A Very Roberts Christmas

It's December tenth, two thousand and ten.

My children are not sleeping.

Though, it's well after ten.

I should be addressing photo cards

but alas, I am not.

We've been a little busy,

With life and what not.

To our family,

Both local and scattered about,

We love and appreciate you.

Especially when you come over with delicious take out.

To our friends,

Without you, what would we do?

We'd have nobody to drink with,

Or send text messages to!

To our clients,

Photography, design and beyond,

We thank you so much,

For keeping our utilities on.

To reality television,

My sanity pill.

When therapy won't help me,

Jersey shore, Real Housewives and Bridalplasty will.

I'm not going to lie,

The year has been rocky.

Employment is down,

and the economy is sucky.

But with two little jewels,

By name, Lydia and Mallory.

Life remains sweet,

Nearly perfect, really.

We wish you all,

A wonderful holiday and happy New Year.

Now raise your glass, here we go,

One, two, three CHEERS!!

Peace, Happiness and Great Lakes Christmas Ale,

Bill, Jennifer, Lydia and Mallory

Last-Minute Holiday Photo Sessions are Here!!!!

I am offering two different types of last minute mini sessions! I will only book 5 total sessions at these rates so be sure to contact me ASAP to hold your spot!

Option 1:

$175 and includes:

30-minute session in the Toledo, OH, area for up to 5 people

Private online slideshow of your images

Your choice of 10 digital files with full printing rights.  (These files will available for download within 24 hours! If you book now, you can easily have these available to make your cards!)

Option 2:

$100 and includes:

30-minute session in the Toledo, OH, area for up to 5 people

Private online slideshow of your images

1-8x10

2-5x7s

2-sheets of 8 wallets

Additional prints and digital files may be purchased at the normal a la cart rates as noted on my website.  Options will need to paid at the time of booking to hold your spot and are nonrefundable.  All sessions must be outdoor and in the Toledo, OH, area.  Email me at photography@auntspray.com for more information and for booking.

Aunt Spray Design; A New Look, A New Year

The design portion of the auntspray website has undergone a re-working. Very long overdue, our new layout is sleeker, simpler and pared down to the core basics of our design services. Our new logo will eventually be worked into the rest of the website and all other places we have a presence.

Aunt Spray Design recently completed several projects, both relating to the environmental/geologic sciences. We are proud to be involved in these ventures that aim to make a difference to the health and safety of us inhabitants of the Earth and our progeny. Environmental/geologic systems can be a very complex thing to describe to those outside of the science community. Our illustration services can provide a simple, easy to follow diagram of any such system that still maintains a high level of technical preciseness and aesthetic appeal.

Please feel free to contact us or refer to friend/collegue if you have a need for this or any other design based work, technical or just graphics.

Lily Bee

So Lily Bee is another one of my faithful customers.  She started modeling for me in the womb and is now 6 months old.  So, you guessed it, this is her third session. She's pretty much a professional now, as you can see by her stunning images.

What can I say?  She's beautiful, well behaved, and is up for the "Most Stunning Blue Eyes Ever" award.  Ok, I made that up, but if there was such an award, she would totally win.

Thanks for being so awesome today, Lily. I hope you like your sneak peek.  More to come soon!!

If you are looking at these gorgeous vintage flower headbands and thinking, "Wow, these are really great.  I wonder where I could get some."  I have the answer!!  My wonderfully talented friend Kim at www.bowsnbands.etsy.com made them.  She got the handmade flowers from www.dorkdesign.etsy.com.  Check out their stores and order a bunch!!  A perfect accessory for that great dress you bought your babe for Christmas :) :)

Emily Is Here!!!

Back in April, I photographed a six-month-old name Lizzie and her family.  Today, I was back in their home to document the early days of their newest addition, Emily. I was super excited to see that Lizzie held on to her killer blue eyes and that she has adjusted to big sisterhood.  Additionally, Lizzie just celebrated her first birthday!!!

I hope you all enjoy your sneak peek.  There will be many more images coming your way in the next week or so.  Thank you so much for having me back.  Congratulations!!  Enjoy these little girls.  The time is going to fly.

Liz and her famous blues:

Beautiful family:

There's no place like mommy's shoulder:

It doesn't get much sweeter than a daddy/newborn daughter shot:

I just had to throw this one in...she's so happy behind those birthday balloons!

No More Babies for Me :(

The baby of our house, Miss Mallory, turns two on friday, October 22.  It seems like just yesterday that I had that 9 pound, 9 ounce, chubby little girl.  She came into the world with a bang, quite literally.  My OB just said, "oh, wow, oh wow, oh wow!  Back up!" Mallory came out so fast, and was so large, that she was nearly dropped and following her was a tsunami of amniotic fluid that sent the whole team to their lockers for new pants and shoes. TMI?

The recent changes in her have been remarkable at the very least.  Miss Mal went from being a totally shy, horrifically moody, impossible-to-please infant, to a quiet, but inquisitive, one-year-old, to an outgoing, hilarious, imaginative, soon-to-be, two-year-old. I'm so proud of this little girl.  It's impossible to describe.

The other day we were out and about and I caught a glimpse in the mirror of the two of them, hand in hand. That was the moment I wanted to freeze and hang onto forever.  But, since we don't have the ability to freeze time, we have photos.  And I will always try my best to freeze moments with images.  There is nothing else I can do.

So happy birthday, Miss Mallory.  We're going to celebrate with costumes, cake, candy and presents.  It'll blow your little mind.

Autumn Love Workshop

Wow, what a weekend!  First, saturday was the 11th anniversary of my 23rd birthday and I celebrated it by attending Jennifer Alder Photography's Autumn Love Workshop from her Creative Minds workshop series.  Jennifer and I went to school together from kindergarten on up and it has been nothing short of awesome working with her while I have been on my photography journey.  She has been somewhat of a mentor to me, and now with her emailed lessons and workshops, I've had a great opportunity to take my images to the next level.  I highly recommend participating if you have even the slightest interest in photography!  The next workshop is in April in the Detroit area, and I will definitely be there.

The day started with child models.  Jennifer set up a tea party setting near the tree line so we could keep the kids occupied while we tried to capture some of those beautiful fall colors.  After the tea party we had two little boys (brothers) join us for some woods shots.   For the final segment of the kids' shoots we walked around the woods with Melanie (Jen's niece) for some solo shots of her. Here are some of my favorite shots of the kids.  Pardon my cheesy borders, but I did this for Facebook and I'm too lazy to redo them :) :

The second half of the day we worked with models.  Jen had hair and make-up artists on site to style them and then we spent the afternoon just kind of walking around and shooting the models in different fall settings.  Here are some of my favorites from the afternoon:

So how beautiful are those models???  It was such a treat to work with them.  Nobody cried for their mom or turned their backs to me, ran off to chase things with wings, pulled handfuls of grass out of the Earth, or got red popsicle all over their faces.  It was a great day!

And now for the creds:

Workshop Director:  Jennifer Alder

Adult Models:  Jennifer Dobransky, Maria Kesto, Mike Ohle and Kelsey Ohle

Hair:  Jacquie Pruder

Make Up: Maria Kesto and Marissa Najor