We are now in France. Paris was all white, and when we drove home from the Marseille airport, snow was falling steadily. We woke up to a delightful scenery, overnight enough snow had collected to make a thin white blanket everywhere around us. My parents’ house is mildly decorated by american standards, but is still in a very festive mood with the huge family gathering we are having. It’s warm inside by the fireplace (the real thing, wood burning giving a true winter smell and feel). It’s …heaven. I will try to post some pictures of our outings. While I would be content rooting all day in the house enjoying my family (we can talk for hours), Henry much prefers taking day trips, with some cultural flavor. More about that soon. In the mean time, I wanted to share some images from an awesome family. The weather wasn’t much cooperating on our first try, but the second time around, it was ideal.

Beth Ann,

Walker and Peyton,

Matthew,

Some sibling love,

Walker has the good looks. Seriously, everyone in this family does, they’re all stunning. I predict lots of worries for the parents when these gorgeous children all reach their teens…

Rocky and Brett, a really cool team. Parenthood to 4 kids definitely requires a great deal of involvement from the parents. I’ve heard Rocky describe herself as a taxi driver to 4 busy children. Her commitment is paying off, they are all 4 very accomplish in all domains, sports and academics alike.

Just a 24 more hours until we board on our plane, still no suitcases packed, but here I am in front of my computer… it’s addicting, I love what I do. It’s the most satisfying feeling to edit a file into a beautiful image on my screen, and then such a reward to share them on my blog. Isn’t she lovely? Just so peaceful. I’ve used a couple of my new hats and “wraps”, and am delighted with the way they turned out. Can you tell I’m all bubbly with excitement and joy to go home for Christmas?
On with the images, before I start babbling about my heaven on earth…

Charlotte had no interest for a pacifier, but just started finding her thumb. I think it’s so cute the way she covers her face with her hand.

She has the most beautiful full lips, but then of course when you see her parents, it’s pretty obvious she had to be gorgeous.

That little dimple in her elbow… sweeet

An angel passing,

Jennifer and Cameron, I had such a good time photographing your precious little one, thank you for trusting me. It was a pleasure to meet you and I think you’ll be happy with this last picture. I’m glad we gave it one more try… it was worth the effort!

and we board the plane. They’re expecting snow this weekend in my dear Provence, wow, the kids are going to be besides themselves!
Again, a beautiful family to share. I know I always say that, but beautiful is what they are. I’ve been photographing little Emma since she was a newborn and she just gets lovelier every time I see her. Brian, her big brother, is a sweet handsome little guy too, I love the pictures with his mom Julie. Greg (dad) is totally wrapped around Emma’s little finger, their pictures together melt my heart. Emma was telling me how Greg is “my daddy”.

How sweet is this little guy? He was just a charm, perfectly comfortable swaddled in the stork/branch pose. I love my new branch, it’s from a beautiful tree grown in California, I’ll have to get the name of it. I’m also crazy about those little knitted hats, isn’t this one just so cute? I must say the model is adorable, and probably anything on him would be very cute.

It’s a busy time of the year, with decorations galore, the roads crowded with shoppers on a mission. Sitting in front of my computer, I’m editing pictures of beautiful families getting their yearly portraits for Christmas cards. Christmas used to be one of my favorite holidays in France, because it was always a huge family gathering. It has taken a whole new dimension in the US, the decorations and the outdoors lights are spectacular here, but I’ve missed my family and french traditions. This year will be the first for me to go back home (happy happy Arielle!!!) since I’ve been engaged (15 years ago on Christmas eve). Henry has been teasing the kids that our french tree will be more like a Charlie Brown branch, but they will love the 13 deserts, the house filled for 2 weeks with 30 relatives (my mother is super women without the flashy suit), maybe some snow… Oh, I just can’t wait! It’s been forever that I’ve had a Christmas in Aix-en-Provence, I’m pretty sure I was in high school last time. This holiday season will be very special indeed, just like my childhood favorite memories. In the mean time one lovely local family,

David, with his radiant smile. Flora and Yana,

I love Anthony’s spider man suit, it is totally him, and the colors are stunning on the canvas I had made of this image

2 weeks ago I treated myself to a wonderful workshop, from the Baby as Art team, Carrie Sandoval and Brittany Woodall. It was a very short workshop, 2 days in all, limited to only 6 attendees (so so nice compare to the big groups of 20-30 attending wedding photography workshops). I have been a huge fan of their work for a while and was so excited to found out they were willing to share their skills. I love going to workshops, they’re very intense, I always meet wonderful people (who all share the same photography passion), I always learn and come back a better photographer. I wondered beforehand how Britt and Carrie would be able to show us the many poses they are so famous for, after all didn’t it all depends on their little model’s mood? They’ve been described as “baby whisperer”, and I witnessed first hand their ability to sooth the babies. With a total of 6 little models, including a set of identical boy twins, they demonstrated the many poses I was so eager to see them perform. We each had time to photograph the sweet babies, and fallowing are the pictures I took, once Carrie and Britt had work their magic.

Lincoln, 14 days old was our first model,

The twin boys (Harlan and I think Justin), 13 days

The only girl, Shea 5 days old,

Bryden, 10 days,

Holden, the youngest at 4 days. His big sister, Parker came with their lovely mom.

Phew! It’s been a crazy month. With our trip to New York, a small hurricane, Veteran’s day and Thanksgiving, the children will have gone just 11 days to school out of a 30 day month… I love spending all the extra time with them, but I’ve never been so behind with my files. And to top it off, I’ve just returned from an absolutely fantastic 2 days workshop in San Diego with the Baby as Art team (more to come on that soon, with some beautiful images).
For now, let me present Sarah, a Navarre high school senior. A very determined young lady, blessed with many talents, she has already chosen a carrier in law. I can already see her marching in a courtroom, a very assertive lawyer. I have no doubt she will succeed whatever she sets her mind to, she’s a hard worker and already valedictorian of her class.
Did I also mention a killer figure, gorgeous blue eyes and a beautiful smile?

Just as the Pensacola weather was finally deciding to take a turn, and like the rest of the world join the fall season, I photographed this pair. I moved to the US 15 years ago, 7 years after my arrival I barely had any friends, Henry suggested joining a tennis team, it was a brilliant idea. I met a wide group of lovely and fun ladies and now although I miss the sport, thanks to my photography I get to meet still many new fantastic people. Karla and her 2 sweet youngsters were just delightful, and we did have a great time taking pictures, dressing up little Miss Maggie, serving tea to her many American dolls, catching ball… I’m so glad we schedule this session a couple of weeks ago, because now Maggie is loosing her 2 bottom teeth, with 2 big ones coming out. That little girl’s look with the perfect baby teeth smile is now a passed stage of her life. Children change so fast, we, as parents are so caught up in the whirlwind of our daily life, that sometimes we realize too late how they have already stepped into a new phase. Only pictures and videos will let us relive those cherish moments. I’m a little behind schedule with this post, because I was out of town on a family trip to New York for a week. Feeling a bit guilty for the delay, I’ve got a few more than usual pictures, and they were so cute, it was hard to choose…

The many expressions of a little girl,

Karla, Thank you so much to all 3 of you for your patience, a great afternoon, and trusting me to photograph your children, they were so sweet and charming!

I know Gabriel and Brittany, their families and friends are all impatient to see the wedding pictures. It was a beautiful day, perfect for the celebration of a lifetime commitment between this loving couple. They wanted to savor the moment, enjoy their guests, the reception, and chose to meet prior to the ceremony, which allowed us for plenty of time to photograph them and the wedding party. My good friends, Dorene and Tim were there with me, so it was a team of 3 photographers for a full coverage of their special day.
The day began at the in style hair salon downtown, for Brittany and her bridesmaid. Their make up and hair looked stunning.

The beautiful flower arrangements and bouquets came from the amazing crew at Celebrations.

When Brittany speaks or thinks of Gabriel her face lights up to this radiant smile,

I’ll just say what the rest of the world thinks, Brittany, you are simply gorgeous!

Meanwhile, Tim was hanging with the guys and got some awesome shots of Gabriel,

Brittany’s mom, Brenda, wanted to be sure I would capture Gabriels’ expression when he first saw his bride in her gown, walking down the aisle. But as the doors opened, with her groom waiting down the aisle, the reality of the day took hold of Brittany, the butterflies in her belly stirring around, she walked to Gabriel, living the moment.

I think Gabriel is thanking his lucky stars, he knows the women that make his heart thump, is coming towards him. Anticipation is building up…

First look,

They had us all chocked up, this moment in this very special day is just so emotional.

Fabulous Brittany,

The ceremony was held in the chapel of the first Baptist church,

The wedding cast,

It was so hot that day, I didn’t want the wedding party to get uncomfortable outside. I was hoping to give them some cool air between pictures. We went downtown and were so graciously refreshed with fuzzy lemonades by the staff of Jackson’s.

Brittany’s dad couldn’t wait to see his daughter in her dress,

When the church was filled by their friends and family, when the doors opened and Brittany escorted by her father walked down the aisle, the reality of the day took hold of Gabriel,

Everyone danced the night away,

Brittany’s grand father caught the garter,

Madly in love, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor,

Magalie is 9, and it seems that just yesterday she was a newborn in my arms. We had some of her friends over to celebrate her last single digit birthday. It was the first day of cooler weather here in Pensacola. The kids called it “freezing”, a bit of an exaggeration… The girls went outside, tried out Meg’s new jump rope, all decked out for a winter day, had a glorious time in this delightful temperature, and I pulled my camera out of the bag.

Mimi, Meg, Lizzy, and Frannie

Vive l’automne! We don’t have much of the fall leaves in the beautiful red, orange and yellow hues, but it’s still fun to toss what we have in the air,

After a few minutes of running around, the initial “freezing cold” day wore off. I love their “bad-girls-on-scooter” look!