Because of my work schedule meaning more traveling, and my newfound priorities, I’ve decided that whenever I travel I’ll be bringing one of the kids (or the husband) along with me. This trip I brought my middle kid, and only boy, Nicholas (or Nicholas Pickleous Pie as he’s called by many people who know him!). He was coming off a 4 day hospital stay for a scary run in with osteomyelitis (bone infection) in his ankle, so it was a much needed time away with mama  Nicholas and Lidia’s daughter, Isadora hit it off and there wasn’t one time in 8 days that the two argued.

Nicholas picked this trip to come with me on as soon as he found out it was going to be in Texas. He had visions of cowboys, cacti and cattle ranches in his little mind and was severely disappointed when we landed in Dallas only to find out that it wasn’t a desert and everyone pretty much looked, talked and dressed like they did in Indiana! So when Lidia and I had a day between teaching classes, we set out to find some “real” Texas fun for Nicholas and Isadora and found it relatively close to Lidia’s house!

On our only other completely free day, Nicholas and I met up with Jen from Sugar Photography. I had started following Jen’s blog over two years ago when she was waiting to adopt her youngest daughter, Coco. People make comments to me all the time about how they “stalk” me…well I have been Jen’s number one blog stalker over the past few years and we have exchanged emails over the years and struck up a long distance friendship As soon as the Rise & Shine workshop was planned for the Dallas area, I just knew that I had to meet up with Jen, even if it was just coffee! WELL…Jen was determined that Nicholas and I saw the “real” Texas and immediately said she was taking us to the Stockyards, so we met up our last day in Texas and made the 45 minute drive to Fort Worth with enough time to hit a store to buy “authentic” cowboy and cowgirl hats for Nicholas and Coco, let them each ride a mechanical bull (they were champs!) and grab front row seats on the curb to watch the daily cattle drive.

I don’t know how many times that day Nicholas gave an exuberant, “THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!” but it was a lot. The kid didn’t stop smiling and within a few minutes, he and Coco were teamed up against Jen and I, hiding behind bushes from us, splashing in decorative fountains and laughing at each others’ funny faces. And just like with Lidia, I felt like I instantly had made a connection with Jen. I plan on taking the entire Vanoven clan back to Texas soon and can’t wait to carry out our plans of a dinner party involving Jen and her soon-to-be (June!) husband, their combined SIX kids, and Nick and I with our 3 kids. I’m not sure my mind can fathom the mayhem that is sure to happen!

We’ll be back soon <3

I’m on Instagram, it’s a free app for your smart phone and you can follow me (rachelvanoven) Here’s all my favorite phone pictures from our week in Texas!

Savanna made her debut and was an incredibly beautiful and very easy newborn. I once again felt more like I was hanging out with college friends and gushing over someone’s baby for fun rather than doing an “official” photo shoot.

For Savanna’s three month session, we met at a local photographer hot spot for outdoor pictures, and I distinctly remember the moment that Lyndsey looked at me with her beautiful smile and said, “So, do we get a special deal on another Grow With Me package if we have babies less than a year apart?”  It took a second or two for what she was saying to register but when it did I was ecstatic.  Over the next nine months, I watched Savanna and Lyndsey grow. I marveled how she was managing to juggle work, a 6 month old, and being 3 months pregnant. I’m one of “those” people and sat there at Savanna’s 9 month session with my hands on poor Lynds’ belly waiting to feel a nudge (and I did). Then we combined Sav’s one year session with Lyndsey’s maternity shoot and it is to this day one of the most gorgeous family/maternity/one year sessions I’ve ever done. Both Bruce/David and Lyndsey were smitten with Savanna and giddy to meet her little sister, Taylor, in just a couple weeks tops. The sun was shining and Savanna refused to touch her First Birthday smash cake.

Around a week later, I got a call from Lyndsey’s mom. She said she was at the hospital and before she could finish I was was squealing and my mind was already lining up sitters for her impending newborn session. Anna stopped me before I could get to excited and said, “Taylor wasn’t born alive” or something along those lines, and for a second I felt like the earth literally stopped spinning. All I could think of was, “What can I do. Tell me what Lyndsey wants and I can do it.”

Less than an hour later, I was holding a completely perfect, chubby cheeked baby girl and praying to God that He would work through me to capture images of this sweet child in a way that would soothe her parents’ souls in the days and years to follow. The Worst had happened to them and like everyone in that room, I just wanted to make the pain less. Do something. The picture of Taylor below is actually a picture I didn’t edit the first time through (a year ago) and I’m so glad that Lyndsey wanted this picture of her second daughter shared, because the whole world should be able to see how amazingly beautiful she was.

To be a part of the small number of people on this Earth to get to see her and hold her was an honor.

One year and a week later, Savanna and Taylor’s little sister was born. Yes, Lyndsey had *three* full term baby girls each one year apart! A peanut compared to her big sisters (weighing in at 6 lbs 12 ounces) and every bit as beautiful of a newborn as they were! Lyndsey and I had talked about me coming to the hospital when Greta was born, and when I got the text Friday morning that it looked like that was going to be the day, I made sure I was there. Since Lyndsey was having a c-section, I had to wait until they were in recovery, so Lyndsey and Bruce/David had the anesthesiologist snap pictures for them (the first two images below).

I can’t tell you how therapeutic Friday was. Entering that same hospital for the first time in a year made my heart ache a little, but the second I walked in an saw Lynds’ radiating smile, Bruce laughing about her hitting on her doctor while she was semi-sedated, and that wonderfully tiny but feisty little Greta, a joy that I can’t describe in words just radiated through me (and through the entire room it seemed). There were a few seconds of misty eyes, but overall such a relaxed and happy day.

Because what it boils down to is Rachel Vanoven 1.0 would have sat her butt at the computer and spent hours she didn’t have to edit all the Rise & Shine workshop models images to get them done ASAP. She wouldn’t have waited for Alicia to finish her last week of tough finals and dove in and started answering every email that came in (if you’re wondering, just in the last week, there are probably close to seventy-five unread/un-responded to emails)…not only would this have taken hours away from her kids/husband who she had just spent a week away from, exhausted her already post-workshop/traveling sleep deprived body/mind, but it would have seriously screwed with Alicia’s methods and organization in my email.

Rachel Vanoven 2.0 has made priorities that go something like this:

1. Be a good wife–biggest rule for me. Because if Nick and I are happy with each other, the kids are at peace knowing that mommy and daddy are doing good. So Nick and I make it a *must* to have a weekly date night. With Instagram and Facebook updates, I used to worry that clients will see me out on the town with my husband and be all, “Well she has time to ____________ (see a movie, grab sushi, etc) with her husband but I’ve been waiting on my ___________ (sneak peek, album design, disc, etc.) for a few weeks now!” Now, I have conditioned myself to just enjoy myself with not just Nick, but any friends and family I happen to be with. There will ALWAYS be more work to do. Rarely are photographers completely caught up on everything!

2. Be good to myself — This follows the theme of being a good wife. The reason it comes after wife stuff, though, is because I believe that you have to put your spouse first (within reason) so that may require sacrifice on my part, but Nick does his part as well, so it’s all good. But by being good to myself, I include grabbing brunch with a friend, watching DVR’d Vampire Diaries, and sitting on my back porch and drinking coffee for as long as it takes to wake up. The old Rachel used to *immediately* every morning set her alarm for 6:00 am and go straight to the computer and answer emails that came during the night. Because when you do newborn photography, your clients are typically up at all hours of the night  This no longer happens anymore–I was *killing* myself with work.

3. Be a good mama — Confession time, for the first two-three years of my career, I was a sucky mom. I’m not fishing for compliments, I don’t want to hear, “Awwwww, Rach—you weren’t a sucky mom at ALL!” because I was. I was awful. I put my clients and becoming successful in front of my kids and I regret it with my whole heart. I went back to work when Josie was SEVEN days old. I stopped chaperoning field trips. I stopped cooking family meals. I rushed through nighttime book readings. I missed nearly three years of my kids’ lives that I can never get back. The wake up call for me came in the form of my oldest daughter’s steadily decline in school. I wasn’t paying attention to her homework. I wasn’t helping her study. I didn’t even know there was a website all the other parents were actively a part of that kept them up to date on class assignments and whatnot. I saw mood swings start, attention-hungry kids acting out so I’d give them the time of day. My sweet boy would want to show me something and I would mindlessly say, “Uh-huh, cool, bud” while not taking my eyes off the family pictures I was editing. His plea? “Mommy! Look with your EYES!”

Something had to be done. I wasn’t being a good wife, mother, and most importantly I had lost who I was as a person. I was making EVERYONE happy except for those closest to me.

My first step was hiring Alicia to handle my email. I know it can be frustrating as a client to wonder why the heck you can’t just talk to RACHEL, but keeping up with my email is a full time job (which boo-hiss Alicia as an awesome photographer herself and about to enter her Senior year of college, will be passing the torch onto a new office manager during the next few weeks!) and I can’t just pop in and pop out and expect Alicia to keep it flowing smoothly. So when she can’t work, my email will come to a standstill. And I’m okay with that (now–old Rachel would have been twitching).

My second step was to cut back on my workload. For 2012, this meant cutting my family sessions down to 15 and only one newborn session per week maximum. I go to the studio Tuesday-Thursday ONLY, and these are the ONLY days I work. From 9am-3pm. Period. Any other work on top of that is minimal and can be done quickly from my phone or home computer, but I don’t keep any work sessions to edit at home now.

I’m not sure where exactly I’m going with this, but I’m thinking that if I can share my story, maybe other photographers (or any working parents) can learn from my mistakes. And I’m hoping clients waiting on pictures (mostly models from the Texas workshop, a donated shoot right before I left, and then a newborn shoot less than a week ago—I don’t want you guys to think it’s MONTHS before clients get their pictures!!) can understand why I’m not jumping RIGHT back into full time work after being gone for 9 days.

I am getting increasingly annoyed, disturbed and confused with many new photographers. It’s like, photography is no longer a passion or a job, but a race. A race that many are trying to cut corners and do a crap-job to attain some silly “Facebook Celebrity” status. Obsession with getting “X” amount of likes on your page. Obsessing over what JoeBob Photography down the street is doing and how it *kinda* looks like what YOU did last week. Obsessing over what JoeBob Photography charges compared to you. The list goes on.

Honestly, I’d be fine if that was where it ended. Really, I would. But it doesn’t end there, especially in the world of newborn photography, where cutting corners is placing a very small and very fragile HUMAN at risk. Where trying to win some invisible race means going for crazy stunt poses before you have even mastered an easy, “level 1″ shot of baby just laying and hanging out.

If I hear/see ONE more person talk excitedly about their first newborn session coming up and can’t wait to try this:

Thanks for letting me be a part of your big day <3

Word got out that I had put this e-guide together, and those who were unable to attend a workshop wanted in, so early in 2011, I released it to the general public and was thrilled that over the year that it sold, the feedback I received was nothing but positive! I received many emails asking for MORE, though. Photographers had questions about some of the more advanced poses, or techniques that weren’t included in the shorter guide. So I decided to begin working on a new guide, and this project grew bigger than I could have imagined!

Filled with videos of over 17 poses, the lighting techniques that I use, shooting angles, transitioning between poses, and admittance into a private Facebook group. In this group, I’ll be an administrator and everyone who buys the eWorkshop will also be in it. It will be JUST like the private group that my workshop attendees are in, where we daily are asking me personally for advice, sharing images for constructive criticism, venting about a hard day at work, asking advice on how to handle business aspects, and finding photographers in the area to shoot newborns with! It’s been so much fun for me to get to know my workshop attendees, and I look forward to getting to know those who purchase this guide!

click add to card to purchase for $450

click add to cart to purchase bundle for $500

Amber Iverson Photography – “I wouldn’t even call this a guide, its an extension of your workshop. This isn’t just a guide, it’s fricking wikipedia…I can get my posing bag, get a doll, get a wrap, watch your guide and practice over and over. What you have created is simply an invaluable tool.” and, “I really really really really really liked the angle section. It is so important and not something you really think about until you are in the moment. I loved how you showed your progression. It brought you down to my level and not like you just picked up the camera and were fab one day. I think that part really spoke to me because I suffer from having a low self-esteem…I loved how you stated to follow your own path because I think a lot of us need to hear that. I believe that what you have created will be inspirational to everyone that buys it and will most importantly show and teach photographers how to properly and safely handle newborns.”

Joyful Heart Photography by Uyen – “The Guide is OUTSTANDING and I love the tone of your Guide as if I had an one-on-one mentoring session with you. The Guide has a very conversational feel to it as if I was with a close friend who really wants to teach me to do it correctly. I could tell that you poured your heart and soul into the Guide. It is so detailed with so many videos and step-by-step explanations. You have shown so many poses in this Guide and there is no where in the industry that they can get that wealth of info for that price. ..This type (newborn) Photography is a specialized field that takes years to acquire knowlege and safety is utmost important. Thanks Rachel for your extreme kindness and generosity with this Guide! God Bless!“

Renee Stengel Photography - As someone who has purchased more than one newborn photography guide I was happily surprised to find so much detail in Rachel’s first guide. Others on the market simply do not compare. And now she has gone and outdone her own first guide with the addition of videos. It is incredibly difficult to describe newborn posing with words alone – and though she does a great job in the first edition, the videos in this guide make it leap in value in my opinion. I am still so thankful to have had the opportunity to take Rachel’s workshop in person – but this guide will continue to be an amazing resource for me for many, many newborn sessions to come.

Lydia Lee Photography: “Rachel’s guide is both informative and creative. She really leaves nothing out and is a complete open book in regards to newborn posing. The photos and instructions really make newborn posing seem possible! Thanks Rachel.. For being a supportive and amazing photographer friend.“

Alexandria Wilcox Photography : “So I have read and watched the videos three times! First off I have to say one thing—this is the BEST written material I have seen for newborn photography. It is so simple to understand and it is put into terms that make you want to read the next line! So many I have seen it is SO boring to read and it makes you want to just skip to the parts you really want to know. But your’s is hands down the best and will make any photographer at whatever level want to read every word you have said! Every little detail that you cover is just great! I am a pretty detail oriented type of person—but even I didn’t think of a lot of things you have—clearly why you are where you are and why I am where I am. And I am so excited how much you emphasized safety, your guide would be crucial for someone who was/is trying to get into newborn photography and *thought* babies just magically did that by trying to get them to stay in those positions.

The videos are just ridiculously awesome! You have a wealth of information in each video and each step you do. I am definitely a more visual learner—and even though I completely was getting everything you were saying in the written portion of the guide—the videos were just the icing on the cake.

What I absolutely loved the most-beside the amount of information that I learned-is that even though you are a remarkably successful newborn photographer and an inspiration to someone like myself who is just starting into it, I got it—I got you. I felt like you were my friend and I was reading something my friend wrote. It was very personable and didn’t feel like someone had a computer write it or someone else writing it. I can’t stress that enough! I am not the type of person you would find with their head behind a book (sounds like you might be…I wish I was!) so for me to sit down with a pen and paper and be eagerly reading every single word and couldn’t wait for the next, was certainly worth everything. It was exactly-from what I believe you wanted from reading-not as professionalistic (ummm that isn’t a word but I am using it) as something else—but it is LOADED with everything someone like me needs to hear and in a way that I can understand.

After reading it and looking at the videos, you certainly have a lot of information in it! I honestly believe-for any aspiring photographer or one that is trying to take their company to the next level-your guide is a must read.

Amanda Duncan Photography – Going to Rachel’s workshop was beyond amazing. Reading and being able to watch the videos from her newest guide is like getting to experience her workshop all over, again and again. I know how hard you have worked to get to where you are today Rachel. Thank you so much for being so gracious and sharing your knowledge with those of us who wish to be half as good as you are at what you do!!

every day photography by stephanie schweller –  ”it has VIDEOS…’nough said…”

Kara Reese Photography - “Rachel’s newest Newborn Posing Guide is more than just a guide — it’s very nearly a complete online workshop. There is no other newborn posing guide on the market that has video tutorials, narrated so you can easily understand what is happening, alongside such a wealth of information on preparation, posing, and post-processing. As someone who attended one of Rachel’s in-person workshops, I am so thankful that this PDF exists. I am such a visual learner and this guide is just like re-living the workshop every time I read through it. I love having the ability to watch the videos over and over. Rachel covers nearly every pose you can think of and is honest and real in her tips and tricks, including small but important details like how to properly roll a blanket to stuff in a bucket. When you read this PDF, you can tell that Rachel genuinely cares about her readers’ success in newborn photography. For the serious learner, this PDF is a must-have!”

Shutterly Amazing Portraits - WOW… how do you review a master piece of someone’s creativity,  sweat, tears, and I am sure at one point or another blood…. put in the form of videos and dancing words on paper to teach all of us the art of newborn photography. A fellow a photographer said it best this isn’t a guide, this is an extension of Rachel’s workshop via online. I took a portfolio building workshop with Rachel in Indy last May. After putting what I learn to use over the past nine months, then getting the opportunity to review this workbook, I realized that some of my difficulties posing is things I can now reference through the videos presented in this masterpiece.  If you have ever thought about doing a online mentoring session with one of your favorite photographers, I would HIGHLY recommend buying this workbook. The best part about this workbook is you can press repeat over and over. I will be honest my lil guy will be here in May/ June of this year and I cant wait to sit with my iPad and these videos and practice posing.. (of course this is not why I am having a baby but it doesn’t hurt to have a model in your own home right?!?! LOL)

Kristin Becket Photography – “Rachel Vanoven is nothing short of the baby whisperer. Having this amazing by-your-side guide is what every newborn photographer MUST have! There is absolutely nothing left untouched in this pdf – including step by step videos and how to transition newborns to different poses. The best part is that it is truly Rachel and completely shows through in her selflessness in wanting everyone to succeed and be the best we can be! Thanks so much Rachel for all of your hard work.”

Ten years ago, I was an 18 year old college student who let a fever go too long unchecked. I was a new college freshman, first time away from my mom’s doctoring, and I ended up in the emergency room with a dangerously high temperature over 105 degrees. Karis and Randy (her then boyfriend, now husband) drove me, and Karis stood over me, beside herself with anger as they tried, unsuccessfully, over and over to start an I.V. I think they blew out about 6 veins through a combination of my dehydrated body and letting an interning/new nurse “practice” on me. I remember her concerned face, and then unleashing the fury of a protective sister on the nurses and *demanding* a qualified nurse step in and start the I.V. (did I mention needles make me cry on a good day?)

Fast forward 10 years, I finally knew how she felt. Times a thousand. I thought my own labor with Nicholas was hard. It was *nothing* compared to the back arching agony Karis was in. I wanted to FIX it. I wanted to make her better. I’ve had the honor to photograph a number of births, all painful in different ways, but none of them were my big sister.

So I retreated…behind my camera–and did the only thing I could do and that was capture it forever. Capture Randy’s “push” face that he made right along with Karis with every effort she made. Capture my mom’s tear streaked face as she watched her first baby writhe with each contraction. Capture Karis as beautiful as I have EVER seen her. And capture this beautiful daughter that God blessed them with take her first peek at the world.

I couldn’t stay retreated behind that camera for long–I was a blubbering mess, and so. proud. of my big sis.

Happy almost 3 months Coraline Millie, looking at these pictures takes me right back to the magic that was in that room <3