Donnell Probst

Soon-to-be-family-of-four

2009-08-25T07:50:00.004-05:00

This is a good friend of mine who is very obviously expecting a new addition to her family any day now! I met her a few years ago when her little guy was just a peanut. He is - to this day - one of the cutest babies I have ever known, so I cannot wait to meet his sister!

Ladies Wolf

2009-08-20T20:32:00.003-05:00

This is my friend Elizabeth and her b-e-a-utiful daughters, E and A! They were SO much fun to work with and we got some great pictures for their memory box. She also has her own business where she makes all of the beautiful accessories/embroidered items you see in the pics. You can visit her at www.sassypantsmonograms.com! Tell her I sent you!!

"I Love Door"

2009-08-17T18:49:00.001-05:00

For anyone who is an Anchorman fan, you will get this reference. While Brick was literally refering to his love of inanimate objects, I am refering to the fact that I love shooting doors... weathered doors, textured doors, colored doors, etc. Any door with a bit of visual interest really floats my boat. I hope to find more doors in the near future to include in future shoots! Stay tuned...

My fifth grader... Holy Moly!

2009-08-17T18:36:00.000-05:00

Well, it's official. Tomorrow is the first day of Kyah's last year of elementary school! Can you believe it?! When did I become old enough to have a ten year old (well, technically nine years and eleven months)? Given these pictures, I think I am going to have to keep my eye on this one!

Wisconsin Adventures

2009-08-06T09:40:00.004-05:00

This summer I ventured to my parents home in western Wisconsin to enjoy some R&R with the kids before the craziness of the school year begins. Unfortunately my parents barn and my dad's workshop burned to the ground three days before we were to arrive. It wasn't quite the relaxing getaway we had envisioned, but it was nice to have a little more space for the kids to spread out and play - and we had gorgeous weather! Here are some of the pictures from our adventures this last month...

Horsin' Around

2009-08-04T11:28:00.007-05:00

I grew up in a far northern suburb of Chicago, but shortly after I graduated high school my parents decided to get out of dodge and move up to the hills of western Wisconsin. For my 50th birthday, my dad bought my mom two horses: Governor and Billy Bob. Since then, they have added and subtracted from their horses collection and currently house seven beautiful horses on their 10 acre property. While visiting Wisconsin for three and a half weeks with the kids this summer, my mom asked me to take a few pictures of her and Governor (her fav). I have never photographed horses before, so it was definitely interesting!

Oh BABY!

2009-07-11T21:31:00.003-05:00

I love that I have friends who produce beautiful babies. Little babies, big babies, they are all beautiful! It may have something to do with the fact that I have beautiful mommy friends (and subsequently daddies), but I have been patiently waiting to get my hands on one of those babies for a shoot! Ask and you shall receive...

The Comedians

2009-07-11T21:23:00.005-05:00

I love funny. I love everything having to do with funny and try to surround myself with funny people. People who laugh live longer, right? Well, this photo shoot alone extended my life by a solid year. These three kids are hysterical, and just flipping through their pics from the shoot made me laugh out loud! What a bunch!!!

The Carmichaels

2009-07-11T20:46:00.002-05:00

I have been very fortunate to have a few friends who have very beautiful kids offer up their young to my photo taking experiences! I did three separate shoots this past week and they all turned out pretty well! Brady and Lauren are expecting another sibling next year, so we wanted to capture a few special moments of just the two of them!

My Boys

2009-07-11T20:40:00.003-05:00

While Kyah was in Texas this past week, I took the opportunity to run my boys over to the local parks for a photo op! Despite my youngest child's refusal to stand up, or my middle child's refusal to not run away from me, we still ended up with quite a few good shots!

The Middle Child

2009-07-05T14:30:00.004-05:00

It is a rare occasion when I am actually able to pull off some smiling pictures of our middle child, Noah. It seems that since I've been working with the camera more, he is becoming increasingly more comfortable in front of the lens. Now perhaps I can start documenting a childhood that resembles something enjoyable!

The Lubbring Kids

2009-07-03T19:25:00.007-05:00

It's official... I have moved from the comfy world of photographing my own children into the anxiety-ridden world of photographing other people's children. I conned my best friend of 23 years into allowing me to photograph her children... and then spent many hours editing the boogers and red cheeks from her daughter to mask the fairly significant cold she was sporting this morning. Despite the cold and crabby pants she wore to the shoot, the pictures turned out great and I think she's happy (would she tell me if she wasn't?). Hopefully she'll print a few and they will adorn her walls for years to come!

Music To My Ears

2009-07-02T13:48:00.006-05:00

Lately we have been attending the Faust Park Concert in the Park out in Chesterfield, Missouri. While it is quite a hike for us, when you provide music and a dance floor for my children, they behave like angels. This past week we met a few other families with our wine and beers and settled in for a night of music from the Spectrum Band.

Towering Probsts

2009-06-29T21:55:00.012-05:00

So we headed over to Tower Groves Park in the Compton Heights neighborhood of St. Louis this evening for some pictures. The park is beautiful with some really interesting architecture, but also wide open green grass and lots-o-trees. After unloading my herd of a family, I looked down to find the battery symbol flashing on my camera. Are you KIDDING me?! I didn't grab the camera bag, just the camera and headed out the door, so I had not an extra battery or the charge. Ugh. After taking it out and re-inserting it several times, I was able to scrounge a few photos out before it finally kicked the bucket.

Just One of the Moms

2009-06-29T13:56:00.006-05:00

Yesterday a few of my mom friend's and I headed to Busch Stadium in St. Louis for the Cardinals game. While I am a true Cubs fan at heart, I will never pass up the opportunity to head to the ballpark for some sunshine, hot dogs, and cold beers! We got SO lucky when it was only 85 degrees, low humidity, and a nice breeze. Much better than the recent rainforest-like conditions we have been enduring in the Lou. It also doesn't hurt to have some beautiful mama friends who let me work on my picture-taking!

Daddy-O

2009-06-24T23:24:00.007-05:00

In our day to day photographic efforts, it is very rare that my husband or myself actually remember to take pictures of ourselves. We have close to 15,000 digital pictures, and probably have more pictures of naked butts than we do of ourselves! I thought this was a great non-naked-butt picture of Tim, my fellow baby maker.

Splish Splash

2009-06-24T09:08:00.006-05:00

It has been excruciatingly hot in the 'Lou these last few days... which means one thing. Sprinklers! We busted out the sprinkler and hung in the heat for less than an hour before the kids were ready to head back into the A/C. I can't say I blame them, and frankly, the sweat rolling down my back was an indication that mom was fully cooked as well.

What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?

2009-06-23T13:51:00.010-05:00

My original plan for this morning was to drop Kyah off at her sewing class at 10:30 and then head over to Vlasis Park in Ballwin, MO with the boys. They have this really neat water feature called a splash pad, which was ideal given the 97 degree heat and 80% humidity levels. When we arrived, we saw several kids already anxiously awaiting the 11 o'clock hour when the water turns on. After waiting a short while, a very kind mom came over to inform us that the water feature was (gasp!) BROKEN! Needless to say, I took the opportunity to sweat my rear off and squeeze in a few sweaty pictures of Noah.

A Walk in the Park

2009-06-22T17:31:00.008-05:00

We headed to the park a few evenings ago so I could practice during the *golden hour* and try to crank out some decent photographs. I've heard it is extremely difficult to photograph your own children - but I had never heard anyone accuse their child of over-posing... Apparently I need to enroll this girl in some drama classes. I had a heck of a time getting good pictures out of her because of her glamour-shots posing rituals!

Hit the Deck!

2009-06-21T18:20:00.001-05:00

Unfortunately, these are some of the last photographs I got of the boys on the deck before the hot, humid, unbearable St. Louis summer set in. We were not aware of this when we moved to St. Louis - or the icy winters that are nearly exempt of a good snow. At least we have these memories to fondly look back on until mid-September when we can, once again, come out of summer hybernation.

Just One of the Boys

2009-06-20T16:00:00.004-05:00

My two youngest aren't always the easiest to photograph. My middle one is at that I-refuse-to-look-at-the-camera-if-you-point-it-in-my-direction phase and the youngest moves much too quickly for my very modest camera skills at this point! I managed to get a few shots, but nothing too exciting.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

2009-06-16T17:58:00.004-05:00

I love watching as my kids grow and become more independent. Independence means a smaller diaper bag (if any), less wiping of butts other than my own, and more time for... tantrums? Independence in our home brings strong-willed children who know what they want. Teaching them how to express those wants in a civil manner is not always an easy lesson learned!

Lights, Camera, No Action?

2009-06-14T18:03:00.002-05:00

My youngest child is an extremely fast crawler. He may never walk, but he could win a crawling contest any day of the week! For this reason, it has been difficult to get quality, blur-free pictures of him in low light settings. He is fascinated by our back door which has a giant window in it. He loves to watch things outside, bang on it - sometimes with hard objects (yikes!), and of course leave bits of leftover food and saliva in swirly patterns on a regular basis. Needless to say, this door has provided some amazing light for photographs!

Windows to the Soul

2009-06-13T18:27:00.002-05:00

All of my children have these huge, brilliantly blue eyes but my middle one, Noah, has the most intense eyes of them all. His obvious resentment of me taking his picture definitely helps the dramatic effect!