The Von Boeckmann Family :: Houston Family Photographer

Yesterday, Cat and I got to spend the evening with the Von Boeckmann family! We originally met Dr. Von Boeckmann when we got back on the road to dental health. A mutual friend told us about Dr. Von Boeckmann’s practice and once we finally got up the nerve to “find out the damage” we made an appointment and we are sure glad we did! What we quickly noticed once we visited his dentist office, is that it is a very down-to-earth and friendly place. It was almost like we walked in to a family gathering and one of our family members happened to be providing dental exams and cleanings. I am sure you are thinking “Yeah, right!” but it is the only dentist we will be going to from now on. I am sure that our kids will be seeing Dr. Von Boeckmann for their braces years down the road! If you happen to be in the market for a new dentist, be sure to check out Radiant Smiles of Texas! We drive over an hour to get there, so you know it is well worth the drive.

I am sure that some of you have been in the situation where you get to know someone in a business setting first and then on a personal level. We first got to know Dr. Von Boeckmann as our dentist and called him “Dr. Von Boeckmann” and accordingly called his lovely wife “Mrs. Dr. Von Boeckmann”. As Cat and I were driving to meet up with Dr. and Mrs. Dr. Von Boeckmann, we were trying to figure out if we would call them “Dr. and Mrs. Dr” or by their first names. We even went to the length of having our dialog all ready for when we would “pop the question” to see if we could call them by their first names. It went like this:

Luke: “Dr. Von Boeckmann, I know that you have gone to school for and worked hard to be called Dr., you have fixed my teeth, and you are close to being done fixing my crazy wife’s teeth, I feel like we know each other. Would it be okay if I called you Keith?”

However, we did not have to get to that point, because as soon as we got to their home, we said “Dr. Von Boeckmann it is good to see you!” He immediately said “Call me, Keith!” What a relief!

Anyhoo! Enough of our awkwardness, and check out this gorgeous family!

We love it when pets are included in portraits. Their Standard Poodle, Dolly, was a great sport and super friendly!

I really wish that I had more pictures of this from when I was little. I am a sucker for those little “in-between” moments.

After we got some family group shots, Cat and I split up. I took the grownups and Cat went with the kiddos for some individual images. Dolly was up first!

I think that so many times when parents have kids, they forget to take a little time out for themselves. When we do any sort of family or group session, we always make sure to focus on the individuals and the group. These next couple of ones really make me happy!

Lovebirds!

After seeing Jenna play on her awesome swing, I am going to get something like this for us! Who doesn’t love to sit and swing in this lovely weather!


Finally, we got to put on our business professional outfits and get some rockin’ headshots of Dr. and Mrs. Dr. Von Boeckmann for them to use on their website as well as their print advertisement campaign for the dental practice.

Keith and Sherry, Cat and I had a great time with you and your wonderful kids! Hopefully we get to spend more time together when you aren’t on the search for cavities!

First Look :: Reina Family, Houston Family Photographer

We got to meet up yesterday evening with an awesome family! We toured around their ranch and it makes us remember why we love the natural light of the outdoors so much! Their ranch is beautiful and we got to one area that was quiet and peaceful, and I think that we all could have just sat there and watched the sun set. It was gorgeous!

One of our favorite parts of any family session is getting to take the parents off for a little mini-session where we can get some killer images of just them. Here is on we got of Kelly and Tony last night.

It’s easy to see that they are still head over heels for each other after their many years of marriage!

The Lee Family :: Illinois Family Photographer

Anytime we get to meet up with Christy and her family we are super pumped. Her boys are hilarious and keep us laughing the entire time. This time we got an ear full from little Nolan about some creation called a “pizza sandwich!” I am still not 100% sure what this is, but from the way he talked about it, it must be phenomenal!

Christy is also a photographer and a darn good one at that! You can check out her work here. It always adds a little pressure when we take pictures of other photographers, but we got some rockin’ shots of Christy and her family!

Check these out!
We were able to meet up at a great place that Christy, actually I think it was her husband Craig that initially thought of it, recommended, and it was beautiful. It had a historical village that was preserved and in excellent condition. We walked around during the evening and enjoyed looking at all the buildings and reading the informational signs about the place. Cat and I are suckers for the candid shots we get, and Nolan’s little sheepish grin makes us smile :)
We were even able to get a little alone time with the “adults” and got to focus just on them, while the boys had a stick sword fight. At the end of the session while we were talking with Christy, I noticed that the boys were on the edge of the bank of the river throwing in sticks and rocks and having a blast. Boys will be boys!

Thanks Christy for meeting up with us again and getting the boys all dressed and ready to go. Can’t wait to do it again!

Our Family

One of our missions while we were up here in Indiana was to get a family picture of our Yankee family:) Even with the threat of thunderstorms and rain showers, we were able to get a few good pictures of the crew.

Here is one of our favorites of the entire group of all four generations.

Luke’s Birthday Extravaganza!

From a very early age, I (Luke) have thought that my birthday was the day that everyone had to do exactly what I wanted. You see, this all started in preschool! When it was anyone’s birthday, they got to wear a crown, robe, and carry a scepter. They also got to pick what game we played and everyone had to participate. Luckily, my birthday was always right at the beginning of school, so I had something to look forward to when summer came to an end.

Long story short, I have carried this tradition twenty-something years down the road with me. It is great, I have even gone to the extreme of declaring the whole week of my birthday “Lukeapalooza,” this means that for an entire week everyone has to do what I want to do!

True to form, since yesterday was my b-day, it was my turn to be King-for-a-day! I wanted to go see the new movie The Help. So we got in the car and headed to the theater. Apparently the people at the movie theater were not playing by the rules. There was a line out the door and when we finally made it within listening distance from the front of the line, the “teller” said that there was only three tickets left! There were about 5 people infront of us, so I knew that we were going to be out of luck! Thinking quick on my feet, I yelled “Guards, sieze them, off with their heads!” After all it was my day and everyone had to do what I said, right?! I guess the audience didn’t get the memo and everyone just looked at me weird.

Knowing that our plans were quickly not going as we had thought, we jumped by in my chariot (read: our suburban) and raced to the other theater in town. Upon our arrival, we saw that our movie was also sold out. RATS! It was time to call to arms the “Knights of the Coffee Table” and set them out on a path of pillaging and terror! No one would be safe! They must pay for their insubordination!

I was quickly appeased with gifts like a Coke from McDonalds and french fries. My loyal servants were trying to appease me! Needless to say, it worked, and we enjoyed an evening at a local mexican food joint and ate too much queso! I even exchanged my crown for a sombrero!

We were even to get a few pictures of this royal event! Cat and I were trying to teach my sister, Cassie, how to use the camera. She quickly got the hang of it.

The king and queen with our niece, Hunter Grace!

Sometime between the queso and fajitas, someone (my nieces Hunter and Sophie) told our waiter that it was my birthday and out they came with a huge sombrero, fried ice cream, and sang Happy Birthday to me!

After a lovely song, they shoved the fried ice cream in my face and I am still digging chocolate sauce out of my nose!

This picture cracks us up!

We were even able to get one of my parents! Although trying to get one of my mom with here eyes open was a little bit of a challenge. She kept blinking!

Have a great Monday!

Luke and Cat

First Look :: The Taylor Kiddo’s

What a way to start off the week! Jenna brought her kiddos over to Our Little Ranch this evening for a photo session. Little did either of us know the amazing pictures that we would create as the evening progressed.

My cards are still downloading, but here is one that I picked out of the group to show.

Enjoy!

The Atteberry Girls :: East Bernard Family Photographer

Elizabeth and her two girls, Charlsie and Maycie, recently moved to our area and wanted to get some new family portraits. They came out to Our Little Ranch and we spent an evening getting some great family photos that they will be able to cherish for ever. This trio of girls, along with Catherine and I, shared many laughs and told some good stories as we ventured around the ranch. After the photo session, we came back to the house and talked until about 9 o’clock about everything and little Charlsie even read us a few stories from her Barbie book.

I think you can tell from the photos, these girls know how to have fun and love each other quite a bit!

Little Charlsie loved (read: could barely part with it) her dolly. They made quite the pair and set off on several adventures around the ranch.


Favorite picture of the session! I love it!

Maycie is a “beast” softball player! She was more than excited to show us a little demo of her pitching wind-up. Since we were in the middle of a pasture, a rock served as the ball. Catherine and I tried, but we looked like fools about to throw their arm across the field. 

We were even able to get a few of the girls lovely mom all by herself! Wowsa!

The beautiful sunset was a great was to end the session with this beautiful family. 

Shelby | Fort Worth Portrait Photographer

Boy oh boy, did we have a fun time during this session. We met up with Shelby in the Fort Worth Stockyards and she was as excited as we were about the locale and the session. We laughed, told stories, and turned quite a few heads while we were walking the streets of Fort Worth. After numerous people asked if Shelby was a model, one brave teenage boy came up to her and asked for a picture with her. We were happy to oblige and I am pretty sure that young man will never forget the time he came to Fort Worth and got a picture with a good lookin’, 7 foot tall, blonde model.

One of the hardest parts of our job is narrowing down the pictures to just a few to put on the blog. I could have edited every picture from Shelby’s session. She was really into different poses and just like on America’s Next Top Model every time my shutter would click, Shelby would change to a new pose. I really felt like I was Nigel Barker.

Enough with the jibber jabber, here are some of our favorites!

The McCain Family | Victoria Family Photographer

We got to meet up with Kara, Will, and their 1-year-old son, Kent the other day for a quick mini session to capture some memories from Kent’s first birthday. The weather was not ideal, it was a little sticky and humid, and it could have rained, but we got lucky the storms held off and we got some great shots!

Here are a few of our favorites. It was so hard to choose!

Faith Vincek – Houston Children Photographer

You probably remember Faith’s older sister, Libby, but this post is all about Faith! Faith was such a trooper and an excellent model. She was not about to be out done by her sister. I think that she was watching very intently while we took Libby’s pictures and then she tried to imitate the poses we were doing with her.

Aside from modeling, Faith is such a great young woman. She is incredibly polite and well mannered, and just fun to hang out with. Also, the sibling interaction between the two girls was just great. When Faith would strike a pose, Libby would say “That looks great Faith,” or “Faith you are so pretty!” It was nice to see how close they were.

Enough babbling, scroll down and check out these beauties!

Now a few of the sisters together!