Shannon LaDuke Photography: February 2014

i first met this beautiful mom of three as she stood in the doorway of her classroom on kindergarten open house night. it's safe to say we were both feeling a swirling whirlwind of emotions - it was whitney's first experience as a "for real" teacher, and i was sending my baby to kindergarten! whitney immediately eased my anxiety with her warm, bright smile and absolutely joyous, contagious enthusiasm. and lucy, of course, loved her from the start! lucy must have said the words, "mrs. ritter" 4,000 times during that first week of kindergarten. it was a fantastic start to a stellar year. it would be an understatement to say i was thrilled when whitney requested a photo session that fall. i had so much fun with her (then) family of four - they biked, read books, wrestled, rolled in the fall leaves and never, ever stopped smiling! and they have another little reason to smile these days, and she has big, bright eyes and her mamma's dimples. getting the chance to work with this family again was such an honor, and watching the four of them with their precious princess simply melted my heart. they are all so smitten! this year's session took place on the gorgeous piece of land they will soon call home. but they aren't waiting until their house is built to make some memories. they are already laying a foundation of love and warmth and laughter - everything a happy home is made of! congratulations to the ritter five!

(and look how much they've grown! sigh...)

online photobooks are an easy and relatively inexpensive project for your session photos (or, if you are like me, any digital files you might have languishing, forgotten, and tucked away in lonely folders on your desktop). photobooks make meaningful gifts, interesting conversation pieces and poignantly sentimental keepsakes. i use snapfish for my family albums, mostly because i started storing my photos there in 2005 - they keep them in chronological order, and i can go back and order prints or products any time. but there are many companies out there that provide similar services. one fab thing about these online photo services is that they store your images free of cost year after year. simply create an account - no credit card needed - and begin the uploading process. with snapfish, you can also upload directly from instagram, facebook, or cellphone. there is even a snapfish app that helps you upload and organize images on the fly! their albums come in all shapes and sizes, softback and hardback with various cover options from dust-jacket to cut-out. the layouts and page themes are endless - you can have photos cover every square inch, or you can use titles or longer descriptions for certain events. they can be displayed on a coffee table (mine are stacked on a side-chair) or even artistically placed on an easel. and by the way, if you begin the creation of your photobook today, but don't get back to it until may, it's okay! they save it for you! you can continue your work whenever you wish. i normally complete a project, and then wait for a sale. time to get started!