LaRae Russell Photography

I thought it might be fun to share a few of the cards I have designed for my awesome clients this Christmas.  If you are not lucky enough to be on the Christmas card lists of some of these beautiful people you can get a peek at them here.

It has been a whirlwind of Christmas card designing activity around here.  I love how each of these turned out even though they are all really different.  I like how they compliment the family’s style and the style of the session.  Thank you to all my awesome clients for letting me share a little of your holiday happiness!

Halloween can be a fun holiday for kids to express their imaginative side. As a mom we enjoy finding the exact costume for our children and then experiencing the joy in “trick or treat” door to door. Sometimes it can be difficult to find a costume for the little ones. There is a line that I have adored for infants  that I want to share with you called Mullin Square. Here are a few of my favorites and ones you can find online. http://www.mullinssquare.com

Last night we had a meet and greet at the Victory Tavern.  The cupcakes were FABULOUS!  I met photographers from Midland and San Antonio, Mississippi, Maryland and SWEDEN!  OMG.  It is amazing to me that someone would come that far for a workshop.  I met a couple of people that were here for the second year in a row so I am very encouraged by that!  It must be awesome if someone feels they got enough out of it to come back a second time.

I got back to my room to find a goody bag full of all kinds of photography treats and so I am having fun sorting through that.   We are at the W Victory Hotel in Dallas.  It has a modern kind of funky disco feel to it.  It is dark!  You kind of feel like you are in a club.  The most INTERESTING thing is the arrangement of the bathrooms.  You walk in the door of your room and you are looking right at the shower.  The shower has no door and is made of glass.  SO, I am kind of glad that I am not sharing a room.  Could be awkward.  The shower head is like a waterfall dumping gallons of water on your head.  It is amazing!  The only problem with it is that I have crazy hair that tends to get “eighties rock star” and takes literally HOURS to dry.  There is no way to take a shower without completely starting over with the hair so I will be getting up extra early.

There is a fabulous pool on the roof here and a nice gym.  Because I am missing bootcamp I will be hitting the gym.  My favorite part?  The BLISS spa!  Its, well, BLISS!  I got a pedicure there today, now I have fabulous teal toes.

I am SO excited for today.  Our instructors are Kelley Moore, Lauren Clark, Millie Holloman, and Davina Fear.  They are amazingly talented women and I am ready to soak up the knowledge!

At midnight on the night before going to make funeral arrangements for my grandmother, I was sitting in the floor sifting through a giant Rubbermaid container full of old photos looking for a nice picture of her for the newspaper. There just weren’t any! There were lots of photos of my grandmother taken over the 90 years of her life, but everyone I could find had other people with her. It should also be noted that photography skills (except for myself ) are not my family’s strong suit. There were more than a few pictures with heads cut off, or someones finger in the shot. 

I have been doing photography for the last five years and all of that time my grandmother was in the nursing home. I should have taken pictures, but nursing homes are not really conducive to great photographing conditions. I felt frantic and sad. The best photo I found was this one which was taken in 1942. We settled on a snapshot from Christmas for the paper but I am still kicking myself.

So….the moral to the story is. Take pictures. Take them yourself and get them professionally taken. Preserve those memories. Kids grow up (way too fast), and people get old. Things change. In my opinion there is nothing more important than photos of the people we love so much.

I recently attended a photography workshop called For The Love in Tennessee. I met several wonderful friends there and this picture was taken by one of my favorites. Her name is Leslie J. Harris and she is from Flynn, Texas so if you live in that area and need a photographer I would definately suggest giving her a call!

I HAVE A NEW STUDIO! It is on West Concho at the back of Rattle Dazzle children’t boutique. I plan on using it mostly for infant and children’s photography and headshots etc. I am beyond excited to have an “option” when the weather does not cooperate with my plans! We are still working out the little details but I am officially “in” and ready to go.

I have been in Tennessee all week at a photography workshop. It is cold and snowy. This is my new friend Leslie. She is a wonderful person and a very talented photographer. We came up with an awesome handshake together for a game we played last night. We are the “old ladies” of the group. We are both extremely homesick. I think she looks beautiful in this picture!

This is “Digger”. She has been a member of our family for ten years. She has been very sick. I knew that the day would come when she would be old and we might not have her but I was not ready. My son got Digger when he was 4 years old from Santa Claus. He was convinced that Santa “made” her in his workshop. They have been best buddies all this time. A couple of weeks ago when I thought we were going to have to put Digger down I took some pictures of her out in the front yard. Although it looks like she is “smiling” in these pictures she couldn’t walk at all. It was a very sad day but I wanted Landry to have something to remember her by. So I sat out in the yard feeding her a Happy Meal and crying all over my camera. Luckily our wonderful vet (Jodie Uptergrove if you need one) has been trying to get Digger well and back home to us. Today might be the day….I hope so. I miss her.