To top off my pretend studio – I was lucky enough to get an adorable newborn and the sweetest 22 month old you could imagine to photograph.  Oh, and a baby nurse to soothe the baby while I photographed big sister.  It was a good day.

Introducing beautiful Micah…  he was nice enough to give me a little smile!

and a close up of his little profile.

His sister Shira and I were best buds by the time I left.  Mom and Dad were so sweet and knew to left us alone to play – this is what happens when you give me a little space with your kiddo – lots of real smiles and laughs looking right at me and no cheesy smiles for mom’s watching eyes.  Works every time.  Her smart parents heard the loud giggles and let us play!

Love this too!

Thanks for a great morning and welcome to Westchester!

Well, Ashlyn’s parents don’t seem to have the same problem.  Ashlyn wanted to sleep our whole session away yesterday!  Which would have been fine – except her mom and dad’s main request was bright eyed, wide awake pictures.  Ashlyn was just not down for being wide awake and giggly yesterday.

Luckily I got a few open eyed ones when I first got there and she was awake for us.  I wasn’t lucky enough to see her smile, but I think I got just about every other expression she makes.  What a cutie!

The many faces of Ashlyn – I love the bottom left one!  I’m counting the bottom right one as half a smile, don’t you think?

Then, this is how Ashyln spent the rest of our time together.  Sigh…

Side note: This mom’s eyes are so beautiful to photograph, they are ice blue!  She is the tiniest thing for just having a baby, you have no idea!

Such a beautiful family.  8 weeks in and these two parents are already pros!

Thanks for a nice morning!  I hope that Ashlyn slept at night for you after such a long nap!

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!

We started this session at the beach, and it didn’t quite go as planned.  Apparently, our little friend (as cute and sweet and adorable as he was) was just not in a beach kind of mood.  Got a couple of cute shots like this -

but unfortunately, most of the beach shots looked like this.  (you all know I love me at least one crying shot – this one killed me!)

After a trip back to his house we decided to plop him in the pachysandra (I had to look up the spelling on that one) and back came the bowl!  He was in a MUCH better mood by that point!

It was so great meeting you Allison!  Thanks for the beautiful tour of Rowayton!

He slept the ENTIRE time.  Seriously, he only made a peep for a bottle and then right back down again.  I wish I could have gotten more shots with his eyes open (they were a beautiful blue) but you’re just going to have to drool over the sleepy pictures and hope your kid sleeps this well.  Oh, wait.  That was my dream.  Sorry. 

I know.  Perfect baby.  Smiles in his sleep too.  Sigh….

And finally, another reason I should have had my son when I was a little younger?  (Besides getting to meet him sooner?)  I didn’t look this good a year after having him, much less two weeks!!

Haley, it was so nice getting to know you and your little guy!  He’s dreamy!

We were so lucky to get a BEAUTIFUL day on Friday, so Little O, his mom Jeannie and I met at his brother’s school for a mini session.  Jeannie is one of my favorite clients – she loves photography, she is fast to spread the word about my business and she is so nice to work with!

Just a few of my favorites from this little man – he is so darn happy!  Thanks again Jeannie!  For everything!

This is my favorite of the session, I love it!!!

Well, this little one had all of those qualities and a lot, lot more.  (she’s quite the dancer!  Wow! Check out the last photo – that stare down is during some serious rocking out – Beyonce better watch out!)

I had a VERY chilly session on Saturday with a lovely family getting ready to celebrate their daughter’s first birthday.  We met early in the morning, so it was pretty cold and everyone was a trooper!  Thank you so much for putting up with the cold wind and runny noses!  Luckily after the park we headed indoors for a smash the cake session which was so much fun and so crazy messy!  In other words, it was perfect!

Here are a few favorites of mine from the morning, I hope you like them Stephanie and Mike!

Her son, however, had a different idea.  Little C is two and a half.  You can tell he’s really smart – almost too smart for a photographer!  He wasn’t exactly sure about how he felt about the whole thing – which is why I LOVE this first image.  He’s totally trying to figure me out and not exactly sure he likes what he sees.

But, I tried and tried and eventually… I THINK he warmed up to me…  at least enough to get an image in his grandpa’s shirt.  How cool is this shirt, by the way?

And a few more – one of Daddy and his new little girl!

Then there was this dress, which when Solveig emailed me a photo of it, I just thought -has to be in a picnic basket.  Of course!

It was great meeting you Steve and Solveig!  Will be in touch soon with your gallery!

How can I not be happy after getting to photograph this cute face on a beautiful afternoon?  This is the second Fiona I shot this week – both beautiful girls and sweet as anything.  Sometimes 9 month old can be tough – not this little one!  She smiled, played, clapped and had a really fun time in this polka dot chair I brought for her.  Mom and I were going back and forth about a dress for this chair – the one we didn’t plan on ended up being the best choice!

Mom was as pretty as Fiona and I wish I had more time to post some shots I got of her as well.  So, this is a sneak preview for Siobhan – I wanted to get it up for you before I left for beautiful Cape Cod.  I will be working there for the next month, and I can’t wait to see all the kiddos I have lined up there!  Leaving today, so please contact me if you would like to book while I’m there on and off for the month of July and beginning of August!