Cloe and friends

One of the many things I love about photographing weddings is all the little kids I get to work with.  They're so full of life.   You never know what they're going to do!  They're quick to accept you as a friend if you're sincerely interested in them.  They're usually not afraid to let you know exactly what they think, and they have an amazing amount of energy.  The world is a very big place to explore when you've only been in it half a dozen years or so... and I love watching them navigate the exciting new experiences involved in being a ring bearer or flower girl.

Cloe was one of several adorable children (flower girls and...escorts? what do you call multiple iterations of what you'd normally call a ring bearer?) at Steven and Grace's wedding in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. She's the oldest daughter of Natan and Julie Terrell, who do missions work there in Chiapas. (You can check out their website here.)

Hanging out with the groomsmen at the rehearsal

Bubbles and cute flower girls just go together perfectly :)

Cloe has two cute little sisters!  Here's baby Brennah, with John, one of the groomsmen.

Later at the reception with her mommy, Julie...enough excitement for the day.  :)

With her good friend Chris (my brother)  :)

Cloe and Gabi

My brother Chris and I were staying at Nathan and Julie's that weekend, so naturally, I have lots more cute photos of these three cute sisters to share with you...later!  :)  Meanwhile I'm in the process of posting the rest of the photos from this wedding here.

Till next time...

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...


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Orphan rescue

Last week my mom and Heidi went out for a walk...and came home with this adorable baby Canada goose!  His parents had abandoned him, and he was frantically chasing a couple geese around the pond, thinking they were mom and dad.  But they flew off, and when the little gosling couldn't follow, Heidi and mom said his panicked little squeaks were just heart-rending.  So they brought him home.  He's been living quite happily here for the past week, hanging out with the baby chicks, eating chick food with them and sometimes sitting in his water bowl.  He's pretty snuggly too.  He likes my hair...must think it's feathers...hehe.  :P

 

He wasn't easy to photograph -- for such a little thing, he sure can get around on those little webbed feet!

 

We'll take him back to the pond when he's old enough to fend for himself. Meanwhile...it's pretty cute to have this little squeaky morsel of fuzziness living with us!

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...

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Kate. Quite possibly the cutest kid in the world.

Of course I'm a little biased, but I think my little cousin Kate has got to be one of the cutest kids EVer.  You just might agree once you see these photos!

Here she is as a baby...

And here she is as a two-year-old.  She wouldn't really pose for me, of course, but she has so many hilarious expressions...all I have to do was just keep my camera around at family get-togethers and I'm sure to get something!

And it didn't end there.  I think I'll post a few more tomorrow.  ;)

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday!  He is risen!!!

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...

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Hard day. But a good day.

(Practicing our portrait skills with a doll)

Today was hard...but good.  I spent the day at a photography studio in San Francisco, attending a training session for NILMDTS.  "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" is a non-profit organization I mentioned in a recent post about my sister Amy.  They provide professional portrait sessions for families with babies who don't have long to live, or have already passed away.  Here's a video that sums it up...



NILMDTS was featured on the Today Show a couple years ago...not an easy video to watch, but it clearly shows what a priceless treasure this service is to the families.

"There is no foot too small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world"

So, hard day...but a good one.  Like these photo sessions are.  Hard, but good.  And entirely worthwhile.

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...

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Amy

When I was fourteen years old, my mom had a baby.  She was beautiful.  She had big eyes and peach-fuzz hair and perfect little hands.

As soon as she was born, the doctors and nurses could tell something was wrong.  There wasn't a newborn intensive-care unit at that hospital, so she was rushed to Children's Hospital in Oakland.  There they told my parents that there was nothing they could do to help her.  She spent her whole two-day life there, hooked up to a respirator, the only way she could breathe.

I'll never forget those two days.  We all held her and loved her and cried and prayed together.  It was hard to grasp.  This baby we'd anticipated for nine months wasn't going to grow up with the rest of us kids.  She would never learn to walk or swim or ride a bike...never sing or love or have her own children.

We named her Amy.  It means "Beloved".

It's been a long time, but I still think about Amy and miss her.  I'm looking forward to seeing her again in heaven, with our Lord Jesus, who made her and loves her...and I'm sure she can't wait till the rest of her family gets there!


We didn't know a whole lot about photography, but we did our best with the Minolta SLR we had, during the two days of Amy's life.  I treasure the prints from those few rolls of film.  Amy is gone; but the memories and photos are still here.

Now, years later, as I've become a photographer, that experience has colored how I view my work.  Every image is a long-term investment.  It might be as simple as a pretty flower, or as gripping as a baby with only hours left to live.  The moment you click the shutter, you hold time still.  That moment will never be experienced again.  But you have the photograph to keep the moment with you.

Yesterday I went with another photographer to the intensive-care floor of a San Francisco hospital where a baby was dying.  We took photos of him, and his parents with him.  They will forever treasure these keepsakes of the precious life that was given to them for just a short time.

The photographer I went with is a member of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, an organization started by a photographer and mother who had a similar experience.  This is their mission statement: "To introduce remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby with the free gift of professional portraiture.  We believe these images serve as an important step in the family's healing process by honoring their child's legacy."  I'll be going to a day-long training with NILMDTS next Monday and I'm looking forward to doing more portrait sessions for these families.

God doesn't make mistakes; but we live in a fallen world, and tragic things happen.  As a photographer I treasure the opportunity to use my skills to help comfort grieving families and honor the child God gave them...even if it was only for a fleeting moment.

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...

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