Absolutely worth it.

Thanks for braving the elements and wild outdoors today, K. I think we got some fantastic family pictures for you in spite of it all.

We’ve got one, teeny-tiny little opening left in the morning for our Xpressions sessions, Sunday, February 21st. We are going to be touring some of my favorite spots in trendy East Austin. Think hip, colorful, urban, funky, and fun! If you’ve been thinking about grabbing one of these photo sessions, just do it.

• Maybe you need engagement pictures or haven’t had your picture taken with your significant other in a looooooooong time?
• Some hip bridal portraits would be amazing at this location!
• Maybe you’re expecting a baby and haven’t had maternity pictures done yet?
• Maybe your baby has just figured out how to sit up on his own?
• Perhaps your older "baby" is about to lose her first tooth and you need some pictures before it’s too late?
• Or maybe you’re a graduating senior in Austin need to have your senior portraits made?

Let me know and let’s see if we can get together this Sunday.

[As with all Xpressions sessions, these images have only received basic edits...no retouching or additional enhancements.]

Lyndsay and I photographed our Helping Hearts session winners tonight. Um, magic…just pure magic. I seriously don’t know how we’re supposed to choose from these images because if Lyndsay got anything close to what I’m looking at here (and I’m sure she did), we’re in trouble. Thank you guys so much for such a great evening. You were simply ADORABLE and it just means the world that you were both totally willing to try any and all of mine and Lyndsay’s hair-brained schemes. Speaking of Lyndsay…

PHOTOG DOWN!

You guys know that Lyndsay and I went out with our hubbies several weeks ago to experiment with shooting in the dark. Little did I know that the experiment would teach us much more than how/if we could shoot at night. When Lyndsay and I exchanged links for our pics from that evening, I think we were equally shocked by how *different* our images were from each other. How amazing to see that even with the same equipment and the same locations, some of our takes were similar, but mostly, they were vastly different.

Her take.

My take.

I’ve always thought our styles were similar, but now I’m thinking how cool it is that they’re not that similar after all. Our passion is the same, but it’s our art that makes us unique.

I’m so in love with the pictures Lyndsay took of us! Virgil and I did not hire a wedding photographer when we were married, so it’s such a treat to have such beautiful images of the two of us…10 years later and still very much in love. I have big plans for these pictures, L, but first, I have to build an addition to the house to get more wall space. Thank you soooooooo very much for this adventure and this gift.  Hey, we should work together more often. What are you doing tonight?

(P.S. Thanks again, Katie, for the incredible make-up job!)

At long last, we are ready to start booking for our 2010 Xpressions Sessions! To see the dates and all the info, visit THIS PAGE (we’re doing some new things this year, including special discounts AND themes!).  These openings are very limited and will fill up quickly. Graduating high school students in Austin…now is the time to book your Xpressions session for senior portraits! Also, clients who have already booked a 2010 Premium Session or who had a Premium Session in Nov. or Dec. of last year qualify for special discounts and get first priority on our openings. 

I’ve been meaning to blog more images from our last round in Fall 2009, so I figured now would be a good time. So many incredible families and oh, we had the most perfect weather and light! I can’t wait until we start doing this again this year…especially with the fun new themes and seeing new places all over Austin. (As with all of our Xpressions sessions, these images have not been retouched.)

Thank you for pushing us to do this. It only took us a year to make it happen, ha! I hope this is close to what you were looking for. We had a wonderful evening with you guys!

[embrace the grain. embrace the grain.]

And although you can’t see it just yet in these pics, thanks so much to Modern Muse for the outstanding make-up (would totally recommend her!).  And now, the awesome pics from the other side!

I took some risks and tried something new. Couldn’t have been a cooler family to try this with and I am VERY excited about the cool stuff we got tonight. So great to meet you!

P.S. I’m so behind on blogging here, it’s not even funny.  I did manage, however, to eek out a homeschool post (with the gentle, yet persistent urging of the hubs).

P.P.S. Only three openings ONE opening left for the Austin Baby Coco Mini Maternity Sessions next week.

P.P.P.S. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite image if you haven’t already – voting ends the 15th!

You are all beautiful. You are all patient. And you are all wonderful for braving the cold that day. [Sigh...this was the only Xpressions session in VA that didn't get completely snowed out :-(.]

They just GLOWED the entire session…so much love between them, so much excitement about the journey ahead. Their connection is going to serve them well as they become parents.  As you will be able to tell from the images below, I didn’t really have fun at this session at all:

There. I believe that will get you through the next few weeks while we shut down for a bit to recoop and regroup. This will probably be my last post for a while (unless I get *really* inspired over the holidays). 

I *will* be announcing the winner of the Heartsong drawing on Wednesday via Twitter and Facebook…it’s not too late to enter. Oh, and don’t forget about the Bump Mini Maternties at Baby Coco on January 9th. If you’re pregnant in Austin and due in February, March, or April 2010, you can get a FREE mini maternity session with me when you book your newborn or birth photography session.  Even if you’ve already booked a birth or newborn session with me during those months, you can still come play! Please, take advantage of me ;-) and sign up quickly because once the spaces are gone, that’s it for this round.

When we return in 2010:

• we will start the voting for Pinkle’s Pic of the Year!!!!!
• clients and clients-to-be will be able to check out our rockin’ new collections and products
• we will announce the 2010 Xpressions dates
• and there’s some even *bigger* stuff in the works, but my lips are sealed for now!

Oh, I’ve been having so much fun looking at all of your beautiful holiday cards.  I was hit with the holiday spirit something fierce this year. Maybe it’s because my boys are finally at an age where they get it, but they don’t fully get it? Or maybe it’s the unusually cool weather? Whatever it is, I’m feeling very blessed and very joyful and I hope that you, too, have an AMAZING holiday season with friends and family.

Happy Holidays and since I’m no longer in school and technically shouldn’t do this anymore because I’m a grown up: "See you next year!"

Love,

Me

We held our last round of the Austin 2009 Xpressions Sessions today and all I can say is, "Wow!" I cannot even begin to tell you how beautiful all of these families were, how wonderfully charming the kiddos were, how kind and patient the parents were, and how absolutely outstanding my baby sis/assistant was. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who made these Xpressions sessions FANTASTIC!  As always, the images shown have only received basic edits to enhance contrast/color, but no full retouching.  I’ll show you an example of the difference at the end of the post.  Also, before I forget, if you’re pregnant in the Austin area and want maternity portraits and are due in February, March, or April of 2010, you can get a FREE mini maternity session (kind of like these Xpressions Sessions) in January. And, I *still* have a few spaces open for the Xpressions photo sessions in Washington, DC and Richmond, VA in December.  Meanwhile, to continue these awesome sneaks:

And to illustrate the difference between the digital negatives (the files that are sent on CD with the Xpressions sessions) vs. the files that are fully retouched (prints ordered through me or those that are available as part of a Premium Session):

Oh, I cannot wait to go through all of these images! Today was a great day all around. Thank you all again!  I’m so honored to get to do this for you.