Welcome

Hi, I'm Betsy, of Betsy & John photography. I'm wife to John, mother to Miles (and the sweetest two pugs you'll ever meet) and photographer to the lovely people that invite me to capture them. This is my cozy little place I come to share what's going on in my world. You'll find sneak peeks from my latest shoots, photos of my son and our little family, and sometimes whatever crazy thing I feel the need to share. If you would like to see my latest work, just keep on surfing the recent archives of this blog. More of my photography and details on booking a shoot can be found by clicking the website link above. Thanks so much for visiting my blog. Come back often and feel free to leave a comment and say hello. I love hearing from you!

gimme five!

Last week we were dog sitting Whisper & Stamp’s cousin, Lelu. She quickly learned the King family morning ritual of giving “five” (or I guess in their case, four?) before getting their morning treat. It really is the cutest thing ever. I barely had time to grab my camera and turn it on to catch the action. (Notice the little Miles foot in the lower left corner? That’s a little foreshadowing for you…)

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(That is Whisper giving “five” with Lelu, the houseguest, in the middle.)

Stamp was licking her lips in anticipation of her turn…

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To top it all off, Miles wanted to join in. I swear, our house is sometimes BURSTING with cuteness.

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Gotta run, today’s a big work day for me and I’m looking forward to getting A LOT of photography stuff done. (Maybe even order a lens…or two. We’ll see.) I have some more photos of playing with Miles yesterday so I’ll get those up soon.

what I’ve been working on today…

I’m going to bed in about 2 seconds, but thought I would post a little hint as to what I’ve been working away on lately in addition to some commercial stuff (I can’t really post about the commercial stuff I do, so when it appears like I’m doing nothing, that’s most likely what’s going on) and of course Miles and newborn photos. These photos are just a little sampling of what spoke to me tonight. Again, bed is calling, so I’m letting the photos do all the talking.

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Wedding

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Here’s a shot John took of me at the end of the night shooting Cassie & Jason’s wedding. Don’t you love how the oil on my face bounces the light of his flash right back at him? ;-) Niiiiicce. Shooting a wedding is verrry physically demanding (Bobbi, how on earth do you do more than one a weekend?) If I ever decide to take weddings on, I’ll have to do what my friend Rachel does and do some weight training to prepare for wedding season. (Um, like I would really work out, but it’s a novel idea.) Back to the wedding: I was having a blast, if you couldn’t tell. Even busted a couple moves of my own on the dancefloor. It was strange to be at a wedding with John and not whip out our swing moves. Not really as I was rockin my grandma shoes.

Ok, I said I was going to bed in 2 seconds about 20 minutes ago. I’m shushing!!!

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I’m working towards the final stages of wrapping this project up. You will all be the first to know when I’m all done and they are all ready! Um, ok, maybe the second or third to know after Mrs. and Mrs. Beer.

Nighty Night!!

in his shoes

I was going through some photos tonight and came across these taken last month. John doesn’t dress up often, but his dress shoes make an appearance from time to time and Miles, who is intrigued with shoes, had fun trying them on for size. (Rumor has it, he inherited my hobbit feet…)

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For once, it’s not Stamp hamming it up. It’s Whisper!

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album in my heart

Today’s post comes from the photos I took in my heart. I know that sounds so cheesy, but it’s true. We took Miles to the zoo today, just to play in the spray fountains. John and I both worked really hard this week and needed a bit of family time. We have a zoo pass so we have decided to try to take many small trips to the zoo, instead of just a couple long trips. I decided to just enjoy Miles and not to take my camera. I feel a little obnoxious when I”m taking photos of Miles in public or around friends (Not that mom’s aren’t always taking photos, but it just feels different when it’s this big camera and lens right up to my face) so I sometimes just leave it at home and enjoy the moment.

We arrived at the zoo around 2:00 and we could tell right away that because of the heat, most of the usual crowd wasn’t there. It was awesome! We had Miles already in his bathing suit so we just let him run right towards the splash area and go nuts. The whole time I’m watching him, I can’t help but compose photos in my head, watching for details and which expressions I want to capture.

So today, you’ll have to use your imagination. Here’s the following shots I got, saved just for me in my heart.

Miles standing before the splash pool, taking it all in.

Daddy guiding him towards the fountain, showing him it’s ok.

Miles investigating a shooting sprayer, only to be perplexed when the water stops.

Miles’ shocked face after he got a surprise faceful of water straight to the face.

Miles laughing with glee at the big concrete turtle.

Miles checking back with daddy before he runs back to the sprayers.

Daddy sitting on the bench, smiling and laughing along with me. (He’s so cute!)

Miles running as fast as he can through the water with the biggest smile ever. That shot is my favorite! I blew that one up REALLY big. It’s the screensaver on my heart, until my next favorite photo comes along.

Then, a photo of Miles, sleepy and sweet, sitting on daddy’s shoulder, totally relaxed and content to take in a few animals before we headed home.

It was an awesome day for taking photos with my heart. Too many to show! I’m going to bed where I’ll be watching the slideshow over and over.

Since a blog post isn’t a blog post without a photo, here’s a shot I took recently in the morning when Miles just woke up. He is seriously the happiest kid I’ve ever seen, but when he wakes up, he’s just so happy to see us. He’s smiling at John through his crib rails here.

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Oh and in the spirit of play, here’s a shot John took while he was shooting Jason’s wedding day baseball game. I think it’s pretty cool. Oh, and John and I have recently taken up wiffle ball after dinner in the evenings with each other. Yesterday our wiffle ball, which was starting to crack down the middle, was lost in a tragic homerun where after flying into the top of a tree, it was never seen again. It has been replaced, in the short term, by a squishy ball with a Bat Man motif on it. The jury is still out on whether this will do as a suitable replacement. The wiffle ball lived a short life with us, arriving on the 4th of July and exiting this world only 15 days later. Wow, don’t I get super weird late at night? I’ll surely be cringing in the morning when I read this. Oh well, must be the full moon.

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Hope you all have a great weekend. John and I are in super work mode lately, so I have a feeling this weekend we will be at our computers a lot, but I think we are going to take sometime to go see Hancock. Anybody see it and love it? We don’t see movies much and lately I’ve been renting some not so great ones so I want to make my next trip to the theater count.

I’m shushing and heading to bed. Haven’t seen my pillow before 2 AM all week. Need to break that cycle!

an afternoon with baby finn

Just a couple of months ago it was Matt & Holli and that belly….

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Now it is so much more than just them. It’s a little bit of both of them wrapped up in precious Finn. (Finn, by the way is one of my favorite baby names!)

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Here he is bundled up in daddy’s baby blanket. (Poor guy, it was 90 degrees outside and I kept wrapping this little guy up in blankets!)

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One of their cats couldn’t resist snuggling up. What a ham!

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Baby stretches are the best! Look at those precious wrinkly elbows!

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Look at how alert he is and those EYES and those CHEEKS! (We are big fans of squishy cheeks around here.)

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I think back on those days when I could just baby gaze all day. (Because Miles would lay there and let me.) Oh those newborn days are precious, though they are a little foggy in my memory from sleep deprivation….That’s why photos are so important during this time! ;-)

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Congratulations Matt & Holli! We are so happy for you and all the wonderful joys you have in store. We wish you and baby Finn many blessings!

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Just had to get a few more pics of the oh so gorgeous daughter of my best friend Diane up. She’s such a breath of fresh air! Look at her work this photo OUT! She’s rockin the jungle gym in this one.

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I love the first one, but this second one is 100% shelby. Love ya girl!

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I can’t wait to shoot your senior photos Sweetie!

getting caught up in the details

Sometimes the details of life drive me crazy.

Sometimes they stop me in my tracks and remind me to slow down.

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Just wanted to take a two second break and share some sweet newborn fingers. Enjoy!

tuesday night

Tonight Miles wasn’t ready to go to sleep, so I figured it was a good time to let him go burn off some energy out in the backyard and get in some shots of him.

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Yes, Miles is trying to pop this balloon with his face. The guy is FEARLESS! Thankfully the balloon isn’t fully blown up so he wasn’t successful. (Though John and I were cringing the whole time!)

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Miles loves to kick the ball and it’s so much fun to play along with him. I can’t believe I ever thought I wouldn’t know how to play with a baby boy! I have a blast figuring out ways to amuse him.

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He also loves to pick flowers too, so he’s an athlete with a sensitive side. ;-)

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Our neighbor, Becky decided to join us and brought us some treats from her garden.

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Miles immediately wanted to eat what he called, “apple!”

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So that was our evening. Our little guy is just the most precious thing and it’s hard to put him to bed at night. I’m so tempted to keep him up so we can play, but he needs his rest and I need to get work done! ;-) Today was a pretty big work day. I processed 734 photos! Whew! Tomorrow Miles and I are going to head out and face this heat to go play with some friends and run some errands. Hope you are all staying cool.

I’ll be posting some more newborn baby Finn shots soon! Nighty night!

welcome baby Finn!

Thought I would give a tiny little sample of the teeny, tiny, yummy newborn baby toes I had the pleasure of photographing today.

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Oh, and as much as everybody loves baby toes, a sleeping baby is always a crowd pleaser as well. Look at this precious little guy!

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Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We ended up making it to the Chalk Walk at the Three River’s Festival and we had a great time. Miles was SOOO good and so patient with us as we strolled him through the art booths in all that heat. (Though he did get to taste test some pretty sweet treats.) It was so hot that we took him to the fountains at headwater’s park to see if he would want to play in them. There were a TON of kids running and playing in the water that was going pretty hard at times so when he finally got the courage up, we were amazed at how fearless he was in the water. He ran and ran in and out of the water, looping around other kids, tripping over them at times until he miraculously allowed us to change him into some dry clothes to head home. We just LOVE our little guy. Today, as I was shooting that precious newborn baby, I couldn’t help but be taken back to our first days as parents. Oh my goodness, we loved Miles from the instant we met him, but you just fall in love more and more each day. What an amazing gift babies are. I just can’t express it enough!

Blessings to baby Finn and the endless love he will bring into his parents’ lives!!

Our little helper

John was wiping down the counter yesterday when Miles reached for the sponge and started to clean our cupboards. (QUICK! Go grab the camera!)

My mom was there to capture it too, which is always great to have an audience there when he does something super cute.

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Yesssss! Finally he can start pulling his weight around here! Hee hee! Speaking of cleaning, we have PLENTY To do around here. Gotta go!