A Family Session

Families are made up in many different ways . There is the traditional family - Dad, mom and children, or single moms and dads, Grandparents as parents, aunts and uncle taking on nieces and nephews, even adoptive and foster families. The list could go on! No matter how your family is put together, there are ways to show the love and affection you have for each other in a photography session.

Recently, I did a session with Laura and her son David. It was a beautiful evening, and the lighting was fantastic. Here are a couple of my favorite poses from this session!

I still believe in Santa Claus...

Growing up in my family, my parents thought it was important that I knew the 'truth' in the holidays. To them, that meant understanding that the Easter bunny, Tooth Fairy and even Santa Claus weren't "real". The funny thing was, although I 'knew' he wasn't real, I still believed that he was around - alive - helping kids, and delivering gifts around the world. Every Christmas eve, I would lie awake and wonder if it was Santa Claus that was making the sounds in the living room or down the street.

What that illustrates to me is that children are born with the ability to have faith in something that may not be real, even though they are told otherwise. What an amazing gift! As we grow older, cynicism sinks and we as adults tend to see the negative in life. Little hope for things being better, and the inability to believe in what could be. How sad!

With that in mind, I choose to see the good in life and believe in magic and the unseen! At Christmas time - I see Santa Claus in all of us, and let my children - be children. I want them to experience the joy and wonder of Christmas and I want them to believe in Santa Claus, for as long as they can.

Recently, my Belle Claire work brought me to an amazing man - one who lives what I believe. He brings happiness to kids (and some adults that allow it) in our area. Here is a picture from that session! Ron - Keep up the good work!!

Need Couple for Holiday Shoot - FREE session for volunteering!

Belle Claire Graphic Designs is looking for an adventurous couple to photograph! Holiday themed shoot, and FREE session for "modeling"!! Contact info@belleclairedesigns.com. Please pass this on to anyone who may be interested.

Introducing a new Belle Claire Contest!

As Thanksgiving approaches, it is time to be thankful. Here at Belle Claire, we are thankful for our wonderful customers, fans and followers. In order to show our appreciation we are extending a FREE session to the lucky winner of a new contest that is rolling out!
The contest is simple - submit a short email stating what you are thankful for in your own life. Keep it interesting, creative and clean.
The winner will receive a free 1 - hour Belle Claire Photo Session and free 8x10! Also included is a 10% off certificate to go towards a print package or disk of images. Email us at info@belleclairedesigns.com
Contest deadline is November 15th!

Time is marching on...

My little girl is growing up so fast! She is all about the standing and crawling. It is amazing how fast time flies... pretty soon she will be walking. YIKES! Better start the baby-proofing now!

Sweet Little Baby Boy!

Recently I caught some adorable moments of a newborn baby boy - Thomas on camera. He was so cute, and had so much personality! Babies are such a blessing, I love taking their pictures because you capture their innocence and wonder. Thomas had an equally adorable brother named Parker. Together here in about another 16 years - they are going to be breaking some hearts! Here's a few of my favorite images from the session.

What a wild ride!

The last several months I have been working late nights and weekends. Pouring so much of myself and passsion into Belle Claire Designs! I can now take a step back and enjoy the fruits of my labor. What a grand feeling that is! Here's to many more months of new adventures and creative projects.

Old Hollywood Glamour Returns!

Here is a sneak peak at a new type of photography session Belle Claire Designs will be having in the coming months! Old Hollywood Glamour with professional hair and makeup.

For our sample session, I had Shae M. come and be our model! Jennifer Chuleewah provided the fantastic hairstyles and design. We truly had a blast! Shae was wonderful to work with, and she had an aura about her that seemed to exude "Old Hollywood"! Perfect since that was the theme of our shoot! Here is look at one of the shots from the session.

Current Promotion!

Refer someone to Belle Claire Designs who books a Photography shoot and receive a FREE Thirty-One bag! Email info@belleclairedesigns.com for complete details! Not sure what a Thirty-One bag is? check out my site! http://www.mythirtyone.com/11019

Milestone Session - Audrey's One!

By far one of my favorite types of sessions are definitely the milestone session. It is a wonderful feeling to know you are creating a snapshot in time of (in this case) a little girl at one year old.

For the session we went to a local park. I picked an area that was well lit and open to begin with, and we sat Audrey down. Then we just let her be Audrey! No making her pose we just allowed her to play around. Afterwards we moved to the playground and swings and got a few more fun candids. We got some great shots! Audrey's personality just shown through.

$75 Senior Specials for the month of August - Feature Senior Kirsten M.

Recently I did a senior session with a vibrant girl! Kirsten had some great ideas for locations for our shoot, and was a natural for posing. It was well over 100 degrees outside during our shoot, but besides having to make a pit stop at a gas station for something to drink because we were so hot - you would not be able to tell how uncomfortable Kirsten must have been! What a trooper!

My own little obsession!

To be fair, I am just as interested in taking photos of my own kids and family. The other day I caught a great shot of my daughter and her daddy. They were playing around and it was so cute, I had to snap a picture.

Sneak Preview for upcoming promotion!

I had a blast working with Michel and Jessica for images related to a new promotion I'm working on for Belle Claire. It was a perfect evening in the heart of our downtown area. And I couldn't have asked for better models! They were fun, silly, and crazy about each other! It made for a fantastic session.

Wonder if there were two pots of gold?

Sometimes I am blown away at the beauty of nature and the blessing to live out in the country. Last night was a prime example. I was feeding my baby girl and happened to glance out of the window. It had been rainy and overcast, but the sun had come out. I saw a side of a rainbow. I grabbed my camera and headed out focusing on the side of it. I took quite a few shots before I realized that it was actually a complete rainbow! Wow! I went inside and back to feeding the baby when my hubby came in and informed me that there were actually 2 rainbows...
Sure enough there were. I snapped a pic that captured the two 'bows'. AMAZING! Sometimes the beauty in nature can take your breath away!

Mommy's boy!

Meet Holly and her adorable son Brandon! They were so funny together and I got a ton of good candid shots!

Senior fabulousness!

Meet Haley! A fantastic and fun senior. She was very creative, and I swear, never took a bad picture! :)

Journey to adoption...

Christina and Kevin are beginning the journey towards becoming adoptive parents. They are so much in love, and excited to welcome another little being into their family. I was privileged to capture their love for one another during our session.

Beautiful Maternity Session

I had the pleasure of working with Christy M. an absolutely gorgeous mom to be. She was so easy to work with and up for anything! We had a blast!

Getting started!

I am very interested in putting all the exciting happenings of Belle Claire Designs out where people can see the fun that I have in my day-to-day design life. The best thing to me about Belle Claire is that it is constantly changing and evolving into something, even I could never have imagined it could be. Hang on for the bumpy ride into my first year as an entrepreneur!