Isn’t pregnancy Beautiful?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE pregnant women.  I love the roundness of their bellies and the soft curves.  Being a mother myself, I know how easy it is to feel self conscious as your body transforms in so many miraculous ways.  Celebrate it, Celebrate LIFE!

 

This is my favorite image from a pregnancy session for a client who is also a dear friend of mine.  I met her when she was still in High School, I photographed her wedding and her beautiful boy’s first year.  She’s driven alomst 2 hours one way for countless sessions with me and she is one of the people I will miss most when we’ve moved to Alabama.

 

Isn’t she lovely?  Isn’t she beautiful?

Why are you moving?

We are getting this question A LOT! We currently live in Cedar Falls, Iowa where the people are warm and wonderful, but the weather is not. In order to live the life we have always imagined and dreamed we knew we had to be somewhere warmer.

Our business in Iowa is incredible and if it was feasible we would continue to run it from a distance. Starting over in a new state 12+hours away is a little scary, but I knew deep inside, if we were to preach to our children that they could do, be and have anything that they wanted (with old fashioned good hard work of course) that we had to practice what we preached. How could we tell them to dream big and go for it, to create the life of your dreams when we were unwilling to do it ourselves?

So in mid July of 2009 we are relocating to Huntsville, Alabama. We chose Huntsville, (Not because we have family there, because we do not) but because Woody did an art show there several years ago and he liked the area. That led us to research and eventually visit and when we visited we fell in love with the area. We know that people from Iowa are wonderful, but Huntsvillians (I hope that’s a word) give them a run for their money! Everywhere we went for the week we were there, we questioned anyone we came in contact with and the one thing that we heard over and over was, “This is the best place to raise a family.”

This is not to say that we are not a little scared and overwhelmed by the whole process. It’s not easy to move your household, children, and business with no support to a totally new area. But every day I say a prayer and I know that God will open the doors for us.

Our two monkeys (playing in the snow pictured above) are the reasons we live our lives the way we do. Every decision we make is for their best interest. We want them to be proud of us! By the way the snow in the first picture of Zelle (upper left) is really that high. This winter we had over 3 feet of snowfall. We’re hoping that this is the last year we’ll need snow pants!

So, thank you to everyone we’ve worked with from Iowa, you have made this decision so hard for us to make, and we can’t wait to meet all you folks in Huntsville. We know that our family will flourish there and we can’t wait to meet you and your families. w gallerie.com

w gallerie

w gallerie (formerly illustrative images) is a boutique style photography studio.  Husband and Wife team, Woody Walters and Ninya Walters start with the medium of photography and then transform it into art.  Woody began his career in photography in the commercial world and his portfolio of fine art images can be seen at http://www.woodywalters.com.  He traveled the world selling his art and then came back to teach at his alma mater Hawkeye Community College for nine years.  In 2005 after losing his mother, father, sister, and a niece, he decided to leave to open illustrative images.  During 2005-2009 Woody and Ninya brought home more awards for their portrait and wedding photography than any other studio in the state of Iowa. 

 

We are so grateful for our loyal client base in Iowa, it has made this decision so tough for us.  But after much thought and prayer, Woody and I have decided to take a chance, wanting a better life for ourselves and our family.  In 2009, We will start over in Huntsville, Alabama.  We are excited to bring our unique vision to a new area and look forward to spending quality time with our two small children in a beautiful and warmer part of the country.

 

w gallerie will offer boutique sessions for senior portraits and will photograph only 40 seniors in the Class of 2010.  We are available for only 20 wedding dates in 2010, and we only have room for 4 new babies each month in their ultimate baby book plan.  Please give us a call at the studio to get more information, introduce yourself, or just chat.  We look forward to meeting you! 256.426.5198  http://www.wgallerie.com

Become a Fan on Facebook

Ok, I’m in my 30’s but hopefully still a little in the know.

We’ve created a page on Facebook for the studio to keep in touch with all our frients (friend clients).

Become a fan of the studio buy clicking here.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Cedar-Falls-IA/w-gallerie/36887314875?ref=ts

The Nielsen Family

We’ve worked with Rayne and Chuck Nielsen a lot this year.

Here is her adorable Grayson playing with a leaf when it was much warmer outside.

 

Her little brother Carson is such a little dollie!  She LOVES him so much. 

By the way, Rayne is a stylist at Sharper Image Salon in Waterloo (Kinda by the Alabar Plaza)  She is AMAZING at what she does.  If you need an updated look I highly reccommend her, she’s given me the best haircuts I’ve ever had and is a genius with color.  Can’t wait to see her later this month!  To schedule an appointment call:  287-3835

Looking for newborn babies during the Months of Jan/Feb

We are looking to create a new line of baby announcements in our digital photo candy business.  This is where we offer our templates for cards and albums.  Go here to see the site. 

http://www.digitalphotocandy.com

Our studio mainly photographs weddings and seniors.  So we are looking for 3-5 babies (boys or girls, doesn’t really matter)  We need to photograph them on a white background and with little to nothing on.  Down to a diaper.  They will need to be sleeping, so we want NEWBORNS WITHIN THE FIRST 2 WEEKS OF LIFE.  Preferably right after their belly button has fallen off.  A Parent or Parents will need to wear a white long sleeve shirt in case we need to use you in the background of the image.  We are going to spend at least an hour with you and want to create a timeless look.  We cannot add siblings to this offer, sorry.

What you will receive, a free session from us ($80 value) and your favorite image as an 8×10, (a $47 VALUE) if you would like additional images from the session, you can purchase them, but there is no obligation at all.

We need you to sign a model release for use on our websites.  If you would like to be part of this, please give me a call at the studio.  319.266.3618

I’m not a baby anymore…sob sob sob

Zelle, our three year old started saying to me, “Mommy I’m not a baby anymore, I’m a big girl.”  I can’t believe three almost four years is gone already!  She’s my last one, so I savor every moment with her in a different way then I did with Wyatt.  When the crib left our house, I cried.  But I felt a little better that it went to my sister’s house for my niece Emily, so at least I can visit it

Now that she is gaining her independence, I am so proud, but also sad that we are leaving the time in her life where she is all kisses and hugs and runs to greet you at the door with open arms. 

We have SO many pics of the kids growing up, which is awesome, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them, until I created a baby book.  See some of the page spreads from Zelle’s through out this post.  Now I am obsessed with it, and making one for Wyatt and then a yearly one start in 2002 the year Wyatt was born.  It is sad to just have a little shoebox full of images, when picture books are available.  This little library will grow as they do and will soften the blow (a little) when they start to drive, graduate from High School, and get married.

Fast Forward to 2022, you will see me on the sofa with a coffee with creme brullee creamer, my books spread around me and a box of kleenex.  :O 

I love this idea SO much that it is the new direction our baby plan is going in.  The new and much improved baby plan will include 4 sessions and a finished fine art table top book.

Stop by the studio if you want to see Zelle’s whole book in person.

It’s our 9th Anniversary…

Nine years ago today Woody and I were married in Cedar Falls.  We’re celebrating kinda low key, taking it easy at the studio today and making time to look through our wedding album, when we were both much thinner!   If memory serves me right, I told Woody after he had seen me for the first time to take a good long look, because this is the best I was ever going to look in my entire life!!

We’re so proud of the two little people that our marriage created so here’s a couple of pics of our Wyatt and Zelle, that we took in the garden earlier this week.  Now I can feel a little less guilty that I haven’t made time to photograph them this summer.

I love this one of them hugging and the pinks repeating in the flowers and her little dress.

This one just captures my “jelly bean”  She is a free spirited fun lover and I think this image says it all.  I wish I had taken a picture of Woody who had to put cigarettes up his nose to acheive this expression.  But hey whatever it takes to get the shot right? 

Zelle just put her hand on Wyatt’s cheek and it was SOOOO cute!

Smiles are great, but I think that a quiet look really lets you see their soul through their eyes.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING A PART OF OUR FAMILY!  All of you have helped us grow and reach the dreams and goals we had for ourselves and for our business.  We are so grateful for your support that has allowed us to flourish in the Cedar Valley, the best place in America to raise our kids with good values.  On this special day we are counting our blessings and thanking God for you.

Deep thoughts……

I’ve been keeping a short little diary of the funny stuff the kids say at different ages, because I know that the exact wording will be long forgotten.  I’m hoping to incorporate these quotes into the family albums I have been working on.   Someday I hope to have a  full library documenting their lives.

This was one nugget of wisdom from 9.2.08

“I wish light sabers were real.  Seriously, I do.”   Wyatt Walters Age 6 

Hoping it brings a little smile to your face.

Beautiful Children

Elle came in for her 4 year old session.  This here’s a couple of my absolute favorites from her session.

Little girls can’t resist a pink umbrella.  She saw it out of the corner of her eye and we had to use it.The browntone above was my absolute favorite from the session.  It just has this timeless quality about it.

Maicey and Hailey came in for a session a few weeks ago.  I photographed Maicey as part of our baby collection a couple years ago.  It was great to see the whole family again.

The eyes tell the whole story.  I love it when I get to capture a little of their soul through them.

Hailey is a girly girl and really hammed it up for the camera.  She made the session a lot of fun.