Bella Vita Photography » Family Portraits

Happy New Year from Bella Vita Photography (and a quick update)

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:55:50 +0000

Well, I am soooo far behind on this blog it’s beyond ridiculous! We’ve had a busy holiday season, and unfortunately I also lost my grandfather over the New Year’s weekend. My grandfather raised me, so he was essentially my father… and we were extremely close. He was also close to my two children, and my oldest son looked up to him as his only father figure for many years while I was a single mom (until I met & married my husband about 5 years ago). It was a really difficult time, but it did highlight one thing that I had somehow forgotten, even being a photographer. The importance that a single photograph can hold. It’s easy to lose sight of this, even when you’re a photographer, and sometimes especially when you’re a photographer. We take thousands of pictures a week sometimes. Hundreds of thousands a year. In our busiest season, we have to remind ourselves sometimes that we love what we do. It’s no different than anything else. We can become overworked & lose sight of the big picture. In fact, that is one of my main New Year’s resolutions… to stay busy, but not so busy I stop loving what I do, and not so busy that I lose sight of what it’s all really about.

In the days after my grandfather’s passing, it was a therapeutic blessing to be able to sit around their kitchen table sifting through pictures. Old pictures, new pictures, professional pictures, snapshots, torn pictures, carefully mounted pictures. They all hold a special meaning. Of course, some held up better than others, but I couldn’t help but also feel a sudden urge to send everything on my hard drives & discs at home to the print lab. What will our children be doing 50 years from now? Hopefully not sitting around some computer looking at digital copies. There was something really awesome about running my fingers over the edges of every single picture. Holding the same picture they held, they got in the mail, that they got handed down to them from their aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, mother, father, etc.

It’s really a lost part of our culture, the printed photograph. It was amazing to see some of the old pictures, and how they’ve changed. A huge stack of polaroids, which completely confused my children. Little flip books from the 20’s, which have been lost in our “bigger, better” culture. It’s just so amazing.

And really, now… all we have left are those pictures. A few other sentiments… but his generation didn’t keep much “stuff”, not to mention it’s really his face, those pictures of him loving his grand children & great grandchildren that I really want to hold on to.

And so – that’s another resolution of mine – I am printing every single picture I take of my kids. I want those prints. Forget the discs (I’ll still archive them, I am a techie deep down beneath it all). But, I want prints. Boxes and boxes of pictures, for my children to sit around with, and wonder what on earth we were thinking with that hair do, that outfit, that car, that kitchen wall paper design.

For my clients, friends & family who do want to make sure that they’ll have a print that will last, that looks great now (and later)… I usually recommend a consumer lab: MPIX. But please, if for no other reason, consider having a big box of family prints… don’t even consider a disc for your main way of keeping pictures, as an archive perhaps, but not your main archive. Get prints. Put them in a box. And every once in a while, sit around the kitchen table and reminisce

And just for grins, here is the last image I have of my grandfather with my two kids:

Stay tuned, I’ll be catching up on blogs & such soon!

Destin Wedding & Family Portrait Photographer | Website Update

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:49:19 +0000

Hopefully we won’t experience any downtime with the website… I’m in the process of switching servers & sites & layouts & the whole 9. I’m telling you – a change is a coming! I’ve got lots of news on the horizon, lots of updates coming & all of it’s gonna be good so stay tuned! If you have any problems, though – and we do experience any downtime, the blog should remain up – so post a comment here, or email my personal addy: ownlymine AT hotmail . com (hoping I can avoid any more junk mail than I already get).

Alys Beach Child & Family Photographer | More Tani & Brayden

admin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:08:06 +0000

Ok, I’m having withdrawels from blogging, so you’ll have to excuse me – but before I post the others, I had to show you guys these up close ones – they just make me melt! Again, we’ve got the beautiful Alys Beach as the backdrop, and absolutely everything in Alys Beach is gorgeous. Add these two kids and it’s almost unbearably cute children’s portraits!

Destin Children’s Photographer | Gone Fishing

admin — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:54:57 +0000

One of the things I absolutely love about photographing children and doing children’s portraits is watching them grow so fast! It’s wonderful looking back at previous sessions and seeing them grow so big! We’ve done several sessions, both in the studio and on location, and Crestview remains one of my favorite locations for Children’s portraits simply because we actually have some great variety up there! Here we found an old barn, so the family went out for family portraits. Dalton’s 2 year portraits were a little overdue, but we had a great time & he sure looked cute!

Heres Dalton!

Watch me go mom!

Mom Cant Keep up!

Daddy showing me how…

I can’t wait for their next family portraits, I’m sure Dalton will have grown even more, but it’s such an exciting thing to watch. I’m already thinking of something fun to do next!

Destin Children’s Photographer | Gone Fishing

admin — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:04:08 +0000

I’ve been anxiously waiting to post these pictures. I’ve had the pleasure of photographing little baby Dalton since he was in his mommy’s tummy. He’s the proud owner of that cute set of toes that display the wedding rings that everyone loves so much. That little boy has one famous set of toes! But now, hes all grown up and is as handsome as can be, and this is our recent photo shoot (just shy of 18 months) before his daddy deploys, and his first time fishing AND his first time seeing a donkey! Hes so much fun & his big blue eyes are just the most awesome! Enjoy!