The New Webpage is Up and Running

We have been working hard in the Holland household, and I am happy to say that my new webpage/blog is finally ready to go! This blog will stay up for a few weeks, but from now on you'll want to head over to www.ericaholland.com for sneak peeks from all of my shoots, for pricing information, to see the images from your session, to check out the latest deals, and to get your fill of Annika. Everything is all in one spot! So head on over to check it out, and bookmark it as long as you're there. I am really excited about it, and I hope you are too!

Just One

It is past my bedtime, but I wanted to get up at least one picture for Monica and family. I love these guys and I am going to miss them when they are gone.

More to come in the next couple of days!

A Thousand Words

Ireland

Sunrise over a stone house abandoned during the potato famine

The Muckross Mansion in Killarney National Park

Coumeenole Beach

And, even though this is supposed to be a post without people, I couldn't resist this last picture. This was Ireland for me -- watching Annika spend four uninterrupted days of fun with her new best friend. This shot is from the Gap of Dunloe.

A Thousand Words

Brad, Annika, and I came across this window on a walk down to the lake the other day. I loved it so much I made Brad and Annika stop so I could get out the camera.

Grow Family {Sneak Peek}

As I was editing these photos, Annika kept looking at the computer and saying "Etsy? Etsy?" She can't quite get the "x" in Lexi's name, but she knows that she is looking at pictures of her best friend. There were so many good pictures from this shoot -- more to come later!

. . . A Thousand Words

I love living in Germany, and I could talk forever about it. Instead, I decided to share a photo every weekend. A picture is worth a thousand words, and this will give you a peek into some of the things we love about our life here. Keep checking back!

This is part of a European alphabet book I am working on for Annika.

Annika Overload

Brad has officially been home from Iraq for a week and a day. He has had reintegration in the morning, but afternoons he has been free to spend with us. On Thursday was the big welcome home ceremony and mini-carnival with free food and little rides. Annika yawned through the ultra-slow merry-go-round and looked slightly panicked when Brad took her on the bumper cars. Block leave started on Friday, but we don't really have any big plans. We just want to be home together, and Brad wants to get to know his daughter. They are great pals already. Annika loves being outside and lately she just stands at our front door waving "bye-bye" and hitting the door to let us know she wants to get out. So, we do. We jabbered at the monkeys at the zoo, we explored a forest, we picked daisies in a field, and we go to the park almost everyday. Now that there are two of us home, I can take pictures while Brad plays with Anni. I am loving it! Here are just a few shots of our overly photographed little girl.

She just ran and ran down this little dirt road as fast as she could go.

I love her pursed lips and concentrated face. She is a girl with her own ideas these days.

Brad (aka Mr. Amazing) took this picture of Annika the other day when we were exploring one of the forests around Baumholder. It captures her perfectly -- finding something new and exciting, and then wanting to share.

This last one I took when Annika and I visited Rothenburg in May with my Mom. I was playing with some new textures and opened up this picture to try them out. My brown-eyed girl.

That finishes up your Annika fix for the day. Hope you enjoyed it!

On The Way

Garth and Alissa and Nate and Cristine -- your pictures are on the way soon! I am really hoping to have your galleries up in the next couple of days. I'll send you an email to let you know where to access them. In the meantime, here are a few more photos to tide you over.

Can't Help Myself

I have dishes to do and floors to mop and clothes to fold and put away, but after I uploaded the pictures from Anya and Eric's birthday shoot today, I couldn't help but post just a couple. We had a blast at the "broken down castle" and the pictures turned out great! So, here's one of Anya (who just turned 4) and one of Eric (who is about to turn one), just because I can't wait, and I'll post some more later. Brad comes home this week (hurray!) and so I need to get everything spiffy for when he gets back. You have good stuff to look forward to, Cristine!

Hatch Family {Sneak Peak}

Garth and Alissa -- thanks for letting me come shoot at your house, I had a blast! Your kids are beautiful and with all that energy they are lot of fun. I think the pictures turned out wonderful! It was a great idea to finish out in the yellow fields; I am glad we found one that hadn't turned green yet. Enjoy your sneak peek!

Mom.

My Mom really is a fantastic photographer and for most of my life, she has been the one behind the lens. Growing up I felt annoyed at times as my Mom pushed us for "just one more picture." But now I am grateful to have wonderful pictures of all the fun things we have done as a family and to have some good pictures of myself as well. (Those can be hard to come by!) My sister and I love to look back through all of our old pictures; the memories of a happy childhood come flooding back. 

It was watching my Mom take pictures that sparked my interest in photography and she taught me all of the basics, and helped me figure out where to go and what to do so that I could keep learning more. Even now she is my best critic and is always the first one to look at my photos and help me figure out what I can do better and how I can improve. We challenge each other to think creatively, to work hard, and to keep improving. 

Since my Mom's visit fell over both her birthday and mother's day, and since she has been the one taking pictures for so long, we decided that it was time for a role reversal and we headed out into the German countryside to take some pictures of my beautiful mother. I am not kidding when I say that she gets better looking all the time, and I can't even count the number of times that we have been mistaken for sisters. No, I am not kidding, this is my Mom (not my friend or my sister) and I sure hope that I got her genes for good looks.

Thanks for visiting Mom, it has meant the world to Annika and I. We couldn't ask for a better Mom and Oma. 

A Break from the Rain

I am sitting at my computer now while the rain pours down outside. We spent the last two days in Rothenburg where it rained, and we drove home in the pouring rain, and it is still coming down. Don't get me wrong, I  do kind of enjoy the rain, and we had a great time in Rothenburg, but I am really feeling the need for some sunshine. So,  I am posting some sunny photos. 

On Saturday Annika hung out with her Oma all day while I competed in Baumholder's Iron Spouse Challenge. We had a great time, enjoyed a little bit of sunshine, and took second place! After the awards ceremony I decided Annika needed some time to play in the sun too, and so we stopped by a park for a little bit. Despite the bad weather, it is spring, and dandelions are everywhere. Annika loves picking flowers, and she loves trying to blow the dandelion seeds and watching them float away. She also tried to eat an entire dandelion head of seeds, but she didn't enjoy it very much. In fact, she choked and gagged on it and I had to try to fish them all out of her mouth. 

Still, she's getting the hang of it and as we watched all the seeds blow into the sun, it felt like summer might be on its way. 

Baby in Bruges

It's been a long time, I know. But, I've been busy and I'll be posting a lot soon to make up for it.

My Mom flew in last Tuesday for a much-appreciated visit and she brought with her our new Canon 5D Mark II. My Mom is also a photographer and we have been having lots of fun playing with the new camera and trying to take pictures of a very uncooperative Annika. Oh, but when we do get a picture, it is good!

We took a trip to Bruges where we started a very cool photo project I will post about later. We also ate lots of chocolate and waffles, took a boat ride, walked lots and lots, and played with Annika in the parks. I love Bruges and could go back again and again.

I haven't had much editing time, and so these pictures haven't even been opened in photoshop. They've been proofed in Camera RAW, but other than that, these are pretty much straight out of the camera (and a good example of of my awesome new 5D!) Also, since I didn't open them in photoshop, I didn't resize them right, so they are a little smaller than usual. Better small than nothing, right?

Avery

Brad's brother Jeff and his wife Tammy are taking a much needed trip alone to London this week, and so Annika is getting some good cousin bonding time with 9 month old Avery. Anni can be so sweet sometimes, crouching down and chatting with Avery in a high-pitched baby voice. But other times she is not so sweet, like when she hits Avery on the head or steals her binkie and toys. I think she is getting better though, and someday all the practice will make her a good big sister.

I love Annika's big brown eyes, but sometimes I wish that she could have eyes like Avery's. Look at those beautiful baby blues!

Dates Available!

Time is going by so fast! Spring is here, and it feels like summer will soon be on the way. I am starting to be able to count down the time until Brad comes back in days instead of months or even weeks! Brad and I are starting to spend more and more of our conversation time discussing our plans for when he gets home - the trips we want to take, the the things we want to do, the days that we will have off. I figured that we are not the only ones doing this, and so I decided to put this calendar up so that it would be really easy for you to see when I have portrait sessions available and you can just as easily work family pictures into your busy block leave schedule. Just send me an email telling me when you want your session and I'll add the date to this calendar. Easy as pie! (Does anyone else think that we need a new phrase for that? I can think of lots of things easier than making a pie....)

Teething + Photoshoot = Bad

The date had been on my calendar for two weeks. Britteny cleared her calendar so that she could go with me and keep Annika happy. I picked out four different outfits, I deliberated on the perfect location, and I charged my camera batteries. I was going to do a full-blown photoshoot and get some really good one-year pictures of Annika. The only thing missing was a happy and cooperative baby. By about 9:00 in the morning I knew it wasn't going to be good. She had cried all morning and she had only been up for half an hour before she was rubbing her eyes. She slept most of the day and cried a good majority of the time she was awake. The poor girl was finally cutting her top front teeth, but she had chosen the worst day to do it. I decided to haul her out anyway, to see if I could get at least a few pictures before rain replaced our beautiful weather. This is what happens when you try to take a tired, cranky, teething baby out for pictures:

Poor, poor Annika. I did actually manage to get a couple of good pictures. Here is one of my favorites. I love that she is trying to give me the flower that she picked. She probably ate it after I took the picture. She loves eating flowers.

Luckily Lexi tagged along with Britteny and let me take this picture after Annika had completely melted down.

So, if any of you book a session and the day of the pictures your child decides to cut teeth, or get sick, or wake up all night long and completely falls apart, then just know that I understand how you feel and I would be happy to reschedule.

Summer Deal

Sunny Easter Sunday

The weather here has been incredible lately! It is amazing how happy I can feel just because the sun is out. Whenever I think about the way the sun changes my emotions I am reminded of how Christ taught us that he is the light of the world. Light has an incredible capacity to not only physically support life on this earth, but to change the way I think and feel as well. When it is bright and sunny outside I feel happier, I am more motivated, and I have more energy. So, how appropriate that this Easter sunday was bright and sunny, to remind me that Jesus Christ, the light of the world, changes my life physically, emotionally, and spiritually everyday. It reminded me that just like sunlight allows everything on planet earth to live, Christ died and was resurrected that we might live not only in this life, but again in the life to come. I am so grateful.

After church on Sunday, we headed out with our best friends to take pictures and hunt for Easter eggs. Annika is not very good at looking for eggs. She is pretty content once she has one in each hand, and she doesn't like the idea of me taking them and putting them in a basket. Still, it was fun to just play in the sun and in the grass.

I have really been struggling to get good pictures of Annika lately. She is obsessed with my camera in that she always wants to hold it and push all the buttons. When I won't let her play with it, she gives me the stink eye and refuses to cooperate. I am going to try to take her one year pictures this week, so wish me luck with the little stinker!

Annika stole Ryan's easter basket, which was ok by me since it was much cuter than her own. According to Annika, it was cute enough to wear as a hat.

Maybe someday she'll let me take a picture and she will actually smile for me...