website...

i just wanted all my clients to know that my website is finally done!!
and i wanted to say thank you so much for trusting me with your family photography... it's been wonderful to work with you all!

www.katieprentissphotography.com

wouldn't you be? couldn't you be?

please won't you be...

my neighbor.

meet our neighbors: the dove family.

we've lived in seven houses since brian and i married. we've had a LOT of neighbors. some of them have been great, others- not so great. but few places we have lived have had the caliber of neighbors that we have here. we moved in three years ago when abi and the little one in this family were not even two! big sister and our oliver started kindergarten together too. needless to say, we have many wonderful memories with these neighbors of ours.

you gotta love people who see the dirt in your house or your half dressed children running around outside and still love you. one of my favorite memories with the doves was when we were leaving for a long trip over the summer: imagine one taxi driver waiting, four little kids jumping around, about 52 pieces of luggage on the sidewalk, and two parents running back into the house at least 18 times because we forgot one more thing. the doves are watching the insanity and alex simply called out over to us, "it's always sad when the circus leaves town."

we laughed all the way to the airport. and behind our laughter we believed we really would be missed and would also miss them. :)
doves, we are so thankful that you all live across the street from us! and so thankful that you enjoy visiting the "circus" when you can!
(i loved doing this photoshoot with you all! sept. 2008- right crystal?)

new posts coming!!

finally, there is a little lull in my work load and i have so much to catch you up on! i will be posting a few pictures from each of the sessions i had this fall very soon!
i just don't want you to miss seeing some of these wonderful families and photo sessions! i have so many new favorites to share...
so i hope that you don't mind my back tracking a bit...
stay tuned. ;)

summer session

i know. it's hardly summer.
but, i loved this session and have been wanting to get it up for a while now!
i met with the lee family when this little guy was 6 months old.

i knew it would be a great session... they live in an eichler home which is just so modern and full of light!

we wanted to see how the baby stacked up to all the heavy reading his parents had done through the years! he is pointing and laughing at the books... don't you wonder what he is thinking? i'd love to do another set of these when he is sitting or standing to show how much he has grown!

i think the next photo is one of my absolute favorites! it really fits their modern taste... hold the frame and order a canvas wrapped print that's ready to hang! also, it plays with the idea of getting a "frameable" shot~ not to mention that they are SO CUTE especially with baby's feet wrapped around the edge of the frame!


you three were so fun and easy to work with! thanks for hiring me and sorry it took me so long to post your photos!

i have other sessions to share with the rest of you too... and i've been working for the past few months on my website~ i hope i will be launching that SOON!!

little june-bug

sometimes, when you're the baby in the family, you have to scream really loud to get attention.
but something tells me this little cutie is going to get all the attention she needs!

at least from her big sister.
big brother might just be a little too busy these days! ;)

little june~ we are all so happy you've come into our lives!

"way down yonder..."

(i'm testing your country music skills with the title to this post.)
the rest of the lyric is "by the chattahoochee."
it's a river in Georgia.
and it's where this photo session happened~
with very dear friends of mine.

keri happened to have just found out she was pregnant before the photo shoot...
so she decided to whisper it to rusty while i was there.
this photo was after the news settled a bit!

i went to high school with rusty and college with both of them...
and they will always be our very dear friends.

it's so cute to me to watch how their kids resemble them~ and now we have another child to meet in the future!
thanks rusty and keri for doing this photo shoot with me!!

my sister's family...

my nephew just turned three!my niece was just three months when we took these!

we're so happy to have another female cousin!

our kids love this little guy... so do we!

i just love the way e is looking at his daddy here!

i know it was months ago that we came to see you guys,
but thanks again for hosting us even after just having a baby!
love you all!!

my second child.

world record lashes, originally uploaded by everydaylady.

these lashes always amaze me...

just edible.

mini maternity

nikki wanted to surprise phil for father's day with a session showing her growing belly and her sweet daughter gaby. aren't they sweet?? she found out they are having another girl, which is perfect because they've done such a good job with the first one!

nikki, don't forget to come back when that belly is even bigger!

as if you could ever have enough of them!

the oh-so-groovy barna family:i love photographing this family~
they are just so darn cute~

not to mention flexible and open to my crazy ideas!

we did a photo session back when they were just four.
they were waiting on Mei-Mei.
now, she is here and they are a full five!
and just as beautiful as a family could be.

uncle alex (liz's brother) joined them for this session.
i've decided every kid needs an uncle alex...
helpful, fun and cool like a rock star.

we decided for their new family portraits we would go urban and casual... which i think set the tone for relaxed fun, which is really my preference! these were taken in downtown san jose at the plaza de cesar chavez park. it was a great location and a great time!
thanks y'all!

what little girls are made of:

tutus and roly-polys

i love that big sister is showing little sister how to find them.
i love that one baby roly-poly in the baby sister's hand.
and i love the contrast of such girly sweetness digging in the dirt for bugs.

pretty little things.

got these adorable umbrellas to add fun and interest to photo shoots~
i think they are lovely and as you can see,
the right prop can make getting your photo taken
more like a game and less like a chore.

two favorites.

do you ever feel like you just created something beautiful? even though i don't make the beautiful images i photograph, when i catch them in a photo, i'm thrilled!
my goal is to capture exactly what i see on the camera~ as if you can feel the warmth of the light or hear the child's giggle or touch the sweet baby skin~
a moment frozen onto a print.

this series of b and elliot are my favorite to date... i personally think they are the best ever of b!
and a few will definitely be hung on our walls soon!

i love the happy lines by b's eyes! (above.)
i want to kiss both of those cheeks...

the skin peaking out just kills me... that belly, those feet, his hands...
and just look at those expressions!

it's nice to have such photographic inspiration hanging around all the time! ;)

huntington beach

reflect.

all dressed up.

nic was all dressed up playing the role of... a spy?... and i grabbed him and made him get in front of my camera. look at how cute the kid is! he even put on a tie he had.
i love how silly and serious he is.
and i really love that he still likes to dress up.

our elliot.

these were taken a few days ago, right after a nap. i love this little guy... i think our last child has more photos taken of him than our others...
i love the feel of this next one. almost like he was sitting to have his portrait painted. i can't imagine what that would be like... to wait for an artist to paint your child. oh my. we have it so good these days with the instant gratification of digital film.




this is his growling face. oh, i could just kiss him forever!!

a recent family session.

these were taken in mountain view, at a natural green space... i love the wild flowers, the mountains and the warm sunny feel of some of these...
this family is making plans to adopt another child and needed some updated family portraits.... we hope the pictures of the three of them will some day soon be four!!
thanks for hiring me, spences!

*baby shower joy*

i recently photographed a baby shower for one of my best friends here... she just brought her baby home from china in january. beautiful little mei mei.

here are the three hostesses along with liz (in orange) and her precious girl:













the party favors, cakes, food, decor was all so beautiful...













































































































































you are loved sweet girl...
by your whole community.

more favorites...

these next few are some of my favorites ever! we laughed so much during this session...



(taken at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA)

welcome.

you have landed on my new blog to feature what is going on with my photography.
i'm so glad you're here.

i still find it hard to call myself a "photographer," but i do love the thought of that. i have been fascinated with cameras and images since the fifth grade. i remember begging my parents for a camera; they obliged me with one of the cheapest little clickers. remember the ones that you had to click a million times to fast forward or rewind? i loved the sound of that. i remember taking that camera with me on a field trip that year to some sort of nature preserve. i filled up the roll quickly with really awful pictures of what looked like almost nothing. looking back, i'm so thankful that my parents were willing to spend that money on me~ it had to have looked like such a wasteful venture to them. (and now as a parent, i'm so thankful that i can teach my kids DIGITAL photography so that they can learn along with me without the expense!! i love saying "sure!" when they ask to take a picture of some beloved lego creation!)

later in college, i was reunited to my photography love when my dad took another risk in buying me a canon rebel eos... which i loved even more. i filled my time with many literature and education courses in school, but thankfully in the midnight hour, i squeezed in a photography course with a dear friend. oh my. i was on the prowl with camera in hand, forcing my friends into crazy action shots, finding the beautiful scenery of our campus to be quite inspiring and quietly sneaking into the dark room any chance i could. i loved this... and often fantasized about really doing photography.

but then the doubter inside me started talking. i had so many interests, so many mini-talents that surely i couldn't really be THAT good at something like this. my photography professor liked my work~ i was so happy and surprised, but still had so much to learn.
the years moved on, and MANY, MANY rolls of film were used. i would photograph people here and there and afterwards convince myself that it wouldn't ever happen. technology changed and i resisted. i hung on to the quality of film photography and hated the way digital prints looked. just a few years back, we gave in to the digital world and tinkered with a cheaper camera which i had some happy results from, but also some very frustrating ones from the lack of control i had with it.
last year was when the magic happened. my sweet husband bought me, er- i mean us, a well oiled machine: my nikon d80. i am in love.
i can't. stop. doing. this.
something in my soul has woken up.
something that believes i CAN create something beautiful.
participate in art.
be someone i wasn't.
show people their own beauty.
it truly feels like the sun on my face
and i'm so thankful beyond words.

thank you for looking....

sweet.

so happy together.
you guys were so much fun to be with...
and i loved watching your relationship as a couple and family!!
thanks for hiring me!
(more following and more to come from this session.)

easter is coming.

at the beginning of the wang's session, gaby had her easter dress on. she was beautiful and sweet... and a little unsure of this lady with the camera in her face! she brought her favorite little friend along~ which i think is so helpful not only for a child to relax, but also as a way to remember their favorite stuffed animal, blanket or toy. as a mom, i love to see things like that in my pictures of my own kids, especially when they outgrow those things.
we started out our time by just playing with easter eggs, playing in the rocking chair, holding hands and sharing kisses.
i knew we were in for a great time!