Today, Appleby Photography had the honor of photographing Ida Wyman. Ida is a photographer, herself, having started in the craft when she was a teenager back in the 1940’s. I think she could be described as a photojournalist, as many of her images captured Americana. Ida shared some of her fantastic black & white photographs with me today, including many that dated to the beginning of her career in the 40’s and 50’s. At our session today, we captured Ida with her daughter, Nancy, and her granddaughter, Heather. I’m sure Ida has many wonderful stories that I hope to hear someday!

Finally! Lydia started pulling up and cruising on furniture when she was 6 1/2 months old. We thought for sure that she would be an early walker. This just goes to prove that children do not care about impressing their parents or about bragging rights. Now that she turned a year old yesterday, Lydia took 11 steps. I wish I could share the video clip for proof! Our peanut weighed in at 17 pounds and 7 ounces (4thth percentile) at her one year well-check today, but she is 29.25 inches tall (50th percentile), so she is “long and lean”. We will be doing her birthday portrait session soon, but we wanted to share a couple of images from her February session. Look how big she is getting!

We like to continue our education when the opportunities are available. Becky was able to attend the Wisconsin Professional Photographer’s Association’s annual convention, which was February 22-27th in Madison. It was a great chance to see and hear new ideas, as well as get “refreshed” for the year ahead. Watch for new portrait and wedding offerings, including a new line of albums, coming to Appleby Photography this spring!

The past month has had a lot going on, both professionally and personally. We had a great weekend at the Bridal Show. We met a lot of great people, who were there planning weddings. We even had three couples book their wedding date with us at the show. Since then, we have added some more 2007 wedding dates to our calendar and have couples starting to meet with us about 2008 wedding dates. We are almost filled for 2007 Saturday weddings, with only a few random weekends open yet. Over the past month, we have also met a few new babies, which is always fun! On a personal note, we have been saddened by the passing of Becky’s grandfather. It is always hard to say good bye to a loved one. We really appreciate all those that have expressed concern. Thank you!

The annual bridal show, put on by the Wedding Planner & Guide, is this weekend, January 13 and 14th, at the Alliant Energy Center. We have been displaying at the bridal show since 2002 and love to meet with brides and grooms about their Big Day! Our booth is #1606, near the fashion show. Please stop by our booth to say hello and introduce yourself.
The new 2007 Wedding Planner and Guide book is now available. Our ad is on page 230.

The January issue of Brava Magazine (formally ANEW magazine), a local Madison magazine, will be hitting the newsstands in a few days. See our ad on page 69. We were very pleased to see our client, Erica Meier, featured in an article on page 94. We were also pleasantly surprised to see the great shot of her livingroom wall with all the fun photographs we took of baby Lauren on page 96!

Note: This post contains sensitive subject matter.

Many months ago, when I was pregnant with my second child, I heard about a non-profit organization that offered assistance to families suffering an early infant lose. The services are available for infant lose as early as 20 weeks gestation. Photographers who volunteer their services provide the families with beautiful heirloom portraits of their children to help with the healing process. After many months of consideration, Chris and I signed up with Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (nilmdts.org).
Yesterday, for the first time, our studio was called upon to produce portraits for a family at the hospital. The hardest part for me, as a mother, was knowing the grief that the parents’ must be going through. As I looked at the parents, I was surprised at how ordinary they appeared to me, like any other couple sitting in a hospital room, so loving and strong. And their little angel looked so perfect laying in their arms.
I pray that God will continue to watch over them and that these photographs give them a tangible memory to cherish.

Madalyn got glasses last week! She was so excited to see all the details that she had been missing. We got her two pairs and she loves to switch them around. I told her I think she looks so mature in her glasses- that she looks like she is at least eight years old. She loves that!