Some of my best sessions have come from real moments and the in-betweens of meltdowns. I have had clients leave a session saying things like, “I’m so sorry, I hope you were able to get something” and then be blown away at what was captured. I’m always shooting at my sessions. Laughing, running, flailing, kicking, yelling, crying, I’m shooting. My point is, don’t let the stress or worry of how your child is going to behave at your photo session deter you from recording this time with your family.  Let your quirks and imperfection shine. Those photos are sure to be your favorites for years to come.

Hello 2012 and Happy New Year! After a crazy busy holiday season with Kira Derryberry Photography and She Boudoir, we took a well earned BREAK! Lots of traveling up north to NYC, D.C. and Maryland seeing the sights. I did surprisingly little photography with my fancy cam, but did use Instagram quite a lot, so if you want a little insight into our vacation, follow me (shekira) there. Kevin and I spent his birthday in New York where he planned our entire trip. We packed as much into about 37 hours as possible: saw a Broadway show, test audienced for Jimmy Fallon, stood at the top of Rockafellar Center, took the NBC studio tour and saw the SNL set up close, visited Madame Tussauds and posed with wax figures, ate the most delicious hamburger and strawberry shake I’ve ever had, saw real dinosaur bones at the Museum of Natural History, and took my first train ride – ever. My husband rocks so hard, it hurts. Except at the moment he’s rocking slightly less because I’ve had to move upstairs to write because his snoring is so loud I couldn’t concentrate. But as a whole, he is the frosting to my Mini Wheats.

But back to the ridiculous amount of photos I’m about to post. I’ve spent most of the first week of 2012 planning, working on marketing, and finishing up with some clients from the tail end of 2011. So there hasn’t been a lot of photography going on, just a lot of talk about it. This morning I had this huge test shoot that I was planning on doing with my daughter Lucy. It was going to be pretty involved. She doesn’t have a very high tolerance for me and my camera and an involved photo shoot where I didn’t just chase her around outside is something that had melt down written all over it. And furthermore, she was being so dang cute this morning. We all slept in and after breakfast and getting dressed, all ended up back in our bed hanging out and playing. Our bedroom is literally the only room in my house that gets any light and therefore is my favorite room in the house. The light was hitting her just right, and I decided I needed to remember today. I wanted to remember this long morning and my adorable little girl exactly the way she was. Her super shiny hair with red highlights. Her shirt that I love and is on the way to being too small that is this crazy shade of chartreuse that you don’t ever see in kids clothes. The way she can look completely pensive and thoughtful and then burp and start laughing (she is a lady). So here is how she was today. Shot with one window light, high ISO (800-1250) and between f1.4 and f2.8 on my 50mm for you photography nerds out there. Oh, I’m a lucky, lucky girl.

And finally – one of those shots you can’t believe you caught. Kevin and Lucy having one of their many moments of super daddy-daughter adorableness. Their heads somehow naturally make a heart? COME ON!

I figured some photos of the Derryberry crew were well overdue. I snagged my buddy Kelly today (THANK YOU KELLY) and asked her to snap a few family pics of us since I realized we have so few that we are all in. The curse of being a professional photographer is that I’m never in the pictures! So here we go, pictures of me and my two favorite people. Bask in our quirky cuteness!

Ooh and what was that mixed in? My handmade wreath that I made? Yes, any excuse to make more people look at it. It’s fabulous and gaudy and magical. Did I mention I made it? I did, really. Happy holidays, y’all.