Our marriage healthily continues due to one thing and one thing only - baby cake smashes! Because of such a thing, Stephanie keeps getting her baby fix and the pressure to have another baby ourselves has diminished. I think I can safely say that I am out of the woods on this matter - as long as our families keep bringing us their adorable little ones! That brings us to my most recent hero - Baby L. We first captured this guy a year ago and in that short time this little guy has grown such a joyful personality. I believe he laughed and smiled the entire time! His deep blues eyes really lure you in and his toothy grin is just absolutely cuteness overload! Justin and Heather have done an amazing job with this little sprout and we are so excited to see him grow throughout the years! Check out his Sesame Street themed Cake Smash with one of the coolest Elmo cakes we have ever seen! 

Ask any truly happy person for advise on what you should do to have a happy life of your own and he/she will most likely tell you to do what you love! Stephanie and I love photography but even more so, we love the friendships and stories that photography brings to us. Through the last six years we have met some amazing people - some of which we adored so much that they even had a part in our own wedding bliss. If we had not followed what made us happy we would not have met so many wonderful people that help fill our lives with joy.

In our first year of photography together Stephanie and I shot the Balzano family portraits. DJ and Natasha reached out to us at DNA Photography and wanted us to come visit their home and photograph their newborn son's (Baby T) first Christmas portraits. Back then we lacked much of the equipment and techniques that we utilize today but they put their faith in us to capture the event. As their family grew, so did our skillset. And every six months the Balzanos return to us for updated photos...and every time we had the chance to see them we got the opportunity to spy the small changes of their family. It wasn't long before another son was born and we had the chance to meet Baby E. He arrived with his own personality and it continues to grow and shine like his big brother's every time we have the chance to see them.

Through the years we have had the pleasure of capturing their family portraits in our studio, our backyard, their backyard, the grounds of the Maine Audobon Society and most recently Willard Beach in South Portland. We cannot say enough good things about this family and the many others who continuously put the small but very personal task of capturing their family portraits in our hands. We love what we do...and we love who we do it with! And with that shared, let us also share a few teasers of this family's beachside family portrait session! 

I am not sure when Tom and Marilyn Ouellette married 51 years ago if they ever expected to have the family they do today. Rich with personalities and humor, this extended family was exactly what we needed on this extremely warm photo shoot in which we drove out to Littlejohn Island for. The love of the Tom and Marilyn spawned four children. That generation now parents four and 1/2 children of its own. The photo shoot came to be when the elder Ouelletes were surprised by their children who gifted them a family photo session. Everyone kept it light with a simple blue and white color scheme that was complemented by the vibrant greens of the surrounding wooded area and the burnt oranges of the fallen pine needles.

Eldest son Mark and his wife Connie offered up their custom built home and property to act as the backdrop for the photo shoot. Given the time of day we were very grateful to have the amazing tree coverage the property offered for the midmorning shoot. We do not get asked often enough to do generation shoots but when we do...we love every minute of it! With the busy lives we all have nowadays it is nice to see a family take a little bit of time to celebrate their growth.

A memorable twist to this shoot was when a number of the family members disappeared for a few minutes only to return dressed in full New England Patriot apparel. It quickly turned into a mini Patriot's jamboree minus any deflated footballs :)   

A huge thank you goes out to Mark, Scott, Tammy, Randy and their amazing significant others for inviting us inside of their circle, even if only for a few hours, to capture heirlooms we hope that will be passed on to future generations. We will need to do this again once grandchild number five finally makes his/her arrival. Here are a few sneak peaks of Tom and Marilyn's family. Congratulations on 51 years of marriage!