Life has been emotional the last few days. We've been talking more and more about leaving our home, we have about 20 days and they are moving fast. I was pouring my little heart out to my husband. I had started thinking about our history in this home and I realized that our whole lives together have been at this house. Since day one. I met Brian for our first date in his back yard. Most of our dates were in this house, cooking each other meals, watching movies, doing puzzles, and playing games. He proposed to me in our drive way. We planned our wedding on this living room floor. We became parents and brought both of our babies home here. We've loved here, we've fought here, we've grown here, and we've become a happy family here. So I am pretty darn emotional. For those of you who don't personally know my husband he is not an emotional person. I mean he's not a robot but emotions are not the first thing that come to his mind. I tend to think that way, emotions first. So I asked him as we were laying in bed "Are you not sad? Does this all not make you sad? How is this not bothering you" Then I took a breath from my frantic sadness and he had a moment to respond. His response is almost always the same "I guess I haven't thought about it." I hear this from him all the time and it baffles me every. single. time. He then told me he thought he would be sad when it was time to do the "lasts." The last time we did laundry here, the last bath we give the boys here, our last meal, the last night we all sleep here, those things that we do all the time that make up our everyday lives. Cue the tears again, I hadn't even thought about those things happening. So while I have been thinking about our past, he's thinking about all of our upcoming lasts. I would have never ever have guessed I would already be in tears about this. I've been taking more everyday pictures lately and I'm so glad I have been. I'm going to go pack some more and try not to cry!-Rachael
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Abel was beautiful, sweet and easy to work with (a photographers dream). You could feel the joy and warmth as you walked through the Harmer family's beautiful home. I absolutely adore doing these lifestyle sessions because I really get to know people and get a feel for who they are. They picked some really great spots for their pictures and each one is a familiar and happy spot for them. Which will make even more lasting memories. It was such a happy experience working with them. Have a great weekend friends. -Rachael
Have you ever met someone and just clicked right away. That is how it was when I met Katie. She gave off such a great energy and her little family was a joy to be around. I could have hung out with them all day. You can feel all of the awesome love in these pictures and that is my favorite. I love when you can feel the emotions of someone just by looking at a picture of them. We laughed and chatted through most of the session and it was just so fun and easy going. And little Mr. Eli was so cute and well behaved. He was up for anything and reminded me of my little guys. Check out their session.
Hello friends, each year I like to take off the last two weeks of the year. My amazing husband usually has the same amount of time off. I take time to spend with my family and to give myself a mental break, running a business is exhausting (whew!). I always look forward to my husband being off work. It means I get to worry less, which in turn means I get to be a more fun mommy to my awesome boys. We had so much fun in those two weeks. We went to my parents and helped them put up their tree which is always a glitter filled adventure and we watched Christmas movies that the boys had never seen. We had a whole day of Christmas baking and it was filled with the sounds of two boys playing and singing Christmas carols. We spent hours looking at the beautifully decorated houses and of course we visited Santa. This is the first year that Benjamin has really gotten this whole Christmas thing and let me tell you what, watching Christmas happen through his eyes was such a joy this year. I have literally never seen him as excited as he was when we were waiting in line for Santa. He got these super big eyes and this smile that looked like it made his cheeks hurt. My typically shy little guy climbed up Santa's lap faster than his big brother. Desmond was a little trepidatious this year. The only thing that rivaled his excitement about Santa was all of the Christmas lights. As we drove home one night he saw lights the first time and boy did he squeal with excitement. His joy and elation for the season was so infectious. I'm so grateful for this. Desmond learned more this year about why we celebrate Christmas and he learned several carols at school which he then taught to his brother and I loved every minute of their tiny little voices singing joyously everywhere we went from the store to grandma's house. All in all we had a lot of family time, holiday spirit, and some good relaxation and it's time to start the new year. Here's some of our fun. I hope your holidays were as joy filled as ours. We are getting back into the swing of everyday life. I hope your new year is blessed!
New Beginnings: Little Blessings In-Hospital Newborn Sessions | Quincy IL Newborn Photographer11/17/2017 I've got some pretty exciting news here at Rachael Bangert Photography. I am now offering in-hospital newborn sessions for families that deliver in Quincy. You read that right. No longer will you feel limited to the pictures that the hospital offers. Now you can get gorgeous pictures of your baby at a more affordable price from a photographer (yours truly) who wants to give you pictures that you will love for a lifetime.
These pictures in the first few days are so important because in such a short amount of time your baby is going to change drastically. Any parent will tell you time goes by fast and memories can fade quickly, if you already have children you know this too be true. It wont be long until you can't remember those days so clearly. Those tiny toes, that fuzzy hair, the itty-bitty diapers that are still too big. We fall in love with these tiny babies the second we see them; there is so much going on those first few days it's not always easy to remember the amazing little details that we fall in love with. That is why I decided to do this. To help you remember all of that cuteness. There are four wonderful collections to choose from and with each you get digital images with printing rights at no extra cost. I firmly believe that everyone deserves to have beautiful images of the newest member of their family without breaking the bank. The first two collections, The Bundle of Joy and The Baby Love Collection give you two very affordable options while still giving you beautiful memories that you will love. The Celebration Collection and The Forever Keepsake Collection offer you a more boutique type of session. With these collections you get to spend your time as you want. You can have family portraits, breastfeeding pictures, images of your older children falling in love with their sibling, or have the whole time used to photograph the tiny details of your amazing new baby. For the later two I also bring wraps, headbands and hats to cater to your family's taste. I firmly believe that there is something for everyone here. Here is how it works. It is super easy. After your baby has arrived you can go here to select and book your session. I recommend putting a note in your hospital bag when you pack it to remind you to book your session as these collections will ONLY be offered in-hospital. When you go to book you will pick the first time slot available. That is all you have to do. I take care of the rest. Depending on which collection you choose I would be with you between 10 and 30 minutes. I typically encourage that only immediate family be in the room during your session. Once your session is finished you will receive an online downloadable gallery of proofs from me. Here's the hard part, picking the pictures you want. After that you will get your downloadable images. You will be notified when your prints arrive. That is it. It's that easy. There are no extra charges or hidden fees. If you have any questions at all feel free to contact me at the contact tab at the top of the page. I wholeheartedly believe in this service and I know if you decide to use it you will too. Have a blessed day. Gamble FamilyI met Dawn a few years ago in breastfeeding support group. I was not a newbie at nursing but I was a tired and bored mom and I was feeling quite secluded and lonely so I decided to go to group to meet other moms who maybe were similar to myself. Man am I so glad I did. I ended up going to group for over a year almost weekly. I made some great friends and I'm so lucky that my dear friend Dawn had a little boy, Grady, just a little bit younger than Ben. If not we probably would have never met. I still get a little chuckle that it took breastfeeding support group for us to become friends because the Gamble family only lives a block away from us. I love the way this session ended up turning out. I had a bit of a challenge placed on me because Gabby who just turned 6 and her dad Jake both have transition lenses in their glasses (all of you photographers take a moment to groan). So I picked the most beautiful fully shaded place I could think of in Quincy and it worked just as planned! Of course I love the images that I got of them as a family and the kids themselves but I must say I adore the pictures of Dawn and Jake together. I'm so glad to have this family in my life.-Rachael
Farm Themed Cake SmashI had a lot of fun putting together this farm themed cake smash. Mom had some ideas that she definitely wanted to have like that adorable barn cake. I love the brightness of this adorable session.
I was so excited by this session. Mom messaged me with the "little king" theme. She had already ordered his outfit and knew she wanted it to be blue and gold. The first thing I started thinking was how am I going to make a cake with gold on it?! When I found this backdrop I was so happy because it was uniquely perfect for this session. As usually First comes love killed it with the banner and everything came together quite easily. I figured out the cake and was quite happy with how it turned out! Check it out.
When it came time for Ben's second birthday I knew I wanted to do something different for his pictures. While he is a sweet and super loving kid he is also a handful. Unlike my oldest he doesn't love having his picture taken and he also doesn't like to sit still. So it was time to put my thinking cap on. How could I actually get him to stay put long enough to get some good pictures of him. I jokingly told my husband we should just put him in front of a pile of food because this kid loves to eat.
One night we sat eating a regular meal of tacos and this little almost two year old ate 5 tacos, FIVE. I said to my husband that's it!!! Let's do a taco smash! He looked at me like I had two heads. I stuck to my guns and said "Seriously let's do it. We'll do a fiesta theme. It will be bright and colorful just like him!" That was it, there was no convincing me to change my mind. With the help of First Comes Love, my expert banner maker, and my awesome shirt maker Absolutely Catabulous my vision came to life and I couldn't love how this session turned out more. I hold mommy and me mini sessions every year around mother's day. They often end up being some of my favorite mini sessions of the year. There is just such a special bond between mom's and their kiddos. I just adore seeing that connection between them and seeing moms interact with all of their kids. Here is one of my favorites from this year.
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AuthorI am a mom and a photographer. My love of art and service led me down the path of photography. My passion is lifestyle photography, I love to capture things as they are. Archives
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