photography by danie » Silver Spring Children’s Photographer

The way I view…Halloween! {Bethesda, MD Children’s Photographer}

Danie — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 19:31:41 +0000

Thanks for dropping by to read this month’s edition of our Clickin’ Moms Blog Circle, in which we visually answer the question:

The Way I View…Halloween and Dress-up!

With a five year old and a three year old, and the rule that Halloween costumes go into the dress-up box, the major difference between Halloween and regular dress-up is the candy. And, I suppose, the social element (my son actually got to wear his costume to school!).

This year, my little “Jake and the Never Land Pirates“-obsessed children happened to spot Jake and friends dress-up clothes at the Disney store somewhere around the beginning of the school year. (For those unfamiliar with this show, essentially Peter Pan had to leave Never Land and asked Jake, Cubby, Izzy and Skully-the-parrot to keep Captain Hook under control in his absence. It’s adorable TV — not educational, but clean and adorable none-the-less.)

My son picked Peter Pan (since his favorite is the hour-long “Peter Pan Returns” special) and my daughter picked “Izzy”, the only girl in the bunch. And I was thrilled because together the costumes cost less than the princess dress they had picked out of a catalogue for my daughter!

Since big brother was at school in the morning, my daughter and I did a little “warm-up” practice in the morning.

Above, she’s trying to get her doll Izzy’s feet to stay tucked to the side so they would both be sitting the same way.
She can be a little ham when she wants to be! But unfortunately, our little photo shoot was interrupted by an important phone call “on the pink phone!” (The call included several important text messages, as well.)

Shortly before we left, I got my favorite picture of her from the morning. Just staring off. So sweet. I like the picture so much, I even fixed the boo-boo under her lip!

When my son came home, and knowing I wouldn’t want to lug my good camera around the neighborhood while we trick-or-treated that night, I bribed them with pizza into going outside and letting me get a few pictures of them together. It sort of worked.

I love how they ended up pretending to be Peter Pan and Izzy (though why they were fightingeach other is still a mystery).

And then they were done. We went inside, where they got their pizza, and my son gave me one last “Peter Pan” pose. The first one in this set is his interpretation of Peter Pan being a tough guy.

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween! Be sure to check out what Susan Edge Photography was up to this Halloween!

Cousins! {Bethesda, MD family photographer)

Danie — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:15:47 +0000

First it was pink-eye. Then last minute changes in her husband’s schedule. One thing and another, it took us a year and a half to finally get together — and it turned out to be a “cousins” shoot! Her sister and her three kids were in town, so we wrangled 6 kids, from 9 to 3 mos., and came away with a terrific mix of posed (yes, all 6 kids looking at the camera!) and more my style lifestyle images. Plus a few that were just plain fun!

One of my favorites — trying to get Mommy and her two boys and baby — when who should appear but the adorable 4 year old cousin!

The expression on Baby’s face in this next picture makes me smile every time I see it!

We finished our session with some good ol’ dancing fun (for the kids who are old enough to dance, anyway). This was some version of ring-around-the-rosie. Or inspired by…or something….

Terrific way to spend a morning — so glad to meet you, K family!

All the best,
- Danie Smallwood

Focused and tired – my daughter {Silver Spring MD Children’s Photography}

Danie — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:10:59 +0000

We were at a playdate with 3 boys — 2 five year olds, and the other about to turn 3. Everyone was tired. It was chaotic. My daughter chose to handle this by completely separating from the boys for a little while! Here she’s studying the mystery of Crayola’s color changing markers. Apparently I’m too old and she’s too young to appreciate this particular product.

Coloring is very serious business, as you can see.

Eventually, she decided to rejoin the boys, who had started to watch the movie “Cars” (see previous post with the other two boys). They hadn’t settled in yet, and apparently the chaos called for an emergency pacifier (aka, sneaking it when I wasn’t looking!).

I find I don’t mind TV nearly as much when my kids decide to use toys to reenact the scenes!

Contemplating the deeper meaning behind the “Cars” cars?

Suddenly, she found herself engrossed in the movie!

My thanks again the extreme indulgence of my good friend for letting me take so many pictures yesterday!

- Danie, Bethesda, MD Photography

Sweet family moments {Silver Spring MD Children’s Photography}

Danie — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:05:38 +0000

Most of the time, I’m just “mom.” I might have a beautiful camera and a passion for photographing my kids and everyone else’s, but at the end of the day, I think most people still see me as “mom.” And that’s okay.

But every now and then, I realize that I really do see the world a little differently than the other moms I’m hanging out with. This winter, one of my goals has been finding ways to get more creative photos using nothing but the available indoor light (even on cloudy days, yikes!). Yesterday afternoon, for example, I definitely felt more like a photographer when…

…we were at a friend’s house for a playdate and the kids were tired, cranky, and fighting like crazy. In desperation, their mother suggested watching “Cars.”

I agreed — as long as we could move the couch about 3 feet forward (and angle it a bit) so we’d have nice light for photos.

Can you imagine those sweet little kids kicking and shoving just minutes earlier? (I don’t mean to single them out, either — I just don’t have pictures of my kids being this sweet yesterday! ).

Want to see this set in color? Check out my Facebook page, under the Project 366.

- Danielle Smallwood, Bethesda, MD Family Photography

Just have to add this one — this is what the scene looked like: