Andrea Bacle Photography

A few things:

Still shooting gorgeous sunset pics on the beach.

See images 1-5.

Shot in Galveston-ish–somewhere close to Jamaica Beach.

Does it seem as though I’ve replaced my regular witty banter (with myself) with nerd-like APA-style formatting?

That’s because my dissertation is killing me.

Hello from 2022! I’m coming to this post to add an update because this is still my #1 viewed post of my blog career. People find their way here from Pinterest, so I guess it’s because people are searching for pink rainbow party ideas. If you’re a lover of pink rainbows, I want to advertise my teeny weeny Esty shop for math resources. I went back to my roots and am teaching math again with a handful of travel photography gigs here and there. If you love someone who could use the multiplication table as a resource, check out my shop. Thank you for your support! xo

Now back to the reason you came (originally posted November 26, 2013): 

Sometimes I am lucky enough to be asked to photograph a family’s most exciting events, like the first birthday party. I know your first question is going to be, “Who did this decorating, and how do I hire her?” The fabulous parents of this baby girl stayed up most of the night to finish decorating their house in a beautiful theme of pink rainbow colors and growing up, up, up balloons. I’ll check on their availability for party planning and decorations for you. :) 

My goodness, this birthday girl was the sweetest polka-dotted birthday girl I’ve ever seen. She was talking sooo much–just babbling away the whole party and showing every guest all of the balloons. I love how she is in a sea of rainbow goodness…right down to her first slice of cake. As a former (very amateur) cake decorator myself, I liked the back of this cake as much as the front. People ask me all the time about how to get beautiful wedding or party/event pictures. Here’s the first and most important secret: have a beautiful party. Then hire a great photographer. :)I’m so honored that you asked me to be there for such a special day. I would continue to gush about how happy I am for you and your lovely family of three, but then that would sound overly romantic and nerdy, but I am overly romantic and nerdy, and truth be told, the word I would really use to describe myself would be “quixotic,” but now I’ve said too much and proved my nerdiness. Sorry.

Anyway, I hope you’ve gotten some sleep since the party and can’t wait to show you the rest of your beautiful pictures!

Love, Andrea

Hey, hey. What’s your blog about? Are you a photographer? A videographer?

Are you a shaker, a baker, a candlestick maker?

It doesn’t matter what your creative outlet is, if you’re a blogger, you have certainly run out of ideas for blog posts at some point. Here’s my number one trick for when I don’t know what to write about but I still have to write all the words so it’s recognized as a credible post.

Think about a theme or blog post topic, and include at least three pictures that you want to use in a post. And goodness gracious, if you borrow the picture from another source on the internet, cite the photographer or website where you got it. Then, for every image you post, tell a little story about each one.

When you’re crafting your story, remember your audience.

Are you selling a product? Who would buy it? Would it make a great gift? Mention that. Who is your reader and who would she buy the gift for? Give her some ideas. Here’s an example blog post about a product I have in my small Etsy shop, which I have to help pay for my GED coaching work.

Are you writing a photography blog post? Is this a sneak peek of an entire gallery of images? Your audience is going to be the momma of the family in the pictures. Also, your audience is the future momma who wants the same pictures of her babies, so remember to articulate how these pictures could work with her unique situation, location, or family members.

Here’s an example using a mini-session I did one of these years ago but never posted.

Ask yourself these four questions:

1. What is the point of the post? For this one, I would use it to advertise upcoming mini-sessions.
2. Who is the audience? The mommas I want to book those sessions with.
3. What is the story? This sweet baby girl and the benefit of using mini-sessions to get “the shot.”
4. What is the title of the post? “A mini-session might be the best choice for your family’s annual holiday card photo.”

By the way, we are great friends with this sweet family, but some of these details may not be true. This was two years ago, and I just don’t remember. This was back when I was pulling all-nighters in my doctoral work while teaching math and coaching businesswomen and running my small photography business. My brain has double bolted that filing cabinet shut. You know how they say that you’re able to recall memories if you get back into the same mental state you were in when it happened? I would have to multiply my stress level by 10, be awake at 3am with a fresh pot of coffee, while physically feeling my individual hairs turning gray. As much fun as that sounds, I’ll just make up a little tale for you.

You know how no one besides Momma wants to take family pictures? Why is that, by the way? Don’t we do everything for our people, and all we ask for in return is for you all to happily pose for a few pictures? Well, the mini-session might be the answer for all of us.

(This is where you link back to any previous posts you’ve written to explain what mini-session are, or you should link to the advertisement you’ve created with the upcoming mini-session details.)

This little gal made her holiday card debut this year. Since we did a mini-session that only took about 5 minutes–really!–we were able to get a few quick shots of Daddy and Big Brothers holding her.

And then we let her run!

The beauty of the mini-session is that we want to get the one shot of the family and then a few updated ones of the kiddos. Everyone posed, and then I followed the little lady around.

This is one of my favorite Momma-and-Me poses. The babies always giggle, and the mommas are always so happy to play.

I hope this helps you think about what to include in your blog posts. The danger I was always found was that I seemed to say “Isn’t she so cute?!” in every post, so I had to mix it up a little. It’s okay if you use similar words every time, but then you’re competing with yourself for SEO. You’ll want to use a variety of words when you can. I’m one to talk, though. For a while, I was really worried my kids’ first sentences would be, “You are so cute!”

xo, Andrea

P.S. If you are interested in one-on-one tailored coaching for your business, give me a shout for more ideas like this. I’m full of ’em. :)

Post, post script, I fully realize that all of my posts may seem scattered. However, all of the funnels I have for affiliate links (once I get approved through Etsy, I will change these links to affiliate links) and businesses and coaching programs all lead to my passion in life, which is working with GED-seeking women. I want to do all of this other work so I can offer my services for free to them. Thank you for reading and clicking or any other good vibes you send my way. xo

Yes, I start all of my sentences with “first of all,” because who isn’t a fan of a well-written list? I figure each spoken paragraph should get the same treatment. The problem is that my husband tells me I never get around to the “second of all” bit. My guess is that is probably because I’m already on to the next one by then.

So, FIRST OF ALL, I’m still sorting out my plans. When I say “my plans,” I really mean “my life.”

Obvi.

Wait. I think this would be articulated best via a numbered list.

1. I have finished studenting. Yay! Here’s my proof:

2. I am part-time GED teaching and part-time coaching (academics and business) all the time. I am also actively searching for a full-time job in adult education. Ideally, I would love to consult community colleges with their GED programs and students.

Ahem. Dear Universe, I really want to work for the GED Testing Service. If I may throw in the title I want? Community Colleges Consultant. Pretty please with sugar on top.

Can I somehow @ the spectacularly good-looking, kind, and extremely intelligent people at GED and send them magical notifications to read my blog? I’ll get my almost teenager on the case. I’m confident she can use SnapChat to solve this riddle.

Ok, but on the real, real, real. If you or someone you know wants to earn the GED, I promise it’s not too late. Go register at GED.com to get started, or call me, and I’ll help get that thing once and for all. You’ve got this. For real. Turn this off and head to GED.com. Did you get that? GED.com

3. So, if you can’t tell, I don’t have time to take pictures anymore. Even if I could squeeze you in, my shutter count on my practically now-vintage camera is–NOT KIDDING–100,000 clicks beyond its estimated lifespan. So, I’m rightfully terrified that it’s going to die mid-shoot. I always bring a backup camera, of course, but I charge a lot of money. I don’t think my fancy clients would be thrilled at my camera springs exploding or disintegrating in my face mid-shoot. I have no interest in dropping several more thousands of dollars into a shiny new camera, especially when cell phone cameras are getting better by the nanosecond.

Also, my Photoshop version is old. Like, old, old. Like, Instagram and my second child weren’t even created yet old. I’m very cranky about spending a monthly fee for Creative Cloud–their online version that you have to subscribe to, which is not cool. I bought and paid for this one with my first-ever photography gig profits. I’m very attached to it. It still works right now, but the laptop I am writing this on just had its second visit to the computer hospital, and the outlook is dismal. Once it goes to PC heaven, my Photoshop will ascend with it.

4. But, I sure love this little blog of mine. I get why people post reels and stories and updates on social media. This was my version of talking to my “followers” back in those days when I also wanted to brag to the world about the lovely clients I had and the gorgeous shots I had created.

I have already closed my Facebook business page and have turned down many kind clients, so I was thinking that I should turn this off as well.

However, I have a lot of content over 12-ish years that just feels wrong to flush and delete. And, although I haven’t done a spectacular job at keeping it updated or even showcasing my favorite work, I’m still getting a lot of web traffic. While it’s nice for a few pennies in clicks, it’s not so good for people who really need to find a photographer. I imagine it’s quite frustrating to find my website and not have any up-to-date information.

5. It finally dawned on me. (Time for the next layer of list: the sub-list.)

a. It’s time to monetize my blogs in a smarter way. Oh, yes, it’s coming to all of them.

b. I’ll do it by continuing to post informative photography-related rants posts to educate people on how to pose big families or how to attract clients for a special photo session, etc.

Sidenote: Remember how way back in the day you had to write 300+ words for Google to recognize it as a solid post? Well, hold onto your hats, buddies, because they are now recommending 1000-2000+ words per post. You thought I was rambling before? Let me give you an Amazon affiliate link here so you can go and buy said hat.

I’m not kidding. That was my segue to beg you all to start using my affiliate links to buy lovely things to support my bigger mission of helping women earn their GEDs. So, for real, bro. Go buy some stuff and help at least two moms out. I’m one of those gals, if that wasn’t clear.

Ah, great news. I just received the email approval for affiliate links through Esty, as well. I’ll always try to find items on there to support a fellow small business owner when possible. Okay, standby on that. It’s not as intuitive as the Amazon affiliates, so here’s a link to my favorite shop in the meantime: Sun Is Up Shop. She started as a client and has since become a friend who has made me many beautiful items over the years.

The latest is this very cool envelope clutch.

Sheesh. Are we at one thousand words yet? See what I did there? Writing out 1000 adds two more words. I’m at that point of sixth-grade life when you write that “the book was very, very, very, very, interesting” to hit the word count–as if any of you would believe that this little nerd would ever have done that. We met friends for kayaking the other day, and my mom friend asked me, “Oh, did you know about the waiver? Did you fill yours out online ahead of time?” I said, “Of course,” which really meant, “Woman. You have known me for 12 years. Have you ever known me to NOT follow the rules and do the homework for class?”

Y’all. Clearly, I’m struggling with this thousand-word foolishness. Okay, I am going to wrap this up. I have no doubt I’ve lost the four readers I had, so it’s really become more of a journal entry at this point. Back to my 6th-grade-ish ways, I guess.

Dear Diary, I worry that my friends will think I’m a sellout for using affiliate links in all of my old blog posts. Will they still respect me tomorrow? PS, I have a crush on a blue-eyed boy. He has gray whiskers in his beard, which make him look really distinguished.

xo, Dr. Andie

FYI, this is my new and improved name. Since Baylor University upgraded me from Former Captain, I’ve changed it. Now no one will mispronounce my first name as On-DRAY-uh and no one even has to attempt Bacle anymore.

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Hey, y’all! I wanted to give an update for anyone looking for pictures and do a little educational post (#nerdforeva) about sunset pics at the same time. I am still in business while I finish up this degree, but I am only taking a few photo gigs this summer.

Although, it has been so long since I’ve posted that wordpress has changed the format for blog posts. I appreciate that they think my brain has enough cells left available to learn a new system. Cute.

Another important announcement: I am only taking beach pics for the foreseeable future. If you’re already planning to call me for Christmas card pictures, I have bad news for you. Unless, of course, you invite me to a beautiful tropical location for those family card images. I hear the overwater bungalows in Maldives are quite lovely in December. Wait. Is it THE Maldives? I’m not sure, but I know there’s one way to find out….

So, when you call me about beach pics–these were all taken in Galveston, btw–I’m probably going to ask you what time of day you’d like to do them. I’m always going to suggest to do them when the crankiest person in the family will be happiest. Sometimes that is 7am for toddlers. I get it. One of my kids woke up at 6am on the dot for YEARS. The other kid slept like a proper baby. I’ll let you sort out which one is my favorite. ;)

Anyway, if you would like some sunset pics, there is a big difference between the hour before and the hour after sunset. These first pics were taken as the sun was nearly all the way down, from 8:20-8:50ishpm.

I included this one because I wanted to show that the sunset colors really were that spectacular and not photoshopped. But, now that I am writing it, I guess I could have also photoshopped her phone screen. But, y’all! They were really real. I promise. It was kind of ridiculous.

This last one was taken around 9pm, well after the sun was down. I personally love the colors and think it’s a cool option to change up from the usual beach pictures you probably have. Also, as good as the cell phone cameras are these days, they still aren’t great when there is little light, so that’s when the professional cameras pay off.

If you prefer a lighter look, definitely go for the earlier side of sunset. These next few were taken about 30-45 minutes before sunset, so we could still get some good color in the sky. If you back it up to an hour or more before sunset, the sky will still be pretty bright, like these, which are still beautiful. If you like the more pastel-y beach pics, try for a little closer to sunset time. Also, when you finally decide on that perfect time and sky color, remember that it will go down FAST. Be ready, and don’t be late for your appointment, or you may end up with a gallery of post-sunset colors. This has happened plenty of times with clients with me, but–hair toss–you know I pulled out some magic.

It’s hard to go wrong on a beautiful beach with happy people, but I hope this helps you narrow down a time you’d like.

Call me for a beach shoot or wish me luck on finishing this lovely dissertation…if only that photoshop magic would translate to word documents.

xo, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Hey, hey! I am in the middle of going to school, teaching school, and helping my kids with online school, but I see that I have had lots of web traffic lately, so I thought I’d write a new post. Maybe more people are at home and have already watched YouTube twice, or they are wondering when they can take pictures again.

(If you need updated pictures now, I have a mask and a long lens!)

I have also been wondering if and when we will have events again–what will they look like? I wanted to share the lovely pictures I did for a fancy-pants event at The Woodlands T&Co way back when we didn’t wear masks and could gather together. I was able to bring along my second shooter + model + photog assistant. Now, once I get my son skilled on the drone, we’ll be a one-stop-shop family business for all your photography needs.

We fancy.

The event was celebrating their T&Co line of Color Block Coffee & Tea sets. They also had a ribbon-tying class and contest.

If you are ready to start planning, I am taking bookings for events and weddings for the fall. Thank you, photo friends, for checking in! xo

Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Are you building your business and your brand? Make sure you know how to keep your finances separated between business and home life. I offer coaching services if you need help with that. Also, here’s a link for the credit card I use for all of my business purchases to keep everything straight and make life easier come tax time: Capital One.

So, have you heard the good news? I’m one year down with two to go in my doctoral program at Baylor! The best part of a Zoom meeting degree? It lets me keep up my crazy travel pace. Now, if I could just avoid the studying, reading, writing, and all-nighters, it would be really fantastic.

So, it’s January of a new year and that means I am planning out all of my travel trips for the year. Most of my shoots will be on location this year, so I thought I’d post about this one that’s been sitting in my “drafts” tab since last year.

My oh-so-gorgeous friend needed new headshots and branding images, so I packed my camera bag for Los Angeles (and Santa Monica and Marina del Rey and Venice Beach) and shot my new favorite postcards.

My most favorite travel spot on the planet is Venice, Italy, so I made sure we went to Venice Beach in Cali, so I could see our American version of the canals (if you don’t count The Venetian in Vegas, which is also pretty fantastic). It didn’t disappoint. It’s just as darling as I hoped it would be.

Not that I would ever fib (because I am old and don’t care about looking cool), but I change my hair color far too often to ever pretend this just happened. I would tell you how long ago it was, if I could remember. I’m pretty sure it was sometime in 2019. That’s the best I can give you.

This is my favorite pic I took of this lovely lady, and then scroll down to see what was on the cover of my in-flight magazine on the next trip I took. See? I told you I was cool.

We made sure we had some fun in between the hard jobs of modeling and photographing. Found the best star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!

Selfie museum. Who knew this was a thing? We’re so Hollywood. 

Because you know I am the Queen of Obvious:

Yes, I do have the best job ever.

Need a gal to drive you around a cool city and take your fabulous pics? Call me. I’ll be your uberazzi any day! 508.768.5808

xo, Andrea

Finally, this post may contain affiliate links. Any purchase you make from these links will go towards helping GED-seeking students achieve their goals. Thank you.

Dang. One of the hardest parts of being a kid? When you have to move or your friends move away. We had to get this little crew of besties together before they had to say goodbye for a while.

Pro tip: When you want to schedule a photo sesh with a group of kids, the trick is to give them something to do. They don’t want to sit and smile at the camera for long, so make sure you have a plan. Bubbles, a new toy to throw around, a playground…all of these work. The trick is to not let them play with whatever your plan is before the shoot. If you’re going to have something fun to try out or play with, like a kite or frisbee or new football, don’t let them see it until the camera is ready to shoot, so you can capture the surprise and genuine smiles.

For this group, we played in the fall leaves. In Texas, we don’t have too many “play in the fall leaves” opportunities. My lovely Momma client had a few trees in her front yard that had just the right leaves, and then we timed the play date for right before sunset. They had a blast!

These two have a history of climbing trees together, so we had to get a good shot of them together.

Can you tell Little Bro wasn’t interested in getting in the shot? That was as close as he was willing to get. 

I hope these kiddos are together again some day. If not, they’ll always have these memories and pics. On another note, when you do take pics of your littles with their besties, don’t forget to print a few copies to put in their rooms and some to send to their new pen pals.

Happy fall!

xo, Andrea

Remember that time I went to L.A.? No? That means you must not follow me on Instagram. How did we document our lives before The Gram? Seriously, I even told Grandma the other day to follow my stories if she wants to see what we’re up to. The problem I have is the “instant” part. When you take pictures on a “big camera,” the results are not instantaneous, hence lots of posts that start with “remember that time” and #thatonetime….

Anyway, I jumped at the opportunity to head to Hermosa Beach, Cali, to photograph this lovely gal and take branding pics for her small business. It’s the coolest!

Fit Armadillo: “online personal training & private fitness sessions over 2-way video chat.”

The cutest, right?

She has hosted fun runs and fitness events:

If you follow her on Instagram, @fitarmadillo, you’ll see her little business mascot travelling all over the world for training and marathons.

Here’s her virtual gym where she will train you from your gym (your house!):

If you want a positive, happy, adorably giggly trainer, this girl is your match. I don’t think she stopped smiling the whole time!

If all of that wasn’t impressive enough, this business savvy gal has even published her own book! Here’s an Amazon link: Superwomen Secrets Revealed

I hope you get the feel of what Catherine offers through these pictures. It’s like having a personal trainer from the comfort of your home.

Fit Armadillo, I’m so glad to support your business, and I’m so proud of you for being such a #bossbabe and taking over the training world!

Love, Andrea

Do you have a small business that needs some updated branding pictures? Call me. We can plan out your Instagram and Facebook posts, website pics, and headshots…or whatever you’d like to do to show off your beautiful business! xoxo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Hello, little one! I had to include this precious little cross eyed look, because it makes me smile. He was still so little that his age could still be counted in hours, yet he was acting like he knew exactly what was up. He was awake and looking around and–not kidding–starting to hold his head up already. In a past life, I think he must have been a wise old man. He came out seeming to know everything.

So, you’re a natural model who loves to look straight into my camera? Please tell your friends this is how you do it.

There is something so special about introducing siblings to each other for the first time. What’s cool is how they’ll grow up together and get to know each other and then will always be able to see the first few moments of meeting.

This is my most favorite picture. Momma couldn’t look more beautiful mere hours after doing the most impressive work of all. Middle is still a baby herself, sweetly clinging to her momma’s body, still soft from carrying and growing a baby. Big brother is already fulfilling his role of watching over and taking care of his little bro, while Momma happily holds all three of her little ones at once.

Can you tell I love what I do? The beauty of motherhood and bringing new life into the world will never cease to amaze me. I think I must have been a midwife in a past life.

Oh, precious family, I really am so honored to capture these moments for you. Getting to watch your babies grow is the best part of my job!

Love, Andrea

Hey, families! If you’re wanting a similar hospital session (these are often referred to as “Fresh 48” sessions in the photography world), give me a call so we can pencil in your due date. I always leave certain days open in my calendar just for my sweet newborns and their unpredictability. xoxo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

This darling family and I go all the way back to when our boys were 3. Their biggest and our son went to pre-k together. Mine went for one semester, because he wanted to be with his sister; when she was done, he was done. I’m hoping her future husband and kids are going to be ok with the tiny house he’ll–probably permanently–set up in their backyard. I’ve been telling him he has to move out at 18 since he was a baby (I knew he would need that much time to mentally prepare), but she hasn’t told him he can’t be figuratively attached to her hip, so I fully expect that to happen.

So the best thing to come out of pre-k? Meeting this family. Since we’ve met and I started shooting them, they have moved away and had another baby, yet we are (thankfully!) able to keep seeing each other (I don’t think I ever blogged our Austin session; here’s one from a holiday session with “snow”). This year, the gorgeous momma of (now three!) boys asked if I would come to Florida to get the family pictures on the beach she has always dreamed of. She didn’t have to ask twice.

This is technically part #1 of 2, because we did two full sessions. It was really windy and pretty chilly on the beach, so we set aside time to document the newest and littlest bro’s 3-month-ness.

Sweet family, I feel so honored to get the chance to watch your babies (and your family) grow over the years. Can’t wait for the next one! xoxo

Love, Andrea

Dear Mommas taking your families on vacay, consider calling me to shoot your vacation for you. I find that when on vacation, everyone is less stressed and the sessions are always more fun. For summer/fall 2019, I have San Antonio, Austin, Boston, and New York on the books. If I’m coming to your city, give me a shout!

I’m sure I’ve talked about it several times before, but the 6-month-sitting-up milestone really is my favorite. Before that, I always felt like they were little defenseless bugs on their backs just reaching up to the sky. Once my kids could sit up on their own, they started to feel like kids and not just little helpless babies. 

Do you recognize this sweet pose? You might spy big brother’s six-month session here. 

Is your baby on the cusp of sitting up? Call me so we can schedule at least a little mini-session to capture that moment. She will be celebrating that milestone for about, oh, 12 minutes, and then she’ll be on to the next one: total mobility. Then comes independence. Then she’s packing her bags to move out. It’s about that fast. 

Ugh. This is my favorite. I wish I had this same pic of my two babies at six months old. Such baby perfection! 

I need to make a little note for my photographers reading. How is your business going? Are you struggling with feeling overwhelmed and balancing the business parts? Are you fully booked but charging very little? Is your calendar empty and your pricing changes by the day? Girl, call me. I can help. I coach women with photography businesses. I challenged one of my recent coaching clients to earn DOUBLE what she expected to make in a quarter, and–through our phone calls, strategic marketing plan, in-person-sales lessons, and her hard work–she TRIPLED it!

Do you find yourself wanting to scream: UGH! I just want to take pictures!!

I’d love to see how I can help you stop being stressed and fall in love with your business all over again. Call me, and we’ll set up a time to have a consultation to see if we are a good fit. If you don’t call me, call someone for help. Life is too short to be stressed, lady.

xoxo, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Oh, my goodness. Don’t you love the little serendipitous parts of life? This gorgeous momma, Jaime, and I go all the way (way, waaaaay) back to my freshman year of college at Louisiana Tech when she was my first RA. Well, now maybe I’m thinking she was my second and Darla was my first?? What is 2019-1996? Oh, yeah. 23 years ago. It’s a little fuzzy. Anyway, I loved her then when she gave me good advice about this rando, third roomie my bestie and I had. This coo-coo crazy chick would get up early, get dressed and ready, and then sit on her bed with her hands folded and watch me get ready. Every—-single—-day. Anyway, Jaime told me to just start pulling pranks on her: shaving cream and sharpie on her face at night, put food coloring in her shampoo…totally kidding. Jaime is basically the nicest person in the history of people and would never, ever suggest any such nonsense. That’s what I told my girls to do when I was an RA, of course.

And I love her now that she and her precious family live the next neighborhood over. It’s just like old times when we were hall directors in the Adams and Aswell dorms next to each other. :)

In honor of our Louisiana backgrounds, I thought it would be perfect to find a spot with some beautiful Spanish moss (this is Burroughs Park for anyone looking for this location). 

We printed these on beautiful deep matte paper–so perfect for images with fall colors. They are gorgeous.

Thank you, thank you for the honor of shooting your family. What a treat!

Jaime, I don’t know how you’ve managed to look exactly the same 23 years later while I’ve aged two lifetimes, but you are just as beautiful on the inside and out as ever.

xoxo,

Andrea

I just checked the archives, and it’s been two years since I’ve done a blog post about headshots. What’s funny is that last post talked all about going back to school, and guess who’s in a full-time program? Isn’t it interesting how you can put things out into the universe and then they happen?? And, yes, I did just manifest a work trip to Palm Springs next month. Try it.

What’s also interesting is how many headshots I’ve been doing lately. I’ve had at least one a month for the past six months or so. When people schedule them, I like to send examples of what I like to shoot, so that’s another reason to update with a new blog post. I always love an interesting background–I think it shows more personality and seems more modern–but I will be happy to set up a solid background for you.

Of course, it really depends on your audience. I also encourage bringing a few options for wardrobe. For women, start with wearing something that 1. makes you feel beautiful 2. shows a little of your personality. If you’re super fun and colorful, choose a top that’s fun and colorful. For men, wear something that 1. makes you feel confident 2. you feel like yourself in–if you are absolutely uncomfortable in and hate wearing a suit (but need pics in one), wear a more comfortable pair of pants, so you don’t feel so unlike yourself. It will just be head and shoulders, so go ahead and wear those basketball shorts on the bottom. It will loosen you up and make you feel more relaxed. Really. Because, honestly, who really LIKES to take headshots? I haven’t found that person yet.

I also come to Galveston once a month if you’re down there:

I am busy with school and travel shoots on weekends, but I have lots of flexibility in the middle of the work days to procrastinate from writing papers to take headshots.

xoxo,

Andrea      508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

PS, Go Baylor Bears! :)

I love it when clients ask me, “What do you think about doing something different for our session this year…?” I usually say yes before they finish asking. I LOVE new and fun ideas for family pics. When clients don’t have ideas, I usually start with these questions:

1. What do y’all like to do as a family?
2. What are your hobbies?
3. How do you most enjoy spending time together?
4. What are the kids into right now (that they may not in the future)?

Frollicking around a field is fun, but sometimes it’s most fun to capture the memories of what you guys like to do together. One of these days they’ll be up and out, so if you love Monopoly Mondays like we do, for example, that would be a perfect photo shoot!

So, can you tell what this family is into? We are a baseball family, too, so I love this idea.

I know how fun it is to get everyone dressed up, but how excited would all your peeps be if you told them, “Hey! Let’s wear jeans and jerseys for pics this year!”?

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know how much I love Houston and Texas, in general. Are there any cool locations I’m missing? Does your family have a favorite hangout spot? I’m pretty much always available for travel sessions if you want me to do a shoot in your favorite vacation location. My families who have had me travel to take pics for them have all loved it and especially loved not having to find a new photographer in a new location. You know me, your kids know me, everyone loves me…:) Seriously, think about it.

Sweet baseball family, I hope your Christmas cards were the winners this year!

xoxo,

Andrea     508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

It’s post-Halloween/fall/November, so you know what that means: my friends are LOSING THEIR MINDS. They love all holiday things. Me? Well, you know I’m three-quarters Grinch. So, my favorite Thanksgiving tradition? Family pics, of course!

Here’s my thought on the sitch. All these people who go bananas over the holidays have invited all of their holiday-loving friends and family into town, so I think it’s the perfect time to work. Are all your out-of-town kids in town? Call me.

Even on Thanksgiving Day. Really.

Super bonus if we do a sunset session on the beach.

This is my favorite of the whole session. Beach, cousins, pier, sun, and lots and lots of love and fun memories.  

Sweet cousins twirling on the beach at sunset? The best!

Galveston, TX, is so pretty–even after sunset. That pink sky will never get old to me. 

The funnest part about shooting a big family on the beach is when we set the littles free. Need them to perk up and smile and laugh? Have them race toward the photographer.

One of my favorite spots to shoot in Galveston is under Murdoch’s, because I love having Pleasure Pier in the background…

…and I love the look of the pier pylons. 

This last one has a cool purple sky because the sun was already down. If you like this look, we can start the session right at sunset, and we’ll have a colorful sky by the time we leave. 

And for those of you worried about me missing out on turkey and pie or my own family time? Not to worry. 1. I’m a vegetarian. 2. I treat every day like a Saturday. Really, we treat every weekend like a mini-vacation, so celebrating the holidays would just be gluttonous.

Want a shoot? Call me.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

So, I had a lovely lady call me about doing Christmas-card pictures for her family and she said she wanted to hire me, because

“I love your humor in your blog posts, and I thought, ‘I think this girl is kind of funny.'”

Um, excuse me?! Did we just become BEST FRIENDS?!

Yup. You really get me. I’m thinking let’s just go ahead and include me in the Christmas card shot. I’ll bring a tripod.

What’s so funny is that as of November 2018, my daughter wants to be a stand-up comedienne when she grows up. Talk about trying to win over my heart (or desperately trying to win your parent’s affection). My darling, I love you already. You don’t have to get your own Netflix special to try and make me happy.

But if you get to grow up and one day host Saturday Night Live, I FULLY EXPECT to be a guest in your monologue. I don’t know, we’ll make a joke about how I’m the oldest living lady who still quotes old Will Ferrell movies, or something. Not to worry. We’ll figure it out.

Getting back on track–my point is that my 4-8ish fairly consistently loyal blog readers must get super bummed when I don’t post in a while, and I apologize.

The problem is that I’m totally out of jokes; my brain is empty. This is a sign that I have too much on my plate. I teach pre-algebra part time at our local community college, and I try to bring them back from flatlining on fractions with some silly jokes. The ones they really loved the other day were

What do you call a bunch of friends who do math together? Algebros.

What do you call a bunch of little kids who do math together? Pre-algebros.

It brought the house down.

Just kidding. Obviously. They’ve really created a little class community and have come together to give me a collective groan/eye roll combination. I’ve sort of forgotten what real laughter sounds like.

So, here’s the point and the big, big news:

I’ve been sitting on a little secret for a month. I’ve been accepted to Baylor’s Ed.D. program!! I’m over-the-moon excited.

I went to campus today to pick up my books, get my student ID, and of course……get the sweatshirt. It’s not officially official until you go to the campus bookstore and get the sweatshirt. 

So, since I have

1. momma (including maid, chef, and chauffeur services)
2. wifey (yes, he still tolerates me)
3. teacher (LSC and teaching photography/Photoshop classes)
4. photographer (still traveling and shooting regularly)
5. coach (Shoot with Passion®)
6. volunteer (Harvard interviewer and Houston fair organizer)
7. student (Baylor Bears!!)

on my plate, I have to give up something. I’m thinking that I am going to have to really scale back on taking pics in the new year. That being said, if you want pics, I am going to be a crazy person taking as many jobs as I can between now and January 1. I say it all the time, but if you want a shoot, don’t wait! Call now! Come January, I’m gonna say no, unless you have a really, really, really good story + lots of coffee to give me.

And, I know you’re wondering. Of course I went by the silos.

Love you, guys! xo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Sigh.

People. I’m down to one tooth.

I can hear it falling already. I can already see it. In my mind’s eye, I can visualize it falling, and I can hear the slow-motion sound of that last little tooth falling out of his head and *dink* onto the kitchen floor. That last big center tooth is the final little piece of baby-ness he has.

And it’s loose.

Sigh.

He was not happy about it, but I made him pose for me for a two-minute shoot to document this moment in time. Ok, I may have had to pull out a crude-ish, 2nd-grade-style joke or two to get a smile, but we made it happen. 

What’s your little dude’s final thing that’s baby-ish? Goodness gracious, people, get a good picture of it!

And, I know this one doesn’t even show the grin gap, but, c’mon, how could I not share this face with the world? I am guessing there is a finite time that I’m allowed to refer to him as the “most beautiful creature,” so today I will.

MOST BEAUTIFUL CREATURE:

Maybe I can talk him into wearing footie pajamas for me.

Lovely friends, starting in January 2019, I will be taking fewer and fewer sessions per month. I know everyone is about to begin the holiday frenzy, but it’s not too early to start looking at next year’s calendar if you are wanting some pics.

Of course, if there is a tooth emergency, just appeal to the heartbroken Momma in me, and I’ll be there.

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

P.S. One of the reasons I’m taking fewer photo clients is because I’m taking more coaching clients. If you are a photographer or know a photographer who needs some helping getting profitable and de-stressed, call me. I’d love to help! xoxo

https://andreabaclephotography.com/shoot-with-passion-tm/

Do you still have a little dude at home during the day? The big kids are too big for this, but do you have a little dude that wears jammies all day, still plays with Matchbox cars, and has toys in a tent in the living room? Gosh, how I miss those days. Now, I know you take lots of pictures, but have you taken any pictures? When the gorgeous momma of this little dude–

BTW, I get to meet and know the most fabulous women that are so remarkable you just can’t even believe they don’t run the universe. I’m pretty sure the momma of this dude made a cameo in B’s “Run the World.”

–when she called me to book a session and shoot this guy’s birthday party, she told me that her most favorite pic she has of him is one that was candid and unplanned. He was in between being changed and rolling around, and I was making silly noises and making him laugh and captured the sweetest little smile. That’s the one she has printed and looks at every day.

A lot of times, moms will call to schedule pics and they instantly start planning the PERFECT location with the PERFECT coordinating outfits, so they can all pose and take the PERFECT family pics.

My point is that those are great for the “Christmas card shot,” but the ones the mommas usually love the most? The candid moments that show love and laughs and happy babies. Because that’s all we really want, right?

Also, when I reminisce about times when my babies were at home all day, I remember the UNO games and cooking together and riding bikes. The posed family pics are nice, but the memories of fun times are what I cherish.

If your babies aren’t babies anymore, surely you remember favorite pairs of jammies they wore. If you do still have a jammie-wearing little one, make sure you get a great picture. In a blink, they will be so little they will look like baby clothes.

Family, thank you for letting me capture these precious days for you.

Love, Andrea

If you want your own “jammies session” of your littlest kiddo, give me a shout.

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com 

xoxo

When you call me to book a session–

Hold up. Totally kidding. I know people don’t call. I teach pre-algebra at Lone Star College and my students know that they can call me anytime to ask any math questions. You know how hard it is to answer math questions back and forth on text?? Apparently, it’s only slightly less hard than dialing a number and calling and having a conversation. ;)

If you want to walk on the wild side and make that call, my number is 508.768.5808. I’m also happy to teach you the little jingle I made to teach it to my kids. Although, when they finally get phones (when they are teenagers and have jobs to pay for them), I’m sure they won’t call either.

Sooo, when you text or email or message me about scheduling a session, I’ll schedule a time to call back, because, girlfriend, we need to talk.

Of course, I would love to plan a consultation meeting with you in person. I am happy to come to your house, take measurements, talk about a color scheme, help you pick out outfits (this is all included in the price of your session free, b-t-dubs). However, if you’re not down with that, we–at a minimum–have to have a little convo about what you want. I need to know how to shoot. What’s your goal for these pics? Do you want a posed session? Do you want all candid shots of the kids playing? Do you want a big canvas to hang over your mantle? What size is the space? What’s the orientation? Do I shoot in portrait or landscape? So many questions!

Remember, if your littles or husband or dog are fighting you on taking pictures in the first place, if we’ve had the conversation about what you want, you can tell all those peeps that this will be a super-fast shoot. I pride myself on getting everyone out of there as soon as possible while still getting the shots you want–I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND how un-fun it can be to pose for pictures. (I seriously don’t understand how modeling is a job someone would want to have.)

Back to my point: for example, the main goal of this session was to get the extended family together to take pictures with the lovely matriarch of this group. In our consultation, we made a plan to have a green location with beautiful light, a chair for her to sit in, and everyone dressed and ready to pose, so we could keep her as comfortable as possible. And despite having 17 people + one dog, we were done with the session in less than 30 minutes! When we plan for a posed session, I’ll suggest a location that gives us a variety of looks without having to travel or walk around too much (Town Green Park in The Woodlands is great for this!).Speaking of posing, a model is born….

Dear family, thank you for a fun and easy session. I hope you’ll cherish these pictures forever.

Love, Andrea

People, we are in the middle of the final quarter of the year, which means it’s my crazy time. I am more than happy to find a spot to take pictures of your own darling family.

Oh, and pick up the phone and call your mother. xoxo

Have you ever thrown a party? It was super easy and stress-free right?

Um, no. Not ever.

You made or bought food and cake, sent out invitations, answered all of the questions in texts and emails with answers that were CLEARLY written on the invitations, put up decorations, furiously cleaned up by shoving things in drawers around the house…you get the idea.

Please, please tell me you were a good planner and put at the top of your to-do list:

1. HIRE A PHOTOGRAPHER. If you don’t have the budget, I’ll give you two suggestions:

a. Give Uncle Joe the assignment (he’s probably reminded you already that he has a new, fancy camera) and have him work the party as your photog. It’s very important to have a plan for HOW you will get access to those pics, though.

b. Save money from something else. Skip the party favors or serve a vegetarian meal or have the party at 2pm and just serve cake. One way or another, rearrange the budget to pay someone to take pics.

Because, you know how people say that if you didn’t get a picture, it didn’t happen? I have to admit that I find that to be true for me, because if I didn’t get pics of it, there is no way I’ll ever remember it happened. You want that kiddo to remember his over-the-top super fantastic 10-year-old spiderman-themed (ok, I have no idea what 10yo dudes are into, clearly) party when he’s a teenager and claiming that you’ve never done anything for him?! Guess what? You’ll have all the evidence on photo paper. That reminds me, #printyourpics.

These pics are from the most recent event I shot: a sweet brunch honoring the newest member of one of my favorite families. When I shoot an event, I always make sure I get there a few minutes before the guests arrive, so I can get shots of all the sweet touches.

Lots of “pass the baby” pics:

Whether it’s a bride and groom or graduating senior or senior citizen, I always make sure I take a few pics of the guest of honor. Obviously, we’re in love. 

And just when you thought they’d made the cutest boy ever, they went and did it again.

I also love special events like this, because it’s hard to get family together, and it’s so nice to see everyone celebrating together. There’s something so sweet about cousins getting to hang out:

Thank you, lovely family, for allowing me to capture these special events for you. I feel so honored to do it!

Love, Andrea

People, when you’re ready to host your own special occasion, call me. xoxo

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

I recently found my old high school scrapbook (NOT my lame calendar–to be clear), and it had a question that asked, “Where will you live in 20 years?” I wrote “Dallas, Texas!” and my husband first interviewed in Dallas when we moved from Boston, but I thought that it was sweet that my heart has always belonged in Texas.

I’m SO glad we ended up in Houston, because I LOVE IT. I really find it super-duper annoying when people (especially the ones who live here) complain about it. What’s not to love??

The weather,

Yes, I do love the weather. Don’t even try and tell me that it is as hot as hell here, because there is no heat that is as bad as having to dig your car out of ice and snow.

THAT is hell.

the people, the food, the culture, the HEBs, the sports, all the parks. Seriously, David Bacle, get on board. Not to worry, people, he doesn’t read this.

Anyway, when one of my very favorite families called for their annual pics, we came up with the idea to shoot in our favorite town: HOUSTON! They typically spend their year traveling the world, and they ended up spending their summer traveling around Texas, so we thought Houston would be a perfect spot for pics this year.I usually don’t prefer to shoot in full sun, but I thought it would be nice to change it up. We’ve often done lovely sunset/”golden hour” pics together, so I thought that super bright sun would match the fun colors of the artwork. So when you decide to go for a midday shoot, you’re going to have to get creative when you need some portrait-style/closeups. You’ll want to find what we call “open shade,” so you don’t have the harsh, contrasted shadows on your lovely clients’ faces. If there are “blown out” (super bright white) spots in the background, your brain will be okay with it as long as the faces look good. However, when the landscape is part of the shot, go for the full sun! It will look great.I had the littlest here pose for me in true full sun, because I like the background colors, but it’s also a good way to get away with changing it up from the usual look-and-smile pose. I like to use sunglasses or hats or good ol’ make-a-silly-face-for-me pose. The shadows on his face end up adding some interest, instead of being distracting. If he had a normal smile looking at the camera, the shadows would seem too harsh. 

Thanks for a fun shoot in Houston, family. It was great fun, as usual!

xoxo, Andrea

Call me for your own H-town shoot, full sun or not. 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

I’m not sure what there is to say about this darling family that I haven’t already said in the many posts I’ve written about them and shoots we’ve done together. But, I will say that this little dude has thrown down a serious challenge to my children for “cutest baby in Texas.” He reminds me so much of my oldest. So, since I can’t go on and on and on about how much I adore this kid, let’s talk about a double (or more) session.

In a typical full session, you’ll see 25 images in your gallery view (that session fee is $150+tax OR $125+tax for a returning client). A mini-session with me is 5 planned poses/shots–remember, those are for returning clients only. Those are $75 for the session fee. The exception to that rule is for headshots. Or, if you are able to really convince me that you’re looking for that ONE GREAT SHOT only, a new client could probably sweet talk me into scheduling a mini.

So, what’s a double session? Well, what if you want more than 25 images to choose your lovely products from? Schedule a double session. It’s your session fee + $50 for every additional set of 25 images you’d like in your gallery. For example, in this family session, here’s what pictures this lovely momma wanted, so we planned for multiple sets of 25:

1. family shots in this very special location
2. heirloom chair
3. cake smash
4. bubble bath
5. some close up shots of his face

It’s technically possible that we could have gotten that done in a full session, but it would leave only a few options per set up. So, we opted to do 75 images, so she could have lots and lots of options. I think it worked out. :)

Love, Andrea

If you’re looking for a travel photographer who will drive to Middle of Nowhere, Texas, or fly to Where Are We, Kansas, to take pics of your darling one in a bucket, call me. 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

You know I’ve already named myself Self-Declared Galveston Ambassador, right? I’m still deciding on if I should go with a sash or a crown….

Well, as part of my responsibilities, I get calls, emails, and texts–no kidding–from my non-Galveston friends (or their friends that they send my way) at least once a week asking me about what there is to do in Galveston: where to stay, where to eat, where to shop. You get the idea.

As I was responding to a friend of a friend who was wondering about taking her twin 3-year-olds to Pleasure Pier, I told this to the world travel expert MommyPoints (the most prolific blog post writer and winner of blogging) and she said, “Well, do you have a blog post you can send them to?” Ummm, no. I have it written down on my blog post to-do list for the past 5 years. Does that count?

So, I’m going to start to post things one at a time or as I can get to it, so I’ll have a place to point people.

First things first. You know it is critically important to me that I support small businesses,

so the first place I want to mention is the Kitchen Chick. You can’t miss it on the corner of Market Street downtown. (2402 Market St; closed on Tuesdays)

It’s the most darling little boutique kitchen shop you’ve ever seen

with the cutest displays.She’s recently moved from her adorable but tiny space we first started going to when we finally ventured away from the beach and started exploring Galveston downtown to this big, beautiful space on Market Street.

It’s a great place for cool kitchen gifts:

How cute are these TX ice cubes? I use them for my afternoon iced coffee.

I went in on my last visit to pick up a gift certificate, and I asked about her kids’ cooking classes and camps. It turned out that we magically had this week available and I had a client waiting on me to come back for a shoot, so I booked it for my daughter. Although my little dude likes cooking, he’s not interested in moving beyond scrambled eggs at this point.

Here are a few fun shots from camp.

She even has a cute table for “making” sandwiches and cookies for your littles……and a spot for Little Brother to sit when he’s waiting on pickup after class (and Momma to finish taking pictures). 

The best part is after class is over, your tiny chef comes out with recipes and a little taste testing. I’ll take that, thank you….

The Chick is already kind of Galveston famous (really, everyone I’ve told why we’re here this week knows you!), but if you’re from out of town and haven’t heard of this lovely shop, stop in and say hi–and support a small business, of course.

Or you might spy it from the Galveston Duck Tour (post to come on my review of that adventure):

Thanks, Galveston and Kitchen Chick, for another wonderful week of family memories!

If you’re a Galveston business owner or know a Galveston shop who would be perfect for a review on here, give me a shout.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

When clients turn into friends and lifelong clients, I recommend one of two ways to take pics: 1. Set an annual date and stick to it. I usually recommend near Mother’s Day or Mom’s Birthday, because we all know that it’s Momma who wants the pictures taken. OR 2. Take me up on my mini-session offers throughout the year.

That’s what this VIP family does. They often take me up on the unique mini-shoots I offer. They pick one or two of their favorites to create gorgeous, big artwork, and they have beautiful galleries of art in their home with a wide variety of images. If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll probably recognize these littles from their mini-session at the beach.

The momma of these girls loves trees, so she just whipped up some dresses to match the scene.

Here’s her Instagram info, if you want to follow all of the fun things she makes; she also has an Etsy shop. R, do you want to advertise it? Feel free to link it in the comments.

https://www.instagram.com/rachelsewknitplay/

Remember 5 years ago when they were royal blue? This year, two patches are painted: lime green and baby blue.

This was like stepping into a real-life Alice in Wonderland moment. The girls were laughing and twirling, the petals were falling, the sun couldn’t have been more beautiful, and we had such a blast. 

Here’s a post-shoot pic of my little one that I recreated from five years ago: http://thebacles.blogspot.com/bluetrees

Sweet family, it was so great to see you again. We just upgraded B’s bike and she asked if she could give her old one to your girls. :)

I hope you love these. Until the next session….

Love, Andrea

For anyone wanting your own session in the trees, the paint won’t last forever, so don’t wait. andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Hey, hey, party people! How’s life these days? I’ve shared it on Facebook, but I never posted here: I was lucky enough to be featured on Voyage Houston recently as…I’m not totally sure. Photographer? Coach for business women? Overall groovy chick? I’m not sure, but it was fun and cute, and I love all things Houston. :) Here’s the link–the first pic with me and my dancing little was taken by the oh-so-lovely Stefanie of www.frazellephotography.com.

So, when one of my favorite former brides called and asked for her own fun pics for her own fun feature, I jumped at the opportunity! I’m so excited to share these pics of my cutie pie friend Kelly of https://www.kellyqscakes.com/. She wanted a colorful, Houston-y background, so I offered up several options, and she picked Discovery Green for her background.

**For you lovely photographers scouting locations, there is a $10 fee for shooting there. It takes less than a minute to submit and pay online. It’s worth it, because it’s such a great park for taking pics–tons of options.

Kelly is a super fabulous chef/cake baker extraordinaire; I’m sharing her info here, but I’m sure she gets booked up fast and just recently switched to weddings only. If you’re wanting a cake, don’t wait to book!

So, if you’re wondering why she is decorated in disco lights, you’ll have to keep scrolling….

…and yes, she made that cake. 

I spy with my little eye–a disco cake stand! I mean–the coolest, right?!

A BOSS BABE with a whisk. Can’t beat it. <– ;)

My lovely, you are as gorgeous and as sweet as ever. I’m going to pretend it hasn’t been 5 years since your wedding, because that would mean we are getting middle-aged–just kidding, that’s just me. Thanks for a fun shoot!

Love, Andrea

Friends, I hope you are having the most fabulous summer ever. Call me with all of the fun photo ideas. xoxo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

When one of your fave clients requests a nursing session and leaves the location up to you? You go to the beach, of course.

The lovely momma of this little dude and I go all the way back to her engagement session. Just a wedding, pregnancy, baby, five years, and here we are–on the beach, holding one of the cutest and sweetest boys ever. I know I’m partial, but GOODNIGHT, I am a fan of this kid.  

I’m not posting any images on here, but the point of this shoot was to get some nursing shots. Despite one truck with a crew of beach maintenance dudes who gave us a wave and several thumbs up, we had practically the entire beach to ourselves for some sweet mommy-and-me bonding pics. I, of course, have no problem with some amazing mom-boobs–I could go on and on about how flippin’ amazing and miraculous and downright cool it is that moms can feed their babies FROM THEIR OWN BODIES. But, I’ll refrain. I mean, I am friends with her husband and her parents and they may not be cool with his wife’s/their daughter’s boobs on the internet, and then it’ll turn into a whole big boob thing…. 

Ok, on the real, I don’t think anyone would care at all, but you know the drill with the 300-word-minimum for these posts, right? I mean, I can only talk about how cute this kid is for so many words.

Ugh. The way he’s holding his momma and gripping her shirt and looking at the camera and the wind in her dress and hair…I dig all of it. 

Remember that weekend when everyone was going nuts about the blue water in Galveston? This was the week prior to that, and the water was rather clear and extra pretty. I think we timed it just right. 

Beautiful lady, I’m so glad to know you and your family and your amazing little dude. Thanks for tolerating the crazy wind for my love of beach pics. :)

Love, Andrea

Hey, people. I’m shooting in Galveston again in July. Give me a shout. 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Hello, holidays! I’m usually a little grinch-y this time of year, but remember last year when I suggested we upgrade #pictureswithSanta to #pictureswithTiffany? I think I totally made it a thing, which helps make me a little more into it. I mean, I can always get on board with fancy.

Headquarters T&Co, I am happy to be paid in jewelry. OBVI.

I had several families sign up for my event (I’ll probably combine the rest of them into one post, so I can get the images ready for everyone faster) at The Woodlands Tiffany and Co. store, and we had a blast! I think the last time you saw these two dudes was two years and one little sister ago. https://andreabaclephotography.com/brenham

Look who has joined the crew! I know how we all always talk about life moving so quickly, but it never ceases to amaze me when I haven’t seen a client since she’s brought a whole new human being onto the planet.

This one’s a keeper. 

She was all over that Tiffany merch: bears, ornaments, little-blue-box-with-white-bows cookies….
She gets it. 

Sweet family, thanks for such a fun shoot! Your prints are just gorgeous. I hope you’ll use them as part of your holiday decorations every year–that’s when I display mine.

I don’t have a date set for this year yet, but as soon as I get it from the store, I’ll pass it on. In the meantime, if you want to make sure you get on the VIP list, email me and let me know. Last year, we filled up pretty quickly.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

You can always follow me on Instagram for any exciting updates or news. Some of the stuff on there is boring ol’ life stuff, but I’m ALWAYS going to announce fun and fancy events like #pictureswithTiffany on there. I’m also always looking for another reason to create a new hashtag, too. This year? #fancypantsChristmas? #deckthehallsatT&Co?

What’s the recipe for your happiness? Do you know it? Are you living it every day or at least as often as possible? If not, giiiiirrrrrl, life is too short. Get on it.

The recipe for my happiness:

1. Get me on the beach
2. Make it sunset
3. Show me a woman in love

There is nothing more beautiful than a woman happy in love.

I get asked all the time about why I book so many travel gigs (because it is tricky with two small kids). I’ll tell you. There was one holiday season when I had at least 10 sessions in a row where somebody cried. The baby, the toddler, the mom, the dog…. I walked away from a particularly stressful session (I really, really try to make them as low-stress as possible) super bummed. I’m an educator and lover of all things–how am I in a job that’s causing stress instead of joy? How am I in a job that might make kids cry? The next day, I was on the beach. I was walking, and I thought: this is where I want to be. This is my happy place. How can I combine these two things?

And that’s how a “fancy travel photographer” was born.

Really. Who can be stressed under a pier having a little moment with your gorgeous woman??

And sheesh. If there’s anything that can lower my blood pressure, it’s all of this beauty. Warm, windy, salty air and a sunset=happy place. 

The next best part is the story. As we’re walking and talking, I love to find out a couple’s story. Also, the more you can tell me before the session, the better. These cuties wanted more of a candid/less posey-posed session, so I brought a longer lens to make it feel less intrusive.

This particular shot was an inside joke and recreation of a photo they already have. You know I love that!

Want to know how to style a beach shoot? This, right here:

My lovely peeps, I had a blast with you and your sweet pup. Thank you for trusting me to catch these moments that will last forever. 

Fellow beach lovers, I have four spots available in Galveston through the end of the year. Let’s chat. xoxo

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

So, remember that one time I got to take headshots on that private jet with the coolest chick ever on the coolest day ever?

Just kidding. I know you do.

I’ve been cramming it down your throats for the past three months. I figure if I talk about it enough, www.JetSmarter.com will just go ahead and give me an honorary membership. I’m fairly certain they would only do that for “influencers,” but I mean–c’mon–I have direct influence over TWO WHOLE PEOPLE who will be able to buy their own tickets in as little as 16-ish years. So, there’s that to think about, JetSmarter.

Anyway, you know how much I love to support a working gal, so I wanted to make sure I give one last push for you to go and vote for Summer of Mommy Points.

USA TODAY included Mommy Points in their “10 Best” Reader’s Choice awards for the Best Miles and Points Blog category! So cool, right?! Today is the last day to vote. Don’t wait!

VOTE HERE

Last week I posted a video in my FB group asking about who you spend time with. This is what I’m talking about. You know how you have some women in your life, and they are so awesome that they make you motivated to go out and do good things?

At the same time, you also think, “Good night. How does she do it?? How is she awesome at everything?” And I’m guessing Summer would probably say something to the effect of, “I’m not awesome at everything by any means. I’m just working and raising a family like everyone else.”

Yes. We all are. Even the supermoms are really just doing their best.

(And if you are reading this and often compare yourself to those supermoms in a negative way? Ease up, lady. We are all out there trying our best. And guess what? No one is doing it all right all the time. At the end of the day, we are trying to be happy and healthy. You are a supermom, too.)

So, when I see Summer doing it so well–handling being a fun and cool mom with this groovy job she’s created for herself, I really have thought: Ok, but really–how does she do it??

Well, when we spent a workday together (I mean, can I really get away with calling this a “work” day?), I found out.

This lady doesn’t quit.

It’s no wonder she can write dozens of blog posts a month, because she’s always writing. She’s always posting online and keeping her followers up to date, and they love her! Really, every blog post usually has dozens of comments from people also wanting to share tips and help each other out. What a great service to give to the world.  

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Rise and Grind.” Well, I prefer “Rise and Hustle.” This morning at the bus stop, my daughter said, “So what are you going to do with your life today?” I said, “Ooh, good question,” and then proceeded to list about 30 hours’ worth of work. It is a non-stop hustle out there for a mom with a small business.

And like I tell my husband when he gets frustrated at how hard it is when I’m giving him camera lessons (because I’m really trying to teach him how to be my second shooter):

Just because I make it look easy doesn’t mean it is.

And Summer makes it look easy, but don’t think for one second that she’s not working hard all the time. So, do me a favor and vote for my friend and fellow hustler: VOTE HERE

Happy November, y’all! I am already making lots of travel plans for 2018, so if you need a little hustler as your carry-on, give me a shout.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

So every day after school, I ask my kids the same question: What did you do that was kind or generous for someone today?

They are in the habit so much that sometimes they tell me before I even get a chance to ask. They are excited to tell me.  And every once in awhile, they can’t remember anything, so that gives us the opportunity to still do something kind that afternoon.

Perhaps my biggest challenge as a mom is trying to find the right balance of creating a super rad and blissfully happy childhood experience without letting them become total self-centered brats. And they aren’t. They are good kids. But, I don’t let them act unappreciative. I seriously once told my then 4-year-old after she was uncontrollably crying about her “terrible life,” that I’d strip her room down to the mattress and then we’d talk about what terrible is.

(Umm, what do you mean you’re also concerned about their “super rad and blissfully happy childhood”?? They’re fine.)

We talk A LOT about being grateful and thankful that we have such a wonderful family and a warm house to live in and lots of healthy food to eat and clean clothes to wear and very fun trips to go on. (There are THOUSANDS of people in Houston and Puerto Rico and all over the world who can’t say that, and my heart aches for them.)

So the point of all this is to say two important things, because it does feel a bit unseemly to write about something as ostentatious as riding in a private jet while so many people are hurting.

1. I was working. This is my job. I’ve created this “fancy travel photographer” brand, and I love it. I LOVE IT. A family hired me this summer to fly to The Bahamas with them to document their vacation. All of my husband’s friends and co-workers said, “You let her go?” He laughed, because FIRST, we are best friends and encourage each other to gladly take on frickin’ bomb opportunities like that. SECOND, he also knows that my head would probably spin around 360 degrees with shooting lighting bolts if he said anything to the effect of, “Yeah, so I’m not going to let you go.”
2. I was with my lovely friend Summer of Mommy Points who has created an equally awesome job of helping families learn how to see the world for free (also a critical part of raising kids, I think; they have to be able to see a glimpse of what life is like outside their bubble). And, it’s not so frivolous, because I personally know two families who evacuated from Houston before Harvey hit, and they were only able to get last-minute tickets because they had miles/points to use. I know one of those families learned all about miles/points because of Summer.

And really, I have a third point. Summer is THE MOST kind and generous person I know. She is a role model for how to build a brand and then use it to go out and do good things for the world. I won’t gush any more than this, because–as most good-doers are, she is humble and would downplay everything I’m saying–I don’t want to embarrass her. If you’re interested in all the good work she does in addition to teaching you how to travel smartly, follow her Instagram stories.

Now back to that jet….

In case you’ve been wondering, daily affirmations totally work. :)A text from one of my friends the other day. After I gave her business advice (I can’t help myself), I told her I was at the beach.

In the last blog post, I left off with us walking to the jet. Well, we made it! I’m telling you, it took all of 4 seconds for us to get out the camera and start posing. It was so fun!

Me: Ooh! Sit on the couch! Put your glasses on!Me: Ooh! Check out this cool bathroom! Stand in front of the mirror!

I would say the bad part is that it was such a short ride, but I took enough pictures that I could easily convince someone we went cross country.

#jetselfie

It’s a thing.

The next best part? Summer’s aunt picked us up from the airport and got to drive right up to the dadgum plane!

So then we were whisked away by our driver right to the Austin airport to catch a ride home. Yes, it was on Southwest, which isn’t quite as fancy. But, since my wagon was hitched to the most famous travel expert in Texas, look at my boarding group and number. I’ve never been that before!

To end the most perfect morning (because there were two other big adventures yet to be had that day, but that’s a tale for another post), Summer had free drink tickets for sparkling wine on our flight. Perfection.

To see the picture of us cheers-ing to a fun adventure, I’m going to make you check out her version of this post. I’d send you to her site and let you scroll, but she’s written 185+ blog posts since then.

You only think I’m kidding.

Love, Andrea, your favorite “fancy travel photographer”

Need your own fancy shoot? You bring the jet, I’ll bring the camera.

Ok, where was I? I can’t ever finish a sentence, so it makes total sense that I can’t finish a full series of blog posts. I’m not sure why you’re surprised, really.

Stephen King addresses his many, many loyal fans as “Constant Reader” when he talks to them directly about a story. What’s funny is that I could probably use the same term since I really have ONE constant reader (I’ll give you a hint: she gave birth to me), but I will go ahead and link to what I’m talking about, here:

AKA “Just when I thought I had done the coolest job ever, this little lady ups my game” 

By the way, I’m SUPER cool with having such a small following. I often joke about Facebook constantly sending me the message of “Congratulations! You have almost 500 followers to Andrea Bacle Photography!” I laugh because, no kidding, I’ve had almost 500 followers for YEARS now. But, guess what?? I have all the business I can handle.

I mean, I’m swamped.

But that’s my business model. Most of my clients that bring in 90% of my revenue aren’t even on Facebook, at least as far as I know. So then how do I get so many clients and so much work? Well, if you want the answer to that secret sauce, you have to sign up with business coaching with me or at least join my Facebook group of brilliant ladies. <– You see what I did there? Winky face.

So, why blog?

1. My mom doesn’t get the paper any more, so she needs something to read.
2. I do need somewhere to send people when they want to see samples of what I do since they aren’t on Facebook.
3. I love this digital version of a scrapbook. When those two Bacle babies left my body, I swear they lassoed the memory cells in my brain with their umbilical cords and took them with them on the way out. If I don’t write it down, it never happened in my memory. Sometimes people get upset when I can’t remember their information, former shoots, kids’ names, dogs’ names. Hey, people. Please direct your anger to where it should go: at my children.

Whew. Back to the point. When Mommy Points sent me a text one day that she needed new headshots, I said, “You know what would be awesome? If we did them on one of those fancy pants private jets.” I was immediately envisioning Fergie’s “Glamorous” video, and clearly I am Ludacris in this scenario. Dreams can come true.

So when I turned on my phone one July morning and found this….

I packed my bags and became a squatter at the airport. I wasn’t going miss that flight. 

Yes, that’s our jet!! We were both really trying not to wig out and act cool in front of the fancy people who do this all the time. 

How cute is she Facetiming with her kiddos? In case you’ve forgotten: in real life, we are moms. But every once in awhile, we like to play dress-up, too. 

Glamorous, for sure. 

Oh, you know. Just two stay-at-home-work-from-home-moms-who-work-their-butts-off-in-between-taking-care-of-other-people’s-butts hot ladies walking to their private jet!

Yes. I discovered a whole new world of hashtags that day. 

Part three coming…before 2017 is over. That’s all I can promise.

Love, Andrea

PS, I would totally be willing to come up with some more fancy hashtags for your own fancy photoshoot. Call me. 508.768.5808

People. Get ready to scroll…and scroll and scroll. I did my very best to narrow this down to a manageable number of pics to show, but I couldn’t delete any more. They are too cute and beautiful and special.

These two girls were practically inseparable this summer. They went everywhere together. So, instead of taking the kids to our annual it’s-the-last-week-before-school-starts-so-let’s-squeeze-in-one-more-trip-to-Florida trip, we went to good ol’ Galveston. Because we love it. Because we love the food. Because we love the views. And–most importantly, duh–I love the photo opportunities. 

I thought it would be sweet to have a photo shoot dedicated to them and their sweet friendship this year. Who was your bestie when you were 8? Do you have any pictures with her? 

Of course, they didn’t mind getting wet and sandy for me. 

Then B says, “Can we do that thing where we flip our hair up?” How does she even know that’s a thing??

They had just gone to get pedicures the week before as a birthday treat, so I had to make sure I got that. Matching colors, of course.

This one is my daughter’s favorite. How will I ever decide which ones to print?? I’m thinking I might have to make an album just for this beautiful session. It would be a good way to wrap up our frickin’ fantastic summer of fun and sun. 

What about a “bestie beach sesh” for your kiddos? Half of the beauty of living in Texas is that we can go to the beach year-round, and it’s almost always warm enough to get in the water to play.

I have some October dates open for Galveston if you’d like to book. But, what do your kids and their best friends like to do? It would be fun to document what they’re into right now, because–don’t you know–it will be gone before you know it.

Call me. xoxo

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Please pardon the interruption in Summer’s series of posts, but I had the intention of posting about this special collaboration since pre-Hurricane Harvey, and then, well…yeah. Life was put on hold for a while.

I am so super excited about this new service and collaboration I’m offering to my clients: styled sessions. By styled, I mean my oh-so-lovely friend and wardrobe stylist, Ashley, will come to your house and plan your entire family’s wardrobe for your shoot.

Cutie McPretty, right?!

Using the clothes you already have, she’ll style every person in the family and make sure you perfectly coordinate. So many of my clients get stressed and overwhelmed about what to put the family in. I’ll certainly still be happy to chat with you about what to wear, but if you’re looking to take all the stress out of the shoot (and have a super fun experience playing in your own closet), you should definitely consider hiring Ashley to help. **She’s even offering a discount for my clients who book her when they book their sessions. When you book your sesh, let me know you’d like to add on her services.

(Also, if you book a senior girl’s shoot with me, Ashley’s styling service WILL BE INCLUDED in the session fee, because a gal sometimes needs a little help to look her most fabulous.)

Before we decided to do this collaboration, she wanted to show me exactly how it would work, so she came over and we spent the afternoon playing in my closet. Yes, yes, I know I have a dream job.

**Insert plug for myself here: Guess what?! You can have it too! Call me for a free coaching consultation on how to make your own dream job a reality. I primarily advertise my coaching service for photographers, but I help women with all sorts of small businesses. Check out my FB group if you’re looking for good business advice.

So first, we started with my outfit because I always recommend Mom starts with herself and plans the rest of the family’s outfits around hers.

For me, specifically, I explained my vision for the shoot and she ran with it. I told her I wanted to do a shoot in my fancy trench and wanted to do something different than our typical crazy, bright colors and patterns on the beach. The goal is to do dark neutrals with the skyline and city life in the background. I love Houston so much, and although we have no intention of moving right now, who the heck knows where we’ll end up? I don’t have any pics of us that are in an urban setting, so I thought it would be fun to change it up. (I’ll definitely share those pics when we have them done by the lovely Stefanie Frazelle. Exciting!)

My recommendation for you if you do this is to have the biggest bed in the house available to lay all the clothes out for the family, so you can visually see how they’ll coordinate.

The hubs was the easiest part. It helps when your man is super dapper and looks good in anything. So on to the kids.

Before she came, I walked into my daughter’s room to straighten it up.

–Sidenote (of course). By the way, I just rewatched my video in my Facebook group (come join us!) about not working for free, because I had mentioned it to someone at a party and I wanted to make sure it was still what I was thinking it was in my head.

And

1. I clear my throat all the time, because I am always on the tail end of some kind of sinus problems, so sorry about that.
2. I can’t bloody finish a sentence! Again, sorry. Super annoying. Here’s the thing, I’ll be in the middle of a sentence and I realize I need to prep the rest of the sentence with another point first and then another point before that. Crazytown. You should see inside my brain. It’s a mess up there.

–So sidenote to the sidenote: Once my kids were old enough to tidy their rooms at least a little, I turned that chore right over to them. When they were both at home all day every day, I’d keep their rooms clean and then I’d walk into my own once-beautiful bedroom and be bummed out because it was never tidy, because I was feeding and following the two hooligans around all day long. I finally decided they can wreck their own spaces, and I would walk into my own beautiful space and feel so much happier.

So I walked over to their “wing” and started to tidy up, and I thought, “Yeahhhhh, nope. This is what you get. Sorry, but I’m not gonna fake the funk for this sweet lady.” Their clothes are clean and put away, and we will kick the crap out of gently slide the toys out of our way to get to them.

And going into this, I fully expected that I’d have to buy an outfit for myself and at least one piece of clothing for each kid. However, Ashley reassured me that we would be able to work with what we have–and we did!

But I mean, really: this was my son’s closet. I said, “Literally, he has three things hanging up. Everything else is shirts and shorts.”

This poor lady worked on the floor with a smile. Ok, I kind of feel bad about that. But, we don’t have any pets, so at least there wasn’t any dog hair.

And then, when we were all done, she sent me a super cute and fun link with everything, because when she looked into my eyes, she could see the black vastness of killed memory brain cells from all of the working/sleepless nights and knew I’d never be able to remember what we picked.

So fun, right?!

It’s so very important to me that I support fellow women with small businesses. For my current and future clients, I hope you will consider treating yourself to a session with Ashley. She is a sweetheart, and I promise you will appreciate feeling well prepared for our family session. Here are her additional links:

https://www.facebook.com/ashleykahnwardrobestylist/

https://www.instagram.com/ashleykahnstyle/

And everyone else, I will finish Summer’s series…um, soon. :)

Thank you, Ashley!

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

This lovely post has been in draft form since July 26th. You might think, “Oh, yeah. Isn’t that her kid’s birthday?” Fine, yes. But, NO. That was the day this little wannabe-cool-chick got to take a private jet and become a really-real-pinch-me-this-is-my-job travel photographer. I know. I still don’t believe it either.

First, the backstory. Once upon a time, the Bacles went to Paris.

And Germany and Rome and Milan and Nice and Venice.

What are these pics, you ask? These are evidence that back in the day, we used to do some COOL stuff.

And when I say back in the day, we took these on film (and not in the one-gear-bicycle-riding hipster way–the old person way).

We took at 6-year-ish break to raise these babies up, and then we started back up. In the meantime, I met my travelling, kindred spirit sister….

Really. This was on her Insta stories the other day, and this is my daily conundrum:

She is my lovely friend Summer (aka MommyPoints), the rockstar-of-all-travelling; we met when we moved to Texas and joined something my formerly cool self never even knew existed: a mommy group.

I’m not sure exactly when I met this lovely lady, but this 2011 pic is the earliest photographic evidence I can find. (Sidenote: I love how this horse is posing for the camera and that the picture I find of my most fabulous friend is this hilarious one. Sorry, Summer, but you know I’m always gonna go for the laugh.)

So, when she was building her crazy-amazing-rockstar-travel-points brand…

**Pause. If you are at all interested in the travelling and points and miles world, head over to her blog. She has SOOO many great posts and advice on how to travel efficiently/safely/on a budget/using points/you name it. If you’re new to that world, she has a great beginner’s guide post: beginner’s guide. Also, she’s very modest and humble and would probably not want me to brag on her so much, but it’s my blog and I’ll brag if I want to.

…I would say things like, “I know you must not believe this, but I used to travel. I’ve got the travel bug, and one day when these babies are done nursing and out of diapers and probably 18 years old….”

I think I had her finally convinced that I’m serious about travelling as often as I can, so fast forward to this text I got at the beginning of the summer. (Is it bad that I haven’t updated her contact info in 6 years? Whoops.)

By the way, she has inspired me to blog more often, so I’m breaking this into two (or three) posts and will put them up later in the week.

Stay tuned.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Whew! We made it through summer. Did you have the best one yet? That was our goal, for sure. Are you still catching your breath? All unpacked from all of your adventures? Here’s the real question: Have you downloaded all your pics from your camera yet?? Have you been going through your summer pics and realize some of your shots need a little Photoshop magic?

1. If you need something in particular edited, I am available for outsourcing.

OR…

2. Sign up for one of my “Shot by Momma” classes! There are three options:

• A camera workshop for hip mommies (how to take your camera off auto)
• How to take better pics of your kids (using your “good” camera)
• Editing, organizing, and ordering your images (using Photoshop or your favorite editing software) **this option is available online or in person

Of course, the ideal solution is to get the shot SOOC (straight of camera), but sometimes the flash doesn’t fire, and it’s underexposed:

Sometimes you want to add some artistic flare:

Sometimes the baby smiles when you aren’t quite ready:

Sometimes you haven’t framed it just like you’d want:

And sometimes the sun has gone down and you’re out of light:

This last one was taken by my oh-so-handsome second shooter (but he works for me, so he gave me the copyright and permission to edit). ;)

If you’d love to know how to work that big fancy camera you have sitting in the closet or how to edit those special shots, let me know, and I’ll email you the info. Or, follow me on Instagram or Facebook to get the info when I send out the latest class spots.

If you only took pics on your cell phone (which is totally cool, too), I will bug you about saving them and eventually printing them. How much would your kids love a little book to re-cap their super fun summer you made happen? I can help you print those or send you in the right direction if you want to DIY.

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Hey, hey, friends! Raise your hand if you’ve had one crazy-fun summer and are rejuvenated to dive back into work. 

I’m so super excited to get back to my Shoot with Passion™ work with my most fabulous coaching clients. If you’ve been thinking about signing up for private coaching with me, please make sure you contact me before September 1st. I’m still going to do private coaching, but I’m adding group coaching, so my private prices will go up significantly.

So, when you sign up with mentoring with me, you get a complimentary set of new headshots. (If you are doing coaching long distance, I will arrange headshots with a local photographer, or I’ll do my best to turn it into a visit and travel to you! If you’ve followed me for a minute or more, you know I’ll find any excuse to travel.)

This is the oh-so-beautiful Yahaira of Photography by Yahaira. <–Here’s the link to her Facebook page.

We tried to do a variety of shots. Which do you like?

Of course I would love to take the credit and say it’s my fabulous photography that makes her look so gorgeous, but that’s all her. I can’t take responsibility at all. :)

Here’s one she took of me:

Have you been stuck in your business? Have you been wanting to change things up? Refresh? Fall back in love with it? Give me a call. I might be just the gal to give you a swift–but loving–kick in the rear to get you back on track. At a minimum, you should definitely jump over and join my little Facebook community of fabulous ladies, where we talk about all things small business.

Love, Andrea

Contact me at 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com. Better yet, now that the kids are back in school, let’s schedule a little coffee meeting at a cute cafe. :)

First comes love, then comes marriage,

then comes a romantic picnic in the park,

and THEN comes the wee babe in the baby carriage.

And, OH. MY. GOODNESS. He is soooo squishy and snuggable. I love these newborn shoots, because I totally get my baby fix. I do sing and rock and do my shhh-shhh-shhhes, but then sometimes I leave the shoot thinking: Dang! I need a baby that I can just hold and cuddle for a while–all that was hard, sweaty work!

Attention friends, go ahead and get pregnant now, so I can cuddle your babies and then give them back when they cry. Thanks, dudes.

Doesn’t this make you want to reach out and stroke his little hair?

Ah, my kids are all grown up. :) There is nothing in the world like expanding your team of two to a trio to make you feel like you’ve finally become an adult. The first time I felt like a real-life grown up was when I rented a car on a work trip before I was 25 (they gave me a pass because I was active duty). The second time I felt like a real-life grown up was not college/marriage/grad school/active duty/full-time teaching/business owner but when I was almost 31 and we brought our first baby home.
So, now I’m thinking I just became a grown up in my 30s, my middle-aged age is going to be closer to 60, right? That will explain the future convertible for my 60th birthday. 

Ugh. You know the ones with Momma and Baby are my favorites. 

Baby’s first antlers. 

If you take a look at their wedding pics, you might spy with your little eye something green….

Family, I think it goes without saying that I kind of love you guys. I am not exaggerating when I tell you I’m so very honored to experience all these moments with you. And, of course, I’m so proud of you, too. I hope you love these, and I hope you are over-the-moon in love with that dude. Congratulations!!

Love, Andrea

My poor, sweet children. They already have a camera in their faces 24/7 and now I’ve added picture taking into our pool routine. Oh, well. I let them live in my house. And I give them lots of snacks. :)

I wanted to share this before and after from my GoPro. If you’re into underwater photography and need some help with edits, give me a shout. With a little Photoshop magic, you can turn some good shots into I-need-to-print-these-out-and-hang-them-up images.

Don’t you love his little zen-meditation-look-momma-I-can-sit-on-the-bottom-of-the-pool pose? Such a cool kid. What are the pool tricks your kids have? Our current faves (other than sitting on the bottom) are throw-the-rings-and-watch-me-go-get-them, swim across the pool in one breath, and twisty-turny underwater spinning. 

Do you love this cool overlay of sun rays? If so, hop over to www.thecoffeeshopblog.com and download it for free from my lovely friend Rita (she offers Photoshop and Photoshop Elements options). You might even spy two little kiddos you recognize. :)

Guys, I hope you’re in the middle of the most fabulous summer ever. Do you have any travelling planned? Up next, I’m doing shoots in Perdido Key, Atlanta, and Steamboat Springs. People ask me–usually once a day–how I manage to book so many of these paid-for-working vacations. Each situation is different, but I have some general tips and secrets I’ll share in another post. If you’re serious about wanting to become a paid travel photographer, get on my schedule and see if we are a good fit for coaching, and I’ll teach you all of my ways. :) https://secure.scheduleonce.com/andreabacle

Love, Andrea

PS, I’m already almost fully booked for the rest of the summer for photo shoots. Fall is still wide open, so give me a call now if you want to schedule a family sesh for those dreaded oh-so-lovely Christmas cards. xoxo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com OR 508.768.5808

Since I’m in the middle of my work/life balance series in my Facebook group, I have to make this a quick post to get it up and get off to bed. I’m determined not to spend another summer staying up until 2am working every night! :)

Now, YOU. Off to bed! But first, check out these cuties at Miss Camille’s. Surely you know about Miss Camille’s store by now. This family and I have done tons of shoots outside, so they took me up on my Mother’s Day sessions, so we could have a different background. The shabby-chicness off Miss Camille’s store provides a soft, pretty backdrop for these gals in front of a vintage vanity. I love all of the pastels. 
This little cutie attitude cracks me up everytime I look at it. You should check out Camille’s Etsy page for hats available for purchase.

What a fun morning in the shop! These girls loved running around and checking out all of the “girly-girl” items–that’s what Miss Camille calls them. :)

And then sometimes when you’re really lucky, your beautiful momma lets you have ice cream at the end of your session.

This is one of those photoshoots that I want to recreate with my own kids. The lovely momma of these two girls came up with the idea, and I think it turned out super cute!

Thank you, sweet family, for a fun morning. And thank you, my sweet Miss Camille, for opening the shop early for us. Photographers, if you’re interested in booking her shop for a shoot, you can contact me, or drop in on her shop and chat her up. I’ve been telling her that I might be sending more photogs her way soon!

Love, Andrea

P.S. If you want your own #icecreamsession this summer, call soon! My bags are already packed for all of my summer trips (okay, not really–I’m a last-minute-packer kinda gal), but I don’t have much availability. Happy summer!!

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Hello, friends. Did you celebrate Mother’s Day? My kids are very sweet and are always excited to do fun things for me, but it’s a little bit of a strange holiday to me. My thought is…just treat me like a princess every day. Why just one day a year??

Fortunately for me, my husband is on board with that plan.

So, hold onto your hats, people. For this Mother’s Day weekend, my kids spent it with the grandmas while I worked. On Saturday night, I went down to Galveston for a gorgeous sunset shoot. HERE. #lucky

Do you remember these two from their anniversary session? Guess what?? They’ve got a teeny tiny little dude on the way! This glowing momma really wanted to do her shoot on her family’s acreage up north, but when that fell through, I offered up the next prettiest spot I know: the marshes in Galveston. I’ve been wanting to shoot here for a long time, and I’m so excited that it worked out; we were able to wait out the wedding that decorated the tree followed by the proposal with lots of props to get some gorgeous sunset colors. Totally worth it! And oh my, this baby bump. I loooooove it.   

Do you remember their wedding from three years ago? It’s gone by so fast, but I’m guessing I’m going to be posting their little dude’s 5th birthday party pics in a blink of an eye. 

This one is my favorite, and I’m so glad we waited around for some rich sunset-y colors. I was lucky enough to do a shoot with Heidi Hope with my first baby, but I sure wish I had done some like this with baby #2. 

Oh, this makes me miss being pregnant so much. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than to talk with a first-time mom-to-be about all things baby.  

Best. Job. Ever.

And now, for the grand finale. This was the last shot of the session–and one of the best!

Beautiful momma, I hope you love these, because I do! Thank you for letting me be a part of such a special time in your lives. Life is about to get crazy and fun and better than you ever thought it could be.

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Hey, party people! Are you counting down the days to summer yet? This summer is going to be the best yet for us. It’s going to be a rotating door of packing and unpacking and shaking the sand out of our shorts, if I have anything to say about it. My 6 year old little dude (as of right now) says he wants to be a surfer when he grows up. On the real? I think he might be saying that just because he knows I’d come visit him every day if he lived at the beach. He is still my momma’s baby right now. Fine with me.

So, if you have followed me for a heartbeat, you know how much I love the beach and how much I love Galveston, especially.

Of course I’d rather be in Hawaii, but Texas is pretty fantastic, and Galveston is only 90 minutes away, so we go on vacation at least once a month. And daaaaang, you can get some pretty pictures there–obviously, the most important part of a vacation. And yes, sometimes there is seaweed. But, I think it makes the picture look that much cooler.

This lovely family (my house is also a franchise of the Andrea Bacle Photography galleries I have around this state) met me at sunset at Beachtown for a mini-session so we could get that perfect family shot.

Whenever I go somewhere extra fun for kids (playground, beach, etc.), I always love to let the kids run and play after we are officially done. And this is the kind of stuff we usually get. Looooove. 

You know I’ll be up and down the Gulf Coast this summer, so let me know if you want to book a beach session for yourself.

And, my darling family, thanks for a fun and easy shoot, as always. My daughter loves your girls, by the way. She would be happy to adopt S, so she can have a baby sister. :) And thank you for trusting me enough to start later so we could get these gorgeous saturated colors and light.

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

P.S. Dear ABP clients, have we talked about mini-sessions before? If you’re wondering if you should schedule one, here’s a blog post to explain what they are with me: What is a mini-session with Andrea?

1. If you know me, I hope you know I always support small businesses I love. @welcometoroyalty
2. I am a #fashionbloggerwannabe. I love fashion, and I have a very full closet with more outfits than I have places to wear them to (which is part of the reason why I am THAT mom wearing a skirt and wedges to the grocery store). So when the hubs and I were heading to Vegas for a work/play trip, I packed 87 1/2 outfits. First, I obviously couldn’t play craps in a roulette dress or wear my Bellagio pants to the Paris. So you see my dilemma and the need to schedule three wardrobe changes each day. Once I explain myself, it makes total sense, right?
3. Next, I want my main man to be my second shooter at weddings and events when clients need one, so I made sure we scheduled time to head out to Red Rock Canyon for a photo shoot tutorial in full sun–basically the worst light to shoot in.

My secret? Underexpose slightly and embrace the light. Wear your favorite sunglasses and find some cool shadows and make sure your model is having fun! Yes, there were about 30 people watching us, which is kind of hilarious to me that we’d be that interesting when we were surrounded by such a crazy beautiful landscape.

But, I get it. A woman posing for her senior pics when she’s really closer to being a senior citizen probably is entertaining. #smoothforeheadsareboring
How fun is this skirt?? I love it. I originally bought it to wear to the Mommy/Son dance at our school but ultimately switched to this dress. But, this skirt is far too fabulous not to have its own photoshoot, so I flew it halfway across the country for pictures. If you want one for yourself, here’s the link to the Welcome to Royalty Etsy shop.

Ready for your own “senior” shoot, ladies? Call me.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

What did you do over this Spring Break? This travel junkie was living it up…all the way in Conroe, Texas. What do you mean you’ve never heard of this bustling metropolis? It’s the new Spring Break destination!

Ok, I kid. But when one of your best gals (and her new husband you love) asks you to shoot her wedding and haul your cookies all the way to Conroe, you do it without hesitation. And, ok–I’m just being a jerk–I did manage to sneak in trips to Brenham/Independence, Galveston, and Las Vegas over the rest of the week, so I think I’ll stop whining about my uptown problems.

Side note: the venue was gorgeous. I had no idea this little picturesque, perfect wedding venue even existed in Conroe. If you’re wedding shopping, check out The Gardens at Madeley Manor. It’s darling. They have thought about every last detail.

And back to the main point? I HAD to be their wedding photographer. I was at her party where they first met, he got my opinion on 50% of the jewelry he’s gotten her, I watched them give googly eyes at each other when he was the speaker at the Rockwell Trading Conference (yeah, he’s kind of a big deal),

and then in Vegas (where they officially fell in love), I was their little personal paparazzo. I’ve essentially documented their whirlwind courtship during all of our work trips. You like how I make this about myself? :)

Ok, get ready for the gushing. I love this chick so much. We met when our big kids were just 9 months old, and we’ve all grown up together. I can’t ever explain how happy I am for her now that she’s found head-over-heels-love-you-to-the-moon-and-back love. Do you remember all the way back to when I did some shots for her when she was a finalist for The Woodlands Idol? Yeah, she’s definitely kind of a big deal.

Sheesh. There are too many pics in this gallery that I could say are my favorites. But, I have to mention the flowers. Over the course of their courtship, Groom sent Bride flowers every week from the same florist, and so they had that florist make their wedding flowers. I mean, c’mon. How cool would it be to be that florist to watch (and sort of participate in) their courtship and then create the wedding bouquet??

I also have to mention the shoes, because I will never forget going to her house and seeing the stars in her eyes when she told me about the first magical weekend they had together in Arizona, ending with a fabulous pair of Choos. Oh, and the ring is pretty okay, too. 

Ok, so normally, my favorite-favorite wedding pics are kissy ones near the altar. But, I think this might be my winner. After the ceremony, they had a lovely, intimate reception/dinner at Tommy Bahamas at Market Street. I was on the other side of the room, and I noticed they finally had a chance to sneak off and have a little moment together. They took a little selfie to announce to the social media world, and the light was frickin’ amazing, and I caught them toasting–I’m not sure. Their love? They did it? Their happiness? All of the above? I love when I can sneak a moment. This is what happiness looks like, people. 

And then, after the drinks were done and the kids were off to the grandparents’ house, I asked if they would be willing to come have a “first dance” at The Waterway. People were everywhere, the lights were gorgeous, it was chilly, and we were all feeling frisky and happy. They were so obviously in love, I couldn’t even handle it. I can’t express my gratitude enough about how honored I am to share such a special moment with you two. I wish you love and love and more love. Congratulations on being the second cutest couple ever.

Love, Andrea

So, what are your thoughts on Valentine’s Day? When I was a kid, it was definitely my favorite holiday. Through fourth grade, I would make a handmade valentine for each person in my class. And then fifth grade came, and all of a sudden people thought it was weird to write “Will you be mine?” to 25 people. Whatevs. I love everybody.

Fast forward to when Valentine’s Day matters again: dating in high school. My husband and I started dating on Jan 31st our junior year, so we bought our first and last valentine’s gifts to each other 2 weeks after we started dating.

And we got each other the exact same gift: a Madonna CD. I think that was the first time we both knew this thing would last.

Since then, we celebrate our dating anniversary, and we have never celebrated Valentine’s Day. As much as I LOVE love and celebrating love and hearts and pink and red, it’s too commercial for me, which is basically the same issue I have with Christmas. I’d like to make a three-layer cake for Baby Jesus, sing “Happy Birthday,” and end it.

Back to my point. Now that I have kiddos and they are in school and have to bring valentines to their classes? I love Valentine’s Day again! I love to help my kiddos get all of their little envelopes and lists of classmates together.

I also love doing an annual Valentine’s Day shoot with the kids. Remember the ones from last year?

They have been bugging about doing another shoot with feathers after we had so much fun after last year’s New Year’s shoot,

so I figured we’d go a little crazy with feathers, rainbow suckers, a hand-painted LOVE sign, and Winston’s noise machine (our new favorite family joke). Check out a little behind-the-scenes video from Brockstar videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zj9DoqzAsM

Daddy was cracking them up for me. 

Here’s the one Birdie chose for her class valentine. 

Finally, the aftermath of all that fun: 

If you’ve found your way to this post, it’s a little late for 2017 valentines since it is Valentine’s Day, but if it’s 2018, and you’re looking for a session for your kiddos/family, give me a shout.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Hey, friends! Are you on Instagram? I’ve got a business/personal account for myself HERE, if you’re interested. But, I really want to tell you about a service I’m offering now. I am running Instagram accounts for clients–most people just want pictures, but I can run the entire account LIKE THIS ONE for my lovely friend Camille of Camille’s in Old Town Spring, if you’d like. Hit me up if you want to chat about pricing options. 

Sample posts and pics:

Bonus for me in running Miss Camille’s account? I get to pretend to be a model and dress up in vintage clothes. Or just end up buying everything for myself. :)

It could be my bias, but I think this IG feed is so pretty! If you want to check out Miss Camille’s store in person, she’s in Old Town Spring in Spring, Texas. It’s a charming little shopping community. And chances are, the kids and I will be there walking around. 

Do you have a small business and want to get on Instagram? Do you need help with pictures or posts? Give me a shout. 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

And good luck out there, my dear small business owners. I’m out there hustling with ya.

Love, Andrea

Oh, me. Oh, my. Where do I begin with the gushing about THIS shoot??

Here’s the sequence of events:

I received an invite to a VIP event at our local Tiffany and Co. store at Market Street in The Woodlands.

I know. I can hear you through your phones and computers. How did YOU get an invite to a VIP event at Tiffany and Co.?

Watch it.

Remember two-ish years ago when I was lucky enough to get the ultra-princess treatment from my man for our 15-year wedding anniversary? (It helped that one of my most fabulous clients ever worked there, but I like to pretend that we were extra special.)

We somehow managed to not get expunged from the contact list, and I received an invite to a cookies-and-cocoa-for-kids with fancy-shopping-for-mommy-and-daddy event. I quickly contacted my lovely ladies there and asked if they’d be interested in hiring a photographer for the event. Fast forward to a meeting in some sassy Tiffany blue Stuart Weitzman heels (because my nerdiness extends into my fashion) and then to the day of the event.

We decided I’d use my two in-house models for the event, because we’re hoping this could become an annual tradition, and we thought we’d see what the interest was in having pictures done there. Since we threw my part of it in last minute, I didn’t bring any image release forms for the other customers (PS, if you’ve found your way to this post and you want those pics, please contact me), so these are of my two monkeys. Uh, clearly they chose the wrong mother if they wanted a I-don’t-give-my-permission-to-use-my-image-anywhere lifestyle.

Forget #pictureswithSanta. I’m hoping to make #pictureswithTiffany a thing!

Okay. Just stop. Seriously, Tiffany box petit fours and cookies?! If I can track down the vendor and creator of these tiny treasures, I’ll update this post to give you the contact info.  

Next, who knew Tiffany and Co. had so many branded items? Paper cups. Crayons. Greeting cards. One of each, please!

If you couldn’t guess already, my daughter’s room is Tiffany Blue. She’s been in love with T&Co for a while. I had to make a “mom” sign for this pic, because I didn’t want it to appear as though she’s getting Tiffany already.

She’s 7, people.

She has to wait until double digits, at least. Oh, how I love our little community. What a fun and memorable event!!

Lovely Tiffany ladies, thank you for such a fun afternoon. I hope I’ll see you next year! And if not for pictures, my 22-year dating anniversary is in a month. That deserves something new, right??

If you’re interested in getting on the list to have #pictureswithTiffany next Christmas, please let me know. I’m going to compile all of the feedback and provide it to them to see if we might be able to do it again.

Love, Andrea

So, the family of my next preview is super fun and always has great and adventurous Christmas card pics. When they called this year, I thought I’d see if I could talk them into this spot that I’ve been dying to shoot a client at, because they are always up for fun. Everyone agreed and we were scheduled. However, my sweet boy had his dog bite the night before and came home in the middle of the night, and I had to cancel our travel plans to Galveston and San Antonio.

This is the spot I wanted to take them. I only advertise in their preview, because 1. Maybe we can try again next year?? and 2. Maybe I can convince someone else to do a shoot there, too.

Wait. Cancel that. I totally forgot. We have big plans in June. Perhaps we’ll get your Christmas card shot then…:)Shot by my hubby for me:

So, we were able to reschedule but couldn’t think of a cool location that worked with our schedules. Well, wouldn’t you know it? They just happen to have a family ranch in Riverside (outside of Huntsville). Perfect! And talk about having a blast on a photshoot!! In a week’s time, I went from my Tina Turner Vegas dress to avoiding cow pies and riding in one of those fancy Ranger thingamabobbers all over their acres and acres of gorgeous Texas ranch land at sunset. (My husband tells me this is the correct name. I don’t know. They were called 4-wheelers back in my day). So stinkin’ fun, y’all. <–see what I did there? It totally got me in the Texas spirit. I even wore my cowgirl boots the next three days. {nerd alert}

So, next issue. As I was driving up for the shoot, I hit a major traffic jam because all of The Woodlands was bugging out for Thanksgiving family plans, and I called them in a panic. I was so worried I’d get there too late for good light. I got there late, and we definitely started much later than I’d planned, but we ended up with some gorgeous light and locations, thanks to all of their location scouting.

A boy with a stick on a ranch at sunset. Perfection. 

It’s often tricky to shoot after sunset. But, as long as you have a lot of open space (like at the beach, too), you can get some gorgeous colors in the sky that you’d normally never get. What a sweetheart model! Oh, Did I forget to mention our special guests?? What’s funny is that there are so many pics of the kids and family on this cool rock, and you’d never know there were 20-ish cows all around us and mooing the whole time. I’m telling you, this shoot had everything! Plus, I didn’t realize how much of a city slicker (read: wuss) I am. I’m not embarrassed to say I scurried away from a few cows, and I may have freaked a little when they were running after us safari style. And, icing on the cake? Their new sweet puppy with the most perfect name ever came along for the ride. 

Just a boy on his farm. Is this the ideal childhood, or what? 

I’m thinking I’m going to have to reserve your farm for my own family shoot. Fingers crossed for another gorgeous sunset!

Sweet family, you guys are troopers. I can’t thank you enough for your patience and flexibility. I think it worked out just right. :)

Love, Andrea

I never knew how much a sibling could love the older brother or sister, until my second kiddo came along. He WORSHIPS his big sister. Nine times out of ten, when we ask him what he wants/would like to do/what to eat/etc, he’ll say, “Whatever Birdie wants.” Seriously. She could tell him to put on her dress and heels and he’d do it.

We have those pictures, of course.

I have to keep Big Sister in check, because I want to make sure the day doesn’t come along when she gets sick of him and tells him to “go play in traffic.” Not only would he do it without hesitation, but he’d scream at her from the street: “Birdie! Is this how you want me to play in traffic??” to make sure he’s doing it correctly for her approval.

I have these two pictures hanging up in our hallway outside of our master bedroom, and I pass them 87 times a day. I can see them when I’m lying in bed, and I look at them ALL THE TIME. Five years later, this is still an accurate depiction of their love.

He wasn’t even 6 months old yet but already so enamored with her.

So, on to my fabulous clients. These are the reasons why I love my job so much. I mean, how much do you love Big Brother so carefully putting on her shoe (which he was laughing at and couldn’t believe how hard it was to do–adorable) and then how she’s looking up at her big brother in awe?? Love.

This little side-eye smile? The best. 

By the way, Big Brother is my new assistant. Don’t be surprised if you see him on all future shoots. He was the champion at making this baby girl smile. 

This little peanut just turned one, so we got some pics of her in her birthday dress and party hat, too.

Momma, I have a shoot in Galveston this weekend, so I’ll just drop by the house to pick up my new assistant on the way down. :) I’ll have all these ready soon.

Love, Andrea

Oh, me, oh, my. It has been a week, people. I had just come back from shooting a couple of corporate events in Las Vegas last week (remember when I went last year?) and was just sitting down in front of my computer with a cup of coffee ready to knock out some work, when I got the call. My poor, poor sweet son was bitten in the face by my in-laws’ dog when they were in Louisiana visiting and had to rush to the ER. Fortunately, he is going to be just fine. Lots of glue, but no stitches, so the scarring should be minimal. However, he just wanted his Momma, so Daddy and kids came home in the middle of the night, and I had to reschedule shoots and all of our Thanksgiving plans. Fortunately, I have the best clients in the world and they are so understanding and accommodating and have given me extra time to get their pics to them. We ended up having a great Thanksgiving with our family of four and spent a super fun and relaxing week together Christmas decorating and eating and laughing–the first time in 5 years (I usually work while the kids are in LA).

Anyway, I want to give a super big thank you for one of my most favorite families for being patient with me. I’m sure you remember these cuties. Remember their mosquito-infested session from last year? A lot less running in terror this year. The crazy beautiful momma of this boy has been getting better with her camera skills–the swing-shot is always one I recommend starting with. It’s great practice with shooting a moving target, and you generally get great smiles. 

This lovely, most-photogenic, young lady is THE sweetest girl ever. I’ve done my share of gushing over her through the years. 

And, oh my goodness. Sometimes it is hard to get genuine smiles from kiddos. Not this one. Can you imagine a sweeter expression??

Lovely family, thank you so much for a fun afternoon at Burroughs Park. Thank you for being patient with this preview. I’ll have them all ready this week.

Love, Andrea

So, here’s what I’m wondering. How did “xxxx is like herding cats” become a simile for doing something seemingly impossible? Have you ever tried to herd some toddlers?! Seriously. That job is not for the weak.

You would think that after doing this for so many years, I could manage to do a photo shoot with a little more unicorns and rainbows and a little less crying and bribing. Sidenote: I don’t tell you all of this to make you run away screaming, but I do tell you this, because every time the kids don’t want to cooperate…

(which I can totally appreciate–posing for the camera isn’t fun. I really don’t get how modeling is a job that anyone would find enjoyable, if I’m being honest)

…at least one parent always says, “Do any of the other kids on your other shoots act like this??”

Yes. Yes they do.

Don’t feel bad. We’ll get through it together. Feel free to pack wine in the diaper bag. I’ll bring the stemware. Or, if it’s early in the day, bring a couple of extra empty sippy cups….

So as soon as you get a little full of yourself because you were once an Air Force captain–DURING A TIME OF WAR–some twins will enter your life and shut that stuff down.

Enter these twins. First, these boys are adorable. And I love them. And I love getting to see how much they’ve grown since the last shoot with every new shoot. And I super-dee-duperty love their big sister. She has my favorite baby name, so I could be a little partial to that. I told her that I almost named my daughter her name, and she said, “But she doesn’t have this voice!”

But back to the boys: I think there’s some sort of unspoken twin rule (I swear that my kids have this. They aren’t twins, but I get asked A LOT if they are, so I think they must have this twin gene.) When they were little, I would swear that they had some sort of internal walkie talkie for their telepathic night talk that must have gone something like this:

W: Hey, hey, Birdie, you know you’re up for tonight, right?

B: What?! No way, man. I woke her up, like, five times last night. It’s totally your turn.

W: Yes, but I’m the GOOD sleeper of the two of us. I should only have to wake her up every three nights. Plus, I’ve had three stomach bugs this year. It takes a lot of energy to soil the sheets on two beds and two couches and every square inch of carpet in one night.

B: Fine! I’ll take tonight’s shift, too. But, I’m only going to wake her up four times tonight. I’m tired.

Seriously. You can probably tell I haven’t slept in 87 years based on this helter-skelter blog post.

Back to these two. They are fabulous. HOWEVER, I have not yet mastered the skill of getting them both happy and smiling and looking at the camera at the same time. You win, children!

But, come on. This face and laugh? Melt my heart, why don’t you?? I totally get that this is not Christmas-card worthy. However, he’s so cute I just had to share.

Brother#2: This makes me ache for my little guy to be this age again. Ugh. So cute. 

Dad and Momma, thanks for the trek to the bridge. I will save all of those for the ones that are Christmas-card worthy. xoxo

Love, Andrea

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We’re into November, peeps. 2016 is almost over. Yikes. Have you accomplished all of the goals you set for yourself this year? I have a feeling I’m going to be a busy girl the last week of December finalizing all of the plans I had for my little blog/website for this year. One of my big projects I had planned for this year was mentoring. I have certainly done lots of it throughout the year, but I’m ready to broaden my reach and advertise my mentoring plans for all moms of small businesses. I’ll put a tab with all of the info by the end of December (probably midnight on the 31st…also known as New Year’s Eve) up at the top of the page.

Until then, let me comment on this lovely family of five. Oh, this sun flare. I’m in love. Burroughs Park in October and November is the best. It’s usually still pretty warm, but the light has a lovely, warm, fall-ish and cozy feel. This was a cool spot, because it’s usually completely covered in water, so it was fun to have them sit on this log.   I love a little twirling at pre-dusk. Lace and bows and boots and sun flare. So fun.  These dimples? Are you kidding?? Love, love, love. I would say that these two brothers were adorable, but I don’t think they would appreciate it. Throughout the shoot, they were having this philosophical conversation. I was super intrigued and impressed that they were having such a passionate dialogue. Turns out, it was a serious game of 20 questions. I told them I was going to make one sit on the other’s lap if I didn’t get some real laughs out of them. Guys, I know it’s no fun to pose for pictures, but thank you for doing it for your sweet parents. They will love these forever.

Family, I’ll have the rest ready for you soon. Thanks for a fun afternoon!

Love, Andrea

The sweet momma of this bunch was so patient with me as we did our best to finally find a date to schedule a shoot. Between my crazy it’s-the-last-quarter-of-the-year-Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas-card rush schedule and the schedules of all my clients who all have kids and families in lots of activities and school and vacations and then it rains and–sheesh–it’s tricky sometimes. But, they were patient and waited and, poof, I had a cancellation, and I called them up.

First, when you schedule a shoot to get the perfect light outside, it’s often fairly dark when you head inside. The secret from me to you? Find a window in a light room and have your subject look out and then turn his or her eyes to you. You’ll be able to get a lovely effect without having to use your flash.

Next, I have to talk about this beauty. She’s on the verge of becoming a teenager and couldn’t have been more gracious and lovely, inside and out. I’m imagining (fingers-crossed hoping) this is what my sweet girl will be like when she’s a pre-teen and we still like each other.   This little guy was quite the character. I asked him to make silly faces for me outside as we were getting started. He did not have a problem with the request. But he was totally cool and came back to attention when Momma came outside and avoided getting me in trouble.  These freckles. I’m dying. 

Sweet family, thanks for being patient and waiting on me! I’ll have the rest ready soon, and I’ll be there to help plan the perfect Christmas card for you–puppies included. :)

Love, Andrea

Friends interested in a shoot: if you want to get on my somebody-just-cancelled-and-I-have-a-last-minute-slot-open call list, give me a shout, and I’ll get you set up. Cheers!

Howdy, friends! Happy October! I hope you’re out there doing fall-ish things in this perfect weather. My littles and I painted pumpkins this morning to get us in the autumnal mood. Come to think of it, I haven’t had anything pumpkin-flavored yet, though. I do think there’s a Woodlands rule that you’re not allowed to say “Happy Fall, Y’all!” without some sort of pumpkin latte in your hand and your jeans tucked into your boots. For those of you who know me well, you might be surprised to learn that–yes–I do have one pair of cowgirl boots. What else are you supposed to wear to the Houston Rodeo?? I’m definitely #texasforever, but I think I’m probably the urban version.

Anyway, I’m busy trying to catch up on work and want to get this preview up. When I came back to this lovely home after this little nugget’s newborn shoot, her momma said, “You probably don’t remember, but we did this one shot of the three middle boys….” Um, you mean one of my all-time-most-favorite shots?? Of course I remember! So we had her sit in the hallway in basically the cutest dress ever and bribed her with a few pieces of candy to try to get her to sit still. She can walk now, and you know what that means. Sitting in one spot for longer than 1.4 seconds just does not happen.  This is such a good example of lifestyle sessions I love: Saturdays at home, hanging out. Siblings and friends are running around playing, everyone is in the kitchen eating snacks, and life is easy and relaxed and happy. This little guy has grown so much in the last year and a half. He and my guy are close in age, and he was asking all about him. As I was leaving, he said, “Next time you come, will you bring your brother?” How cute is that? The biggest brother of this crew is in the middle of his senior year, so we needed to make sure we got lots of shots with him and the younger kiddos.  I think this is my favorite of the bunch–everyone just hanging out. 

Sweet momma, I am going to make you get in some photos one of these days. I will only let you off the hook so many times. :) Thanks for a fun session, as always!

Love, Andrea

Hey, friends. I’m technically working at The Blue Giraffe in Old Town Spring, so come join me for a pumpkin coffee. Happy weekend!

What have you done today that’s kind or generous? I ask my kids this every day after school. Sometimes they’ll tell me before I even remember to ask. As their momma, I think it’s my moral obligation to do my best to create two great people–not great spellers or great mathematicians or great artists or great athletes.

What makes a great person? In my humble opinion, it’s someone who is kind, first and foremost. Secondly, it’s someone who is generous and acts selflessly. As their role model, this means I have to find ways in my daily life to be kind and generous to demonstrate.

This is the first thing you see when you walk into our home:

So here’s one of my favorite ways to be kind and generous: my love to combine photography and people who have a lovely story to tell and a need to capture a particular time of life. If you’ve visited this site before, you probably remember some of my Preemie Prints sessions. If not, Preemie Prints is a lovely organization that pairs photographers who want to donate their time and talent to parents of preemie babies. Lots of those sessions are done in the hospital. However, sometimes when the stars align and these sweet babies are healthy enough and strong enough to go home, we can do “graduation” sessions.

I met this family at the Riva Row boathouse at The Waterway right before sunset, so we could capture this little model. How do I know she is a model? Because I walked up and introduced myself to her, and she said, “Oh, so you just want me to smile and look extra adorable for every picture? Okay!”

She wasn’t quite able to sit up yet, so tummy time worked just fine. Yes. When you smile like that, I’ll get down in the grass for you all day long, lady. This, of course, is my favorite. Smooches, sun flare, and a happy momma/baby pair. Basically, my goal for every session. 

Sweet family, I sure hope you love these pics of your darling one. It was truly my pleasure to meet you and capture this moment.

Love, Andrea

I think I talk about this same topic around this time every year, but I never know which pics to include in the preview for fall-ish sessions. I don’t want to post the picture that’s going to be picked to go on the holiday cards that will be sent out and spoil the surprise, so I usually focus on the little ones. But, how cute are these two?? If you’ve ever read a blog post of mine, you probably realize I’m a nerdy romantic, so I always love to celebrate love. After seeing these two cuties, I almost forgot there’s a cute kid to showcase. 

I sure love this little dude. He and my sweet girl were in kindergarten together, and I got to see him each week for a school year. As a former teacher, he is such an all-around great kid: kind, friendly, happy, and smart. As a photographer, um, he’s the best! We were all joking about how these were looking just like his senior pics. Pose, smile, ding! Momma, I’m afraid we’re going to blink and our kiddos really will be taking their senior pics.   This one is my favorite of the session. What a cool kid. PS, I used to always do a shot in this pose for every session. I need to get back to it–I love it.

Mom and Dad and B, thanks for a fun and easy session. Thanks for letting my littles run around and visit. I hope the kiddos are in class together again one of these years! I’ll have your full gallery ready soon.

Love, Andrea

Alright peeps, if you’ve been wanting a session before the end of the year, don’t wait. I have a few weekdays spots still available. All of my Saturdays are booked through November, so give me a call and see if we can squeeze you in! :)

Lately I’m only advertising and marketing myself as a travel photographer. After seven years of being a stay-at-home/working-from-home momma, my youngest kiddo is in kindergarten, and I feel like I can finally get back to my real, true self: a world traveler. The first question I get when I tell people I’m a travel photographer: But how do you get clients to book you??

Well, it depends. Some people call and book like a normal session–it just happens to be a cool out-of-town location. However, most of my travel shoots are from friends and former clients who want me to meet them on vacation to document it.

This shoot was in one of my favorite locations: Maine. And if you’ve never been, you should put it on your travel bucket list. I’ve known this lovely couple since their dating days and their wedding happened to be my husband’s and my first date after having our daughter. That may not sound exciting, but she cried for the first year of her life.

HER FIRST YEAR.

We were ready for a night out.

Anyhow, as lovely as their wedding was, they were less than thrilled with their wedding photos and photographers, and boy have I heard some whining for the past seven years about those crummy pics. :) So, the last time this bride and I met for a reunion, I suggested we do an anniversary session. I tried to talk her into wedding attire (of course), but they really wanted some simple and lovely pictures of them in their element: at home. Their home away from home is on their boat, so they twisted my arm and finally convinced me to go out on the boat with them for a shoot. I made them take me to lunch with this view:

Back at their house, I wanted to give them a true “lifestyle” session. They both love their beautiful home and have spent years slowly remodeling and renovating rooms here and there. Additionally, they love to garden, and since it’s so crazy-beautiful in Maine in the summer, we did lots of pics outside.

Seven years and still so in love:

How fabulous is this garden in their backyard? And this is where we got our dinner from. (By the way, feeding me is not required.)

Ok, this is just me being my nerdy self. The Mr. of this fabulous couple asked me to get some nice shots of his house, and I fell in love with their front door color. Is it red? Is it orange? No one can tell, but it’s great.  Their fur baby they so sweetly named after me: Andy. I’m just going to go ahead and assume they named him after me. No need to confirm that.  After the shoot, comes more food. And drinks. And lots of laughs.

I love these two. Don’t they look so New England-y and fabulous? 

Just a dude and his boat. I’m heavy on the mister-pics on this preview, because I was determined to take some pics that he’d like to have of their Maine life. He said he didn’t have many pictures he likes of himself, so I figured that when you’re in your element, you look your best. I hope you love these, friend. 

R+R, I hope you know how much I adore you two. Your Maine life is so lovely and idyllic. Thank you for sharing it with me. I can’t wait to see you soon.

Love, Andrea

Lots of times on the drive home after a shoot, I start thinking about what I’ll write about in the blog post for the preview. I have to start thinking early, because my dear sweet children have sucked the creative life out of me.

Does it seem like I blame them too often? Meh. I’m okay with that.

I swear I used to be such a creative little chick. And now, if you could see a picture of my brain, I imagine it’s like this lazy couch potato eating a bag of disgusting chips and binge watching Netflix–and of course it’s nothing educational like documentaries. In my mind, the room is lit only by the tv and the couch is a dingy maroon, textured velvet upholstery. Gross, right? I think it’s time for that gal to get up off her booty.

So, as I was driving home from this crazy-beautiful-gorgeous-lighting at my favorite Woodlands location, I started thinking about my son. This wide-eyed beautiful boy reminds me so much of my little guy. Their personalities are so similar; I guess I’m consistent, because I just looked up the blog post about his last shoot, and it was all about my kid. See?? Get off the sofa, sister!

The first shoot was more of a “Mommy and Me” type session, so I wanted to make sure I highlighted Dad in this preview. Can you tell they like each other??

And speaking of Dad (to quote my son, of course; he says “and speaking of” to segue every conversation), he and I were joking about their recent trip to Disneyworld and how all of those family pictures had Tinkerbell and fairy dust in them. So, I thought I’d add a little fairy dust of my own. I get that not everyone wants so much haze and flare in a picture, but to catch it in camera like this is my own version of magic.

The last time I shot this sweet one, we were on a mission to announce him to his family and friends who’ve been waiting a long time for him. I designed one of my favorite cards for his sweet momma to send out, and I thought I’d mention it here. I just had a client I’ve had for years tell me she didn’t realize I could design custom cards for her.

Sweet family, have I mentioned how much I love your kid?

Thank you again for allowing me to be there for such a special time. It truly fills me with joy. I’ll have them all ready soon.

Love, Andrea

Alright, people. Let me put these chips away; I’m off to do something creative.

Good morning, people! Boy, it’s the start of a whole new world for me. My last baby headed off to Kindergarten for the first time today, and look at me: I’ve already finished one gallery, written a family blog post, posted on my client’s Instagram account (more to come on that service). I’ve already prepped dinner and finished a load of laundry. If I can manage to stop crying for a while, this just might work out!

So, I don’t do head shots very often. Primarily, because I don’t particularly like the look of the traditional solid background and flash for lighting. However, I realize that’s still the standard for a “professional” head shot, so I get super excited when a client lets me do something a little different.

This cute-as-a-button little lady wanted some shots she could use for work and a few shots to give to her grown up kiddos. Lisa is a realtor in The Woodlands–we’ve worked with her personally for years, and we love her. One of my friends who used her recently to sell their old and buy their new home called her a “shark.” I laughed, because, yes, she definitely gets the job done. And, she’s about the cutest, feistiest tough cookie you’ve ever seen–my role model basically.  I hope her kiddos love these, because I sure do. And you know I had to get a little sun flare in there. I can’t help myself. 

Lovely friend, thanks for letting me capture your inside-and-out beauty.

Love, Andrea

Friends and readers and blog followers, I am already quickly booking up for the final quarter of the year. I have lots of availability on weekdays for newborns, but my weekends for family sessions are almost gone. Please don’t wait to call. Or, if you’re okay with pulling the kids out of school for pictures, I promise not to tell the teacher. Although, as a former and future teacher, I cringe a little when I say that. :)

Yes, I’m back in Galveston. Why don’t I own a house there, you ask? I’ll be posting the Kickstarter campaign tonight, and then you’re all invited to hang. Should we do a condo or a stand alone house? I’ll let you guys decide. I do plan on figuring out one way or another to start writing/blogging/photographing for the City of Galveston. I figure since I’m technically the unofficial-self-declared-and-self-appointed-in-my-own-head ambassador to Galveston, it’s time I start doing some work for them, right?

Back to the important stuff: beach pics. Do you remember this little dude from the shoot with his brothers three years ago? It was time for an updated, sunset picture on the beach. Momma and I picked a spot close to Pleasure Pier, so the bribe was clearly in sight. I just took pictures of a family this week that maybe felt a little embarrassed to tell me they bribed their two-year-old with ice cream. I said, “Are you kidding?? I don’t think I’ve ever been on a shoot EVER when the parents didn’t offer up some sort of bribe to get the kids to cooperate. This includes pictures of my own kids!” Parents, when trying to get good pictures–just like figuring out how to get the kids to sleep through the night–my motto is: whatever it takes. :)

I’m always going to be partial to this blond cutie. He and my blonde cutie met when they were babies. I’m still in denial that they are seven. 

Oy. How do they grow up and become teenagers? Can’t they just be our babies forever? Our family loves this young man. He’s a keeper. 

Finally, here’s my little peanut. She is really taking an interest in photography and asks to be my assistant on every shoot. When I know the family well or ask ahead of time or really think I need her help on a shoot, I bring her along. As a thank you to my clients who tolerate it, I’ll send you the images she takes that aren’t blurry. She’s still trying to figure out that tricky shutter speed thing. 

Thank you, my most fabulous friend, for another fun beach adventure. Until next summer….

Love, Andrea

So, I love it when a client gives me an assignment. The beautiful momma of these two boys showed me one of her most favorite pictures of her middle dude and asked me to recreate it so she has an updated version. I made sure to take a picture of the original, because you know my poor, old my-kids-never-let-me-sleep brain would need a reference picture. Here’s the original in their crazy beautiful home (I think I have her beat on the number of colors in the house, but she definitely has me beat on patterns and textures and layers–gorgeous!!).   

Here’s my version. So handsome!

Sheesh. Where to start on this cuteness? He’s at that practically perfect 7-month age, so he can sit up and basically had full conversations with me. Turns out, he’s a big Yankees fan. Of course you know I’m a Boston/Papi gal, but he could probably hypnotize me into cheering for the Yankees again. I mean, I think I could stare into these eyeballs all day. Too many cute faces! And these were just me snapping some before he even got into his real outfit for the session. 

Finally, here’s the biggest brother of them all. Don’t worry, Momma, I have one with him looking and smiling, but there was something about this expression and look he was giving you that I thought was extra dapper. As a mother of a will-be-a-teenager-one-day son, I’d like to think he’s thinking:

Oh, look at my beautiful mother over there. She’s such a sweetheart to think about scheduling pictures for us so we can remember this time in our lives. I think I’ll tell her later just how much I love her and thank her for always thinking of us. She does everything for us. She’s just so amazing!

That’s pretty close, right?

Sweet family, it was such a pleasure meeting you. I will have the rest ready for you son!

Love, Andrea

Do you remember these beautiful girls from their clover session last year? What a morning we had! I came across a 3-foot long snake before they got there (yikes), we threw lots of rocks into the water, we met a friendly turtle named Tuck, we smelled lots of flowers, we climbed on lots of rocks, and we met a friendly dog. 

But first, twirling.

This sweet girl kept pointing and saying, “That’s the forest!” Oh, this smile. So stinking cute. It’s super hard to get genuine smiles at this age. Kids are usually trained to smile for the camera at this age, and so lots of times you get the “cheeeese” smile. But, this? Totally genuine and happy. I think she might end up being your nature girl, momma.

The gorgeous momma of these girls really prefers candid photos the most, so I tried to follow the girls at the end of the shoot to make sure I got a few more of them doing something cute. I think, graphically, this is a really cool shot (and now I want to take my kids down to Town Green Park to copy it). I really love the reflection, too. But, I probably really love it because I adore how little sister is deep into this stage of wanting to do everything big sister does. I have no doubt C would follow G to the ends of the earth. I hope they will always have that connection and G will remember to be extra kind to her little sister, since she does adore her so much (ahem…this is a reminder for me to remind my big girl to be extra sweet to her little brother who would–I’m sure–go play in traffic if she asked him to. In fact, he’d probably turn around and look at her and say, “Like this, Birdie?”).

Sweet family, thank you for a fun morning and for meeting me so early. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon!

Love, Andrea

After having a fun play date with this guy and my little guy a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to take this little dude’s first official photo shoot pictures last week. And, I know often hijack my clients’ posts talking about myself or my kids, but this little guy reminds me so much of my little guy, which I love, of course. I’m especially schmoopy-whoopy over my Winston these days, because he just turned 5 AND I just registered him for kindergarten. He was at a friend’s house the other day all day, and, although it was nice to have a solid chunk of time to work that wasn’t 2am, it was too quiet. And dang, I missed him. September is gonna be hard.

My guy and this little handsome guy both have similar names, they both can’t seem to take a bad picture, they are a little on the quiet side (not a bad thing, people; how many crazy little dudes do you know that could stand to be a little more chill??), and–most importantly–they love their mommas.

They both have that killer eyebrow move down. Here’s Winston’s latest. I was asking him to teach me how to do it.

They both look good in a hat. Here’s my favorite Winston-hat pic.

Finally, they are both so happy and joys to be around. (Do you see that little bandaid on his hand? Momma said it was just for decoration. Hmm, reminds me of one of my littles who always wanted a bandaid on her hand….)

Sweet momma, I love your little guy so much, and I hope you love these. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon!

Love, Andrea

PS, party people, I’m officially booked through the end of July. It’s not too crazy to call me to schedule your Fall sessions! xoxo

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

On the last blog post, I titled it “Newly Minted,” because this little nugget was just born. But, it was also an inside joke, because when her lovely momma was pregnant, I had a dream that I convinced her to name her Minted–and then I totally forgot to write about it in the blog post. In that dream, she was also 11+ pounds. Good thing neither one of those came true! If I remember correctly, she came out a perfect 7lbs, 7ozs and has the most beautiful name ever.

My most favorite pastime in life is to talk baby names with pregnant mommas. I couldn’t convince her momma to wait to find out the baby’s gender, and I couldn’t talk her into any of the wacky names I texted her once a day; however, I did convince her to let me put her newborn baby in a boat in the ocean at sunset. So win-win. :) 

We went to the beach for this family’s last family session, so we wanted a different look for this one. If you are looking for a spot like this in Galveston, try going underneath Murdoch’s and that way you can get Pleasure Pier in some of your shots, as well. Yes, yes I do want to be the official Ambassador to Galveston. Why do you ask? I’m patiently waiting by the phone for the city to call me. 

Thanks, baby girl, so being so agreeable. I think she’s going to be a beach baby for sure!

Oh, boy, how much do I love this one? Sisters together and sandy toes? LOVE.

Finally, I had to share a happy one of this semi-toothless brother. Have your kiddos lost any teeth yet? Make sure you take some pics! Those new ones come in so fast, and–knock on wood–this will be the only time in their lives when they’ll look like this. 

Thank you, sweet family, for letting me talk you into more beach pics. I’ll have them ready soon.

Love, Andrea

So, I’m kind of in love with this kid. Yes, I might be a little partial, but she is super groovy. And, ok, ok, her momma is one of my most favorite friends, and her big sister will most likely be my daughter-in-law one day, but–for real–she is the best. And, super-duper extra bonus? There may or may not be a part 2 of this newborn session featuring a baby who may or may not be in a boat on the beach at sunset…. Guess you’ll have to stay tuned to find out. :)

Oh, boy, those of you with big kiddos, how much do you miss having a baby sleep on your chest? I can practically sniff that baby head through the screen. There are some newborn sessions that take many hours and leave me hot and sweaty and exhausted. It’s hard work making it look this easy! But this little nugget was such an easy model. We did her awake pics, fed her, changed her, and then she was sweet and easy and went to sleep for me. If you haven’t been around newborns much, you probably won’t recognize this as an almost smile, but it totally is. I think she was just a week old in these, and she was already so curious and so great about looking into the camera. Don’t you love this sweet blanket? Her sweet aunt handmade it for her. 

Momma, I have tons of the details shots you wanted, but it would have taken me two more hours to put that together for your preview, so you get what you get. :) I hope you love these, and I’ll have your part 2 preview ready in a few days.

Love, Andrea

PS, Any pregnant mommas out there looking for a newborn photographer, I’ve only got two more openings for newborns for June and July. Don’t wait if you’ve been thinking about booking! xoxo

I’m so excited to post the preview for this beautiful lady! Obviously she’s drop-dead gorgeous, but she’s also super cool. She’s a pilot, and when we met for her pre-consultation the other day, she asked me if I would mind if we could do her session at the Hooks Airport with her plane. Um, yes, please!! Here’s a pretty one at the park before we headed out to the airport.

So, I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but about a lifetime ago, I was a captain in the Air Force. And if I had been a single gal, un-betrothed to an Army dude, I would have been a pilot. The closest I got was soloing in the glider program at the Air Force Academy. When I was in grad school, I did some research on the history of women in the Air Force and studied the women of the WASP: Women Airforce Service Pilots.

From http://www.wingsacrossamerica.us/wasp/index.htm: During World War II, a select group  of young women pilots became pioneers, heroes, and role models…They were the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, the first women in  history trained to fly  American military aircraft.

And this is Fifinella–the WASP mascot, drawn by Walt Disney. In the middle of grad school, I went down to NYC and got a little tattoo of her on my rump. :)

Anyway, I totally geeked out about this shoot and probably had more fun than this little lady did. I love, love, love that we got her all glammed up with hair and makeup and a pretty dress, and put on her aviators and headset in front of her plane. What a cool chick.Some sun flare, some cool planes, and a pretty lady. Now that’s how you spend a Saturday.

One more, because she’s just too pretty not to share. 

Sweet girl, I hope you had a blast, because I sure did! You are such a sweetheart and all-around fabulous lady. I’ll have the rest ready soon.

Love, Andrea

Oh, good golly. Thank you, sweet momma, for being so patient with me. I’ll have your gallery ready on time, but this preview is late, because I am STILL having computer issues. Anyway, enough complaining and on to the fun stuff. One of my most fabulous Houston clients came up for a tea party for her girls last weekend. (And I got to try out my DIY wall and floors!) I first met her at their first baby’s newborn session–I had to go all the way to the blogspot days from many moons ago to find her first preview. Fast forward a few years and a second sweet sister, and you’ve got two beautiful tea partiers on your hands.

Dishes, jewelry, and flowers. All signs of a successful teeny, tiny fancy party. All of these props are from Miss Camille’s shop in Old Town Spring. If you are an Instagram-kinda-person, I am starting an Instagram account for her in the next few days. More to follow. 

So, yes, this was sort of staged, because I set it up this way. But, they were really drinking and eating and having a little party and being so sweet to each other. Adorable. 

I know I’ve mentioned in another preview, but their momma is a fabulous seamstress as a hobby, and these girls always come in the best made-by-momma dresses. Don’t you think they’ll look back on these one day and feel so special that she made these for them?

A little twirling and hand-holding and you get this cuteness.

Alright, momma, I think we accomplished your goal of getting some cute pics of them together!

Thanks again for waiting on me. I’ll have the rest of your gallery ready in a couple of days!

Love, Andrea

And for anyone else reading this, may your babies sleep and your hard drives never crash. :)

Also, I need to say thanks to my in-house model for always helping me prep for shoots. Love you, dude.

Mother’s Day 2016 is almost here! How will you celebrate? This year, I am already scheduled to work the weekend of Mother’s Day, so my sweetie pie family sent me to Houston for a mini-me getaway on Saturday.

After a Friday night date night with the hubs, I headed to Houston: I recharged my batteries, had dinner with one of my loveliest friends at my favorite restaurant, did a little fancy shopping, slept a lot, and had a fabulous shoot with one of my favorite seniors (a preview is coming on that!).

Whew. Just what I needed. PS, I’m not usually a selfie kinda gal, but when I’m away from David and the kiddos, they want me to send lots of pictures. Winston always wants to see the hotel room, the bathroom, and the view from the room.

So, how will you spend your day? Can your man no longer think of the perfect gift to give? I’ve got it! Come do a “Momma and Me Tea Party” session with you and your little girl(s). This is for mommas and little ladies only. I’ll post another ad in a few days for a Momma and Little Dude session.

There are two options. On Saturday morning, April 23rd, I am partnering with my friend and favorite Old Town Spring business owner, Ms. Camille of Camille’s. She has a lovely vanity in the back of her store we’ll use for the “before” black and white getting-ready pictures. I’ll have rollers and brushes and makeup and silky bathrobes, but if you book one of the slots, I’ll send you more information about what you should bring and what I’ll have for you to use.

On Sunday, we’ll do the same thing at my house. Here are the example shots my second-shooter husband took (and I edited) to show you what we’ll do. My little one’s favorite thing to do in the world is to watch me get ready when I’m getting all dressed up. She wants to pick out everything: hair, makeup, outfit, bag, jewelry, and–of course–shoes. So, I thought it would be sweet for her to “play” dress-up with me.

So, the next step is the “after” tea party. At Ms. Camille’s, we’ll have a pretty little table and chairs with beautiful teacups and saucers. At my house, I like the simplicity of two chairs in the kitchen.

If you want to book a slot, give me a shout. Have a little dude? Don’t worry! I’ll post an ad for a momma and little guy shoot in a few days. If I forget to tell you, Happy Mother’s Day! You deserve some pampering. :)

Love, Andrea         508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

You may remember the lovely momma of this crazy-beautiful-perfect-model of a boy from her maternity/family session. We scheduled his one-year pictures, and wouldn’t you know it? When we were able to get our schedules coordinated, the two middle kiddos had scheduling conflicts. So, it kinda sorta worked out for the best. How often does the littlest get to have one-on-one pictures taken only with his momma and his biggest sister? I’m always trying to convince mommas to take some pictures with just one kid at a time every few years, but it really never happens. But, when all the kids grow up, I think they’ll love those occasional one-on-one pictures.

I’ve had a lot of photographers who have started following me lately (I’m branching out into mentoring for photographers and moms of small businesses…more to come on that later); this was a lifestyle session in their lovely home and so I thought I’d turn this into a post about my top 10 favorite images/poses to get during a little dude’s one-year session in the home.

10. Looking out the window. First, you’ll always get great light. Second, you’ll probably get great expressions when you ask: What do you see out there? Is there a bird? Do you see your puppy dog?  

9. The “big boy” bed. Chances are, he won’t be sleeping in it yet, but if he already has it in his room, it sure makes for a cute picture. P.S., I think this is my favorite of the bunch.

8. Something unique that he’s doing that he won’t be doing forever. At first glance, this probably looks like she’s picking him up, but this is how he gives kisses right now. He says, “muh” and tilts down his forehead for a kiss. It’s crazy adorable. And I bet he won’t be doing it in a year from now. 

7. The favorite stuffed animal. That usually always gets a sweet huggy picture. 

6. Scale. It’s easy to think about how big our babies are when they are one and walking and always on the go. But, I love to put a little dude in a big room to remind me how tiny he still is. Don’t worry. Momma was one step away. 

5. A laugh. Enough said. 

4. Walking holding momma’s hand. The time will come all too soon when he doesn’t need it anymore. 

3. A cool piece of furniture in the home. Remember the purple sofa? If he doesn’t normally sit on it, you’ll be sure to get a cute “ooh, this is a new spot” sort of expression.

2. The front door. Who knows where he’ll end up one day? But I always love to take a picture of the house he lives in at the time. It’s part of his history. 

1. The picture with momma. If you know me at all, this is no surprise that this is my favorite. I LOVE the pics I have with my little dude when he was one, and I want every momma out there to have those for herself. 

Thank you, sweet and lovely momma, for welcoming me into your gorgeous home. It was the perfect backdrop for this guy’s special session. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea     508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

I’m going to be doing Mother’s Day sessions with mommas and their littles on April 23rd. Here’s one of me and my little just because I think she’s so cute. :) This was us on her last “photographer’s assistant” assignment.

Love, Andrea       508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Mother’s Day 2016! What are you doing for Mother’s Day this year? How about treating yourself to a “Momma and Me” session? Are you the kind of mom who wants to spend all day with the kids, or do you like to treat yourself to a day off on Mother’s Day? I am definitely the latter. I like for my kiddos to wake up me up with some snuggles and smooches and bring me coffee and then I get the heck outta dodge. I am one of those people who likes her “me” time. Call me crazy, call me selfish, call me weird. I don’t care. I need a day off every now and then to keep everyone in my house sane.

So, as I’m up and awake after everyone in the house so I can enjoy a little quiet time, I’m going back and updating this one to make sure I give my lovely friend a proper, 300-word post.

Nope. In case you’re keeping track, I’m still having computer/upload/download/backup file-sharing-saving issues, but I sure love this momma of four, so I wanted to post another picture for her. She is one of my all-time favorite super hero ladies. She’s gorgeous (obviously), a fabulous stay-at-home, a homeschooler, a fantastic photographer/small business owner, and married to my husband’s college roommate who is one of our friends from when we were kiddos–pretty darn close to the oldest of this crew. Phew. See what I mean? We are both from Louisiana but have lived far apart for a while, so we meet up whenever we can. We met a few weeks ago, and we took the opportunity to get some update shots of her with her oh-so-sweet baby girls.

My sweet friend, I hope you guys find your way back to Texas soon. If not, you know we’ll invite ourselves to Colorado before long!

Love, Andrea

P.S., I’ll be doing “momma and me” sessions on April 23rd. If you need a new picture of you with your little ones, call me! 508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Do you remember this beautiful gal? If you’ve never checked out my Andrea Bacle Weddings logo, check out the letter g. See that smiley face? Here she is three years later, all grown up and ready to graduate. So that meant senior pictures, and boy did we have fun! I think we had five outfit changes, tons of fabulous shoes, gorgeous sun and location, one off-and-on teary-eyed sweet momma, and one little assistant cracking us all up. Oh, and of course my model-beautiful senior. Hello, Vogue magazine? Yes, of course you can use this for the next cover shot.

So fabulous!I always encourage seniors to bring a few props of things that are special to them. This lovely lady is a huge Harry Potter fan, so we took several pictures with her reading her favorite books. This reminds me: J.K. Rowling gave the most fabulous commencement speech at my grad school graduation, and it totally made me want to read the Harry Potter series…um, it’s been eight years since then. Now that I think about it, though, perhaps I’ll wait until my kids are old enough and read them then. Ta-da! I can move things to the bottom of a to-do list like nobody’s business.

I am IN LOVE with this picture.

Have you ever been to the Tomball train depot? It’s adorable. There’s a tiny little park with a gazebo and red caboose. It’s perfect for a photo shoot. We had the perfect sunset light shining through. If you’re close to the area, you should definitely check it out–and take your camera!This lovely smile was so sweet and genuine, I just had to include it in the preview. 

Sweet girl, I hope you had as much fun as I did! I can’t wait to show you the rest of your lovely pics.

Love, Andrea

Ack! This summer, this dude is gonna be one! How is that possible? Didn’t we just do his newborn shoot the other day? Also, he was just a peanut in his momma’s belly when we shot my little “after the shoot” video. I told his momma we should do his next milestone pictures when he was sitting up, so we planned to do it with a few bluebonnets. He’s Texas-born, so it’s only fitting. (My own little dude was born in early April, so his yearly birthday pictures always happen to be in bluebonnets. Oh, Texas baby problems.)

Hmm, the hair blowing in the wind, the smile, the baby blue eyes, the monogram, the toes…I just can’t pick a favorite detail. Momma, I hope you love the tree in the background. :) When you put in a special request for a certain detail, I sure will do my best to make it happen!

I’m so crazy about this sweet family. I’ve known them for almost four years now (since their first newborn shoot), and they really represent the best part of my business. There are some days when it’s hard to juggle everything and I’ve been going on little sleep for days and my house is a wreck, but then I’ll have a shoot with one of my favorite families, and I think I have the best job on the planet. I have so many clients who have become friends, and it is truly a joy getting to see them again and again and especially to watch their sweet babies grow up. I really do feel honored to capture these moments for you.

Isn’t this such a pretty spot?

I think lots of people have given up on bluebonnets after last year was such a poor showing. But, they are out there, and I will happily chase them around and find a good spot if you don’t want to miss the season.

Seriously? How cute are these three? Hmm, three precious babies happy and cracking up with perfect weather in some pretty flowers with Grandma, Momma, Daddy, and Crazy Camera Lady acting silly and making them laugh? Yes. Best job, for sure.

It was so great to see you, like always. I’ll have the rest ready soon.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808

Whew. Back to reality this week. Last week was our Spring Break, and we made the most of every day. What did you do?

Here’s the rundown—now, this reads more like a post from my family blog, but there’s a point at the end.

Our week: One room re-do for my big girl, two birthday parties, one slightly hectic Ikea trip (two kids on a Saturday at 3pm is the best time to go to Ikea, right?), and one new big bed for my big boy after I finally finished his first room re-do a couple of weeks ago. Oh, well.What can I say? I love redecorating. This bed took us four hours to assemble, and I consider us seasoned Ikea putter-togetherers. It was 37 steps! I don’t think we’ve ever bought something from Ikea with 37 steps. And that’s about all of the house stuff I could manage; so yes, the rest of the house was pretty much trashed.

Next we headed off for a New Braunfels trip with friends and a photo shoot. We waded in the very chilly Guadalupe and saw fields and fields of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes, and everyone in my travel wagon was too worried about bugs and snakes (this is the reason you’re seeing a people-less flower pic). C’mon people! What are a few critter bites when you could have these in your picture?

We did stay in this super cool River Road treehouse, and it had a cool little creek underneath that we explored a lot.

Here’s just one picture from my river photo shoot. Dang, I wish I could recreate this spot in my backyard. Oh, this two-ish age is so much my favorite. I love how they are on the move non-stop. This gorgeous lady was go-go-go in the river and rocks and water. I waited for just the right moment and then called her name so she would look up. I am going to quote her when I tell you what I feel when I see this: “Oh, goodness!!”

We came back home and had one sleepless night from a kiddo up all night sick (at least it was on break and not during school again), and then we were on to the next trip and photo shoot. We went to Shreveport during the annual two-week azalea show (there’s no real photography allowed at the Norton Art Gallery, so this is all I could get).

So, my point for all you lovely people is that in the middle of all that craziness and gobs and gobs of personal and professional pictures, I had one hard drive die on me and then my giant laptop decided I had abused it for long enough and gave one final sigh and went to electronics heaven, which was followed by the Stage 3 Panic Attack that follows every electronic failure.

NOT FUN.

I spend lots and lots of hours and money backing everything up, so it wasn’t a terrible loss, but it makes me worried about the average civilian out there not backing her stuff up. So, here are my points for you:

1. Back up and then back up again.
2. Don’t trust hard drives, PC storage, CDs, or thumbdrives. They will all fail eventually. Use an online source for storage.
3. I’m changing my policy for hanging on to clients’ digital images. After your gallery view and order, I’m no longer saving them unless you opt to pay a storage fee.

Next, on to calibrate my new monitor on my new unplanned laptop purchase and start some data recovery. Yes, vacation is really over.

Do you have a vacation planned and wish you had someone to follow your family and take memorable pictures? I might be your gal.

Love, Andrea       508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

If you’ve seen my house, you know you’re not talking to the right lady when you say, “I don’t really have any wall space for pictures.” Most likely, my house is smaller than yours, and–standby, I’ll do a quick count–I have 62 pictures in the house that are BIGGER than 8x10s. Um, holy moly. That doesn’t count small prints on tables here and there or the bathroom tiles or the refrigerator pictures or the samples in the garage…sheesh. Crazy much?? People, if you pass my husband on the street, please don’t remind him that this number is 62. Yes, he lives in the house with us, but I think that number might freak him out a little bit.
Where do I get all of the ideas for those pictures? This is usually how the process goes:

1. A client calls: Hi, I’d like to get a picture taken at ________ (Woodlands Waterway, beach destination, when we go on vacation to Maine, etc.). My mind immediately starts churning. Add in another detail: I’m thinking I want one of the kids together since big sister is into ______ and little brother likes _______ right now. My mind is already imagining the session and outfits and poses and lighting…. Fabulous shoot, cheesy blog post, big pictures are ordered and delivered. Groovy.
2. Ah, back home again to my house. Ok, I’m spent. I’ve used all of my creativity on my clients. I know! I’ll steal from the ideas I came up with for them. Here’s one and two and three and four recent blog posts with pictures I re-created after shoots I did with clients. I do this a lot it seems.

So, the point of all this is that for once, I did a shoot with my own kiddo that I didn’t do with a client. However, I can’t take any credit. It was not my idea. My little overly-sentimental and quixotic little one came up with this idea all on her own. Here’s the link to the full blog post about it. The real reason why I wanted to share it on here is because I think it’s so precious. I’d love to help you re-create an idea from one of our sessions if you’re willing to get your dress a little dirty. (Thank you to my husband for the sweet pic; he’s in training and is available as a second shooter for weddings. Also, she wanted these edited with extra pink for her room; the sunset is certainly real, but I pinked up the sand and water and our dresses a little for her.)

Love, Andrea          508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Hey, hey, it’s March! Are you as excited as I am that summer is just around the corner? I miss my baby girl who is at school all day, so I’m super pumped that it’s almost spring break. And speaking of, it’s been about a minute since I was at the beach, so I’m ready to schedule a trip down again at some point during spring break. I know that if you see these beach pictures often enough, you’ll finally cave and book that beach session you’ve always been thinking about! Huh, huh?? You know you want to….

I am caught up on editing (um, not on business stuff: taxes, emails, thank you notes, scheduling, marketing, album ordering–does anyone ever get all caught up on that stuff? If so, PLEASE tell me your secret.), and I haven’t submitted any photos to the iheartfaces.com photo challenge in a while, so I thought I’d enter this pretty face and advertise some beach sessions at the same time.

A little about this photo: Have you ever seen me wear a flower in my hair? I do fairly often. I first started doing it after our first-ever visit to Hawaii in 2004, and I first fell in love with the culture and beauty and pretty much everything else to do with those little islands. Did you know there’s a little rule about wearing a flower in your hair? Similar to the wedding ring, if you’re married, you wear the flower on the left side. That’s why you always see my little one with her flower on her right and mine on my left. Have I told you how much this little one loves to be my mini-me–even though she really doesn’t look a thing like me. She is a spitting image of her crazy-beautiful beauty queen aunt/her daddy’s sister. I’ll still take the adoration, though. And do you recognize this dress? I think she must fall asleep every night wishing for her feet to grow so she can start wearing my shoes, too.

If I don’t see you on the beach or in a blanket of bluebonnets, have a fabulous spring break!

Love, Andrea       508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

P.S., here’s the link again to check out the other entries in this week’s photo challenge: iheartfaces.com

What’s one of the best parts of my job? Definitely watching the babies grow up. Remember this handsome man? I got to see him again! I’m so glad he hasn’t lost that lovin’ feeling for me. Yes, I’m going to pretend it’s me and not the flash on my camera. :)

You know how fun it is to walk in on a shoot, and this is what you see?? Um, heaven! I am one lucky duck.

There are tons of cute ones with the guest of honor and all of his sweet family members who are obviously so crazy about him, so I wasn’t sure who I should include in the preview. I thought this one represented the oohing and ahhing pretty well. And those fingers? I could die. Oh, how I miss the chubby fingers on my babies. My almost-5-year-old only has two tiny fat-finger baby dimples left on each hand. Sniff. 

Oh, I’m sorry sweet cousin. The mean people aren’t letting you eat that beautiful cake. You know if it were up to me, I’d pass it right over to you. :) Really, he was looking at me with those oh-so-beautiful big-brown-puppy-dog eyes and asking me to give him some cake. Sorry for the tease, little dude. It was hard to say no. 

Sweet family, I think you guys are the cutest. Thank you for letting me come to your insanely beautiful home for this shoot. Seriously, I think your home must be the most perfect example of simple elegance I’ve ever seen. It really was a joy to walk into it again.

I’m sure the rest of the family are ready to see all of the pics, so I’ll get them ready as soon as I can.

Love, Andrea         508.768.5808 andrea.bacle@gmail.com

P.S. anyone interested in booking a session, the crazy bluebonnet season is quickly approaching. I’m almost already fully booked, so if you’re thinking about booking a session, don’t hesitate.

I’m coming off of a weekend high–my darling husband took the kids camping, and I had the entire weekend to work and focus on business goals and treat myself to a little down time after working non-stop for a solid year. I celebrated some of my favorite things. What are your favorite things? Here’s a short list of mine.

1. Education–I am a school nerd down to my core and am always either in the middle of a class or looking for the next one to take or teaching one or scheduling my next one to teach.
2. Supporting small businesses–especially helping new ones get launched
3. Helping others–especially moms. It’s hard out there for a mom.
4. Improving my business–I don’t think an hour goes by that I’m not thinking about an idea to make my business better. I’ve been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, for sure.
5. Pretty little details–especially flowers and food and drinks.
6. Fancy coffee

This past holiday season, one of my loveliest clients was slammed with work trips and it didn’t seem like there would be time for her to send out her 300+ Christmas cards. So, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. Here’s the before at 4pm:…and the after at 10am the next morning, addressed front and back and ready to be boxed up and driven down to Houston.

Thanks so loads of coffee and my most fabulous friend who watched my little one for a few hours, I got them done. So, although it took a day for my hand to de-claw, I really loved doing this service for her, and I’d like to offer it to all of my clients. I thought it would be useful to up my script game a little, so I took a class this past weekend with Jenny of A Fine Flourish at the cutest little stationery boutique Katie & Co. in Houston. It’s adorable. Jenny just whipped up this sign in 2 seconds on a chalkboard sign–don’t you wish you could do that??We had lovely desserts from The Foodie Chef. 

And these gorgeous flowers by Maxit Flower Design.My favorite flower: ranunculus. How adorable is the little welcome placemat? So pretty. Winston promptly (but accidentally) crinkled it up in one L.B. second after I got home.

And I was quickly reminded my weekend of fancy was over.

So the point of all this is that I’m busy practicing my calligraphy and script in case you’d like me to address your cards this year. I’ll include a tab with pricing and more info and pictures once I get it sorted out.

I hope you had a fabulous weekend. And if it’s been a while since you’ve pampered yourself, do it. I mean for real, though. Call me. I’ll watch your kids; they’ll probably be great calligraphers when you pick them up. :)

Love, Andrea            508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

So, this is how I spent yesterday morning…on my belly amidst the controlled chaos of a newborn session.

Photo credit: the gorgeous momma of this little dude.Here’s the end result of newborn snuggley goodness. I’m in love.

If you want to create a little chaos in your newborn’s home, let me know. :) andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

When I started editing this gallery, I asked my four-year-old son what he thought about this baby boy. (He’s still at home with me during the day, so when I’ve made the very silly decision to go to bed at a decent hour the night before instead of working, he helps me with culling and maybe a little photoshopping here and there. Although, he spends most of the time asking me to give someone an extra nose or take away an eyeball or change the hair to purple. Stuff like that is funny to four-year-old boys, apparently.)

Me: Do you like these pictures of this little baby?

W: Oh, he’s so cute!

Me: What do you like about him?

W: His cute little head and especially his cute little toes.

Cool. Sometimes it’s good to do a little quality control and get an objective opinion. What? You think there is someone more honest than a kiddo? Have you met my six-year-old daughter/almost teenager? Please, she’ll tell you like it is. She couldn’t stop laughing the other night, because I “remind her of a grandma” because I have so many wrinkles. Now, we do have an above average amount of smooth foreheads in this town, but cut me some slack, woman.

Anyway, back to the point: this adorableness. I got to spend my Sunday morning with this little sugar plum. How much do you love those fingers wrapped around Daddy’s thumb??I love, love when the baby looks straight into the camera. I’m pretty sure he’s thinking, “Stop taking my pictures, and just go ahead and pick me up and snuggle me already, Miss Andrea.” Ok, fine. Twist my arm. How can folded hands be so cute? I don’t know, but they are. 

Mom and Dad, your baby boy is a doll. Really. He is one great baby. Thank you so much for letting me capture these special moments. (My son and) I will have the rest ready as soon as I can. ;)

Love, Andrea

I recently hosted a beauty and headshots event to 1. thank my lovely clients with some free makeup and headshots 2. help a lovely young lady launch her own small business and 3. celebrate the beautiful women I know and love.

Although I’ve struggled with being a good business owner and making the right decisions from time to time, the first time I remember really thinking “I don’t think this job is for me anymore” was last summer. I had finished probably my most favorite family session I had ever done, and I was so proud and so thrilled with how gorgeous they were that I finished culling and editing them in only two days. They were that beautiful. When I proudly showed them to the gorgeous momma, the first words out of her mouth were, “I hate all of the ones of me.”

Crushing.

Then, a couple of months ago, I had a client say “hate” to me 10 times while I was showing her pictures to her.

I hate the way I look. I hate my smile. I hate my hair. I hate how I’m standing….

On the way home, I called my husband and told him my business might be about to close.

I want to help women feel beautiful, special, self-confident, empowered, happy, and relaxed; I want them to have fun at our sessions. I am really failing at that right now. This past holiday season, I had several sessions where the kids were crying, the moms were stressed, and the dads were irritated.

Not my goal.

It’s time to reevaluate all of it.

This year, I want to focus more on celebrating my lovely clients and having more fun at sessions. I’m missing the mark somewhere along the way. I’m still trying to figure out where it is I’m messing up, but I’m working on it. In the meantime, mommas who are so hard on yourselves, please go easy. When I’m editing your pictures, all I see is beauty. I would never show you a picture that I don’t think is fantastic of you. And when I look at your beautiful babies, I usually see your faces. If you don’t think you’re beautiful, then try looking at yourself through your kiddo’s eyes. You are.

So, in my quest to celebrate my beautiful friends/clients, I hosted this little party. Ladies, I can’t thank you enough for supporting me, and I hope you had a little fun and felt pretty, because you are.

I need to give a crazy-giant-huge shout-out to my kick booty hubby for always, always supporting all my dreams. To show his support for me, he brewed coffee (a must-have for me), baked scones, bought Texas wine (a must-have for every other mom I know), and ordered special flowers for me and the event. THE BEST.

Here are some fun pictures of the details and some before/afters. Here’s one of my lovely makeup artist and friend, Jasmine. I need to ask if it’s okay to post her info here, so I’ll update it once I talk with her. Ladies, thank you again for your support. I’m not sure what changes I’ll need to make this year. I think it’s time for an old fashioned MY GOALS FOR THIS YEAR list with pencil and paper. I’m thinking I need to scale back on my sessions and focus more on what I love to do most: helping others, teaching, and travelling. I am mentoring more and more owners of small businesses, and I plan on teaching more Shot by Momma classes this year, and I’m only marketing for travel photography (more to come on that). We’ll see how it goes. What are your goals for this year? We’re halfway through January…how is it going for you? I’m just now getting to the blog post about my changes for my business, so you’re probably doing better than I am!

Love, Andrea

Simple. Beautiful. Birthday girl.

Sweet friends, family, and fans, thank you for an oh-so-fabulous year! Thank you, thank you for your support and love. This was my biggest and best year yet for my business, and I’m so excited for what 2016 has to offer.

Here are just some of my favorite shots from this year that were never posted. I hope you all have a fantastic New Year celebration. 2016 is gonna be great! xoxo, Andrea

I’m not sure I’ve ever posted practically an entire session in a preview before. However, I was under the gun to get these done for Christmas cards, so I skipped the usual preview and got these straight to Momma. I’ve had to do that lots of times before when there’s a quick turnaround deadline, but I don’t think I’ve ever gone back and posted those pics. However, these are so candid and fun and back to my preferred style of shooting (over the years, I have gotten so far away from the original candid style I had; I really want to get back to it, but so few clients choose the candids to hang up in their homes…) that I had to share.

Yes, those are feathers everywhere. We had quite a blast throwing feathers and jumping and playing and making a big ol’ mess.

After I thoroughly trashed their entryway–I obviously got the heck out of there–and Momma and I took the kiddos outside to try to get some pictures of the boys together and give them a little running room. The light was FANTASTIC.

I must make a comment about this first one. This is the type of picture that Momma (and orderer of pictures) probably wouldn’t buy and put up on the wall. However, it is the kind of picture that (I imagine) her boys would like to look at when they are older. I mean, how many moms look like this? Fun, young, happy, and beautiful? Gorgeous.

Once I asked them to wrestle each other, I was able to get plenty of them together. Go figure.And, oh, what luck! It started snowing for us. :)

Ah, sweet family! Thanks so much for a fun shoot, as always. Is it okay to go ahead and plan a Colorado Thanksgiving session for next year? Huh, huh? :) Happy New Year, and happy everything to come for you.

Love, Andrea

P.S. Friends, family, and fans, in 2016 I’m going to focus my efforts on combining travel and photography. As of right now, I’ve got shoots scheduled in Galveston, San Antonio, two spots in Florida, Chicago, and Seattle. Need a little photographer for your family vacation? Give me a shout.

No snow. No cold. No wind. Just pretty flowers and a little sun. That’s a Texas Christmas day–just the way I like it.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Love, Andrea

Oh, 2015…what a great year. Did you accomplish your goals? What are your plans for 2016? I LOVE making resolutions. I’ll do some year-end recapping at some point after Christmas.

So, this past weekend was my last shoot of the year (Wahoo! I’m so looking forward to hanging with my kiddos. I have tons of painting projects for the house planned, too.) Judging by the crowds at Creekside and Rob Fleming Park, I think it was the last shoot for every photographer in The Woodlands! The sky was overcast and the clouds shed a few drops on us, but we were able to get some great family pics. This family has three bigs and two littles, and once those big kids are out of the house (I’m guessing), it just gets harder and harder to get everyone together for the holidays. So, this sweet family and I spent the afternoon getting some traditional posey-posey-look-at-the-camera pics and some fun candids while everyone was together for the holidays.

Don’t you love how in the one where everyone is chatting and NOT looking at the camera, the baby looks straight into the lens? Classic.

I thought these next two of the boys (big and little) were super sweet.This sweet girl. She walked out of the car and over to introduce herself–as a polite young lady should do. And me? Nope. I think I grabbed her face and started talking like a crazy person going on and on about her super gorgeous eyeballs before I even said hello. Whoops. Sorry. When I see beautiful people that I know the camera will love, my manners go out the window.

See? Am I right, or am I right? 

Thank you, sweet family, for a great afternoon! I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea

Thank you, sweet friends, family, and fans for a fantastic year! xoxo

I’ll put up a proper preview of this lovely sun-drenched session in a few days–trying to get this gallery done for my lovely momma-friend of this cutie pie as soon as possible. I’m a teensy bit obsessed with this light. 

I met this lovely family this past weekend at one of my favorite spots in the area: Burroughs Park. If you’re looking for a great place to hang out as a family or take pictures or get outside and enjoy these beautiful Texas December days, head to Burroughs Park in Tomball. For photographers, it’s tricky because it’s popular (crowded) and there about a bazillion trash cans to Photoshop out. But, it’s got some lovely colors and so many options for photographic spots.

These sweet grandparents and grandbabies are four of a big family of nine. When I do previews, I love to show off the babies, and I’ve heard there’s nothing quite like holding your grandbabies, so I thought this would be a sweet one to show. Also, I’ve heard that this little cutie pie with the bow is notorious for looking away from the camera, so I thought it would be cute to show. I have some with her looking, but her little smile was just too sweet not to share. How photogenic is this little one? I’m guessing she gets her picture taken A LOT. How could you put the camera down when she’s around? Holy moly. These eyeballs. Are they the biggest, bluest, sweetest things you’ve ever seen? This was the first shot of the session. So, Mimi (Correct spelling? I love asking what the grandparent names are. I already talk to my kids about what my grandma name should be. Really. I love talking baby names, especially. When I find out a friend is pregnant, I immediately start thinking of baby names and will randomly text names throughout her pregnancy.) Sorry. So, Mimi was holding baby brother while everyone was piling out of the cars, and he was immediately interested in the camera, so I started snapping. I couldn’t decide which one I liked better of these two, so I thought I’d share both. It’s easy to crop out, but I really love his tiny little belly showing, too. :)

Big, sweet family, thanks so much for a great afternoon at the park. I’m so glad we had beautiful weather and some glowy sun for your family to spend together. I will hustle to get the full gallery done quickly. Happy Christmas!

Love, Andrea

Ok. Here’s the deal. I’m kind of in love with this baby. Do you remember him from his newborn shoot? He’s six months, sitting up, and just as smiley and happy and handsome as ever. What’s funny is that when we were wrapping up, I was telling dad about how W was just so stinkin’ pretty he reminded me of one of my favorite books. He’s got this peaches and cream complexion with that naturally soft baby buzz cut hair. Put him in a white onesie (my favorite), and I’m done. I was gushing about how he reminds me of those little pudgy, perfect, soft skin babies from The Little Golden books and the illustrator Eloise Wilkin. As I was driving home, I was thinking that I’ve said that recently in a blog post, so I can’t write that in this one, but I couldn’t remember when I said it. Yep, it was this dude’s blog post. I’m telling you, he might be the beautiful-ist baby boy ever.  I may have mentioned a time or two before about how much I love it when babies can finally sit up. I love that independence. I’m telling you, momma–you’re going to blink and he’s going to be in kindergarten.I love looking back at my kids’ baby pictures from when their little personalities were first starting to show. This makes me think that we’ll see more of this funny little personality from this face again. And look at this beautiful momma. This is the kind of picture I think he would look at when he’s older and think: my sweet mom is so young and beautiful and happy and fun. Wait until he can hug your neck and kiss you and say, “I love you, momma.” It’s THE BEST.

Sweet family, thanks for a fun morning in your oh-so-lovely home. I’ll have the rest ready just as soon as I can.

Call me when you need a sitter. My little W helps me cull photos when he gets up in the middle of the night and I’m still working, and he is crazy over W, too. :)

Love, Andrea

It’s Sunday after Thanksgiving…are you busy putting up Christmas decorations? We have music playing but no decorations out yet. We were supposed to go get our Christmas tree yesterday for our new tradition of cutting ours down, but it was super gross outside. Plus, I still haven’t found any matching sweaters yet. The pressure is on.

I fully intended to post this late last night, but I (no kidding) started falling asleep while editing and had to stop. I’m not quite yet to the point of making coffee at midnight, but give me a week, and I’ll be there.

This family decided to do a photo shoot of just the kids for cards this year, so most of their shots are of the three kids together, so I thought I’d post these individual ones for fun. 

Do you remember this baby girl? I did her newborn shoot back in October. She is just as beautiful and smiley as ever. Momma said she was going to nap soon, and as I was busy cooing over her, this happened.  

Um, excuse me?! Have I stumbled into some sort of alternate universe where babies sleep? What the heck? If I knew this were a possibility, I may have considered having more kids. Just kidding. Oh, have we met? What do you mean you’ve never heard me whine about my daughter not sleeping for a year-and-a-half straight? Please, let me tell you all about it…. And I don’t even care for one half of one second that she may one day read about me complaining about her to the internet world. That is her punishment. That, and the 12-piece marching band I’ll be sending to her dorm room every Saturday morning for the length of college. Bah-ha-ha-ha.

Ok, I’ll move on. Off to make some cocoa for my sweet babies I adore so much. :)

Sweet momma, it was great to see you and your sweet family as always. I’ll have the rest ready for you soon.

Love, Andrea

Happy Thanksgiving, peeps! This was the first year in three years that I spent it with my hubby and kids. Thanksgiving  week is the busiest week of the year for me, so my husband usually takes the kids back to Louisiana for several days so I can work. This year, we decided that I’d still work, but we’d squeeze in some family time and make our big Thanksgiving dinner together.

One of my favorite families had me come down to Houston to get pics of the entire family in for the holidays. Isn’t the best part of Thanksgiving getting to see cousins and grandparents? I love how these four are all so close in age.

Also, how cool is this tree? How hard would it be for me to transplant this to my back yard? I’m sure the families in this neighborhood wouldn’t mind, right? I would let everyone come take pictures with it, obviously. Do you recognize two of these boys? They are featured in my “lifestyle sessions” tab. So stinkin’ cute…and getting so big!And this baby girl? You might recognize her from my “mini-sessions” tab and one of my first-ever Instagram posts. (Her pretty face is on my largest canvas sample I drag around everywhere.) Don’t worry, Sassy, I’m working on one with everyone in focus, but I thought this one was perfect because Little Miss didn’t want to sit with everyone else. I guess she thinks she’s one and a half or something. :) I like this one in black and white a lot, too, and I just couldn’t decide which one to show. 

Oh, I love this sweet family!

Thanks for welcoming me into your beautiful home, as always! I am working as fast as my little eyeballs and Photoshop will let me to get these done for you for Christmas cards. :)

Love, Andrea

I had clients reschedule their beach pics on Sunday night, because it was supposed to be freezing. So, fortunately for me, that gave me the opportunity to take pics of my kiddos on the beach. We are in the middle of putting up a new fence, so I had the idea of making a little tent/teepee with old planks on the beach to shield them from the wind. I love how it turned out, and I have a frame that’s been patiently waiting for this perfect picture. 

Clearly, I’m happy to go to the beach no matter the weather, so give me a call if you want to get some beautiful pics of your own babies. I’m booking Spring Break sessions right now.

Love, Andrea

508.768.5808 or andrea.bacle@gmail.com

Hey, there! I’m sure you can tell by now that my teeny tiny model doesn’t mind posing for me whenever I get a bright idea. I’m on the hunt for a new master bedroom wall color (I have a bit of a problem with constantly redecorating my house; at last count, I have 18 different paint colors up in the house), so I got the idea of turning a favorite picture into a paint chip card. I found this super cute template from Coffeeshop Blog and then tweaked it a little. Anyway, I’m thinking about pulling from one of the big pictures hanging in our room (they are mainly kissy pictures, so I’ll keep those to myself), and I might make my own paint chip card from it for inspiration.

Also, I thought maybe you’d like to see something a little different on the blog. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving break!! Next week, I should have some oh-so-cute beach pics to share. I have one spot left if you want to bundle up the kiddos for some cute scarf-and-hat-sunset beach pics. :)

Love, Andrea

andrea.bacle@gmail.com or 508.768.5808

Sending a little love out into the world today–with butterflies and sun flare.

Love, Andrea

PS, Do you see the sticker on the butterfly’s wing? He was released at the University of Kansas. We saw it at the Houston Arboretum and emailed the university to give them the butterfly’s update. Pretty cool.

Sheesh. Some days, I absolutely adore my job and everything about it. For real.

And then there are the other days.

Yep. There are days when it seems as if my job is to be queen supreme ruiner of a kid’s day. (With two degrees in education, that wasn’t exactly my life plan. Yes, interested future clients, I realize you are probably running away at this point, but this is what ya get. Sometimes it’s not all giggles and bubbles, unfortunately.) So, at one of my sessions this weekend, I managed to make both kids cry at different points in the 30-ish minute session.

Nice.

This is what I get. Earlier in the week, I was boasting at the swings at the playground. I may have even bragged to my friend about how I was soooo good at making kids laugh.

Good one, Universe. You have humbled me once again.

So, later in the day after I caused two very precious kiddos to cry, I managed to invite one of my all-time-most-favorite families into the mosquito-on-human-apocalyptic-level-worst-battle-in-the-history-of-the-world photoshoot. Uh, you’re welcome.

I’ve lived in some mosquito-infested places in my day, and this was the worst I’ve ever seen. They were swarming and biting us through our clothes. Instead of getting to catch up with my lovely friends I haven’t seen in a year, we had the fastest shoot in history and–no kidding–ran from spot to spot. And through all that, these kids were troopers!! I’m so proud of them. They seriously weren’t complaining AT ALL.

Do you remember this little peanut? She’s all grown up and so stinkin’ adorable. I know you weren’t diggin’ this flower bow, momma. But this wink?! I can’t even handle it. This was the first shot, and I’d like to think she was telling me, “Don’t worry, crazy lady. You got this.”So dapper.
This poor sweet girl who I adore so much…I had to photoshop out two mosquito bites on her beautiful face. I’m sorry, sweet girl!!

Oh, family. Whew. Thanks for braving the bugs with me! I’m sorry we didn’t get to have a real conversation and catch up. I do have lots of great shots for you, and I’ll have them ready soon. It was great to see you, as always!

Love, Andrea