This is a special post for us here at Shawn Grimes Photography. We don’t often post personal things here on the site, but this is very much a situation that warrants being presented here.

Each year for Christmas presents for his family, Shawn creates a full 12-month calendar of images taken of all of the “kids” in his family. This is the third year we have done this for his grandmother, mom, and aunts, and each year goes over better than the last. We take a full day sometime in November, usually, and make sure that all of the cousins are here in the studio or on location wherever we choose. Then we take a few hours and photograph every frame we need for the calendar. We like to do individual images of each person, family groups, and birthday combinations for each month. We also do a few whole group photos, which are always fun. The women in his family prefer for every one to be matching, so they usually buy the outfits for everyone and it works out perfectly.

We really wanted to share this here on the site to show you all a little more into our personal life and to give you some ideas for something you may want to come in with your family for.

Please enjoy these images of Shawn’s gorgeous family and you can probably look forward to seeing more next Christmas.

We had the immense pleasure of photographing these two adorable twins, Joey and Natalie, along with their Mom and Dad.

This beautiful brother and sister duo were right around 2 years old when they came in for their session and, once they warmed up to us, could not have been more fun. It was so great to see the two of them interact with one another and with Mom and Dad.

Seriously…how cute are they?!?!?

This family is so good looking and we had such a wonderful time working with them.

This is the lovely Miss Gabrielle…

This little lady was so well behaved when she came in for her photo session. At only a few days old and only a few pounds, she was absolutely adorable. So teeny tiny! Gabrielle came into the studio with her Mom, Grandmom, and older brother, Jordan. We were able to get quite a few good photos of the two siblings together. What a handsome pair!

Here are Gabrielle’s photo collages. She is such a cute baby, and if her brother is any indication, she is going to grow to be a gorgeous young lady! What a lucky family!

This is our newest friend Tristan.

We were very happy to get the chance to meet this little guy. We met Tristan’s Mom, Dad, and big brother not too long ago when they came in for Mom’s maternity session. You can see more from that session here.

Tristan was a joy to have in the studio, he was so calm and quiet. We were able to get a lot of great photos of this sweet little man.

I think my favorites are the pictures of Tristan with each of his family members, what a special treat.

Tristan was really well-behaved and cooperative for his whole photo session. He is also a part of our Small Wonder Program so we will get to see him grow and change throughout his whole first year, which is such a treat. I can’t wait till next time he comes to visit.

This precious little girl is Miss Juliet…

She came into the studio for three month photos with her Mom, Dad, and two older brothers. We will be seeing a lot more of Juliet this year as she will be a part of our Small Wonder program. Juliet was such a treat to have in the studio. Everything about her is so darling.

Clearly, her big brothers things she is pretty spectacular too!

This little cutie came with many options for outfits, which we love here at the studio. Way to go Mom! I couldn’t get over how cute one outfit was before I saw the next one that was even cuter!

We tried something a little different with our “baby parts” photos that we usually do for our newborns and infants. This time we tried a few comparison photos to show how teeny tiny those little baby parts actually are. I think we will be doing more of these in the future, as it is such a great way to remember how small they were when they were babies.

As we wrapped up the session, we were able to get a few great pictures of Mom and Dad with baby Juliet. These are so telling of their special bond with their new baby girl.

What a wonderful family! We so look forward to seeing Juliet grow over the course of the year and getting to spend more time with her and her family!

It’s about time! We finally got the chance to meet little miss Adelyn. You may remember hearing about Adelyn, even before she arrived, when we had Mom and Dad’s maternity session this summer. You can revisit that session here.

This gorgeous little girl is the first baby girl we have had in the studio for a newborn session. She was so sweet, and so hungry! Man, those newborns can really eat! Anyway, Adelyn was absolutely adorable throughout our whole session.

We use this pose with each of our newborns and I think, perhaps, this could be one of my favorites. I love the way Adelyn is snuggled in the sling and she just looks so cozy!

I also think that these photos of this young, new family are so heart-warming and they bring a smile to my face every time I see them. You can just feel the love and excitement Alicia and Mike have for their new little bundle of joy.

And, oh my goodness…I cannot get over these adorable teeny tiny toes!

This is the Motherhood to Maternity art piece that we created for Alicia. Completely gorgeous!

These are the other art pieces that were created for Alicia, Mike, and Adelyn.

We are going to be trying something new with our newborn sessions in 2010 and Alicia and Mike were our first guinea pigs. Please watch the very special video below, it is unlike anything we have done in the past:

We were very pleased to be able to photograph these three handsome guys on October 11. Please meet Sammie, Marek, and Austin…

This was a very special session for this family, Grandma (or Ya-Ya as she is affectionately known by her grandsons) and her three children, and the three boys, were all present for this session. Marek and his Mommy were visiting from Japan, where they live, and the family wanted to use the visit as an opportunity to capture these boys playing together and enjoying each others company. The family knew that they wanted an outdoor session, so we met them at the beautiful Annie’s Playground in Fallston. It made the perfect setting and backdrop for a playful and completely enjoyable photo session.

Austin, 6 years old, was a perfect model and a total ham for the camera. He came prepared with his own poses and a willing attitude. He was so helpful in getting his little cousins to go along with our ideas and had a good time running around the playground looking for new places to pose!

The next oldest grandson is little Marek, he is 16 months old and traveled with his mom all the way from Japan for this session…well for a family wedding, but still!

And the youngest grandson is Sammie. This little guy made some of the cutest faces! He was a little too young to take part in all of the playing, since he’s only 11 months old, but I still think he enjoyed the fresh air and the little bit of playing he was able to do.

These three little guys were a lot of fun. They each had so much personality and were all so different! This is a beautiful family and we were very happy to be able to capture a few sweet moments between Ya-Ya and her grandboys!

Here are a few of the art pieces that we created for this wonderful family.

More portraits from the session can be seen in the video slide show we put together:

We had the pleasure of taking maternity photographs for this lovely little family before they become a family of four.

Dawn and her husband, Brian, and their son came into the Aberdeen studio for maternity photos after meeting us at the Wee Cycle event. We are honored they they chose our studio to capture such an exciting time in their lives.

We are so happy that we were able to squeeze Dawn and her family in for a session, as she was due about two weeks after she visited the studio. (Hopefully, we will be able to meet new little Baby once he or she arrives!) This sweet little trio couldn’t be more excited about a new addition to their family. It was all smiles here in the studio during their session.

I mentioned that we would be so honored to meet new little Baby once He or She arrives…interestingly, Brian knows whether they are having a boy or a girl, Dawn does not! We thought that was really neat and also that Brian must be an excellent secret keeper! So for now, this family of three anxiously awaits becoming a family of four…

****Quick Note from Shawn: I’m a little late in getting this post out. Dawn had her wonderful baby and they have already been to the studio for newborn portraits. Stay tuned for that post****

Enjoy the video of their portraits…

We would like you to meet another little newborn that we were so happy to finally meet and be able to photograph. This is Jonathan…

While this was our first time meeting little Jonathan, his family has visited the studio before. A few months ago we had the pleasure of photographing Jonathan’s Mom, Dad, and big Sister for Mom’s maternity session. You can read more about that session and see photos from the maternity portrait session here.

Jonathan was very agreeable and quite content having his photos taken. His big Sister, Andrea, did a wonderful job of looking after him and making sure that we were taking good care of him. He is a very handsome young boy, and is the perfect addition to his beautiful family.

Jonathan was another newborn who got to test out our new colorful fringie during his session. The babies are really loving all of those bright colors, lots of eye candy!

This next photo is wonderful. Jonathan’s Dad, Dan, could not be any more proud to have a son. Sure, he loves Andrea very much, and they have a wonderful relationship, but every Dad wants a son! (Right?!?) This photo is very expressive of the pride and happiness Dan feels toward his new son. Such a wonderful moment to capture.

And of course, we haven’t forgotten about Mom. Jonathan’s Mom, Jess, was also beaming with pride and happiness when they came to visit the studio. Here she is in the “before” and “after” stages of new motherhood. In this Maternity to Motherhood art piece, we get to see a glimpse of Mom still pregnant with her little guy and then we get to see them together after he arrived.

And, finally, nothing is sweeter than all those adorable, teeny, tiny baby parts! We love to showcase all those little bits and pieces that you quickly forget how small they actually are in a nice art piece for the families of our newborns. Just remember, Jess and Dan, he will never be this tiny again! Soak it up and enjoy it while it lasts!

It was such a pleasure to have Jess and Dan and their wonderful little family in the studio again. And we are so honored to be able to meet Jonathan and so happy for their family. We hope to have them back in the studio again in the future, maybe for some photos of Andrea and her baby brother Jonathan together!

Dan and Jess are both clients we have had the pleasure of photographing in the past. Dan is a personal trainer specializing in kettle bell training and Shawn photographed him leading a class for Dan’s website and promotional materials. We met his wife, Jess, when we first opened the Aberdeen studio. She came in to have some photos taken of her working with the kettle bells.

For this session, we were able to see them in a completely different capacity…parents and a family. Jess is pregnant with their second child and came in to the Aberdeen studio for maternity portraits. They also brought along another family member we had yet to meet, little miss Andrea, their almost two-year-old daughter. She is a total sweetheart, lots of smiles and very active. As active as she was, we managed to get her to cooperate a little more when we introduced the Smarties candies! She also loved the blocks we had, so much in fact, that this photo was completely unplanned, but completely captures Andrea’s wonderful little spirit and gentleness.

Eventually, Andrea wanted to be in every picture that we were taking. She is so photogenic and was such a joy to photograph.

This family is so incredibly fun and easy to work with. It really doesn’t feel like you are working when you get to spend time with people who are as easy-going as Jess and Dan. The three of them are a beautiful little family and baby number 2 will, no doubt, be a great addition to this family and loved tremendously.

Jess and Dan radiate happiness and pride as they await the arrival of their new baby. And it was an honor for us to be able to capture this in their maternity photos.

As a way to spark interest for Andrea in being in more of the pictures toward the end of the session, we brought out some fun things and let her play a little. These were the results.

Dan, Jess, Andrea, and Baby are a family we look forward to working more with in the future. And we are definitely looking forward to meeting Baby sometime early this fall!

Here is a quick video I put together of their session: