This rolly polly dolly makes me yearn to have another.

This job is dangerous

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And what a year it’s been.

This year was the first year I got myself a studio, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I’d made to grow my business. While it’s been a scary milestone, I am so proud of this space that has come to represent my “style”, if there ever was one. When someone looks at a picture I’ve taken and is able to recognise it as my work, it is because of this space. It has allowed me to develop this “brand”, if you will and for that, I am truly grateful.

This was also the year I invested in my journey back to film. In that, I made so many new friends through Film is Not Dead. This was a pivotal point in my career as a professional photographer, the decision to incorporate this beautiful medium into what I truly believe now represents the soul of what my work has become. While I won’t ever give up on digital, I am arriving at a happy fusion of the two that not only is magical but makes me happy. And that has become essential to keep my going for art is a passion that burns fierce and too hot sometimes for me, so much so that I am easily burnt out (forgive the deluge of metaphors!). It is hard to stay genuinely inspired in a market saturated with the same ideas. However, each time I get a scan back, each time I commune with my fellow film shooters, this passion is reignited. For that, I thank my dear friend Catherine. Thank you for introducing me to your world, without which I would forever been content wandering idiotically through a wasteland of tacky mediocrity. And thank you, Jon, for being so REAL about it all.

Thank you to my family for enduring another year of half-assed being-there but always backing me 100% without fail because for SOME reason, you still believe I am capable of so much more because I AM.

Most of all, thank YOU, JTPA friends, new and old. I must also apologize for having sometimes been overzealous in my desire to please and to be perfect, and in that, succeeded miserably in achieving neither. I’m afraid the passion is also the poison.

Auld lang syne, 2011 and hola 2012.

Surprise me

Get ready for the happiest little twin boys in the world – because they have the happiest pair of parents. Figures

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There’s nothing quite like having a new baby. And a first baby.

The daily surprises (good AND bad). The constant wonder. Nothing else in this world changes your world from one second to another quite like having a baby. One minute you’re just plain Andre and Jessica. The next, you’re parents.

Welcome Baby Brooklyn. Your family is so happy you’re here.

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Baby A, newest baby girl of the A family – my neighbors!

Are you expecting between Jan – March 2011? JTPA is running its first annual Welcoming Winter Babies promo!

Here’s the deal: $300 for a newborn session and ten high res JPGs on a DVD for any session booked for babies due between the months of January to March 2011. The regularly priced value is $700.

Only ten sessions available so book early! First come first serve! Email me at jenn@jennifertai.net or call 425.463.8480 to book today.

Sheri, Ben and Big Brother R welcomed a new addition to their family 11 days ago. They opted for a more casual, photojournalistic and storytelling shoot.

Daddy getting Miss R to relax on the bouncy ball.

Hey momma!

Burpy time!

There she is!

Such a cutey patootey.

Cheeks and fingers are the best.

And toes too.

We took R outside for a few shots. It was beautiful morning.

A few pics with daddy.

Congratulations, Sheri and Ben! Wishing you all my best the second time around!

Amber and Cody drove all the way from Tacoma to the home studio to have Baby M photographed!

Ah baby M. You are by far the most expressive little boy I’ve met, in that you’d peed twice and projectile-pooped three times by the time we were done. It’s a good thing you are so darn cute! This baby boy, just seven days new, has the sweetest skin color, all honey and roses.

And so easy to work with! He slept through most of the shoot from pose to pose, dozing through even when both mom and dad were cracking up over his very active bowel movement. I have “art” all over my seamless that I am proud to call Baby M’s first work.

And despite all of that, I was happy to cuddle him all day. Just look at how sweet this little guy is?!

Mom chuckling over Baby M’s third and final “performance”.

What a beautiful family. It was really nice to meet you, Amber and fam!

Three reasons why I love the town I work and live in.

1. There’s a drive-through Starbucks.

2. People are really nice.

3. You get to witness nature up close. And I mean REAL up close.

This was taken from the window of my friend Jen’s house. I was visiting this morning for a shoot with her new baby boy, K, all of two months old.

Those boots are so cute, they need a guard cat. And how sweet is that card?

Jen and hubby Shane giving baby K breakfast before the shoot.

Little burpy time.

Change of clothes…

Baby K and family!

This wooden basinet is a family heirloom. Love it!

Looking good, D family!

Got my negative scans back for Baby M’s newborn session and I luuuuuuurve them!

Shot with a Contax 645, Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm f2.0, Kodak 400VC film. All pictures unedited.