Christmas photographed with an iPhone

We just returned from Christmas vacation and went back to work. But I wanted to share a few vacation photographs from our trip. Whenever we're visiting family I bring my camera. Even more important though, I have to use it when the moment arises! I didn't want to be lugging my camera around on this trip. So I used my iPhone instead. Two of these images were made with my iPhone. Can you guess which ones? The first picture is a photograph of Grandma and Grandpa Cayton and Aunt Cathryn after a sleigh ride in the winterland town of Leavenworth, Washington on Christmas Eve. The second is a photograph of Abby in her ballerina outfit that Aunt Cathryn gave her for Christmas. Abby is infatuated with the Nutcracker Ballet and as soon as she put it on she wanted to be Claire for Christmas. (Guess this means we need to enroll her in ballet...) Below is a photograph of Harper sharing a secret with his grandfather. We had a great time and we hope to see Grandma and Grandpa when the baby arrives in February. — Sean

How to photograph your children

On Halloween night Abby brought her glow in the dark wand and halo to bed with her. After we turned out the lights, I caught this moment. Parents should make a habit of photographing their children. They are the ones in the best position to do it! I'm planning a class that shows parents how to make incredible pictures of their child. If you have an interest, please send me a note and I will make sure you receive advance notice of the class. — Sean

Story time with Pooh Bear

I found this scene in Abby's room before dinner and photographed it with my iPhone. Pooh Bear was reading Three Little Pigs and everyone had a snack:)— Sean

Fall portraits of Abby and Harper

Last week we took Abby and Harper on a walk to check out the fall colors that are turning here in Colorado Springs. I brought my camera to take some portraits of the kids. A nice fall afternoon is a great time to photograph children. They are discoverers and a change in the leaves leaves plenty to discover:) I try to do these mini-portrait sessions with my kids at least once every couple of months. Anyone with children can practice this same type of portrait photography on their own. The recipe for success? Let your kids be themselves. Our walk went around the block and by the time we got back, I had several nice frames. These I like the best. They show their personalities and their expressions are priceless. Today happens to be a perfect day to take a walk with your kids and don't forget to bring your camera. Happy shooting! — Sean

Abby and Harper at play

Here's a picture of Abby and Harper playing together. It caught my attention after I saw it on my sister-in-law's iPhone. Sometimes the best edit happens when someone else looks at your photographs...— Sean

Summertime Portraits of Abby and Harper

Well, it's finally gotten hot here and Abby and Harper spent this evening at the pool. (The little plastic one in our backyard) I busted out the camera and made these portraits with a lens I haven't used in a long time. Glad I found it again. I think I will have to return it to the bag for some of our upcoming weddings... — Sean

Abby and Cooper together again

A little more than a year ago our good friends Dan and Shelly and their son Cooper made the move to Wisconsin (Abby calls it Misconsin). Cooper was Abby's best friend and they were nearly inseparable. Since he's been gone we have had the pleasure of entertaining an imaginary Cooper. He joined us for bedtime stories, backyard romps and road trips and just about every breakfast, lunch and dinner. Last week the imaginary Cooper became the real Cooper again when our friends spent some of their vacation with us. It was a super treat and I'm so thankful these two best friends got to spend some quality time together. I can honestly say it's better having the real Cooper here than the imaginary one. Hopefully we will see him again next year!—Sean

Abby's Tutu

Abby's Aunt Viney sent her a yellow tutu for her birthday. What little girl doesn't love a tutu? We tried it on and it fit perfectly. Here's a picture of her showing it off and of Boris wondering what the big fuss is about. —Cathy

Abby's b-day week

Abby's birthday was more like a week of birthday events starting with a birthday walk at the Giving Tree Montessori, pictured below. She
walked around a candle four times for each year she is old. A teacher walked with her holding a board with four pictures from her first four years. Mom narrated as Abby walked and told the class about some of the things Abby's done including grow pigtails and visit grandmothers. On Sunday we celebrated at the park with neighborhood friends and enjoyed a cake decorated with blue and green frosting. We also played Red light, Green light and Red Rover before she opened a gaggle of birthday presents. — Sean

Abby sings a gospel

Here's a fun video of Abby from yesterday. You've got to watch the whole thing to really appreciate. It's only a couple minutes. We're celebrating Abby's fourth birthday today at the Giving Tree Montessori and on Sunday morning she has her birthday party at the park. Come and join us! — Sean

We're getting closer...

Abby's birthday is just around the corner and we received her first gift - a dress and markers from Great Grandmother Nancy — Sean

Abby's masterpiece

Abby's becoming an avid drawer. On the etch-a-sketch, I found this little gem. Each one she does is unique. — Sean

Happy Kid II

Portrait of Abby

Since my mother passed away two weeks ago I stopped taking pictures. I don't feel the need to pick up a camera. This morning I was catching up on work, photographing all of the albums that have arrived in the last two weeks. Abby was watching. She stopped me and asked me to take her picture. I can see my mother in her and I'm so grateful to have that connection — a beautiful and precious reminder. — Sean

Mammo 1941-2009

Early this morning, a little more than a year after this photograph was made, my mother passed away. For the last three years, she battled against lung cancer. She outlived her prognosis (by a long shot) and she thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren. We will all miss her very much . — Sean

Hairdo

Last night at bedtime Abby grabbed her comb and started brushing her hair by herself. Then she told me,"Daddy, I want to make my hair beautiful." She can't be growing up already can she? — Sean

Sick day, pajama party

Abby came home from Montessori yesterday with a cold, so we called it a sick day today and had a little pajama party this morning. Shedoesn't look sick, does she? Meanwhile Harper is ready to walk. I'm always surprised by his ability to get into everything. He's learned how to stand on his tippy toes to great effect. My bet? He's walking by Thanksgiving... – Sean

We're taking a family day

Here's a fun photograph of Abby and her friend Gemma on Halloween. We had a great time photographing the families and children that stopped by our house. Pictures from Halloween will be online soon and families will be able to order their free photograph. Also, a housekeeping note: Our album deadline for the holidays has passed. If you haven't approved your album design, we will work to get your album completed for the holidays but we can't guarantee delivery. Finally, we're taking a family day today. Our production manager Marianne will be answering phones so if there's anything urgent don't hesitate. Have a great Monday! — Sean

Playing fire chief with Mammo

Mammo visited last week and spent some quality time with Abby and Harper. She got to see Abby's Montessori school and enjoy Harper's newfound mobility. He's everywhere and in everything these days . One day when nothing particular was going on, Abby decided to be a firefighter. It was a nice moment. Abby shared her hat with Mammo and Harper was unusually quiet sitting in her lap. Abby wanted to cuddle a little too. We're glad she could make it out to visit us. — Sean

Alphabet Soup

I found this hanging on one of the cabinets. It's most likely an alphabet soup. These are the things you stumble on (often) in Abby's kitchen. She's turning out to be quite a chef! — Sean

Crabby Abby

We've been busy with wedding season and haven't posted enough photographs of the children. That's not because we haven't been photographing them. Here's a great shot of our little girl with her new t-shirt (a gift from Mammo) that doesn't strike me at all like her... most days:) Oh, I almost forgot, click here at see what she looked like two years ago. Wow. — Sean

Our little giggler (part 2)

From this summer, Momma makes Abby laugh. My sister Cathryn sticks her head in about halfway through. I'm traveling this week and just hearing her laugh reminds me of home. — Sean

More kitchen craziness...

Breakfast with Grandma

We visited with Grandma and Grandma Great by video during breakfast. If you haven't had the opportunity to use Skype, the video conferencing software that works on both PC and Mac, you should definitely check it out. It's free! — Sean

Room to grow

Abby wasn't the biggest baby and for a while our doctor was worried she wasn't showing up on the chart. But she's growing and it seems these days like a weed. We've still got a little room left on our chart at home.

Summer Vacation '08

In the beginning of July we dashed off for our summer vacation. Cathy spent two weeks in New Hampshire introducing young Harper to the family. We spent July 4th at Uncle Albert's house and enjoyed an afternoon BBQ. Cathy and the kids got to take off to the beach a couple of times. I joined her for a week in New Hampshire and then I grabbed a flight to Scotland with my roommate from college and best friend Kevin. If you ever want to see Scotland, I know a guy:) We were invited on the trip by Kevin's father-in-law Paul. Paul has visited Scotland 11 times and he treated us to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We didn't meet anyone who wasn't a local. Details of the trip are a closely guarded secret. Click here to see slide show of both portions of our vacation. — Sean

A concert for one

Uncle Albert has a beautiful home in New Hampshire's North Country. Inside his home sits a piano. He bought it for $500. We almost never get to hear Albert play the piano. He tells us he doesn't play for people because he doesn't want them to hear his mistakes. Sometimes though, when we're coming over for dinner, we can stand outside his house and hear him playing inside. It's magical. We often plead with him to play for us. This time he relented, with Abby asleep on the couch nearby. It was a small concert for one. I'm so glad I was able to record just a bit of what we usually pause in the woods of New Hampshire to listen to. — Sean

Summer Vacation '08

Well you may have noticed a lack of posts here and that's because we took a two week vacation to the Northeast. Our family visited New Hampshire's North Country where we celebrated July 4th and saw grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncle on Cathy's side. (Nocousins yet, but we're waiting patiently:) Harper spent time with his granddad who makes some fine hard cider. With Harper's help they sold quite a bit of it at the Lancaster farmer's market. We alsogot in a couple of trips to the beach at Ipswich. The highlight of my trip was traveling to Scotland to play golf with some great friends, Kevin, Paul and Peter. I was the trip photographer, which proved to bedifficult since I was more focused on my five iron and the incredible food than the photographs. We're planning on posting a slide show from our trip soon. To everyone who contacted us while we were gone - thanks for your patience. We will be in touch with you shortly! — Sean

Mammo, Abby and Harper

Mammo returned home this morning and we are going to miss her. We made sure to take advantage of the time we had with her while she was here. That included plenty of playtime and a delightful trip to Manitou Springs where Abby got to take rides on her favorite horse at the Penny Arcade. - Sean

Family Day

We're taking a family day today. Have a great Monday! — Sean

Nothing better than a hug

Mammo is visiting for the week. Caught this moment after dinner last night. There's nothing better than a hug. — Sean

We had a birthday party! (And we liked it)

A photo montage of Abby and her friends at her birthday party. Despite some of the expressions caught here (I think they're adorable) everyone really did have a great time:) — Sean

Abby Cadabby celebrates her birthday!

Abby, seen here in her AbbyCadabby towel, is celebrating her third birthday today with a second (yes, second) birthday party! We celebrated with family on her real birthday and now she's having friends over. Oh what a day! — Sean

On the Chesapeake with Abby and Harper

We're visiting Mammo for the next week and photographing Xavi and Mark's wedding at the National Cathedral on Saturday. We arrived to beautiful weather. Harper looked like he flew in himself (I don't know where he gets those ears:) and Abby and I spent sunset on the water. — Sean

Breakfast

One camera, one lens, one beautiful child

Abby and I had a wonderful afternoon yesterday playing in the back yard. And there was so much to do! We checked on the peas Momma planted the day before, played in the empty sandbox, made a few phone calls and took a drive. I have to pinch myself. I'm a lucky guy to be able to spend an afternoon with my daughter and on a weekday no less. At the same time, we're headed into our busy season and I wanted to use this time productively. So I practiced my photography. Photography is so much like music, it takes practice. A style of music can also be a perfect comparison to describe a style of photography. I like to think of jazz as the best way todescribe how we work; we allow room for the moment, the spontaneous. And in many ways it is the moment that decides what the picture will be.Click here to see a brief slideshow of my playtime with Abby. — Sean