Anton {nine and hip}

My middle child is nine years old today. He got up early this morning, while everyone else was asleep, to finish assembling his new LEGO set (At-At Walker) he worked on for 5 hours straight yesterday. His back is aching today.
Anton is our performer and our musician. He plays the piano daily, started violin lessons and finally embraced his love for dance by attending dance class where he is the only boy. He surprised himself this summer by falling in love with swimming. If he is your birthday party guest, it's likely that Anton will sing a solo of "Happy Birthday" in his opera voice.
Unlike his sister and brother, he is a joy to help with homework (no "that's not the way we do it in class!" or "the teacher doesn't ask us to do that!").  He got my spelling gene, and aces even the spelling pretests. I love this guy.
For our birthday photo shoot, we went to Babi Yar park in Denver with the brand-new violin.

The sunset was breathtaking. We walked and goofed around the park until the mosquitoes came out. 

Love,
Lena

Najla {Two and Wise}

Najla's Mom is a courageous, strong, beautiful young woman. She immigrated to U.S. from Bosnia and waited for years for her fiance to join her in Denver. Today, her daughter Najla is two, and the family just welcomed a darling baby boy. I had the honor of photographing Najla when she was just a few months old.

When I was getting ready for her 2-year-old photo session (and I tend to obsess with upcoming photo shoots), I thought it'd be typical: unpredictable, uncontrollable, not very verbal, and adorable. Wrong. Najla ran up to me, Mommy's friend with a camera, in the park, smiling, showing off her pink Dora crocks and engaging in a lovely conversation with me and my assistant Zara. 

I immediately fell for her blue eyes, but there was one thing: Najla only speaks Bosnian, and I don't. Now, I was only thrilled by this, as my kids were raised speaking Russian only when they were little, and you can't stump an ESL teacher with not having a common language to communicate. So, Najla's Mom interpreted when needed, and I quickly started picking up some Bosnian words essential for communicating with a 2-year-old girl. "Ljepo" is "beautiful." Enough said. 


Those blue eyes.

Najla is a big fan of princesses, and luckily her favorite one is Cinderella (Pepeljuga), the book I instinctively picked for the photo shoot. Guess what? Najla took the book home with her.

I love capturing range of emotions, and Najla's soulful glances were as haunting as gleeful laughs.

Before the clouds moved in, we played on the train tracks. There is something nostalgic and infinite about train tracks that attracts both children and adults. I love train tracks.

The rain drops finally started dropping on our heads, we ran for the cover, but managed to get a few more images before parting ways. 

And here is a sneak peek at Najla's little brother sleeping blissfully through the photo shoot. By the way, ever since he was born, Najla's been referring to herself as "sister," and not Najla. 

Love, 
Lena