We are winding down our work to get ready for vacation. We will be away until the first week of August. This weekend did envolve photography, however. We had the wonderful opportunity to attend the closing night of the art exhibit at The Red Door Gallery in downtown Phoenix this week. BOLD (Birth On Labor Day) Phoenix, a coalition of organizations serving pregnant and birthing women in the greater Phoenix Area, planned an art exhibit featuring multi-media art pieces related to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Mothering/Fathering and we had been asked to donate some of our photography. All proceeds from the art exhibit and auction went toward the production of a play called Birth, written by Karen Brody. And the proceeds from the performances of the play will go towards many projects designed for women in Phoenix. These projects will help educate women on the state of maternity care today as well as empower women to share their birth stories and connect with other mothers. The play Birth will be presented on September 1, 2008.

The event features a short movie, speakers, a belly dancer, henna art and a silent auction. We had a great time wandering the art gallery and then heading to dinner with friends at the fabulous Carly's Bistro that donated the proceeds to BOLD.

We had finally taken the blog down when we realized so many months had gone by without posting. We returned from vacation and immediately became busy working again and never got back into the habit of blogging.

Here we are a year later about to head off to vacation . . . again. I decided to bring the blog back up to let everyone know we will be unavailable from June 20th to Aug 9th. I will, however, being trying to remember to post some of what has kept us busy for the last year.

We are kicking back and relaxing. Enjoying our vacation and playing in the sun. Back to work next week!

It's hot in August. Hot most places, but Arizona is one of those places that is hard to imagine. 110, 115, 118 degrees some days. But just because it's hot doesn't mean that children can't have a great time. And while it does make more formal outdoor portraits difficult, summer is a great time to be creative. Photographs of children running through sprinklers, lounging in the kiddie pool or dripping brightly colored popsicles down their chins are great. Those are the images that capture the very essence of childhood. The dog days of August are upon us, get out your camera or give us a call. Bellies, Babies & Tots specializes in capturing childhood memories.

(Just a reminder for anyone who has not checked our newly posted calendar [under the scheduling tab]: we will be on vacation from August 21 until August 30)

Maternity photography is a relatively new area of portrait photography. Many people still have questions about it.

The most important thing to remember is to be yourself. Whether you are interested in artistic nude portraits or full clothed, just yourself or the full family, maternity portraits should reflect who you are. Whether you are a gymnast or a dog lover, bring yourself into your portraits. Wear your favorite red leather boots or wear nothing at all; have your portrait taken in your garden or against a backdrop of red rocks; capture yourself in elegance or shine with all the colors of the rainbow.