Farewell

My friend Shannon just mentioned that she wants to lose four pounds on Twitter. FOUR?! The amazing photographer Anna Kuperberg just donated her holiday print sales of $10,000. That was just her holiday print sales. That is probably more than I made all damn year. And I will never be as cute as Miranda (or Garnier and Bill Pickles). So I am throwing in the damn towel. I am tired. Fa la la la la. Bonnie Berry is an Austin based child, family and wedding photographer.

Sam and Santa

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Right after hell froze over, Josh took Sam to see Santa Claus. As you can see it was a tremendous success. Must have been all those Jewish ancestors telling Sam how wrong, wrong, wrong this is. Ben must have heard them because he was too scared to even get close to Mister Claus. You know you are in Texas when Santa's choice of footwear is cowboy boots. Photo by noerrprograms.com.

Snapshots

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Just a couple of shots from my recent family visit. These were taken the day before my grandfather died.My Grandmother and Grandad. They were married for 71 years. My Grandad and sister-in-law Kim: A map my Grandad made with pins of all of the places he and my Grandmother have visited and lived (this photo only shows about a quarter of the map): Bonnie Berry is an Austin based child, family and wedding photographer.

Grateful

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I am SO grateful for all of the kind words you all had for me and my family. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It has been so nice to be able to say goodbye to my grandad and to spend such quality time with my grandmother and my immediate family. It has also been a gift for us to be together with no spouses and no children, simply because it has allowed us to reminisce about old times without the fear of boring anyone and without the constant interruptions of children.Upon my return I will have pictures to share. I had forgotten how beatiful it is here, so I even took some (gasp) landscapes. Thanks again. I am so blessed to have you wonderful people in my life.

Right Back Where I Started From

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I unexpectingly find myself back home in California this week. I made the decision abruptly to come and spend some time with my grandparents. They are 92 years young and until the last year or so have been the picture of health. My grandfather has made a steep decline and is not long for this world. He is at home with hospice care and is in the process of shutting down. One thing that I should mention is what a HUGE part my grandparents have played in my life. They have always lived within one mile of us. We saw them every day. They were there from the first day my parents brought me home from the adoption agency. They came to every school play, every swim meet. They said I could be whatever I wanted to be. While my parents were critical, they told me I was perfect.

I was nervous to see my grandad. To see his deterioration would be to admit that he would soon be leaving me. In Texas it was easy to keep my visual memory of him restricted to his past self, ignoring the present. But I think that I had overprepared myself because he looked better than what my imagination had conjured. I was afraid he would not know who I was because I had been warned by family that it would be likely, but he knew me right away and he closed his eyes tightly and began to tear up. He talked about how good it was that I had come and how much he loved me and his family. All of his life grandad was NOT effusive. He had never said he loved me. He was not physically affectionate. He was a military man through and through. But his actions showed every day how he felt and the fact that he now has words to match them makes little difference.

At about 7:00 tonight my grandfather passed. It is so hard to say goodbye.

Sam and Elmer on Mother's Day 2007

Canvas Contest

I am having a fun little contest from sessions in the past three months. Vote for your favorite image and the client will get a FREE 11x16 gallery wrap canvas of any image from their session. Voting will end on December 19th at 5:00pm. I will post the winner on Monday the 22nd, so check back then. And for those clients whose images are being voted on, you can recruit your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers (you get the idea) to vote for you. All is fair in love and photography. Please vote at the bottom of all of the photos where you will see a bubble for each photo.photo 1 photo 2 photo 3 photo 4 photo 5 photo 6 photo 7 photo 8 photo 9 photo 10 photo 11 photo 12 photo 13 photo 14 photo 15 photo 16

Orion Turns One

On Thanksgiving morning we went to our friend Sara's mom's house because her son Orion was turning one. They had the best birthday party and we couldn't ask for better weather. Sara's mom Linda was out of control with the games, food, decorations. I told her that I want her to be my kids' Austin grandmother. And you should have seen Sam with that cupcake. I wish I had a video camera. He was rolling around on it like a cat with catnip. He made his mama so proud that he is a sugar fiend just like me. Bonnie Berry is an Austin based child, family and wedding photographer.

All in the Family

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When fellow Austin photographer Dave McLaughlin asked for someone to take a family photograph, I jumped at the chance. I LOVE Dave. He frequents my blog and has been incredibly supportive and generous with his kind words about my work. I finally got to meet him in person a few weeks ago and he is simply splendid. And now I know that his wife Kerri and their daughter Ava are just as lovely. My only regret is that I wasn't able to spend more time hanging out with them and taking pictures after the one more cup of coffee that I desperately needed. But I can simply hope that I will get another chance to capture them again. Bonnie Berry is an Austin based child, family and wedding photographer.

Goodbyes

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When Ben left this morning I asked him for a kiss. He ignored me. Josh urged him to give me a kiss and when Ben did not I said "Please don't push him, I want him to choose to or not to, but I want it to be organic". Josh replied, "Hippie". I haven't laughed that hard in ages.

An Oldie But Goodie

My friend Allison recently ordered a print of this image of her newborn son. I had totally forgotten about it and when I saw it again I fell in love with it and smiled. Bonnie Berry is an Austin based child, family and wedding photographer.

Family Session: Home on the Range

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This family of three not only were charming and easygoing, but they also graciously invited me to their ancestral home, which is an old cattle ranch in Dripping Springs. It was so nice to get out into the fresh air for awhile. When I walked up to the house the cows and the horse were all staring at me. Talk about having all eyes on you. I found out later that they thought I might be carrying a snack for them. And little, silly Sadie just stole my heart. Her mom told me later that she woke up from her nap and asked, "Where is my camera friend? I need her." Josh and I laughed about that all day. Bonnie Berry is an Austin based child, family and wedding photographer.

Good Golly Miss Mollie

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This morning we met up with fellow photographer Mollie Donovan to do a little holiday photo swap. It was very cold and her daughter was feeling terrible and later turned out to have a fever of 104. But we persevered and I think she got some great shots. You can see them here. I only hope mine did her beautiful family justice. Bonnie Berry is an Austin based child, family and wedding photographer.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Well I am one day late as usual. Hope you had a great day yesterday filled with yummy food and lots of love. We had a wonderful day and I took lots of shots, but am too lazy to process them all right now, but I will soon. Thought I would leave you all with this one to give you a taste of how peaceful our dinner was. Not to worry though, we brought out the teething drugs soon after this and then all was bliss. Bonnie Berry is an Austin based child, family and wedding photographer.