Not really a bug life.  Tomorrow I’m leaving with my children for my annual breath of fresh air, my return to my roots, my heaven on earth, France, precisely Aix-en-Provence.  If you’ve never been, make it a goal in your life, have it on your list of places you must see at least once.  I never tire of the landscape, the smell of lavender, the colorful markets, my native language…  One typical sound in Provence is that of the loud “cigales” (in english: cicada or commonly known as crickets).  In the summer they can be heard through out Provence, so much so, they have become somewhat of a symbol of the area.  They are not particularly beautiful creatures, but are fascinating.  In all my life in Provence, I’ve only seen one, perched on a tree.  When they hear us, or see us coming, they become real quiet, and it’s hard to find them.  This past week, in Pensacola, I’ve seen 2!!!  The first one appeared on my porch table, dead.  I immediately pulled out my camera and my macro lens and begin photographing the famous bug.  The second time, was only a couple of days later, leaving Jerry’s after a dinner with friends.  The rather big bug was outside buzzing under their porch light, and had us all ducking (around here, you would expect a flying roach… nothing too exciting to land on your body).  I’m posting the pictures I took of the dead one, on our porch.  Pretty soon, I will be happily listening to their chant, until then I have to take a couple of planes… I don’t even want to think about it.  Our trip is a long one, 7 weeks, I have several session planed in France, but first will enjoy a great family reunion for my great aunt’s 100th birthday!!!  I may not blog much for the next 10 days, but then keep visiting, because I will share some of my travels with the beauties of my home land.  It’s late, I better start to pack…
I will be checking my emails frequently, and will be able to respond, however I won’t be using my phone for the next few weeks.

This is my family’s home in “Franche Comté” (by the Switzerland border), it is several century old (built somewhere in the 1500). It holds many memories for many generations in my family. This is a spread part of a book I will be offering my parents, with last summer’s pictures.

The next 2 spreads are for my pleasure, souvenirs of the markets,

Just a week ago, Dorene and I photographed a beautiful wedding. I will try to post some pictures from this special day as soon as I can, but for now I though we could have a few from her bridal session. In the southern tradition, Brittany tried on her dress, had her hair and make up done, so we could get a few frames in her wedding gown. She looked stunning, but even more so on her wedding day, she had the happy glow of a bride marrying her love.

Yesterday was a big day in my son’s life.  Will got fitted for the first time with contact lenses.  He’s had bad eye sight for a couple of years, and isn’t wearing his very cool glasses all that much.  At school, he has them on occasionally to see the lesson on the black board, and then sometimes at home to watch TV, but otherwise never.  It has handicapped him playing sports, in basketball he couldn’t always make out his teammates faces, and he never really cared for tennis (probably because he can’t see the ball..).  We believe contacts will have a substantial impact in his everyday life, and we finally went to see the ophthalmologist to get him started.  We were all very excited, walking up to the office, I had him take in the surroundings carefully, so he could describe to me the difference coming out with new eyes.  In a dark room, the nurse put on his first lenses, after a couple blinks he was relatively comfortable, and amazed at all he could see.  We then, were taken to an other area, where a very nice lady tough him how to handle the contacts.  In the short walk across the hallway, he’s pointing to a far door, so excited to see the handle, he’s thrilled to see the face features of the lady standing in front of the counter, I’m beaming, so happy to have my sweet boy seeing the world, I can’t wait to take him outside.  The nice lady asks him how he likes the contacts, can he see better?  He turns around to me, with a beautiful smile on his face (I’m feeling all gooey happy), and he says: “yes, it’s great!  I mean I can see my mom’s wrinkles!”   WHAT?????  (Latter on he even talked about the sun spots on my face… I don’t have wrinkles, just expression lines)  Henry was at work, and I was texting him, a minute by minute report on the Dr.’s visit.  To Will’s last comment, he suggested I set him up in France to learn the art of courtship.  Already, a couple months ago, when all the boys in 5th grade were “going out” with girls, Will’s approach to a cute girl had us worried.  Wanting to compliment her, he told her she had “bug eyes”!!!  To her puzzled expression, he explained that just like his sweet dog, Coco, she had bulging eyes, “it’s so cute”, he tried to reassure her.  I’ve got it all planned, he’ll be getting serious help from the world’s flirt experts in South of France in just a few days.  I’m sure my dashing young cousin, a woman magnet, will take the task seriously and teach him at least a few rules about compliments.

Will has a new appreciation for our world, as he now can contemplate the leaves on trees, and like he says: “it’s like everything is in 3D, before everything just blended together”.  We drove back home and he startled me the whole way with loud WOWs at everything he seemed to discover for the first time, at 11 years old.  I’m so thankful for our modern world with all it’s technology and advanced medicine.

Will is so excited, he wants to keep forever his first pair of contacts,

My cousin, Frank, who doesn’t know it yet, but will be in charge of Will’s courtship education. Hanging lovingly to him is Magalie, she and Olivia are smitten with him. I’ve never known him to be in shortage of girl friends, he’s perfect for the job.

This family and the Langhornes have been friends for many generations now. Our children are playmates and their grand mothers grew up best friends. That’s one of the many things I like about Pensacola, where some might view this as a small town, I love long lasting friendships.
Jane wanted some family portraits, and some individual pictures of her 3 beautiful children. Before Ivan came to our coast and ripped apart the road leading to Fort Pickens, I use to love photographing there. There is much textures, nooks and beautiful light. Jane suggested our session take place on this famous local historical structure. We were both willing to pack everyone on a boat and have the place to ourselves, but exactly a week before the road became available to the public. I must admit, it was much easier driving than our original plan.
Thank you for being so patient with me.

From the left to the right: Claire, Allen and Jill,

She likes the beach, the sun, she’s a strong swimmer, she’s a “flip-flop” kinda girl. Very relax and easy going, she doesn’t need much “fluff”, she’s a natural beauty. We would say: “elle est belle au naturel”. This coming year will be her last of high school, and then there’s a good chance she’ll get a swim team scholarship.
We hit many locations for her photo shoot, and it was a tough job to pick some favorites for this post, she’s stunning in every image!

I had a vision in this field, a bit like an anthropology catalog spread. I’m very happy with the way it came out.

Trying something new. I just found out about this cool blog, I ♥ faces, which holds every week a photo contest in 2 categories (children and adult). There is a new theme each time, and this week it’s sepia tone.

I’ll enter it with my favorite image of Taylor:
(I just love the circular blur created by the “garden wire sphere” I shoot this frame through)

Narrowing this session down was not a simple task! I have many favorites. Taylor met me last week for her senior portraits, she’s about to complete her last year of high school. When she showed up at my door, I remembered her mother telling me over the phone how beautiful her daughter is (I know as mothers, we all tend to be biased, but Tami wasn’t exaggerating). We spent our time between the big sexy food location, and one of Pensacola’s coolest hip shop: Duh. I’ve had those 2 spots in mind for a while, and am so happy to finally have had a chance to try them out. Taylor has part of her future mapped out already, she’s fascinated with Political science, which really has me impressed (I’m seriously challenged in that field).

One of my very favorites. I shot this frame through a “garden wire sphere”, I love the effect it gives the background, and Taylor is just stunning!

I also love this picture,

The left frame is an other of my favorites,

This past week, the UPS man (bless him, he’s a modern version of Santa dressed in a brown outfit), came to my door almost everyday. He’s Coco favorite too, because he always has a gigantic milk bone for her, on top of my packages.
All the way from Italy, I received 3 enormous box, from Graphi Studio. I opened them in a hurry, heart pounding, soon had the floor covered in bubble wraps, and on my dinning room table sat 3 beautiful albums. These are the epitome of my efforts to present my images in a perfect showcase. After seeing these, holding these, touching the thick pages, smelling the leather, turning the pages, seeing your pictures “in big”, you’ll want one too! When working the layout, I had in mind an elegant design, with clean lines, simple, that will stand the test of time, rather than trendy.
I wish to give all my clients such a treat, these aren’t just a wedding celebration. A new born, a soon-to-leave-your-house-high-school-senior-child, children growing… all deserve a timeless presentation, to pass generations down.
I like to be prepared for the worse, and often run down the list of my most valuable things to save in case of fleeing the house in an emergency: aside from us, all living members of the family, I really couldn’t live without the pictures. ( I love photography:) Seriously, the pictures make the moment past, alive again, they’re the most precious souvenirs to our memories. They give eternity to an instant. That, deserves the best treatment, should be handled with care, and is a treasure.

My happy pile of treasures. The smallest album on the top is an exact smaller copy of the biggest album at the bottom, it’s a “parent book”.

The cover options are endless, classic leather, modern metal, clear… The shapes and sizes of the albums are also plenty. Here, I choose a square black leather, with a square window opening, and linen pages.

I’m also loving these little (5-1/4″x 3-3/4″) albums, perfect replicas of a bigger album, wonderful gifts for family, friends, or wedding party. A perfect size to keep in your purse.

Click on the “button” below to view an example of the layout design. Imagine, the spread you are seeing are 27 inches by 9-3/4 on a metallic paper, sweet!

Meet sweet Elizabeth, 8 weeks old. We got really lucky and she fell asleep for a little while during the session, allowing us a few favorite poses. She has a head full of hair, and plenty of volume! At 2 months, she’s starting to have some cute baby roundness, with those adorable little rolls and dimples…
Just chilling,

I love dimples! I hope her dad won’t be upset with me for showing this picture, but it makes me want to reach into my screen and just squeeze that little derriere. And that charming little chin dimple,

This is my favorite image from the day, I love her bonnet, and her sweet sleepy expression,

It’s Saturday, happy week end everyone!
We have a big day planed, the weather is beautiful, we’ll pack the family on the boat and spend the day on the beach, with a picnic… But first I must post some pictures of these love birds.
Because they live out of town, we only met 2 days before their wedding for their engagement session. But by the end of our time together, I felt like one of their best friends, that’s just how they roll.