I love babies in hoods...or hats...but hoods seem to stay on the rowdy children better than hats! I love how his eyes are a peircing blue against the vibrant red hood.

Samm: a very good model

This is Samm. She's a good friend of mine, and wanted shots done for her beau. She's an absolute doll and just oozes personality. Not to mention she's a total firecracker, a soldier, tons of fun, and too pretty to realize it herself. She's very modest, and makes you feel like you've known her forever. When she asked me to do this shoot for her, I was so excited. Her features are so strong and ethnic, and she has an earthy, natural appeal. What I hope she took away from this shoot is that she is beautiful, both inside and out, and that is a very rare combination these days.

Baby Blues

Motherhood is a series of ups and downs. One minute you're elated that you have a little person in which you can see your own traits and charcteristics. The next minute, you're longing for the freedom and energy you had before you concieved. Sometimes your babe wakes you up at 4am and screams "up! up!" until you get him out of his crib so he can...play. Sometimes there is no pleasing him. Sometimes he pulls out all of the pots, pans, and dishes out of the cupboards and screams at you if you try to stop him. But sometimes...when you are crying, he'll come over to you quietly and wrap his little arms around your neck, as if he knows you are very upset. He dances in the car to Rusted Root. He figures out toys for babies over half his age. He makes funny faces to get a laugh. He dances on command. You can tell that he absolutley loves life and loves to play and explore. And those are the moments when I look at his blue eyes...and the baby blues don't seem to have a chance of getting hold of me.

For all the Mommas out there...

I've just re-read a story one of my girlfriends sent me when I was having a hard time adjusting to the ups and downs of being a new mother. It's short and it sums it up well...and always brings tears to my eyes because it's so true. By Emily Perl Kingsley in 1987:

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Street Credit

My good friend Ken offered to do some shots with me. He's a boxer, and he works with juvinille offenders. He's really a model citizen and a really cool guy to know. Thanks, Kay, for hanging out with me and putting up with my creative demands!