j. thomas photography | St. Louis children's photography | senior portraits

Hot lava! A fun volcano project - St. Louis children's photographer

Our second Christmas gift project was really crazy and entertaining.  Thanks to Aunt Elaine and Uncle Dale, my son had a "make your own volcano" kit!  The volcano mold was poured with plaster and allowed to sit overnight for the eruption.  The next evening, we all gathered around the kitchen to watch the lava show.  We all had a good laugh and "erupted" the volcano many times until the plaster was eroding.  Thanks such a great gift!

The very serious business of the volcano:

 

 Mr. A wonders if the eruption will happen if he puts his face right over the hole:

A steady hand pours the magic mixture into the volcano:
 

And red foam is produced!

 

Christmas creations over winter break - gingerbread house - St. Louis children's photography

My three children love to cook, create and conduct their own scientific experiments with every glass in the house.  Of course, this leads to some interesting, and messy, Christmas gifts.

My teen daughter was given a gingerbread house kit by her younger siblings.  The house was pre-made and ready to decorate, so the fun was left to the icing and candy designs.  I think she did a nice job, but the poor house was soon condemned and immediately eaten.

Miss K. shows off the final product before digging in:

Stay tuned for our volcano science project!

The sassy sisters - St. Louis modern children's photography

I love fun sessions like this one!  These two sisters are so beautiful and have a great time every time they are in my O'Fallon portrait studio. 

For this session, Miss G. needed some rock star guitar portraits, and my new funky girls' only backdrop was the perfect match.  We started with a rock star make over, including up-dos for both girls.  We then pulled out the matching pink pettiskirts, a denim jacket and my child's size electric guitar.

Miss G. and Miss A. threw in their own amount of "America's Next Top Model", and a little bit of sass, for these wonderful modern and funky portraits.

New website at www.jthomasphotography.com going up soon!

The bad news:  the j. thomas photography website is down for the next 24-48 hours while it is being migrated to a new server.

The good news:  a brand new website is coming in two days!

The new website will have separate sections for children's portraits and for senior portraits, along with a link to my blog here.  Also, the websites will have fully functional HTML (non-Flash) mirror sites.  These sites will allow for slower connections to access information quickly, and will allow iPhone viewing.  All the same information and galleries will be displayed on the non-Flash sites.

The new teen/senior site has many new photos from the last few months and many more will be added as the site is expanded over the next couple of months.  Keep your eyes open for all my new teen/senior backdrops in the studio.

Another new addition is a brand new client viewing and proofing gallery.  The new software includes many of the same great functions of my last proofing gallery, such as, passwords, slideshows and favorites.  But, the new software has larger and sharper images, saved favorites for each viewer (with saved e-mail address), the ability to share your favorite proofs on Facebook or through e-mail, and all sorts of other fun options.

There are also so many new images added to the children's website as I haven't been updating my current website in anticipation of this transition.

I love my beautiful teens! St. Louis teen photographer

Miss C. is a beautiful girl who needed just a little encouragement to feel really comfortable in front of the camera.  After a bit a make-up, my trusty fan and some laughing, she realized her inner model and lit up the camera.  What a great smile!

 

Beautiful holiday dresses from Strasburg Children - Brentwood children's portraits

I had a wonderful time at the Strasburg Children store at the Boulevard on Saturday meeting some lovely customers and sharing some of the gorgeous holiday clothing.  I took these images for the Boulevard holiday event of three of the newest holiday styles.

If you haven't already, book your holiday session soon!

2009 Holiday card design unveiled - Congenital Heart Defects Family Assn. - St. Louis children's photographer

I just finished the 2009 Congenital Heart Defects Families Association holiday cards which should be in-stock by mid-November.  My son was born with severe congenital heart defects requiring three heart surgeries in four years, stomach surgery, a feeding tube for 7 years and other lingering problems related to his heart.  He will need further surgeries as he grows and/or as his heart begins to further fail.  Congenital heart defects are the #1 birth defect, but routine screening of newborns is rarely performed.  Please contribute to awareness of congenital heart defects while raising money for research to save more children like my son.

Place your order on-line at:  www.CHDfamlies.org

All proceeds benefit the CHD Families Association.

 

Sugar and spice at four years old! Children's portraits Wildwood, Missouri

This Wildwood beauty was back for her four year old portraits.  These portraits were all taken in her family home with my full studio set-up instead of making a trip to my studio in O'Fallon.  I enjoy Miss E. so much; she is one of the most polite young girls I've ever worked with.  She inspires me to instill better manners in my own little ones.

Another wonderful year and another happy birthday!

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes today!  I spent most the day updating drives on my main computer but found some time for a fun movie.  I hope to celebrate with a family dinner this weekend when my children aren't so busy!

Wow, 41 years ago:

Today Show - beautiful sleeping newborn portraits

If you didn't see the Today Show yesterday, you missed a wonderful piece about newborn photography.  This seemed like a great topic to share as I was just posting newborn photos myself.  I love to spend the time to take portraits of babies both wake, and asleep.  A sleeping newborn baby is so easy to pose for the most beautiful portraits.

Just remember, these portraits work with very young newborns, two weeks old and younger is ideal.  Book your session as soon as you are home from the hospital, or before your delivery date.

Today Show newborn photographs