Joy is one of my favorite words and emotions.  My daughter’s endless laughter fills me with joy.  The love I share with my husband is inexplicably joyful.  The love I have for my art makes me giddy with joy.  Joy is contagious and something I want and need to share.

It’s the holiday season, a time for thanksgiving and for giving unto others.  To celebrate this awesome time of year I’ve joined up with other photographers in a campaign of giving called Giving Is Awesome.  This holiday season I’m giving away a complimentary custom portrait session as well as a print credit to ensure that the winning family can enjoy their art for years to come.  That’s not all…I’m giving the nominating family a complimentary portrait session as well!

It’s time for YOU to send in your nominations.  Nominate a friend or a family, someone who is facing hard times in their life, someone who gives selflessly to others and they expect nothing in return, some who deserves the gift of custom photography this holiday season.  Tell me their story, what they’re experiencing, and why they deserve this gift.

There are a few rules:

* You cannot nominate yourself and the person/family you nominate must sincerely be incapable of retaining my services.

* The nominee must reside within the Houston area or be willing to travel to the Houston area for their session.

* Please email their full story as well as contact information for your nominee as well as yourself to: info@kdloftisphotography.com

* Anyone can participate, you do not need to be a past client of mine to make a nomination.

* The session must take place between January 1, 2010 and June 1, 2010.

All entries must be received by midnight on December 23.

The winning entry will NOT be shared on my site, but I retain the right to share parts of the winner’s story.  I will review all of the entries and select the winning family (with the help of my own family) on Christmas Day. I have been asked, no, the winning family does NOT need to know who nominated them unless you’re ok with it.

The announcement of the winner will come the evening of Christmas Day!

My sincere thanks to all for opening your hearts in the spirit of giving this holiday season and for spreading the JOY!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

I want to brag for a moment about a good friend that we’ve known since high school…long ago and far away.  She did a painting for Amelia’s nursery to compliment her decor and I simply adore it.

She’s crazy talented and has a new and absolutely adorable product she’s creating.  Here’s a link to her Etsy store.

After your portrait session you send her an image and she creates your own “Little Ewes.”  Look… it’s one of the gorgeous families I photographed on her sample.

I think this would be perfect for note cards, custom postage or framed right beside the original image.

Read more about Little Ewes here!

This is us on May 17, 2003 -  6 glorious years ago.  Some days it feels like it was so long ago and other times it feels like it was just yesterday.  And as my dear hubby said in his anniversary card to me, ‘here’s to 60 more”…apparently we’re shooting for 66 years of marriage.

Obviously we didn’t take this…but our watermark is on there to keep people from lifting it and claiming that the gorgeous couple pictured is them.  Happy Anniversary to us!

This little bitty is my new favorite…she’s my adorable new niece.  This is absolutely my favorite image from our session which is why I’m only sharing one.

I wanted to pop on an apologize for any delays in posting sneak peeks, galleries, sending print orders out, responding to calls and emails, etc.

We’re closing on our home tomorrow and moving this weekend so we’ll be offline a bit, but we expect to be back up and running on Monday.  If you need anything please call or email me, I will be checking my BlackBerry and will get back with you ASAP.

I apologize for the delays and I promise to get everything up soon!