Getting Up Before The Sun | Mary McGuire Photography

I'm always talking about "moments" over here. Capturing  moments, saving moments, being in the moment...it's all about the moments. I'm not being flip...it really is all these moments in our lives. Enjoying and savoring them.

My youngest has been asking me all summer to go to the beach. The child wants to go to the beach ALL THE TIME. She's a beach baby for sure.

This summer didn't work out as I hoped...I got pulled in a lot of directions and...well...you know, life and all it's stresses pulled.

I took a few days off this week and my youngest asked if we could go to the beach "reeeeeally" early. And she meant early...like sunrise early. As much as I wanted to sleep in, I thought "say yes." So I did...and we went...and it was glorious.

My lesson...try to say yes more often to enjoying moments.
(Even if it means getting up before the sun.)

Enjoy!
xo {mm}

Birth Story, Boca Raton | Mary McGuire Photography

I've got myself a gaggle of girls...so I've been through labor. ;) And many of us have children...so we were there when they came into this world...either delivering or holding the screaming woman's hand. But, when you're INVITED to be at a birth...to be a part of SOMEONE ELSE's moment...it truly is such an amazing honor.

Jeanne and Jeremy welcomed me in to this awe-inspiring moment in their lives and asked that I document the birth of their daughter.

Even now...typing...I still struggling for the words to describe how special this was. So I'll do what I do best...let the pictures tell you.

(And for those photographers who worry about the lack of light in a hospital...I tell ya... embrace it! My favorite images were the ones in the dark...with just the monitor lights. Go watch...you'll see.)

xo,
{mm}


If your mobile device isn't showing the video...try this LINK!

Childhood Happening - Telling the Story (without the faces)

You can do a lot with an average cardboard box. But, WONDROUS moments can come from a GIGANTIC cardboard box.

This is the message I get from my brother..."I brought home a couple of dishwasher boxes." Even at 40-something, I know what this means!

Although they are pushing their way to pre-teen status, when my younger girls get with their youngest cousin...they fall right into precious imaginative play. These cardboard boxes were glorious...despite the 95 degree heat in the garage. Still magical.

Oblivious to me, I just spent my time hovering in and out and around their afternoon while they played with this cardboard "fort" and eventually made their way out to the sidewalk where chalk filled out their canvas. I sat on the ground with my camera and just watched the moments unfold.

Spying some favorite stuffed friends lying among the chalk, I went for my favorite vantage point (nice and low) to start capturing the afternoon's moments.

Best part...hardly a face to be seen. But not necessary to tell the story.

Enjoy!
{mm}

Painting Canvas Photo Session...Capturing Moments

A field...a canvas...jars of paint...a family. 

I call it a Love Canvas.

I've had this idea for a while, but getting the planets to align with everyone's schedule has been challenging. Of all the months in the year for the planets to align...August. (insert sigh...ugh...sigh here.)

But, it is what is is and I got the girls together early one morning to laugh, paint, create and capture.

The idea in my head was one thing...the reality...more than I expected. The girls had a blast! I got quite the workout running hither and yon dodging the paint with my camera. The little girls even got to splatter paint white sneakers to keep.

The images near the end of the little girls laying on the white sheet are some of my favorites! These were done a bit later in our backyard. It was getting crazy hot and the big girls had to run off...Busy girls! Getting "real" giggling makes for some awesome moments. An added bonus...I got my fence painted!!

(Don't tell anyone...but I just might love the fence more. J )

Love now hangs in our dining room.

(Let me know if you want one for YOUR dining room!)

Enjoy!

{mm}

And I almost forgot...you know I HAD to do a VIDEO!! J

BONUS...I got my fence painted too!

Unscripted Exploring with Kids | South Florida Photographer

I love these moments. Unscripted. Childhood. Moments....Childhood happening.

I so enjoy photographing my girls and capturing beautiful moments in the process. It makes my heart swell...truly. This time we're on vacation, enjoying a great day out exploring. I was thinking, "Maybe I can get a nice portrait. All of them participating in a smile."

But, walking up and down the beach, picking up sticks, trying to catch crabs and stacking rocks...it was all we needed. Just part of exploring with your kids and enjoying your time with them.

As a photographer...and a mom, I occasionally I add some words of encouragement for YOUR own photographic efforts. Sometimes I'll challenge you (yeah, you...you there with the camera) to take a different look at how you see photos and hopefully taking pictures yourself.

I posted some of these recently on Facebook with a bit of a statement:

Yeah, I said blurry is OK.

I believe telling the story is MORE important than having "technically" perfect images. The movement of the girls digging in the sand or walking across a fallen tree. That's more important. The story of our day is what I'm capturing.

Think about telling a story the next time you pick up your camera, and maybe not so much about everyone smiling looking at the camera. (Or god forbid...saying "Cheese.")

I LOVE the first group of images...not one of them is looking at me. This was actually towards the end of the afternoon...they were getting tired.

Another favorite is the one of my youngest laying on the tree branch...oh my heart.

Her sisters were busy running over, under and around the fallen trees that were scattered on the beach. And she's simply laying on the tree.
So, I ask her, "What are you doing?"
She replied in a very quiet, still voice, "I'm listening to the ocean with the tree. I could sleep here like they do."

Like I said, oh my heart.

Enjoy!

{mm}

  

Capturing Childhood (While I still can)

"Who wants to go by the park?" I ask while driving back from an afternoon of errands.
A trio of resounding "Me!" booms through the car.

I'm SO thankful at 8 & 11 years old they still want, and love, to go to the park. Their heads aren't buried in electronic devices. A cell phone isn't plastered to their ears. They are aren't begging to go the mall.
Not yet....not yet.

I know that time is coming. It's right around the corner. I see it every day...little glimpses of what's to come. But...in the meantime, I'll take every moment I can to capture them still enjoying childhood. Throwing their legs forward, their heads back laughing and pushing the swing even higher up into the sky.

Enjoy!
{mm}

(Special thanks to Let The Kids Dress Themselves for featuring this first photo on their Facebook page for their May theme [Simple].)

UPDATE 6/13/2014: Another HUGE "Thank You" to Wendy Laurel and Let the Kids Dress Themselves for featuring my image on their WEBSITE!!! Huge honor to be featured with so many talented photographers.

Photographing the Ordinary

Kids...pool....water...camera. Ordinary? Ordinary for me.

A rather ordinary thing...an afternoon hanging out by the pool. (Well, OK...I was actually hanging out much further away on the deck and enjoying the lack of humidity recently.) The kids were in the pool yellin' and splashin'. Ordinary.

I've enjoyed capturing moments of my girls and focusing on finding my own vision of those ordinary moments. Whether it's been my "bookworm" reading under a tree, my whimsical child jumping in the setting sun, my impish one asking me to take her picture "just because" or my younger three walking across a wide open beach.

Someone asked me recently, "Can you just come over and hang out at my house for the day with your camera?" At first I chuckled. Then later I realized, "Hmmm...portraits are portraits." Put some of those ordinary moments on a wall. They show how life really is.

Enjoy these ordinary moments.
And if you'd like me to hang out at your house for the day, let me know.  J

Enjoy!
{mm}

I LOVE this one...and check out my reflection in her eye!!

This one REALLY surprised me...the water moving completely changed her face. It looks like 3 different kids.