Dustin Francis Photography

I first met Nikki back in 2001 when I worked at a movie theater with her.  We had lots of fun, such as; rolling office chairs down the hallway and other fun “mature” things 🙂  I then worked with her again in 2005 at Lowe’s and also met her fiance Dan who worked there.  Nikki and Dan invited me to come photograph some candid moments at their wedding that November, which was a lot of fun and my first experience photographing a wedding.  Well now the Snyder family has three with the addition of Tristan a couple years ago and will be four strong soon enough!  I went over to their home a couple weeks ago to grab some shots of the family as well as a few of Nikki and her belly.  I ended up shooting a lot of Tristan, but there’s no surprise there, as he is a cutie and of course full of energy.  All in all it was a great day and I was happy to be able to see the growth of the Snyder family and am anxious to meet the newest addition soon!

We started outside to get a few of the three of them…here’s Tristan

And the boys…

Love the hat!

Weeee!

Looks like a happy family to me 🙂

Their yard is so big, Tristan can run A LOT!

I’m diggin’ this one…

I wanted to try and get a few of moody one’s with Nikki…

Tristan was definitely jumping on the bed…

I wonder what this is for?

Some fun belly painting with finger paint….NICE!

It was funny, the first couple times Tristan put his finger in the paint and painted on Nikki’s belly, he wanted to wipe off his finger….very cute…

This one reminds me a little bit of ET…

I LOVE this moment…so genuine and I love the emotion you can see in Nikki.

Why would you not want to put it on your nose?

You gotta mix it up to make the famous BROWN!

A little belly and baby love…

“And I’m spent.”

I think this is referred to as a “Hot Mamma.”

Yes, they’re really that blue.

Love it!

Mamma + Daddy

A final one of Tristan running around before I left…

Thank you Nikki and Dan for letting me come do this and I look forward to meeting your new little one soon!

If you’re wondering why I haven’t posted this yet, well, so am I.  Josh and Laura wanted to wait until the annoncements were out, which I thought was a great idea, but that was weeks ago.  Here is a slideshow from Leah’s week one session, this was done back on January 30th, exactly one week after her birthday.  I just saw her last week and she sure is growing, but still a cutie…of course!  Enjoy the slideshow…

Here is a pic of how she looks as of last week….gotta love those cheeks 🙂

Well, I had a fabulous 1-2-3-09!  Laura and Josh’s baby girl entered into the world at 7:19 am at a healthy 8 lbs, 4 oz.  The birth took place close to me at U of M.  I got a text from Josh a little later letting me know it was ‘go’ time.  See, I wanted to be there to document Leah’s first day and I am so glad Laura and Josh let me do so.  Laura looked great for just having delivered a ‘good sized’ baby and had that lovely motherly glow and Josh couldn’t have been a prouder pappa.  It was great being there to help keep those memories forever and I loved holding little Leah.  She looks mostly like her mamma I think, but has some of her pappa’s features too.  I’m looking forward to seeing the June family again soon and photographing Leah in her new home.  Congrats to the new mommy and daddy…Leah is beautiful and I look forward to watching Leah grow and seeing your love for her grow as well!  Pics, pics, pics!!!!

 

This is how my day started out….what a great start!!!

I would like to introduce Leah Judith June…

The June girls!

Happy parents! 🙂

Either she’s really cute, or she’s Dr. Evil…..CUTE!

Love this one…

Getting her first check up!

This moment was great and a big tear jerker for me too.  The look on Josh’s face…PRICELESS!

Opened her eyes to see mommy and daddy…

Hmmmm, who’s holding baby Leah?

7 hours old and already starting with the faces.  If you know babies, you know what is most likely going on here…

Eskimo kisses 🙂

Thanks for grabbing this one of me and your baby girl Josh!

You know we had to get some little details…

Leah was doing this most of time…I think it’s how she was in the womb…

She’s already doing the one eyed Pirate thing too….arrrrrrrr.  If she could talk, I think she would say, “I got me eye on you pappa, make sure you keep me booty clean.”

Layin’ with mamma…

Here’s the fam…

Ooh, one of my favs!  EDIT:  I just noticed, in this image, she is exactly 9 hours old 🙂

The Junes! 🙂

She is loved…

Cuteness!

Her feet are already pretty good size… 🙂

Leah, we love you and are happy you are finally here!

Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of hanging out with some friends at their home.  It was great to see them again, but I was there on a mission.  Laura and Josh are expecting and I wanted to document this special milestone in their lives.  Laura is due at the end of this month, so we really got her at the end of her pregnancy.  It was fun to do some maternity photos for once and I look forward to documenting their daughter soon when she is brought into this world.  The biggest thing I noticed with the two of them was their emotions.  It reminded me a little bit of the love I see when photographing a wedding, but it was also a little different.  The look they gave each other constantly was one of the warmest I have seen.  I can only imagine that having a child might refresh feelings and make those more evident to one another as well as others.  It was nice to see this, as it was something unexpected when I went to their home.  We got a lot of great images inside and out and I had a hard time not posting more.  Enjoy you two and thank you so much for sharing this huge event in your lives with me!

We started out with some of momma by herself…

This is how big she is…

Laura, you look great!!!

Enter daddy…

See, only a woman can carry a baby…

So cute…

I think pappa loves his girls!

L-O-V-E  it!

Once I took a peek at the light in the bedroom, we moved into there for some more intimate shots…  Josh reminded me of the scene from Benny and Joon as Laura was doing this….hilarious!

A great portrait of Mamma June!

Can ya feel it?

Fav!

We then went outside on the ice to get some fun shots in the snow…

Adorable!

Such a fun couple!  I can vouch for that and I have many pics to prove it 🙂

I’m tellin’ ya, this guy loves it!

Mom and Pop with their house in the background.  This will be their last winter there.

Here we are.  Good times with good friends!