Harris Family, Party of 5!

Family portraits, a 30th birthday, and baby #3?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So much happy!


I recently got to help this awesome family break some wonderful news and celebrate a very important birthday. It was an absolute blast and I'm so happy for them! Harris Baby #3 is on the way, and he or she will be arriving in February of 2021. Ariel felt that celebrating her third decade by announcing that they were expecting their third kiddo was the perfect way to let the world know about their impending new arrival.

 

 

Leo and Oliver were treating the occasion with a calm and not-at-all silly decorum, as per normal. (Man, these guys need to lighten up once in a while and stop taking themselves so seriously.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They even convinced mom and dad that while smiling is crucial to every good family portrait, there's also no harm in throwing in a few silly faces.

Congrats to Ariel and Dan as they prepare to welcome their third kiddo and happy birthday to Mama Ariel!

...and hey, boys...get ready! Player 3 enters the game in February 2021!

Surf and Turf

We're coming up to the end of our first contest of the year, Surf and Turf. I'm so stoked to be able to give out not just one but TWO free sessions as we get into 2018! For this contest, one lucky winner will be selected for the 'surf', scoring an underwater session, and our second recipient will be chosen for the 'turf' regular portrait session. I can't wait to see who wins...we'll be doing the random drawings for both sessions tomorrow evening!



Want to try your luck and enter to win? Just drop us a line at rsullivanphotography@gmail.com or send us a message on our Facebook page (facebook.com/rachelsullivanphotography) and let us know if you're entering for surf, turf, or both. You can't win both but you CAN enter for both and double your chances of being selected for one or the other! Just make sure your entries are in by 11:59pm on Friday February 2nd and you'll be in the drawing!



Questions? Give us a shout, and good luck to all who have entered!

Seasons Greetings!

Hello from holiday central, AKA my office! We're crazy busy and loving it, working hard to get caught up on our holiday season sessions, Santa minis, and weddings. I'll be sharing more images from our recent weddings and sessions as soon as I can, but just wanted to pop in and update since it's been a while in between blogs. So, hi! Hoping you and yours had a great Thanksgiving and that you're enjoying the holidays so far!

Nora's First Year

We met Katie a few years ago at one of our favorite places, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal. I'd heard her name before I actually met her, but the year we officially made our acquaintance, she was playing the icon character, Lady Luck. As I got to know her, I was struck by her easy-going attitude and her sense of self-assuredness, so we connected straight away. It was evident to me quickly (and still is to this day) that Katie possessed a lot of qualities I admire; she was incredibly smart, funny, confident, calm, very stubborn, assertive, and sure of herself. I remember thinking not long after I met her, "Yeah, this Katie person is pretty much super awesome. I think we're going to get along just fine."

Fast forward through a few years of friendship to the fall of 2013. Katie was again a scareactor at HHN, this time as a zombie (or 'walker', whatever we were calling them at that point, heh heh, oh, IP rules) in the 'Hershel's Farm' area of the park. Toward the beginning of the run, she had a night off, and she came to the event to experience it as a guest and joined up with me. We hit a few areas of the park, with no specific agenda, just enjoying our evening. At one point, we were sitting in the San Fran area, resting on a bench just watching the performers in our vicinity to do their spooky thing, and Katie casually started a conversation with me.

Katie: "So, I need to book a session with you. Probably in like, January. How much is that going to run me?"

Me: "I don't know, it depends on the type of session." (I paused, momentarily confused.) "I mean, what are you needing? Like, head-shots or something?"

(Katie smiled, and pulled out her phone.) "Not exactly. I'm going to show you something that's highly confidential. Not many people know yet."

She proceeded to pull up a photo of a sonogram. I stared at it for a moment.

Me: "Oh, cool! Someone is having a baby?"

Katie (laughing): "Uh, yes."

At this moment, it hit me that she was telling me she was pregnant, and I fell off the bench, hit my head, and blacked out. (Okay, not really.) But I was surprised, delighted, and excited.

I realized that Katie was brewing a tiny person in her tummy and offered the proper congratulations to her. From there, we set about planning her maternity session. (I might add that it's pretty much a perfect reflection of us and our friendship that we decided to sit and muse calmly on plans for a maternity portrait session while ensconced in a dark, zombie-filled scarezone at the nation's premier Halloween event with hapless people running around us screaming--because, really, would you expect anything less of us?) Katie told me she knew she wanted to do the maternity session at the beach at sunset, and that she was trusting me with the rest.

We decided that, during the run on a night when she was working, we'd do one really bad-ass maternity photo right there in the mean streets of HHN with her in full costume and makeup, because it was just too perfect an opportunity not to. This became her 'official' pregnancy announcement, and it might be among the coolest photos I've ever taken. Oh hey, Baby Folger. Before you arrived, Mama was a zombie. No pressure to be really into Halloween or anything...we're just sayin'.



Fast forward a few months to January of 2014. Katie: with her big beautiful baby belly, ready to rock, Brendan, ready to drive, and me, ready to shoot, and a little 2.5 hour jaunt to Clearwater Beach, where the forecast called for clear skies and a lovely sunset. At this point I'd like to remind you that, very often, meteorologists suck at their jobs, and as we were en route to the west coast, the rain rain rain came down, down, down. But we toughed it out and, being that we were halfway there when the sky opened, we decided to just go the rest of the way and see what we ended up with. If you're guessing that the weather didn't cooperate...you're guessing correctly. But we did what we could, got a few wonderful photos of Katie and her bump, and then reconvened for pizza in Clearwater.

I was happy with the photos we got. And Katie was happy with the fact that I was happy. But I knew, and so did she, that we'd missed out on the big, gorgeous, warm, burning sunset that the Gulf Coast of Florida is famous for. So we ate our pizza and decided we were not done yet. Baby Folger wasn't due until late March, so we had time.

Fast forward once again, this time to the latter part of February. Brendan: out of town visiting family and missing out on beach trip # 2. Katie: bigger than before, but still willing to hop in the truck and make the trip over to the Gulf again. Me: doing an anti-rain dance and offering all manner of blood sacrifices to the gods of the weather to just behave for one damn night, just willing the skies to give us the glorious sunset we'd hoped for on the first try. As luck would have it, our second attempt was the charm, and we got our giant colorful unclouded sun setting over the waters of the Gulf, just like we'd had in our minds from the beginning. Katie, at this point less than a month from when Baby would arrive, was a complete and total trooper, running all over on the beach to make sure we could take advantage of the setting sun, crawling on the rocks, and being the amazing resilient person that she always is, never complaining despite my mania ("Hey, so, you're cool to take off your shoes and jump over the rope that says 'No Trespassing' and crawl up on the sharp, scary rocks to make sure we can get the silhouette of you against the sunset, right? Great! Also, please don't fall and please don't hate me for making you run all over creation while you're like a billion months pregnant, and could you be a pal and sign this waiver releasing me from liability? Great, thanks!").





Baby Folger Sunset Maternity Portraits Take # 2: a success. I was happy, but most importantly, so was Katie. Mission accomplished.


And now, we again fast forward, to late March of 2014. I had jokingly told Katie a few times during the course of her pregnancy that she should just go ahead and have the baby on March 24th, because that's the same day my niece was born and this way it'd be easier for me to remember. (Har har har, I'm funny.) So, on March 24th, I was strolling around my local garden center, and I ended up in the greenhouse, where I was engrossed in the very intense process of selecting some low-light plants for my garden room, when I heard my phone jingling at me as a text message came through. It was just before 1:00pm. I pulled out my phone and read a text from Katie:

"I have a baby girl. :)"

Showing all the decorum and dignity for which I am well known, I dropped the potted plant I was holding and burst into hysterical happy tears, confusing and frightening the daylights out of the Lukas Nursery employee who was closest to me.

Nora Elizabeth Folger made her grand entrance at 12:13pm on March 24th, 2014. 9 pounds, 7 ounces, 20 inches, perfect, pink-cheeked, healthy, and breathtakingly gorgeous. Mama Katie and Daddy John were just as proud as could be.





Over the next twelve months, through portrait sessions and various adventures, we got to know Baby Nora. She is, in many ways, just like her mama: sweet, strong, willful, and determined to have her way. And in many other ways she's like her daddy: incredibly funny, a little bit stubborn, and brimming with personality. Some of her sessions required two attempts, much in the way her maternity session did; it's as if the uncooperative weather in the first go-around of the maternity photos meant to herald her impending arrival were a portent of how things would go for her other sessions. If Nora wasn't having it, nobody would get their way but her. No sense in fighting the inevitable. Did I ever fault her? Not for a second. Knowing Katie pretty well at this point, and having to gotten to know John better, and being a willful stubborn girl myself (sorry, Bren), I was always one to admire Nora's moods and her obstinate insistence that things happen on HER clock, when SHE was darn well ready for them to happen, and being that I'm very used to functioning on Baby Standard Time, it never occurred to me as anything but completely normal. It wasn't even remotely surprising to me that Nora would, from word one, be calling the shots when it came to her portrait sessions. I would expect nothing less. Katie and John, for the first session which required more than one attempt, were very apologetic, which was unnecessary. Secretly? It meant that I got to spend more time hanging out with them and playing with Baby Nora. No harm, no foul, and certainly no need for apologies, because Nora's sessions were always an absolute blast, and every new milestone was a chance to get to know this awesome, wonderful, funny, adorable little lady better.











Somehow, we've arrived here just about a year later, nearly an entire 365 days have passed by, and we're done with Nora's first birthday session and about to ring in the big O-N-E with a fun party in her honor. For her first birthday portraits, we decided since we'd done sunSET on the west coast for the maternity portraits, that it was only fitting to do sunRISE on the east coast to mark her first birthday. So bright and early, we headed out to New Smyrna on the first day after daylight savings time for the last session of Nora's first year. Our friend Amanda made Nora an amazing knitted mermaid tail costume for the occasion, and Nora was every bit as much of a rockstar for her beach session as Mama Katie had been for hers way back last year in Clearwater...how completely perfect.





Every time I hit the year mark with a client, I sit back and say to myself, whoa. WHOA. Wasn't it just yesterday that you told me you were expecting? Wasn't it just yesterday that we were doing maternity photos? How has a whole year gotten by us so quickly? As a photographer, I always feel a jumble of emotions at the end of the first year--it's delightful, happy, bittersweet, sort of sad, a little bit heartbreaking, and a whole lot of beautiful, all at once.

Nora Elizabeth, we are glad to have you (and your awesome parents, too) in our lives. We are so glad to have gotten to know you, honored to have been able to capture your first year of milestones, and delighted to see what adventures the world has in store for you. Happy first birthday, little Miss Nora. We can't wait to see what life brings your way and we're excited to watch you take the journey.

Coiling Up for Spring

Oh yes. You see what I did there? Coiling up? Ha! I slay me. But in all seriousness, the year is flying by, and as such, spring 2015 is on my doorstep.

Yeah, I'm aware it's only February, but in Florida, February means we're jusssst about out of the season where we might have to think about legitimately cold weather, and we're jusssst about into spring. I'm glad. And intimidated. Because spring is going to be so super busy that I think I can't quite fathom it yet. In 1.5 months of time, I'll have 6 weddings, 10 portrait sessions, 3 events, 2 sets of visitors coming in from out of town, and a handful of social things on my calendar, and that's just what I have scheduled as of right now. February has been (deliberately!) pretty calm, aside from a few portraits and some pre-session and pre-wedding planning stuff, along with a week up in Chicago to visit some clients and some of the most beloved people in my world, but otherwise, month #2 of this year has been serene. I've reacquainted myself with my house. My dogs remember what I look like when not in a flurry of motion to get out the door. I've had time for baking and trying some new recipes. I've even had time for some gardening. (I know. Whaaaaaat?) I would be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying the calm before the storm, so I've been trying to take advantage of this brief period of semi-tranquility before I get hit in the face with my second busiest time of the year. (Second busiest, of course, because let's be honest, nothing will ever come close the mania that is my fall season. Whoa.)

Am I complaining? Not for a second. I remain, as always, grateful that I get to do this for a living and I know how very lucky I am. But I would be dumb to not be a little bit intimidated by my calendar for the next few months. I think that the best way to describe what I'm feeling is this: you know when you're about to go under the water and swim for a bit without surfacing, and you're taking a few big cleansing breaths to get yourself ready, and then you take that one big final gulp of air in anticipation of the plunge? That's where I am right now. I'm enjoying my (relatively) quiet last days of February, taking a few big deep breaths, and prepping myself for the proverbial plunge.

Here we go...deep breath in, and I'm ready. Almost. There are a few more days before the season gets underway and my garden isn't going to tend itself.

Quick Summer Update!

Holy jeez, how did we get to the end of July already? Since it's super hot out and we're all about to melt, I'll make this quick so you can get back into the pool or back by the fan or however you're keeping yourselves from combusting this summer. Here are a couple of quick updates from the world of RSP!

First, we're setting up for the early fall portrait season. As always, October is tough because of that little Halloween thing I do that takes up most of my time, so if you're in need of portrait or event photography this fall, please get your requests in ASAP! I am limited on the number of appointments I have left and it's first come first served, so the longer you wait, the less options there will be available for you.

While we're on the topic of fall portraits, I'm strongly leaning toward doing a 3rd annual Halloween Mini-session event day. This would be taking place in late September; stay tuned here and to our Facebook page for more info, date possibilities, and booking specifics. This will be an extremely limited engagement; usually I only take six appointments for this event, so if you think you want one, drop me a line and I'll keep you in the loop.

To those of you who took advantage of our July Print Special, your packages are shipping this week! You'll receive the tracking info in your e-mail confirmation once your prints are on their way to you! For those of you who missed out on this promotion, well...I said I wouldn't do another sale during 2014, but maybe if I'm feeling generous I'll toss one out there during the holidays. We shall see.

Speaking of the holiday season, I have several early-birdies who have already snapped up their appointments for holiday portraits. It's never too early to secure your date, so even though it's roughly 8 billion degrees outside and it's hard to imagine that it will ever get cooler outside, we can get into the Christmas spirit by planning your session well in advance. There are still appointments left in December and a few left in November, so talk to me soon if you want to check what's left and get yours reserved!

As always, you can keep up with us here on the blog, through our facebook page (www.facebook.com/rachelsullivanphotography), and of course on the website at www.rachelsullivanphotography.com. We'll keep you up to date on the latest news, events, promotions, and exciting things as we roll on through the back half of 2014. And as always, we're so appreciative of our ever-growing family of clients and for the continued word of mouth and positive recommendations. You are all so wonderful!

Stay cool out there, and don't hesitate to drop us a line for questions and booking!

The Story of Elias

Way back before Jenny even knew she was expecting, when she and James knew that they wanted a second baby and that at some point this would become a reality, she told me two things that she knew for certain.

Number one, she knew she wanted a home birth. Olivia was delivered in the hospital, and during her pregnancy with O, Jenny had considered a home birth but had opted against it for various reasons. She ended up regretting it a bit as she felt like the standard of care she received at the hospital was less than she had hoped for, and while she and O were both happy and healthy and there were no major complications, she just knew that the experience left her wanting more and wondering whether she could have done it at home. So she knew that when Baby 2 came, as long as it was deemed safe for her to do so, she'd be having him or her in the comfort of her own home.

Number two, she told me that she wanted me to photograph the birth.

I was honored and a little intimidated; I've not done birth photography before, although I've often admired the sweet, tender, powerful photos I've seen other photographers take for people, both in hospital settings and at home births, but it wasn't something I'd ever done or really even pursued before. But of course, Jenny is one of my best friends in the wide world, and there was no way I was going to let her down or pass up the chance to capture such a big event for her, so I naturally said "yes".

Fast forward to early fall of 2013...I woke up one morning to a text from Jenny.

9/1/2013 8:33 AM:

"Can you keep a secret?"

And then she sent this photo.



Of course, we were excited for her, for their whole family, and before we knew it, we were planning how to best do a gender reveal portrait, what cool things we could do for a maternity session, and Jenny reconfirmed with me that I was still on board to do her birth photography for her. My answer was a resolute YES.

I always said from the first day I knew about the new baby (who Jenny had affectionately nicknamed "the poppyseed") that it was going to be a boy. Jenny and James were convinced it would be another girl, as was soon-to-be big sister Olivia. Jenny and James kicked around the idea of not finding out the gender and being surprised at the delivery, but finally opted to go ahead and find out. (Spoiler alert: I'm usually accurate when predicting a baby's gender. I realize I have a 50/50 chance of being right, but I can't think of a time when I've been wrong, so, I guess you know where this is going.)

In mid-December, the Hudsons went to see their midwife and birth team for an exam and to find out the gender; instead of them finding out at the time of the appointment, they had the info placed in an envelope and gave it to me, and I went and purchased the appropriate color of balloons and placed them into a box for them to open. This way the looks on their faces would be of surprise as they opened the box, saw the balloons, and found out if it was a boy or a girl. On December 10th, in a park not far from their home in Eustis, we did the big unveiling.

Who's it gonna be, guys? Boy Baby or Girl Baby?


It's a boy!



(Olivia was gob-smacked at this news and needed some extra convincing.)



And so, the great name debate began. Jenny and James mulled over, chose, compared, narrowed down, expanded, vetoed, added to and subtracted from their lists. They were having a heck of a time agreeing. I had taken to calling the baby Reginald Archibald Hudson, while Olivia clung to the idea that it was a girl and insisted on calling him Girl Baby for a while. Eventually she came around to the irrevocable truth that she was going to have a little brother and called him Boy Baby, then mysteriously began telling us that while Mommy had a Boy Baby in her tummy, she (Olivia) had a Girl Baby in HER tummy. (She's so funny.)

As the date of Boy Baby's birth got closer, we did some gorgeous (but very early!) sunrise maternity portraits on New Smyrna Beach. We never did manage to do maternity photos for the first go-around, when Jenny was pregnant with Olivia, so we knew we wanted to make sure to fit these in this time.

Jenny's belly got bigger. The spring came and progressed. Boy Baby's expected due date (May 10th) approached steadily, getting closer every day. The Great Name Debate raged on; the list had been pared down, but the final decision on who Boy Baby was had yet to be settled. (Olivia by this point had taken to calling him Captain Hook, and occasionally Mr. Smee.) They had narrowed down to two names. James had chosen the name James William Hudson. Jenny had chosen Elias James Hudson. They still couldn't agree, and came to the conclusion that maybe it would be better to meet him and see what name seemed to suit him.

In early May, things started happening. It became evident that May 10th was probably a stretch, and Boy Baby Reginald Archibald Captain Hook Smee might be making his appearance a little earlier than that. We were ready to go to Eustis at a moment's notice. I had been in Key West for a wedding in the last part of April, and we spent the entirety of that trip crossing our fingers that he wouldn't come while we were gone. I was so relieved to get back home knowing that he'd stayed put; even though I knew that he'd come when he was supposed to, I would have been sad to miss his arrival, so I was glad he waited.

Then, on the morning of May 2nd, I got this message:

5/2/2014 9:26 AM:

"I think we are going to have a baby today or tomorrow. Don't come over yet, but don't go out of town. ;)"

We stayed in contact all day. Jenny, James, and Olivia ran some light errands and had lunch at Red Robin.

That evening at about 6, things had progressed to a point where we knew: it was Baby Time. Brendan and I hopped in the truck and headed toward the Hudson's home. (And can I say that we hit EVERY. SINGLE. RED. LIGHT. on the way there, AND we got stuck behind not one, but TWO large delivery trucks doing 20 under the speed limit? Yeesh.)

When we arrived, Brendan immediately put on his Best Uncle In the Whole World hat and began to play with Olivia, who was semi-bewildered at the hubbub happening in her house. James and I stayed with Jenny, who was at this point having consistent, strong, regular contractions. The midwives were on their way, and this was really going to happen.

Rhonda and Rebecca, Jenny's wonderfully caring and awesome midwives, arrived and got ready to set up the birthing pool, which had been the plan. They let Jenny know it would take approximately an hour to assemble and fill. Jenny shook her head. "I don't think I have an hour." So the decision was made; Jenny's big fantastic garden tub would be filled, and that would be where she would bring Boy Baby into the world. It was 7:45 PM.

With the gentle help and guidance of Rhonda and Rebecca and the support of James, Jenny worked through the pain, listening to her body and riding the wave of each contraction. Things got more and more intense, until finally, it was time for Boy Baby to come out and meet everyone. At 9:00 PM on the nose, Boy Baby Hudson was born.

I will never forget the looks on James and Jenny's faces in that instant. For James: immediate waterworks. It was a mixture of relief, awe, wonder, and pure love as he looked at his new son and his strong, beautiful wife, tears flowing down his face. For Jenny: shock and amazement. Her jaw dropped as they placed the baby in her arms, and she looked genuinely surprised that all of sudden, there it was, there he was. She looked at the baby, she looked at James, she looked at Rebecca and at Rhonda and at me, over and over repeating, "Are you serious? Are you SERIOUS?!? Look at this! Are you KIDDING ME?" She looked up and said, "I did this?" It was the most endearing thing I've ever seen.

Quickly, Rebecca went and collected Olivia so she could meet Boy Baby.

"Olivia, he's here! Here's your new brother!"



"This is him? Boy Baby is here? This is Boy Baby? He came out of Mommy's tummy!"


Rebecca and Rhonda tended to Jenny, while James got to snuggle his new little boy.



Olivia, while very excited to meet the baby, also knew that "Frozen" wasn't going to watch itself, so she returned to the living room to take care of Official Toddler Business.



Once things were calmer, Jenny and James laid down to marvel at the new little wonder in their world. And the name discussion came up again.

Jenny: "So, which is it? Is he an Elias, or is he a James?"
James: "I think you should pick."
Jenny: "I think he's Elias."
James: "I think he is too."




Elias James Hudson. It was official.

Elias James Hudson. All 8 pounds and 9 ounces of him. (For those of you keeping score: Olivia weighed in at 6 pounds 3 ounces. Looks like Sir Elias may take after Daddy and be a big strong guy, but hey buddy, you owe Mommy several bouquets of flowers for putting her through that. Yowza!)

I will never forget being there with the Hudsons for such an amazing day. I often feel that to do the job I do I am blessed and lucky; families and couples invite me in to share their special moments and events, and I am grateful for all the opportunities I have to preserve memories for my clients; that may sound cliche but it's absolutely true. To be able to capture these moments for Jenny and James and be with them on such a powerful, emotional, intimate day, to be there at the very moment they became a family of 4, is an honor I can never adequately put into words. Thank you, Jenny, James, and Olivia (and Elias, too), for allowing me to share this and for having me in your lives. I love you all so much.