robin gale cornett (a photographer for babies, children, and families in fort myers, florida) » my kids

Merry Christmas! (and a happy New Year)

robin cornett — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:01:11 +0000

We flew up to the DC area last week to spend Christmas with my family, which is always fun. What made this year really special was that we went up within days of the huge east coast snowstorm, and the snow was still on the ground and quite deep. It was an unusual treat for my Florida babies, who have seen snow, but never played in it to this extent. I think this was their first snowman, and definitely was their first sledding experience (the girls were a little concerned about it). They also had some fun snowball fights:

I hope your holidays have been wonderful as well! I personally am looking forward to a peaceful New Year’s Eve (I confess, a movie night at home sounds like just my speed!).

Christmas cards: cobbler’s children

robin cornett — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:30:16 +0000

I have a box of Cornett Christmas card goodness on its way to me right now, and if I am able to figure out how to print labels from my address book on my computer (I don’t remember what didn’t work last year, but I ended up writing them all by hand, and we’ll just say there are more than ten people on the list, plus my handwriting is only marginally better than Andy’s, and calling his chicken scratch is being kind), they’ll be delivered before Christmas. And for me, that’s something I can feel good about.

Of course, getting my own children in front of the camera takes some hard work and persuasion (they are happy for me to shoot soccer games and ballet recitals, but just them? Not so much.). And bribery. I promised that I would take some pictures of them with our new “puppy”. “Puppy” would be because he’s bigger than my youngest, and possibly bigger than both of the girls at this point. Having the dog along just made life a little more interesting. Overall, they were pretty cooperative, and I love the Christmas card I designed, which I will show you on the blog after they’re sent out. I thought I’d share some of the outtakes with you.

Can you even believe the molars on our dog? Yikes!

light: a novelty.

robin cornett — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:18:01 +0000

I say it’s a novelty because although my children are in countless pictures, and it’s getting harder and harder to shoot them because they make these incredible faces for the camera, when I get to do something novel like break out a studio light, they are surprisingly willing to help me out by “testing” for me. (Not, of course, that it prevents them from making some super goofy faces anyway!) I recently shot new pictures of the staff for the website at our church, and the kids came along for the morning. If you’d like to see the staff shots, check them out here. They’re a surprisingly good-looking bunch of people (totally tongue in cheek… if you find a familiar name you can see why I have permission to say that!) Here are some of the kids’ test shots.

it’s a sale!

robin cornett — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:17:44 +0000

I have been distracted and a bad blogger. I have things I’d like to show you but then discovered that I needed to share something important with you right this very minute and I could not take the time to get all fancy with lots of pictures. So, you just get one… my girls in Jackson Square in New Orleans. I don’t know what the flowers were (from some trees), but I thought they were pretty. I have since discovered that they apparently also stain, as the backs of the girls’ shirts are, well, stained. Look at the picture and then read about the SALE.

Here’s my fun news: my canvas provider is having an incredibly awesome sale!! Which means that I, too, can have an incredibly awesome sale!! Doesn’t matter if we did your pictures last week, last month, or last year, if you have been wanting a canvas, you should buy one now! Here’s the details:

16×20 gallery wrap canvas is $105 (add to cart).
16×24 gallery wrap canvas is $125 (add to cart).
20×24 gallery wrap canvas is $145 (add to cart).

These prices even include shipping! This is an awesome sale, because normally the 16×20 is $250. You do the math, and then shoot me an email (or click the “add to cart” links)! You don’t even have to pick the image out first, and if you’re not sure, it might be safest not to, because the sale price for me only goes through Sunday. To reserve your canvas at the sale price, I need to your order in to me by 3pm on Sunday (that would be August 1), so that I can get my order in to them.

ballet: my girls

robin cornett — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:52:27 +0000

Yes, I have been a bad blogger lately. I have an excuse, I promise! I have a couple sessions I want to blog, and will, but June has been an event month more than a session month. I just finished a solid week of VBS at our church and right before that was my girls’ ballet studio annual Festival of Dance, which I had the privilege to shoot. I’ve been putting pictures on the dance studio website (click on news), but wanted to share two of my girls here, because I’m a proud momma and I can.
My youngest is the siamese cat there at the end of the line.
That’s my girl, there on the right, with the big grin. She struggled a bit all spring with her attitude towards dance, but this weekend, she was firing on all cylinders. Maybe she is a performer at heart.

If you want to see more of the studio, visit their site.

sanibel sunset

robin cornett — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:25:57 +0000

Just one for y’all today… we’ve gotten out to Sanibel a couple times recently with the new puppy for an evening picnic and have really enjoyed it. Both times it was low tide and the water was so calm, leading out to kind of a sandbar that was just the right depth to walk on or sit on. I loved the sky on this night last week so I made the kids plop down for a shot. My only disappointment with this beach is that it faces more or less east, so the sun sets behind us.

And before you ask, yes, this is what my children wear for most of our family pictures. Finding shots where everyone has clothes on is actually quite a challenge! The trials and tribulations of a Florida mom…

favorite grandchildren

robin cornett — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:09:26 +0000

My dad collects blood center t-shirts like they are candy. He is an apheresis donor and is in the blood center a few times a month when he’s home and they love to give him new shirts. A few years ago, I decided his wardrobe was getting a bit lopsided and so my sister in law and I thought we would create a new line of clothing for him–grandchildren tees. Finally, we have found something he likes to wear even more than the blood center shirts! And we can keep giving him new ones every single year because the kids keep growing!

Last year, he presented me with a challenge: he called and said that for the 2008 shirt, he wanted all five (at that time) grandchildren on one shirt. The problem was that not all five grandchildren had been in the same state, let alone the same picture (we were in California, then Florida; my brother was in Vermont). He airily said, “Oh, you can come up with something, head shots or something like that.” Which immediately put me in mind of sorority collages. I came up with a nice layout, actually, and cannot seem to find it on my computer (could be anywhere at this point)–long vertical strips and we did use head shots.

Apparently, of all of his fantastic grandchildren tees, this is the one that gets the most comments, so this year, he asked for another composite shirt even though all six grandchildren were in the same state and house for a week! So one night after dinner I pulled all the kids out on the back porch, sat them down next to the grill (yes, the grill) and got their head shots. And here is this year’s shirt (we joke that I have to put the names on for when my dad is old and senile):

The funny thing to me is that although we did take a picture of all six children together, I much prefer these because at this age it’s a lot easier to get one child to look instead of all six together. I will say that the baby was probably the most cooperative for the group picture!

my spring break

robin cornett — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:25:57 +0000

It’s been a while since our family had a vacation (unless you count visiting family) since much of Andy’s vacation time is absorbed by traveling for classes (almost done, hooray!!).

We just came home from a delightful week on the beach with my dad, my brother, and his family. I have to say, I thought my children were lovely (and they are), but my niece and nephews are just gorgeous. I call the baby “fat boy” because he loves to eat and is delightfully chunky. My favorite kind of baby. He is also blissfully happy. We also had a matched set of four year olds (see them comparing heights?). We also spent most of the week sandy, chlorine-y, and crunchy (Elanor had her braids in for four days, I confess).

And we did finally get a winner of a sunset.

sunset

robin cornett — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:07:18 +0000

The little tiny speck on the water over on the right side of the picture is a kayak with my husband and my son in it. The wood on the lower left is the dock. This is my view all week long. Hoping for a bit more drama in a sunset at least one night, but really can’t complain.

my kids meet snow

robin cornett — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:07:04 +0000

It’s probably not nice to keep showing you pictures of Fort Myers all the time. I’d hate to set up for a case of “weather rage” or whatever you might care to call it. Yes, I know a lot of you are bundled up right now and wishing you were at my house instead of yours. So, I thought I’d pull out a couple more pictures from our trip to Ohio, pictures with snow in them!

Snow is a real novelty for my poor children. The only times they have seen it before this trip was one time in Yosemite, at the end of the season (old snow), and one time in LA (yes, LA) when our church trucked in a load of snow and made a little sledding hill for the kids to enjoy. I’m not sure that one even counts. When we got to Ohio, there was old snow on the ground. It was cold enough and there was enough of it for my kids to really enjoy (I didn’t see any Ohio kids out playing in it). Then it melted. On Sunday, we finished breakfast, looked outside, and saw huge wet flakes floating down. Instant excitement! Everyone ran to put on their “warm” things (quotation marks because my kids don’t really have actual winter clothes) and headed outside. I followed, camera in hand, but only grabbed a few shots in a hurry because I was shivering.

In the interest of full disclosure, I failed to get any shots of the eldest as he was crawling in a drainage pipe (don’t ask). C’est la vie!