by Sara Arrigoni | Dec 19, 2014 | 10 on 10, Personal Tidbits, Project Life
Oh, what a year! Today I continue the annual tradition of my best of 10-on-10, my personal favorites from all the 10-on-10 photos I’ve posted this year. I’m teaming up with my usual 10-on-10 partner in crime, Beth from Life as a Sports Mom.
If 2013 was a year of birth, change and feeling somewhat off-kilter all year, then 2014 brought a bit of stability and (relative) calm. Life with three kids found me at home much of the time, so it’s no surprise that the focus of my 10-on-10 favorites tended to be my kids.
I have always advocated people do 10-on-10 because it’s a fairly “doable” photo challenge, a lot less daunting than a Project 365 or even a Project 52 (a picture a week), and yet over the course of the year it does succeed in capturing a glimpse of life, even if along the way I am grumbling to myself, “These pictures stink; nothing even *happened* this month.”
And yet, a lot happens when you are standing so close to a situation you are almost blinded by its proximity. Over the course of a year, the baby morphed from a crawling 8-month-old to a full-fledged toddler, my middle son from a crazy 3-year-old to a slightly-less-crazy 4-year-old, and my daughter into what now seems like a “real” kid, full of humor, insight and fun.
Without further adieu *drumroll*, my personal favorites from this year’s 10-on-10 collection…
Evenings like this are long past now. Our baby would never fall asleep like this anymore!
The sweetest baby face.
Just lounging around… bedtime shenanigans.
E. I love how his personality shines in this one.
The little miss.
A rare serious look at E. Usually he hams it up the moment a camera appears.
The only 10-on-10 picture NOT taken by me, image by my then-5-year-old.
Summertime fun!
The birthday girl.
Just an everyday image, but I like it.
Which 10-on-10 image is your favorite? Are there any that didn’t make the cut that were particularly memorable for you? Let me know in the comments!
And in the meantime, let’s visit Beth’s blog to see her favorites from the year, too!
by Sara Arrigoni | Jul 31, 2014 | Personal Tidbits, Photography Philosophy
photograph by Elizabeth Wendland, lifeasasportsmom.com
I’m thrilled to be featured today over at the new “Life as a Sports Mom” blog, with a detailed interview with my dear friend, Elizabeth Wendland. You’ll recognize Beth from our 10-on-10 posts, but today she did something much different, as I share my thoughts and experiences on a variety of photography topics! Beth and I have been friends now for a number of years, since we originally met through a photography workshop. Since then, we have both taken slightly different paths with our photography, and it was an honor to chat with her about my experiences and passions as a marriage and family photographer.
I’ve shared a lot on my own blog before, but never quite like this. You won’t want to miss Beth’s post today!
Please head over and leave a comment to tell her I sent you!
by Sara Arrigoni | Jun 25, 2014 | Photography Happenings
Friends, I’m looking for someone with a high school senior (graduating 2015, or possibly even someone who just graduated who did not get senior photos), who is interested in a “reimagining” of the senior photo experience to be a model for my new “Benediction” high school senior celebration sessions. This session would be a celebration of the senior but involve the whole family through short interviews and individual portraits as well as a few family photos. I have a vision for senior sessions that goes beyond just getting great photos (although you’d get that too), but also involves fostering an environment where you can speak life into your graduate and bless them as they prepare for their next step in life. Don’t worry; I will be providing the tools to help you share your love for your graduate, in a stress-free, low-key environment as I come alongside you.
If you would like to be considered for the “pilot” of my new session format–and the reduced session prices that come with being my guinea pig, please contact me. Ideal candidates would also be willing to spread the word about the awesomeness of your experience (because I am confident it *will* be awesome) to other 2015 graduating seniors, and would have the opportunity to earn product credit for doing so. But above all, candidates–and their families–must buy into the vision for these integrated family/graduate shoots.
This is for families and parents who:
* think their graduate is awesome and are proud of the young man or young woman they have become
* desire portraits that reveal the true heart of their child and go beyond the typical “model-type” senior shoots
* have pride and love their child, but would like a guiding hand to help express it
* have a heart full of well wishes and blessings and would like to leave their graduate with a “Benediction”
* believe in beautiful keepsakes
Is this you? Then please, contact me and tell me a bit about you and your family!
by Sara Arrigoni | May 8, 2014 | Sneak Peeks
Today I’m sharing a special graduating senior sneak peek for Claire!
In all of my sessions, my foremost priority is to bring out the best in my clients. This doesn’t just mean the best aesthetics, but also the best person; I want sessions to reflect the person and the “real” person in front of the camera… not just make everyone look like moody, smoldering models.
Graduating seniors are fun, because they are at an important crossroads in life, but are usually more willing than their older counterparts to cut loose and have a little fun. Claire’s session was a blast. We sang, we laughed, we danced. 
A special feature that sets my senior sessions apart, too, is that I seek to involve the parents in helping to create a lasting tribute to their senior, one that celebrates their high school graduate and their strengths, and also offers their own words of wisdom or special memories. I guide parents through a simple questionnaire and the answers are incorporated into a one-of-a-kind slideshow.
To see more of Claire’s photos and to see her slideshow, click this image below.
by Sara Arrigoni | Apr 30, 2014 | Personal Tidbits
Today my 5-year-old showed courage I didn’t know she had.
I have three kids, 5, 3, and 1, and they all have very different personalities. And while Grace is a nurturer, sensitive to others, and smart as a whip, well… she’s not the bravest girl by nature. She sees danger in a lot of things, and often lets fear rule her. This is just one of the things that makes her a very close facsimile of her mother.
I never knew fear the way I know it now as a mother. The responsibility of protecting, nurturing, and loving my littles in the best way possible is a tremendous one, and I often fear I am not worthy of this privilege. I admit to being a worrier by nature; the fact that I ended up with kids with potentially life-threatening allergies and one has asthma seems an almost cruel twist of fate. I have many fears for my children, and too often I fixate on them, literally letting them keep me up at night.
But today Grace was my teacher, and I her student. After weeks of having her new bike sitting in the garage and finding various excuses not to ride it (“I can’t find my helmet,” “today I’ll just ride my scooter”), she finally got on (“on flat ground though, mama, if I am going downhill it will be too scary”). It wasn’t that her fears were gone. She just managed to power through them. And isn’t that what courage is? Not the absence of fear, but the deliberate choice to take action, to take back the reins from fear.
I was so proud to see her riding down the street on a “big girl” bike, her trike now happily inherited by her brother.
I pray that I can be a more courageous mother to these little ones… for Grace, who needs to see a strong mama moving past the fear; for Eli, whose health issues have caused my hair to grey at age 34; and for Seth, now so little and indeed needing to be held close… but who even still needs space to grow and learn and skin his knees. May I find the courage to balance loving, protecting, and nurturing them, while still realizing that the training wheels must one day come off in order for them to thrive.
