Here you will find my "typical" pictures, thoughts and ideas and sneak peaks from sessions. I LOVE taking pictures, particularly children. Capturing that perfect moment in time, to last a lifetime is my goal. So, sit back and relax, while reading through my blog, getting to know me and my family, and getting a glimpse of what a session might contain! P.S. I am sure this will also contain an occasional rambling of goings on in my life...enjoy!
It was a total treat to be able to capture Mr. L this past week. He recently turned two, and is soon going to be a big brother (and he may already be one...mom is due today!). I loved his sweet little personality. Loved how he warmed up to the camera pretty quickly, and loved that it was snowing outside and we were able to get a few shots outdoors too!
N, it was so fun to meet you and your son! Here are a few peeks...
...I love these shots taken in his own room...love the orange...and bright colors...
...and I hope that N is not killing me yet...I asked if he could jump on the bed...and he did...and he didn't want to stop...Sorry!!!!...
...making fishy kiss faces in the mirror...
...hugging baby...side bar...N looked phenomenal for being 2 days from her due date...I was barely able to walk at that point, and she was all over with us, playing ball, on the floor and out in the snow...
...my favorite so far...
...okay, you can add this to one of my favorites also! ;) ...
It was a fun session! I love sessions at client homes, especially with little ones...they open up so much more and are way more willing to give you their genuine laugh and smile when they are comfy in their own home!
That is all for today folks! I do have a session yet to post from this past week, but it will not be posted tonight!
I had the pleasure of capturing one of the sweetest families ever this past week. We started at their home, and then headed down to the public library downtown. I was thrilled with the great light that it provided, and I am excited to be able to add another venue for indoor options...especially since it doesn't look like the snow is leaving too soon. (Although, it may melt away this week...maybe!)
Here are a few sneak peeks...
...the "kids"...
...the whole family...
...I love hands and feet...and I love how this one turned out...
...my favorite so far from this session...Mom and Dad weren't aware that they were still in the shot, and I caught them chatting with each other...love it!...
First of all, thank you all so much for the beautiful nominations. Each nomination touched my heart in some way, shape or form. I read stories that brought tears to my eyes, that made my heart fill up with joy, and that were very inspirational. So thank you.
All of that said, I knew I couldn't choose the winners on my own. I had a panel of judges, okay, my husband, and two sisters...but they are the best judges around...read through all of the nominations. Names were completely omitted to keep it as anonymous as possible for them, and they read them each privately.
Amazingly, they all came back to me with the same three nominations. Yes, I told them to pick TWO, but each of them said, all on separate occasions and all on their own, that they couldn't narrow it any further. I agreed. I couldn't narrow it any further either. So with that, I decided to give away THREE sessions and print credits.
Now, if your nomination did not win, I am sorry. Please know that as much as I love to do giveaways, I hate that not everyone wins. So, if you did nominate a family, I would like to give that family a session at HALF price, and then also a $15 print credit good for this year only. So please, if the family is interested, have them contact me, and we can coordinate a session time that will work best for them.
NOW...ON TO THE WINNERS...
I had thought about sharing the stories that are behind the winners, but some are lengthy and very personal, and so I decided that the stories will be saved until the session is held, and I have full permission from the actual winner to post their story. Does that make sense?
Are you itching to find out if your nomination won? I will delay no longer... :)
The winners are:
The Molinski Family - Nominated by Marcy Williams
Dru - Nominated by Janet Stone
The Doneley Family - Nominated by Katy Destatte
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! :) Please contact me or have your nominee contact me to set up their free session!
Thank you again to everyone for nominations. Please also remember that everyone was a little bit of a winner, so don't forget to have your nominee give me a buzz! :)
So, as most of you know, I have been trying to challenge myself a bit, and enter in the I Heart Faces photo challenge the past couple of weeks. It is fun. But it is most difficult to decide which picture to use! We can only pick one...ONLY ONE...seriously? LOL! But seriously, it is hard to choose. Like this week for example. It is Hands On, and is all about emotion with hands. I have too many to choose from. I LOVE hands and feet...anyone that follows knows that. Ugh! I was maybe not even going to enter because it was causing me turmoil! LOL!
So, do I enter my sweet Butter's curious chubby hands from his one year old session? Hands from the kids playing cards with grandpa? Hands of a family hugging/holding their momma's pregnant belly? Newbie hands that are so delicate that curl so tight and are so tiny those first few weeks of life?
It then hit me as to the picture I wanted to enter. It is the most emotionally filled picture that I have ever taken...at least to me. It is of my sister back in December holding my sweet niece Lillian Christine. My sister was 21 weeks pregnant and found out the day before that Lillian had passed away and had already gone to be with Jesus. I cry as I type this remembering the emotions and the feelings from that day. It is still a fresh wound that is healing. My sister is an amazing mom, and one day she will be able to hold Lillian again, and Lillian will be full of life. This picture shows her tininess. Her body fitting head to toe in my sister's hands. You can see the IV in my sister's hand, and the blood pressure cuff on the other arm, showing the signs of just laboring and delivering her sweet baby girl. My sister is an amazing person, and those of you who know her are lucky to have her in your life. She is my best friend. We have shared incredible highs and desperately low times together. I couldn't do this life without her.
...here is sweet Lily in her tiny little gown...
So there it is. That is the best picture to me to enter. No feelings of "did I choose the right one?". That is the best. The sweetest. My winner.
For more 'Hands On' shots head on over to I Heart Faces by clicking on the link above or image below!
I love how this shot turned out so much that I had to put it up here today...I love prego momma's!
Fun family session today...in a "new to me" venue...hoping it works out well so I can add it to the list of location suggestions for all of you out there who always want me to pick! ;) Have a great day!
This beautiful momma is pregnant with her 4th little one. Her other precious cuties have graced these pages several times before, and I truly can't wait to get my hands on, well at least my camera on, the little babe inside! Thanks E for having the heart to do a maternity session. You look beautiful, and I am having fun going through the images! Enjoy your sneak peak...
I love the bow on this one...like it is a present waiting to be opened!
And, I love the symbolism of this one...
...everyone hugging and loving the baby...
E, you are a hot prego momma! :) Can't wait to meet the newest babe!
...to anyone who visited today and my blog was looking a bit in shambles! I started working on the layout and what not, and then had to head to a maternity session. I just finished up the new look, for the moment at least! I don't like change in my life, but I like to change around visual things around me...like rearranging furniture, changing pictures, and changing my blog up! Keeps things interesting! LOL! Anyways, I am geeked, because I FINALLY figured out how to get larger images on blogger...so you can look forward to that in the future! I also figured out how to make a 3 column layout, it has bugged me for a long time now that I couldn't figure it out. AND, when I say "I figured it out...," please read, "I googled it and followed instructions that someone else figured out, but I DID IT, and I TOOK TIME to do it!" :)
We have one more basketball game of the season left...Bean's last one today. I am going to take my new lens with me (did I mention I got a new one? The girls named her "Belle". Yes, the lens has a name. She is the newest baby to the Armstrong family afterall!) So, I am excited to use it today to see how it works.
Over at I Heart Faces it is Fix-It-Friday. They upload a picture for us and you if you would like, to fix up and link up to their blog. I thought I would do it real quick today...not because I have nothing else to do...but I think I did it because I have SO many other things to do and this was a quick "break" for me! :) Here are a few quick fixes that I did...Please feel free to hop over to I Heart Faces and check out others "fixes"!
Just a reminder to keep the nominations coming! I have received so many beautiful nominations. Fortunately, I am not choosing myself. I will let you know how the picking will happen, but knowing so many of you personally and the stories of families that are being nominated, would seriously kill me to pick myself! Thank you to all of you who have already nominated a family/person...you are all so very sweet! February 22nd is the cut-off...
Now to all of you readers and all of my sweet clients...SESSION GIVEAWAY!
This will be a little different than my previous giveaways! My life has continued to be blessed and I am so grateful to Him in so many ways, and I am hoping to give a little back to a family or someone else in need. So, if you know of someone, whether it is an individual or a family (no larger than 10 total), that is in need of a fun photography session, please either send me an email or leave a comment right here on my blog. I will be taking nominations (you can't nominate yourself!) for two weeks, so February 22nd will be the cutoff date. You must tell me WHY you are nominating this family/person...WHY you think they NEED or DESERVE this session, and also if you could let me know how many people the session will be for, that woudl be great! (Please also try to make sure that the family/person you are nominating would be interested in a session also!!!!)
The session will come with a $50 print credit to help cover the cost of any prints wanting to be ordered. I will be giving away a total of 2 sessions, and announcing the winners on teh blog sometime that last week of February.
I hope you are all well, and I also hope to see as many of you as I can again this year!
And I will leave you with a couple of sweet pictures from our visit with Grandma and Grandpa in Florida...
Playing cards with Grandpa...I love all the hands in the shot...and the hands holding down cards so Butter doesn't steal them!
I truly love this little guy. I love his little persistent personality, and how he really made me work for smiles. His gorgeous blue eyes are so twinkly, and it won't be too long until he is a BIG brother!!!! Enjoy the sneak peeks...back to watching some Olympics! :)
Love this expression...
So far, this is one of my favorites from the session...
This is a picture from last April of my sweet Cakies dancing her little heart out at Uncle J and Aunt K's wedding. I thought it would be fun to enter this week's contest at I Heart Faces Photography. It would be fun to win, but I had more fun revisiting this picture and adding to it...the texture, the quote and making it black and white. I can't believe how much older Cakies looks now...sigh. Hope you are having a great week!
They were there...the quick glances that I got from my beauties! Still more coming. :)
Alright, alright already...I will post another picture of my sweet little boy! ;) This picture is quite misleading. It might seem that he slept quite well, but much like his oldest sister when she was his age, he is a fan of his own bed. Sleep was little, but he sure looked precious when he did snooze! And, in case you were wanting to know...he stood up on his own twice now, is walking holding on to our fingers only, chugs milk from his sippy like a pro, and still cracks all of us up daily! :) More soon...
It was Butter's first visit to FL, and first visit to the beach. He loved it. Totally content. Even in the freezing cold water, for a short bit at least. I also think Old Navy should pay me some money for advertising with such a cute baby, don't you? LOL!
He watched the waves roll in...
...watched his sisters play (might I add that the sisters were not into pictures here at the beach, they were way too interested in playing. I did get a few that I will add though!)...
...pointing at his daddy, and anyone else that came by...
...digging...and eating sand...
...and bird chasing...
My goodness he is the cutest! More to come...sometime soon!
Such a cutie, and such a little beauty! Miss A's sweet content personality, little smile, leg rolls, blue eyes and sweet smile ALWAYS make me smile! She is a little gem, and is getting so big! I love seeing little ones grow throughout their first year...and I look forward to seeing this little princess in a few months again when she is ONE!!!!
Enjoy the sneak peeks...and sorry about the blog slacking lately!
I am getting ready to post a special for all to enter, and also need to post pics from our trip to sunny (well, sunny for a few days while we were there!) Florida!
Love this shot...fingers and toes!
...see that sweet little smile...
...this expression makes me giggle...
...and this shot makes my heart melt...
...also liked it in black and white with major contrast...
Off to Bean's school for Monday volunteer time! I love it!!!!!
All images found on this blog are copyrighted work of T.R. Armstrong Photography. Images may not be reproduced or copied in any manner without permission. Thanks!
Charitable Organization
Many of you know my story, know the name for the initials for my business, know the heartache that we experienced in November 2007. This is a great organization, that I wish I would have known about back then. Check it out and donate to help this non-profit organization: www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org Someday, I would like to volunteer, but my heart is not ready just yet.
