Putting it all together... for your enjoyment

I had to put something together for an event...and so I went back and picked some of my favorites and am sharing them... I hope you enjoy!

Where the heck have you been?

That'd be 'me'... not you! Although...where have YOU been???

Made a trip to the Final Four with the girls... shot a school full of 7th graders...and ambushed one of the teachers and made her pose... which resulted in another teacher scheduling a session....and then my 2 year old decided she needed photos....then I shot the AMAZING !mpulse Dance crew.... had an AMAZING session with them....then tried to do a session with my 12 year old... and just for those moms who get frustrated about taking photos of your own kids... don't think it's any different for me... it's HARD to shoot your own kids.... and then it's on to softball...

So here are a few shots... I hope you enjoy!!

Gorgeous teacher.... would you believe she teaches math...and has four kids??? I almost want to hate her for that... but she is SO sweet!

This is also a teacher... she teaches Bible... and is one of my favorite people...we are both VERY much alike...

My youngun...

She's a bit of a ham...

This is for her daddy....who is currently deployed...

!mpact Dance Crew:

Group shot:

So.... say hi on facebook: Donna Beard Photography
Call for YOUR session!!!

Sarah

My darling 2 year old managed to get a double whammy - she picked up HMFD from daycare... brought it home... mixed it with her already existing ezcema...and contracted impetigo.

Needless to say - it made for a rough week.

But today in the mail, a package from Brad arrived - and she got a brand new Teddy Bear from Hard Rock Cafe - in Kuwait.

So, in typical photographer kid fashion... 'Mommy, take a picture!'... so I did...

Fixing the bears 'hoodie!'

They had to take a photo 'together!'

And 'more pictures mommy!'

The bear had to have one by it's self!

And then I realized that I was being manipulated by a 2 year old... who didn't want to go to bed... 'more pictures' mommy.... and with that... it was lights out!

Mr. & Mrs. Arizpe

This is from the gorgeous couple that I had the honor of photographing their wedding in December. I posted this for the bride/groom/family - but hadn't posted it to the blog.

It was a gorgeous wedding!

The C. Family Session

Mom saw photos from one of my recent sessions - and touched base to talk about what she wanted. We found out we are both military wives, and we are both always trying to catch up with all of the stuff that comes with kids, and husbands, and...yes, deployments. Her husband has done a couple, and she survived, and gave me some WONDERFUL ideas to help the girls make it through the next few months.

The kids are Kelsey, Colton, Amanda. They were alot of fun...and made us work for the smiles a bit.

I have to confess...there was a 'little' bit of torture going on...


I got a couple of smiles when I least expected it....she was actually getting a rock out of her shoe...


And she had that 'senior' look down to a 'T' already... *grin*...



Colton didn't do so bad himself either....can you believe he's only 7??



This ended up being my favorite image - because in 15 years, when all of them are off at college...or where ever life may find them....this image is going to be priceless. I loved how they were hugging daddy...



Thank you SO much Amy for inviting me to photograph your family. I truly enjoyed meeting all of you...and must say...you've got your hands full!

The Stewart Family

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting the Stewart Family this afternoon. Shannon was doing a search for photographers in the Katy area, stumbled upon my 4th of July fireworks, checked out my website, and contacted me about doing her family session.

We had quite a few laughs over the phone talking about kids and husbands and work... just life in general.

So - we headed out to one of my favorite locations - and spent some time together. She has two absolutely gorgeous daughters... Ms. A and Ms. T... they were hilarious and did I mention gorgeous???

I think Dad will probably be meeting any future boyfriends at the door... and having long discussions with them before they are allowed to leave the house... ;-)

I love this photo! Love it!

There's a park close by... and the girls had to have this upside down photo... we had to work on it a bit... but it ended up being one of my favorites!

Okay... it's the age old dispute... color... or B&W. I love this photo... it has to be one of my favorite family shots... I told them to get close... and this was what they did... and I just pushed the button. Love the leaning... and the expressions.

Thank you SO much for spending your time with me, and for giving me the honor of photographing your family. I really enjoyed it!

OpLove Session: The B Family... or is it the S Family?

The information about Oplove Sessions has slowly made it's way to the families... and the mother of a soldier emailed inquiring on whether I could fit them in before her daughter deployed.

I took off 2 days this week to spend time with my family... but I know how precious these sessions are, so I made arrangements with mom to get together with her family this afternoon. Fortunately, we all happen to be located in Katy, so it was a quick trip to the location, and we were done in about an hour.

I knew mom and I were going to get along quite nicely - we hugged when we met... lol. It's a southern thing...

Anyway... Ms B is deploying very shortly... and we managed to get some amazing photos of her and her family. I hope you enjoy!

She does serious... quite well!

This little guy was adorable... took him a bit to warm up... but he is well loved and KNOWS it!

Michael is Mr. Cool... caught him off guard with this one... his sisters were joking with him... and uh-oh... I caught a real smile!

I'm keeping the gagging photos to myself... they were quite hilarious!

It's all about the attitude! (and the boots got REALLY muddy after this shot!!) OOPS!

Boys will be boys... this was after we were done... walking back to the cars... he liked this part best!

Maybe we should have let him run like this to BEGIN with!

This is my FAVORITE shot of the day! LOVED this one! Loved it!

Okay... this one was really good too darn it!!

The whole family!

Let's just say that I'm very glad she's on OUR side! ;-)

All joking aside - this was an incredibly sweet family that I was quite happy to spend time with prior to their soldiers deployment. Thank you so much for honoring me by spending YOUR time with me.

72nd Deployment Ceremony

I, along with several thousand others in Houston, was proud to attend the 72nd Deployment Ceremony yesterday at Minute Maid Park.

The weather was rather foul - it rained... and rained... and rained...

But there were American Flags all over the place. These are just a few of the hundreds of images I took... but I thought I'd share:

Marching onto the field:

Lots of soldiers

Lots of cheering friends and family:

My soldier! ;-)

During the ceremony:

Mayor Bill White:

They let the kids run the bases... not sure if you can see the big cheesy grin on Sarah's face... she LOVES to run! Tori does such a great job with her!

Our little one found daddy....and was holding on tight!

One of my favorites:

This one - is a panorama image - this is the VERY small version:

If you'd like a link to the full sized image - let me know - it's HUGE! 27 MB - so be prepared if you do not have a fast connection. It's a pencil portrait version of a larger photo. I liked it...