Happy St. Pats!

From my tiny little leprechaun...showing off her Irish pride! Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Special day for Baby V

Since just about all of my portrait sessions are done outdoors...I get a nice little break this time of year.  It's a welcome bit of downtime after crazy fall portrait season and then the holidays!  Also gives me time to devout to my babe and her daddy and our little fur baby.  This past weekend we celebrated a very special day for my little angel...her baptism.  It was a wonderful day shared with family and friends.

And of course we started the day capturing how beautiful she looked in her baptismal gown :)

Fall Catch-up Part II

Chicago Portrait Photographer

I'm baaaaaaack. And only a few short weeks (okay more like 3) later...congrats to me!  Just another quick review of some of my favorite fall portrait sessions.  

This last one was so bittersweet! It was my last session of 2012. I shot this sweet family when they were expecting their darling little girl...and again for her newborn session.  About a year later they got an amazing opportunity to ship off to Amsterdam...LUCKY!! But sad that it will be some time before I shoot them again.  Thanks to FB I can tell they are having an amazing time :)

Saying goodbye to Chicago :(

Holy Hiatus!!

Chicago Portrait Photographer

Okay okay...hiatus is an understatement.  What would a hiatus times like 1000 be?  I'm pretty sure my New Year's 'virtual' resolution was to be better with posting. Yikes.

Baby Vela's arrival has thrown a wrench into my ability to juggle a full time career and my photography business...and the blog is taking the brunt it!

I think part of the problem with the blog is that I have this desire to be smart and funny and quick and witty in the few sentences that accompany the photos I post.  The blogs that  I enjoy reading (well...enjoy-ed reading...unfortunately not doing much of that these days) are all just that.  And I really enjoyed writing at one point in my life. Still do...really...I just don't ever do it. So I think that's the problem.  What I aspire to requires time...and the ability to concentrate with no distractions...aaaaaand well there's not a whole lot of opportunities for the latter or the former so I just clam up and don't blog at all. NOT OKAY! You can't have a 'blog' and only blog every 3 months. Just not cool.

I digress...so as a means of trying to bring everyone up to speed...a quick 'catch up' of all the Fall portrait goodness...Part I.

Will post some more fall fun very soon...time to put the babe to bed!

Engagement Session: Amanda & Nick

CHICAGO ENGAGEMENT PHOTOGRAPHER

Meet Amanda & Nick...They are getting married downtown next July, and last weekend we got together to snap some engagement photos.  Amanda and Nick---you are such a gorgeous couple!  Thanks for braving the cold and the pending rain :)  Special thanks to Amanda and Nick's wedding planner, the fabulous Heather Meibach of Heather Ever Present  who helped out during the shoot, as well as Ashley Condron for hair and Rachel Reiman for makeup!  

More Than Worth the Wait

It's been a while since I've blogged ... have been busy getting everything finished up personally and professionally in anticipation of our little one!! She was 14 days late and even then had to be encouraged to make an appearance...but she is finally here!!

Vela Carina Sitzes (pronounced Vay-lah) was born July 21st at 12:05 am.  8 lbs 7oz, healthy as can be and just beautiful.  I'd made a playlist for her birth, and when she was born Ingrid Michaelson's "I can't help falling in love with you" was playing...and I just broke down upon meeting her.  We never found out the sex so there was no way to know for sure---but I had secretly thought it was her all along.

You see, her name has a very special story behind it.  My name "Giana" came to my own mother in a dream well before she was ever pregnant.  So when she did have a baby girl years later, she used the name.  My mother passed away 5 years after I was born, but I have always known the story of where my name came from.

The summer after Eric and I got married, I woke up in the middle of the night with the name "Vela" stuck in my head like glue.  I'd never heard it before but loved it and couldn't help but think that maybe it was a message from my own mom? A name for a child down the road perhaps...

Then some months later I thought to google the name Vela.  One of the first couple hits was a Wikipedia description...it made my heart stop.

(from the Wikipedia definition)
Vela is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the sails of a ship, and it was originally part of a larger constellation, the ship Argo Navis, which was later divided into three parts, the others being Carina and Puppis.

Carina was my mothers name.

I know in my heart my mom was whispering in my ear that night 2 years ago.  It's magical to now have Vela home with us.  She is without a doubt the most amazing blessing Eric and I have ever received, and I cherish the fact that we will some day get to share this story with her.  

It may be a bit before I blog again...gonna spend some time with the prettiest baby in the world...but everyone asks where her name came from so thought this might be one way to get the story out there.  Also---I think a nice reminder for anyone who has lost a loved one...that they are never truely gone...always there, watching over us...and occasionally even whispering to us in our sleep.

Happy One Month Anniversary!

ST. LOUIS WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

This was a very special wedding to me for so many reasons!  The bride has been in my life for going on 15 years now.  In that span of time she has been a best friend, room mate (more than once!), sorority sister, co-worker (also more than once :), fellow Hanes House member, hat flicker-off'er (yes...I did look dumb in that hat)...through all of this she has become more like a sister to me than anything else.  People always ask how I feel about taking pictures at the weddings of dear friends---and honestly I love it because having that added level of intimacy between yourself and your subject does nothing but good!

There is a downside of course...in my case---I'm a bit of a sap (my husband likes to sing TLC's 'don't go chasing waterfalls' to me whenever I get welled up....and let's just say I feel like I hear that song a fair amount!) So it can be a bit tough to fire off the shot you really want if you are busy wiping tears from your face!  This wedding was no exception!

Amy you were the most beautiful bride...and Tom, ya just looked dapper and handsome as hell!  The rain tried to cut our pictures short but thankfully we managed to get some in at Union Station and the beautiful St. Louis Botanical Gardens before the skies opened up too much.  An absolutely perfect day! Congrats Mr. & Mrs. O'Brien ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥