Brothers, Racing, Rock Throwing, Spiders and Fun!

I know that I have said this before, but I LOVE doing shoots with kids. They are so much fun, and the images we get are so rewarding. I have had the chance to do lots of shoots in the last few weeks and I can not wait to share some of the photos with you. These photos are from a shoot I did up by Lake Tapps. These boys are just totally adorable. Niko and Brooks (aren't those great names?!?!) are so handsome and I had a great time hanging out with them.I am also excited to say that I have been doing some more advanced editing on my photos. I am sure having fun playing with the images. I absolutely love this aged look to the photos.This shoot started off in the normal fashion, the kids were a little shy and reserved and not so sure that they were ready for this whole photography thing. Then we moved into the willing participant stage... when that wore off we moved into the boiling parent stage... and last, my favorite stage... the comfortable, unreserved and sometimes silly stage where we see the real child and capture true emotion.This shoot was really fun. Both Niko and Brooks did a fabulous job. If I were to tell you about the bloody noses (yes, "noses" is supposed to be plural!!), the spider adventure, the elbow injury, the grass rolls, you would never believe that we would have ended up with these great shots, but we did! Actually, that is the way it normally goes. During most every shoot the parents try to look, but stare between their fingers, shake their heads, and beg their kiddos to behave better. No matter how much I tried to assure Brooks and Niko's mother that things were going fine, I could tell she did not believe me... that is until she saw the photos of their little cherubs! Ha! Cherubs they are not, but amazing little boys they are!
Thanks Niko and Brooks for being so willing to hang out with me, share your forts, and play with me by the lake. I have to send out a special thanks to their mom for her patience and willingness to just let me keep taking photos throughout all of the minor disruptions we had! What a fun afternoon it was!

Join Us For The Second Annual Pumpkin Patch Photo Shoot!

SECOND ANNUAL
PUMPKIN PATCH PHOTO SHOOT
SPOONER FARMS
ORTING, WASHINGTON
OCTOBER 11, 2008
1000-1200

One of the greatest things I did last year with Sara Montgomery Photography was our Pumpkin Patch Photo Shoot. We had ten families and tons of kids who played and played all day in the pumpkin patch. They ran through the pumpkins, wound their way through the corn maze, climbed on the old tractor, made it to the top of the hay bales, ate caramel corn and of course picked out some fabulous pumpkins.

Me Ra Koh photography honored our pumpkin patch trip on her blog, if you did not get to see it, you can check it out on her blog. This year I wanted to head out to Spooner Farms in Orting for our second annual trip. However, this time is going to be a little different. There are NO charges for this trip. This time it is going to be FREE. If you are interested in joining us for a day of pumpkin patch fun, and want more details, please email me at sara@saramontgomeryphoto.com.

Here are my warnings... I am limiting the amount of families and the spaces are filling up, so if you are interested, please let me know as soon as possible. And, as I said last year, the Northwest often provides us with rather wet weather in the fall. If there is rain, mud and cold wind...we will have to postpone the event.

I hope to see you at the patch!

The Holidays Are Right Around The Corner !

I can not believe that I am saying this, but the holidays are right around the corner. This time of year always sneaks up on me. Usually in early December I say, Oh... we should have taken some photos, and by then it is too late for much more than a snapshot. I already have a pretty tight schedule for October, so I wanted to let people know as early as I can about my HOLIDAY SPECIAL. This year I am offering a special for your holiday photos. It will be a 45-60 minute session on location. You will have 10-15 shots on a disc to develop as you would like. Of course I will upload all of your photos onto Pictage for you to view and you are welcome to purchase prints or holiday cards that way as well. This session will be $100. If you are interested, email me as soon as possible at sara@saramontgomeryphoto.com to reserve your session! I look forward to hearing from you.

Learning To Explore Life At Six Months

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to do a newborn shoot for a beautiful little girl. I had so much fun and I got some of my favorite newborn shots. Click **HERE** to see some of them. Six months later.... we have a beautiful little girl who is just learning to explore. It is amazing to see the changes that happen in just six months.
Little Reilly is going to quickly realize that she does not have to stay in one place. She is going to be an explorer. She is rolling and almost sitting, and you can see in her eyes that she is excited about all of the new things that she is discovering in her young life.

I love the peacefulness and the quietness that Reilly exudes. She is a very content baby and she showed me a lot of patience through out the day.This cutie is such a blessing to her family, and it was a total pleasure to spend time with her and her entire family. I have to thank them for welcoming me into their home again and trusting me with their precious little one.

Reilly's mom was so laid back and relaxed, she even had time to make cookies with Reilly's sister during the shoot. Can you believe that!! A mom in control.... I was very impressed! When I try to have a shoot with my kids, I am sweating and nervous. So a huge kudos to her!! Here is a shot of big sister Hannah.... thank you for my heart princess artwork! You are such a sweetie and a big helper!This family selected a photo package that includes three shoots for the first year. I am excited to follow this little girl as she grows and I can not wait to share her one year photos with all of you in another six months.

Feeding 2000 hungry children by Living with Grace

I am so excited to announce the results for our first fundraiser for Live With Grace! We had a group of approximately 20 children that ranged in age from 4-6 years old. They did a variety of activities from selling jewelry to having lemonade stands with all of the profits benefiting The World Food Program's Fill the Cup Program. They raised money little by little, with donations as small as a penny at times. They learned about children who live every day hungry... live every day without toys or beds or homes.

I am proud to announce that these children raised over $475!!! At a quarter a day, this money will feed more than 1900 children! The lessons that the children learned, and the conversations that this project started between the children and their parents are just as valuable as the dollars raised. What a great success! Thank you to everyone who participated and thank you to everyone who donated!

Livi, Ava, Zach and I are all now talking about what is next for Live With Grace. We have had many requests for jars. I have some on order, and as soon as they are in, I will be sending them your way. If you would like to request a jar for your family or children, please email me at sara@saramontgomeryphoto.com and I will get you on our list. We are excited to now have certificates for children who participate in the Live With Grace program. Please let me know if that is something that you are interested in.

Stay tuned for more exciting information on Live With Grace and our newest project! Congratulations again and thank you to all of you for your participation in the Fill the Cup project!

The Gift That Takes Your Breath Away

Meet Brie......and her Baby!!!I am so lucky to know Brie. She is a wonderful friend of mine from my world at the hospital. We work together in the operating room. Brie and her husband are almost ready to welcome their new son into the world. If you ask her, I think that she would say that she was ready to welcome him a couple of weeks ago! I think that everyone feels pretty much the same toward the end of their pregnancy... you can hardly breath when you think about what an amazing gift will soon be in your arms, not only that, but there is usually an elbow or foot right under your rib making it difficult to take any deep breaths!Pregnancy... what a miracle...the beginning of live, the beginning of family, the beginning of parenting... the most wonderful challenge and gift that god can bless any family with. I was so excited to capture these beautiful images of Brie. I can not wait for her to look at these photos years from now or even one month from now and try to remember how if was to have that precious little one growing in her tummy.What a privilege it was to spend this time with Brie... She is so beautiful, and she is so excited to have this new addition to her family. This will be her first child, and I know she will be a wonderful mother. Her love for life, her kindness and her wonderful laugh will surely be a blessing for her as she jumps into her new adventure with her husband as parents. I can not wait to meet this new little boy. Congratulations Brie!

Oh... Sweet Baby Mae

My sister and brother-in-law welcomed a sweet baby girl to their family last week. If you do not remember my sister, click **HERE** to see a couple of photos of her family before this sweet addition. We were so lucky to spend time with her immediately after her birth. Little Mae is just the most amazing little girl ever. She is following all of the rules, and is absolutely beautiful. I am hoping to get to see them again in the next few days so that I can get some more shots of her to share with you. Here are a few from her first few hours in this great big world.