Month #5

Genevieve is 5 months old and smiley as ever! Besides having an insanely large number of diaper explosions and one awful car trip resulting in a total of 8 stops on the side of the road, it has been a great month.

She can officially move forward, backward, and around in circles on the floor and she loves her exersaucer and her jumper (neither of which is reducing the size of her chubby baby thighs!). Due to her refusal to drink from a bottle, we started her on cereal a couple weeks ago. She does pretty well with it, but still prefers to be with mom 24/7 in case hunger strikes.

The boys continue to be roughly affectionate with her, which makes me nervous, but I often notice that she has a smile on her face, even as I am pulling them off her. I know she'll be running around, climbing, and "body-slamming" with them in no time. :)

We really couldn't be happier with this little peanut.

Gretchen

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Model Search

It happened, life got away from us once again. Those of you who have been following our Inspiration Session project have probably noticed our lack of activity in that department lately. The fall was, as always, an extremely busy time, but we are getting back on track and are re-dedicating ourselves to the professional and personal growth that this project brings... but maybe at a slightly more realistic pace. 

During this time of thanksgiving and family, we want to celebrate the lasting, mature love and beauty that comes with age.  Our culture puts an amazing amount of emphasis on being young and most people only get professional photographs taken when they are young – engagements, marriage, new babies, growing children. 

At Wink, we are passionate about documenting families and relationships, but we rarely see an older couple coming into our studio to document their life and love.  We want to use this Inspiration Session to capture what, we hope, everyone would like to have in their own life: a solid, lasting, affectionate relationship.  There is so much experience, knowledge, wisdom and love held behind those eyes and those smiles and we can't wait to photograph it!

For this Inspiration Session, we would like to honor one special couple for their commitment to each other and say “Thanks” for being a stunning example of love and marriage.  Who will the lucky couple be? This is where you come in.... we would like YOU, our followers, families, and friends to send us nominations for the Wink Timeless Couple. It could be your parents, grandparents, friends, or just a lovely couple down the street. 

Our couple should be a minimum of 60 years old and be comfortable being affectionate (holding hands, talking, laughing, kissing, etc.) in public and in front of our camera. .  We would like to have a couple who hasn’t been photographed in a while, preferably a couple who has been married at least 25 years (this session would be perfect for a couple who is celebrating a big anniversary!). 

If you know a couple that you would like to nominate, send us an email at info@winkphotomn.com with your nomination, a short paragraph explaining why they should be our Timeless Couple, a recent photo of them, and their contact information (used only for scheduling purposes). We will choose a couple based on information from the nominations and announce the winner on Monday, December 3rd. Nominees should be within a 30 mile radius of the Twin Cities at the time of the scheduled session.  Session is complementary (a print credit will be included).

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Capturing Memories

Every morning I welcome the day with my children.  We sit on the couch and read books, have breakfast in our pj's and get ready for our day.  Some mornings it's smooth sailing, other mornings, not so much.

Every day I watch my children learn, discover, play, laugh, cry, and grow.

Every night I put them back into their pajamas, read them a story, sing them a lullaby, tuck them into bed, give them kisses and hugs and, in my heart, give praises and thanks for the beautiful girls before me. 

I see them, every day.  Grace and Madeleine.  And yet, I don't really realize how much they have grown in the past year, until I see a photograph of them.  Grace once stood as tall as Madeleine when Gretchen first started photographing our family.  Madeleine has always needed to be held, and now she is able, agile and active. 

It is these reasons that we treasure our sessions with Gretchen.  We want to remember those days when Grace was still shorter than us ('cause someday, I know she will be taller than me!), when Madeleine made that goofy expression, when Grace wore those bright pink, sparkly shoes and when Madeleine never let go of her Daddy. 

Thank you, Gretchen, for your beautiful photography, for capturing our personalities and for being such a wonderful friend!

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Photographing Your Baby

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Month #4

How did I get here? I have somehow become the mother of 2.5 year old twin boys and a 4 month old girl. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was too young to get married and WAY too young to even THINK about having kids. Makes me think of that saying "Who are these kids and why are they calling me Mom?" I totally feel like that some days.

That being said, I take great joy (and frustration) in my role as "Mom". I am endlessly awed at how these little people grow and change on a daily basis. The boys are amazing me everyday with their language skills and their newly discovered world of imaginative play. Genevieve continues to be an easy-going baby. As my mom says, she "eats, sleeps, and smiles." She is incredibly strong for her age. She rolls both ways with ease, loves anything that she can stand or jump in, and can get up on all fours with her belly off the ground. I seriously wouldn't be surprised if she started crawling tomorrow.

I may not know exactly how I ended up here, but I'm glad that I did (most of the time anyway. ;)
-Gretchen

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Hallaway Family

I photographed this cute little kitty, Mylana, when she was just a few weeks old. It is hard to believe that she's 18 months old already! Yet another reminder that time flies and kids grow fast... 

It was amazing to see how much she has grown and a delight to photograph her again.  Thanks Kristine, Steve, and Mylana for the stroll around the park. You are a beautiful family!

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The Peters

What can I say about the Peters family? They are life-long friends and I've photographed them more times than I can count. I am honored to record the growth and change of their family over time. Thank you for your friendship. I love you all!

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