St. Charles/St. Louis Child Photographer

I love looking at the world through my daughters eyes!  How the sight of an airplane in the sky brings pure joy to her!  Or how playing with a hula hoop is the best thing in the world.  She is the kindest, most compassionate person I know and it wouldn't hurt for me to be a little more like her!  I am so blessed to have this special little girl in my life & I cherish every moment with her. I hope all of you have that special person in your life:)  Have a blessed weekend friends!

St. Charles/St. Louis Family Photographer~Cobblestone Road Photography "I'm A Be Me"

So I went to this little thing called the STL Shot Party with some amazing photographers this week and met this little know photographer, haha.  Yeah right!!!  I had the chance to meet Jasmine Star!  I've heard how inspiring she can be and guess what she really is!  I walked away rethinking how I want to present myself to the world!  So here is me, take it or leave it.

I'm a little quirky, a little shy, a little funny, and alot clumsy.  I have a wicked sweet tooth and love my sweet tea. I'm opinionated. I love hockey & um "tolerate"  baseball  *wink,wink*!!!  I love to cook but hate the cleaning up part. I love to sing but I'm no good.  I'm a bookworm.  I listen to rock,  country, christian & rap.(I have Korn, Toby Keith, & Ludacris on my ipod, hehe!) I'm very ditsy but I'm smart too.  I love traveling but hate flying. I love movies, old & new (my favorite movies are Sixteen Candles, The Princess Bride, Labyrinth, Tombstone, The World in his arms, and Arsenic & Old Lace).  How's that for variety!  I'm honest, sometimes too honest;)   I'm quick to forgive but slow to forget. I love deeply & I'm a loyal friend.  I'm a mother.  I'm a wife.  I'm a Photographer.  I'm me.

So there ya go.  Hope you feel like you know me just a little more.

I had soooo much fun at the shot party and it felt good to be around all of my mega talented colleagues!  Thank you Kelly Manno for getting me a ticket last minute, YAY!!!
Here are a few photos I took during the photoshoot with Kelly Park, who is absolutely amazing!  And a special thank you too  the models for our shoot,  Laura Nicol (a professional model) & her man Chad Spickler, who happens to be a pretty amazing photographer.  You guys Rock!

Soooooo, I saved my favorite Florida session for last!  I LOVED all the the sessions I did in Florida but well I'll explain why this was my favorite.

I still remember the day we met.  King Middle School, Mr. Stewart's history class, 6th grade.  I thought she was stuck up, she though I was a snob....hey, isn't that pretty much the same thing?! hehe!  Well we soon became best friends and I am forever grateful:)  She is the wind beneath my wings bwahahahaha (yeah, inside joke ;-)  So, we were supposed to grow up and live in the same neighborhood and our kids were supposed to grow up to be best friends.  Buuuuuut, life happened.  I joined the Navy and moved away:(  Then I moved back and she moved away:(  Then well, more life happened.  Then we lost touch for several, long years:(((((  But then one day, when Myspace was still cool I decided to search for her.  I found a picture of her new baby instead!  I knew, knew , knew it was her baby even though there were like a million, bazillion Nicole's on Myspace.  Long story short, we are back in touch.  Our kiddos have become great friends and love to play together when we visit.  So, this is why I saved the best for last.  It has special meaning to me!  I am so happy I got to photograph this awesome family.  I absolutely love the images I captured of you guys!   And although I didn't post any, I love, love, love  Evan's pirate face;-D

St. Charles/St.Louis Family Photographer-Cobblestone Road Photography

Sometimes you just need to put a box on your head.  Sometimes you just need to stop and pick some peaches. 
Peach season is in full bloom!  Check out Eckert's Country Store & Farm in Belleview, IL  for some good family fun! Happy Tuesday everyone!
 

St. Charles/St. Louis Children's Photographer

The school year is about to start and for the first time ever I will not have my little sidekick with me everyday:( It's very bittersweet!  She is growing up so fast and I am excited for her to discover new things and make lifelong friends but oh how I wish she were staying home another year!  I know all you momma's out there know exactly how I feel! My heart actually aches!  Okay, maybe I'm overly emotional but I don't care!  I'm trying to look on the bright side. More time to get work done, more time to socialize, more time to photograph, more time to clean.  Na....forget that last one;-)  So, I am savoring these last few weeks with her just hanging out and having fun.  Cherish every moment with your kiddos because time flies by soooo fast!  Happy weekend friends!


 

St. Charles/St.Louis Wedding Photographer-Cobblestone Road Photography

I am finally ready to share my exciting "secret" changes with everyone.  First, I had my blog redesigned to better reflect who I am and what I want to present to the world.  Same colors & logo just a blog that is easier to navigate!  I love it! Rita from CoffeeShop Designs designed it and she is so talented!  The other big news is that I am stepping into the very difficult world of wedding photography.  I have so much respect for wedding photographers because wedding photography is just so difficult and is such hard work yet it is also so rewarding!  I am NOT saying that I am ready to shoot weddings by myself!  I plan on second shooting with some amazing wedding photographers in the area and slowly build up my portfolio and gain experience over the next year or so and hopefully make some great friends while I'm at it!  I am however taking in wedding clients for the following year who know that I am building my portfolio!  I am so excited about my future in photography.  I love photography so much. It really is a part of who I am and I want to keep on reaching beyond my comfort zone and grow as a photographer!  Look for big changes in my photography soon.  I plan on shaking things up a bit!

I had the chance to second shoot a wedding with Moondance Photography this past Saturday on what was the hottest day ever!  At least it felt like it to me!  Despite the heat we got some amazing shots in!  Here are a few from Allison & Matt's wedding! 







 

~A Leap Of Faith~ St. Charles/St.Louis Family Photographer-Cobblestone Road Photography

For the longest time I had no clue what I was going to do with my life other than be a wife and mother.  Until one day when one person, then another told me that my photographs were amazing (their words, not mine!) and that I should consider doing this for a living. I was completely surprised by this yet, so excited!  I thought, can I do this?  What the heck, let's try it and see what happens.  Worst case scenario, I'll have a kick butt camera to take pictures with;)


When I first started my business I read every article, blog, message board I could find trying to learn as much as I could about this new world of mine.  It consumed me.  I would be in the car with my family and all I could see was how everything would look through my lens!  I saw these stunning photographs from these amazing photographers and thought "Will I ever get there, will I ever be that good?"  "Will anyone want to hire me?"  Then it was, what will other photographers think of me.  Will they label me just another mom who thinks she's a photographer?! Will they say I have no talent?  Yes, it does matter to me what others think so yes, this was something I worried about! To my surprise the opposite happened!  I've met and become friends with photographers all over the country who have do nothing but encourage me.

Slowly but surely I am realizing I am getting there. I am building my confidence. I am realizing that I am good enough. I am even lucky enough early on to have found "my style", what represents me and I feel blessed by that.  So for those of you out there who are willing to take a risk for something that fulfills you and makes you happy then I say do it!  Take that leap of faith.  The rewards are astounding!  My leap of faith has made my life so much better and I'll never look back!