8pm Sweet Family Celebration.

My original vision for this 8pm capture was to photograph my adorable (just turned) one year old niece. So sweet and happy… It was a no-brainer. Only problem with this plan - well, Lauren goes to bed at 7pm, and there was no way I was going to mess with that schedule!

So, the other sweet, fun of the night was a special dinner party thrown by sister-in-law and brother… party hats and signature drink included! 

I always try to live in the moment and enjoy these special moments. This image encapsulates a typical moment when my family is together… Me always with the camera, trying to find that perfect, artsy shot (oh, and how I love reflections!) and my brother being his funny self - always making everyone laugh!

It's a perfect fun moment that I am grateful for. I'm so lucky to have an amazing family who likes to LIVE and LOVE. (And eat, drink and be merry!)

Cyrena - 8pm.

5pm - Portugal Moment Capture.

In general, I felt so lucky to be in Portugal - celebrating life and treasuring every moment along the way! And in particular felt so lucky to be able to capture my 5pm moment in time here… in this beautiful country.

Unlike other "moments in time", I really had no specific spot or goal of what to capture other than as much of the moment and beauty of this country that I had been enjoying for over a week - drinking and eating amazing food, seeing the most beautiful architecture and landscapes, meeting new people and most importantly experiencing the culture with some of my favorite people in the world! 

My sisters (Christine and Liz), cousin (Kim) and I had just finished a port wine tasting at Calem - (yum!) and were about to head on the Douro River for a boat tour….

At 5pm I walked past this… awesome building with amazing reflections, which gave me the ability to capture so much of this moment, I was giddy!

In a nutshell, this truly represented the moment, including:

• The Calem Winery sign/building (in the town of Gaia) where we had just tasted port wine
• The activity of people walking by
• The empty restaurant inside (this is common as restaurants don't typically open until 7pm… which made for a lot of hungry moments for me!)
• The Douro River and the boats (one of which we would take on the tour in just a few moments)
• And, the beautiful, colorful town of Porto through the windows of the restaurant

I hope you can feel this moment, even if just a little bit…. It is one I will treasure for many, many years!

Molly's 5pm.

Cyrena's 5pm.

Photo 334 - Double the Sunshine.

Photo 284 - Bay Bridge Reflections.

Photo 238 - Magic Beans Mirrors

Alone! Pretty amazing! 

Photo 232 - Chicago River at Dawn.

Photo 199 - Before the Unveil.

Cancun, MX.