Elaine W. Mitchell

My dearest Grandmother passed away last week. As we are all still dealing with this loss, we remember the many many memories we have of her. All 18 grandchildren basically had two homes growing up, one with our own parents and family and one with our Grandma. We spent countless hours at her pool, spending the night, eating ice cream, attempting to beat her at Gin Rummy, reading books, playing Boggle and many many more things. My Grandma was what every child wishes their Grandma was. She was kind, she was funny, beautiful and sweet, and of course she always spoiled us as a Grandmother should. I will miss her more than she will ever know. I am so sad to lose her, but so happy to have those memories with her. My mother has so much of her mother in her and I can only hope that one day I can be the mother and woman that they grew into.

BUEHRLE

This was the gift that I gave to my parents for Christmas. It took me over 3.5 months to find all of these images, but it was so worth it when my parents opened it. I am working on getting the entire alphabet done and getting different images for each letter. I have a few ideas of what I want to do with those when I'm finished...like a big frame of the alphabet or maybe start a small business and start selling the pictures? I really love the letter art and hope to take it to the next level. When it's all said and done, seeing people's reactions to your work makes it that much more special. :)

Family!!

More of my amazing family. Whether it be decorating cookies on Christmas Eve at home or spending Christmas with all the extended family, Christmas is just the happiest time to realize all the wonderful things that have been given to you in life. I feel so blessed to have been given the family that I have. Everyone is so special in their own way and being able to photograph my family is one of the best things I feel like I can do. They just fuel my passion and make me love photography even more. Oh yeah, and that's me with my beautiful God-daughter :) She's the best.

It's Family Time

There is nothing better than spending the holidays at home when you have the most amazing family. Of course I couldn't resist taking photos of the precious moments happening around me. I am willing to share the things that I love and I can tell you that I love my family more than anything :) Candid photos are some of my favorite photos to take. There's nothing like raw emotion. Reading to the babes, sharing excitement of gifts, reading to your grandchild, and generations meeting and bonding for the first time... It's all amazing and I love it.

"I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike..."

I found this photo just this evening and forgot I even took it. I took this photo last summer just for the heck of it because whenever I see a bike, I just go right back to my childhood of riding with my friends to the nearest Dairy Queen in town. Riding a bike is so relevant in Chicago and I always seem to have my eye out for that perfect, vintage bike to photograph. This has been the closest I've gotten to that, but none the less, it paints a nice picture in my mind.

Fruity Pebble Lights

This was my last shot of the night. There were white lights, blue, red, green lights, and what we referred to as the Fruity Pebble lights. Near the entrance they were in rows and really looked amazing. They were so bright and I had to stop and get that shot to show the true color and brightness of the lights. The entire light display at the Zoo was so great and it was amazing being out there with other aspiring photographers. Makes me want this life even more.

Children Watching Christmas

These three images were really fun for me to take. I really got to see the raw emotion of the kids watching the ice sculptures being made. The man I was shooting with let me use his big lens for these shots. We were a little far away and my lens just wasn't cutting it so we put his lens on my camera and alas, pictures kids watching the ice. This lens was amazing. It was the kind you usually see when taking pictures of wildlife or at sporting events. It was pretty intense. Something to save for in the future for sure :)