baby season

Whew! It has been a whirlwind month of newborn sessions!

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm an absolute baby fanatic, so these sessions are always a little treat for me.

Introducing:

Ben (on left), who had a fabulous head of hair. My two-year old watched as I edited part of Ben's session, and is enamored with Ben's "caterpillar" belly button (the cord stump that had not yet fallen off), and ever since has requested to see Ben's pictures whenever I'm on the computer. Ben is now famous in the Mathison house:-)

Mollie, below, who was so calm for the whole session. She was just a tiny, adorable little peanut who also had a great head of hair (and a very sweet big brother.)



Graham, who had the most scrumptious cheeks. His little smile here makes me smile every time I see this picture!


Will's little brother, Charlie, a mere 15 hours old. It was very hard for me to hand him back to his mommy... he had that unmistakeable newborn scent that I love so much!


Owen, my newest client ever at about 2 minutes old.


And Courtney, who was about 6 weeks old here and gave me the sleepy newborn curl (a little miracle for babies over a few weeks old!)

walking for Allie

This is Allie, and she is in my son Gray's kindergarten class. Allie has Cystic Fibrosis.

This Saturday, April 19th, is the Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides walk in Chapel Hill, and their kindergarten class will comprise part of Allie's team, "Allie's Gators." If you don't know much about Cystic Fibrosis, it is a disease that affects both the lungs and digestive systems, and causes the body to produce a thick, sticky mucus. Allie has to do daily lung treatments to keep her lungs clear and free of infection. The current life expectancy of a person with Cystic Fibrosis is 36.5 years, and hopefully by the time that Allie is in her 30's, the life expectancy of those with CF will be much, much longer!

I encourage you to get out and walk on Saturday morning, or to make a donation to help with CF research. For my clients (or future clients!) who make a donation by clicking the link below, I will give you a photography gift certificate in a matching amount of your donation, up to $150.

You can donate by clicking this link: CFF Great Strides walk

celebrating spring... with mini-sessions!

(click image for larger version)

Spring is my favorite time of year, and I'd like to ring it in with a day of outdoor mini-sessions at my studio! These will be smaller versions of my regular sessions and will take place within walking distance of my studio on April 17th. The cost is $125 (plus tax), and a $50 print credit is included in that! This is the perfect Mother's or Father's Day gift, or just a good way to fit in a quick session between regular sessions.

The other nitty gritty:

* good for up to 2 kids (mom/dad always welcome to hop in a few!)
* sessions are for 20 minutes, and you'll receive an online web gallery with 10-15 proofs
* if you'd like to schedule a session for your baby, this type of session is best for a baby who is sitting independently
* feel free to bring any props you'd like - tricycles, wagons, bubbles, that special lovey, etc.
* rain date is the following Thursday

Times will fill up fast, so send me an email (gretchen@gretchenmathison.com) to schedule your session. Your session fee is due at the time of booking.

Can't wait to see you there!

urban maternity

It's baby season! I've had an incredible amount of maternity and newborn sessions lately, and I just love it. So many gorgeous bellies and babies!

Erica and Dave were so fun and nice, and we had a great time at our session in downtown Durham. It was their last chance to have a maternity session before Dave leaves for training, so I was glad to be able to get them on my schedule just in the nick of time. I made them kiss about 759 times during the session, but they didn't seem to mind:-) (Thanks for obliging me!)

Erica had the coolest wardrobe... how cute is this dress? I want one for myself!

Congratulations to all of the mamas-to-be!