Blizzard 2009

As everyone is well aware, the Mid-Atlantic region received a blizzard from Mother Nature in time for the weekend before Christmas. In Central Pennsylvania (depending on how far north you lived) people got anywhere from 6-24 inches of snow. At my house, I think we got about 12 inches of snow and it was the largest snow storm that our pug had seen in his life, but my husband and I along with our oldest dog had seen other large snow storms like this one. We had a blast in it and watching the dogs play in it. They both just loved it! They ran, jumped, danced and ate the snow.

My husband, Toby, and our oldest dog, Zeppie.

Our youngest dog, Oliver

Me and Oliver

The scene from our back yard

The front of our house

I loved how the snow looked in one of our large oak trees.

The sun was beginning to set through our back yard.

I took a picture of my boots in the snow.

Happy Holidays!

No holiday season would be complete without photos used for Christmas cards. My husband and I took a family photo last year but wanted to do something different this year, so we just are doing our pets and not the two of us (they are so much cuter than us anyway). So, here are some of my favorites from our pet session in our family room in front of the fireplace.

First up is our 8 year-old pit bull/American bulldog mix, Guiseppe (or Zeppie for short). He hates the camera and tries to eat it. My husband and I each had our dogs before we met so Zeppie came with my husband into the marriage. I have been in his life for four years now and love him as if he were mine from the beginning. He is such a sweet heart and is so kind and loving and the biggest baby you will ever meet. Then it was on to our 5 year-old pug, Oliver. He is a ham for the camera. He just loves it! Having a mom who is a photographer has turned him into a camera hog. He loves to pose. So, here are a couple of my favorites (I tried several different looks on him because he was so agreeable to it).

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season filled with hope, joy and love!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! This year I have gone through a lot of ups and downs but I'm still pushing through. I am thankful to all my clients who have opened their lives to me and let me photograph them and their families. I love what I do! Photography has been my life since I realized I wanted to be a photographer at the end of my sophomore year in college at The University of Alabama. I have gotten to photograph college sports, had an internship in NYC with famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, worked for a newspaper, worked at a children's magazine, I currently work on a military base and I also photograph weddings, families, pets, and babies for my side business. I have been all over the United States and had so many opportunities to photograph amazing events. Photography has opened the world up to me and I am so thankful for that. I have met some of the most amazing people - athletes, celebrities, personal heroes, musicians, models, families, children, brides and grooms, and our soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines to name a few. I have photographed people during their highs and lows in life and I still get excited pulling up all the photos after a job to see what I got. This Thanksgiving, be thankful for family, friends, health, faith and our service men and women stationed all over the world. Not everyone gets to have a great Thanksgiving or they might not get to be with the ones they love, but we all can find something to be thankful for through it all. I hope everyone has a blessed holiday with family, friends, or brothers- and sisters-in-arms. God Bless, Lizzie

Janelle, Frank, & the girls

I promised to post the family portraits of Janelle & Frank and their girls. Their little girls are all so beautiful and unique and made photographing them a challenge for me. It was hard to get them all to focus and look at me but they made me smile with their giggles and silliness.

My favorite one of the five of them together.Myanna was quite the little model for the camera.

Naomi strutting her stuff

The girls had a blast picking up giant leaves

While I was taking Frank and Janelle's engagement
portraits, Mia wanted to join in on the fun so she ran
and jumped in on this one.

It's great to see how much fun the girls have together.

Myanna

Naomi

Mia for her portrait

Janelle & Frank Get Engaged!

I was so excited when my friend, Janelle, asked me to photograph her upcoming wedding to Frank. We have been friends for a few years and in the same ladies Bible study through our church. She talked about wanting to spend her life with Frank for a long time before he finally popped the question. They are both wonderful people and together they make a great couple. They have 3 beautiful daughters between them already and I am so excited for the family that they are all going to become on their wedding day (they basically already are, it will just be official then). I photographed them in the place that they met and we did engagement portraits as well as family portraits with the girls. There will be another post soon with all the family photos so check back in a couple of days. On to the photos!

Jeannine's Portraits

When I took family portraits of the Carroll’s, I also got to take Jeannine’s portrait for her upcoming book publication “The Christmas Gift”. It is a wonderful children’s book that will help your family start a new tradition and put the real meaning of Christmas back into the holidays. So, if you would like to check it out or order it, you can log onto her website at http://www.jcarrollbooks.com. So here are my favorites and she picked one for her website and one for the jacket sleeve of the book.

Carroll Family Portraits

On my last visit home, I did family portraits for our extended family. It was a thank you gift to them for all they have done for my family. They all live on the same street that my mom and sister live on and they have taken such good care of them and always been there for all of us. It didn't go the way we planned. We had hoped to do all the family portraits outside but a fire broke out on one of the farms. Most left to help and I did some of the children's portraits while we waited for their parents to return. It got dark and started to rain so the pictures continued inside.

So the first photo is of the whole clan.Leah had fun climbing in a tree

Brian, Dawn and their daughter, Leah,
with their beautiful log cabin home
behind them in the distance.

Bruce & Dawn

The three grandchildren

Leah

Brian and Susan with their children, Jamie and Jessie

Jessie sitting pretty

Brother and sister, Jamie and Jessie

Brian and Susan

Uncle Jimmy & Jeannine

Then Jeannine took this one photo of
my sister, Chrisie, my mom and me.

Don't you just love family! I sure do love mine!