Metzler Family | Batavia family/Newborn Photographers

This family is AMAZING!!

They are so laid back, easy to work with, and fun! Mom contacted me a while back about doing maternity/newborn photos. I expressed to her that I only offer lifestyle newborn photos. She was totally on board and I have to say, I'm in love with all of their images.  Big sister was so sweet to her baby sister. She loved giving her sweet kisses and "attempted" to hold her as best she could.  

Also, can we give mom a big shout out at how amazing she looks?!  She's really pulling off this mom of a newborn way better than I did. 

Lifestyle photography is so beautiful and raw. As a newborn lifestyle photographer in Batavia NY, I love how much more comfortable my families are in their own home; especially the children. Another great thing about lifestyle photography is that should the family move to another home, they have these images to share with their little ones as they get older and can show them where they came home from the hospital, what their nursery looked like as a baby, their bedrooms as they became a toddler and so on.  I love looking back on old photos from when I was a kid and seeing the different homes we lived in as we grew up. It's really cool to see and memories come flooding back from that time in my life.  

Thank you, Metzler family, for sharing this amazing time in your life with me. I am so honored to have been chosen to be your newborn lifestyle photographer in Batavia, N.Y. Check out a few hand selected images from their gallery below. 

CLICK HERE to book your newborn lifestyle photography session today! 

Cora says, thanks for checking out our family photos!

My Family | Batavia Family Photographers

You can NEVER have enough family photos!

I have about 9584445446464675664646413117 x 500,000, photos, but I still don't think that's enough. 

This is a photo that my mom requests every other Christmas. One where most of the family (yep, that's not all of them) gathers to share love, laughter, and of course FOOD! The reason I'm sharing this, is because this is the very last photo I have of my grandmother before she passed away yesterday morning. It was so unexpected and sudden. She is the one sitting on the couch all the way to the right.  I am mad because this was Christmas day 2016.  It is now April, and THIS is the last photo I have of her! That's why that number above is still not enough.

I spent quite a bit of time as a child running back and forth between my aunt/uncle's house and grandma/grandpa's house. I don't remember a ton, but the one thing I do remember is that SHE is why I know of Bob Ross.  I don't recall a time when visiting her, that I didn't hear something about a happy little tree or chh, chh, chh faintly in the background.  I don't recall my grandma yelling (loudly anyways) often. Maybe Bob Ross had something to do with that. His show was so calming. I guess Grandma and Bob Ross can paint together now wherever they are. Happy little trees, clouds, streams, water falls and whatever else their hearts desire. You will be missed, Grandma. Looking at this photo, and you sitting there, so healthy and happy, I just can't believe you won't be there next year. 

Rest in peace Grandma. 

And just when you think you've clicked that shutter one too many times, click it again!

Batavia, NY, Family Photographer Quits!

I'm tired.

This photography business is TOUGH!  It's a grind every. single. day!  

I started photography because I loved it, and because I wanted to have great photos for my kids to look back on one day.  Since starting, photography has been an uphill battle. This industry is loaded with SOOOOOO many amazingly talented people that it's easy to doubt yourself. I am in constant wonder what do I need to do to stand out from the crowd? I am starting to lose my why. Why I started photography in the first place. I seldom grab my camera to document a moment these days, rather, to market it, or to find away to make the image relate-able to my fan base.   It's no longer fun; it's work!  Now, don't get me wrong, I never thought this was going to be easy, and I definitely knew that work is work no matter the field, but if you get to choose what you want to do, you should enjoy it. 

This passion and business will always be here, my family will as well, but they're in a constant state of change. My kids will NEVER be this little again, and it's time to savor it; savor their youth; savor their innocence.   It's time to throw up the white flag, and step down; for my family. 

So if you're reading this, thank you! Thank you for your support. Thank you for your commitment. And most of all, thank you for making it all the way to the end because here you will find out that today's April 1st, and you know what that means......

I LOVE the hell out of this business, and my kids get plenty of mom time, and if any of you know me, you know that I document everything! What I stated above about my kids is absolutely true, and they will never be this little again, so that is my why and I will never lose that.

-Happy April Fools Day!-

Western NY Lifestyle photographer

Today I am headed out to a lifestyle session.  The thing I LOVE about being a Western NY lifestyle photographer is getting to capture a family in the place they spend a lot of their time together.  Where they have had many laughs, many tears, many family meals, and many adventures.  I get to bundle all of that up and showcase them in photographs. Photographs they'll look back on and remember that couch that had the stain on the underside of the cushion from the time they shared sundaes as a family.  The kitchen they prepared holiday meals together in.  The bed they shed tears together in and most important; the rooms they brought their brand new babies home to.

When I look at photographs from when I was a child, I don't just look at the people in them, I look at everything else too! Why you wonder?  The objects in the photo typically flood me with memories and I love that! I feel as though I am re-living that moment all over again.

CLICK HERE to schedule your lifestyle session today!

Bohn life in Batavia NY

Since moving back home, I have not pushed my photography too much given the time we arrived led straight into the winter, moving into a house, and really just the chaos of life.  In the Spring, I hope to be much busier and really push my mark as THE children's photographer here in Batavia NY (or at least that is my goal).  For now, I have spent much of my time capturing the life of my boys. Of course, all of them are Black and White, but I don't think I would have it any other way.  

Lego Birthday Party in Batavia NY

My son asked for a Lego birthday party this year, and like every other party he has had I went all out on decorations.  I know that kids parties can get quite pricey and if I am just going to throw the stuff away I find it to be a waste of money so I try my best to save money by being crafty.  However, there IS a trade-off with deciding to be crafty. While I was able to save the pocket book a little, my time was consumed.  This is one very important thing you must remember when you decide to have a "Pinterest" party (meaning complete DIY).  Here are a few images from the party. This first image (I removed the content for privacy) was the front of my son's invite.  This is where I spend my money because I always put a nice picture of him on the backside and it is then frameable for family and friends to display in their homes.  

We made Lego head cake pops which were a huge hit.  I found the recipe here and then I just shaped them into a Lego head shape rather than a ball.  My son cut baby marshmallows in half for the top.  These cost about $25, BUT I accidentally overcooked my 1st bags of candy melts and I also bought edible pens for the face ($5) that does not work on candy melts. I then bought the black glitter gel for the face (which did not dry and smeared when I packed them) so if I had not made those mistakes this project would be closer to $15.

This cake I made as well, the Legos I created with pre-made fondant that I found at Walmart (cost $9) and here is a great tutorial on how to make the Lego pieces, unfortunately I didn't find this tutorial until I was researching Lego cake ideas after I made all the Legos so your welcome. 

These little guys were on the table for the kids to play with.  Just something a little fun to keep them occupied while they ate.

The backdrop was created with construction paper (cost $5 for a big pack) and I taped the circles on.  I chose to tape them because I wanted it to have some dimension and if I were to glue the dots on they would stick flat (this project took me DAYS!!!).  I kept all of the excess construction paper and created confetti to glue to the letters (which I also made with construction paper).   For the balloons, I opted out on helium.  I bought four packs (1 of each color), this cost me just over $4.  I then grabbed some yarn I had lying around and strung them together and taped them to the ceiling to give the illusion of helium balloons.  

I decided that the decor needed some pom poms over the table and so instead of buying them we made them out of tissue paper.  This project cost me about $5 and some bonding time with my lovely niece which of course is priceless.  

Lego plate faces, yet again another Pinterest find.  I was a little concerned that I might not be able to find square yellow plates, but they are of course in the last place you look, for me it was the dollar store.  So the price here really depends on how many you are going to need.  For me, it was $3 and change for 3 packs of 16.  I then used a dry-erase marker to draw the faces on.  The great thing about the dry-erase is that they are non-toxic so if it were to come off when the food was put on it was not harmful BUT, fortunately, the marker did not smudge. 

We did have a variety of games and activities for the kids to do.  My Sister-in-law made this awesome pin the head on the Lego man game.  So price for me was FREE and I am sure it was for her too because she is an art teacher and it was just made from construction paper and, of course, a lot of LOVE and time.  The other games we played were, guess how many Lego pieces in the jar, Lego scavenger hunt, and we had crayons and Lego color sheets out as well as some salt dough for the kids to play with.  

And Last we have these really cool candles that I found at Michaels for $1.75 on the clarence rack. The flame burns whatever color the candle is.  VERY COOL!!!  So that's that, I hope you find this helpful and informative.  Until next time.