Orange You Glad It's Fall?

Sorry. I couldn't help myself with the title.

A couple weeks ago, the Hoggs & Killams got a major jump on their holiday to-do list when we went ahead and took their Christmas card pics! They donned burnt orange, we (miraculously) found a couple parking spots at UT and we got 'er done! (Again - couldn't help myself.)

Those boys. They are just too cute! Plus, they were troopers! It did NOT feel like Christmas or even autumn outside that day! They may have dipped some toes into the fountain toward the end. 

It wasn't too much cooler for Sam's and my stop at the pumpkin patch! He was quite intrigued with the pumpkins, but not so much with actually looking at the camera. We did get a couple cute shots of him, though! 

That boy. He is too cute! I wish you could see his overalls a little better. But I'm glad his little toes are poking out there! He was also a pretty good sport. He may not have looked at the camera for more than this one shot, but he didn't cry at all! 

Psst - A little tip: you'll notice I've got my face smushed up against his. It's not only because I can't stand how cute he is and have to snuggle with him constantly. It also allowed me to have a little bit of control over where he was facing without using a hand behind his head. If you want to be facing the camera yourself, just go cheek-to-cheek. Same effect! 

I'm glad it's fall. Orange you?! 

Okay, I'm done now. 

Love y'all! 

Jenni

Gorgeous, Darling: Your Best Makeup Bets for a Portrait Session!

I have a pretty simple makeup routine myself, and with a newborn around the house, the routine gets simpler every day! However, your engagement session, Christmas card portraits or senior session is really not the time for a little moisturizer and mascara! Turns out the rules for photo-shoot makeup can be a little different than your everyday makeup, and since I'm not the best person to teach you about those differences, I tracked down a pro for ya!

Meet Miss Rhea McCarter of Adore Makeup Boutique in North Austin:

Rhea and the rest of the girls at Adore offer all sorts of fun services like, customized makeup application for weddings, events & editorial shoots, makeup lessons, blow outs, lash extensions and eyebrow shaping, airbrush tanning...the list is long, and these girls are good at what they do! I met Rhea for the first time at a wedding that I photographed, and the bride just looked beautiful!

All that to say, Rhea knows what she's talking about! She'll get you all dolled up if you want to stop by her shop, but she also graciously agreed to share "the tip of the iceberg" with us, so that you can give your portrait session makeup a go yourself if you're up for it!

Here we go!

Younger, Happier, Prettier! 

Who doesn't want to look younger, happier & prettier in your pictures?! Rhea says the best thing you can do for your makeup routine is to take care of your skin. You want hydration, and you want smoothness! These two factors will determine how the rest of your makeup sets on your skin. Without them, you could follow all the other tips and still end up with an uneven look.

For hydration, you want to look for natural skincare products with essential oils. If you can stop by Adore, Rhea carries two lines that she loves and recommends: The Balm & Source Vital.

But if you're more of a drugstore type of girl, Rhea says the Cetaphil brand is going to be your most natural option. Eye cream is also important, but if you're fresh out, the natural moisturizers can be applied under your eyes as well.

For smoothness, scrub scrub scrub!! I wrote that three times on purpose. Find a good exfoliant, (like The Balm's Kiwi Facial Scrub) and use it no more than three times a week. If you really want to invest in your youthful glow, purchase a Clarisonic. Apparently all that needs to be said about this device is that, "It's amazing."

Firm Foundation

Now that your face is a smooth, moist canvas for your makeup, you want to start with a water-based foundation, as opposed to an oil-based one. (I had no idea there were different bases, myself! Good thing I asked!)

Rhea suggests Bobbi Brown or any kind of BB Cream. In my ignorance, I had to ask what BB Cream actually is. Rhea says, "It's like tinted moisturizer and traditional foundation had a baby!" You get moisture and coverage! And since it's water-based, it lasts longer and is both sweat-proof and water-proof. I promise not to spray water in your face during your portrait session, but I have yet to find a client who doesn't end the session dabbing sweat from her forehead by the end of an outdoor shoot! You definitely want sweat-proofing!

Finish What You Started

Your foundation's partner is the powder you layer on top of it. For photos, Rhea suggests a high grade mineral powder.

The high grade part is important. It refers to how fine the powder is. Your typical mineral powders, like BareMinerals, may do the job day-to-day, but in photos, they can give you an orange-y tint, and they won't hold off shine like you need them to. Your higher grade powders come from lines like glo minerals & Jane Iredale.

Adore carries glo, and you can find Jane Iredale in a few spas and doctor's offices around town.

Bonus powder tip: Instead of using blotting papers as you start to...ummm...shimmer in higher temps, Rhea suggests you reapply a light powder. Blotting papers can remove your carefully applied makeup. Who needs that?!

A Lovely Frame for Those Baby Blues

Shapely brows provide a pretty frame for the rest of your face! Even if you normally do your brow maintenance yourself (like me!), make an appointment with an aesthetician to have your brows shaped before your portrait session.

I know it's scary to let someone else have control over that part of your face - believe me, I've heard horror stories! But if you get some recommendations from friends with perfectly normal looking brows, you should be fine! If that's no help, Alex Hart at Adore is a safe bet!

While you're with your aesthetician, ask for tips on filling in your brows for your session. Most people don't do this as part of their normal makeup routine, but photos can show unevenness that isn't noticeable day-to-day. Rhea recommends using brow powder with an angled brush.

Show Off What You've Framed

You want liner, and you want mascara. The most important thing about liner is to get it close in to your lash line. Then Rhea says to apply a double coat of black mascara. (Always black for photos. It works harder than a black-brown to make your eyes stand out.)

Turns out Rhea is a drugstore kind of gal on this topic, too! For mascara, she prefers Loreal's Voluminous mascara. It thickens and lengthens without leaving clumps, and it's waterproof!

Secrets, Secrets Are..Well Sometimes They're Necessary

If you don't have at least a little darkness under your eyes, then you're either 16 or we can't be friends. Everybody has a little under-eye shadow they'd rather keep under wraps! To keep your secret, use a two toned concealer like this one from glo:

Use the darker shade under the entire eye, and then layer the lighter shade on top only where you have darkness. 

Add a Little Pop

If you ever wanted your eye color to pop, it's when you're taking photos. Some of Rhea's suggestions are light gray for blue eyes, a pretty lilac for brown or turquoise for even darker brown. "You want a little Victoria's Secret in there, but not too much!" She wants us to keep it matte - avoid shimmer! 

Get a Little Cheeky

"I feel like a lot of women in Austin don't wear blush, but it's actually important for pictures," says Rhea. 

Blush can be intimidating because it can go very wrong! (At least to me, it is!) But according to Rhea, you don't need a heavy application, just the right makeup in the right places. So a light-handed approach to blush should be doable for most girls! If you're nervous, choose a shade that's closer to brown than bubblegum. Rhea recommends Bare from the glo minerals line. And stay away from shimmer, just like with your eye shadow. 

No Need to Pout

Let your makeup do it for you! Rhea says to go simple with a neutral shade on your lips for photos. (Unless you're bold enough to go for an "all the way red" shade! Just avoid in-betweensies!) 

Things to remember when choosing your photo shoot lip color: you don't want high gloss, but you don't have to go all the way matte either. Something creamy will give you that younger, happier, prettier moisturized look. Rhea tells me that Burt's Bees' gloss hits this happy medium. 

Extra lip tip: Focusing the color in the "Betty Boop" area will keep your lips looking full. 

So there ya have it, ladies! Keep this post bookmarked for when you're ready to head to your photo shoot! Or if even this simple tips have you cross-eyed, here's Rhea's number: 512-524-0208. And her website: 

adoremakeupsalon.com 

Even if you've got a handle on this makeup thing, trying a new look is always fun! Adore's Makeup Bar is designed for just that! 

Drop by the shop, pick a look and let Rhea do the work for you! Take a few girlfriends and make a party of it complete with cocktails! Visit Adore's website for all the details and contact information.

And thank you so much to Angela, who let me photograph her appointment with Rhea for this blog! Angela is the editor of Bliss Bridal Magazine here in Austin. We owe her congratulations not only on the new issue, but also on the new baby, who will be making his debut soon!

Turned out gorgeous, Darling!

God Bless, Y'all!

Jenni

Jenni Roberts Photography

Puppy Dog Tails: Sam's Room

I promised pictures of Sam's room last time I was here. And now I have returned to deliver on that promise. I'm gonna go ahead and brag about how cute it is since, as it turned out, I had very little to do with it!

This is because almost every project I came up with included painting. I'm not sure if I was actually trying to be frugal like I claimed or if I was subconsciously trying to get out of the work. Either way, Michael was much more patient with all my projects than I ever expect him to be again.

Here is the best view of it, I think.

We picked a puppy dog theme. And yes, we realize this means we will someday probably have to get him a puppy dog. We discussed this actually. We briefly considered a teddy bear theme, because we felt we could more reasonably say no to getting him a bear. But in the end it was puppy dogs. I'm pretty sure Sam loves it.

The bulldog cutout is from an Etsy shop called Slippin' Southern. It was the first of what will probably be many orders from that shop. Go visit it. They have so much cute stuff!

The chest of drawers/changing table is one that we already had. But it used to be Ugly. (I meant to capitalize that. It was Ugly with a capital U.) Michael fixed it! Couple coats of primer and black paint, some new drawer pulls and voila! Much better.

Those adorable puppy dog water colors are also from Etsy. (Love Etsy!) The shop is called Jasper and Ruby. This is another one with LOTS of great stuff, although this one is all kid themed. Slippin' Southern has some that's for everyone.

Sam actually does love his puppy prints. He will stare and stare and stare at them while we change his diaper. That changing table might actually be his favorite spot in the house. Either that or the porch swing. It's a toss up.

Michael also made Sam his bookshelves.

And all of our sweet friends bought him all those books! They're so cute, and I already read them to him.

The two things I actually contributed were the crib skirt and Sam's mobile. 

I made the mobile, but I didn't design it. I had a template. They're actually little puppets that he can play with when he gets too big to need a mobile anymore!

And lastly, our chair.

It's already been a good, good chair. We spend a lot of time there. In fact, I slept in it the first night we put him in his room. (It reclines almost flat.) This was a gift from Michael's parents and we ordered it from Buy Buy Baby. Very comfy. And it's a rocker.

Oh! I did also frame that copy of Jesus Loves Me from an old hymnal. So that's three things I contributed! Look at me helping!

We all just love spending time in his room. It's now one of our favorite rooms in the house. I want to paint the living room and kitchen light gray, too, but I think Michael is all painted out for now! Aunt Brandi actually painted the walls for us. (All in one night!) Maybe she'll paint my living room for me! What do you say, Aunt Brandi? I'll let you snuggle Sam if you paint it for me!

God Bless Y'all!

Jenni

My New Favorite Picture

It's my baby smiling at me. We took that picture a couple weeks ago. He's even bigger and more smiley now! He smiles at me every morning when he wakes me up at 5:00.

It sure is a good thing he's cute.

You may have noticed that my new favorite picture includes no buckets or baby costumes or any elaborate props. I'm not saying that those photos aren't cute, and if you're a new mom who has it together enough to get ready for that involved of a photo shoot, more power to you! For me, I was rather proud that my shirt was spit-up free. (Although I can usually Photoshop some spit-up if need be!)

I have always liked my "lifestyle" type newborn sessions the best, and now that I have been on the other side of the lens, I like them even more! I know it sounds like a lot of work to get ready for pictures, but for these types of photos, all you really need is a burp rag and your sweet baby. We'll focus on things like how he sucks in his bottom lip when he sleeps instead of getting his head propped up just so! If you're like me, it's these little details and sweet traits that you want to remember anyway.

So if you've got a little sweetie at your house that you're wanting a few shots of, I am ready to start shooting portraits again! You can email me at jenni@jennirobertsphotography.com to make an appointment.

Now I'm gonna go shut my eyes for ten seconds before Sam needs me again!

God bless, y'all!

Jenni

So Much For Getting Back in the Habit!

Oh well. I really do have the best of excuses for neglecting the blog this time!

Sam is here!

He is about 2.5 weeks old now and weighs 8 lbs. 1 oz.! (Up 2 oz. from his birth weight!) Plus, he's a redhead!

See? His hair has actually grown a lot since I took that picture last week. We'll have to take another one soon!

We are all having a good time and I am squeezing this post in before he really wakes up and demands our attention again. Right now he's just cooing to let us know we need to start thinking about it. He eases us into things; he's a good baby like that.

Awwww...doesn't he just look like the sweetest baby ever? He totally is.

There will be PLENTY more pictures to come, including some of his now-completed nursery. It's puppy dogs, and his aunt and daddy worked really hard on it. (They took care of all the painting projects. Almost everything needed painting!) We were waiting for his chair to come in until a week or so ago, but it's here now and getting used quite a lot for feeding and cuddling and napping. And forehead kisses. Lots of forehead kisses happening in that rocker! One day Sam won't let me do that anymore so I'm trying to get as many in now as I can!

Well Hello There...

...My! It's been a long, long time.

How am I doin'?

Oh, I guess I'm doin' fine.

(annnnd if you understood that weirdness, then let's be best friends!)

Wowsa! It has been a long time since I sat down to write! Ya want to know why?

Well I got real sick. But not in a sad way! I was sick for about a million years...and/or three months. Don't worry, it went away pretty much the day my second trimester started!

I think pretty much everyone knows by now that I am pregnant and actually happen to be realllly close to having our first baby. And by realllly close, I mean about three days. Or ten if Baby Boy Roberts decides he is just too comfy to worry about things like being born next week.

See how close?!

Hopefully I will have newborn pictures for you very soon! Until then, I decided that I just had to get something posted so that I get back in the habit! I haven't had the morning sickness excuse in a long time, but I have had other things going on that took my attention.

Turning a guest room into a nursery, for one. (I'll show you when it's all the way done! We're still waiting on a chair!) Shooting & editing several weddings, which I'll be sharing in between baby pictures over the next few weeks. Getting things with Jenni Roberts settled so that "maternity leave" will be easier. Quitting my day job. That's right! I am a full-time photographer now. I looove it, and I will tell you more about that later, too!

So basically what this turned out to be was a teaser post! Sorry about that! It was not my intention when I started! But stay tuned! LOTS of photos and good things to share soon!

In the meantime, you can visit my new blog! (Which has also been taking a significant bit of my time!) It's called The Local, and I'm writing it for KOKE FM. "The Local" seemed appropriate since KOKE is the only locally-owned FM station in Austin anymore. That's where you will find all my live music shots as well as fun things to do around Austin. Writing that one has been a lot of fun and something different for me to try out, but I'm not ready to abandon Jifferdoodle either! So for now, I'll be doing both, and we'll just see how it goes!

Whew! Okay! Ice broken...habit reinstated! See you next time with a lot more pictures!

Love y'all,

Jenni

Texas Music and Stuff....Titles Are Hard at 2:00 AM

4:00 this afternoon: Day Job. Day Job. Day Job. (Thank you, God, for my Day Job! But seriously...whew!) 

4:30: On the road again. Mopac. Mopac. Mopac. Sun in my eyes. People in my way. Brodie. Brodie. Brodie and some more Brodie Lane. Dear Lord, did Brodie get longer between the time I left the house this morning and the time I headed back from work? 

5:30ish: Fastest shower ever in the history of the world. Just a few more minutes...Makeup. Why does my hair look like that?! Michael says it looks fine and I do not, after all, look like a man. Hm. That's not what the mirror said.

6:20: I wanted to be on the road already! Why did I take such a long shower?! ATM. Keep an eye out for muggers. What do muggers look like? Is that guy a mugger? Guess not. On the road again. 

6:50: Okay, technically not late. Park in shady back corner of parking lot. Hm. Good thing my car looks completely trashed. Nobody wants any of the crumpled receipts in my floorboards. Or the mud. Yes, there's still mud on the mats from a month ago. I'm gonna get on that...

7:00: Ahhhhhhhhh. Breeze. Texas music. Hundred-year-old oaks. Dangit, Hill's Cafe. Dangit KOKE FM. I was completely prepared to move away from Austin while driving down Mopac earlier. 

Guess I'll stay. I mean, come on...wouldn't you?

This place is just a few minutes from my house. 

And tonight the Trishas were there singing. So was Sunny Leigh Shipley (and her husband...his name's Jordan. You might have heard of him. Whatevs.) That's Doug Moreland's fiddle in the top right. 

Monte Warden is there in the middle. He wrote George Strait's "Desperately." (Desperately...I long to feel your touch! But you left me all alooooone in love!) Good stuff. 

Jason Allen is up on the left there. He's from New Braunfels. You can hear him at Gruene Hall soon. 

I ended up with about 400 photos from tonight. And I made a conscious effort not to take too many! Only 400 shows quite a bit of restraint. But as long as it took me to narrow the collection down to my favorites, picking a fiddle shot might've been the hardest. I like fiddle. And Doug seems to have a lot of fun playing it.

If you live around Manchaca, you can go chuck some pumpkins with him at his chainsaw carving shop tonight.

Yes you read that sentence correctly. Yes. The whole thing. 

1:36 a.m.: Sleepy. Gonna hate myself for staying up this late in a few hours. Glad I blogged these photos anyway. They make me smile.

Come be in my pictures next week! More free music at Hill's Cafe next Thursday courtesy of KOKE FM!  It's good times..just look how much fun the Trishas are having: