This weather is something else! Where is the winter??? Here in Pensacola, I’m photographing babies taking a bath outdoors… Perhaps those deep in snow somewhere around the globe would gladly trade their place with us, however a little cool would be welcome, just enough to pull out of the closet our nice sweaters (weather request totally fashion motivated).
Today, I’m sharing a few images from Olivia’s session. I think her parents should start to check if Rapunzel will accept a room mate. Renee and Sean, thank you so much for coming to me all the way from Crestview Enterprise Alabama(!), it was quite an honor to photograph your beautiful little girl.

Happy New Year to everyone!
Well, it’s been a while… It was Christmas and it had been a long long time since all my family had come to visit. It wasn’t really “all” my family, but a generous group nonetheless, we were 18 frenchies celebrating. We celebrate with gargantuesques meals, I’m on a diet now, a classic new year resolution. It was a fabulous time, very busy, but it all went by too quickly!
I photographed little Marlyn just before they all started arriving and I am very grateful to her family for having been so patient with me.

I couldn’t resist posting this little series that had me smile: the discovery of Marlyn’s umbilical cord by her big sister, Grey…

All babies are miracles, but not a gift to all. This family endured 6 years of several rounds of unsuccessful IVFs and a failed adoption procedure. I can’t imagine the emotional roller-coaster it must have been for them, and now finally a “surprise” baby, an unexpected miracle. Amanda said at first she couldn’t believe she was pregnant, even when her belly started growing, but then, the baby kicking inside her made it all real. He is just perfect.

I hope everyone had a joyous Halloween with many adorable trick-or-treaters at their door. I saw many clever costumes and excited little faces, smeared with candy. One of our neighbors goes “all out” on Halloween and has the most intriguing decorations about his propriety, my children have named his house the cool scary house. Among our favorite items, he has a witch’s broom wondering (on it’s own!!) around his sidewalk, sculpted bust tombstones talking, a witch slowly unfolding herself from the ground asking for a helping hand… And last year, he impressed us all with a “bubble fog” machine producing big bubbles full of fog when you pop them, and some laser light beams directed on the big oak trees giving the magical effect of fireflies. It was enchanting! Needless to say, the next day I hurried to buy the same bubble fogger, laser lights, and last night I had it all set out in our yard. As we visited my ingenious neighbor with our flock of dressed up children, we laughed when he told me some parents, who had been by my house first , had exclaimed “oh, you have the same lights as the Langhorne’s”. His response: “yes, Arielle is quite the trend setter” had Henry really chuckling.
We all know the spirit of Halloween subsides in our houses for a while longer with bright jack-o-lantern baskets filled with candies, it seems though like a tricky bottomless basket with an endless supply of sweets!
Happy Halloween from the Adam Langhorne family!
Mama working on dinner,

Magalie,

Henry, on a night stroll,

Olivia,

Coco, the werwolf,

Will, the ghost,

Before theses pictures might scare you into thinking I’m a total freak, just remember I’m an enthusiastic photoshop adept and nobody was harmed while photographing these, but all were happy with the final result:)

The announcement of the NAPCP image competition was finally released Friday, and I’ve been riding cloud 9th up on the 7th sky since then.
Back in July, as I was frantically busy getting ready for our summer trip to France, I received an email from the NAPCP regarding their annual international competition. The entry’s deadline was end of July, but I had only a day to pack and to decide which images to use. Too much to do, too little time for it all, but how would I ever experience the joy of winning if I never had the time to even submit some images into a competition? With the help of my facebook friends, I narrowed down my choices, and excitedly send off my files. I had big dreams, Frenchy here knows how to paint a colorful fantasy world! The results were expected end of September, and that last week, I must have checked 10 times a day the NAPCP website. They finally announced the competition had received an overwhelming response (somewhere, someone, mentioned over 10 thousand entries, I’m not sure if it was an exaggeration, or a good estimate). The judges needed more time and help, so by the end of October, the results would be announced. It must have been a huge and very difficult task to review all those images, score them, and critique each one of them. My hat goes off to the 3 judges: Tamara Lackey, Brandy Anderson and Sue Bryce for all their time and efforts.
Friday, after my workout, my shower and sending the kids to school, I settled with a cup of tea in front of my computer…drumroll…butterflies dancing wildly in my belly…the first place images in all 7 categories are up, and none belong to me, it’s ok, it was nice to try. It will be very informative to see what the judges had to say about my images. I check my email, see the NAPCP message with my scores, I feel good, those are all very good scores and I agree with the comments and critics. I check again the website to see if the 2nd and 3rd places are announced too, and to my delight 2 of my images have won a placement! Up up up I go, on my happy cloud. And today, I realize an other of my entries received a “merit” award… up goes my cloud still. I feel very good, and very honored to have received such recognition. It is with great pride that I will be able to display the award winning seal of NAPCP on my website from now on.
I urge you to visit the NAPCP website, your eyes will feast on the wide talent displayed through their image gallery and you will also find an amazing amount of fabulous information regarding children photography.
Here are my winning images and the judges comments:

Gorgeous image with beautiful lighting, processing and posing. Love the way the light dances on her face.

Nicely done

Love love this.