope and promise and just love for each other and their new little belly bump. They haven't had all night feeding fests or a colic ridden infant, they haven't fought over who would tackle the mountain of laundry or where to order dinner b/c neither of them have the energy to cook, and they haven't been pooped on, peed on or thrown up on ALL DAY yet. To them,  their baby is still the dream of going on walks in their neighborhood and dressing them in cute outfits and introducing them to family and friends.  I remember those days, they were euphoric! And not that life with two toddlers isn't euphoric, it's just a whole heck of a lot more REAL.

So yes, I enjoy being transported back to the days of dreams and happiness! Of watching a woman feel beautiful and her husband adore her. And photographing Billy and Jenny were no exception. They were a wonderful couple and I can't WAIT until February when I'll get a call to go photograph that new little person! I hope we'll be seeing a LOT of this family!

Thanks Billy and Jenny!

Sister?

I love that I titled the Simerda album "sisters" and the photo that came up is of two boys! Love how that worked out! I titled it "sisters" because this family was such an inspiration to me. The husbands are brothers, but the sister-in-laws are way more sisters than in-laws. The families interacted seemlessly, both moms parented each other kids without even thinking it could hurt someone's feelings or that the kids wouldn't respond. It really inspired me and at the exact same moment made me incredibly sad that my sister lives so far away. Our babies will be just months apart and I would LOVE to be able to parent like that. What's mine is yours what's yours is mine. You could just tell that these two families spent oodles of time together and really loved each other.

I photograph a lot of families and although I'm not saying these guys love each other more (how in the world could I judge that?), all I am saying is how amazing it was to see how close they all were. Thank you so much Heather for inviting me into your life for a few moments, it was wonderful.

Higginbotham

I have known Angie (Spiguzza) Higginbotham since I was 14. She's the older sister of one of my oldest friends. Her and I got married about the same time and have both had two children close together at relatively the same time, which has made us closer friends. It's amazing how talking about your kids can really bond you with other women! She just needs to get pregnant with #3 so that I'm not so far ahead of her! Anyway, her little Charlie, 2 years old, was NOT in the mood for photos that day, but what 2 year old is ever in the mood?  So we didn't capture the exact photos she was looking for, but I think what we did get turned out really cute! I love the photo of them all walking and the ones of Angie and Josh interacting with the boys. I did their Christmas card with the photo below and if I could figure out how to get it uploaded from this new computer I would show you... but if you're on the Higginbotham Christmas card list look out! Cute card coming your way!

Thanks guys!

Alex

Alex Vossen is Kelsey's (the amazing jumping album to the right) good friend, she plays soccer on C's WGHS varsity team and babysits for us occasionaly.  She's the sweetest girl and her brother was equally as cute!  Their mom wanted Christmas photos of the two of them and the color in the trees that day was literally amazing. Just beautiful. And we struggled a little with this shoot b/c we were at Tilles Park AFTER they had their lights up, so there were Christmas lights strung EVERYWHERE which left little space to take photos. But we managed to find some great shots anyway. Take a look at the VOSSEN album!

photo overload!

Ok, I just kicked it in gear and got ALL my shoots finished in time for me to leave town tomorrow! Yahoo for me! I will come back and write a little post about each family, b/c I have loved each family I've worked for and have lots to say! Right now though it's 10pm, I got all the albums uploaded, but I haven't finished laundry or packed yet... so look for more posts in the next day or so.

And in the mean time check out all the NEW albums to the right!