i heart mckay

I've always loved photography ... though I should clarify that to date I just enjoy pictures other people take, not actually taking the pictures. The last time I remember researching and choosing a photographer was nearly 7 years ago for our wedding. The photography costs ended up being a pretty sizable portion of our budget because it was a priority to me that the one thing we'd have to look back on from our wedding day was well done and exactly what we wanted. To this day, I think the investment in our wedding photography was worth it.

I had the opportunity to search for a photographer again during the last few months of the pregnancy looking for someone to do baby portraits. I must say it was a bit overwhelming, one because everyone offers something different in the way of packages, print prices, etc. and two because I think it's pretty hard to take a bad picture of a baby. So, after looking at 15-20 photographers, I had narrowed it down to two. Then, Juliet was born before I could make a decision ... so the whole thing was on hold ... but I knew from the photographers I'd spoken with that it was best to capture the newborn pics in the first couple weeks so it was always in the back of my mind (and I'd occasionally bring it up to Dominic ... ok, more than occasionally).

The main hold up for me was the investment in photography in the midst of acquiring all the other necessary baby stuff. Professional photography seems like an easy frivolous thing to cut, right? Well, not for me ... goes back to my love of photography and the fact that I really felt like I would regret not capturing her newborn-ness ... or having someone who really knows how to operate a camera capture her. Besides, lets be honest, she's simply beautiful ... how could we not?!? I told Dominic if we'd had an ugly baby, it wouldn't have been an issue ;-)

So, the decision. In all my looking, I'd developed a favorite - McKay Portraits. I loved all the pictures on the website, thought the prices were reasonable, found myself visiting the website once a day just to look at the galleries, etc. My mom has always said art/photos "speak" to you and I think she's right. That was definitely the case with me and these photos. So, the decision was made.

We had our photo shoot yesterday evening. Lacey came to our home for the pictures. She was everything I'd hoped she'd be - friendly, gentle, creative, and sincere. Juliet did great overall. She slept for the first 30 minutes, ate, and then was wide awake for the next 45 minutes. When she left, I was a little anxious about the whole thing, how the pictures would turn out, if we'd feel like it was worth the investment, etc. She said it would be about a week before she'd have the proofs edited and up on the web for viewing ... I have to wait in anxious anticipation for a week?

So, this morning, I checked my email, and decided I'd just go to the photographers blog just to see if by some small chance she had any pictures up from yesterday and she did! She had posted a few pictures from our session (at 11:15pm last night) and they are all awesome. I thought I couldn't be happier, but then this afternoon, the rest of the proofs are up and I'm even happier than I was this morning!