In the meantime…  This is a session that I LOVED from late fall.  I had so much fun with this loving family – their love for each other just oozed from them, so naturally.  I just adored them and there was hugs all around at the end of the session.

I am starting with my favorite images – mom got in for just a few frames and they make me smile so much.  Every mom should have a cuddle session photo like this.  There are too many time we are NOT in the picture… right moms???  It makes my heart smile.  Really, I mean, don’t you just want to go and hug them all?

The weather was so strange.  There was this odd misty fog that literally rolled in.  We WATCHED it roll in.  It was so bizarre.  Different light than I have ever shot in, but I was kind of into it!

Such pretty girls!  I love that her Hello Kitty ring is on here.

This is what I mean about the different light.  Do you see the fog behind them?  It looks like a fake backdrop, right?  Nope, right here in Rye, NY…

Thanks for visiting!

I can’t thank you enough for your support of Cristina Coco Photography.  This year brought me three times the clients as last year, a new employee (thank God for Kelly!), and a connection to this craft that I only dreamed of.

Enjoy the video.  I think you’ll like it.  I know I could watch your kids’ beautiful faces all day.

(p.s. – if you would like to see it bigger, go directly to the youtube page – YOUTUBE LINK TO VIDEO – it drives me crazy that it is so small on here.)

Much, much love and a wishes for a fantastic 2012.

Cristina

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDYyUwa-xno

I don’t have many sessions planned for the next month, just newborns and a baby or two so I can spend some quality time with my family after working like crazy for three months.  I miss them!

I do however want to show you what I’ve been doing so you’ll be seeing some beautiful fall images even though it’s going to be cold and dreary outside.  I hope it will warm you up a bit and get you through the next few months of chilliness!

I loved this family.  Mom rocked the outfits from Zara kids, one of my FAVORITE places to send people to shop for their session.

This is one of my favorite sibling shots of 2011…  what you see is what you get – after a little over an hour with them I feel like this shows each of their personalities to a “T”.

For example, this guy could not NOT smile if you paid him a million dollars.  Sweet as could be, this one.

Mr. Handsome.  His mom is in T-R-O-U-B-L-E with all the girls that are going to be stopping by when he’s 16…

Cute as a button and very inquisitive little man…  this one cracked me up.  I think I told him there was someone in my camera lens and asked if he could him in there.

This lady LOOOOVED the camera.  It loves her right back.

and the light.  oooooh, the light.

Thank you so much for playing with me!

“Nope,” I said, “1004.”

Love the clothing their mom picked, their red hair…  I seem to be on a freckle streak, which is ALWAYS a good thing.  This session can show what a difference a cute outfit can make on a session.  The girls felt pretty, it was fun to photograph.  I usually don’t love when everyone matches, but this really worked here!

This is just heaven to me.  Loved this location.  It’s a private club or you would all be seeing more of it!

yes, FOUR girls!  {jealous}  Couldn’t you just squeeze her?  The faux mohawk!!

All the girls and mom…  heaven.

Thank you so much Sue, I had a blast.  I could have posted a million images!!  Can’t wait for you to see the rest.

These kids were so good, so sweet, so cute!

I could die over the oldest’s freckles, and the twins – well they were a ton of fun and so much personality!

Just a glimpse of my favorites from last night – I know I am skipping clients!  Clients – I have put a ton on Facebook, just hit the “F” facebook button on the bottom of this post if you are looking.  You are welcome to tag yourself!  Also, if you would like your images blogged, (I know some of you just can’t wait until that gallery!) just shoot me an email and I’ll get them up for you!  These were just on my computer this morning and I wanted to share!

First shot of the day, literally.  One of my favorites too!

Her big sister…

and her freckles…

How adorable is he?  Wanted to scoop him up and take him home.

I love when clients bring something of their child’s that is special!  This doll goes EVERYWHERE with her.  I love that it’s part of her image and something she’ll have forever.

Mom wanted a group shot where they were doing their own thing and not looking at the camera.  Done!

Thanks for a nice afternoon Kristen!

Yes, it’s here – the fall portrait season has begun!  I’m sure fall has seeped into your life too – the crazy sports schedules and the school buses driving by and clogging traffic in town.  The nutty rain has started and it’s darker earlier.  It’s cooler at night and my AC hasn’t been kicking on quite as much.  Today my little guy showed me some leaves had changed color.  I told him, “SHHHH!  I don’t want fall to hear us, it might come soon and I love summer!”  He laughed and told me I was silly. “Fall will ALWAYS come, Mommy.”  Smart little man.

So with the Fall comes the Holiday portraits, and my schedule is looking full.  I’m currently booked about six weeks out, so this is not the year to procrastinate folks!  Pick up the phone, send me an email, text, smoke signals…  however you get in touch, please, if you are thinking about doing it – get on my calender as soon as you can.  I’m not saying this to be pushy (I swear!), it’s because every year I turn people away and I feel just awful.  People call me a week before Thanksgiving for holiday card pictures and I feel like a big old jerk for not being able to help them.  I’m just giving you a little nudge is all.  A little nudge to start planning!

Ok, so my update is over.  Back to the fun stuff.  An image.  ‘Cause a blog post is just so boring without one.

My God, I love this girl’s freckles.  Do you remember the book “Freckle Juice”?  When I was little I wanted them SO badly.   I will always think they are beautiful…  the way they dance across the nose and the hairline.  Just magical.  She was pretty special too.  I love that she is looking to the side, playing with her hair in a shy sort of way, and in thought.  I can’t remember exactly what I asked her, but so happy that she was thinking of something that made her smile.

Sometimes though, sometimes a pout is the most beautiful thing in the world.  It’s part of who we are – kids aren’t always smiling and laughing and giggling. Just like us they have days where they wake up on the wrong side of the bed.  To me, there is a beauty to that – my job is to capture kids as they really are and sometimes it’s not as happy as we’d like (as I’m sure many moms will agree!).  One of my favorite images of my own son  – he’s in the middle of a complete breakdown – crying, screaming actually, squatting on the grass in his diaper.  It’s so beautiful to me because it’s a side I remember well but it’s fading as he gets older.  I like the pouts, I can’t help it, they are real.

Real, and pretty stunning if you ask me…

I know this is a little different for me, but it had a fashion edge to it, don’t you think?

No worries though!  I got her dancing…

And swinging…

and being quiet…

and being silly…

Just as a kid should.

I’m also in love with these three kids!  They were so good, listening and playing on the beach, doing what I asked.  Just being all around cute when not being asked…  It was a really great session in many ways.

First, my favorite shot of the day – her mom and I planned on doing balloons, but I thought seeing she’s six months old and starting to crawl, we better contain her.  I thought of making it into a hot air balloon sort of prop, and I am so happy with the results!

I saw this pose on pintrest and loved it – it was so casual yet you get all kids in one place looking at you and they can’t get all stiff on you.  Gotta love Pinterest for the pose inspirations…  Shout out to the original photographer Sarah B Photography from Salt Lake City!

Just some more baby love before we get on to the big kids…  I couldn’t pick just one.

Such a handsome guy!

She loved these flowers her mom brought!

The last one, just for fun…  Thanks for letting your kids roll around in the sand with me Tina!  I had so much fun!

I love when moms are like that.  It lets me breathe a little bit and do some more artistic stuff.  Sometimes these are just for me, but I think Jennifer will like this too.  She’s an interior designer and I can see this in her home in a second.  I love this shot.  It makes me sigh.  That’s a good thing.

I love doing documentary style shots with newborns.  Jennifer was trying to get him to sleep.  He finally agreed!!  These images look like they were from three different shoots – the light changed so much over the 4 hours that we switched rooms, moved around a lot.  Resulted in some very different light and color, but I love them all!

Don’t let this shot fool you – he was up and wide awake about 15 seconds later!

Jennifer, thank you for a great morning and congratulations on your new arrival!

xo

So I wanted to give back to you.  For being so supportive and spreading the word about my business.  Because of you my business has doubled this year and I love all of you for having such big mouths!

I decided to have a contest to say thank you.  After talking to my good photographer friend Stephanie of Bellini Portraits in Mass, (thank you so much for being a great friend to bounce ideas with girlie!) I decided to give back with a little present and a little fun.

Who had the best portrait of 2010????

I went through my files and picked out my favorites.  Now it’s your turn to help me decide who was the favorite this year!

SO HERE’S WHAT YOU WIN:

1st place : (1) 16 x 24 Gallery Wrapped Canvas of the winning photo

2nd & 3rd place : 11 x 14 styrene mounted print of the 2nd & 3rd place photos.

4th & 5th place : $50 off a future session!

HOW TO PLAY:

1.  Each individual person may vote for one photo, one time only.  I have tracking on my site and I’m not afraid to use it.    Seriously, cheating is so not cool.

2. To cast your vote, just leave  a comment in the “add a comment section below”.  Make sure you leave on this “Let the Games Begin” post only!

3.  TO GET AN EXTRA VOTE!!! — If you are not already a fan on Facebook, head over to my FACEBOOK PAGE and become a FAN! People that LIKE my page, and only those people will get and EXTRA VOTE!  Make sure you tell me when voting that you have “liked” my page!

4. Forward to all your friends and family to get them to vote for you too!

-NEW CLIENT BONUS ROUND –

One lucky client-to-be will be drawn out of a hat (by my little guy!) and will win a FREE WEEKDAY SESSION!!  If you are not a client yet, but would like to be, when you cast your vote please write “I WANT TO BE A CLIENT TOO!” before voting.  Your name will go in the hat!!!!  (PLEASE NOTE, NYC, WESTCHESTER and LOWER FAIRFIELD COUNTY RESIDENTS ONLY!)

5. VOTING ENDS AT 11:59 PM on DECEMBER 12th!!!

So here are the entries!!! (in no particular order, that would be like picking a favorite child!!)  Numbers are ABOVE coordinating picture.  I’ve named them just to help a bit so there is no confusion!

1. BLISS BLANKET

2. HEADSTAND

3. FUN FAUX FUR

4. GIGGLE GIRL

5. A LITTLE GREEN

6. MINI CHRISTY B

7. MOM KISSED ME!

8. OH HELLO!

9. SUNNY DAY

10. SHOULDER PEEK A BOO

11. PRIVATE ISLAND

12. ROCKIN’ PINK

13. SMILE BABY!

14. LADIES IN RED

15. TOMMY BOY

16. PURE LOVE

17. HUGS

18. CITY BABE

19. BABE IN THE GRASS

20. I SAW MOMMY KISSING DADDY

21. SURPRISE!

22. HOLIDAY FUN

23.  FIRST KISS

24. UNDER THE TREE

25. SWEETNESS

26. YELLOW FIELDS

27. UP

28. GRASS PRINCESS

29. MERRY AND BRIGHT

30. BENCHED

31. TWINKLE TWINKLE

THE FINE PRINT:

Anyone caught with multiple voting from the same IP address – your votes will not count and will be removed.

Cristina Coco Photography reserves the right to change contest at any time.

Voting ends at 11:59 on Sunday, December 12th.

Prizes will be shipped in January.

Contest winners cannot change the image that was chosen for the contest.

New client bonus round winner is limited to NYC, Westchester and Lower Fairfield residents only.  (Westport and all points south)

If you do not see your image here it’s because I didn’t have a signed web release or didn’t place an official order yet.  If you would like to participate, please let me know!

Good luck to all the entries!!!!!  Have fun!