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“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are gray.
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you, please don’t take… my sunshine away.

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreampt I held you in my arms.
When I awoke dear, I was mistaken, so please don’t take.. my sunshine away.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are gray.
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you, please don’t take… my sunshine away.”

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This is the MOST requested song I sing to my girls at night before bed. They love it. They love this song SO MUCH, they requested it be played at our wedding in September. Their exact words were, “Mommy, can you and Daddy dance with us to our own special song?” … the words that bled from my heart with total and utter love, “OMG YES, YES WHAT SONG?” So, You are my Sunshine is kind of a thing in our home.

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We don’t always have good days, but we don’t always have bad days. As parents, it takes patience, stength, and at times we just need to walk away.

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Children don’t always want to smile, they don’t always want their photos taken. As a photographer AND a Mom. This is super hard and has always been challenging. Our children will smile for everyone else but us. It’s just like the old saying, “The Shoemakers children have no shoes”. Yep, this photographer doesn’t have that many photos of us. We don’t always have the time to set up the tripod, the timer, and hope for a good photo. So, we drive around, pull over on the side of the road for potty breaks, we find beautiful fields of flowers. We meet farmers, and we TRY our best.

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It’s not always a perfect experience, and sometimes I get upset, because I really, really just want those pretty pictures of my babies. Then I get home. I unload my cards, I preview the photos. I sit here and smile, because even though my babies didn’t cooperate THAT WELL, they’re beautiful because these photos are THEM. 100% THEM. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I look at these pictures and I smile for a few reasons. Want to know why? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway…

1. Toni doesn’t like to wear dresses. Instead, she’s wearing capri’s, a white undershirt tank top, and a tunic.
2. Gianna is wearing the dress we bought her for her preschool graduation. She will be in Kindegarden this year. This makes me so proud, and so sad for her to be growing up… so fast.
3. They both chose which bow color to wear. Their favorite colors are pink and purple. This is their individuality shining through.
4. Toni did not want to smile, all she wanted was ice cream. Her saddness was pure, the kind kids have when their biggest battle is what kind of ice cream they want, and if they will get it.
5. Gianna, lifted her hand up and played with her hair like I told her to. She is always wearing a toe ring on her pointer finger, because I gave it to her to wear to feel pretty. She felt so, so very pretty.
6. And lastly, the sunflowers were $0.50 cents, the owner of this property was selling them at a stand with a metal box for the money. His phone number was listed and said something like, “call us if you have a question, we dont bite!”. I left $5.00 in the box, and grabbed 4. I spoke with him and he said I could visit any time I’d like to take pictures in front of his flowers. He is the sweetest man, ever.
7. The girls were standing in the dirt, because they were terrified of the bee’s. Honestly, they screamed bloody murder. I explained to them they just want the pollen and that they’re trying to make honey. But you know, kids don’t listen very well, and they would NOT go back into the flowers.
8. Pink flip flops, because thats just how they roll in the summer.
9. The blurry yellow and green was Toni’s flowers that she didn’t want to hold. So I held them and made this work beautifully.
10. Last but not least, this is proof that I am able to get beautiful images of my children, even if they aren’t happy about it. It works because they’re beautiful, and nothing can ever change that. Unless of course, I have ice cream with me at the time of the shoot.

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Children, Personal

July 29, 2014

You are my sunshine! | Galloway, New Jersey | Bokeh Love Photography | Galloway Professional Photographer

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray... This is the MOST requested song I sing to my girls at night before bed. They love it. They love this song SO MUCH, they requested it be played at our wedding in September. Their exact words were, "Mommy, can you and Daddy dance with us to our own special song?" ... the words that bled from my heart with total and utter love, "OMG YES, YES WHAT SONG?" So, You are my Sunshine is kind of a thing in our home.

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One thing I love, is when my clients trust me! One hour before sunset, is the ABSOLUTE BEST time to take pictures. Especially on the beach! You get natural, even, beautiful lighting. The sun is setting and I can control my settings PERFECTLY. It’s amazing and when everything goes perfect, my clients get beautiful photographs to print, hang on their walls and remember forever. This may be in my top favorite sessions of the season.

A HUGE THANK YOU to the Silipena family for trusting me with your memories and I hope you all love your photos as much as I do! Enjoy!

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rangefinder contest, bokeh love photography, professional photographer, south jersey wedding photographer, contest, peoples choice
rangefinder contest, bokeh love photography, professional photographer, south jersey wedding photographer, contest, peoples choice
rangefinder contest, bokeh love photography, professional photographer, south jersey wedding photographer, contest, peoples choice
rangefinder contest, bokeh love photography, professional photographer, south jersey wedding photographer, contest, peoples choice
rangefinder contest, bokeh love photography, professional photographer, south jersey wedding photographer, contest, peoples choice
rangefinder contest, bokeh love photography, professional photographer, south jersey wedding photographer, contest, peoples choice
rangefinder contest, bokeh love photography, professional photographer, south jersey wedding photographer, contest, peoples choice
rangefinder contest, bokeh love photography, professional photographer, south jersey wedding photographer, contest, peoples choice

July 11, 2014

Silipena Family | Ocean City, New Jersey | Beach Session | Bokeh Love Photography | Ocean City Professional Photographer

ocean city, new jersey, OCNJ, beach portraits, family portraits, southern new jersey, ocean city professional photographer, professional photographer, south jersey, photos, pro photos, bokeh love photography

Portraits

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When it comes to babies, we want to remember how their toes looked when they were one week old. We want to see how their skin looked and how amazingly adorable their eyes were when you held them tight. These moments are so important and I highly recommend newborn photography. Having had two little girls, I missed out on this. Being a photographer we get wrapped up in taking photos of other families and sometimes forget to stop and smell the flowers that are right there in front of us. If I could go back in time, I would have done these photos for each of my children.

Below you will see a different example of what kind of photos you can get for your babies. Outside in natural light is of course my absolute favorite. Baskets are great props and add some other elements to the photos without taking away from your little bundle of joy. In studio is great too, if it’s snowing, cold, or the weather just doesn’t permit for us to be outside. We have to think about the safety of the children, so on cold days, inside there is always a space heater and blankets to warm the babies. A puck style beanbag is used for underneath the blankets and for the baby to lie on. These beanbags are easily moved to create a comfortable bed for the baby to keep them comfy.

I strongly suggest keeping outfit changes to a maximum of two. The less the baby is wearing, the better so they stay comfortable and aren’t disturbed much, especially if they are sleeping. Swaddling is also strongly recommended, as it keeps babies snug, happy and asleep.

Please bring diapers, wipes, burp clothes as well and be prepared for accidents. They happen and it’s always good to be prepared!

All of our blankets go through the wash with Dreft after every session and are stored in a air tight tote for the next session.

Sessions are 1 hour long to give time for breast-feeding, bottle-feeding, diaper changing, accidents etc.

To book your session, or ask questions please contact Lauren from the contact link above!

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Children

June 22, 2014

NEWBORN + BABY PORTRAITS | BOKEH LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY | GALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY | SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER

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Oh, Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is that one-day that we get to reflect on how amazing we are! We created LIFE! We raise these children, and never get a break. We get up, get them ready for school, feed them, feed ourselves if we are lucky, change their diapers, help them brush their teeth, drop them off at school, get to work, pick them up from school, feel them dinner, play with them, love them, talk to them, listen to them, brush their teeth, get them in bed, hope they stay in bed, then lull them to sleep when they get out of bed… and finally, we are aloud to, we try to go to sleep, just to get up and do it all over again! (Ya know, or how ever your schedule is). I love being a Mom. I love that I am able to stay home and be a Mom. I love that I am able to work from home, and be there where they need me, whenever they need me, whatever TIME they need me. I love it, and I wouldn’t and couldn’t change it, ever.

I take beautiful photos of children, all the time. I take pictures on the beach, in a park, in the woods, in people’s backyard, and even at the zoo and on playgrounds! I make these beautiful images for everyone (and trust me I LOVE doing it) but It’s so difficult to get pictures of my own kids! “The Shoemakers kids have no shoes?” Yep, that’s me. It takes so much time to get my kids ready, get them to behave, get them to stop crying, hitting each other, yelling at each other, and stand still long enough for me to snap a few photos. Well, until I learned how to use my camera of course. It’s still difficult but now, I know how to set my camera correctly, to not get a hand of blur, or a jumping child’s face in motion. It really did just one day click in my head, “oh. Duh. THATS what I’m doing wrong?” Yes. That simple. (And Yes, I shoot FULL manual, no modes for me, I control exactly how I want my pictures to turn out, because my camera is just a tool, and I am the artist that drives it).

Anyway, Today I set out to get pictures of my babies. You won’t believe the location. It’s gorgeous; it’s lush, overgrown and fun. It’s my parent’s backyard. The place I grew up. It was a lot more maintained back then, but I love that you can’t see the fence, and there is all of this earthy green everywhere. It’s really neat and makes for amazing photos! I tell everyone not to worry what the background in a photo looks like, because it’s really focused on the person IN the photo, and not the background. The background is just extra anyway. It’s for fun, and it’s just for color. So after my parent’s backyard, I went to the campground, because seriously, the campground has the BEST scenery. There is this amazing strip of dirt called the landing. It’s great, it takes you out by the river, which is fabulous for photos – and how lucky we were that it was high tide! Like, super high tide!

So, Happy Mothers Day to me! I succeeded and got AMAZING photos of my babies. Their Daddy is definitely going to be happy and I’m just so proud. By the time we got home, the baby was knocked out, and our big girl, well, she thought she deserved an Oreo, so we had some Oreo’s together before she got tucked into her warm bed.

Love these photos SO MUCH – check them out!

XOXO,
Lauren
Bokeh Love Photography

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May 9, 2014

Happy Mother’s Day, To Me| Personal

Personal

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One of my favorite things to do is photograph clients again and again. This particular portraits session was so exciting because I photographed this little boy when he was just born! Now he’s ONE and I get to watch him smash a cake! His Mom is super crafty and actually made him a tie and hat for this portrait session. I cannot tell you enough how adorable he is! You will just have to check out the photos for yourself to see how amazing he is!

Now, when doing a cake smash I do have a few suggestions! First, don’t worry about clothes, he/she wont need them! However, it’s perfectly fine and totally reccomended that you accessories! Yes boys can accessories too! Things like a tie, a hat, maybe even a diaper cover! Those things just add to the cuteness of it all. Now, because the session if you’d like to dress him and her up in some fancy or just down right stylish clothing – go for it! A few shots of that, and then right into the cake!

Also, everyone loves chocolate cake, BUT, and this is a big BUT, chocolate cake is not a good idea for a cake smash. The reason why, is well.. A baby covered in a mysterious brown substance? You get the point. Go for yellow, vanilla, or even pink cake. White, yellow, blue, green, pink icing, sure why not! The colors just add to the fun. But stay clear of chocolate 🙂

XOXO,
Lauren
Bokeh Love Photography

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Children

April 4, 2014

One Year Old | Cake Smash | In Studio | Bokeh Love Photography | Galloway Professional Photographer

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