Design Eat Play

Dad’s most prized possession

Crissie McDowell — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:30:06 +0000

Last fall Iz and I got the opportunity to do a mother daughter shoot with my extremely talented friend Jayme Montoya with Lucid Design and Photography. Nick was pretty jealous so tonight we went out and got a few with Nick and his best buddy. I can’t tell you how smitten this guy is about this little girl. Sometimes at night I catch him watching her sleep in her room. It’s the most beautiful thing. He recently read that we should be calling things by their name so she can start to learn words for items. I turned around in Costco on Sunday and he was walking through whispering to her what everything was. Orange, bag, toaster, banana. It made me melt. These two are just too much!

And Nick snapped one of us as well.

On their orchard | Emmett Family Photographer

Crissie McDowell — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:00:46 +0000

I started shooting these friends of mine a year ago when their sweet little McKenna was just born. She’s a walking, smiling, laughing, beautiful little one year old now. I loved watching her grow up this past year. And I absolutely LOVE shooting on their orchard. It’s so peaceful and quiet. Very calming. Happy face.

Kaylee | Boise Senior Photographer

Crissie McDowell — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:00:27 +0000

Isn’t she just adorable?

Mel + Willie + Ice Cream | Boise Engagement Photographer

Crissie McDowell — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:25:37 +0000

I love these two. It was such a gorgeous night, beautiful light following a storm. You both make such a perfect pair. I am so excited for your wedding.

Jennie

Crissie McDowell — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:42:15 +0000

We almost missed this session last night. I had just left Dylan and Jennie’s house. We called the shoot on account of rain but as I was driving home, the sun came busting through. It was stunning. I jerked my car into a parking lot, called Jennie and told her to get dressed. I had such a blast hanging out with her just kicking it and laughing. And doesn’t she look freaking amazing?

The pose…

Jennie and the big D

Crissie McDowell — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:59:44 +0000

Tonight I got to shoot some very dear friends of ours. Dylan and Jennie are two of the kindest, most creative, up for anything friends we have. The past three months Jennie has been going through some excruciating training for a fitness competition, and Dylan was her loving supporter. I tried tempting her through the months with beer, velveeta, fried cheese, mac and cheese….and nothing. She was a rock. Jennie just tore up her competition so we decided to do a little session to celebrate her hard work. She looks absolutely freaking ridiculously amazing. I really enjoyed shooting these two together. They love on one another so easily. Just another reason I can’t stop smiling when I’m around them. I’m going to make this a two part post because I am strugs at narrowing down my favorites. So I’m just going to post too many. Tonight…Jennie plus Dylan. Tomorrow…Jennie rocking it.

All those little smiles

Crissie McDowell — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 03:52:35 +0000

And boogies

Vroom-vroom | Life. Changing. Experience.

Crissie McDowell — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:45:54 +0000

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to spend the day with two people that I greatly admire. Chris and Sarah Rhoads are a hubs/wife photography duo based out of Seattle, WA. A couple of years ago I emailed them about doing a mentoring session but life got in the way of making that a reality. And boy is that little Izzy worth everything I had to miss out on. But now that she’s a mature, grown woman of 8 months old, the stars aligned and off to Seattle I flew. The night before my great 8 hour adventure, one of my best friends had a little baby boy. I was honored to be there for his not-so-easy birth but I was nervous heading into my mentoring day with only 3 hours of sleep. I don’t know why. I was bouncing off the walls with excitement. I arrived at our meet up location a mere 3.5 hours early, I mentioned I was excited. Leading up to this week, day, hour, minute of meeting two of my favorite photographers was nerve racking. I don’t know why I was made of jello about it, but the second I met them I was immediately normal’ish. As normal as I am capable of anyway. They have such a calming presence about them. I had put them on such a very high (albeit appropriate and deserving) pedestal that I forgot they are just normal people.

Now, anyone who’s ever had to be my friend or sit down at a consultation knows that I am all over the place. I’m a spaz to the core. Thoughts and ideas are constantly racing around my head so it’s hard for me to keep a straight train of anything. Thankfully, Sarah kept up beautifully. Throughout the day I kept feeling like I was just hanging out with some very old friends. Every so often one would call out to the other one, “Hey Chris Rhoads!” And I would snap back into reality and remember I was with royalty! The wealth of knowledge that they instilled in me that day is absolutely priceless. They are brilliant beyond words and true artists. They helped me really realize my artistic vision and identify things in myself, my business and my work that are due for some work. We did a mini shoot with some very hip and stylish friend’s of theirs and Sarah even did a mini session with me. Poor Sarah. She had her work cut out for her but I love what she did. I thought they must use magical unicorn sorcery dust to get such life from their work but as it turns out…they are just really that good!

I am so excited to hit the ground running after my wonderful, surreal, normal day with The Rhoads. Lots of changes coming in hot!

When I’m really, really, really happy my smile gets even more gummy. I guess I was exhilarated below.

And the masters at work….

And here are some of the shots that Sarah took of me…I shall now call her…miracle worker.

Mommy time | Boise Family Photographer

Crissie McDowell — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:06:25 +0000

I recently got the chance to get together with one of my very best friends from high school. Kim lived literally right next door to me throughout high school. More times than not I was stealing her “skater” clothes to pretend to be hip, which was a laughable effort. We were two peas in a pod. Kim now has the sweetest, most polite little buddy, Jackson. She has done such an amazing job raising him, I love watching them together. You can just see the love between these two!

Spring has sprung

Crissie McDowell — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:03:27 +0000

There is something about a huge vase of fresh cut flowers on my counter to make me feel good. They just give me this sense of peace and happiness. Warm and fuzzy. And I’m not sure if there are too many flowers I love more than ranunculus. I love the squirmy stems, the layers and layers of delicate petals. I just….drool. Thank you Costco for never failing me. Look at these…bah. Heaven!!!