A sweet little sleepy smile…

And some kissy-smoochie lips…

And check out what a hot mama he has… yes people this is ONE WEEK after giving birth. Seriously.

So worth the wait!

What a little honey he was to photograph… I love his little old man forehead wrinkles in this one.

And at only 5-days-old, he was already a little charmer smiling for the camera. Ahhhhhhhhh………

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It is time to announce the winner of the Children’s Miracle Network donation contest. Congratulations to Michelle Currence! She has a three-year-old little guy and is expecting baby #2, so we will do some shots of her son, and of her growing tummy during our session in August. Can’t wait to meet you Michelle, and thanks again to everyone who donated to such a wonderful cause.

On a side note, the annual Cully’s Kids event is going to be held this weekend and you won’t want to miss it! You can purchase tickets to the Auction/Concert Friday night at the Hub, or the family picnic on Saturday at Newman Outdoor Field. Both cost $50 and go to help the fund Cullen Foundation which in turn gives grants to various children’s programs and charities such as  The Ronald McDonald House, KampKACE, and Riding on Angels Wings. I’ll be at both events with my camera in hand so make sure to say hi!

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I have contacted the winner of the free session and DVD of images from the Children’s Miracle Network contest. Once I receive proof of donation, I will announce the lucky winner on the blog! Have a great weekend everyone… I will be down in the cities watching two of my kids play soccer!

~Ria

She also had a very sweet and loving big brother!

My favorite of the day…

decided that she liked it sooooooooooo much, she was going to stay put. She stayed there for two whole weeks past her due date; until she was good and ready to come out…all rolly polly and sweet as ever.

So happy you are finally here baby Payton! Clearly you were practicing your smiles while you were waiting to be born. That’s no “newborn-gassy-smile”… that’s the REAL DEAL.

Isn’t this yawn just the cutest?

Love this shot with dad’s cool shoes and mom’s pretty toes…

And this is the little bebe they were waiting for… nice to meet you sweet Norah!

A happy little family…

Kisses from the big sister… [Check out his sweet diaper cover!]

That last one is my favorite… especially the pouty little bottom lip!

~Ria

This precious little girl was a perfect little model for her session. I loved her full head of hair!

I fell in love with this baby so hard, I tried to get her parents to let me adopt her, I tried to get some sort of visitation schedule set up, I even tried just shoo the parents away for the afternoon. None of which seemed to work. Maybe she could just call me Auntie?

~Ria

And I think big brother Lane was just a little bit thrilled to have another boy in the house… just LOOK at his sweet expression!

In fact, I don’t know what we would have done with out Lane during this session. Baby Finn was having a hard time settling down, and Lane had this cute little lullaby that he sang over and over to his little brother, and it did the trick everytime!

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Thank you to everyone who has sent in Happy Dog photos! I will be contacting those that I’d like to photograph during the next week!

~Ria

These boys arrived as a pair! They were so much fun to work with because they slept so deeply throughout the session. They sure didn’t look like twins though… one little guy was smaller, had dark hair and was a bit more alert, and the other had a fuller face, blonde hair, and was very sleepy!

Having witnessed the “twin relationship” with my two boys, there really is nothing quite like the bond that these two will share.

~Ria

Check out the precious newborn smile on this last one…

I hope you all had a really great Easter weekend. Wasn’t the weather just unbelievable? Coming up on the blog this week, Lindsey will be sharing images from some of her recent sessions, I will FINALLY post some photos from our Florida vacation (I can’t believe you let me get away with not posting those!), and I will be announcing a SUPER-FUN casting call.

~Ria

I did a blog post about them last October, when their mama was still pregnant with baby #3. They wanted to keep the baby’s gender a surprise, so we were all guessing what they would have. Well, baby “W” turned out to be another boy! I think his big brothers are very much in love with him.

Congratulations Arnold family! We can’t wait to see them all out on the ice rink together.

These twins filled the typical boy/girl newborn roles… The little girl was very curious and alert and just didn’t want to close her eyes. The little boy didn’t care what was going on, and we couldn’t get him to OPEN his eyes!

After some hard work, we finally got little sweet pea to settle into a deep sleep so we could try some fun twin poses!

This time I visited, it was winter and my trip started out with me in the ditch and their wonderful daddy coming to save me and pull me out. [Don't ask.] But, I was so excited to visit them this time because they had somebody super special to introduce me to! A new baby brother…

I got to spend a cozy afternoon with these boys and their awesome mama . I really thought maybe I could have stayed all day. They are the kind of people that just make you feel so comfortable. They make you want to hang around and never leave. This little guy is so lucky to have been born into such a wonderful family.

Just think of all the things these three big brothers are waiting to teach little baby “A”!

Thank you Swenson family for such a fabulous afternoon, (and for saving me from freezing to death all alone in the ditch!) I can’t wait until I can come and visit again… maybe next time another summertime session with FOUR boys running around!

And the little guy that was all tucked away inside of her was just the cutest little peanut. He was so sleepy during his newborn session that I think we could have done just about anything with him!

This little boy had the greatest lips EVER……

Have a great weekend everyone. I have a super fun announcement coming on Monday so make sure to check back then!

~Ria

I was able to capture a few of the moments that this mommy and daddy had with their sweet baby boy before they had to say goodbye to him forever and I can tell you that it was an experience that I will never forget. All in one day, these two amazing people had to come to the realization that their baby would not be born alive, give birth to him, take in every second they could with him, and then say goodbye. Absolutely heartwrenching. When they got pregnant again, it was a time filled with much anxiety and concern, as this family had learned that you can never really take a healthy baby for granted. I am happy to say, that this family now has a sweet new little girl in their lives to love and watch grow up. We all know that her big brother Beckett will be watching over her from heaven, and that he will never be forgotten.

Meet Liv Harper…

A true miracle…

And truely loved with every fiber of their being…

Told you.

It turns out… he actually was! He was even named hottest bachelor for North Dakota in Cosmo magazine in 2000. He will die when he finds out I posted this photo, but not to worry, I cleared it with his wife first. Sorry Scott… I couldn’t resist!

Little “G” is following in his daddy’s footsteps, and was the perfect model for his very first photoshoot!

And here she is this summer… two years old already. And still one of the most beautiful children I have ever met… and so easy to photography too!

And… this time she had a little someone to introduce me to! She brought along her brand new baby sister…

Guess What????

Now you can become a fan of Rialee Photography on Facebook. Check us out!

I also need to thank the 15 ladies who took part in my 4th PhotographerMAMA workshop this weekend. I had so much fun getting to know each of you and look forward to seeing all of your progress! For those of you wanting to register for future workshops, I do have an contact list started, so just send us a quick e-mail and we can add you to the list to let you know when I schedule workshops for 2010.

Here are just a couple of my images from the photoshoots on Saturday…

Oh did I mention….?

She had an equally adorable [but much more active!!!!] one-year-old big brother!

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A NOTE…

I will be going on a much needed vacation with my family and will be out of the studio all of  next week. Galleries and orders will be a bit delayed because of this, but I will be getting right back into the swing of things on September 8th (when school starts for my kiddos!). It’s hard to believe that summer is already over… as always, it went by SOOO fast. I’d like to send out a big thank-you to ALL of the amazing clients I had this summer for being so wonderful and amazing to work with! I’m looking forward to a great fall season too… See you in September!

I spent the weekend in San Diego CA learning from none other than the super fun, and super cool Baby As Art team, Carrie Sandoval and Brittany Woodall. I have admired their newborn work for quite sometime and was so honored to be able to attend their workshop. They keep their numbers very small and only allow 6 people to attend which ends up being an awesome, hands-on learning experience. Carrie was generous enough to invite us all to stay at her home while we were there… so literally the workshop did not end for two straight days. Thanks Carrie and Brit for the unforgettable weekend!

Here is Brit working with our little models… she literally IS the baby whisperer….

And me… getting a chance to rock one of the newborns to sleep! Sorry about the disheveled appearance… we kept it VERY warm in the studio for all the naked babies, so we were all a sweaty mess!

And here are some of my images from the weekend!

All the kids have been loving my new bike… available at Pout!

And finally a one of the biggest newborns I’ve photographed, who made his mama wait two whole weeks past her due date to meet him!

I love his expression in this one…

And a sweet little newborn smile…

I love this thoughtful pose… He was only five days old the day of his session, but he had the look of a much older baby.

And this is his “no more photos please” pose!

I love how comfy and happy she looks in this one…

The boys… I don’t think dad and big brother could be any more proud!

We also had to get four-year-old pics done for “S”! He liked getting his photos taken so much more than last year… and I LOVED the clothes his mama chose. The t-shirt says “I’ll Change the World Someday”……….

And baby girl “S”…

I had a very touching session this morning with a little girl that I can’t wait to introduce to you… hopefully later this week!

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More from these sessions, plus sessions I still haven’t posted from before I went to Africa — coming next week.  Have a great weekend everyone!

~Ria

Another hat from Etsy… I had this one custom made for me by MadAboutColor. She calls it her “Hat for the Fashion Conscious Newborn!”

We were trying to get sweet “M” to fall into a deep sleep for her “nakie” pics, and she decided she would hold in her own pacifer!

She was less than a week old on the day of her session… and was just the cutest little peanut ever. I sorta wanted to take her home with me!

Gotta love those newborn smiles…

I love this series…

Can you tell that big sister “A” was a little annoyed during this shot? She really wanted to hold her baby…

So we let her! 

This vintage-y/Poloroid-ish effect is my new favorite!

Here is the new baby brother of those twins I posted a couple of weeks ago. This is a sample birth announcement… doncha love that hat?

That’s it for now………more to come!

I’m off to do the cover shoot for the next OTMOM issue and then I’ll be back up to the studio to get ready for my first PhotographerMama workshop. I’m sooooooooooo excited!

I think I may have a new assistant!

LOVE, LOVE, puffy heart LOVE this one…

I can just imagine what little tid-bits of advice she was sharing with baby “J”  in this photo…

Look at the new hat I just got on Etsy!

Well… one of my favorite families came to see me again and their little newborn has grown up and  is now a busy one-year-old! Here is a sneak peek for you “O” family…

This one is especially for my girls at Pout….

You can find almost ALL of these products like the safe sippy and sophie the giraffe there. [and little "N"s mom also sells her fabulous products there too!]

funny

And not to be left out… “A” and “L” got some photos taken too.

I had a LOT of favorites from the day… but this one …

I just fell in LOVE with…

love this outtake… it’s not easy to get a busy two-year-old to be all snuggly with a tiny baby!

But then we got this… and I LOVE it!

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Just a little reminder that we will begin taking appointments for June, July and August on February 1st!

This little guy was so sweet and soooooo shy! I finally got him to crack a smile on the last few shots of our session!

This little newborn was so tiny…. she wore her big sister’s American Girl doll’s skirt! Also, a funny little story about this shot~~~ We had just gotten her settled on her tummy (she had no diaper on under her teensy weensy skirt) and I was looking through by camera to set up the shot. All of a sudden I saw a little puddle start to form under her legs. Her mommy was so great though… she let me grab the shot and THEN we cleaned her up! What we won’t do to get a photo.

Love this little girl… a photo of her from her session last spring hangs in the gallery at the loft. She turned two in November so she came back with the cutest orange dress and boots! She was also PAINFULLY shy… her mama (who I also ADORE!) and I were a little worried for the first half-hour or so. But…. after a few rousing renditions of the theme song from Scooby Doo she loosened up! [You should have seen us dancing and singing like crazy people... it was quite a sight.]

Another sweet newborn…. this one had a two-year-old big brother! As I’ve said before, for sibling shots at that age you take what you can get. This little guy gave me exactly two seconds to snap exactly two shots!

I loved his curly hair and pouty lips!

Pheww….. that was a lot of photos. Still more to come!

His mom brought this cute little hat.. and a train just happened to be going by the studio during their session so we decided to go outside and watch!

Also, my website has been a bit wonky the last couple of days… if you have had trouble getting into your galleries let me know and I can extend your deadline a bit to give you some extra time. Sorry about that!

well not really… (can you imagine being asked to do that shoot?)

But these fabulous parents do have brand new boy girl twins! Because of some time in the NICU they were almost a month old on the day of our shoot, but since they were just 3 and 4 pounds when they were born they were still teeny tiny…and so sweet and delicious.

Oh I remember those days of double feedings…

Little “E” already smiling…or is she dreaming?

Okay…on to other things like busy schedules. July is now booked and August is almost booked. I only have a few spots left for the last week in August. I have also set dates for my summer Twin Cities sessions. I am planning to be there on July 23rd and 24th. Right now I am working out the details and locations, so if you are interested in setting up a session on one of those days, please e-mail me!

And…in honor of Father’s Day this weekend, here is a sneak peek from a newborn session I did up at the loft this week.

Can I take your five-day-old baby outside today for a few shots?

Trust me.

How about if we lay him in the grass?

Trust me.

And is it okay if we lay him on the concrete?

Just trust me.

You guys were so great… and we got these incredible images because of it!

Now before you start going all …”she is so creative…blah blah blah” I stole this idea DIRECTLY from one of my favorite children and family photogs, the uber-talented Tara Whitney.

Thanks for such a fun session… can’t wait to work with baby “C” again.

And of course, as much as I love sleeping newborn shots, I am just as excited when I get newborn “eye contact”!

He was happiest in his mama’s arms….

But we did manage to coax him into sleeping for just a few minutes for us…we wanted to get some shots of him in this adorable hat. It has such a neat story behind it….. His mom was in Peru when she found out she was pregnant with him and so she bought this baby hat there. How cool is that?

I spotted this gorgeous vintage looking chair and really wanted to try some shots on it. Baby “I” cooperated so nicely!

I had to get a few shots of her adorable big brothers too… love this one.

And this one.

And this one just makes me smile.

And little boy “K” was the sweetest brother…he seemed like he was already being protective of his sister.

He was quite a bit bigger than her–you can really tell in this photo.

He didn’t enjoy his individual shots nearly as much as his sister!

Finally…at the end of their session we got them both to fall alseep at the SAME time for this shot ~ the sweetest ever!

And little boy “B” had quite the personality! With three older sisters at home and a twin sister, he is going to have to be able to hold his own and let me tell you…he is already practicing. He let us know when he didn’t want to do something…like wear that darn hat!

Since baby girl “B” was a TEENSY bit more cooperative, we got to do a few more of those sweet sleepy newborn shots with her.

…sigh…isn’t he just delicious??? I love all his hair!

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I will be out of town from this afternoon until Sunday. I will be returning calls and e-mails on Monday!

Well he is now a proud big brother who adores his baby sister…can you tell?

And here….is sweet baby “L”.

And I couldn’t resist posting this one…

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I took the day off today to hang out with my kids, so if you have e-mailed or called, I will be getting back to you tomorrow!

I have to start out with a photo from her session that cracks me up…you see…little “K” didn’t exactly like it when we took her clothes off and tried to put her in all these squished up positions. For the first half-an-hour or so she cried. And not just cried but screamed! So..this photo kinda says it all. I don’t want to offend anyone, but I do believe she is giving us her little baby finger in this one.

Okay…now that we got that out of the way…

Since she was sleeping so soundly at this point, we thought we’d give the nakie baby shots another try…and viola!

And one with mom and dad…I love how she is so intently looking at them.

Baby “N” is also lucky enough to have a very sweet older brother and sister who simply adore her.

And just in case you thought that it was all fun and games and that she slept soundly the whole time…

But then…she realized photo shoots weren’t so bad.

Don’t try looking for this adorable hat in Fargo Moorhead…this one came from the Netherlands. Isn’t it the cutest? And her mommy made her the fabulous orange blanket. I want one JUST like it…hint hint Natalie!

Another wide eyed shot…

I think I may have bored her a little bit…she fell asleep during these shots. She made the perfect little pea pod!

I love crying shots…but it was time for a snack and a snooze for little “T”!

One for dad….

And here is a sample of a custom birth announcement!