Andrea Bacle Photography

A few things:

Still shooting gorgeous sunset pics on the beach.

See images 1-5.

Shot in Galveston-ish–somewhere close to Jamaica Beach.

Does it seem as though I’ve replaced my regular witty banter (with myself) with nerd-like APA-style formatting?

That’s because my dissertation is killing me.

Hello from 2022! I’m coming to this post to add an update because this is still my #1 viewed post of my blog career. People find their way here from Pinterest, so I guess it’s because people are searching for pink rainbow party ideas. If you’re a lover of pink rainbows, I want to advertise my teeny weeny Esty shop for math resources. I went back to my roots and am teaching math again with a handful of travel photography gigs here and there. If you love someone who could use the multiplication table as a resource, check out my shop. Thank you for your support! xo

Now back to the reason you came (originally posted November 26, 2013): 

Sometimes I am lucky enough to be asked to photograph a family’s most exciting events, like the first birthday party. I know your first question is going to be, “Who did this decorating, and how do I hire her?” The fabulous parents of this baby girl stayed up most of the night to finish decorating their house in a beautiful theme of pink rainbow colors and growing up, up, up balloons. I’ll check on their availability for party planning and decorations for you. :) 

My goodness, this birthday girl was the sweetest polka-dotted birthday girl I’ve ever seen. She was talking sooo much–just babbling away the whole party and showing every guest all of the balloons. I love how she is in a sea of rainbow goodness…right down to her first slice of cake. As a former (very amateur) cake decorator myself, I liked the back of this cake as much as the front. People ask me all the time about how to get beautiful wedding or party/event pictures. Here’s the first and most important secret: have a beautiful party. Then hire a great photographer. :)I’m so honored that you asked me to be there for such a special day. I would continue to gush about how happy I am for you and your lovely family of three, but then that would sound overly romantic and nerdy, but I am overly romantic and nerdy, and truth be told, the word I would really use to describe myself would be “quixotic,” but now I’ve said too much and proved my nerdiness. Sorry.

Anyway, I hope you’ve gotten some sleep since the party and can’t wait to show you the rest of your beautiful pictures!

Love, Andrea

Hey, hey. What’s your blog about? Are you a photographer? A videographer?

Are you a shaker, a baker, a candlestick maker?

It doesn’t matter what your creative outlet is, if you’re a blogger, you have certainly run out of ideas for blog posts at some point. Here’s my number one trick for when I don’t know what to write about but I still have to write all the words so it’s recognized as a credible post.

Think about a theme or blog post topic, and include at least three pictures that you want to use in a post. And goodness gracious, if you borrow the picture from another source on the internet, cite the photographer or website where you got it. Then, for every image you post, tell a little story about each one.

When you’re crafting your story, remember your audience.

Are you selling a product? Who would buy it? Would it make a great gift? Mention that. Who is your reader and who would she buy the gift for? Give her some ideas. Here’s an example blog post about a product I have in my small Etsy shop, which I have to help pay for my GED coaching work.

Are you writing a photography blog post? Is this a sneak peek of an entire gallery of images? Your audience is going to be the momma of the family in the pictures. Also, your audience is the future momma who wants the same pictures of her babies, so remember to articulate how these pictures could work with her unique situation, location, or family members.

Here’s an example using a mini-session I did one of these years ago but never posted.

Ask yourself these four questions:

1. What is the point of the post? For this one, I would use it to advertise upcoming mini-sessions.
2. Who is the audience? The mommas I want to book those sessions with.
3. What is the story? This sweet baby girl and the benefit of using mini-sessions to get “the shot.”
4. What is the title of the post? “A mini-session might be the best choice for your family’s annual holiday card photo.”

By the way, we are great friends with this sweet family, but some of these details may not be true. This was two years ago, and I just don’t remember. This was back when I was pulling all-nighters in my doctoral work while teaching math and coaching businesswomen and running my small photography business. My brain has double bolted that filing cabinet shut. You know how they say that you’re able to recall memories if you get back into the same mental state you were in when it happened? I would have to multiply my stress level by 10, be awake at 3am with a fresh pot of coffee, while physically feeling my individual hairs turning gray. As much fun as that sounds, I’ll just make up a little tale for you.

You know how no one besides Momma wants to take family pictures? Why is that, by the way? Don’t we do everything for our people, and all we ask for in return is for you all to happily pose for a few pictures? Well, the mini-session might be the answer for all of us.

(This is where you link back to any previous posts you’ve written to explain what mini-session are, or you should link to the advertisement you’ve created with the upcoming mini-session details.)

This little gal made her holiday card debut this year. Since we did a mini-session that only took about 5 minutes–really!–we were able to get a few quick shots of Daddy and Big Brothers holding her.

And then we let her run!

The beauty of the mini-session is that we want to get the one shot of the family and then a few updated ones of the kiddos. Everyone posed, and then I followed the little lady around.

This is one of my favorite Momma-and-Me poses. The babies always giggle, and the mommas are always so happy to play.

I hope this helps you think about what to include in your blog posts. The danger I was always found was that I seemed to say “Isn’t she so cute?!” in every post, so I had to mix it up a little. It’s okay if you use similar words every time, but then you’re competing with yourself for SEO. You’ll want to use a variety of words when you can. I’m one to talk, though. For a while, I was really worried my kids’ first sentences would be, “You are so cute!”

xo, Andrea

P.S. If you are interested in one-on-one tailored coaching for your business, give me a shout for more ideas like this. I’m full of ’em. :)

Post, post script, I fully realize that all of my posts may seem scattered. However, all of the funnels I have for affiliate links (once I get approved through Etsy, I will change these links to affiliate links) and businesses and coaching programs all lead to my passion in life, which is working with GED-seeking women. I want to do all of this other work so I can offer my services for free to them. Thank you for reading and clicking or any other good vibes you send my way. xo

Yes, I start all of my sentences with “first of all,” because who isn’t a fan of a well-written list? I figure each spoken paragraph should get the same treatment. The problem is that my husband tells me I never get around to the “second of all” bit. My guess is that is probably because I’m already on to the next one by then.

So, FIRST OF ALL, I’m still sorting out my plans. When I say “my plans,” I really mean “my life.”

Obvi.

Wait. I think this would be articulated best via a numbered list.

1. I have finished studenting. Yay! Here’s my proof:

2. I am part-time GED teaching and part-time coaching (academics and business) all the time. I am also actively searching for a full-time job in adult education. Ideally, I would love to consult community colleges with their GED programs and students.

Ahem. Dear Universe, I really want to work for the GED Testing Service. If I may throw in the title I want? Community Colleges Consultant. Pretty please with sugar on top.

Can I somehow @ the spectacularly good-looking, kind, and extremely intelligent people at GED and send them magical notifications to read my blog? I’ll get my almost teenager on the case. I’m confident she can use SnapChat to solve this riddle.

Ok, but on the real, real, real. If you or someone you know wants to earn the GED, I promise it’s not too late. Go register at GED.com to get started, or call me, and I’ll help get that thing once and for all. You’ve got this. For real. Turn this off and head to GED.com. Did you get that? GED.com

3. So, if you can’t tell, I don’t have time to take pictures anymore. Even if I could squeeze you in, my shutter count on my practically now-vintage camera is–NOT KIDDING–100,000 clicks beyond its estimated lifespan. So, I’m rightfully terrified that it’s going to die mid-shoot. I always bring a backup camera, of course, but I charge a lot of money. I don’t think my fancy clients would be thrilled at my camera springs exploding or disintegrating in my face mid-shoot. I have no interest in dropping several more thousands of dollars into a shiny new camera, especially when cell phone cameras are getting better by the nanosecond.

Also, my Photoshop version is old. Like, old, old. Like, Instagram and my second child weren’t even created yet old. I’m very cranky about spending a monthly fee for Creative Cloud–their online version that you have to subscribe to, which is not cool. I bought and paid for this one with my first-ever photography gig profits. I’m very attached to it. It still works right now, but the laptop I am writing this on just had its second visit to the computer hospital, and the outlook is dismal. Once it goes to PC heaven, my Photoshop will ascend with it.

4. But, I sure love this little blog of mine. I get why people post reels and stories and updates on social media. This was my version of talking to my “followers” back in those days when I also wanted to brag to the world about the lovely clients I had and the gorgeous shots I had created.

I have already closed my Facebook business page and have turned down many kind clients, so I was thinking that I should turn this off as well.

However, I have a lot of content over 12-ish years that just feels wrong to flush and delete. And, although I haven’t done a spectacular job at keeping it updated or even showcasing my favorite work, I’m still getting a lot of web traffic. While it’s nice for a few pennies in clicks, it’s not so good for people who really need to find a photographer. I imagine it’s quite frustrating to find my website and not have any up-to-date information.

5. It finally dawned on me. (Time for the next layer of list: the sub-list.)

a. It’s time to monetize my blogs in a smarter way. Oh, yes, it’s coming to all of them.

b. I’ll do it by continuing to post informative photography-related rants posts to educate people on how to pose big families or how to attract clients for a special photo session, etc.

Sidenote: Remember how way back in the day you had to write 300+ words for Google to recognize it as a solid post? Well, hold onto your hats, buddies, because they are now recommending 1000-2000+ words per post. You thought I was rambling before? Let me give you an Amazon affiliate link here so you can go and buy said hat.

I’m not kidding. That was my segue to beg you all to start using my affiliate links to buy lovely things to support my bigger mission of helping women earn their GEDs. So, for real, bro. Go buy some stuff and help at least two moms out. I’m one of those gals, if that wasn’t clear.

Ah, great news. I just received the email approval for affiliate links through Esty, as well. I’ll always try to find items on there to support a fellow small business owner when possible. Okay, standby on that. It’s not as intuitive as the Amazon affiliates, so here’s a link to my favorite shop in the meantime: Sun Is Up Shop. She started as a client and has since become a friend who has made me many beautiful items over the years.

The latest is this very cool envelope clutch.

Sheesh. Are we at one thousand words yet? See what I did there? Writing out 1000 adds two more words. I’m at that point of sixth-grade life when you write that “the book was very, very, very, very, interesting” to hit the word count–as if any of you would believe that this little nerd would ever have done that. We met friends for kayaking the other day, and my mom friend asked me, “Oh, did you know about the waiver? Did you fill yours out online ahead of time?” I said, “Of course,” which really meant, “Woman. You have known me for 12 years. Have you ever known me to NOT follow the rules and do the homework for class?”

Y’all. Clearly, I’m struggling with this thousand-word foolishness. Okay, I am going to wrap this up. I have no doubt I’ve lost the four readers I had, so it’s really become more of a journal entry at this point. Back to my 6th-grade-ish ways, I guess.

Dear Diary, I worry that my friends will think I’m a sellout for using affiliate links in all of my old blog posts. Will they still respect me tomorrow? PS, I have a crush on a blue-eyed boy. He has gray whiskers in his beard, which make him look really distinguished.

xo, Dr. Andie

FYI, this is my new and improved name. Since Baylor University upgraded me from Former Captain, I’ve changed it. Now no one will mispronounce my first name as On-DRAY-uh and no one even has to attempt Bacle anymore.

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Hey, y’all! I wanted to give an update for anyone looking for pictures and do a little educational post (#nerdforeva) about sunset pics at the same time. I am still in business while I finish up this degree, but I am only taking a few photo gigs this summer.

Although, it has been so long since I’ve posted that wordpress has changed the format for blog posts. I appreciate that they think my brain has enough cells left available to learn a new system. Cute.

Another important announcement: I am only taking beach pics for the foreseeable future. If you’re already planning to call me for Christmas card pictures, I have bad news for you. Unless, of course, you invite me to a beautiful tropical location for those family card images. I hear the overwater bungalows in Maldives are quite lovely in December. Wait. Is it THE Maldives? I’m not sure, but I know there’s one way to find out….

So, when you call me about beach pics–these were all taken in Galveston, btw–I’m probably going to ask you what time of day you’d like to do them. I’m always going to suggest to do them when the crankiest person in the family will be happiest. Sometimes that is 7am for toddlers. I get it. One of my kids woke up at 6am on the dot for YEARS. The other kid slept like a proper baby. I’ll let you sort out which one is my favorite. ;)

Anyway, if you would like some sunset pics, there is a big difference between the hour before and the hour after sunset. These first pics were taken as the sun was nearly all the way down, from 8:20-8:50ishpm.

I included this one because I wanted to show that the sunset colors really were that spectacular and not photoshopped. But, now that I am writing it, I guess I could have also photoshopped her phone screen. But, y’all! They were really real. I promise. It was kind of ridiculous.

This last one was taken around 9pm, well after the sun was down. I personally love the colors and think it’s a cool option to change up from the usual beach pictures you probably have. Also, as good as the cell phone cameras are these days, they still aren’t great when there is little light, so that’s when the professional cameras pay off.

If you prefer a lighter look, definitely go for the earlier side of sunset. These next few were taken about 30-45 minutes before sunset, so we could still get some good color in the sky. If you back it up to an hour or more before sunset, the sky will still be pretty bright, like these, which are still beautiful. If you like the more pastel-y beach pics, try for a little closer to sunset time. Also, when you finally decide on that perfect time and sky color, remember that it will go down FAST. Be ready, and don’t be late for your appointment, or you may end up with a gallery of post-sunset colors. This has happened plenty of times with clients with me, but–hair toss–you know I pulled out some magic.

It’s hard to go wrong on a beautiful beach with happy people, but I hope this helps you narrow down a time you’d like.

Call me for a beach shoot or wish me luck on finishing this lovely dissertation…if only that photoshop magic would translate to word documents.

xo, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Hey, hey! I am in the middle of going to school, teaching school, and helping my kids with online school, but I see that I have had lots of web traffic lately, so I thought I’d write a new post. Maybe more people are at home and have already watched YouTube twice, or they are wondering when they can take pictures again.

(If you need updated pictures now, I have a mask and a long lens!)

I have also been wondering if and when we will have events again–what will they look like? I wanted to share the lovely pictures I did for a fancy-pants event at The Woodlands T&Co way back when we didn’t wear masks and could gather together. I was able to bring along my second shooter + model + photog assistant. Now, once I get my son skilled on the drone, we’ll be a one-stop-shop family business for all your photography needs.

We fancy.

The event was celebrating their T&Co line of Color Block Coffee & Tea sets. They also had a ribbon-tying class and contest.

If you are ready to start planning, I am taking bookings for events and weddings for the fall. Thank you, photo friends, for checking in! xo

Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Are you building your business and your brand? Make sure you know how to keep your finances separated between business and home life. I offer coaching services if you need help with that. Also, here’s a link for the credit card I use for all of my business purchases to keep everything straight and make life easier come tax time: Capital One.

So, have you heard the good news? I’m one year down with two to go in my doctoral program at Baylor! The best part of a Zoom meeting degree? It lets me keep up my crazy travel pace. Now, if I could just avoid the studying, reading, writing, and all-nighters, it would be really fantastic.

So, it’s January of a new year and that means I am planning out all of my travel trips for the year. Most of my shoots will be on location this year, so I thought I’d post about this one that’s been sitting in my “drafts” tab since last year.

My oh-so-gorgeous friend needed new headshots and branding images, so I packed my camera bag for Los Angeles (and Santa Monica and Marina del Rey and Venice Beach) and shot my new favorite postcards.

My most favorite travel spot on the planet is Venice, Italy, so I made sure we went to Venice Beach in Cali, so I could see our American version of the canals (if you don’t count The Venetian in Vegas, which is also pretty fantastic). It didn’t disappoint. It’s just as darling as I hoped it would be.

Not that I would ever fib (because I am old and don’t care about looking cool), but I change my hair color far too often to ever pretend this just happened. I would tell you how long ago it was, if I could remember. I’m pretty sure it was sometime in 2019. That’s the best I can give you.

This is my favorite pic I took of this lovely lady, and then scroll down to see what was on the cover of my in-flight magazine on the next trip I took. See? I told you I was cool.

We made sure we had some fun in between the hard jobs of modeling and photographing. Found the best star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!

Selfie museum. Who knew this was a thing? We’re so Hollywood. 

Because you know I am the Queen of Obvious:

Yes, I do have the best job ever.

Need a gal to drive you around a cool city and take your fabulous pics? Call me. I’ll be your uberazzi any day! 508.768.5808

xo, Andrea

Finally, this post may contain affiliate links. Any purchase you make from these links will go towards helping GED-seeking students achieve their goals. Thank you.

Dang. One of the hardest parts of being a kid? When you have to move or your friends move away. We had to get this little crew of besties together before they had to say goodbye for a while.

Pro tip: When you want to schedule a photo sesh with a group of kids, the trick is to give them something to do. They don’t want to sit and smile at the camera for long, so make sure you have a plan. Bubbles, a new toy to throw around, a playground…all of these work. The trick is to not let them play with whatever your plan is before the shoot. If you’re going to have something fun to try out or play with, like a kite or frisbee or new football, don’t let them see it until the camera is ready to shoot, so you can capture the surprise and genuine smiles.

For this group, we played in the fall leaves. In Texas, we don’t have too many “play in the fall leaves” opportunities. My lovely Momma client had a few trees in her front yard that had just the right leaves, and then we timed the play date for right before sunset. They had a blast!

These two have a history of climbing trees together, so we had to get a good shot of them together.

Can you tell Little Bro wasn’t interested in getting in the shot? That was as close as he was willing to get. 

I hope these kiddos are together again some day. If not, they’ll always have these memories and pics. On another note, when you do take pics of your littles with their besties, don’t forget to print a few copies to put in their rooms and some to send to their new pen pals.

Happy fall!

xo, Andrea

Hello, little one! I had to include this precious little cross eyed look, because it makes me smile. He was still so little that his age could still be counted in hours, yet he was acting like he knew exactly what was up. He was awake and looking around and–not kidding–starting to hold his head up already. In a past life, I think he must have been a wise old man. He came out seeming to know everything.

So, you’re a natural model who loves to look straight into my camera? Please tell your friends this is how you do it.

There is something so special about introducing siblings to each other for the first time. What’s cool is how they’ll grow up together and get to know each other and then will always be able to see the first few moments of meeting.

This is my most favorite picture. Momma couldn’t look more beautiful mere hours after doing the most impressive work of all. Middle is still a baby herself, sweetly clinging to her momma’s body, still soft from carrying and growing a baby. Big brother is already fulfilling his role of watching over and taking care of his little bro, while Momma happily holds all three of her little ones at once.

Can you tell I love what I do? The beauty of motherhood and bringing new life into the world will never cease to amaze me. I think I must have been a midwife in a past life.

Oh, precious family, I really am so honored to capture these moments for you. Getting to watch your babies grow is the best part of my job!

Love, Andrea

Hey, families! If you’re wanting a similar hospital session (these are often referred to as “Fresh 48” sessions in the photography world), give me a call so we can pencil in your due date. I always leave certain days open in my calendar just for my sweet newborns and their unpredictability. xoxo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

This darling family and I go all the way back to when our boys were 3. Their biggest and our son went to pre-k together. Mine went for one semester, because he wanted to be with his sister; when she was done, he was done. I’m hoping her future husband and kids are going to be ok with the tiny house he’ll–probably permanently–set up in their backyard. I’ve been telling him he has to move out at 18 since he was a baby (I knew he would need that much time to mentally prepare), but she hasn’t told him he can’t be figuratively attached to her hip, so I fully expect that to happen.

So the best thing to come out of pre-k? Meeting this family. Since we’ve met and I started shooting them, they have moved away and had another baby, yet we are (thankfully!) able to keep seeing each other (I don’t think I ever blogged our Austin session; here’s one from a holiday session with “snow”). This year, the gorgeous momma of (now three!) boys asked if I would come to Florida to get the family pictures on the beach she has always dreamed of. She didn’t have to ask twice.

This is technically part #1 of 2, because we did two full sessions. It was really windy and pretty chilly on the beach, so we set aside time to document the newest and littlest bro’s 3-month-ness.

Sweet family, I feel so honored to get the chance to watch your babies (and your family) grow over the years. Can’t wait for the next one! xoxo

Love, Andrea

Dear Mommas taking your families on vacay, consider calling me to shoot your vacation for you. I find that when on vacation, everyone is less stressed and the sessions are always more fun. For summer/fall 2019, I have San Antonio, Austin, Boston, and New York on the books. If I’m coming to your city, give me a shout!

So, I had a lovely lady call me about doing Christmas-card pictures for her family and she said she wanted to hire me, because

“I love your humor in your blog posts, and I thought, ‘I think this girl is kind of funny.'”

Um, excuse me?! Did we just become BEST FRIENDS?!

Yup. You really get me. I’m thinking let’s just go ahead and include me in the Christmas card shot. I’ll bring a tripod.

What’s so funny is that as of November 2018, my daughter wants to be a stand-up comedienne when she grows up. Talk about trying to win over my heart (or desperately trying to win your parent’s affection). My darling, I love you already. You don’t have to get your own Netflix special to try and make me happy.

But if you get to grow up and one day host Saturday Night Live, I FULLY EXPECT to be a guest in your monologue. I don’t know, we’ll make a joke about how I’m the oldest living lady who still quotes old Will Ferrell movies, or something. Not to worry. We’ll figure it out.

Getting back on track–my point is that my 4-8ish fairly consistently loyal blog readers must get super bummed when I don’t post in a while, and I apologize.

The problem is that I’m totally out of jokes; my brain is empty. This is a sign that I have too much on my plate. I teach pre-algebra part time at our local community college, and I try to bring them back from flatlining on fractions with some silly jokes. The ones they really loved the other day were

What do you call a bunch of friends who do math together? Algebros.

What do you call a bunch of little kids who do math together? Pre-algebros.

It brought the house down.

Just kidding. Obviously. They’ve really created a little class community and have come together to give me a collective groan/eye roll combination. I’ve sort of forgotten what real laughter sounds like.

So, here’s the point and the big, big news:

I’ve been sitting on a little secret for a month. I’ve been accepted to Baylor’s Ed.D. program!! I’m over-the-moon excited.

I went to campus today to pick up my books, get my student ID, and of course……get the sweatshirt. It’s not officially official until you go to the campus bookstore and get the sweatshirt. 

So, since I have

1. momma (including maid, chef, and chauffeur services)
2. wifey (yes, he still tolerates me)
3. teacher (LSC and teaching photography/Photoshop classes)
4. photographer (still traveling and shooting regularly)
5. coach (Shoot with Passion®)
6. volunteer (Harvard interviewer and Houston fair organizer)
7. student (Baylor Bears!!)

on my plate, I have to give up something. I’m thinking that I am going to have to really scale back on taking pics in the new year. That being said, if you want pics, I am going to be a crazy person taking as many jobs as I can between now and January 1. I say it all the time, but if you want a shoot, don’t wait! Call now! Come January, I’m gonna say no, unless you have a really, really, really good story + lots of coffee to give me.

And, I know you’re wondering. Of course I went by the silos.

Love you, guys! xo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Sigh.

People. I’m down to one tooth.

I can hear it falling already. I can already see it. In my mind’s eye, I can visualize it falling, and I can hear the slow-motion sound of that last little tooth falling out of his head and *dink* onto the kitchen floor. That last big center tooth is the final little piece of baby-ness he has.

And it’s loose.

Sigh.

He was not happy about it, but I made him pose for me for a two-minute shoot to document this moment in time. Ok, I may have had to pull out a crude-ish, 2nd-grade-style joke or two to get a smile, but we made it happen. 

What’s your little dude’s final thing that’s baby-ish? Goodness gracious, people, get a good picture of it!

And, I know this one doesn’t even show the grin gap, but, c’mon, how could I not share this face with the world? I am guessing there is a finite time that I’m allowed to refer to him as the “most beautiful creature,” so today I will.

MOST BEAUTIFUL CREATURE:

Maybe I can talk him into wearing footie pajamas for me.

Lovely friends, starting in January 2019, I will be taking fewer and fewer sessions per month. I know everyone is about to begin the holiday frenzy, but it’s not too early to start looking at next year’s calendar if you are wanting some pics.

Of course, if there is a tooth emergency, just appeal to the heartbroken Momma in me, and I’ll be there.

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

P.S. One of the reasons I’m taking fewer photo clients is because I’m taking more coaching clients. If you are a photographer or know a photographer who needs some helping getting profitable and de-stressed, call me. I’d love to help! xoxo

https://andreabaclephotography.com/shoot-with-passion-tm/

Do you still have a little dude at home during the day? The big kids are too big for this, but do you have a little dude that wears jammies all day, still plays with Matchbox cars, and has toys in a tent in the living room? Gosh, how I miss those days. Now, I know you take lots of pictures, but have you taken any pictures? When the gorgeous momma of this little dude–

BTW, I get to meet and know the most fabulous women that are so remarkable you just can’t even believe they don’t run the universe. I’m pretty sure the momma of this dude made a cameo in B’s “Run the World.”

–when she called me to book a session and shoot this guy’s birthday party, she told me that her most favorite pic she has of him is one that was candid and unplanned. He was in between being changed and rolling around, and I was making silly noises and making him laugh and captured the sweetest little smile. That’s the one she has printed and looks at every day.

A lot of times, moms will call to schedule pics and they instantly start planning the PERFECT location with the PERFECT coordinating outfits, so they can all pose and take the PERFECT family pics.

My point is that those are great for the “Christmas card shot,” but the ones the mommas usually love the most? The candid moments that show love and laughs and happy babies. Because that’s all we really want, right?

Also, when I reminisce about times when my babies were at home all day, I remember the UNO games and cooking together and riding bikes. The posed family pics are nice, but the memories of fun times are what I cherish.

If your babies aren’t babies anymore, surely you remember favorite pairs of jammies they wore. If you do still have a jammie-wearing little one, make sure you get a great picture. In a blink, they will be so little they will look like baby clothes.

Family, thank you for letting me capture these precious days for you.

Love, Andrea

If you want your own “jammies session” of your littlest kiddo, give me a shout.

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com 

xoxo

Have you ever thrown a party? It was super easy and stress-free right?

Um, no. Not ever.

You made or bought food and cake, sent out invitations, answered all of the questions in texts and emails with answers that were CLEARLY written on the invitations, put up decorations, furiously cleaned up by shoving things in drawers around the house…you get the idea.

Please, please tell me you were a good planner and put at the top of your to-do list:

1. HIRE A PHOTOGRAPHER. If you don’t have the budget, I’ll give you two suggestions:

a. Give Uncle Joe the assignment (he’s probably reminded you already that he has a new, fancy camera) and have him work the party as your photog. It’s very important to have a plan for HOW you will get access to those pics, though.

b. Save money from something else. Skip the party favors or serve a vegetarian meal or have the party at 2pm and just serve cake. One way or another, rearrange the budget to pay someone to take pics.

Because, you know how people say that if you didn’t get a picture, it didn’t happen? I have to admit that I find that to be true for me, because if I didn’t get pics of it, there is no way I’ll ever remember it happened. You want that kiddo to remember his over-the-top super fantastic 10-year-old spiderman-themed (ok, I have no idea what 10yo dudes are into, clearly) party when he’s a teenager and claiming that you’ve never done anything for him?! Guess what? You’ll have all the evidence on photo paper. That reminds me, #printyourpics.

These pics are from the most recent event I shot: a sweet brunch honoring the newest member of one of my favorite families. When I shoot an event, I always make sure I get there a few minutes before the guests arrive, so I can get shots of all the sweet touches.

Lots of “pass the baby” pics:

Whether it’s a bride and groom or graduating senior or senior citizen, I always make sure I take a few pics of the guest of honor. Obviously, we’re in love. 

And just when you thought they’d made the cutest boy ever, they went and did it again.

I also love special events like this, because it’s hard to get family together, and it’s so nice to see everyone celebrating together. There’s something so sweet about cousins getting to hang out:

Thank you, lovely family, for allowing me to capture these special events for you. I feel so honored to do it!

Love, Andrea

People, when you’re ready to host your own special occasion, call me. xoxo

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

I recently found my old high school scrapbook (NOT my lame calendar–to be clear), and it had a question that asked, “Where will you live in 20 years?” I wrote “Dallas, Texas!” and my husband first interviewed in Dallas when we moved from Boston, but I thought that it was sweet that my heart has always belonged in Texas.

I’m SO glad we ended up in Houston, because I LOVE IT. I really find it super-duper annoying when people (especially the ones who live here) complain about it. What’s not to love??

The weather,

Yes, I do love the weather. Don’t even try and tell me that it is as hot as hell here, because there is no heat that is as bad as having to dig your car out of ice and snow.

THAT is hell.

the people, the food, the culture, the HEBs, the sports, all the parks. Seriously, David Bacle, get on board. Not to worry, people, he doesn’t read this.

Anyway, when one of my very favorite families called for their annual pics, we came up with the idea to shoot in our favorite town: HOUSTON! They typically spend their year traveling the world, and they ended up spending their summer traveling around Texas, so we thought Houston would be a perfect spot for pics this year.I usually don’t prefer to shoot in full sun, but I thought it would be nice to change it up. We’ve often done lovely sunset/”golden hour” pics together, so I thought that super bright sun would match the fun colors of the artwork. So when you decide to go for a midday shoot, you’re going to have to get creative when you need some portrait-style/closeups. You’ll want to find what we call “open shade,” so you don’t have the harsh, contrasted shadows on your lovely clients’ faces. If there are “blown out” (super bright white) spots in the background, your brain will be okay with it as long as the faces look good. However, when the landscape is part of the shot, go for the full sun! It will look great.I had the littlest here pose for me in true full sun, because I like the background colors, but it’s also a good way to get away with changing it up from the usual look-and-smile pose. I like to use sunglasses or hats or good ol’ make-a-silly-face-for-me pose. The shadows on his face end up adding some interest, instead of being distracting. If he had a normal smile looking at the camera, the shadows would seem too harsh. 

Thanks for a fun shoot in Houston, family. It was great fun, as usual!

xoxo, Andrea

Call me for your own H-town shoot, full sun or not. 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

You know I’ve already named myself Self-Declared Galveston Ambassador, right? I’m still deciding on if I should go with a sash or a crown….

Well, as part of my responsibilities, I get calls, emails, and texts–no kidding–from my non-Galveston friends (or their friends that they send my way) at least once a week asking me about what there is to do in Galveston: where to stay, where to eat, where to shop. You get the idea.

As I was responding to a friend of a friend who was wondering about taking her twin 3-year-olds to Pleasure Pier, I told this to the world travel expert MommyPoints (the most prolific blog post writer and winner of blogging) and she said, “Well, do you have a blog post you can send them to?” Ummm, no. I have it written down on my blog post to-do list for the past 5 years. Does that count?

So, I’m going to start to post things one at a time or as I can get to it, so I’ll have a place to point people.

First things first. You know it is critically important to me that I support small businesses,

so the first place I want to mention is the Kitchen Chick. You can’t miss it on the corner of Market Street downtown. (2402 Market St; closed on Tuesdays)

It’s the most darling little boutique kitchen shop you’ve ever seen

with the cutest displays.She’s recently moved from her adorable but tiny space we first started going to when we finally ventured away from the beach and started exploring Galveston downtown to this big, beautiful space on Market Street.

It’s a great place for cool kitchen gifts:

How cute are these TX ice cubes? I use them for my afternoon iced coffee.

I went in on my last visit to pick up a gift certificate, and I asked about her kids’ cooking classes and camps. It turned out that we magically had this week available and I had a client waiting on me to come back for a shoot, so I booked it for my daughter. Although my little dude likes cooking, he’s not interested in moving beyond scrambled eggs at this point.

Here are a few fun shots from camp.

She even has a cute table for “making” sandwiches and cookies for your littles……and a spot for Little Brother to sit when he’s waiting on pickup after class (and Momma to finish taking pictures). 

The best part is after class is over, your tiny chef comes out with recipes and a little taste testing. I’ll take that, thank you….

The Chick is already kind of Galveston famous (really, everyone I’ve told why we’re here this week knows you!), but if you’re from out of town and haven’t heard of this lovely shop, stop in and say hi–and support a small business, of course.

Or you might spy it from the Galveston Duck Tour (post to come on my review of that adventure):

Thanks, Galveston and Kitchen Chick, for another wonderful week of family memories!

If you’re a Galveston business owner or know a Galveston shop who would be perfect for a review on here, give me a shout.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

When clients turn into friends and lifelong clients, I recommend one of two ways to take pics: 1. Set an annual date and stick to it. I usually recommend near Mother’s Day or Mom’s Birthday, because we all know that it’s Momma who wants the pictures taken. OR 2. Take me up on my mini-session offers throughout the year.

That’s what this VIP family does. They often take me up on the unique mini-shoots I offer. They pick one or two of their favorites to create gorgeous, big artwork, and they have beautiful galleries of art in their home with a wide variety of images. If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll probably recognize these littles from their mini-session at the beach.

The momma of these girls loves trees, so she just whipped up some dresses to match the scene.

Here’s her Instagram info, if you want to follow all of the fun things she makes; she also has an Etsy shop. R, do you want to advertise it? Feel free to link it in the comments.

https://www.instagram.com/rachelsewknitplay/

Remember 5 years ago when they were royal blue? This year, two patches are painted: lime green and baby blue.

This was like stepping into a real-life Alice in Wonderland moment. The girls were laughing and twirling, the petals were falling, the sun couldn’t have been more beautiful, and we had such a blast. 

Here’s a post-shoot pic of my little one that I recreated from five years ago: http://thebacles.blogspot.com/bluetrees

Sweet family, it was so great to see you again. We just upgraded B’s bike and she asked if she could give her old one to your girls. :)

I hope you love these. Until the next session….

Love, Andrea

For anyone wanting your own session in the trees, the paint won’t last forever, so don’t wait. andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Hey, hey, party people! How’s life these days? I’ve shared it on Facebook, but I never posted here: I was lucky enough to be featured on Voyage Houston recently as…I’m not totally sure. Photographer? Coach for business women? Overall groovy chick? I’m not sure, but it was fun and cute, and I love all things Houston. :) Here’s the link–the first pic with me and my dancing little was taken by the oh-so-lovely Stefanie of www.frazellephotography.com.

So, when one of my favorite former brides called and asked for her own fun pics for her own fun feature, I jumped at the opportunity! I’m so excited to share these pics of my cutie pie friend Kelly of https://www.kellyqscakes.com/. She wanted a colorful, Houston-y background, so I offered up several options, and she picked Discovery Green for her background.

**For you lovely photographers scouting locations, there is a $10 fee for shooting there. It takes less than a minute to submit and pay online. It’s worth it, because it’s such a great park for taking pics–tons of options.

Kelly is a super fabulous chef/cake baker extraordinaire; I’m sharing her info here, but I’m sure she gets booked up fast and just recently switched to weddings only. If you’re wanting a cake, don’t wait to book!

So, if you’re wondering why she is decorated in disco lights, you’ll have to keep scrolling….

…and yes, she made that cake. 

I spy with my little eye–a disco cake stand! I mean–the coolest, right?!

A BOSS BABE with a whisk. Can’t beat it. <– ;)

My lovely, you are as gorgeous and as sweet as ever. I’m going to pretend it hasn’t been 5 years since your wedding, because that would mean we are getting middle-aged–just kidding, that’s just me. Thanks for a fun shoot!

Love, Andrea

Friends, I hope you are having the most fabulous summer ever. Call me with all of the fun photo ideas. xoxo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

When one of your fave clients requests a nursing session and leaves the location up to you? You go to the beach, of course.

The lovely momma of this little dude and I go all the way back to her engagement session. Just a wedding, pregnancy, baby, five years, and here we are–on the beach, holding one of the cutest and sweetest boys ever. I know I’m partial, but GOODNIGHT, I am a fan of this kid.  

I’m not posting any images on here, but the point of this shoot was to get some nursing shots. Despite one truck with a crew of beach maintenance dudes who gave us a wave and several thumbs up, we had practically the entire beach to ourselves for some sweet mommy-and-me bonding pics. I, of course, have no problem with some amazing mom-boobs–I could go on and on about how flippin’ amazing and miraculous and downright cool it is that moms can feed their babies FROM THEIR OWN BODIES. But, I’ll refrain. I mean, I am friends with her husband and her parents and they may not be cool with his wife’s/their daughter’s boobs on the internet, and then it’ll turn into a whole big boob thing…. 

Ok, on the real, I don’t think anyone would care at all, but you know the drill with the 300-word-minimum for these posts, right? I mean, I can only talk about how cute this kid is for so many words.

Ugh. The way he’s holding his momma and gripping her shirt and looking at the camera and the wind in her dress and hair…I dig all of it. 

Remember that weekend when everyone was going nuts about the blue water in Galveston? This was the week prior to that, and the water was rather clear and extra pretty. I think we timed it just right. 

Beautiful lady, I’m so glad to know you and your family and your amazing little dude. Thanks for tolerating the crazy wind for my love of beach pics. :)

Love, Andrea

Hey, people. I’m shooting in Galveston again in July. Give me a shout. 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

So, remember that one time I got to take headshots on that private jet with the coolest chick ever on the coolest day ever?

Just kidding. I know you do.

I’ve been cramming it down your throats for the past three months. I figure if I talk about it enough, www.JetSmarter.com will just go ahead and give me an honorary membership. I’m fairly certain they would only do that for “influencers,” but I mean–c’mon–I have direct influence over TWO WHOLE PEOPLE who will be able to buy their own tickets in as little as 16-ish years. So, there’s that to think about, JetSmarter.

Anyway, you know how much I love to support a working gal, so I wanted to make sure I give one last push for you to go and vote for Summer of Mommy Points.

USA TODAY included Mommy Points in their “10 Best” Reader’s Choice awards for the Best Miles and Points Blog category! So cool, right?! Today is the last day to vote. Don’t wait!

VOTE HERE

Last week I posted a video in my FB group asking about who you spend time with. This is what I’m talking about. You know how you have some women in your life, and they are so awesome that they make you motivated to go out and do good things?

At the same time, you also think, “Good night. How does she do it?? How is she awesome at everything?” And I’m guessing Summer would probably say something to the effect of, “I’m not awesome at everything by any means. I’m just working and raising a family like everyone else.”

Yes. We all are. Even the supermoms are really just doing their best.

(And if you are reading this and often compare yourself to those supermoms in a negative way? Ease up, lady. We are all out there trying our best. And guess what? No one is doing it all right all the time. At the end of the day, we are trying to be happy and healthy. You are a supermom, too.)

So, when I see Summer doing it so well–handling being a fun and cool mom with this groovy job she’s created for herself, I really have thought: Ok, but really–how does she do it??

Well, when we spent a workday together (I mean, can I really get away with calling this a “work” day?), I found out.

This lady doesn’t quit.

It’s no wonder she can write dozens of blog posts a month, because she’s always writing. She’s always posting online and keeping her followers up to date, and they love her! Really, every blog post usually has dozens of comments from people also wanting to share tips and help each other out. What a great service to give to the world.  

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Rise and Grind.” Well, I prefer “Rise and Hustle.” This morning at the bus stop, my daughter said, “So what are you going to do with your life today?” I said, “Ooh, good question,” and then proceeded to list about 30 hours’ worth of work. It is a non-stop hustle out there for a mom with a small business.

And like I tell my husband when he gets frustrated at how hard it is when I’m giving him camera lessons (because I’m really trying to teach him how to be my second shooter):

Just because I make it look easy doesn’t mean it is.

And Summer makes it look easy, but don’t think for one second that she’s not working hard all the time. So, do me a favor and vote for my friend and fellow hustler: VOTE HERE

Happy November, y’all! I am already making lots of travel plans for 2018, so if you need a little hustler as your carry-on, give me a shout.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

So every day after school, I ask my kids the same question: What did you do that was kind or generous for someone today?

They are in the habit so much that sometimes they tell me before I even get a chance to ask. They are excited to tell me.  And every once in awhile, they can’t remember anything, so that gives us the opportunity to still do something kind that afternoon.

Perhaps my biggest challenge as a mom is trying to find the right balance of creating a super rad and blissfully happy childhood experience without letting them become total self-centered brats. And they aren’t. They are good kids. But, I don’t let them act unappreciative. I seriously once told my then 4-year-old after she was uncontrollably crying about her “terrible life,” that I’d strip her room down to the mattress and then we’d talk about what terrible is.

(Umm, what do you mean you’re also concerned about their “super rad and blissfully happy childhood”?? They’re fine.)

We talk A LOT about being grateful and thankful that we have such a wonderful family and a warm house to live in and lots of healthy food to eat and clean clothes to wear and very fun trips to go on. (There are THOUSANDS of people in Houston and Puerto Rico and all over the world who can’t say that, and my heart aches for them.)

So the point of all this is to say two important things, because it does feel a bit unseemly to write about something as ostentatious as riding in a private jet while so many people are hurting.

1. I was working. This is my job. I’ve created this “fancy travel photographer” brand, and I love it. I LOVE IT. A family hired me this summer to fly to The Bahamas with them to document their vacation. All of my husband’s friends and co-workers said, “You let her go?” He laughed, because FIRST, we are best friends and encourage each other to gladly take on frickin’ bomb opportunities like that. SECOND, he also knows that my head would probably spin around 360 degrees with shooting lighting bolts if he said anything to the effect of, “Yeah, so I’m not going to let you go.”
2. I was with my lovely friend Summer of Mommy Points who has created an equally awesome job of helping families learn how to see the world for free (also a critical part of raising kids, I think; they have to be able to see a glimpse of what life is like outside their bubble). And, it’s not so frivolous, because I personally know two families who evacuated from Houston before Harvey hit, and they were only able to get last-minute tickets because they had miles/points to use. I know one of those families learned all about miles/points because of Summer.

And really, I have a third point. Summer is THE MOST kind and generous person I know. She is a role model for how to build a brand and then use it to go out and do good things for the world. I won’t gush any more than this, because–as most good-doers are, she is humble and would downplay everything I’m saying–I don’t want to embarrass her. If you’re interested in all the good work she does in addition to teaching you how to travel smartly, follow her Instagram stories.

Now back to that jet….

In case you’ve been wondering, daily affirmations totally work. :)A text from one of my friends the other day. After I gave her business advice (I can’t help myself), I told her I was at the beach.

In the last blog post, I left off with us walking to the jet. Well, we made it! I’m telling you, it took all of 4 seconds for us to get out the camera and start posing. It was so fun!

Me: Ooh! Sit on the couch! Put your glasses on!Me: Ooh! Check out this cool bathroom! Stand in front of the mirror!

I would say the bad part is that it was such a short ride, but I took enough pictures that I could easily convince someone we went cross country.

#jetselfie

It’s a thing.

The next best part? Summer’s aunt picked us up from the airport and got to drive right up to the dadgum plane!

So then we were whisked away by our driver right to the Austin airport to catch a ride home. Yes, it was on Southwest, which isn’t quite as fancy. But, since my wagon was hitched to the most famous travel expert in Texas, look at my boarding group and number. I’ve never been that before!

To end the most perfect morning (because there were two other big adventures yet to be had that day, but that’s a tale for another post), Summer had free drink tickets for sparkling wine on our flight. Perfection.

To see the picture of us cheers-ing to a fun adventure, I’m going to make you check out her version of this post. I’d send you to her site and let you scroll, but she’s written 185+ blog posts since then.

You only think I’m kidding.

Love, Andrea, your favorite “fancy travel photographer”

Need your own fancy shoot? You bring the jet, I’ll bring the camera.

Ok, where was I? I can’t ever finish a sentence, so it makes total sense that I can’t finish a full series of blog posts. I’m not sure why you’re surprised, really.

Stephen King addresses his many, many loyal fans as “Constant Reader” when he talks to them directly about a story. What’s funny is that I could probably use the same term since I really have ONE constant reader (I’ll give you a hint: she gave birth to me), but I will go ahead and link to what I’m talking about, here:

AKA “Just when I thought I had done the coolest job ever, this little lady ups my game” 

By the way, I’m SUPER cool with having such a small following. I often joke about Facebook constantly sending me the message of “Congratulations! You have almost 500 followers to Andrea Bacle Photography!” I laugh because, no kidding, I’ve had almost 500 followers for YEARS now. But, guess what?? I have all the business I can handle.

I mean, I’m swamped.

But that’s my business model. Most of my clients that bring in 90% of my revenue aren’t even on Facebook, at least as far as I know. So then how do I get so many clients and so much work? Well, if you want the answer to that secret sauce, you have to sign up with business coaching with me or at least join my Facebook group of brilliant ladies. <– You see what I did there? Winky face.

So, why blog?

1. My mom doesn’t get the paper any more, so she needs something to read.
2. I do need somewhere to send people when they want to see samples of what I do since they aren’t on Facebook.
3. I love this digital version of a scrapbook. When those two Bacle babies left my body, I swear they lassoed the memory cells in my brain with their umbilical cords and took them with them on the way out. If I don’t write it down, it never happened in my memory. Sometimes people get upset when I can’t remember their information, former shoots, kids’ names, dogs’ names. Hey, people. Please direct your anger to where it should go: at my children.

Whew. Back to the point. When Mommy Points sent me a text one day that she needed new headshots, I said, “You know what would be awesome? If we did them on one of those fancy pants private jets.” I was immediately envisioning Fergie’s “Glamorous” video, and clearly I am Ludacris in this scenario. Dreams can come true.

So when I turned on my phone one July morning and found this….

I packed my bags and became a squatter at the airport. I wasn’t going miss that flight. 

Yes, that’s our jet!! We were both really trying not to wig out and act cool in front of the fancy people who do this all the time. 

How cute is she Facetiming with her kiddos? In case you’ve forgotten: in real life, we are moms. But every once in awhile, we like to play dress-up, too. 

Glamorous, for sure. 

Oh, you know. Just two stay-at-home-work-from-home-moms-who-work-their-butts-off-in-between-taking-care-of-other-people’s-butts hot ladies walking to their private jet!

Yes. I discovered a whole new world of hashtags that day. 

Part three coming…before 2017 is over. That’s all I can promise.

Love, Andrea

PS, I would totally be willing to come up with some more fancy hashtags for your own fancy photoshoot. Call me. 508.768.5808

People. Get ready to scroll…and scroll and scroll. I did my very best to narrow this down to a manageable number of pics to show, but I couldn’t delete any more. They are too cute and beautiful and special.

These two girls were practically inseparable this summer. They went everywhere together. So, instead of taking the kids to our annual it’s-the-last-week-before-school-starts-so-let’s-squeeze-in-one-more-trip-to-Florida trip, we went to good ol’ Galveston. Because we love it. Because we love the food. Because we love the views. And–most importantly, duh–I love the photo opportunities. 

I thought it would be sweet to have a photo shoot dedicated to them and their sweet friendship this year. Who was your bestie when you were 8? Do you have any pictures with her? 

Of course, they didn’t mind getting wet and sandy for me. 

Then B says, “Can we do that thing where we flip our hair up?” How does she even know that’s a thing??

They had just gone to get pedicures the week before as a birthday treat, so I had to make sure I got that. Matching colors, of course.

This one is my daughter’s favorite. How will I ever decide which ones to print?? I’m thinking I might have to make an album just for this beautiful session. It would be a good way to wrap up our frickin’ fantastic summer of fun and sun. 

What about a “bestie beach sesh” for your kiddos? Half of the beauty of living in Texas is that we can go to the beach year-round, and it’s almost always warm enough to get in the water to play.

I have some October dates open for Galveston if you’d like to book. But, what do your kids and their best friends like to do? It would be fun to document what they’re into right now, because–don’t you know–it will be gone before you know it.

Call me. xoxo

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Please pardon the interruption in Summer’s series of posts, but I had the intention of posting about this special collaboration since pre-Hurricane Harvey, and then, well…yeah. Life was put on hold for a while.

I am so super excited about this new service and collaboration I’m offering to my clients: styled sessions. By styled, I mean my oh-so-lovely friend and wardrobe stylist, Ashley, will come to your house and plan your entire family’s wardrobe for your shoot.

Cutie McPretty, right?!

Using the clothes you already have, she’ll style every person in the family and make sure you perfectly coordinate. So many of my clients get stressed and overwhelmed about what to put the family in. I’ll certainly still be happy to chat with you about what to wear, but if you’re looking to take all the stress out of the shoot (and have a super fun experience playing in your own closet), you should definitely consider hiring Ashley to help. **She’s even offering a discount for my clients who book her when they book their sessions. When you book your sesh, let me know you’d like to add on her services.

(Also, if you book a senior girl’s shoot with me, Ashley’s styling service WILL BE INCLUDED in the session fee, because a gal sometimes needs a little help to look her most fabulous.)

Before we decided to do this collaboration, she wanted to show me exactly how it would work, so she came over and we spent the afternoon playing in my closet. Yes, yes, I know I have a dream job.

**Insert plug for myself here: Guess what?! You can have it too! Call me for a free coaching consultation on how to make your own dream job a reality. I primarily advertise my coaching service for photographers, but I help women with all sorts of small businesses. Check out my FB group if you’re looking for good business advice.

So first, we started with my outfit because I always recommend Mom starts with herself and plans the rest of the family’s outfits around hers.

For me, specifically, I explained my vision for the shoot and she ran with it. I told her I wanted to do a shoot in my fancy trench and wanted to do something different than our typical crazy, bright colors and patterns on the beach. The goal is to do dark neutrals with the skyline and city life in the background. I love Houston so much, and although we have no intention of moving right now, who the heck knows where we’ll end up? I don’t have any pics of us that are in an urban setting, so I thought it would be fun to change it up. (I’ll definitely share those pics when we have them done by the lovely Stefanie Frazelle. Exciting!)

My recommendation for you if you do this is to have the biggest bed in the house available to lay all the clothes out for the family, so you can visually see how they’ll coordinate.

The hubs was the easiest part. It helps when your man is super dapper and looks good in anything. So on to the kids.

Before she came, I walked into my daughter’s room to straighten it up.

–Sidenote (of course). By the way, I just rewatched my video in my Facebook group (come join us!) about not working for free, because I had mentioned it to someone at a party and I wanted to make sure it was still what I was thinking it was in my head.

And

1. I clear my throat all the time, because I am always on the tail end of some kind of sinus problems, so sorry about that.
2. I can’t bloody finish a sentence! Again, sorry. Super annoying. Here’s the thing, I’ll be in the middle of a sentence and I realize I need to prep the rest of the sentence with another point first and then another point before that. Crazytown. You should see inside my brain. It’s a mess up there.

–So sidenote to the sidenote: Once my kids were old enough to tidy their rooms at least a little, I turned that chore right over to them. When they were both at home all day every day, I’d keep their rooms clean and then I’d walk into my own once-beautiful bedroom and be bummed out because it was never tidy, because I was feeding and following the two hooligans around all day long. I finally decided they can wreck their own spaces, and I would walk into my own beautiful space and feel so much happier.

So I walked over to their “wing” and started to tidy up, and I thought, “Yeahhhhh, nope. This is what you get. Sorry, but I’m not gonna fake the funk for this sweet lady.” Their clothes are clean and put away, and we will kick the crap out of gently slide the toys out of our way to get to them.

And going into this, I fully expected that I’d have to buy an outfit for myself and at least one piece of clothing for each kid. However, Ashley reassured me that we would be able to work with what we have–and we did!

But I mean, really: this was my son’s closet. I said, “Literally, he has three things hanging up. Everything else is shirts and shorts.”

This poor lady worked on the floor with a smile. Ok, I kind of feel bad about that. But, we don’t have any pets, so at least there wasn’t any dog hair.

And then, when we were all done, she sent me a super cute and fun link with everything, because when she looked into my eyes, she could see the black vastness of killed memory brain cells from all of the working/sleepless nights and knew I’d never be able to remember what we picked.

So fun, right?!

It’s so very important to me that I support fellow women with small businesses. For my current and future clients, I hope you will consider treating yourself to a session with Ashley. She is a sweetheart, and I promise you will appreciate feeling well prepared for our family session. Here are her additional links:

https://www.facebook.com/ashleykahnwardrobestylist/

https://www.instagram.com/ashleykahnstyle/

And everyone else, I will finish Summer’s series…um, soon. :)

Thank you, Ashley!

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

This lovely post has been in draft form since July 26th. You might think, “Oh, yeah. Isn’t that her kid’s birthday?” Fine, yes. But, NO. That was the day this little wannabe-cool-chick got to take a private jet and become a really-real-pinch-me-this-is-my-job travel photographer. I know. I still don’t believe it either.

First, the backstory. Once upon a time, the Bacles went to Paris.

And Germany and Rome and Milan and Nice and Venice.

What are these pics, you ask? These are evidence that back in the day, we used to do some COOL stuff.

And when I say back in the day, we took these on film (and not in the one-gear-bicycle-riding hipster way–the old person way).

We took at 6-year-ish break to raise these babies up, and then we started back up. In the meantime, I met my travelling, kindred spirit sister….

Really. This was on her Insta stories the other day, and this is my daily conundrum:

She is my lovely friend Summer (aka MommyPoints), the rockstar-of-all-travelling; we met when we moved to Texas and joined something my formerly cool self never even knew existed: a mommy group.

I’m not sure exactly when I met this lovely lady, but this 2011 pic is the earliest photographic evidence I can find. (Sidenote: I love how this horse is posing for the camera and that the picture I find of my most fabulous friend is this hilarious one. Sorry, Summer, but you know I’m always gonna go for the laugh.)

So, when she was building her crazy-amazing-rockstar-travel-points brand…

**Pause. If you are at all interested in the travelling and points and miles world, head over to her blog. She has SOOO many great posts and advice on how to travel efficiently/safely/on a budget/using points/you name it. If you’re new to that world, she has a great beginner’s guide post: beginner’s guide. Also, she’s very modest and humble and would probably not want me to brag on her so much, but it’s my blog and I’ll brag if I want to.

…I would say things like, “I know you must not believe this, but I used to travel. I’ve got the travel bug, and one day when these babies are done nursing and out of diapers and probably 18 years old….”

I think I had her finally convinced that I’m serious about travelling as often as I can, so fast forward to this text I got at the beginning of the summer. (Is it bad that I haven’t updated her contact info in 6 years? Whoops.)

By the way, she has inspired me to blog more often, so I’m breaking this into two (or three) posts and will put them up later in the week.

Stay tuned.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Whew! We made it through summer. Did you have the best one yet? That was our goal, for sure. Are you still catching your breath? All unpacked from all of your adventures? Here’s the real question: Have you downloaded all your pics from your camera yet?? Have you been going through your summer pics and realize some of your shots need a little Photoshop magic?

1. If you need something in particular edited, I am available for outsourcing.

OR…

2. Sign up for one of my “Shot by Momma” classes! There are three options:

• A camera workshop for hip mommies (how to take your camera off auto)
• How to take better pics of your kids (using your “good” camera)
• Editing, organizing, and ordering your images (using Photoshop or your favorite editing software) **this option is available online or in person

Of course, the ideal solution is to get the shot SOOC (straight of camera), but sometimes the flash doesn’t fire, and it’s underexposed:

Sometimes you want to add some artistic flare:

Sometimes the baby smiles when you aren’t quite ready:

Sometimes you haven’t framed it just like you’d want:

And sometimes the sun has gone down and you’re out of light:

This last one was taken by my oh-so-handsome second shooter (but he works for me, so he gave me the copyright and permission to edit). ;)

If you’d love to know how to work that big fancy camera you have sitting in the closet or how to edit those special shots, let me know, and I’ll email you the info. Or, follow me on Instagram or Facebook to get the info when I send out the latest class spots.

If you only took pics on your cell phone (which is totally cool, too), I will bug you about saving them and eventually printing them. How much would your kids love a little book to re-cap their super fun summer you made happen? I can help you print those or send you in the right direction if you want to DIY.

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

My poor, sweet children. They already have a camera in their faces 24/7 and now I’ve added picture taking into our pool routine. Oh, well. I let them live in my house. And I give them lots of snacks. :)

I wanted to share this before and after from my GoPro. If you’re into underwater photography and need some help with edits, give me a shout. With a little Photoshop magic, you can turn some good shots into I-need-to-print-these-out-and-hang-them-up images.

Don’t you love his little zen-meditation-look-momma-I-can-sit-on-the-bottom-of-the-pool pose? Such a cool kid. What are the pool tricks your kids have? Our current faves (other than sitting on the bottom) are throw-the-rings-and-watch-me-go-get-them, swim across the pool in one breath, and twisty-turny underwater spinning. 

Do you love this cool overlay of sun rays? If so, hop over to www.thecoffeeshopblog.com and download it for free from my lovely friend Rita (she offers Photoshop and Photoshop Elements options). You might even spy two little kiddos you recognize. :)

Guys, I hope you’re in the middle of the most fabulous summer ever. Do you have any travelling planned? Up next, I’m doing shoots in Perdido Key, Atlanta, and Steamboat Springs. People ask me–usually once a day–how I manage to book so many of these paid-for-working vacations. Each situation is different, but I have some general tips and secrets I’ll share in another post. If you’re serious about wanting to become a paid travel photographer, get on my schedule and see if we are a good fit for coaching, and I’ll teach you all of my ways. :) https://secure.scheduleonce.com/andreabacle

Love, Andrea

PS, I’m already almost fully booked for the rest of the summer for photo shoots. Fall is still wide open, so give me a call now if you want to schedule a family sesh for those dreaded oh-so-lovely Christmas cards. xoxo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com OR 508.768.5808

Hello, friends. Did you celebrate Mother’s Day? My kids are very sweet and are always excited to do fun things for me, but it’s a little bit of a strange holiday to me. My thought is…just treat me like a princess every day. Why just one day a year??

Fortunately for me, my husband is on board with that plan.

So, hold onto your hats, people. For this Mother’s Day weekend, my kids spent it with the grandmas while I worked. On Saturday night, I went down to Galveston for a gorgeous sunset shoot. HERE. #lucky

Do you remember these two from their anniversary session? Guess what?? They’ve got a teeny tiny little dude on the way! This glowing momma really wanted to do her shoot on her family’s acreage up north, but when that fell through, I offered up the next prettiest spot I know: the marshes in Galveston. I’ve been wanting to shoot here for a long time, and I’m so excited that it worked out; we were able to wait out the wedding that decorated the tree followed by the proposal with lots of props to get some gorgeous sunset colors. Totally worth it! And oh my, this baby bump. I loooooove it.   

Do you remember their wedding from three years ago? It’s gone by so fast, but I’m guessing I’m going to be posting their little dude’s 5th birthday party pics in a blink of an eye. 

This one is my favorite, and I’m so glad we waited around for some rich sunset-y colors. I was lucky enough to do a shoot with Heidi Hope with my first baby, but I sure wish I had done some like this with baby #2. 

Oh, this makes me miss being pregnant so much. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than to talk with a first-time mom-to-be about all things baby.  

Best. Job. Ever.

And now, for the grand finale. This was the last shot of the session–and one of the best!

Beautiful momma, I hope you love these, because I do! Thank you for letting me be a part of such a special time in your lives. Life is about to get crazy and fun and better than you ever thought it could be.

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Hey, party people! Are you counting down the days to summer yet? This summer is going to be the best yet for us. It’s going to be a rotating door of packing and unpacking and shaking the sand out of our shorts, if I have anything to say about it. My 6 year old little dude (as of right now) says he wants to be a surfer when he grows up. On the real? I think he might be saying that just because he knows I’d come visit him every day if he lived at the beach. He is still my momma’s baby right now. Fine with me.

So, if you have followed me for a heartbeat, you know how much I love the beach and how much I love Galveston, especially.

Of course I’d rather be in Hawaii, but Texas is pretty fantastic, and Galveston is only 90 minutes away, so we go on vacation at least once a month. And daaaaang, you can get some pretty pictures there–obviously, the most important part of a vacation. And yes, sometimes there is seaweed. But, I think it makes the picture look that much cooler.

This lovely family (my house is also a franchise of the Andrea Bacle Photography galleries I have around this state) met me at sunset at Beachtown for a mini-session so we could get that perfect family shot.

Whenever I go somewhere extra fun for kids (playground, beach, etc.), I always love to let the kids run and play after we are officially done. And this is the kind of stuff we usually get. Looooove. 

You know I’ll be up and down the Gulf Coast this summer, so let me know if you want to book a beach session for yourself.

And, my darling family, thanks for a fun and easy shoot, as always. My daughter loves your girls, by the way. She would be happy to adopt S, so she can have a baby sister. :) And thank you for trusting me enough to start later so we could get these gorgeous saturated colors and light.

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

P.S. Dear ABP clients, have we talked about mini-sessions before? If you’re wondering if you should schedule one, here’s a blog post to explain what they are with me: What is a mini-session with Andrea?

1. If you know me, I hope you know I always support small businesses I love. @welcometoroyalty
2. I am a #fashionbloggerwannabe. I love fashion, and I have a very full closet with more outfits than I have places to wear them to (which is part of the reason why I am THAT mom wearing a skirt and wedges to the grocery store). So when the hubs and I were heading to Vegas for a work/play trip, I packed 87 1/2 outfits. First, I obviously couldn’t play craps in a roulette dress or wear my Bellagio pants to the Paris. So you see my dilemma and the need to schedule three wardrobe changes each day. Once I explain myself, it makes total sense, right?
3. Next, I want my main man to be my second shooter at weddings and events when clients need one, so I made sure we scheduled time to head out to Red Rock Canyon for a photo shoot tutorial in full sun–basically the worst light to shoot in.

My secret? Underexpose slightly and embrace the light. Wear your favorite sunglasses and find some cool shadows and make sure your model is having fun! Yes, there were about 30 people watching us, which is kind of hilarious to me that we’d be that interesting when we were surrounded by such a crazy beautiful landscape.

But, I get it. A woman posing for her senior pics when she’s really closer to being a senior citizen probably is entertaining. #smoothforeheadsareboring
How fun is this skirt?? I love it. I originally bought it to wear to the Mommy/Son dance at our school but ultimately switched to this dress. But, this skirt is far too fabulous not to have its own photoshoot, so I flew it halfway across the country for pictures. If you want one for yourself, here’s the link to the Welcome to Royalty Etsy shop.

Ready for your own “senior” shoot, ladies? Call me.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

What did you do over this Spring Break? This travel junkie was living it up…all the way in Conroe, Texas. What do you mean you’ve never heard of this bustling metropolis? It’s the new Spring Break destination!

Ok, I kid. But when one of your best gals (and her new husband you love) asks you to shoot her wedding and haul your cookies all the way to Conroe, you do it without hesitation. And, ok–I’m just being a jerk–I did manage to sneak in trips to Brenham/Independence, Galveston, and Las Vegas over the rest of the week, so I think I’ll stop whining about my uptown problems.

Side note: the venue was gorgeous. I had no idea this little picturesque, perfect wedding venue even existed in Conroe. If you’re wedding shopping, check out The Gardens at Madeley Manor. It’s darling. They have thought about every last detail.

And back to the main point? I HAD to be their wedding photographer. I was at her party where they first met, he got my opinion on 50% of the jewelry he’s gotten her, I watched them give googly eyes at each other when he was the speaker at the Rockwell Trading Conference (yeah, he’s kind of a big deal),

and then in Vegas (where they officially fell in love), I was their little personal paparazzo. I’ve essentially documented their whirlwind courtship during all of our work trips. You like how I make this about myself? :)

Ok, get ready for the gushing. I love this chick so much. We met when our big kids were just 9 months old, and we’ve all grown up together. I can’t ever explain how happy I am for her now that she’s found head-over-heels-love-you-to-the-moon-and-back love. Do you remember all the way back to when I did some shots for her when she was a finalist for The Woodlands Idol? Yeah, she’s definitely kind of a big deal.

Sheesh. There are too many pics in this gallery that I could say are my favorites. But, I have to mention the flowers. Over the course of their courtship, Groom sent Bride flowers every week from the same florist, and so they had that florist make their wedding flowers. I mean, c’mon. How cool would it be to be that florist to watch (and sort of participate in) their courtship and then create the wedding bouquet??

I also have to mention the shoes, because I will never forget going to her house and seeing the stars in her eyes when she told me about the first magical weekend they had together in Arizona, ending with a fabulous pair of Choos. Oh, and the ring is pretty okay, too. 

Ok, so normally, my favorite-favorite wedding pics are kissy ones near the altar. But, I think this might be my winner. After the ceremony, they had a lovely, intimate reception/dinner at Tommy Bahamas at Market Street. I was on the other side of the room, and I noticed they finally had a chance to sneak off and have a little moment together. They took a little selfie to announce to the social media world, and the light was frickin’ amazing, and I caught them toasting–I’m not sure. Their love? They did it? Their happiness? All of the above? I love when I can sneak a moment. This is what happiness looks like, people. 

And then, after the drinks were done and the kids were off to the grandparents’ house, I asked if they would be willing to come have a “first dance” at The Waterway. People were everywhere, the lights were gorgeous, it was chilly, and we were all feeling frisky and happy. They were so obviously in love, I couldn’t even handle it. I can’t express my gratitude enough about how honored I am to share such a special moment with you two. I wish you love and love and more love. Congratulations on being the second cutest couple ever.

Love, Andrea

So, what are your thoughts on Valentine’s Day? When I was a kid, it was definitely my favorite holiday. Through fourth grade, I would make a handmade valentine for each person in my class. And then fifth grade came, and all of a sudden people thought it was weird to write “Will you be mine?” to 25 people. Whatevs. I love everybody.

Fast forward to when Valentine’s Day matters again: dating in high school. My husband and I started dating on Jan 31st our junior year, so we bought our first and last valentine’s gifts to each other 2 weeks after we started dating.

And we got each other the exact same gift: a Madonna CD. I think that was the first time we both knew this thing would last.

Since then, we celebrate our dating anniversary, and we have never celebrated Valentine’s Day. As much as I LOVE love and celebrating love and hearts and pink and red, it’s too commercial for me, which is basically the same issue I have with Christmas. I’d like to make a three-layer cake for Baby Jesus, sing “Happy Birthday,” and end it.

Back to my point. Now that I have kiddos and they are in school and have to bring valentines to their classes? I love Valentine’s Day again! I love to help my kiddos get all of their little envelopes and lists of classmates together.

I also love doing an annual Valentine’s Day shoot with the kids. Remember the ones from last year?

They have been bugging about doing another shoot with feathers after we had so much fun after last year’s New Year’s shoot,

so I figured we’d go a little crazy with feathers, rainbow suckers, a hand-painted LOVE sign, and Winston’s noise machine (our new favorite family joke). Check out a little behind-the-scenes video from Brockstar videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zj9DoqzAsM

Daddy was cracking them up for me. 

Here’s the one Birdie chose for her class valentine. 

Finally, the aftermath of all that fun: 

If you’ve found your way to this post, it’s a little late for 2017 valentines since it is Valentine’s Day, but if it’s 2018, and you’re looking for a session for your kiddos/family, give me a shout.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Hey, friends! Are you on Instagram? I’ve got a business/personal account for myself HERE, if you’re interested. But, I really want to tell you about a service I’m offering now. I am running Instagram accounts for clients–most people just want pictures, but I can run the entire account LIKE THIS ONE for my lovely friend Camille of Camille’s in Old Town Spring, if you’d like. Hit me up if you want to chat about pricing options. 

Sample posts and pics:

Bonus for me in running Miss Camille’s account? I get to pretend to be a model and dress up in vintage clothes. Or just end up buying everything for myself. :)

It could be my bias, but I think this IG feed is so pretty! If you want to check out Miss Camille’s store in person, she’s in Old Town Spring in Spring, Texas. It’s a charming little shopping community. And chances are, the kids and I will be there walking around. 

Do you have a small business and want to get on Instagram? Do you need help with pictures or posts? Give me a shout. 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

And good luck out there, my dear small business owners. I’m out there hustling with ya.

Love, Andrea

Oh, me. Oh, my. Where do I begin with the gushing about THIS shoot??

Here’s the sequence of events:

I received an invite to a VIP event at our local Tiffany and Co. store at Market Street in The Woodlands.

I know. I can hear you through your phones and computers. How did YOU get an invite to a VIP event at Tiffany and Co.?

Watch it.

Remember two-ish years ago when I was lucky enough to get the ultra-princess treatment from my man for our 15-year wedding anniversary? (It helped that one of my most fabulous clients ever worked there, but I like to pretend that we were extra special.)

We somehow managed to not get expunged from the contact list, and I received an invite to a cookies-and-cocoa-for-kids with fancy-shopping-for-mommy-and-daddy event. I quickly contacted my lovely ladies there and asked if they’d be interested in hiring a photographer for the event. Fast forward to a meeting in some sassy Tiffany blue Stuart Weitzman heels (because my nerdiness extends into my fashion) and then to the day of the event.

We decided I’d use my two in-house models for the event, because we’re hoping this could become an annual tradition, and we thought we’d see what the interest was in having pictures done there. Since we threw my part of it in last minute, I didn’t bring any image release forms for the other customers (PS, if you’ve found your way to this post and you want those pics, please contact me), so these are of my two monkeys. Uh, clearly they chose the wrong mother if they wanted a I-don’t-give-my-permission-to-use-my-image-anywhere lifestyle.

Forget #pictureswithSanta. I’m hoping to make #pictureswithTiffany a thing!

Okay. Just stop. Seriously, Tiffany box petit fours and cookies?! If I can track down the vendor and creator of these tiny treasures, I’ll update this post to give you the contact info.  

Next, who knew Tiffany and Co. had so many branded items? Paper cups. Crayons. Greeting cards. One of each, please!

If you couldn’t guess already, my daughter’s room is Tiffany Blue. She’s been in love with T&Co for a while. I had to make a “mom” sign for this pic, because I didn’t want it to appear as though she’s getting Tiffany already.

She’s 7, people.

She has to wait until double digits, at least. Oh, how I love our little community. What a fun and memorable event!!

Lovely Tiffany ladies, thank you for such a fun afternoon. I hope I’ll see you next year! And if not for pictures, my 22-year dating anniversary is in a month. That deserves something new, right??

If you’re interested in getting on the list to have #pictureswithTiffany next Christmas, please let me know. I’m going to compile all of the feedback and provide it to them to see if we might be able to do it again.

Love, Andrea

So, the family of my next preview is super fun and always has great and adventurous Christmas card pics. When they called this year, I thought I’d see if I could talk them into this spot that I’ve been dying to shoot a client at, because they are always up for fun. Everyone agreed and we were scheduled. However, my sweet boy had his dog bite the night before and came home in the middle of the night, and I had to cancel our travel plans to Galveston and San Antonio.

This is the spot I wanted to take them. I only advertise in their preview, because 1. Maybe we can try again next year?? and 2. Maybe I can convince someone else to do a shoot there, too.

Wait. Cancel that. I totally forgot. We have big plans in June. Perhaps we’ll get your Christmas card shot then…:)Shot by my hubby for me:

So, we were able to reschedule but couldn’t think of a cool location that worked with our schedules. Well, wouldn’t you know it? They just happen to have a family ranch in Riverside (outside of Huntsville). Perfect! And talk about having a blast on a photshoot!! In a week’s time, I went from my Tina Turner Vegas dress to avoiding cow pies and riding in one of those fancy Ranger thingamabobbers all over their acres and acres of gorgeous Texas ranch land at sunset. (My husband tells me this is the correct name. I don’t know. They were called 4-wheelers back in my day). So stinkin’ fun, y’all. <–see what I did there? It totally got me in the Texas spirit. I even wore my cowgirl boots the next three days. {nerd alert}

So, next issue. As I was driving up for the shoot, I hit a major traffic jam because all of The Woodlands was bugging out for Thanksgiving family plans, and I called them in a panic. I was so worried I’d get there too late for good light. I got there late, and we definitely started much later than I’d planned, but we ended up with some gorgeous light and locations, thanks to all of their location scouting.

A boy with a stick on a ranch at sunset. Perfection. 

It’s often tricky to shoot after sunset. But, as long as you have a lot of open space (like at the beach, too), you can get some gorgeous colors in the sky that you’d normally never get. What a sweetheart model! Oh, Did I forget to mention our special guests?? What’s funny is that there are so many pics of the kids and family on this cool rock, and you’d never know there were 20-ish cows all around us and mooing the whole time. I’m telling you, this shoot had everything! Plus, I didn’t realize how much of a city slicker (read: wuss) I am. I’m not embarrassed to say I scurried away from a few cows, and I may have freaked a little when they were running after us safari style. And, icing on the cake? Their new sweet puppy with the most perfect name ever came along for the ride. 

Just a boy on his farm. Is this the ideal childhood, or what? 

I’m thinking I’m going to have to reserve your farm for my own family shoot. Fingers crossed for another gorgeous sunset!

Sweet family, you guys are troopers. I can’t thank you enough for your patience and flexibility. I think it worked out just right. :)

Love, Andrea

I think I talk about this same topic around this time every year, but I never know which pics to include in the preview for fall-ish sessions. I don’t want to post the picture that’s going to be picked to go on the holiday cards that will be sent out and spoil the surprise, so I usually focus on the little ones. But, how cute are these two?? If you’ve ever read a blog post of mine, you probably realize I’m a nerdy romantic, so I always love to celebrate love. After seeing these two cuties, I almost forgot there’s a cute kid to showcase. 

I sure love this little dude. He and my sweet girl were in kindergarten together, and I got to see him each week for a school year. As a former teacher, he is such an all-around great kid: kind, friendly, happy, and smart. As a photographer, um, he’s the best! We were all joking about how these were looking just like his senior pics. Pose, smile, ding! Momma, I’m afraid we’re going to blink and our kiddos really will be taking their senior pics.   This one is my favorite of the session. What a cool kid. PS, I used to always do a shot in this pose for every session. I need to get back to it–I love it.

Mom and Dad and B, thanks for a fun and easy session. Thanks for letting my littles run around and visit. I hope the kiddos are in class together again one of these years! I’ll have your full gallery ready soon.

Love, Andrea

Alright peeps, if you’ve been wanting a session before the end of the year, don’t wait. I have a few weekdays spots still available. All of my Saturdays are booked through November, so give me a call and see if we can squeeze you in! :)

Lately I’m only advertising and marketing myself as a travel photographer. After seven years of being a stay-at-home/working-from-home momma, my youngest kiddo is in kindergarten, and I feel like I can finally get back to my real, true self: a world traveler. The first question I get when I tell people I’m a travel photographer: But how do you get clients to book you??

Well, it depends. Some people call and book like a normal session–it just happens to be a cool out-of-town location. However, most of my travel shoots are from friends and former clients who want me to meet them on vacation to document it.

This shoot was in one of my favorite locations: Maine. And if you’ve never been, you should put it on your travel bucket list. I’ve known this lovely couple since their dating days and their wedding happened to be my husband’s and my first date after having our daughter. That may not sound exciting, but she cried for the first year of her life.

HER FIRST YEAR.

We were ready for a night out.

Anyhow, as lovely as their wedding was, they were less than thrilled with their wedding photos and photographers, and boy have I heard some whining for the past seven years about those crummy pics. :) So, the last time this bride and I met for a reunion, I suggested we do an anniversary session. I tried to talk her into wedding attire (of course), but they really wanted some simple and lovely pictures of them in their element: at home. Their home away from home is on their boat, so they twisted my arm and finally convinced me to go out on the boat with them for a shoot. I made them take me to lunch with this view:

Back at their house, I wanted to give them a true “lifestyle” session. They both love their beautiful home and have spent years slowly remodeling and renovating rooms here and there. Additionally, they love to garden, and since it’s so crazy-beautiful in Maine in the summer, we did lots of pics outside.

Seven years and still so in love:

How fabulous is this garden in their backyard? And this is where we got our dinner from. (By the way, feeding me is not required.)

Ok, this is just me being my nerdy self. The Mr. of this fabulous couple asked me to get some nice shots of his house, and I fell in love with their front door color. Is it red? Is it orange? No one can tell, but it’s great.  Their fur baby they so sweetly named after me: Andy. I’m just going to go ahead and assume they named him after me. No need to confirm that.  After the shoot, comes more food. And drinks. And lots of laughs.

I love these two. Don’t they look so New England-y and fabulous? 

Just a dude and his boat. I’m heavy on the mister-pics on this preview, because I was determined to take some pics that he’d like to have of their Maine life. He said he didn’t have many pictures he likes of himself, so I figured that when you’re in your element, you look your best. I hope you love these, friend. 

R+R, I hope you know how much I adore you two. Your Maine life is so lovely and idyllic. Thank you for sharing it with me. I can’t wait to see you soon.

Love, Andrea

Yes, I’m back in Galveston. Why don’t I own a house there, you ask? I’ll be posting the Kickstarter campaign tonight, and then you’re all invited to hang. Should we do a condo or a stand alone house? I’ll let you guys decide. I do plan on figuring out one way or another to start writing/blogging/photographing for the City of Galveston. I figure since I’m technically the unofficial-self-declared-and-self-appointed-in-my-own-head ambassador to Galveston, it’s time I start doing some work for them, right?

Back to the important stuff: beach pics. Do you remember this little dude from the shoot with his brothers three years ago? It was time for an updated, sunset picture on the beach. Momma and I picked a spot close to Pleasure Pier, so the bribe was clearly in sight. I just took pictures of a family this week that maybe felt a little embarrassed to tell me they bribed their two-year-old with ice cream. I said, “Are you kidding?? I don’t think I’ve ever been on a shoot EVER when the parents didn’t offer up some sort of bribe to get the kids to cooperate. This includes pictures of my own kids!” Parents, when trying to get good pictures–just like figuring out how to get the kids to sleep through the night–my motto is: whatever it takes. :)

I’m always going to be partial to this blond cutie. He and my blonde cutie met when they were babies. I’m still in denial that they are seven. 

Oy. How do they grow up and become teenagers? Can’t they just be our babies forever? Our family loves this young man. He’s a keeper. 

Finally, here’s my little peanut. She is really taking an interest in photography and asks to be my assistant on every shoot. When I know the family well or ask ahead of time or really think I need her help on a shoot, I bring her along. As a thank you to my clients who tolerate it, I’ll send you the images she takes that aren’t blurry. She’s still trying to figure out that tricky shutter speed thing. 

Thank you, my most fabulous friend, for another fun beach adventure. Until next summer….

Love, Andrea

So, I love it when a client gives me an assignment. The beautiful momma of these two boys showed me one of her most favorite pictures of her middle dude and asked me to recreate it so she has an updated version. I made sure to take a picture of the original, because you know my poor, old my-kids-never-let-me-sleep brain would need a reference picture. Here’s the original in their crazy beautiful home (I think I have her beat on the number of colors in the house, but she definitely has me beat on patterns and textures and layers–gorgeous!!).   

Here’s my version. So handsome!

Sheesh. Where to start on this cuteness? He’s at that practically perfect 7-month age, so he can sit up and basically had full conversations with me. Turns out, he’s a big Yankees fan. Of course you know I’m a Boston/Papi gal, but he could probably hypnotize me into cheering for the Yankees again. I mean, I think I could stare into these eyeballs all day. Too many cute faces! And these were just me snapping some before he even got into his real outfit for the session. 

Finally, here’s the biggest brother of them all. Don’t worry, Momma, I have one with him looking and smiling, but there was something about this expression and look he was giving you that I thought was extra dapper. As a mother of a will-be-a-teenager-one-day son, I’d like to think he’s thinking:

Oh, look at my beautiful mother over there. She’s such a sweetheart to think about scheduling pictures for us so we can remember this time in our lives. I think I’ll tell her later just how much I love her and thank her for always thinking of us. She does everything for us. She’s just so amazing!

That’s pretty close, right?

Sweet family, it was such a pleasure meeting you. I will have the rest ready for you son!

Love, Andrea

After having a fun play date with this guy and my little guy a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to take this little dude’s first official photo shoot pictures last week. And, I know often hijack my clients’ posts talking about myself or my kids, but this little guy reminds me so much of my little guy, which I love, of course. I’m especially schmoopy-whoopy over my Winston these days, because he just turned 5 AND I just registered him for kindergarten. He was at a friend’s house the other day all day, and, although it was nice to have a solid chunk of time to work that wasn’t 2am, it was too quiet. And dang, I missed him. September is gonna be hard.

My guy and this little handsome guy both have similar names, they both can’t seem to take a bad picture, they are a little on the quiet side (not a bad thing, people; how many crazy little dudes do you know that could stand to be a little more chill??), and–most importantly–they love their mommas.

They both have that killer eyebrow move down. Here’s Winston’s latest. I was asking him to teach me how to do it.

They both look good in a hat. Here’s my favorite Winston-hat pic.

Finally, they are both so happy and joys to be around. (Do you see that little bandaid on his hand? Momma said it was just for decoration. Hmm, reminds me of one of my littles who always wanted a bandaid on her hand….)

Sweet momma, I love your little guy so much, and I hope you love these. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon!

Love, Andrea

PS, party people, I’m officially booked through the end of July. It’s not too crazy to call me to schedule your Fall sessions! xoxo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

On the last blog post, I titled it “Newly Minted,” because this little nugget was just born. But, it was also an inside joke, because when her lovely momma was pregnant, I had a dream that I convinced her to name her Minted–and then I totally forgot to write about it in the blog post. In that dream, she was also 11+ pounds. Good thing neither one of those came true! If I remember correctly, she came out a perfect 7lbs, 7ozs and has the most beautiful name ever.

My most favorite pastime in life is to talk baby names with pregnant mommas. I couldn’t convince her momma to wait to find out the baby’s gender, and I couldn’t talk her into any of the wacky names I texted her once a day; however, I did convince her to let me put her newborn baby in a boat in the ocean at sunset. So win-win. :) 

We went to the beach for this family’s last family session, so we wanted a different look for this one. If you are looking for a spot like this in Galveston, try going underneath Murdoch’s and that way you can get Pleasure Pier in some of your shots, as well. Yes, yes I do want to be the official Ambassador to Galveston. Why do you ask? I’m patiently waiting by the phone for the city to call me. 

Thanks, baby girl, so being so agreeable. I think she’s going to be a beach baby for sure!

Oh, boy, how much do I love this one? Sisters together and sandy toes? LOVE.

Finally, I had to share a happy one of this semi-toothless brother. Have your kiddos lost any teeth yet? Make sure you take some pics! Those new ones come in so fast, and–knock on wood–this will be the only time in their lives when they’ll look like this. 

Thank you, sweet family, for letting me talk you into more beach pics. I’ll have them ready soon.

Love, Andrea

So, I’m kind of in love with this kid. Yes, I might be a little partial, but she is super groovy. And, ok, ok, her momma is one of my most favorite friends, and her big sister will most likely be my daughter-in-law one day, but–for real–she is the best. And, super-duper extra bonus? There may or may not be a part 2 of this newborn session featuring a baby who may or may not be in a boat on the beach at sunset…. Guess you’ll have to stay tuned to find out. :)

Oh, boy, those of you with big kiddos, how much do you miss having a baby sleep on your chest? I can practically sniff that baby head through the screen. There are some newborn sessions that take many hours and leave me hot and sweaty and exhausted. It’s hard work making it look this easy! But this little nugget was such an easy model. We did her awake pics, fed her, changed her, and then she was sweet and easy and went to sleep for me. If you haven’t been around newborns much, you probably won’t recognize this as an almost smile, but it totally is. I think she was just a week old in these, and she was already so curious and so great about looking into the camera. Don’t you love this sweet blanket? Her sweet aunt handmade it for her. 

Momma, I have tons of the details shots you wanted, but it would have taken me two more hours to put that together for your preview, so you get what you get. :) I hope you love these, and I’ll have your part 2 preview ready in a few days.

Love, Andrea

PS, Any pregnant mommas out there looking for a newborn photographer, I’ve only got two more openings for newborns for June and July. Don’t wait if you’ve been thinking about booking! xoxo

I’m so excited to post the preview for this beautiful lady! Obviously she’s drop-dead gorgeous, but she’s also super cool. She’s a pilot, and when we met for her pre-consultation the other day, she asked me if I would mind if we could do her session at the Hooks Airport with her plane. Um, yes, please!! Here’s a pretty one at the park before we headed out to the airport.

So, I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but about a lifetime ago, I was a captain in the Air Force. And if I had been a single gal, un-betrothed to an Army dude, I would have been a pilot. The closest I got was soloing in the glider program at the Air Force Academy. When I was in grad school, I did some research on the history of women in the Air Force and studied the women of the WASP: Women Airforce Service Pilots.

From http://www.wingsacrossamerica.us/wasp/index.htm: During World War II, a select group  of young women pilots became pioneers, heroes, and role models…They were the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, the first women in  history trained to fly  American military aircraft.

And this is Fifinella–the WASP mascot, drawn by Walt Disney. In the middle of grad school, I went down to NYC and got a little tattoo of her on my rump. :)

Anyway, I totally geeked out about this shoot and probably had more fun than this little lady did. I love, love, love that we got her all glammed up with hair and makeup and a pretty dress, and put on her aviators and headset in front of her plane. What a cool chick.Some sun flare, some cool planes, and a pretty lady. Now that’s how you spend a Saturday.

One more, because she’s just too pretty not to share. 

Sweet girl, I hope you had a blast, because I sure did! You are such a sweetheart and all-around fabulous lady. I’ll have the rest ready soon.

Love, Andrea

Oh, good golly. Thank you, sweet momma, for being so patient with me. I’ll have your gallery ready on time, but this preview is late, because I am STILL having computer issues. Anyway, enough complaining and on to the fun stuff. One of my most fabulous Houston clients came up for a tea party for her girls last weekend. (And I got to try out my DIY wall and floors!) I first met her at their first baby’s newborn session–I had to go all the way to the blogspot days from many moons ago to find her first preview. Fast forward a few years and a second sweet sister, and you’ve got two beautiful tea partiers on your hands.

Dishes, jewelry, and flowers. All signs of a successful teeny, tiny fancy party. All of these props are from Miss Camille’s shop in Old Town Spring. If you are an Instagram-kinda-person, I am starting an Instagram account for her in the next few days. More to follow. 

So, yes, this was sort of staged, because I set it up this way. But, they were really drinking and eating and having a little party and being so sweet to each other. Adorable. 

I know I’ve mentioned in another preview, but their momma is a fabulous seamstress as a hobby, and these girls always come in the best made-by-momma dresses. Don’t you think they’ll look back on these one day and feel so special that she made these for them?

A little twirling and hand-holding and you get this cuteness.

Alright, momma, I think we accomplished your goal of getting some cute pics of them together!

Thanks again for waiting on me. I’ll have the rest of your gallery ready in a couple of days!

Love, Andrea

And for anyone else reading this, may your babies sleep and your hard drives never crash. :)

Also, I need to say thanks to my in-house model for always helping me prep for shoots. Love you, dude.

Mother’s Day 2016 is almost here! How will you celebrate? This year, I am already scheduled to work the weekend of Mother’s Day, so my sweetie pie family sent me to Houston for a mini-me getaway on Saturday.

After a Friday night date night with the hubs, I headed to Houston: I recharged my batteries, had dinner with one of my loveliest friends at my favorite restaurant, did a little fancy shopping, slept a lot, and had a fabulous shoot with one of my favorite seniors (a preview is coming on that!).

Whew. Just what I needed. PS, I’m not usually a selfie kinda gal, but when I’m away from David and the kiddos, they want me to send lots of pictures. Winston always wants to see the hotel room, the bathroom, and the view from the room.

So, how will you spend your day? Can your man no longer think of the perfect gift to give? I’ve got it! Come do a “Momma and Me Tea Party” session with you and your little girl(s). This is for mommas and little ladies only. I’ll post another ad in a few days for a Momma and Little Dude session.

There are two options. On Saturday morning, April 23rd, I am partnering with my friend and favorite Old Town Spring business owner, Ms. Camille of Camille’s. She has a lovely vanity in the back of her store we’ll use for the “before” black and white getting-ready pictures. I’ll have rollers and brushes and makeup and silky bathrobes, but if you book one of the slots, I’ll send you more information about what you should bring and what I’ll have for you to use.

On Sunday, we’ll do the same thing at my house. Here are the example shots my second-shooter husband took (and I edited) to show you what we’ll do. My little one’s favorite thing to do in the world is to watch me get ready when I’m getting all dressed up. She wants to pick out everything: hair, makeup, outfit, bag, jewelry, and–of course–shoes. So, I thought it would be sweet for her to “play” dress-up with me.

So, the next step is the “after” tea party. At Ms. Camille’s, we’ll have a pretty little table and chairs with beautiful teacups and saucers. At my house, I like the simplicity of two chairs in the kitchen.

If you want to book a slot, give me a shout. Have a little dude? Don’t worry! I’ll post an ad for a momma and little guy shoot in a few days. If I forget to tell you, Happy Mother’s Day! You deserve some pampering. :)

Love, Andrea         508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

You may remember the lovely momma of this crazy-beautiful-perfect-model of a boy from her maternity/family session. We scheduled his one-year pictures, and wouldn’t you know it? When we were able to get our schedules coordinated, the two middle kiddos had scheduling conflicts. So, it kinda sorta worked out for the best. How often does the littlest get to have one-on-one pictures taken only with his momma and his biggest sister? I’m always trying to convince mommas to take some pictures with just one kid at a time every few years, but it really never happens. But, when all the kids grow up, I think they’ll love those occasional one-on-one pictures.

I’ve had a lot of photographers who have started following me lately (I’m branching out into mentoring for photographers and moms of small businesses…more to come on that later); this was a lifestyle session in their lovely home and so I thought I’d turn this into a post about my top 10 favorite images/poses to get during a little dude’s one-year session in the home.

10. Looking out the window. First, you’ll always get great light. Second, you’ll probably get great expressions when you ask: What do you see out there? Is there a bird? Do you see your puppy dog?  

9. The “big boy” bed. Chances are, he won’t be sleeping in it yet, but if he already has it in his room, it sure makes for a cute picture. P.S., I think this is my favorite of the bunch.

8. Something unique that he’s doing that he won’t be doing forever. At first glance, this probably looks like she’s picking him up, but this is how he gives kisses right now. He says, “muh” and tilts down his forehead for a kiss. It’s crazy adorable. And I bet he won’t be doing it in a year from now. 

7. The favorite stuffed animal. That usually always gets a sweet huggy picture. 

6. Scale. It’s easy to think about how big our babies are when they are one and walking and always on the go. But, I love to put a little dude in a big room to remind me how tiny he still is. Don’t worry. Momma was one step away. 

5. A laugh. Enough said. 

4. Walking holding momma’s hand. The time will come all too soon when he doesn’t need it anymore. 

3. A cool piece of furniture in the home. Remember the purple sofa? If he doesn’t normally sit on it, you’ll be sure to get a cute “ooh, this is a new spot” sort of expression.

2. The front door. Who knows where he’ll end up one day? But I always love to take a picture of the house he lives in at the time. It’s part of his history. 

1. The picture with momma. If you know me at all, this is no surprise that this is my favorite. I LOVE the pics I have with my little dude when he was one, and I want every momma out there to have those for herself. 

Thank you, sweet and lovely momma, for welcoming me into your gorgeous home. It was the perfect backdrop for this guy’s special session. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea     508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

I’m going to be doing Mother’s Day sessions with mommas and their littles on April 23rd. Here’s one of me and my little just because I think she’s so cute. :) This was us on her last “photographer’s assistant” assignment.

Love, Andrea       508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Do you remember this beautiful gal? If you’ve never checked out my Andrea Bacle Weddings logo, check out the letter g. See that smiley face? Here she is three years later, all grown up and ready to graduate. So that meant senior pictures, and boy did we have fun! I think we had five outfit changes, tons of fabulous shoes, gorgeous sun and location, one off-and-on teary-eyed sweet momma, and one little assistant cracking us all up. Oh, and of course my model-beautiful senior. Hello, Vogue magazine? Yes, of course you can use this for the next cover shot.

So fabulous!I always encourage seniors to bring a few props of things that are special to them. This lovely lady is a huge Harry Potter fan, so we took several pictures with her reading her favorite books. This reminds me: J.K. Rowling gave the most fabulous commencement speech at my grad school graduation, and it totally made me want to read the Harry Potter series…um, it’s been eight years since then. Now that I think about it, though, perhaps I’ll wait until my kids are old enough and read them then. Ta-da! I can move things to the bottom of a to-do list like nobody’s business.

I am IN LOVE with this picture.

Have you ever been to the Tomball train depot? It’s adorable. There’s a tiny little park with a gazebo and red caboose. It’s perfect for a photo shoot. We had the perfect sunset light shining through. If you’re close to the area, you should definitely check it out–and take your camera!This lovely smile was so sweet and genuine, I just had to include it in the preview. 

Sweet girl, I hope you had as much fun as I did! I can’t wait to show you the rest of your lovely pics.

Love, Andrea

Ack! This summer, this dude is gonna be one! How is that possible? Didn’t we just do his newborn shoot the other day? Also, he was just a peanut in his momma’s belly when we shot my little “after the shoot” video. I told his momma we should do his next milestone pictures when he was sitting up, so we planned to do it with a few bluebonnets. He’s Texas-born, so it’s only fitting. (My own little dude was born in early April, so his yearly birthday pictures always happen to be in bluebonnets. Oh, Texas baby problems.)

Hmm, the hair blowing in the wind, the smile, the baby blue eyes, the monogram, the toes…I just can’t pick a favorite detail. Momma, I hope you love the tree in the background. :) When you put in a special request for a certain detail, I sure will do my best to make it happen!

I’m so crazy about this sweet family. I’ve known them for almost four years now (since their first newborn shoot), and they really represent the best part of my business. There are some days when it’s hard to juggle everything and I’ve been going on little sleep for days and my house is a wreck, but then I’ll have a shoot with one of my favorite families, and I think I have the best job on the planet. I have so many clients who have become friends, and it is truly a joy getting to see them again and again and especially to watch their sweet babies grow up. I really do feel honored to capture these moments for you.

Isn’t this such a pretty spot?

I think lots of people have given up on bluebonnets after last year was such a poor showing. But, they are out there, and I will happily chase them around and find a good spot if you don’t want to miss the season.

Seriously? How cute are these three? Hmm, three precious babies happy and cracking up with perfect weather in some pretty flowers with Grandma, Momma, Daddy, and Crazy Camera Lady acting silly and making them laugh? Yes. Best job, for sure.

It was so great to see you, like always. I’ll have the rest ready soon.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808

Whew. Back to reality this week. Last week was our Spring Break, and we made the most of every day. What did you do?

Here’s the rundown—now, this reads more like a post from my family blog, but there’s a point at the end.

Our week: One room re-do for my big girl, two birthday parties, one slightly hectic Ikea trip (two kids on a Saturday at 3pm is the best time to go to Ikea, right?), and one new big bed for my big boy after I finally finished his first room re-do a couple of weeks ago. Oh, well.What can I say? I love redecorating. This bed took us four hours to assemble, and I consider us seasoned Ikea putter-togetherers. It was 37 steps! I don’t think we’ve ever bought something from Ikea with 37 steps. And that’s about all of the house stuff I could manage; so yes, the rest of the house was pretty much trashed.

Next we headed off for a New Braunfels trip with friends and a photo shoot. We waded in the very chilly Guadalupe and saw fields and fields of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes, and everyone in my travel wagon was too worried about bugs and snakes (this is the reason you’re seeing a people-less flower pic). C’mon people! What are a few critter bites when you could have these in your picture?

We did stay in this super cool River Road treehouse, and it had a cool little creek underneath that we explored a lot.

Here’s just one picture from my river photo shoot. Dang, I wish I could recreate this spot in my backyard. Oh, this two-ish age is so much my favorite. I love how they are on the move non-stop. This gorgeous lady was go-go-go in the river and rocks and water. I waited for just the right moment and then called her name so she would look up. I am going to quote her when I tell you what I feel when I see this: “Oh, goodness!!”

We came back home and had one sleepless night from a kiddo up all night sick (at least it was on break and not during school again), and then we were on to the next trip and photo shoot. We went to Shreveport during the annual two-week azalea show (there’s no real photography allowed at the Norton Art Gallery, so this is all I could get).

So, my point for all you lovely people is that in the middle of all that craziness and gobs and gobs of personal and professional pictures, I had one hard drive die on me and then my giant laptop decided I had abused it for long enough and gave one final sigh and went to electronics heaven, which was followed by the Stage 3 Panic Attack that follows every electronic failure.

NOT FUN.

I spend lots and lots of hours and money backing everything up, so it wasn’t a terrible loss, but it makes me worried about the average civilian out there not backing her stuff up. So, here are my points for you:

1. Back up and then back up again.
2. Don’t trust hard drives, PC storage, CDs, or thumbdrives. They will all fail eventually. Use an online source for storage.
3. I’m changing my policy for hanging on to clients’ digital images. After your gallery view and order, I’m no longer saving them unless you opt to pay a storage fee.

Next, on to calibrate my new monitor on my new unplanned laptop purchase and start some data recovery. Yes, vacation is really over.

Do you have a vacation planned and wish you had someone to follow your family and take memorable pictures? I might be your gal.

Love, Andrea       508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

If you’ve seen my house, you know you’re not talking to the right lady when you say, “I don’t really have any wall space for pictures.” Most likely, my house is smaller than yours, and–standby, I’ll do a quick count–I have 62 pictures in the house that are BIGGER than 8x10s. Um, holy moly. That doesn’t count small prints on tables here and there or the bathroom tiles or the refrigerator pictures or the samples in the garage…sheesh. Crazy much?? People, if you pass my husband on the street, please don’t remind him that this number is 62. Yes, he lives in the house with us, but I think that number might freak him out a little bit.
Where do I get all of the ideas for those pictures? This is usually how the process goes:

1. A client calls: Hi, I’d like to get a picture taken at ________ (Woodlands Waterway, beach destination, when we go on vacation to Maine, etc.). My mind immediately starts churning. Add in another detail: I’m thinking I want one of the kids together since big sister is into ______ and little brother likes _______ right now. My mind is already imagining the session and outfits and poses and lighting…. Fabulous shoot, cheesy blog post, big pictures are ordered and delivered. Groovy.
2. Ah, back home again to my house. Ok, I’m spent. I’ve used all of my creativity on my clients. I know! I’ll steal from the ideas I came up with for them. Here’s one and two and three and four recent blog posts with pictures I re-created after shoots I did with clients. I do this a lot it seems.

So, the point of all this is that for once, I did a shoot with my own kiddo that I didn’t do with a client. However, I can’t take any credit. It was not my idea. My little overly-sentimental and quixotic little one came up with this idea all on her own. Here’s the link to the full blog post about it. The real reason why I wanted to share it on here is because I think it’s so precious. I’d love to help you re-create an idea from one of our sessions if you’re willing to get your dress a little dirty. (Thank you to my husband for the sweet pic; he’s in training and is available as a second shooter for weddings. Also, she wanted these edited with extra pink for her room; the sunset is certainly real, but I pinked up the sand and water and our dresses a little for her.)

Love, Andrea          508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Hey, hey, it’s March! Are you as excited as I am that summer is just around the corner? I miss my baby girl who is at school all day, so I’m super pumped that it’s almost spring break. And speaking of, it’s been about a minute since I was at the beach, so I’m ready to schedule a trip down again at some point during spring break. I know that if you see these beach pictures often enough, you’ll finally cave and book that beach session you’ve always been thinking about! Huh, huh?? You know you want to….

I am caught up on editing (um, not on business stuff: taxes, emails, thank you notes, scheduling, marketing, album ordering–does anyone ever get all caught up on that stuff? If so, PLEASE tell me your secret.), and I haven’t submitted any photos to the iheartfaces.com photo challenge in a while, so I thought I’d enter this pretty face and advertise some beach sessions at the same time.

A little about this photo: Have you ever seen me wear a flower in my hair? I do fairly often. I first started doing it after our first-ever visit to Hawaii in 2004, and I first fell in love with the culture and beauty and pretty much everything else to do with those little islands. Did you know there’s a little rule about wearing a flower in your hair? Similar to the wedding ring, if you’re married, you wear the flower on the left side. That’s why you always see my little one with her flower on her right and mine on my left. Have I told you how much this little one loves to be my mini-me–even though she really doesn’t look a thing like me. She is a spitting image of her crazy-beautiful beauty queen aunt/her daddy’s sister. I’ll still take the adoration, though. And do you recognize this dress? I think she must fall asleep every night wishing for her feet to grow so she can start wearing my shoes, too.

If I don’t see you on the beach or in a blanket of bluebonnets, have a fabulous spring break!

Love, Andrea       508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

P.S., here’s the link again to check out the other entries in this week’s photo challenge: iheartfaces.com

What’s one of the best parts of my job? Definitely watching the babies grow up. Remember this handsome man? I got to see him again! I’m so glad he hasn’t lost that lovin’ feeling for me. Yes, I’m going to pretend it’s me and not the flash on my camera. :)

You know how fun it is to walk in on a shoot, and this is what you see?? Um, heaven! I am one lucky duck.

There are tons of cute ones with the guest of honor and all of his sweet family members who are obviously so crazy about him, so I wasn’t sure who I should include in the preview. I thought this one represented the oohing and ahhing pretty well. And those fingers? I could die. Oh, how I miss the chubby fingers on my babies. My almost-5-year-old only has two tiny fat-finger baby dimples left on each hand. Sniff. 

Oh, I’m sorry sweet cousin. The mean people aren’t letting you eat that beautiful cake. You know if it were up to me, I’d pass it right over to you. :) Really, he was looking at me with those oh-so-beautiful big-brown-puppy-dog eyes and asking me to give him some cake. Sorry for the tease, little dude. It was hard to say no. 

Sweet family, I think you guys are the cutest. Thank you for letting me come to your insanely beautiful home for this shoot. Seriously, I think your home must be the most perfect example of simple elegance I’ve ever seen. It really was a joy to walk into it again.

I’m sure the rest of the family are ready to see all of the pics, so I’ll get them ready as soon as I can.

Love, Andrea         508.768.5808 andrea.bacle@gmail.com

P.S. anyone interested in booking a session, the crazy bluebonnet season is quickly approaching. I’m almost already fully booked, so if you’re thinking about booking a session, don’t hesitate.

I’m coming off of a weekend high–my darling husband took the kids camping, and I had the entire weekend to work and focus on business goals and treat myself to a little down time after working non-stop for a solid year. I celebrated some of my favorite things. What are your favorite things? Here’s a short list of mine.

1. Education–I am a school nerd down to my core and am always either in the middle of a class or looking for the next one to take or teaching one or scheduling my next one to teach.
2. Supporting small businesses–especially helping new ones get launched
3. Helping others–especially moms. It’s hard out there for a mom.
4. Improving my business–I don’t think an hour goes by that I’m not thinking about an idea to make my business better. I’ve been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, for sure.
5. Pretty little details–especially flowers and food and drinks.
6. Fancy coffee

This past holiday season, one of my loveliest clients was slammed with work trips and it didn’t seem like there would be time for her to send out her 300+ Christmas cards. So, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. Here’s the before at 4pm:…and the after at 10am the next morning, addressed front and back and ready to be boxed up and driven down to Houston.

Thanks so loads of coffee and my most fabulous friend who watched my little one for a few hours, I got them done. So, although it took a day for my hand to de-claw, I really loved doing this service for her, and I’d like to offer it to all of my clients. I thought it would be useful to up my script game a little, so I took a class this past weekend with Jenny of A Fine Flourish at the cutest little stationery boutique Katie & Co. in Houston. It’s adorable. Jenny just whipped up this sign in 2 seconds on a chalkboard sign–don’t you wish you could do that??We had lovely desserts from The Foodie Chef. 

And these gorgeous flowers by Maxit Flower Design.My favorite flower: ranunculus. How adorable is the little welcome placemat? So pretty. Winston promptly (but accidentally) crinkled it up in one L.B. second after I got home.

And I was quickly reminded my weekend of fancy was over.

So the point of all this is that I’m busy practicing my calligraphy and script in case you’d like me to address your cards this year. I’ll include a tab with pricing and more info and pictures once I get it sorted out.

I hope you had a fabulous weekend. And if it’s been a while since you’ve pampered yourself, do it. I mean for real, though. Call me. I’ll watch your kids; they’ll probably be great calligraphers when you pick them up. :)

Love, Andrea            508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

So, this is how I spent yesterday morning…on my belly amidst the controlled chaos of a newborn session.

Photo credit: the gorgeous momma of this little dude.Here’s the end result of newborn snuggley goodness. I’m in love.

If you want to create a little chaos in your newborn’s home, let me know. :) andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

I recently hosted a beauty and headshots event to 1. thank my lovely clients with some free makeup and headshots 2. help a lovely young lady launch her own small business and 3. celebrate the beautiful women I know and love.

Although I’ve struggled with being a good business owner and making the right decisions from time to time, the first time I remember really thinking “I don’t think this job is for me anymore” was last summer. I had finished probably my most favorite family session I had ever done, and I was so proud and so thrilled with how gorgeous they were that I finished culling and editing them in only two days. They were that beautiful. When I proudly showed them to the gorgeous momma, the first words out of her mouth were, “I hate all of the ones of me.”

Crushing.

Then, a couple of months ago, I had a client say “hate” to me 10 times while I was showing her pictures to her.

I hate the way I look. I hate my smile. I hate my hair. I hate how I’m standing….

On the way home, I called my husband and told him my business might be about to close.

I want to help women feel beautiful, special, self-confident, empowered, happy, and relaxed; I want them to have fun at our sessions. I am really failing at that right now. This past holiday season, I had several sessions where the kids were crying, the moms were stressed, and the dads were irritated.

Not my goal.

It’s time to reevaluate all of it.

This year, I want to focus more on celebrating my lovely clients and having more fun at sessions. I’m missing the mark somewhere along the way. I’m still trying to figure out where it is I’m messing up, but I’m working on it. In the meantime, mommas who are so hard on yourselves, please go easy. When I’m editing your pictures, all I see is beauty. I would never show you a picture that I don’t think is fantastic of you. And when I look at your beautiful babies, I usually see your faces. If you don’t think you’re beautiful, then try looking at yourself through your kiddo’s eyes. You are.

So, in my quest to celebrate my beautiful friends/clients, I hosted this little party. Ladies, I can’t thank you enough for supporting me, and I hope you had a little fun and felt pretty, because you are.

I need to give a crazy-giant-huge shout-out to my kick booty hubby for always, always supporting all my dreams. To show his support for me, he brewed coffee (a must-have for me), baked scones, bought Texas wine (a must-have for every other mom I know), and ordered special flowers for me and the event. THE BEST.

Here are some fun pictures of the details and some before/afters. Here’s one of my lovely makeup artist and friend, Jasmine. I need to ask if it’s okay to post her info here, so I’ll update it once I talk with her. Ladies, thank you again for your support. I’m not sure what changes I’ll need to make this year. I think it’s time for an old fashioned MY GOALS FOR THIS YEAR list with pencil and paper. I’m thinking I need to scale back on my sessions and focus more on what I love to do most: helping others, teaching, and travelling. I am mentoring more and more owners of small businesses, and I plan on teaching more Shot by Momma classes this year, and I’m only marketing for travel photography (more to come on that). We’ll see how it goes. What are your goals for this year? We’re halfway through January…how is it going for you? I’m just now getting to the blog post about my changes for my business, so you’re probably doing better than I am!

Love, Andrea

Simple. Beautiful. Birthday girl.

I’m not sure I’ve ever posted practically an entire session in a preview before. However, I was under the gun to get these done for Christmas cards, so I skipped the usual preview and got these straight to Momma. I’ve had to do that lots of times before when there’s a quick turnaround deadline, but I don’t think I’ve ever gone back and posted those pics. However, these are so candid and fun and back to my preferred style of shooting (over the years, I have gotten so far away from the original candid style I had; I really want to get back to it, but so few clients choose the candids to hang up in their homes…) that I had to share.

Yes, those are feathers everywhere. We had quite a blast throwing feathers and jumping and playing and making a big ol’ mess.

After I thoroughly trashed their entryway–I obviously got the heck out of there–and Momma and I took the kiddos outside to try to get some pictures of the boys together and give them a little running room. The light was FANTASTIC.

I must make a comment about this first one. This is the type of picture that Momma (and orderer of pictures) probably wouldn’t buy and put up on the wall. However, it is the kind of picture that (I imagine) her boys would like to look at when they are older. I mean, how many moms look like this? Fun, young, happy, and beautiful? Gorgeous.

Once I asked them to wrestle each other, I was able to get plenty of them together. Go figure.And, oh, what luck! It started snowing for us. :)

Ah, sweet family! Thanks so much for a fun shoot, as always. Is it okay to go ahead and plan a Colorado Thanksgiving session for next year? Huh, huh? :) Happy New Year, and happy everything to come for you.

Love, Andrea

P.S. Friends, family, and fans, in 2016 I’m going to focus my efforts on combining travel and photography. As of right now, I’ve got shoots scheduled in Galveston, San Antonio, two spots in Florida, Chicago, and Seattle. Need a little photographer for your family vacation? Give me a shout.

I’ll put up a proper preview of this lovely sun-drenched session in a few days–trying to get this gallery done for my lovely momma-friend of this cutie pie as soon as possible. I’m a teensy bit obsessed with this light. 

I had clients reschedule their beach pics on Sunday night, because it was supposed to be freezing. So, fortunately for me, that gave me the opportunity to take pics of my kiddos on the beach. We are in the middle of putting up a new fence, so I had the idea of making a little tent/teepee with old planks on the beach to shield them from the wind. I love how it turned out, and I have a frame that’s been patiently waiting for this perfect picture. 

Clearly, I’m happy to go to the beach no matter the weather, so give me a call if you want to get some beautiful pics of your own babies. I’m booking Spring Break sessions right now.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Hey, there! I’m sure you can tell by now that my teeny tiny model doesn’t mind posing for me whenever I get a bright idea. I’m on the hunt for a new master bedroom wall color (I have a bit of a problem with constantly redecorating my house; at last count, I have 18 different paint colors up in the house), so I got the idea of turning a favorite picture into a paint chip card. I found this super cute template from Coffeeshop Blog and then tweaked it a little. Anyway, I’m thinking about pulling from one of the big pictures hanging in our room (they are mainly kissy pictures, so I’ll keep those to myself), and I might make my own paint chip card from it for inspiration.

Also, I thought maybe you’d like to see something a little different on the blog. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving break!! Next week, I should have some oh-so-cute beach pics to share. I have one spot left if you want to bundle up the kiddos for some cute scarf-and-hat-sunset beach pics. :)

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Sending a little love out into the world today–with butterflies and sun flare.

Love, Andrea

PS, Do you see the sticker on the butterfly’s wing? He was released at the University of Kansas. We saw it at the Houston Arboretum and emailed the university to give them the butterfly’s update. Pretty cool.

Sheesh. Some days, I absolutely adore my job and everything about it. For real.

And then there are the other days.

Yep. There are days when it seems as if my job is to be queen supreme ruiner of a kid’s day. (With two degrees in education, that wasn’t exactly my life plan. Yes, interested future clients, I realize you are probably running away at this point, but this is what ya get. Sometimes it’s not all giggles and bubbles, unfortunately.) So, at one of my sessions this weekend, I managed to make both kids cry at different points in the 30-ish minute session.

Nice.

This is what I get. Earlier in the week, I was boasting at the swings at the playground. I may have even bragged to my friend about how I was soooo good at making kids laugh.

Good one, Universe. You have humbled me once again.

So, later in the day after I caused two very precious kiddos to cry, I managed to invite one of my all-time-most-favorite families into the mosquito-on-human-apocalyptic-level-worst-battle-in-the-history-of-the-world photoshoot. Uh, you’re welcome.

I’ve lived in some mosquito-infested places in my day, and this was the worst I’ve ever seen. They were swarming and biting us through our clothes. Instead of getting to catch up with my lovely friends I haven’t seen in a year, we had the fastest shoot in history and–no kidding–ran from spot to spot. And through all that, these kids were troopers!! I’m so proud of them. They seriously weren’t complaining AT ALL.

Do you remember this little peanut? She’s all grown up and so stinkin’ adorable. I know you weren’t diggin’ this flower bow, momma. But this wink?! I can’t even handle it. This was the first shot, and I’d like to think she was telling me, “Don’t worry, crazy lady. You got this.”So dapper.
This poor sweet girl who I adore so much…I had to photoshop out two mosquito bites on her beautiful face. I’m sorry, sweet girl!!

Oh, family. Whew. Thanks for braving the bugs with me! I’m sorry we didn’t get to have a real conversation and catch up. I do have lots of great shots for you, and I’ll have them ready soon. It was great to see you, as always!

Love, Andrea

Happy November!! Are you ready for the craziness of the next eight-ish weeks? Hold on to your hats, because I can hear the jingle bells from the mall from here. Really. The tree is already up at Market Street. Can I tell you a little secret about me? I might be a teensy weensy bit of a grinch. Just kidding. If you know me at all, it’s no secret. I’m a bit of a mega-grinch.

1. I’m a summer kind of gal. I like it warm. Give me hot and sweaty over shivering any day of the week. So, that means if it’s cold outside, I’m already cranky.
2. I’m treading water as best I can keeping my house clean, dinner cooked, business working, and children and husband alive to the end of the day. Who is the world has time to add in tree decorating and cookie baking and present shopping and wrapping and carol singing? I’d rather just watch Elf and then go to Hawaii for a week and come back when it’s a new year.

BUT, since I’m a mom and wife to a non-grinch, I shall do my best to fake the holiday spirit. When does Gap come out with their matching family sweaters? That just might do the trick.

Kids!! Let’s go to the mall.

Back to the point of this whole post. If you’ve followed me for a while, then you’ll surely recognize these two cuties. We met for their annual Christmas-card-family-session, so I can’t post any family pics. So, I thought I’d show some closeups of the kiddos, because those are always my favorites.

Hmm, how about some warm sunshine on a chilly day giggling and snuggling in momma’s arms with the promise of donuts after this? Yes, please! Oh, this big sister. She keeps getting bigger! She’s officially a mini-version of her beautiful momma now. 

Lovely family, you know I love you! Thanks for a great Sunday morning. And thanks for the patience with this wacky weather. Start looking at Christmas card templates, because I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea

I think I’ve mentioned somewhere before along the way about how important I think it is to photograph your kiddos with their friends as they grow. As much as I’d be happy clinging to my babies all day every day, I know how much they are enjoying growing up into little people and how important their friends and friendships are to them. (Isn’t “bittersweet” the perfect term for motherhood? Every morning when I walk my big girl to the bus stop, we hold hands and she snuggles into my sweater as we wait; as soon as she sees it coming, her mind is immediately focused on her friends and school. All I want to do is grab her hand and hug her, but I watch her go instead and feel proud of her independence….sigh.)

Anyway, back to the point. As part of this whole “destination photography” angle I’m starting to focus on, I wanted to post these fun travel pics I took of these four little Texas friends together.

I am IN LOVE with this picture. That face. It’s too much. 

Mommas and daddies, get out there with your cameras and capture your littles and their friends. Also, don’t forget that every shoot doesn’t have to be picture perfect with the perfect clothing with everyone smiling at the camera. That’s part of the beauty of being little, right? They’ll be cute even in bathing suits, swimmies, and goggles.

If you’ve been thinking about asking a photographer to tag along on your next vacation, ooh! ooh! pick me! pick me! 2016 is going to be a year of fabulous travel photography for me. Call me if you’re going somewhere cool and don’t feel like packing a camera and a tripod.

Love, Andrea

You can always call me at 508.768.5808. If my hands are free, I’ll answer. :) If you’re an emailer, you can get me at andrea.bacle@gmail.com.

Remember when I had a special announcement about my biz? I have a fancy blog post coming with all of the official details, but I’ll give you a big hint: destination photography.

So when I had the opportunity to go shoot a corporate party in Las Vegas last week, I JUMPED at the chance. (Remember how I posted a video of my little one last week? What do you mean you haven’t watched it 150 times like I have??) I love travelling so much. I had a 6-year hiatus while my babies were really little, and this year I feel like I’m finally back on track with lots of travel. I love all of it: the strategic packing, the plane rides, the hotels, the drinks with tiny umbrellas….

I was asked to shoot an annual party for Westmark Associates. From their Facebook page: “Westmark Associates is an internet marketing consulting firm specializing in affiliate marketing, social media marketing, and business automation using Infusionsoft software.” Super bonus? It’s run by one of my best friends and her most super fabulous momma.

Here are some highlights: Plane ride editing photos and listening to music. Ahh, bliss.   Headed west.

I typically try to dress up a little for my clients, but I’ve never been able to wear a metallic silver Vegas dress to a shoot before! Pre-party coffee, camera bag, and quickie elevator selfie for the husband–check, check, check. 

Let’s party.The fun part of knowing the party hostesses is that I was able to take some photos with the hot ladies in the room. Thanks to Brian Falzon for taking these pics despite Niki’s multiple threats about dropping my camera. :)The Rain Man Suite at Caesar’s Palace.
Goodbye, Vegas. I’ll try not to stay away so long again.

My 44-ish hours in Vegas included a mad dash to finish an album for a client, Rent the Runway, STK, the top of the Cosmopolitan, Surrender at The Wynn, Lil Jon, one successful round of black jack, Color Salon, a nap, The Rain Man Suite, visiting one of my fabulous friends who lives there–oh, and taking party pics.

Thank you Niki and Pat and Westmark Associates! I had a total blast. I hope you love your pictures. I’ll be keeping next year’s October calendar open just in case….

Love, Andrea

Do you want that one perfect shot of your little in full Halloween get up? I am offering mini-sessions for Halloween costume pictures on Friday, October 30th and Monday, November 2nd.

After the session, you’ll receive a link with five images to choose from. Each session is $75. These are for meant for one kiddo; please book additional sessions for additional kiddos.

BONUS: I’m offering a pre-order special for these. 1. If you pre-order all five digitals ($250), you’ll receive a free small print (4×6 or 5×7) of each image ($75 value) OR 2. If you pre-order $300 in print products, you’ll receive one free digital image of your choice ($50 value).

**Prices do not include sales tax.

Call or email to book your session; location will be TBD based on weather: andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Happy Halloween! Love, Andrea

Remember the beach pic I posted the other day? Well, I didn’t tell you a little secret about it…there’s a teeny tiny little bun in the oven! As a photographer, my two big nightmare scenarios: 1. Like everyone else, I’m terrified of losing images and 2. I’m almost as terrified as ruining the pregnancy surprise. So many clients will tell me when they are pregnant before they announce it to the world, and I’ve actually had a nightmare that I posted it on Facebook (I don’t know why I do doofus things in my dreams like throwing my camera in a lake, but I do, because I really enjoy waking up in a panic, apparently.), and then I ruined it. Anyway, I think I’ve asked this mom three times about it being ok to spill the beans. I think I had a dream that she said it was cool, so here it is….:)

I don’t think these expressions could have been better. Holy moly. Is the the world’s first 4-year-old supermodel? I might be slightly biased, because if arranged marriages were still a thing, she would be my future daughter-in-law, but I don’t think so. Most gorgeous face ever.
You know that I usually love to go super light and bright, but then you miss out on the beautiful colors of the sunset and the mood, so I resisted going crazy in editing and left this one dark. I LOVE these colors.
Love the haze and the flare and the colors and the family.

Sweet family, I can’t wait to show you the rest of your crazy beautiful pictures. I hope you love these, and thanks again for my most favorite shoot ever.

Love, Andrea

Texas peeps, are you wanting your own beach pics? Galveston is my home away from home–you don’t have to ask me twice to run my little self down there for a session. Give me a shout. andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

I just love that I’ve been shooting this family for more than three and a half years now. I went back and checked my old blog to find their first post. I so love watching all of these kiddos grow up. So, speaking of, this real life baby doll just celebrated her first birthday! What in the world have I done in the past year since her newborn shoot? Ah, that’s right. I’ve mentally been on perma-vacation. It helps that I go to Galveston once a month for a beach re-charge. So, this beautiful one turned one, and we needed the perfect shot to go on her momma’s gallery wall. Once it’s complete next year after the 2-year shoot, I’ll post a picture. A year-long wait…how’s that for anticipation?!

I love how this family always does a combo of a mini-session (because we are always looking for one specific shot for a piece of art on the wall) and a full session (because who doesn’t want an updated picture of the family and kids together?). This was one of my personal favorites, because 1. she looks like a porcelain doll and 2. I’m sure she won’t always want her fingers in her mouth, but it’s one of those precious baby looks that will one day go away forever.  Here are a few of the options that may end up in the 9-block gallery wall. I think the over-the-shoulder giggle is my favorite. 

Do you follow me on Instagram? It’s more personal stuff than business, so you may not be interested, but this was one of the first pictures I ever posted. This is one of my most favorite pretty pictures, so I use it as a sample of a lovely 24×36 canvas when I donate to auctions. Cell phone photo by one of my Bacle assistants.

Thank you, sweet family. Love y’all!

Love, Andrea

Here’s a super sneak peek from my most fabulous sunset beach session this past weekend. Lots more to come!

I’m planning on painting stripes in this room this week. However, now I’m rethinking it–stripes won’t be as easy to Photoshop! I thought these girls needed a little bit more pink in their lives. What girl doesn’t want a room to match her outfit?! :)
Here’s a composite with little brother in there. Of course, I’m always drawn to a Tiffany blue…the color of my dining room. How to decide what color?!

For those of you wondering…sooc=straight out of camera. ;)

Hey, there. Remember my beautiful babies from last week? They had their first birthday party this past weekend! If you know me at all, you know how much I love birds, so I just adored this beautiful cake. Gorgeous!! True to what most one-year-old-stars-of-the-show do, the twins took turns sleeping throughout their party. However, look at this cutie pie’s face after he got up–so happy and excited to have so many friends and family around!There were people eating and music was playing, and there were presents and colors and lots of laughs and fun going on, so this little peanut needed some good ol’ momma-snuggle time when everything got into party mode. Oh, how I miss those days of wearing my babies. Nothing could chill my babies out quite like a pacifier and some koala-bear-backpack-baby-wearing time.

I know you remember this gorgeous girl’s picture from last week. It’s nothing short of amazing how a face painter (or balloon dude or a lady dressed up as Disney princess) at a birthday party can get 10 children to stand quietly in a line for an hour. I haven’t figured out how to keep 2 kids still and quiet for longer than 30 seconds.

Little Bit here took a tiny power nap and woke up ready for pictures! My kinda gal. I loved this precious sister moment.Oh, sweet family. What a fun party! I had a blast. I think everyone did, especially the kids. I have so many great shots from the party–I’ll have them ready soon. Thanks again for a fabulous July 4th!

Love, Andrea

Alright all the rest of you party people…the rest of the summer is almost fully booked. If you’re thinking about a booking a session, a special event, or a milestone mini, please don’t wait to book.  andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Yes, yes. I’ve heard the news about the oh-so-disgusting water in Galveston. Meh. We can still make beautiful pictures. You bring the antibacterial soap, and I’ll bring the camera.
I have one sunset session and two morning sessions open in July. I have a few in August, too.  If you’re travelling east to clearer waters, I’ll be in Pensacola in August. Give me a shout: andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Hey, there, fellow beach lover! Chances are, if you’ve found your way to this post, you’ve asked me about a beach family session in Galveston. And, aha!, good news for everyone, I’m now advertising Pensacola Beach family sessions, as well. I’ve convinced all airlines to let me ride inside the little drink carts for free on their daily Houston-to-Pensacola Beach routes.

So, do you need ideas for poses? What to wear? What time of day to do the shoot? What would look best on your walls? Here are some fabulous examples from my oh-so-groovy favorite beach clients. Also, here’s a link to an article from pixpa.com about beach photography tips, when you’re ready to take your own beach photos. Tell them I sent you.

Classic white and khaki from a classy family (an hour before sunset): Too stinkin’ cute for words in their matching blue gingham (and still the winners for my all-time favorite sibling pic; around 10am):  It’s all about the dress for the insanely gorgeous momma of this handsome family. Ok, I might be a little biased, because she’s my sister-in-law, but no, I don’t think I am (2 hours before sunset on an overcast day).  Finally, this is most like what I would put my own family in for pictures: coordinated, but not too matchy. Ok, who am I kidding? It’s probably a minor miracle that I get us all out there with clothes on. Here are what Daddy and babies were wearing for our pics, and here’s the final picture hanging on the wall. I wanted the sky color to coordinate with our wall color, so we had to wait until after the sun went down. (These were taken at sunset and a few minutes after). 

I love the jewel tones on this family (of four now!)–perfect for the high contrast sun of midday. 

Families, what are you waiting for? You know you need a little sand in between your toes and in your shorts! Call me for a session. Photographers, if you need any ideas or have questions about times and locations, give me a call. I’ll see you on the beach!

Love, Andrea (andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808)

Good morning! Okay. Time to move on. I promise, no more whining about the bluebonnets. So, my shoot from this past weekend was one of my favorite families. I first met them all the way back in 2011 for their first family shoot–I had to dig through my old blogspot to find that one!

We’ve done several shoots between then and now, but I never posted these from their bluebonnet mini-session from last year. Here are three of my favorites. And surprise! You might notice a little sister has come along since our first session way back when.

This pic on the left is big sister at only 9 months old. I wanted to show a side-by-side of her in the blubonnets a few years apart. Just as gorgeous as ever! 

And now, here she is this year. All grown up! I wouldn’t have thought I would like clover flowers so much, but I love how soft they are around her in her beautiful white dress. Don’t you love the hair and jewels and beautiful face? She gets that from her momma–pretty much the classiest lady I know. 

Gotta have one of them holding hands.

For the last preview pic, I wanted this one, because it’s my personal favorite. They say to show what you want to shoot, and I love these kinds of pics. We were trying to get all three lovely ladies to sit together for a group picture, and this little lady was sweet enough to stand up and come bring me a flower. What? Are you trying to convince your parents that I need to adopt you? Okay! I love the background, and of course I love beautiful momma and big sister patiently waiting for her to come back. Thanks for a fun and lovely session, as always. Your family is just precious.

Love, Andrea

The lovely momma of this bunch just had this little bundle two weeks ago and she wanted to get some shots of her newborn baby girl with her four big brothers. Momma, you are going to love the ones with each individual brother holding her. How sweet is this face?

Do these guys look they have lots of fun together, or what? Oh, my. How much do I love my job? I seriously love chasing little crazy dudes like this around, and I’m kind of crazy about this picture. I love the colored shirts against the white floor, the cowboy boots, the three different hair colors, and the silly-sweet expressions. LOVE!I’m so glad y’all decided to do a lifestyle session at home. I think it worked perfectly for the kids, and I think all five kiddos did so great and had lots of fun–I know I did!

Thanks again for a fun morning, and I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea

If you’d like me to chase your kiddos around (and attempt to crack them up with some super-lame jokes), give me a buzz and schedule your own lifestyle session in your home (they are my favorite!). andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Are you stuck in The Woodlands and wishing you were at the beach? Do you plan to spend your summer driving down to Galveston or over to Florida? I will gladly pack my little self into your suitcase to take pics for you!
Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

The bluebonnets are coming! Are you as excited as I am? I have totally embraced our Texas life. We’ve lived all over the United States, but this is my favorite place we’ve ever lived, and I love calling it home. So, as you can imagine (because I’m sure I’m the ultra-cheesiest person you know), I’m always excited about the bluebonnets blooming. I had a lovely lady call me yesterday to get on the books, so I thought I’d do a re-cap of my favorite bluebonnet spots. Fellow photographers, if you need more info about shooting at any of these places (lighting, crowds, driving directions, etc.), give me a call.

field in Montgomery:
Mercer Botanic Gardens (depends on the year as to how big the patch is): Conroe library (last year there were several colors at once):Memorial Park (usually a small patch): Brenham (if you’re up for the drive, the views are killer): The Woodlands (Creekside/Rob Fleming Park):
I’ve included two pics from Creekside because they have such a beautiful water feature with stones and steps and fences that are pretty if you want some variety other than the flowers. Memorial Park is good for that, as well. I shoot there a ton, so I know lots of cute non-flower spots there, too.

I’ve got my short list going of those who are waiting for time slots as soon as I’m confident about when the flowers will be fully in bloom. Let me know if you’d like to be added to the list. Thanks! andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Love, Andrea

Ok, kids. This winter is dragging on forever. I know I have nothing to complain about, because we used to live in Boston and I’ve seen the footage. However, I’m just ready to be warm again. I plan to practically live at the beach from now until the end of the year. I’ll be in Pensacola, FL, Gulf Shores, AL, and good ol’ Galveston, TX, as much as possible. If you’re ready for some gorgeous pics at the beach, give me a shout.

This is one of my favorite families from last fall, just to warm you up a little today.My family and I are headed to Florida soon for our own pics. I’m trying to hire a professional, but I waited so long that it might have to be my trusty remote, timer, and tripod again. Here were our results from last year’s self portraits. Not too shabby, but they’ll never be as good as a pro behind the camera.

Call/email/facebook/you get the idea to book your beach session: andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808.

Love, Andrea

Hey, friends! Happy February. Are you ready for Valentine’s Day? This year is the first year that I’m not doing photo valentines for my kids. Birdie wants the little box of cards with cartoon characters “with no photo, momma.” I think I’ve got her talked into at least making some homemade ones out of construction paper or something.

Anyhow, after taking off two weeks in January, business is back in full swing. I just had a friend of one of my most favorite clients call me about coming to her (super fabulous and gorgeous) house for a special occasion.

Side note: For every client you send my way, you’ll get a $50 credit. I’ve had people pay for their sessions that way!

So, her grandfather was in town for a short visit, and she wanted to make sure she got a few shots with him and her family. She was a little worried about her kids and her grandpa not being able to hang in there for a full session. Luckily for her, I pride myself on being a super quick shooter. I have two kids and a husband. I totally get that kids and husbands and grandpas are not super excited to take pictures, so I really do try to be fast. And bonus for me? Her cutie pies are almost exactly the same ages as my two littles. 

How much do I love this picture? It makes me happy every time I look at it. Do you have a special occasion you need pictures for? If you don’t hire someone, make sure you pull out your nice camera to take some. And don’t forget, if you need some lessons on how to use your fancy camera, I teach classes!

Lovely momma, thanks so much for letting me capture this sweet moment. And PS, I love your kids. :) Enjoy your preview and I’ll have the rest ready for you really soon.

Love, Andrea

Between Spring Break, the bluebonnets, and summer vacation, don’t wait to get on the schedule for your own family shoot. It’s gonna be a busy year. andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.767.5808

Hmm, the best part of my job? Watching my kids and families grow. I met this lovely couple at Mercer Botanic Gardens back in 2011 for a sweet shoot of just the two of them. Imagine my excitement when they called me to announce 1. They’ve had a gorgeous baby girl. and 2. They want me to shoot the baptism. How lucky am I?!

At the start of the ceremony, the sun was shining straight through this gorgeous stained glass into the sanctuary. It was spectacular to witness and so beautiful during the ceremony (not so great for pictures with reds and yellows shining on everyone’s faces, but that’s cool. I love a challenge.)

I didn’t want to include any ceremony pictures in the preview, because I always want to respect the privacy of my clients and honor the reverence of such an important event. So, here’s a sweet family one from post-ceremony. What a picture-perfect little family.  Since this was baby girl’s first front-and-center moment, I had to take one of her getting ready before the big event. Are you loving this bonnet? Is it called a bonnet when it’s for a baptism? Christening hat? I’m not sure–regardless, it’s pretty stinkin’ cute. I’m sure Mamie (sp?) would agree! ;) I just couldn’t decide on whether to keep this one in color or turn it black and white. It felt like a black and white moment, but I loved the soft, purpley hues from the colors in the sanctuary. I’ll let you decide!Sweet family, I’m so thrilled for you. Congratulations on your baby girl. She is a doll, and six months old is such a fun time. Wait until she is able to sit up–think of all the pictures you can take then!

Love, Andrea

Families, I love to shoot events. Call me for your special occasion or birthday party, or check out my weddings website if you’re a bride to be: http://andreabacleweddings.com or andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808.

Exciting, exciting! I met these three kiddos this weekend, and they have a little brother on the way! Their beautiful momma wanted to capture some pictures of her sweet belly and all of the siblings before he’s here. About a jillion years ago, I thought we’d have four kids–two girls and two boys, of course, so I’m super excited for them.

I haven’t posted a black and white image on a preview in a while, and I just fell in love with this one as soon as I snapped it in the camera. I remember thinking it would be perfect in black and white just because of the precious little way this beauty was holding her hair, in that sweet way only a 4-year-old baby girl with a bow in her hair can. But, she’s not going to be the baby for long. Momma, can you believe your baby is about to be a big sister?

Ok, hello–how much do I love this? Are you kidding me with this personality? He was taking some great smiling pictures, and then I said, “Ok, now don’t smile,” and this is what he gave me. Love!

I was getting lots of different combinations of the kids, and I asked sweet baby girl to tickle her big sister, and they were both so cute. Thank you for such a fun morning, sweet family. I’m so glad we waited for the rain and cold to pass so we could have fun in this beautiful weather; it couldn’t have been more perfect. I am wondering, did the kids ever get in the pool?! I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea

Families, if you’re looking for a crazy photographer lady to chase your kiddos around, give me a call or email to book a session. andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Merry Christmas Eve! What are you doing today to celebrate? I hope all your family members are close and you’re enjoying some kind of family tradition. We are going to drive around and look at Christmas lights tonight, because we haven’t done it yet, and we’d better not wait much longer. And, after I get this preview done, I’m taking tomorrow off! :)

Enough about me and back to this sweet family. So, what do I do when the littlest doesn’t want to smile for me? Have Grandma push him in the swing and have Daddy tickle him, of course! It works every time. I spent the afternoon with these little cutie pies who had all of their extended family in town visiting. The weather was perfect, the geese were behaving, and we all had a blast.  I love this little tree trunk piece that someone surely put there just for me and pictures. :) I know I shoot at Burroughs Park a lot, but I sure love it. There’s so much space to run around and so many different spots with the water and docks and geese and Spanish moss-covered trees. If you haven’t been, you should definitely take your family to play.

Here are the big sister and brother to the little swinging man. I love this sweet little moment between the two of them. Thank you for a fun day at the park. I hope you had a wonderful visit together and enjoy this lovely weather. I got so many great shots of all the family combinations for you–can’t wait to share them with you.

Love, Andrea

P.S. If you’d like to schedule your own family session, give me a call soon, because I’m already scheduling into February for 2015. Thanks for a wonderful year, sweet clients! Happy New Year!!

This fabulous family and I finally spent a chilly Saturday morning together after–how many times did we have to reschedule? This crazy Texas weather seemed to act up every time we were scheduled. It turned out to be a good thing, because this lovely momma is expecting baby #2 and still has a small baby belly, so it gave her a little more time to grow. I put my foot in my mouth and totally (but accidentally!) insulted her about her belly (I made a very lame attempt at a joke about, because of my giganto second baby, if I don’t stand up straight, I look like I’m the pregnant one.) Anyway, she’s gorgeous and has the teeniest of baby bumps, so it was good that we waited a little longer. People (meaning me), just be smart. Really. Everyone just stick to the plan of never mentioning a woman’s pregnant belly, no matter how cute it is, and all will be right with the universe.

So, I’m now in love with this soon-to-be big sister. My goodness. She has the sweetest little voice and is smack dab in the middle of my favorite talking stage when it’s so fun for me to try to translate toddler speak. How cute is this giggle?

Sometimes I’ll suggest the parents swing the baby around or have Dad throw her in the air (partially because 2-year-olds don’t exactly sit still…ever, so it’s one way to get parents and baby in the same frame for 2.3 seconds); every once in a while, one or both parents look at me like I’ve lost my mind for suggesting such cruel and unusual punishment, but these two are ready for the second kid, so they were cool with it. What was the name you had for this game? At our house, it’s called TMITASHI (“throw me in the air, say hi”). For any nervous grandparents reading this, don’t worry, she was having a blast. Totally safe.

How could I show this picture without mentioning my own little blondie? I sure miss my baby’s curls; here’s a post about that haircut from my family blog for those of you insomniacs out there who need one more thing to read. I love all of this one. One day you’re going to blink, and baby #2 will be this age, and this baby girl will be all grown up. Make sure you write down those baby words before they’re gone!

Love, Andrea

P.S., Hey, party people, it’s gonna sound nuts, but I’m already almost fully booked for January. If you need me to come accidentally insult your lovely family, give me a call. :) 508.768.5808

If you book a family session with me, we’ll probably plan to shoot at a lovely location, and we’ll get some fun family shots–maybe playground, walking in the woods, playing at the beach, etc. However, if you’re in the mood for a styled shoot, we can totally do that, too. I haven’t done a styled shoot in a long time; the last one that comes to my head is this baby girl. This gorgeous momma-friend of mine put an inspiration board of Christmas pictures on Pinterest, and I’ve slowly been gathering all the pieces together. After some rescheduling, a weekend of painting a sofa, a little rain, an ill-timed nap on the 10-minute drive here, and sweaters in 80 degree weather, we made it happen. These are just a little sneak peak into the full set, but I’ll save those for their Christmas cards. When the busy season slows down, I’ll definitely post pictures of the whole set, including the “before” of the thrift store sofa I redid.

Big Brother was still sleeping in the car, so we got a few of just the gorgeous parents. When’s the last time you had a great picture with just your spouse? I’m guessing it coincides with the age of your eldest kid. :)
This sweet little dude. Poor kiddo had just fallen asleep in the car when they pulled in. We let him have a tiny 10-minute nap and then had to wake him up to get some shots. He was a champ and gave me some sweet smiles (after I chased him down while my little turkey drove him around the cul-de-sac). How cute is this kid? And this is why I love the “golden hour.” Look at the colors in the sky, the warm tones on his skin…beautiful. This frame was part of our set, so we tried to entertain the boys with it, and it turned out pretty cute. Alright pretty lady, as long as the coffee keeps flowing and my eyeballs don’t melt, I’ll have the rest ready for you soon!

Love, Andrea

Here’s the rub: how in the world am I going to make this blog post 300+ words without sounding even cheesier than usual?

Sidebar: All of the SEO (search engine optimization) experts say that a blog post must have at least three hundred words in order for Google to recognize it as a good post (See what I did there? Writing out search engine optimization? It’s probably a teeny tiny bit like cheating the system, but at least I haven’t resorted to using very, very, very, very cute to describe a photo…yet.).

So, here’s the deal with this Thanksgiving family shoot. There are the parents, their four adult kids and spouses, and the eleven grandkids. How could I ever decide what to show in the preview? I have shot lots of the kiddos lots of times in the past, so it would be like picking your favorite of all these cuties. Although, let’s get real, everyone knows it’s Lucy.

Hang on, moms of other cute kids. In my defense, she’s the baby, so she wins. Every time I started to pick which pics to show in the preview, I just couldn’t decide, so I figured let’s go back to the beginning, where it all started. And now I’m back to the point of where my ultra-cheesy, romantic side comes out.

Get ready.

Their grandparent names are Big Daddy and Honey. Really. Number one, all-time winners of grandparent names. You’d better trademark these, because I fully intend to steal them in 25ish years or so. Anyway, I just can’t help but feel how cool it must be to see all of your grown kids with their own amazing families. When I was at H and Big D’s house on Thanksgiving, for the first time–maybe ever–I thought to myself that maybe we should have had more than two babies. How cool would it be to have such a big, fun family running around? And look, after all that, they still like each other. Sounds good to me. P.S., dear Universe, this DOES NOT mean I would like to have any more babies–just so we’re clear. Thanks for such a fun time, everyone. I had a blast. I’ll have the rest ready for you as soon as I can. I know someone out there is anxious, because I’ve had 78 views from five people today. :)

Love, Andrea

JANUARY UPDATE: I just found out today that these two are high school sweethearts. Okay, okay. You win. Best couple ever!

I was looking for the post from this family from last year to link here, but I couldn’t find it anywhere and thought (perhaps for real this time) that I might be losing my mind. But, I finally remembered that we did a mini-session last year, and I rarely post any pics from those on here. I try to save them for the big Christmas card reveal. But, now that I think about it, the chance that a family member of my client would be randomly looking on my blog and ruin the Christmas card surprise is probably never, ever going to happen. I don’t be gettin’ too much visitin’ on my blog, y’all–Facebook is where all the traffic is. Anyhow, I loved their pics so much from last  year, so I thought I’d share. And, I can’t get over how little these two look compared to this year.  

So, fast forward a year and these two are practically teenagers. Are you loving this smile? So pretty and so sweet. I love that she brought her little stuffed animal with her. This is a good reminder that she’s not so teenager-y yet.   Oh, how I love this sweet family. Aren’t they the cutest…and so well dressed. ;) This beautiful momma might be the loveliest lady I know. If I didn’t think she would for real come to my house and give me an old fashioned butt whooping, I would post pictures of her in the most fabulous dress ever to prove it. And, my son is deep into believing that I’m secretly a super HERO (when I’m actually a not-so-secret super NERD), and he’d probably be disappointed to see that dream shattered. Alright, my peeps. Thanks for spending the prettiest morning in The Woodlands with me. I will have the rest ready for you soon!

Love, Andrea

This oh-so-precious one was a sweet little surprise. Do you remember her family’s maternity session from a few weeks ago? As I was walking away from the session, I told her lovely momma “I’ll see you in a month or so.” Then, surprise, surprise, what shows up on my Facebook newsfeed just a few days later? The announcement that this gorgeous girl had arrived. She’s as every bit as sweet as she is cute, too.

This is the best part of doing a lifestyle newborn session in your home. We can do a combo of traditional (have they already become “traditional”?) sleepy poses and then family pictures together. I just love how she was looking right at her daddy for this one. Once you don’t have newborns anymore, it’s so hard to remember that they were ever this tiny. Oh, these fingers and toes. Sigh. :)
Congratulations, sweet family. You’re a family of four now–can you believe it? Your kiddos are precious. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea

If you haven’t heard, we have a brand new extra fancy schmancy Nordstrom in The Woodlands Mall now. It’s beautiful. Before the store opened, Nordstrom teamed up with The Woodlands Children’s Museum (one of our fave places to visit with the kiddos) to create tiles for the children’s clothing section in the new store. If you go there, make sure you check out the tiles around the registers; they were all painted by Woodlands kiddos. What a cool idea, right? I was lucky enough to be the photographer for the event; here are a few of my favorite pictures, including a before and after of my Birdie’s tiles. Have I mentioned before how much I love living here? :)

Sometimes it’s really hard to balance what my clients want and what I like. This first shot is a perfect example. I love the colors and the light in her hair and her little you-just-woke-me-up-from-a-nap-and-now-you’re-in-my-face crankiness. In her defense, we had just woken her up (sorry, kid, the light doesn’t wait for anyone), and I was in her face. But, I know this beautiful girl and her family well, and I just couldn’t resist trying to make her laugh (before she was ready) and snapping one of  her surrounded in all this beauty. I really love capturing the moment. I have big pictures hanging up on my walls of my kids not being perfect and not looking at the camera and not smiling. But, I love to remember the moment we were in. At the same time, I totally get that this would not be a picture a normal person would hang up in the house, but I love it and just had to share it.

Here she is about 2 minutes later. Friends again. Total amazing gorgeousness.

Um, hello perfect model. Moms, I’m telling you. A little snack and a sip of juice (a few hilarious antics from me…uh, obviously; this is why I’m good at my job–kids are the only ones who find me funny) and your kid will be a natural. This beauty is a very skilled dancer, so I asked her if she could show me any of her leaping skills. She did not disappoint.
So, I’m pretty jealous of this picture. I love it. It’s so fitting for this sweet family, too.Thank you for sharing this lovely evening with me, sweet family. I don’t think the light–or my subjects–could have been any more beautiful. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea

Am I allowed to call these kiddos my own yet? If you’ve followed my blog at all, you’ll recognize my surrogate children. If you don’t remember, here’s baby girl’s 9-month session preview. Well, my baby girl is one, and her year of photos is over, so we thought we’d end with a bang and go to the beach.  How precious is this? This is the kind of picture that I would want for my own baby girl and her daddy. How much will she love this when she’s grown? Of course, I have to save the best for last. This beautiful momma is one of my favorites. She and her family are so sweet and loving and always smiling. I love them and love this one of her with her baby girl. It’s my belief every mother should have a picture of herself holding her baby on the beach at sunset. Just doesn’t get any better than that. :)
What a wonderful way to spend the weekend. Thank you for a fun and easy shoot, just like always. I’m already picturing where you’ll hang all of these pics in your lovely house. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon!

Love, Andrea

Good morning! Looky looky what came in the mail: the first edition of the magazine made for Bender’s Landing Estates. I’m so excited to have my very first cover photo. Do you live in Bender’s Landing or have any friends who live there who would want to be featured? Give me a shout, and I’ll connect you with the editor. 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

I still have two openings for Saturday’s beach sessions, if you’d like to book a session. Give me a call or email. 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com. Thanks!

Happy birthday, sweet babies! Do you remember their one-year shoot? For this year’s shoot, we went down to The Waterway in The Woodlands and did lots of family pics and shots of the kids together. But, after we were officially done, we walked down to the splashpad so they could play–it was bloody hot! These sweet babies were so great during the shoot, so they definitely earned lots of play time. I thought these would be fun for the preview.

There are lots of great family ones I can’t wait to show you. Momma, I can’t even begin to tell you how pretty you look especially. I was going through the pics last night and I let out a little gasp. David asked me what was wrong, and I said, “My twins momma just might be the prettThanks for a fun and hot afternoon!

Love, Andrea

It’s a crazy weekend of shooting for me, so I had to get home last night from this shoot and start working right away. Oh, my–there are so many great images, I just don’t know how I’ll ever narrow it down. If you are ever worried about how the kids will act or you want the shoot to be as stress-free as possible, it’s always a great idea to have it at your house. And if getting the house extra clean adds stress to your life, leave it messy! Don’t worry. And don’t forget, I am a work-from-home/stay-at-home mom with two small children. I will send you pictures of my certainly messy house before I come to make you feel better. :) Plus, there are probably 100 beautiful spots in and around your home you never realized would be perfect for pictures.

So, I came to my client’s gorgeous home, and we just let the boys run around and be crazy and have fun. We took pictures everywhere–in the front, in the back, with the dog, in the house, by the pool, and we walked down to the water and saw some beautiful sky. How handsome are these two? And the beautiful colors of their skin and clothes and sky? Yes, mom and dad had a hand in that, but that’s what the golden hour will do for you. It makes everyone look even prettier than usual. Do you see the boys holding hands? Love.  This little dude is 15 months, so Momma wanted to make sure we got some extra pictures of him at this stage. I find that it’s hard to get pictures of just you and the second baby–there was so much time with the first, so I just adore these two. And this little guy probably wins the award for the being the best little giggle box ever. Really. I think he even trumps my little giggler. Ah, I love my job.
Sweet family, I really had a blast with you. Your home was such a beautiful backdrop for family pictures, and I think your boys had a lot of fun, too. Thanks so much for a great evening. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea

Ah, we’re almost at the end of bluebonnet season. What’s funny is I only remember two bluebonnet shoots from last year, and I think I had a dozen this year. I’ve had to reschedule with this sweet family because of torrential rain and teenager schedules (and I thought pre-school schedules were busy) and the Austin MS 150…and all the while hoping the flowers would hang in there long enough for us. We were able to get it done this past weekend. Everything was perfect. Light, flowers, people.

Remember one of my all-time favorite mother-baby pictures from this momma’s newborn baby boy’s shoot from 2 years ago? They are both just as beautiful as ever! Oh, the love birds. If you know me, you know this one’s my favorite.  At the end of the shoot (I did try to make it as quick as I could for you, Dad. I just checked the time stamps; I took the first picture at 5:39 and the last one at 5:59. Not too bad for a family of 7!), the kids were being silly and playing around, and I thought this one was really cute. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Do you remember our last family shoot almost 3 and a half years ago? I can’t believe it’s been that long. Thanks for the fun and laughs. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon, pretty momma!

Love, Andrea

So, I get to spend my Friday night editing this lovely’s photos. What a perfect way to end a wonderful week. And yes. Her eyes really are that amazing. What are you doing for fun this weekend?

Really?! Sometimes I just wanna pinch myself. When I am going through and looking at pictures from fabulous shoots like these, I really can’t believe how lucky I am to have such a stinkin’ awesome job. If you follow this blog regularly, (Hello, Grandma? Are you there?) then you’ll surely remember one of the best couples ever from their romantic backyard wedding last year. And now, I’m lucky enough to be asked to photograph their most precious baby boy. So basically, we’re family now. :) Can you believe a whole year has gone by and a brand new person has come into being since we last saw each other? Just wait–the months are going to fly by while you watch that little dude grow.

People, please resist your temptation to fall in love with this momma and her baby boy. They have one proud papa taking care of them. But, I am crazy in love with this picture. A beautiful, happy woman holding her new baby? It just doesn’t get any better.  I can’t even handle this one. The juxtaposition of daddy’s big strong hands with little man’s eensy weensy perfect tiny fingers? I could die.

So, you know. Just a typical Saturday morning. Father and son just hanging out, talking about life.

I think every newborn photographer goes to sleep the night before a shoot dreaming about having the baby look straight into the camera. That’s what I fall asleep thinking about anyway. I think he just might be the definition of perfection.Thank you for such a quiet, relaxing morning in your lovely home. Your ahh-maze-ing kitchen has given me lots to ponder about my upcoming reno…in case you’re interested, here’s a link to the bathroom tiles I was telling you about. Congratulations on your new house, new baby, and anniversary. What a year! I can’t wait to show you the rest of your beautiful son. (And now that I think about it, your little one here is the only other baby I’ve seen with the line under his lip like my son’s. Maybe we are related!)

Love, Andrea

One of the very best parts about this job is getting to watch my little clients grow up. Check out these three beautiful ladies. You might remember them from their shoot from about a year and a half ago. They are just as sweet and lovely as ever. We spent a beautiful Sunday evening with perfect weather together in the bluebonnets at Creekside.

I love these little giggles. This one makes me smile every time I look at it. The big sister. Stunning. I love this gorgeous light. And this baby girl? Adorable. How sweet are those little clasped hands?
It was so great to see y’all, as usual. Thanks for sharing a fun day with me. Your family is so lovely, and I had a great time running around with you. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea