Angela

I have been wanting to photograph Angela for her senior pictures ever since the day, when she was seven, and we were in Destin, Florida. Our family and her family, who are the closest thing to family I probably have, and I love them all, madly, rented a boat to go out to shell island. I barely knew the Skowroneks at that time, and as soon as we set sail, a virtual hurricane overtook us, the first of many weird, zany, disasterous, and absolutely fantastic vacations between our family and theirs, but that, of course, is another story...anyway, there I was, a new mom, with a nursing baby, all flustered and utterly drenched, silently cursing everyone and their brother for not giving me the good sense to stay home with little Zoe, freaking out at the awkwardness of trying to hold a conversation while trying to stay covered up in gale force winds while nursing under an umbrella that dad John just happened to have, and feeling really just uncomfortable and weird about the whole thing, and then who should crawl under that umbrella, but this teeny little slip of a girl, Angela, saying, in this sweet little voice, "Would you like to have a tea party?" Well, I fell in love with the girl then and there, and swore that I'd do right by her by the time her senior pictures came. We even have super secret names for each other...how often does that happen?! And now, here she is...isn't she glorious? I'd have a tea party with her any day. If you would like to see her video, go to http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Anthem-AZ/Barbara-Stitzer-Photography/45325794506?ref=ts. Enjoy!

Perfect Moments

I have never been a big fan of saying a word when taking pictures. Like "Say 'Pruning Sheers' Sally!" And don't even get me started on "cheese". Yes, the long "eeee" makes your lips stretch across your teeth, Henry Higgins, but in the most uninspired of manners possible. So getting a family to all look my way with an expression of pain and misery isn't my thing. The Cindy, Christopher, Chris and Claudia Family shows you why. The picture of the whole family at the tree is really nice, beautifully composed, beautiful light, beautiful family, but it's not like anyone has anything going on in their heads besides "let's just get this over with". It's a typical "cheese-er". But the shot of the family all sitting together...MAGIC! Look at the mommy looking at that sweet little baby, all in love with his chubby little self. Look at sweet little Claudia with her arm around her daddy, burrowing her little body as close to him as humanly possible. Look at Chris, leaning his head naturally towards his beautiful wife, showing how much he loves her and respects her. It's a magical moment, and (Gasp) one person isn't even looking directly at the camera. Ooh. Aah. Look at Claudia in the picture where she's running, and the "Ooh" face of baby Christopher in the shot on the tree with his mommy. Look at the proud look on the Daddy's face as he holds that baby. The one where they are both smiling at the camera is a great one, but the one after Daddy thought I was done where he's holding Christopher up in the air and they're both laughing...well, it's just very special. These guys had shot after shot like this. It made me feel really lucky to be able to do what I do.