Misses here was our winner for 2008′s best of contest! I’m so glad to see her back again! Her hair is longer, but her face still looks so much like it used to. She sure on the move now though, and wasn’t waiting for us at all! Check her out last year: click here.
Ava’s story: Here’s the story of the little girl who really deserves to be treated like a princess, written by her nominator:
“Ava Jane is truly a princess who deserves to be treated like a queen. Ava Jane was born on July 12, 2006 with a congenital heart defect that required immediate surgery when she was two days old. After that surgery, doctors realized that Ava Jane’s heart defect was much more extensive, and recommended a heart transplant. After twelve weeks of waiting, Ava Jane received her new heart on October 11, 2006. She flourished with her new heart, finally having the energy to grow and thrive. Unfortunately, because of her compromised immune system, Ava Jane developed bacterial meningitis in December 2007 and spent her Christmas at Egleston. In order to relieve the pressure in her brain, neurosurgeons placed a shunt in her brain in February 2008. As the effects of the meningitis began to subside, Ava Jane again began to make progress and grow and thrive. However, the months of the illness delayed her development, and as a two year old, she is more like a nine month old in her motor skills. In March 2009, finally feeling better, Ava Jane began taking some steps with assistance and was quick to scoot around the house, pulling down toilet paper in the bathroom and getting into general toddler mischief. She began to slow down by the end of April and after weeks of inconsolable tears, Ava Jane was admitted to the hospital on Mother’s Day. After running tests on every part of her body, doctors discovered that she had ulcers in her colon, the consequence of the immunosuppressant medicines necessary to protect her transplant. She is beginning to feel better, and armed with answers, medicines are being adjusted and plans are being made to relieve her distress. Ava Jane is a beautiful, social two year old with a quick to smile and amazing eyelashes envied by all the adult women around her. She truly needs a chance to be whisked away to princess land. We realize that our times with her may be shorter than we wish, and we would treasure special pictures of her for our family.”
Ava Jane is truly special. Her sisters just love her to bits. The oldest girl is a girl after my own heart, a tomboy in every sense of the world. Hates getting dressed up. so she was being quite kind to come along and take photos in a pink *gasp* dress! The middle sister is in love with dressing up for sure, and was having a ball. Ava spent the time watching her sisters, being smooched on, playing with her dress and listening to the birds!
Miss M. ‘s mommy has been a fan of Stylized Portraiture for a while now, but all of her previous sessions have been in the studio, so this time for her four year photos, she wanted something funky and outdoors. Oh, let me tell you how thrilled I was when they drove up with a car-full of Matilda Jane! If I had a little girl, I’d be in sooo much trouble due to my love affair with Matilda Jane clothes. Luckily, the little miss enjoys fashion as much as her mommy, so we went through four outfits before it rained all over us. As she would say “I look stunning!”
This super cute fellow is another From the Crib (our baby plan) graduate. I can’t believe he’s gotten so big so fast! He is SO smiley too. I couldn’t stop laughing at him the whole session because he just had this giant smile pasted on his face the entire time. Every time he started laughing, his little arms would go right up over his head like it was the funniest thing in the whole world. Check out his 9 months and 6 months sessions.
This pair of girls are identical twins. It’s really funny though, their personalities are so apparent even in photos that they don’t LOOK like identical twins! It’s more obvious in person than in photos. I was worried that I’d never be able to tell them apart, but it’s pretty easy once you know what to look for! I need a LOT more practice with twins and a much smaller place to do sessions like this. They both ran two different directions at once and it was really hard to get them both in a photo.
I swear, this boy has some of the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen on a boy! It’s so not fair for him to have lashes like that too. I think my favorite part about this baby is his oh-so-expressive eyebrows. I think he’s got some great facial expressions and those eyebrows are nothing but his daddy’s. Oh and check out that ‘rock the baby’ Def Leppard shirt his awesome mommy brought with her!
One of my favorite places to shoot is World Of Wonder playground at Southeast Clarke Park, but it’s been closed all winter! It’s fun for all ages and has lots of great nooks and crannies that make things really interesting for photos. It’s great right near sunrise and sunset, but pretty scary to use for photos the rest of the day because of the lack of shade trees out there. In celebration of it being opened again, two free short sessions for ages 7mo to 7years! Email heather@stylizedportraiture.com with your child’s age(s) and why you love playgrounds for your chance to win
Session One: Friday 4/24 at 8:30am
Session Two: Tuesday 4/28 at 6pm