I hope your week is off to a great start so far! I’m back with a few more family sessions from the end of last year! Prepare yourself for the adorableness!

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My lovely family is up first! Derryk is my husband Dustyn’s brother. Leslie and I have been BFFs since I was a wee little kid. We grew up together! These are their amazing kiddos, A + H, who you’ve surely seen quite a bit of around here. Our session was in a field and we were celebrating the official adoption of these two little cuties. There’s nothing that makes my heart happier than these guys. We had a relaxing evening, just playing and frolicking (ha, ha) in the grass. Little H was fearless and didn’t mind that the grass was almost as tall as her. A took a little longer to let loose and be silly, but when he did, it was on!

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And now we’re going to focus on two of my favorite people who just yesterday became first-time parents to twins! Congratulations, Christine and Michael! Christine had… not the easiest pregnancy (this is putting it lightly, y’all) … but judging by her maternity session, you’d never guess she was in any discomfort. She’s a trooper! We had *such* a beautiful evening with lovely weather and it was just so, so good to be able to photograph my friends. I’m beyond excited to see them venture into this new stage of life and I loved hearing about their plans for the babies and what they were going to do next with the baby rooms. (Have I mentioned how excited I am to go meet the babies?!)

Ok, so that was a lot of photos! I’ll share another post soon! I don’t want to crash your browsers! Have a fantastic week, friends!

Magan is an Austin Maternity and Family Photographer specializing in relaxed, non-traditional children and family portraits. Email Magan to schedule your fall portrait session.

Oh, this sweet little family. I was welcomed into their home shortly before Christmas, a week after little man was born. Our session was supposed to be very sibling focused – the three of these little ones all snuggled together. I asked Mom at the end of the session if I could photograph a few of her and little guy alone. She said yes.

Frist her sweet little five year old approached and wrapped her arms around mom. Then the three year old walked up and put his arms around his sister. This was completely unplanned and spontaneous.

And maybe that’s why I love it so much. It’s them. It’s who they are.

Magan is an Austin Newborn and Family Photographer specializing in relaxed, non-traditional children and family portraits. Email Magan to schedule your fall portrait session.

Happy New Year!

Well, hello there. You’re looking spiffy in 2013! I feel happy and rejuvenated and ready to tackle this year!

This fall was super duper busy so I’m going to attempt to catch you up on some of the family photography sessions I had the honor of photographing. I’m not going to share massive amounts of photos, but I’ll just highlight some of my favorites!

Because blogging too many pictures at once will make your browser creep along, I’m going to do this in a few posts.

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First up is the Graham Family! Look at their gorgeous baby girl! Aren’t her eyes just incredible? She’s spunky and loves to explore. She loved playing with rocks and sticks and collecting acorns. She turned one right around our session and I just love photographing babies that age. She makes the best facial expressions and loves to laugh. Be still my heart!

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Next up is the amazing Perkins Family! I did photograph the whole family, but one thing I specifically loved about this session was seeing how miss Addison is growing up into such a sweet little lady. She’s silly and loves ballet (she showed me lots of her moves). She has a favorite stuffed animal (pictured below) and loves nail polish and princesses. She makes goofy faces and laughs so easily. She was so excited about her new tree house (By the way — way to go Grant on building this gorgeous thing. I, at 27 years of age, have tree house envy.) and could just see through the window. This kid? She cracks me up — she’s the best! Oh, and what you may not notice is that it had been pouring the day of our session. Somehow we still managed to get in some lovely shots even though we thought we might get soaked!

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Closing today’s post, I have the Hubele Family. This adorable little family lives just down the street from me. Little Miss B was almost six months old at our session and let me tell you – she is the BEST baby. Ever. I’m not kidding. Ever. She is always happy and smiley. She just goes with the flow and nothing seems to bother her. We did a few outfit changes and it was a little warm on the day of our session (you know, since Austin just got “cold” last week) but she never seemed to mind. It really means a lot to me that I was able to take this sweet little family’s first family photographs. I loved that Brandie wanted to incorporate something Christmas-y into the session (see below: hanging ornaments in the trees at the park — people may or may not have gawked as they strolled by). By the way, I owe my husband big time for being a sport and hanging all of those ornaments (the branches were unreachable without a ladder) while we took pictures elsewhere.

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That wraps up today’s post! I hope your year is off to a lovely start! Happy 2013!

I’m going back in time a little bit to share this session with you guys. This month last year, I was photographing my sister-in-law and brother-in-law’s first family photographs. They were settling into a routine after a few fast and furious few months. I’ve wanted to share these with you since that day, but have had to be patient as we hoped and prayed for A and H’s adoptions to be finalized.

There’s something that’s just indescribable about being a photographer. I’m not just merely pointing the camera and taking pictures. There are so many feelings and emotions packed into these photographs. A family’s first photograph together. That’s amazing. I held back tears as I thought about this that day and hoped that I would be able to capture them in a way that shows off how much they love each other. I’m often fighting back tears or laughing at little moments during a session. (I call my husband over to my computer all the time to share the backstories of particular photographs I love.)

We’re gearing up for another round of family photos coming up soon. I love looking back at these to see how much these two have changed!

Below: It was a cold, cold day; an unexpected cold front blew in. A was so cold; to get him to warm up, he ran back and forth between me and Dad, Mom & H. He was a pretty happy camper.

My work isn’t just work. My work is a labor of love. For that, I am so, so eternally grateful.

Magan is an Austin Children’s Photographer specializing in relaxed, non-traditional children and family portraits. Email Magan to schedule your fall portrait session.

On Monday, I hung out at my niece and nephew’s house. We did a few pictures with the whole family for something their momma needed, but A & H were so smitten with the camera. It’s the first time I’ve photographed them that they’ve been so intrigued by what I was doing. In the past, they’ve been pretty hands-off and were happy to do their thing while I did mine. A, my nephew, was most definitely “performing” this time so he could see the pictures on the back of the camera.

I had such a good time with them — lots of tickling and happy giggles ensued. My husband came over after he got off work and we all had dinner together. After bath time, Miss H was walking around so quietly. She gets very calm and peaceful before bedtime. She had her PJs on and kept staring out the window. I couldn’t help but pick up my camera to snap a few photographs of this quiet part of her day.

I love this little girl so much. Even though she’s 19 months old, she’s still so petite. She has the tiniest little hands and feet. She’s got so much spunk and personality bottled up in that little body of hers though. Now that she’s walking, she’s always on the go. I love the moments like these, before bedtime, that she settles down and wants to cuddle, to be comforted.

Magan is an Austin Children’s Photographer specializing in relaxed, non-traditional children and family portraits. Email Magan to schedule your fall portrait session.

The image above was taken during Rowan’s newborn photography session. You might be thinking - But the image isn’t just of him. Why are his sister’s in the photograph with him? Part of what I want to come across in my work, particularly in newborn sessions, is the celebration of new life. The coming together of a family. The first professional family photograph with the new little one. I do take a handful of photographs of the newborn by themselves, but mostly, I want the session to feel more like I was a fly on the wall, observing life as you live it. I explain newborn sessions to my clients as more of a “few hours in the life of” type of session.

We find the best locations in your house for lighting or your favorite decorated rooms and we hang out. You interact with your spouse and newborn and I step back to do my thing. The girls above, Amy and Anna, were so anxious to hold their little brother. Amy was holding him just as she is above and Anna slid in to cuddle up with them. I didn’t have to tell Anna where to sit or what to do. They just fell into place, and while I may have brushed a stray hair away from her face, this is how they naturally were – adoring their little brother.

This image? It’s one of my favorite newborn photographs I’ve ever taken.

Magan is an Austin Newborn Photographer specializing in relaxed, non-traditional children and family portraits. Email Magan to schedule your fall portrait session.

There are moments when I look back at my marriage and I remember specific points in time when I prayed fervently for friends. For young couples that were married that we could share life with – talking about who takes out the trash, how maybe on a Friday evening we just don’t want to cook dinner, or how hard it is to adjust to married life sometimes. We’ve been married for eight years now and throughout that time, we’ve made some beautiful lifelong friendships.

Many of those over the last 18+ months have been in our very neighborhood.

Never have I lived in a place where the feeling of community was so intense and satisfying. Never before have I known so many of my neighbors that I sincerely love and care about, want to see all the time, love having dinner with, or go on 1.6 mile walks with around our neighborhood. (That’s the distance of one full figure eight around our ‘hood.)

One of the most incredible things is seeing everyone start their families. So far this year, five little babies have been born. Four of those babies are to first time moms and most surprisingly, those five births have occurred within only a block and a half in our neighborhood. (I’m sure there are even more newborns, but I just don’t know those neighbors yet!) To talk about all the pregnancies would be overwhelmingly exciting. I would probably get the numbers all mixed up on how many (that I know of) babies are to be born within the next few months.

What I hope  you’re gathering from all of this is how much I love where we are right now in our lives. How abundantly blessed I feel to know the families in our neighborhood, how incredible it is to see so many couples become parents for the first time. I could never begin to express my gratitude for how thankful I am for each and every one of these new friends we’ve made since we moved into our home here.

Dianne and Brian just brought beautiful baby girl Parker into this world. As you know I’m perpetually behind on blogging, so I’m just now sharing their maternity session. They are incredible friends of ours, always willing to talk and listen when we need to chat, always full of laughter when we need to hear a good joke, and amazing parents to their baby girl.

Magan is an Austin Maternity Photographer specializing in relaxed, non-traditional children and family portraits. Email Magan to schedule your fall portrait session.

Cute little toddler cheeks.
Bright blue eyes.
Tiny little Sperry’s.
Wind in Mom’s hair.

One happy little family.

Magan is an Austin Family Photographer specializing in relaxed, non-traditional children and family portraits. Email Magan to schedule your fall portrait session.

Every time a new school year is mere weeks away, I’m reminded how quickly time sneaks by. The summer passes by in the blink of an eye and somehow families are back on a schedule and when the middle of November hits, everyone remembers they should have scheduled their family portrait session because it’s almost time to send out Christmas cards again.

Consider this your [early] reminder to send me an email or fill out the contact form above to book your fall family portrait session now. Availability in the fall is limited as it’s my most popular time to photograph families and kids. If you’re in need of a weekend date, send me an email soon.

The image above is of my lovely neighbors Dianne and Brian and their new baby girl, Parker Dru. She’s an itty bitty bundle of personality. I absolutely loved photographing her newborn session. I’ll definitely be sharing more of these when I’m done with them! Stay tuned!

For many reasons, I WANT to share these pictures with you. The little girl these toes belong to is so loved by my husband and me. So loved by our entire family. You see, she’s being adopted (and that will be finalized hopefully soon!). If her mom and dad are okay with me sharing these with the world when everything is finalized, then I’ll gladly do so.

For now, let’s appreciate the small things. Things as small as baby toes.