Drury Studio

Last Friday I had the opportunity to catch up with old friends and capture some cute photos of their daughter Elle.  Elle just turned 4 years old and is growing into a little lady.  It is so hard to believe that Elle is four.  It seems like yesterday her dad, Joe, called me to tell me he was going to be a dad.  Where does the time go?  Joe and Kelli thanks for being such great friends and allowing me to capture these photos for you.  I hope you enjoy the sneak peak!

On October 22 our baby girl turned two years old.  I can’t believe how fast babies grow into children.  The past two years have been filled with challenges, laughter, and incredible memories.  For those of you that don’t know our families story, Ella was born with Cystic Fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that: clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections; and obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food.  We found this information out when Ella was only 11 days old.  The only thing that SJ and I knew about CF at that point was that people with CF have  short life spans.  Well God began to give us hope in a situation that had no hope.  We came to the realization that the Creator of this world did make our daughter this way and we began a process of releasing anger and accepting the way she was created.  Well fast forward two years… Ella has hit every development mile stone along the way (solid food, crawling, walking, words, running, jumping, sentences, and counting).  From the outside you would never know the struggles of our little girl.  God has truly blessed us with a team of doctors at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, MO to help us understand and get the best health care for Ella.  We have made adjustments to the way we raise her but life is good and beyond the side effects of CF Ella is a healthy girl.

Thank you friends and family for washing your hands, getting flu shots, staying away when sick, doing chest therapy, and most importantly praying for our family.  I also could not have made it through these last two years without my amazing wife, SJ.  She is on top of the latest health treatments and takes steps every day to help Ella know who God is.  Sarah Jane you are amazing and I love you!  Thank you for being my friend, wife, and mother of my daughter.  We are blessed family.  Thank you God for watching over our little girl and giving us the wisdom to raise her!

Here are some photos from Ella’s two year photo shoot.  Enjoy!

To view a photo of Ella as a baby check out the post from Art East last year (first photo).  I used one of her photos for my display photo in the Jacoby Art Center of Alton, IL.

Last week I had the opportunity to do a “top secret” shoot the Mann Family. Rick, the father, called me and ask me to come do a session with his daughters. They were going to surprise mom, Donna, with a gift for her birthday. This shoot was so much fun! Susanna, Samantha, and Alissa where a blast to work with and were naturals for the camera. I talked to Donna after her birthday and she was so surprised at the photos and just loved them. I hope you all enjoy them as much as this family did!

Lots and lots of photos is one of the many things I have brought to my in-laws. Over the past five years SJ and I have been married I have taken tons of photos at our family gatherings. Well a few years ago I started taking portraits of my nieces and nephews for my sister-in-law, Kristen. Taking the kids portraits has actually become a tradition and some thing I look forward to whenever we go back to SJ’s parent’s home in Arkansas. This year the kids picked out the outfits and told us that they were going wear camouflage for their photos. They also decided that they wanted Ella in a couple of the shots so the Bickers kids gave Ella a camouflage shirt for her birthday back in October.

These shots are so fun to edit. It is a miracle to get seven kids to look remotely close to the camera when you are taking their pictures. However, after 373 frames and a lot of goofy sounds from Papaw and Grandmommy the kids photographed amazingly. All seven of the Head grandkids are beautiful and handsome creations! Here are some of the shots from our session. Hope you enjoy!

Papaw and all his grandkids.

The Bickers family.

FYI… If you look at the top of the blog at the header graphic, over on the right hand-side, you will see last year’s portrait of the Bickers children.