Melanie Swan Photo

the eutsler family :: San Antonio, TX :: Family Portraits

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:11:24 +0000

As it turns out, my son has a birthday buddy!! Sweet Baby B was born an hour and a half after my own sweet man, and his parents asked me to do some portraits of the new family unit! Of course, I was happy to do so!! I always recommend doing portraits with new babies at home. It is more relaxed, and if we need to stop for a diaper change or feeding (which you inevitably have to do!), it is so much easier!

The Eutslers are big sports fans, as you will see, so we had some fun with that. And their nursery….ADORABLE! I love all the bright colors they used to stimulate Baby B, so we just had to do a few things in there. However, pictures of mom, dad, and new baby on mom and dad’s bed are almost always my favorites. There’s nothing like the comfort of mom and dad’s bed!! Seriously. I still want to crawl into my parent’s big ol’ bed when I go home. I have such fond memories of suggling and cuddling there.

Thank you, Brian and Emily, for allowing me into your home with my camera! And thanks for letting my little man borrow your swing during the shoot. We’ll have to get together for another “play date” soon!

Here are some of my favorites from The Eutsler’s session:

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bekka :: San Antonio, TX :: senior portraits

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:24:54 +0000

I had the honor of photographing Bekka, a lovely, spunky, try-anything-sort-of-girl, who is about to graduate from high school! I had so much fun!! Seriously, we torn up the town…..all while I was 37 weeks pregnant and freshly off of bed rest! It felt so good to get out there and finally DO something, and I couldn’t have had better companions (Bekka brought her bff Chelsea along) for our escapades! From sweet, to sassy, to goofy, to a lil’ bit sexy, we did it ALL! We could have kept on going, but the sun went down. So, we had to stop. Bekka, thank you so much for such a fun time! You are lovely, and I’m quite positive you would whoop up on me on the tennis court!! But I’d be willing to give it a try anyway….whaddya say???

Here are some images of Bekka that I love!

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I’m back!

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:05:04 +0000

Well, it has been a loooooooong time! But I do have a very good excuse! A lot has happened since my last post. Only a couple of weeks after posting about my mini sessions, I landed myself in the hospital with pre-term labor just shy of 27 weeks. It was very scary. Luckily, the doctors and nurses were able to get my contractions under control during my weekend stay and I was sent home on bed rest. Thus, no more posts. I could have entertained you all with ramblings about what I was NOT doing on a daily basis, but I thought I would spare you. Plus, things got busy around here with the holidays and a LOT of family that came into town during November and December. It was wonderful having so much company and help, but hard because I wanted to be up doing things!!

Holiday highlights include: A baby shower mid November, in-laws traveling down from New Hampshire for a week at Thanksgiving, a quick “maternity” photo session (we had to do it stat since we didn’t know when I might go into labor…), making a belly cast the day after Thanksgiving (again, had to get it done), our septic field failing and flooding (SO much fun with a house full of people!!), installing a new septic field, my parents coming for Christmas, putting a fence up around our 2 acres for the SOLE purpose of keeping our wandering and curious pup in the vicinity of our home, lots of preparation and waiting for baby (my sweet dad researched and installed the car seat for me), etc. We stayed pretty busy.

I do have a couple more belly pictures for you since the last (and only) one I posted was at 20′ish weeks.

So, here is a 30 week picture:

And a 40 week picture:

Yes, I made it all the way to 40 weeks! Actually, I made it past 40 weeks. But that is another story. I’ll try to get that one for you in the next couple of days.

Holiday mini sessions :: Booking now!!!

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:43:13 +0000

It’s that time of year, friends! Even though it doesn’t even come CLOSE to feeling like it outside, Christmas will be here before we know it. One thing I think of when I think of Christmas is Christmas cards!! I love getting cards from family and friends with updated pictures of their families! They become my main decor for several months as I have them displayed around the house. Sometimes, I don’t even take one down until the next year’s arrives! (but I DO take down my Christmas tree and other decorations before Spring, I promise.)

We are heading into the busiest and most expensive time of year! So, during the first weekend of November I am offering Mini Sessions for those who would like fun, new pictures for this year’s Christmas cards (or for any other reason), but don’t have the time and/or money for a full-blown session. This is your answer! Meet me on either the 4th or 5th of November at a convenient location in San Antonio (location(s) TBA) for half an hour and let’s have some fun! Be sure to contact me via the contact form or call me at 817-975-8341 to secure your spot!!

the mckenzie/maple/chamberlin/mcmurray family :: Grapevine, TX :: family portriats

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:26:25 +0000

This is yet another family I have come to love! I have photographed two of their family weddings and was recently asked to do some family portraits. What an honor!! I loved seeing all of them again! And the best part? Meeting the newest member of the family. He is SUCH a charmer… and I think he knows it!

The best way I can describe how sweet this family is: They showered me with baby gifts for our own little one!! After we had completely worn ourselves out taking scads of pictures (and had a lot of fun doing it!), they started pushing gift bags into my arms as we were saying goodbye. I was floored, and extremely touched! I forced myself to wait until I got home to open all of the gifts because I wanted Rich to help. Let me tell you, that was hard! Thank you guys SO very much for being so….well, wonderful. I can’t wait for the next time (and no, I won’t be expecting gifts!).

Here are a few of my favorites from their session.IMG_4780 IMG_4867 IMG_4900 IMG_4907 IMG_4914 IMG_4943 IMG_4966 IMG_4976 IMG_5014 IMG_5028 IMG_5048 IMG_5062 IMG_5067 IMG_5120 IMG_5151 IMG_5176 IMG_5197 IMG_5291 IMG_5338 IMG_5371 IMG_5424 in love

our big, wonderful news!

admin — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:43:52 +0000

For those of you who don’t know, Mr. Swan and I are expecting!!! Yes, it is true! There is a baby Swan swimming around, growing, getter stronger every day (I know because I’m the one he kicks!) and preparing to enter the world sometime in January. Most likely late January, but my understanding is that you never can tell with these things.

It is honestly hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I will have a son in a few short months. Although, technically, I already have a son. He’s just hidden away for now…. but, perhaps “hidden” isn’t the right word. These days he is making his presence known more and more! I’ve had a good number of requests for a picture. Honestly, up until about a month ago, there wasn’t a whole lot to see. But, in the words of other pregnant women I’ve spoken with, I’ve “popped.” And so, here you go. Baby Swan at 23 weeks:

Please forgive the Android phone quality of this image. As no one was around to take a picture for me, I improvised and decided my camera phone would be the fastest and easiest if I was going to do this myself. And for those of you who took notice, yes, that is bare concrete in our bedroom. I’d like to say it is a decorative statement, but it’s not. I pulled the carpet up in an act of desperation and self-preservation when we first moved in and I realized I couldn’t distinguish the scorpions from the carpet. While we do still have scorpions every now and then, our bug guy has managed to keep most of them at bay. And someday (hopefully sooner than later), we’ll lay wood floors, which is what I wanted to begin with.

Back on topic….We certainly covet your prayers as I make my way through the next 17′ish weeks. We know we are incredibly blessed, and we thank God daily for the honor of becoming parents.

I’ll post more pictures once we have an official photo shoot sometime in November or December! Anyone happen to know a good photographer….???

Rachel and her boys :: San Antonio, Tx :: Family portraits

admin — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 03:59:52 +0000

This momma is preparing to deploy later this year and wanted some memorable pictures with her boys before she leaves. I was honored to be the one to photograph her beautiful family! She actually has THREE boys, but unfortunately, one was unable to join us as he is away at school. However, we made the best of it and had a lot of fun! Really, when a two-year-old is involved, not having fun isn’t an option! Watching these two boys together was delightful. They are so sweet and it is obvious there is a strong bond between them. Also, as you can see, grandpa tagged along, and though he is camera-shy, we were able to talk him into joining the family for a few pictures. As it turns out, he is SUPER photogenic! It is just wrong for him to avoid the camera.

One other note: They wanted ALL black and white photographs!!! I can’t tell you how much that made my heart sing. Don’t get me wrong, I do love color images as well, but there is something about black and white photos that I love even more. They are classic, nostalgic, raw, and simply beautiful. I was only too happy to process every last one of this families images in black and white.

A few of my favorites….

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the sielings :: san antonio, tx :: family portraits

admin — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:38:29 +0000

What fun it was to meet up with the Sieling Family for some updated family pictures!! It was a very hot and humid morning, but they were troopers and we managed to have some fun anyway! Little T is absolutely precious, and once he warmed up, there was no stopping the smiles. The two of us were in complete agreement over the awesomeness of a certain sprawling tree! Not only did it provide some great shade, but it was just plain fun to run around underneath it!

As you can see, the Sielings will be welcoming a new addition to their family this fall….another BOY! They make pretty cute boys, and the world can always use another, right?? Congratulations to you guys on your beautiful, growing family! I’m exited to meet the new little fellow when he arrives!

Here are a few of my favorites from our morning together:

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the allens :: san antonio, tx :: family portraits

admin — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 03:03:34 +0000

Here is another family you’ve seen before!! For this most recent family portrait session, we met on post at Fort Sam Houston. I was so glad they were up for something different because there are so many wonderful spots at Ft. Sam. We found a beautiful building (with a porch I would trade my right arm for!!) and a great old lodging building with, yet again, a fabulous porch. Now that I think about it, I guess “porches” was our theme of the day.

And don’t you LOVE all the boots?? I did!

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a family i love a lot :: arlington, tx :: family portraits

mel — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:42:57 +0000

You have seen this family on my blog many times in the past. And there’s a reason for that. They have become some of my closest friends, and I RACE over to their house any time they ~~want~~ need new pictures (or any time a cup of tea is being offered, for that matter!). Their boys are precious and we always have such a fun time together racing cars, digging in the dirt, singing loudly into fans, or whatever else strikes our fancy.

They are moving away next month. They are moving FAR away (think different country). And while I am very excited for them and the new adventures they will have, I can’t help but feel very selfishly sorry for myself. I will miss them terribly. And I will miss having such beautiful/cute faces to photograph! So, you guys have to promise to visit!!! Or else I won’t let you go.

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